turn
Tarzan
Edgar Rice
Burroughs
U.C.D. LIBRA!)
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
The
Return of Tarzan
By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS
Author of "Tarzan of the Apes'
With Decorations By
J. ALLEN ST. JOHN
A. L BURT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
114-120 East Twenty-third Street - - New York
PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH A. C. McCLURG & COMPANY
A n
Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1915
Published March, 1915
Copyrighted in Great Britain
.. ,"
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The Affair on the Liner 1
II Forging Bonds of Hate and ? ... 14
III What Happened in the Rue Maule ... 28
IV The Countess Explains 42
V The Plot That Failed 58
VI A Duel 72
VII The Dancing Girl of Sidi Aissa .... 86
VIII The Fight in the Desert 100
IX Numa "El Adrea" 113
X Through the Valley of the Shadow ... 127
XI John Caldwell, London 140
XII Ships That Pass 154
XIII The Wreck of the " Lady Alice " .... 168
XIV Back to the Primitive 187
XV From Ape to Savage 201
XVI The Ivory Raiders 216
XVII The White Chief of the Waziri 229
XVIII The Lottery of Death 243
XIX The City of Gold 259
XX La 272
XXI The Castaways 286
XXII The Treasure Vaults of Opar 301
XXIII The Fifty Frightful Men 315
XXIV How Tarsan Came again to Opar ... 329
XXV Through the Forest Primeval 343
XXVI The Passing of the Ape-Man 358
Te
ify Mother
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
'TV/TAGNIFIQUE!" ejaculated the Countess de
*^A Coude, beneath her breath.
"Eh?" questioned the count, turning toward his
young wife. "What is it that is magnificent?" and
the count bent his eyes in various directions in quest
of the object of her admiration.
" Oh, nothing at all, my dear," replied the countess,
a slight flush momentarily coloring her already pink
cheek. "I was but recalling with admiration those
stupendous skyscrapers, as they call them, of New
York," and the fair countess settled herself more com
fortably in her steamer chair, and resumed the maga
zine which " nothing at all " had caused her to let fall
upon her lap.
Her husband again buried himself in his book, but
not without a mild wonderment that three days out
from New York his countess should suddenly have
realized an admiration for the very buildings she had
but recently characterized as horrid.
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Presently the count put down his book. " It is
very tiresome, Olga," he said. " I think that I shall
hunt up some others who may be equally bored, and
see if we cannot find enough for a game of cards."
"You are not very gallant, my husband," replied
the young woman, smiling, " but as I am equally bored
I can forgive you. Go and play at your tiresome old
cards, then, if you will."
When he had gone she let her eyes wander slyly to
the figure of a tall young man stretched lazily in a
chair not far distant.
" Magnifique! " she breathed once more.
The Countess Olga de Coude was twenty. Her hus
band forty. She was a very faithful and loyal wife,
but as she had had nothing whatever to do with the
selection of a husband, it is not at all unlikely that
she was not wildly and passionately in love with the
one that fate and her titled Russian father had
selected for her. However, simply because she was
surprised into a tiny exclamation of approval at sight
of a splendid young stranger it must not be inferred
therefrom that her thoughts were in any way disloyal
to her spouse. She merely admired, as she might have
admired a particularly fine specimen of any species.
Furthermore, the young man was unquestionably good
to look at.
As her furtive glance rested upon his profile he rose
to leave the deck. The Countess de Coude beckoned
to a passing steward.
" Who is that gentleman ? " she asked.
[2]
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
"He is booked, madam, as Monsieur Tarzan, of
Africa," replied the steward.
" Rather a large estate," thought the girl, but now
her interest was still further aroused.
As Tarzan walked slowly toward the smoking-room
he came unexpectedly upon two men whispering ex
citedly just without. He would have vouchsafed them
not even a passing thought but for the strangely
guilty glance that one of them shot in his direction.
They reminded Tarzan of melodramatic villains he
had seen at the theaters in Paris. Both were very
dark, and this, in connection with the shrugs and
stealthy glances that accompanied their palpable in
triguing, lent still greater force to the similarity.
Tarzan entered the smoking-room, and sought a
chair a little apart from the others who were there.
He felt in no mood for conversation, and as he sipped
his absinth he let his mind run rather sorrowfully over
the past few weeks of his life. Time and again he
had wondered if he had acted wisely in renouncing
his birthright to a man to whom he owed nothing.
It is true that he liked Clayton, but ah, but that
was not the question. It was not for William Cecil
Clayton, Lord Grey stoke, that he had denied his birth.
It was for the woman whom both he and Clayton loved,
and whom a strange freak of fate had given to Clayton
instead of to him.
That she loved him made the thing doubly difficult
to bear, yet he knew that he could have done nothing
less than he did do that night within the little railway
[3]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
station in the far Wisconsin woods. To him her happi
ness was the first consideration of all, and his brief
experience with civilization and civilized men had
taught him that without money and position life to
most of them was unendurable.
Jane Porter had been born to both, and had Tarzan
taken them away from her future husband it would
doubtless have plunged her into a life of misery and
torture. That she would have spurned Clayton once
he had been stripped of both his title and his estates
never for once occurred to Tarzan, for he credited
to others the same honest loyalty that was so inherent
a quality in himself. Nor, in this instance, had he
erred. Could any one thing have further bound Jane
Porter to her promise to Clayton it would have been
in the nature of some such misfortune as this over
taking him.
Tarzan's thoughts drifted from the past to the
future. He tried to look forward with pleasurable
sensations to his return to the jungle of his birth and
boyhood; the cruel, fierce jungle in which he had
spent twenty of his twenty-two years. But who or
what of all the myriad jungle life would there be to
welcome his return? Not one. Only Tantor, the
elephant, could he call friend. The others would
hunt him or flee from him as had been their way in
the past.
Not even the apes of his own tribe would extend
the hand of fellowship to him.
If civilization had done nothing else for Tarzan
[4]
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
of the Apes, it had to some extent taught him to crave
the society of his own kind, and to feel with genuine
pleasure the congenial warmth of companionship. And
in the same ratio had it made any other life distasteful
to him. It was difficult to imagine a world without a
friend without a living thing who spoke the new
tongues which Tarzan had learned to love so well. And
so it was that Tarzan looked with little relish upon the
future he had mapped out for himself.
As he sat musing over his cigarette his eyes fell
upon a mirror before him, and in it he saw reflected
a table at which four men sat at cards. Presently one
of them rose to leave, and then another approached,
and Tarzan could see that he courteously offered to
fill the vacant chair, that the game might not be inter
rupted. He was the smaller of the two whom Tarzan
had seen whispering just outside the smoking-room.
It was this fact that aroused a faint spark of inter
est in Tarzan, and so as he speculated upon the future
he watched in the mirror the reflection of the players
at the table behind him. Aside from the man who had
but just entered the game Tarzan knew the name of
but one of the other players. It was he who sat oppo
site the new player, Count Raoul de Coude, whom an
over-attentive steward had pointed out as one of the
celebrities of the passage, describing him as a man
high in the official family of the French minister of
war.
Suddenly Tarzan's attention was riveted upon the
picture in the glass. The other swarthy plotter had
[5]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
entered, and was standing behind the count's chair.
Tarzan saw him turn and glance furtively about the
room, but his eyes did not rest for a sufficient time
upon the mirror to note the reflection of Tarzan's
watchful eyes. Stealthily the man withdrew some
thing from his pocket. Tarzan could not discern what
the object was, for the man's hand covered it.
Slowly the hand approached the count, and then,
very deftly, the thing that was in it was transferred
to the count's pocket. The man remained standing
where he could watch the Frenchman's cards. Tarzan
was puzzled, but he was all attention now, nor did he
permit another detail of the incident to escape him.
The play went on for some ten minutes after this,
until the count won a considerable wager from him
who had last joined the game, and then Tarzan saw
the fellow back of the count's chair nod his head to
his confederate. Instantly the player arose and pointed
a finger at the count.
"Had I known that monsieur was a professional
card sharp I had not been so ready to be drawn into
the game," he said.
Instantly the count and the two other players were
upon their feet.
De Coude's face went white.
"What do you mean, sir?" he cried. "Do you
know to whom you speak ? "
" I know that I speak, for the last time, to one who
cheats at cards," replied the fellow.
The count leaned across the table, and struck the
[6]
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
man full in the mouth with his open palm, and then
the others closed in between them.
" There is some mistake, sir," cried one of the other
players. " Why, this is Count de Coude, of France."
"If I am mistaken," said the accuser, "I shall
gladly apologize ; but before I do so first let monsieur
le count explain the extra cards which I saw him drop
into his side pocket."
And then the man whom Tarzan had seen drop them
there turned to sneak from the room, but to his annoy
ance he found the exit barred by a tall, gray-eyed
stranger.
"Pardon," said the man brusquely, attempting to
pass to one side.
" Wait," said Tarzan.
"But why, monsieur?" exclaimed the other petu
lantly. " Permit me to pass, monsieur."
"Wait," said Tarzan. "I think that there is a
matter in here that you may doubtless be able to
explain."
The fellow had lost his temper by this time, and
with a low oath seized Tarzan to push him to one side.
The ape-man but smiled as he twisted the big fellow
about and, grasping him by the collar of his coat,
escorted him back to the table, struggling, cursing,
and striking in futile remonstrance. It was Nikolas
Rokoff's first experience with the muscles that had
brought their savage owner victorious through en
counters with Numa, the lion, and Terkoz, the great
bull ape.
[7]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
The man who had accused De Coude, and the two
others who had been playing, stood looking expec
tantly at the count. Several other passengers had
drawn toward the scene of the altercation, and all
awaited the denouement.
"The fellow is crazy," said the count "Gentle
men, I implore that one of you search me."
" The accusation is ridiculous." This from one of
the players.
"You have but to slip your hand in the count's
coat pocket and you will see that the accusation is
quite serious," insisted the accuser. And then, as the
others still hesitated to do so : " Come, I shall do it
myself if no other will," and he stepped forward
toward the count.
"No, monsieur," said De Coude. "I will submit
to a search only at the hands of a gentleman."
" It is unnecessary to search the count. The cards
are in his pocket. I myself saw them placed there."
All turned in surprise toward this new speaker, to
behold a very well-built young man urging a resisting
captive toward them by the scruff of his neck.
"It is a conspiracy," cried De Coude angrily.
"There are no cards in my coat," and with that he
ran his hand into his pocket. As he did so tense
silence reigned in the little group. The count went
dead white, and then very slowly he withdrew his hand,
and in it were three cards.
He looked at them in mute and horrified surprise,
and slowly the red of mortification suffused his face.
18]
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
Expressions of pity and contempt tinged the features
of those who looked on at the death of a man's honor.
"It is a conspiracy, monsieur." It was the gray-
eyed stranger who spoke. " Gentlemen," he continued,
" monsieur le count did not know that those cards were
in his pocket. They were placed there without his
knowledge as he sat at play. From where I sat in
that chair yonder I saw the reflection of it all in the
mirror before me. This person whom I just inter
cepted in an effort to escape placed the cards in the
count's pocket."
De Coude had glanced from Tarzan to the man ia
his grasp.
" Mvn Dieu, Nikolas ! " he cried. " You ? "
Then he turned to his accuser, and eyed him in
tently for a moment.
"And you, monsieur, I did not recognize you with
out your beard. It quite disguises you, Paulvitch.
I see it all now. It is quite clear, gentlemen."
"What shall we do with them, monsieur?" asked
Tarzan. "Turn them over to the captain?"
" No, my friend," said the count hastily. " It is a
personal matter, and I beg that you will let it drop.
It is sufficient that I have been exonerated from the
charge. The less we have to do with such fellows,
the better. But, monsieur, how can I thank you for
the great kindness you have done me? Permit me to
offer you my card, and should the time come when I
may serve you, remember that I am yours to com-
mand."
[9]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Tarzan had released Rokoff, who, with his con
federate, Paulvitch, had hastened from the smoking-
room. Just as he was leaving, Rokoff turned to
Tarzan. "Monsieur will have ample opportunity to
regret his interference in the affairs of others."
Tarzan smiled, and then, bowing to the count,
handed him his own card.
The count read:
*M. $ea#i to. da&wvM'
"Monsieur Tarzan," he said, "may indeed wish
that he had never befriended me, for I can assure
him that he has won the enmity of two of the most
unmitigated scoundrels in all Europe. Avoid them,
monsieur, by all means."
"I have had more awe-inspiring enemies, my dear
count," replied Tarzan, with a quiet smile, "yet I
am still alive and unworried. I think that neither of
these two will ever find the means to harm me."
" Let us hope not, monsieur," said De Coude ; " but
yet it will do no harm to be on the alert, and to know
that you have made at least one enemy today who
never forgets and never forgives, and in whose malig
nant brain there are always hatching new atrocities
to perpetrate upon those who have thwarted or
offended him. To say that Nikolas Rokoff is a devil
would be to place a wanton affront upon his satanic
majesty."
That night as Tarzan entered his cabin he found a
[10]
THE AFFAIR ON THE LINER
folded note upon the floor that had evidently been
pushed beneath the door. He opened it and read :
M. TARZAN:
Doubtless you did not realize the gravity of your
offense, or you would not have done the thing you did
today. I am willing to believe that you acted in igno
rance and without any intention to offend a stranger.
For this reason I shall gladly permit you to offer an
apology, and on receiving your assurances that you will
not again interfere in affairs that do not concern you, I
shall drop the matter.
Otherwise but I am sure that you will see the wis
dom of adopting the course I suggest.
Very respectfully,
NIKOLAS ROKOFF.
Tarzan permitted a grim smile to play about his
lips for a moment, then he promptly dropped the
matter from his mind, and went to bed.
In a nearby cabin the Countess de Coude was
speaking to her husband.
"Why so grave, my dear Raoul?" she asked.
"You have been as glum as could be all evening.
What worries you ? "
"Olga, Nikolas is on board. Did you know it?"
"Nikolas!" she exclaimed. "But it is impossible,
Raoul. It cannot be. Nikolas is under arrest in
Germany."
" So I thought myself until I saw him today him
and that other arch scoundrel, Paulvitch. Olga, I
cannot endure his persecution much longer. No, not
even for you. Sooner or later I shall turn him over
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
to the authorities. In fact, I am half minded to
explain all to the captain before we land. On a
French liner it were an easy matter, Olga, perma
nently to settle this Nemesis of ours."
" Oh, no, Raoul ! " cried the countess, sinking to
her knees before him as he sat with bowed head upon
a divan. " Do not do that. Remember your promise
to me. Tell me, Raoul, that you will not do that.
Do not even threaten him, Raoul."
De Coude took his wife's hands in his, and gazed
upon her pale and troubled countenance for some time
before he spoke, as though he would wrest from those
beautiful eyes the real reason which prompted her to
shield this man.
"Let it be as you wish, Olga," he said at length.
"I cannot understand. He has forfeited all claim
upon your love, loyalty, or respect. He is a menace
to your life and honor, and the life and honor of your
husband. I trust you may never regret championing
him."
"I do not champion him, Raoul," she interrupted
vehemently. "I believe that I hate him as much as
you do, but Oh, Raoul, blood is thicker than water."
" I should today have liked to sample the consistency
of his," growled De Coude grimly. "The two de
liberately attempted to besmirch my honor, Olga,"
and then he told her of all that had happened in the
smoking-room. "Had it not been for this utter
stranger, they had succeeded, for who would have
accepted my unsupported word against the damning
[12]
THE AFFAIR ON THJS LINER
evidence of those cards hidden on my person? I had
almost begun to doubt myself when this Monsieur
Tarzan dragged your precious Nikolas before us, and
explained the whole cowardly transaction."
" Monsieur Tarzan ? " asked the countess, in evident
surprise.
" Yes. Do you know him, Olga? "
"I have seen him. A steward pointed him out to
me."
" I did not know that he was a celebrity," said the
count.
Olga de Coude changed the subject. She discovered
suddenly that she might find it difficult to explain just
why the steward had pointed out the handsome Mon
sieur Tarzan to her. Perhaps she flushed the least
little bit, for was not the count, her husband, gazing
at her with a strangely quizzical expression. "Ah,"
she thought, " a guilty conscience is a most suspicious
thing."
[IS]
II
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
IT was not until late the following afternoon that
Tarzan saw anything more of the fellow passengers
into the midst of whose affairs his love of fair play
had thrust him. And then he came most unexpectedly
upon Rokoff and Paulvitch at a moment when of all
others the two might least appreciate his company.
They were standing on deck at a point which was
temporarily deserted, and as Tarzan came upon them
they were in heated argument with a woman. Tarzan
noted that she was richly appareled, and that her slen
der, well-modeled figure denoted youth; but as she
was heavily veiled he could not discern her features.
Hie men were standing on either side of her, and
the backs of all were toward Tarzan, so that he was
quite close to them without their being aware of his
presence. He noticed that Rokoff seemed to be threat
ening, the woman pleading; but they spoke in a
strange tongue, and he could only guess from appear
ances that the girl was afraid.
[14]
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND ?
Rokoff's attitude was so distinctly filled with the
threat of physical violence that the ape-man paused
for an instant just behind the trio, instinctively sensing
an atmosphere of danger. Scarcely had he hesitated
ere the man seized the woman roughly by the wrist,
twisting it as though to wring a promise from her
through torture. What would have happened next
had Rokoff had his way we may only conjecture, since
he did not have his way at all. Instead, steel fingers
gripped his shoulder, and he was swung unceremo
niously around, to meet the cold gray eyes of the
stranger who had thwarted him on the previous day.
" Sapristi! " screamed the infuriated Rokoff. " What
do you mean? Are you a fool that you thus again
insult Nikolas Rokoff?"
" This is my answer to your note, monsieur," said
Tarzan, in a low voice. And then he hurled the fellow
from him with such force that Rokoff lunged sprawl
ing against the rail.
" Name of a name ! " shrieked Rokoff. " Pig, but
you shall die for this," and, springing to his feet, he
rushed upon Tarzan, tugging the meanwhile to draw
a revolver from his hip pocket. The girl shrank back
in terror.
"Nikolas!" she cried. "Do not oh, do not do
that. Quick, monsieur, fly, or he will surely kill you ! "
But instead of flying Tarzan advanced to meet the
fellow. " Do not make a fool of yourself, monsieur,"
he said.
Rokoff, who was in a perfect frenzy of rage at the
[15]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
humiliation the stranger had put upon him, had at last
succeeded in drawing the revolver. He had stopped,
and now he deliberately raised it to Tarzan's breast
and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell with a futile
click on an empty chamber the ape-man's hand shot
out like the head of an angry python; there was a
quick wrench, and the revolver sailed far out across
the ship's rail, and dropped into the Atlantic.
For a moment the two men stood there facing one
another. Rokoff had regained his self-possession. He
was the first to speak.
"Twice now has monsieur seen fit to interfere in
matters which do not concern him. Twice he has taken
it upon himself to humiliate Nikolas Rokoff. The
first offense was overlooked on the assumption that
monsieur acted through ignorance, but this affair shall
not be overlooked. If monsieur does not know who
Nikolas Rokoff is, this last piece of effrontery will
insure that monsieur later has good reason to remem
ber him."
"That you are a coward and a scoundrel, mon
sieur," replied Tarzan, " is all that I care to know of
you," and he turned to ask the girl if the man had
hurt her, but she had disappeared. Then, without
even a glance toward Rokoff and his companion, he
continued his stroll along the deck.
Tarzan could not but wonder what manner of con
spiracy was on foot, or what the scheme of the two
men might be. There had been something rather
familiar about the appearance of the veiled woman to
[16]
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
whose rescue he had just come, but as he had not seen
her face he could not be sure that he had ever seen
her before. The only thing about her that he had
particularly noticed was a ring of peculiar workman
ship upon a finger of the hand that Rokoff had seized,
and he determined to note the fingers of the women
passengers he came upon thereafter, that he might
discover the identity of her whom Rokoff was perse
cuting, and learn if the fellow had offered her further
annoyance.
Tarzan had sought his deck chair, where he sat
speculating on the numerous instances of human
cruelty, selfishness, and spite that had fallen to his lot
to witness since that (Jay in the jungle four years
since that his eyes had first fallen upon a human being
other than himself the sleek, black Kulonga, whose
swift spear had that day found the vitals of Kala, the
great she-ape, and robbed the youth, Tarzan, of the
only mother he had ever known.
He recalled the murder of King by the rat-faced
Snipes ; the abandonment of Professor Porter and his
party by the mutineers of the Arrow; the cruelty of
the black warriors and women of Mbonga to their
captives ; the petty jealousies of the civil and military
officers of the West Coast colony that had afforded
him his first introduction to the civilized world.
" Mon Dieu! " he soliloquized, " but they are all
alike. Cheating, murdering, lying, fighting, and all
for things that the beasts of the jungle would not
deign to possess money to purchase the effeminate
[17]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
pleasures of weaklings. And yet withal bound down
by silly customs that make them slaves to their un
happy lot while firm in the belief that they be the
lords of creation enjoying the only real pleasures of
existence. In the jungle one would scarcely stand
supinely aside while another took his mate. It is a
silly world, an idiotic world, and Tarzan of the Apes
was a fool to renounce the freedom and the happiness
of his jungle to come into it."
Presently, as he sat there, the sudden feeling came
over him that eyes were watching from behind, and
the old instinct of the wild beast broke through the
thin veneer of civilization, so that Tarzan wheeled
about so quickly that the eyes of the young woman
who had been surreptitiously regarding him had not
even time to drop before the gray eyes of the ape-man
shot an inquiring look straight into them. Then, as
they fell, Tarzan saw a faint wave of crimson creep
swiftly over the now half -averted face.
He smiled to himself at the result of his very un
civilized and ungallant action, for he had not lowered
his own eyes when they met those of the young woman.
She was very young, and equally good to look upon.
Further, there was something rather familiar about
her that set Tarzan to wondering where he had seen
her before. He resumed his former position, and
presently he was aware that she had arisen and was
leaving the deck. As she passed, Tarzan turned to
watch her, in the hope that he might discover a clew
to satisfy his mild curiosity as to her identity.
[18]
FORGING BONDS OF RATE AND ?
Nor was he disappointed entirely, for as she walked
away she raised one hand to the black, waving mass
at the nape of her neck the peculiarly feminine
gesture that admits cognizance of appraising eyes
behind her and Tarzan saw upon a finger of this
hand the ring of strange workmanship that he had
seen upon the finger of the veiled woman a short time
before.
So it was this beautiful young woman Rokoff had
been persecuting. Tarzan wondered in a lazy sort of
way whom she might be, and what relations one so
lovely could have with the surly, bearded Russian.
After dinner that evening Tarzan strolled forward,
where he remained until after dark, in conversation
with the second officer, and when that gentleman's
duties called him elsewhere Tarzan lolled lazily by
the rail watching the play of the moonlight upon the
gently rolling waters. He was half hidden by a davit,
so that two men who approached along the deck did
not see him, and as they passed Tarzan caught enough
of their conversation to cause him to fall in behind
them, to follow and learn what deviltry they were up
to. He had recognized the voice as that of Rokoff,
and had seen that his companion was Paulvitch.
Tarzan had overheard but a few words: "And if
she screams you may choke her until " But those
had been enough to arouse the spirit of adventure
within him, and so he kept the two men in sight as
they walked, briskly now, along the deck. To the
smoking-room he followed them, but they merely
[19]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
halted at the doorway long enough, apparently, to
assure themselves that one whose whereabouts they
wished to establish was within.
Then they proceeded directly to the first-class cabins
upon the promenade deck. Here Tarzan found greater
difficulty in escaping detection, but he managed to do
so successfully. As they halted before one of the
polished hardwood doors, Tarzan slipped into the
shadow of a passageway not a dozen feet from them.
To their knock a woman's voice asked in French:
Who is it?"
"It is I, Olga Nikolas," was the answer, in
Rokoff's now familiar guttural. "May I come in?"
" Why do you not cease persecuting me, Nikolas ? "
came the voice of the woman from beyond the thin
panel. " I have never harmed you."
"Come, come, Olga," urged the man, in propitia
tory tones ; " I but ask a half dozen words with you.
I shall not harm you, nor shall I enter your cabin;
but I cannot shout my message through the door."
Tarzan heard the catch click as it was released from
the inside. He stepped out from his hiding-place far
enough to see what transpired when the door was
opened, for he could not but recall the sinister words
he had heard a few moments before upon the deck:
"And if she screams you may choke her."
Rokoff was standing directly in front of the door.
Paulvitch had flattened himself against the paneled
wall of the corridor beyond. The door opened. Rokoff
half entered the room, and stood with his back against
[20]
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
the door, speaking in a low whisper to the woman,
whom Tarzan could not see. Then Tarzan heard the
woman's voice, level, but loud enough to distinguish
her words.
"No, Nikolas," she was saying, "it is useless.
Threaten as you will, I shall never accede to your
demands. Leave the room, please ; you have no right
here. You promised not to enter."
"Very well, Olga, I shall not enter; but before I
am done with you, you shall wish a thousand times
that you had done at once the favor I have asked.
In the end I shall win anyway, so you might as well
save trouble and time for me, and disgrace for yourself
and your "
"Never, Nikolas!" interrupted the woman, and
then Tarzan saw Rokoff turn and nod to Paulvitch,
who sprang quickly toward the doorway of the cabin,
rushing in past RokofF, who held the door open for
him. Then the latter stepped quickly out. The door
closed. Tarzan heard the click of the lock as Paul
vitch turned it from the inside. Rokoff remained
standing before the door, with head bent, as though
to catch the words of the two within. A nasty smile
curled his bearded lip. '
Tarzan could hear the woman's voice commanding
the fellow to leave her cabin. "I shall send for my
husband," she cried. " He will show you no mercy."
Paulvitch's sneering laugh came through the
polished panels.
"The purser will fetch your husband, madame,"
[21]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
said the man. " In fact, that officer has already been
notified that you are entertaining a man other than
your husband behind the locked door of your cabin."
" Bah ! " cried the woman. " My husband will
know!"
"Most assuredly your husband will know, but the
purser will not ; nor will the newspaper men who shall
in some mysterious way hear of it on our landing.
But they will think it a fine story, and so will all your
friends when they read of it at breakfast on let me
see, this is Tuesday yes, when they read of it at
breakfast next Friday morning. Nor will it detract
from the interest they will all feel when they learn
that the man whom madame entertained is a Russian
servant her brother's valet, to be quite exact."
"Alexis Paulvitch," came the woman's voice, cold
and fearless, " you are a coward, and when I whisper
a certain name in your ear you will think better of
your demands upon me and your threats against me,
and then you will leave my cabin quickly, nor do I
think that ever again will you, at least, annoy me," and
there came a moment's silence in which Tarzan could
imagine the woman leaning toward the scoundrel and
whispering the thing she had hinted at into his ear.
Only a moment of silence, and then a startled oath
from the man the scuffling of feet a woman's
scream and silence.
But scarcely had the cry ceased before the ape-man
had leaped from his hiding-place. Rokoif started to
run, but Tarzan grasped him by the collar and
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
dragged him back. Neither spoke, for both felt in
stinctively that murder was being done in that room,
and Tarzan was confident that Rokoff had had no
intention that his confederate should go that far he
felt that the man's aims were deeper than that
deeper and even more sinister than brutal, cold-blooded
murder.
Without hesitating to question those within, the
ape-man threw his giant shoulder against the frail
panel, and in a shower of splintered wood he entered
the cabin, dragging Rokoff after him. Before him,
on a couch, the woman lay, and on top of her was
Paulvitch, his fingers gripping the fair throat, while
his victim's hands beat futilely at his face, tearing
desperately at the cruel fingers that were forcing the
life from her.
The noise of his entrance brought Paulvitch to his
feet, where he stood glowering menacingly at Tarzan.
The girl rose falteringly to a sitting posture upon
the couch. One hand was at her throat, and her breath
came in little gasps. Although disheveled and very
pale, Tarzan recognized her as the young woman
whom he had caught staring at him on deck earlier in
the day.
" What is the meaning of this ? " said Tarzan, turn
ing to Rokoff, whom he intuitively singled out as the
instigator of the outrage. The man remained silent,
scowling. " Touch the button, please," continued the
ape-man; "we will have one of the ship's officers
here this affair has gone quite far enough."
[23]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"No, no," cried the*girl, coming suddenly to her
feet. " Please do not do that. I am sure that there
was no real intention to harm me. I angered this
person, and he lost control of himself, that is all. I
would not care to have the matter go further, please,
monsieur," and there was such a note of pleading in
her voice that Tarzan could not press the matter,
though his better judgment warned him that there
was something afoot here of which the proper authori
ties should be made cognizant.
"You wish me to do nothing, then, in the matter?'*
he asked.
" Nothing, please," she replied.
"You are content that these two scoundrels should
continue persecuting you ? "
She did not seem to know what answer to make, and
looked very troubled and unhappy. Tarzan saw a
malicious grin of triumph curl RokofPs lip. The girl
evidently was in fear of these two she dared not
express her real desires before them.
"Then," said Tarzan, "I shall act on my own
responsibility. To you," he continued, turning to
Rokoff, "and this includes your accomplice, I may
say that from now on to the end of the voyage I shall
take it upon myself to keep an eye on you, and should
there chance to come to my notice any act of either
one of you that might even remotely annoy this young
woman you shall be called to account for it directly
to me, ncr shall the calling or the accounting be
pleasant experiences for either of you.
[34]
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
"Now get out of here," and he grabbed Rokoff
and Paulvitch each by the scruff of the neck and thrust
them forcibly through the doorway, giving each an
added impetus down the corridor with the toe of his
boot. Then he turned back to the stateroom and the
girl. She was looking at him in wide-eyed astonish
ment.
"And you, madame, will confer a great favor upon
me if you will but let me know if either of those rascals
troubles you further."
"Ah, monsieur," she answered, "I hope that you
will not suffer for the kind deed you attempted. You
have made a very wicked and resourceful enemy, who
will stop at nothing to satisfy his hatred. You must
be very careful indeed, Monsieur "
"Pardon me, madame, my name is Tarzan."
" Monsieur Tarzan. And because I would not con
sent to notify the officers, do not think that I am not
sincerely grateful to you for the brave and chivalrous
protection you rendered me. Good night, Monsieur
Tarzan. I shall never forget the debt I owe you,"
and, with a most winsome smile that displayed a row
of perfect teeth, the girl curtsied to Tarzan, who
bade her good night and made his way on deck.
It puzzled the man considerably that there should
be two on board this girl and Count de Coude
who suffered indignities at the hands of Rokoff and
his companion, and yet would not permit the offenders
to be brought to justice. Before he turned in that
night his thoughts reverted many times to the beauti-
[25]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
ful young woman into the evidently tangled web of
whose life fate had so strangely introduced him. It
occurred to him that he had not learned her name.
That she was married had been evidenced by the nar
row gold band that encircled the third finger of her
left hand. Involuntarily he wondered who the lucky
man might be.
Tarzan saw nothing further of any of the actors
in the little drama that he had caught a fleeting
glimpse of until late in the afternoon of the last day
of the voyage. Then he came suddenly face to face
with the young woman as the two approached their
deck chairs from opposite directions. She greeted
him with a pleasant smile, speaking almost immediately
of the affair he had witnessed in her cabin two nights
before. It was as though she had been perturbed by
a conviction that he might have construed her acquaint
ance with such men as Rokoff and Paulvitch as a
personal reflection upon herself.
"I trust that monsieur has not judged me," she
said, "by the unfortunate occurrence of Tuesday
evening. I have suffered much on account of it this
is the first time that I have ventured from my cabin
since ; I have been ashamed," she concluded simply.
" One does not judge the gazelle by the lions that
attack it," replied Tarzan. "I had seen those two
work before in the smoking-room the day prior to
their attack on you, if I recollect it correctly, and so,
knowing their methods, I am convinced that their
enmity is a sufficient guarantee of the integrity of its
[26]
FORGING BONDS OF HATE AND
object. Men such as they must cleave only to the vile,
hating all that is noblest and best."
"It is very kind of you to put it that way," she
replied, smiling. " I have already heard of the matter
of the card game. My husband told me the entire
story. He spoke especially of the strength and brav
ery of Monsieur Tarzan, to whom he feels that he
owes an immense debt of gratitude."
"Your husband?" repeated Tarzan questioningly.
" Yes. I am the Countess de Coude."
"I am already amply repaid, madame, in knowing
that I have rendered a service to the wife of the
Count de Coude."
"Alas, monsieur, I already am so greatly indebted
to you that I may never hope to settle my own account,
so pray do not add further to my obligations," and
she smiled so sweetly upon him that Tarzan felt that
a man might easily attempt much greater things than
he had accomplished, solely for the pleasure of receiv
ing the benediction of that smile.
He did not see her again that day, and in the rush
of landing on the following morning he missed her
entirely, but there had been something in the expres
sion of her eyes as they parted on deck the previous
day that haunted him. It had been almost wistful as
they had spoken of the strangeness of the swift friend
ships of an ocean crossing, and of the equal ease with
which they are broken forever.
Tarzan wondered if he should ever see her again.
[27]
in
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
N his arrival in Paris, Tarzan had gone directly to
the apartments of his old friend, D'Arnot, where
the naval lieutenant had scored him roundly for his
decision to renounce the title and estates that were
rightly his from his father, John Clayton, the late
Lord Greystoke.
"You must be mad, my friend," said D'Arnot,
"thus lightly to give up not alone wealth and posi
tion, but an opportunity to prove beyond doubt to all
the world that in your veins flows the noble blood of
two of England's most honored houses instead of
the blood of a savage she-ape. It is incredible that
they could have believed you Miss Porter least of all.
" Why, I never did believe it, even back in the wilds
of your African jungle, when you tore the raw meat of
your kills with mighty jaws, like some wild beast, and
wiped your greasy hands upon your thighs. Even
then, before there was the slightest proof to the con-
[28]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
trary, I knew that you were mistaken in the belief that
Kala was your mother.
"And now, with your father's diary of the terrible
life led by him and your mother on that wild African
shore; with the account of your birth, and, final and
most convincing proof of all, your own baby finger
prints upon the pages of it, it seems incredible to me
that you are willing to remain a nameless, penniless
vagabond."
"I do not need any better name than Tarzan,"
replied the ape-man ; " and as for remaining a penni
less vagabond, I have no intention of so doing. In
fact, the next, and let us hope the last, burden that I
shall be forced to put upon your unselfish friendship
will be the finding of employment for me."
" Pooh, pooh ! " scoffed D'Arnot. " You know that
I did not mean that. Have I not told you a dozen
times that I have enough for twenty men, and that
half of what I have is yours ? And if I gave it all to
you, would it represent even the tenth part of the
value I place upon your friendship, my Tarzan?
Would it repay the services you did me in Africa?
I do not forget, my friend, that but for you and your
wondrous bravery I had died at the stake in the village
of Mbonga's cannibals. Nor do I forget that to your
self-sacrificing devotion I owe the fact that I recov
ered from the terrible wounds I received at their
hands I discovered later something of what it meant
to you to remain with me in the amphitheater of the
apes while your heart was urging you on to the coast.
[29]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
" When we finally came there, and found that Miss
Porter and her party had left, I commenced to realize
something of what you had done for an utter stranger.
Nor am I trying to repay you with money, Tarzan.
It is that just at present you need money; were it
sacrifice that I might offer you it were the same my
friendship must always be yours, because our tastes
are similar, and I admire you. That I cannot com
mand, but the money I can and shall."
"Well," laughed Tarzan, "we shall not quarrel
over the money. I must live, and so I must have it;
but I shall be more contented with something to do.
You cannot show me your friendship in a more con
vincing manner than to find employment for me I
shall die of inactivity in a short while. As for my
birthright it is in good hands. Clayton is not
guilty of robbing me of it. He truly believes that
he is the real Lord Greystoke, and the chances are that
he will make a better English lord than a man who
was born and raised in an African jungle. You
know that I am but half civilized even now. Let me
see red in anger but for a moment, and all the in
stincts of the savage beast that I really am, submerge
what little I possess of the milder ways of culture and
refinement.
"And then again, had I declared myself I should
have robbed the woman I love of the wealth and posi
tion that her marriage to Clayton will now insure to
her. I could not have done that could I, Paul ?
" Nor is the matter of birth of great importance to
[30]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
me," he went on, without waiting for a reply. " Raised
as I have been, I see no worth in man or beast that is
not theirs by virtue of their own mental or physical
prowess. And so I am as happy to think of Kala as
my mother as I would be to try to picture the poor,
unhappy little English girl who passed away a year
after she bore me. Kala was always kind to me in her
fierce and savage way. I must have nursed at her
hairy breast from the time that my own mother died.
She fought for me against the wild denizens of the
forest, and against the savage members of our tribe,
with the ferocity of real mother love.
"And I, on my part, loved her, Paul. I did not
realize how much until after the cruel spear and the
poisoned arrow of Mbonga's black warrior had stolen
her away from me. I was still a child when that
occurred, and I threw myself upon her dead body and
wept out my anguish as a child might for his own
mother. To you, my friend, she would have appeared
a hideous and ugly creature, but to me she was beauti
ful so gloriously does love transfigure its object.
And so I am perfectly content to remain forever the
son of Kala, the she-ape."
"I do not admire you the less for your loyalty,"
said D'Arnot, "but the time will come when you will
be glad to claim your own. Remember what I say,
and let us hope that it will be as easy then as it is now.
You must bear in mind that Professor Porter and Mr.
Philander are tne only people in the world who can
swear that the little skeleton found in the cabin with
[31]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
those of your father and mother was that of an infant
anthropoid ape, and not the offspring 1 of Lord and
Lady Greystoke. That evidence is most important.
They are both old men. They may not live many
years longer. And then, did it not occur to you that
once Miss Porter knew the truth she would break her
engagement with Clayton? You might easily have
your title, your estates, and the woman you love,
Tarzan. Had you not thought of that?"
Tarzan shook his head. "You do not know her,"
he said. " Nothing could bind her closer to her bar
gain than some misfortune to Clayton. She is from
an old southern family in America, and southerners
pride themselves upon their loyalty."
Tarzan spent the two following weeks renewing his
former brief acquaintance with Paris. In the daytime
he haunted the libraries and picture galleries. He had
become an omnivorous reader, and the world of possi
bilities that were opened to him in this seat of culture
and learning fairly appalled him when he contem
plated the very infinitesimal crumb of the sum total of
human knowledge that a single individual might hope
to acquire even after a lifetime of study and research ;
but he learned what he could by day, and threw him
self into a search for relaxation and amusement at
night. Nor did he find Paris a whit less fertile field
for his nocturnal avocation.
If he smoked too many cigarettes and drank too
much absinth it was because he took civilization as
he found it, and did the things that he found his civil-
[32]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
ized brothers doing. The life was a new and alluring
one, and in addition he had a sorrow in his breast and
great longing which he knew could never be fulfilled,
and so he sought in study and in dissipation the
two extremes to forget the past and inhibit contem
plation of the future.
He was sitting in a music hall one evening, sipping
his absinth and admiring the art of a certain famous
Russian dancer, when he caught a passing glimpse of
a pair of evil black eyes upon him. The man turned
and was lost in the crowd at the exit before Tarzan
could catch a good look at him, but he was confident
that he had seen those eyes before and that they had
been fastened on him this evening through no passing
accident. He had had the uncanny feeling for some
time that he was being watched, and it was in response
to this animal instinct that was strong within him that
he had turned suddenly and surprised the eyes in the
very act of watching him.
Before he left the music hall the matter had been
forgotten, nor did he notice the swarthy individual
who stepped deeper into the shadows of an opposite
doorway as Tarzan emerged from the brilliantly
lighted amusement hall.
Had Tarzan but known it, he had been followed
many times from this and other places of amusement,
but seldom if ever had he been alone. Tonight
D'Arnot had had another engagement, and Tarzan
had come by himself.
As he turned in the direction he was accustomed to
[33]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
taking from this part of Paris to his apartments, the
watcher across the street ran from his hiding-place
and hurried on ahead at a rapid pace.
Tarzan had been wont to traverse the Rue Maule
on his way home at night. Because it was very quiet
and very dark it reminded him more of his beloved
African jungle than did the noisy and garish streets
surrounding it. If you are familiar with your Paris
you will recall the narrow, forbidding precincts of the
Rue Maule. If you are not, you need but ask the
police about it to learn that in all Paris there is no
street to which you should give a wider berth after
dark.
On this night Tarzan had proceeded some two
squares through the dense shadows of the squalid old
tenements which line this dismal way when he was
attracted by screams and cries for help from the third
floor of an opposite building. The voice was a
woman's. Before the echoes of her first cries had died
Tarzan was bounding up the stairs and through the
dark corridors to her rescue.
At the end of the corridor on the third landing a
door stood slightly ajar, and from within Tarzan
heard again the same appeal that had lured him from
the street. Another instant found him in the center
of a dimly-lighted room. An oil lamp burned upon a
high, old-fashioned mantel, casting its dim rays over
a dozen repulsive figures. All but one were men. The
other was a woman of about thirty. Her face, marked
by low passions and dissipation, might once have been
[34]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
lovely. She stood with one hand at her throat, crouch
ing against the farther wall.
" Help, monsieur," she cried in a low voice as Tarzan
entered the room ; " they were killing me."
As Tarzan turned toward the men about him he
saw the crafty, evil faces of habitual criminals. He
wondered that they had made no effort to escape. A
movement behind him caused him to turn. Two things
his eyes saw, and one of them caused him considerable
wonderment. A man was sneaking stealthily from the
room, and in the brief glance that Tarzan had of him
he saw that it was Rokoff.
But the other thing that he saw was of more imme
diate interest. It was a great brute of a fellow tip
toeing upon him from behind with a huge bludgeon in
his hand, and then, as the man and his confederates
saw that he was discovered, there was a concerted rush
upon Tarzan from all sides. Some of the men drew
knives. Others picked up chairs, while the fellow with
the bludgeon raised it high above his head in a mighty
swing that would have crushed Tarzan's head had it
ver descended upon it.
But the brain, and the agility, and the muscles that
had coped with the mighty strength and cruel crafti
ness of Terkoz and Numa in the fastness of their
savage jungle were not to be so easily subdued as
these apaches of Paris had believed.
Selecting his most formidable antagonist, the fellow
with the bludgeon, Tarzan charged full upon him,
dodging the falling weapon, and catching the maji a
[35]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
terrific blow on the point of the chin that felled him
in his tracks.
Then he turned upon the others. This was sport.
He was reveling in the joy of battle and the lust of
blood. As though it had been but a brittle shell, to
break at the least rough usage, the thin veneer of his
civilization fell from him, and ten burly villains found
themselves penned in a small room with a wild and
savage beast, against whose steel muscles their puny
strength was less than futile.
At the end of the corridor without stood Rokoff,
waiting the outcome of the affair. He wished to be
sure that Tarzan was dead before he left, but it was
not a part of his plan to be one of those within the
room when the murder occurred.
The woman still stood where she had when Tarzan
entered, but her face had undergone a number of
changes with the few minutes which had elapsed. From
the semblance of distress which it had worn when
Tarzan first saw it, it had changed to one of craftiness
as he had wheeled to meet the attack from behind ; but
the change Tarzan had not seen.
Later an expression of surprise and then one of hor
ror superseded the others. And who may wonder. For
the immaculate gentleman her cries had lured to what
was to have been his death had been suddenly meta
morphosed into a demon of revenge. Instead of soft
muscles and a weak resistance, she was looking upon a
veritable Hercules gone mad.
" Mon Dieu! " she cried ; " he is a beast ! " For the
[36]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
strong, white teeth of the ape-man had found the
throat of one of his assailants, and Tarzan fought as
he had learned to fight with the great bull apes of the
tribe of Kerchak.
He was in a dozen places at once, leaping hither
and thither about the room in sinuous bounds that
reminded the woman of a panther she had seen at the
zoo. Now a wrist-bone snapped in his iron grip, now
a shoulder was wrenched from its socket as he forced a
victim's arm backward and upward.
With shrieks of pain the men escaped into the hall
way as quickly as they could ; but even before the first
one staggered, bleeding and broken, from the room,
Rokoff had seen enough to convince him that Tarzan
would not be the one to lie dead in that house this
night, and so the Russian had hastened to a nearby
den and telephoned the police that a man was commit
ting murder on the third floor of Rue Maule, 27.
When the officers arrived they found three men
groaning on the floor, a frightened woman lying upon
a filthy bed, her face buried in her arms, and what
appeared to be a well-dressed young gentleman
standing in the center of the room awaiting the re-
enforcements which he had thought the footsteps of
the officers hurrying up the stairway had announced
but they were mistaken in the last ; it was a wild beast
that looked upon them through those narrowed lids
and steel-gray eyes. With the smell of blood the last
vestige of civilization had deserted Tarzan, and now
he stood at bay, like a lion surrounded by hunters,
[37]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
awaiting the next overt act, and crouching to charge
its author.
"What has happened here?" asked one of the
policemen.
Tarzan explained briefly, but when he turned to
the woman for confirmation of his statement he was
appalled by her reply.
"He lies!" she screamed shrilly, addressing the
policemen. " He came to my room while I was alone,
and for no good purpose. When I repulsed him he
would have killed me had not my screams attracted
these gentlemen, who were passing the house at the
time. He is a devil, monsieurs; alone he has all but
killed ten men with his bare hands and his teeth."
So shocked was Tarzan by her ingratitude that
for a moment he was struck dumb. The police were
inclined to be a little skeptical, for they had had other
dealings with this same lady and her lovely coterie of
gentlemen friends. However, they were policemen, not
judges, so they decided to place all the inmates of the
room under arrest, and let another, whose business it
was, separate the innocent from the guilty.
But they found that it was one thing to tell this
well-dressed young man that he was under arrest, but
quite another to enforce it.
"I am guilty of no offense," he said quietly. "I
have but sought to defend myself. I do not know why
the woman has told you what she has. She can have
no enmity against me, for never until I came to this
room in response to her cries for help had I seen her."
[38]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
" Come, come," said one of the officers ; " there are
judges to listen to all that," and he advanced to lay
his hand upon Tarzan's shoulder. An instant later
he lay crumpled in a corner of the room, and then, as
his comrades rushed in upon the ape-man, they expe
rienced a taste of what the apaches had but recently
gone through. So quickly and so roughly did he
handle them that they had not even an opportunity to
draw their revolvers.
During the brief fight Tarzan had noted the open
window and, beyond, the stem of a tree, or a telegraph
pole he could not tell which. As the last officer
went down, one of his fellows succeeded in drawing his
revolver and, from where he lay on the floor, fired at
Tarzan. The shot missed, and before the man could
fire again Tarzan had swept the lamp from the mantel
and plunged the room into darkness.
The next they saw was a lithe form spring to the
sill of the open window and leap, panther-like, onto
the pole across the walk. When the police gathered
themselves together and reached the street their
prisoner was nowhere to be seen.
They did not handle the woman and the men who
had not escaped any too gently when they took them
to the station ; they were a very sore and humiliated
detail of police. It galled them to think that it would
be necessary to report that a single unarmed man had
wiped the floor with the whole lot of them, and then
escaped them as easily as though they had not existed.
The officer who had remained in the ^street swore
[39]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
that no one had leaped from the window or left the
building from the time they entered until they had
come out. His comrades thought that he lied, but
they could not prove it.
When Tarzan found himself clinging to the pole
outside the window, he followed his jungle instinct
and looked below for enemies before he ventured down.
It was well he did, for just beneath stood a policeman.
Above, Tarzan saw no one, so he went up instead of
down.
The top of the pole was opposite the roof of the
building, so it was but the work of an instant for
the muscles that had for years sent him hurtling
through the treetops of his primeval forest to carry
him across the little space between the pole and the
roof. From one building he went to another, and so
on, with much climbing, until at a cross street he dis
covered another pole, down which he ran to the
ground.
For a square or two he ran swiftly ; then he turned
into a little all-night cafe and in the lavatory removed
the evidences of his over-roof promenade from hands
and clothes. When he emerged a few moments later
it was to saunter slowly on toward his apartments.
Not far from them he came to a well-lighted boule
vard which it was necessary to cross. As he stood
directly beneath a brilliant arc light, waiting for a
limousine that was approaching to pass him, he heard
his name called in a sweet feminine voice. Looking
up, he met the smiling eyes of Olga de Coude as she
[40]
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE RUE MAULE
leaned forward upon the back seat of the machine.
He bowed very low in response to her friendly greet
ing. When he straightened up the machine had borne
her away.
"Rokoff and the Countess de Coude both in the
same evening," he soliloquized ; " Paris is not so large,
after all."
IV
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
'VT'OUR Paris is more dangerous than my savage
-- jungles, Paul," concluded Tarzan, after nar
rating his adventures to his friend the morning follow
ing his encounter with the apaches and police in the
Rue Maule. "Why did they lure me there? Were
they hungry ? "
D'Arnot feigned a horrified shudder, but he laughed
at the quaint suggestion.
"It is difficult to rise above the jungle standards
and reason by the light of civilized ways, is it not, my
friend ? " he queried banteringly .
"Civilized ways, forsooth," scoffed Tarzan.
" Jungle standards do not countenance wanton atroc
ities. There we kill for food and for self-preserva
tion, or in the winning of mates and the protection of
the young. Always, you see, in accordance with the
dictates of some great natural law. But here ! Faugh,
your civilized man is more brutal than the brutes. He
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
kills wantonly, and, worse than that, he utilizes a noble
sentiment, the brotherhood of man, as a lure to entice
his unwary victim to his doom. It was in answer to
an appeal from a fellow being that I hastened to that
room where the assassins lay in wait for me.
"I did not realize, I could not realize for a long
time afterward, that any woman could sink to such
moral depravity as that one must have to call a would-
be rescuer to death. But it must have been so the
sight of Rokoff there and the woman's later repudia
tion of me to the police make it impossible to place
any other construction upon her acts. Rokoff must
have known that I frequently passed through the Rue
Maule. He lay in wait for me his entire scheme
worked out to the last detail, even to the woman's
story in case a hitch should occur in the program such
as really did happen. It is all perfectly plain to me."
" Well," said D'Arnot, " among other things, it has
taught you what I have been unable to impress upon
you that the Rue Maule is a good place to avoid
after dark."
" On the contrary," replied Tarzan, with a smile,
" it has convinced me that it is the one worth-while
street in all Paris. Never again shall I miss an oppor
tunity to traverse it, for it has given me the first real
entertainment I have had since I left Africa."
"It may give you more than you will relish even
without another visit," said D'Arnot. "You are not
through with the police yet, remember. I know the
Paris police well enough to assure you that they will
[43]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
not soon forget what you did to them. Sooner or
later they will get you, my dear Tarzan, and then
they will lock the wild man of the woods up behind
iron bars. How will you like that ? "
"They will never lock Tarzan of the Apes behind
iron bars," replied he, grimly.
There was something in the man's voice as he said
it that caused D'Arnot to look up sharply at his
friend. What he saw in the set jaw and the cold, gray
eyes made the young Frenchman very apprehensive
for this great child, who could recognize no law
mightier than his own mighty physical prowess. He
saw that something must be done to set Tarzan right
with the police before another encounter was possible.
" You have much to learn, Tarzan," he said gravely.
"The law of man must be respected, whether you
relish it or no. Nothing but trouble can come to you
and your friends should you persist in defying the
police. I can explain it to them once for you, and
that I shall do this very day, but hereafter you must
obey the law. If its representatives say ' Come,' you
must come ; if they say ' Go,' you must go. Now we
shall go to my great friend in the department and fix
up this matter of the Rue Maule. Come ! "
Together they entered the office of the police official
a half hour later. He was very cordial. He remem
bered Tarzan from the visit the two had made him
several months prior in the matter of finger prints.
When D'Arnot had concluded the narration of the
events which had transpired the previous evening, a
[44]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
grim smile was playing about the lips of the police
man. He touched a button near his hand, and as he
waited for the clerk to respond to its summons he
searched through the papers on his desk for one which
he finally located.
46 Here, Joubon," he said as the clerk entered.
"Summon these officers have them come to me at
once," and he handed the man the paper he had sought.
Then he turned to Tarzan.
"You have committed a very grave offense, mon
sieur," he said, not unkindly, " and but for the expla
nation made by our good friend here I should be
inclined to judge you harshly. I am, instead, about
to do a rather unheard-of thing. I have summoned
the officers whom you maltreated last night. They
shall hear Lieutenant D'Arnot's story, and then I
shall leave it to their discretion to say whether you
shall be prosecuted or not.
" You have much to learn about the ways of civili
zation. Things that seem strange or unnecessary to
you, you must learn to accept until you are able to
judge the motives behind them. The officers whom
you attacked were but doing their duty. They had
no discretion in the matter. Every day they risk their
lives in the protection of the lives or property of
others. They would do the same for you. They are
very brave men, and they are deeply mortified that a
single unarmed man bested and beat them.
"Make it easy for them to overlook what you did.
Unless I am gravely in error you are yourself a very
[45]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
brave man, and brave men are proverbially magnan
imous."
Further conversation was interrupted by the ap
pearance of the four policemen. As their eyes fell
on Tarzan, surprise was writ large on each counte
nance.
" My children," said the official, " here is the gentle
man whom you met in the Rue Maule last evening. He
has come voluntarily to give himself up. I wish you
to listen attentively to Lieutenant IVArnot, who will
tell you a part of the story of monsieur's life. It may
explain his attitude toward you of last night. Pro
ceed, my dear lieutenant."
D'Arnot spoke to the policemen for half an hour.
He told them something of Tarzan's wild jungle life.
He explained the savage training that had taught him
to battle like a wild beast in self-preservation. It be
came plain to them that the man had been guided by
instinct rather than reason in his attack upon them.
He had not understood their intentions. To him they
had been little different from any of the various forms
of life he had been accustomed to in his native jungle,
where practically all were his enemies.
" Your pride has been wounded," said D'Arnot, in
conclusion. " It is the fact that this man overcame you
that hurts the most. But you need feel no shame.
You would not make apologies for defeat had you
been penned in that small room with an African Kon,
or with the great Gorilla of the jungles.
" And yet you were battling with muscles that have
[46]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
time and time again been pitted, and always vic
toriously, against these terrors of the dark continent.
It is no disgrace to fall beneath the superhuman
strength of Tarzan of the Apes."
And then, as the men stood looking first at Tarzan
and then at their superior the ape-man did the one
thing which was needed to erase the last remnant of
animosity which they might have felt for him. With
outstretched hand he advanced toward them.
" I am sorry for the mistake I made," he said simply.
"Let us be friends." And that was the end of the
whole matter, except that Tarzan became a subject of
much conversation in the barracks of the police, and
increased the number of his friends by four brave men
at least.
On their return to D'Arnot's apartments the lieuten
ant found a letter awaiting him from an English
friend, William Cecil Clayton, Lord Greystoke. The
two had maintained a correspondence since the birth
of their friendship on that ill-fated expedition in search
of Jane Porter after her theft by Terkoz, the bull
ape.
"They are to be married in London in about two
months," said D'Arnot, as he completed his perusal of
the letter. Tarzan did not need to be told who was
meant by "they." He made no reply, but he was
very quiet and thoughtful during the balance of the
day.
That evening they attended the opera. Tarzan's
mind was still occupied by his gloomy thoughts. He
[47]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
paid little or no attention to what was transpiring
upon the stage. Instead he saw only the lovely vision
of a beautiful American girl, and heard naught but a
sad, sweet voice acknowledging that his love was re
turned. And she was to marry another !
He shook himself to be rid of his unwelcome
thoughts, and at the same instant he felt eyes upon
him. With the instinct that was his by virtue of train
ing he looked up squarely into the eyes that were look
ing at him, to find that they were shining from the
smiling face of Olga, Countess de Coude. As Tarzan
returned her bow he was positive that there was an
invitation in her look, almost a plea.
The next intermission found him beside her in her
box.
"I have so much wished to see you," she was say
ing. " It has troubled me not a little to think that
after the services you rendered to both my husband
and myself no adequate explanation was ever made
you of what must have seemed ingratitude on our part
in not taking the necessary steps to prevent a repeti
tion of the attacks upon us by those two men."
" You wrong me," replied Tarzan. " My thoughts
of you have been only the most pleasant. You must
not feel that any explanation is due me. Have they
annoyed you further?"
"They never cease," she replied sadly. "I feel
that I must tell some one, and I do not know another
who so deserves an explanation as you. You must
permit me to do so. It may be of service to you, for
[48]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
I know Nikolas Rokoff quite well enough to be posi
tive that you have not seen the last of him. He will
find some means to be revenged upon you. What I
wish to tell you may be of aid to you in combating
any scheme of revenge he may harbor. I cannot tell
you here, but tomorrow I shall be at home to Mon
sieur Tarzan at five."
" It will be an eternity until tomorrow at five," he
said, as he bade her good night.
From a corner of the theater Rokoff and Paulvitch
saw Monsieur Tarzan in the box of the Countess de
Coude, and both men smiled.
At four-thirty the following afternoon a swarthy,
bearded man rang the bell at the servants' entrance of
the palace of the Count de Coude. The footman who
opened the door raised his eyebrows in recognition as
he saw who stood without. A low conversation passed
between the two.
At first the footman demurred from some proposi
tion that the bearded one made, but an instant later
something passed from the hand of the caller to the
hand of the servant. Then the latter turned and led
the visitor by a roundabout way to a little curtained
alcove off the apartment in which the countess was
wont to serve tea of an afternoon.
A half hour later Tarzan was ushered into the room,
and presently his hostess entered, smiling, and with
outstretched hands.
" I am so glad that you came," she said.
" Nothing could have prevented," he replied.
[49]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
For a few moments they spoke of the opera, of the
topics that were then occupying the attention of Paris,
of the pleasure of renewing their brief acquaintance
which had had its inception under such odd circum
stances, and this brought them to the subject that was
uppermost in the minds of both.
"You must have wondered," said the countess
finally, " what the object of RokofPs persecution could
be. It is very simple. The count is intrusted with
many of the vital secrets of the ministry of war. He
often has in his possession papers that foreign powers
would give a fortune to possess secrets of state that
their agents would commit murder and worse than
murder to learn.
"There is such a matter now in his possession that
would make the fame and fortune of any Russian who
could divulge it to his government. Rokoff and Paul-
vitch are Russian spies. They will stop at nothing to
procure this information. The affair on the liner I
mean the matter of the card game was for the pur
pose of blackmailing the knowledge they seek from
my husband.
"Had he been convicted of cheating at cards, his
career would have been blighted. He would have had
to leave the war department. He would have been
socially ostracized. They intended to hold this club
over him the price of an avowal on their part that
the count was but the victim of the plot of enemies
who wished to besmirch his name was to have been the
papers they seek.
[50]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
"You thwarted them in this. Then they con
cocted the scheme whereby my reputation was to be
the price, instead of the count's. When Paulvitch en
tered my cabin he explained it to me. If I would ob
tain the information for them he promised to go no
farther, otherwise Rokoff, who stood without, was to
notify the purser that I was entertaining a man other
than my husband behind the locked doors of my
cabin. He was to tell every one he met on the boat,
and when we landed he was to have given the whole
story to the newspaper men.
"Was it not too horrible? But I happened to
know something of Monsieur Paulvitch that would
send him to the gallows in Russia if it were known by
the police of St. Petersburg. I dared him to carry
out his plan, and then I leaned toward him and whis
pered a name in his ear. Like that" and she
snapped her fingers " he flew at my throat as a mad
man. He would have killed me had you not inter
fered."
" The brutes ! " muttered Tarzan.
"They are worse than that, my friend," she said.
"They are devils. I fear for you because you have
gained their hatred. I wish you to be on your guard
constantly. Tell me that you will, for my sake, for I
should never forgive myself should you suffer through
the kindness you did me."
"I do not fear them," he replied. "I have sur
vived grimmer enemies than Rokoff and Paulvitch."
He saw that she knew nothing of the occurrence in
[51]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
the Rue Maule, nor did he mention it, fearing that it
might distress her.
"For your own safety," he continued, "why do
you not turn the scoundrels over to the authorities?
They should make quick work of them."
She hesitated for a moment before replying.
" There are two reasons," she said finally. " One
of them it is that keeps the count from doing that
very thing. The other, my real reason for fearing
to expose them, I have never told only Rokoff and
I know it. I wonder," and then she paused, looking
intently at him for a long time.
"And what do you wonder?" he asked, smiling.
" I was wondering why it is that I want to tell you
the thing that I have not dared tell even to my hus
band. I believe that you would understand, and that
you could tell me the right course to follow. I believe
that you would not judge me too harshly."
"I fear that I should prove a very poor judge,
madame," Tarzan replied, " for if you had been guilty
of murder I should say that the victim should be grate
ful to have met so sweet a fate."
"Oh, dear, no," she expostulated; "it is not so ter
rible as that. But first let me tell you the reason the
count has for not prosecuting these men; then, if I
can hold my courage, I shall tell you the real reason
that I dare not. The first is that Nikolas Rokoff is
my brother. We are Russians. Nikolas has been a
bad man since I can remember. He was cashiered
from the Russian army, in which he held a captaincy.
[52]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
There was a scandal for a time, but after a while
it was partially forgotten, and my father obtained
a position for him in the secret service.
" There have been many terrible crimes laid at Nik
olas' door, but he has always managed to escape pun
ishment. Of late he has accomplished it by trumped-
up evidence convicting his victims of treason against
the czar, and the Russian police, who are always only
too ready to fasten guilt of this nature upon any
and all, have accepted his version and exonerated
him."
"Have not his attempted crimes against you and
your husband forfeited whatever rights the bonds of
kinship might have accorded him?" asked Tarzan.
" The fact that you are his sister has not deterred him
from seeking to besmirch your honor. You owe him
no loyalty, madame."
" Ah, but there is that other reason. If I owe him
no loyalty though he be my brother, I cannot so easily
disavow the fear I hold him in because of a certain epi
sode in my life of which he is cognizant.
" I might as well tell you all," she resumed after a
pause, "for I see that it is in my heart to tell you
sooner or later. I was educated in a convent. While
there I met a man whom I supposed to be a gentle
man. I knew little or nothing about men and less
about love. I got it into my foolish head that I loved
this man, and at his urgent request I ran away with
him. We were to have been married.
" I was with him just three hours. All in the day-
[53]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
time and in public places railroad stations and upon
a train. When we reached our destination where we
were to have been married, two officers stepped up to
my escort as we descended from the train, and placed
him under arrest. They took me also, but when I
had told my story they did not detain me, other than
to send me back to the convent under the care of a
matron. It seemed that the man who had wooed me
was no gentleman at all, but a deserter from the army
as well as a fugitive from civil justice. He had a po
lice record in nearly every country in Europe.
"The matter was hushed up by the authorities of
the convent. Not even my parents knew of it. But
Nikolas met the man afterward, and learned the whole
story. Now he threatens to tell the count if I do not
do just as he wishes me to."
Tarzan laughed. "You are still but a little girl.
The story that you have told me cannot reflect in any
way upon your reputation, and were you not a little
girl at heart you would know it. Go to your husband
tonight, and tell him the whole story, just as you have
told it to me. Unless I am much mistaken he will
laugh at you for your fears, and take immediate steps
to put that precious brother of yours in prison where
he belongs."
"I only wish that I dared," she said; "but I am
afraid. I learned early to fear men. First my father,
then Nikolas, then the fathers in the convent. Nearly
all my friends fear their husbands why should I not
fear mine ? "
[54]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
"It does not seem right that women should fear
men," said Tarzan, an expression of puzzlement on
his face. "I am better acquainted with the jungle
folk, and there it is more often the other way around,
except among the black men, and they to my mind
are in most ways lower in the scale than the beasts.
No, I cannot understand why civilized women should
fear men, the beings that are created to protect
them. I should hate to think that any woman feared
me."
"I do not think that any woman would fear you,
my friend," said Olga de Coude softly. "I have
known you but a short while, yet though it may seem
foolish to say it, you are the only man I have ever
known whom I think that I sheuld never fear it is
strange, too, for you are very strong. I wondered at
the ease with which you handled Nikolas and Paulvitch
that night in my cabin. It was marvelous."
As Tarzan was leaving her a short time later he
wondered a little at the clinging pressure of her hand
at parting, and the firm insistence with which she ex
acted a promise from him that he would call again on
the morrow.
The memory of her half -veiled eyes and perfect lips
as she had stood smiling up into his face as he bade
her good-by remained with him for the balance of the
day. Olga de Coude was a very beautiful woman, and
Tarzan of the Apes a very lonely young man, with a
heart in him that was in need of the doctoring that
enly a woman may provide.
[55]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
As the countess turned back into the room after
Tarzan's departure, she found herself face to face
with Nikolas Rokoff.
" How long have you been here ? " she cried, shrink
ing away from him.
" Since before your lover came," he answered, with
a nasty leer.
" Stop ! " she commanded. " How dare you say
such a thing to me your sister ! "
" Well, my dear Olga, if he is not your lover, accept
my apologies; but it is no fault of yours that he is
not. Had he one-tenth the knowledge of women that
I have you would be in his arms this minute. He is a
stupid fool, Olga. Why, your every word and act was
an open invitation to him, and he had not the sense to
see it."
The woman put her hands to her ears.
"I will not listen. You are wicked to say such
things as that. No matter what you may threaten
me with, you know that I am a good woman. After
tonight you will not dare to annoy me, for I shall tell
Raoul all. He will understand, and then, Monsieur
Nikolas, beware ! "
"You shall tell him nothing," said Rokoff. "I
have this affair now, and with the help of one of your
servants whom I may trust it will lack nothing in the
telling when the time comes that the details of the
sworn evidence shall be poured into your husband's
ears. The other affair served its purpose well we
now have something tangible to work on, Olga. A
[56]
THE COUNTESS EXPLAINS
real affair and you a trusted wife. Shame, Olga,"
and the brute laughed.
So the countess told her count nothing, and matters
were worse than they had been. From a vague fear
her mind was transferred to a very tangible one. It
may be, too, that conscience helped to enlarge it out
of all proportions.
187]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
TTj^OR a month Tarzan was a regular and very
* welcome devotee at the shrine of the beautiful
Countess de Coude. Often he met other members of
the select little coterie that dropped in for tea of an
afternoon. More often Olga found devices that would
give her an hour of Tarzan alone.
For a time she had been frightened by what Nikolas
had insinuated. She had not thought of this big,
young man as anything more than friend, but with
the suggestion implanted by the evil words of her
brother she had grown to speculate much upon the
strange force which seemed to attract her toward the
gray-eyed stranger. She did not wish to love him,
nor did she wish his love.
She was much younger than her husband, and with
out having realized it she had been craving the haven
of a friendship with one nearer her own age. Twenty
is shy in exchanging confidences with forty. Tarzan
[58]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
was but two years her senior. He could understand
her, she felt. Then he was clean and honorable and
chivalrous. She was not afraid of him. That she
could trust him she had felt instinctively from the first.
From a distance Rokoff had watched this growing
intimacy with malicious glee. Ever since he had
learned that Tarzan knew that he was a Russian spy
there had been added to his hatred for the ape-man a
great fear that he would expose him. He was but
waiting now until the moment was propitious for a
master stroke. He wanted to rid himself forever of
Tarzan, and at the same time reap an ample revenge
for the humiliations and defeats that he had suffered
at his hands.
Tarzan was nearer to contentment than he had been
since the peace and tranquility of his jungle had been
broken in upon by the advent of the marooned Porter
party.
He enjoyed the pleasant social intercourse with
Olga's friends, while the friendship which had sprung
up between the fair countess and himself was a source
of never-ending delight. It broke in upon and dis
persed his gloomy thoughts, and served as a balm to
his lacerated heart.
Sometimes D'Arnot accompanied him on his visits
to the De Coude home, for he had long known both
Olga and the count. Occasionally De Coude dropped
in, but the multitudinous affairs of his official position
and the never-ending demands of politics kept him
from home usually until late at night.
[59]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Rokoff spied upon Tarzan almost constantly, wait
ing for the time that he should call at the De Coude
palace at night, but in this he was doomed to disap
pointment. On several occasions Tarzan accom
panied the countess to her home after the opera, but
he invariably left her at the entrance much to the
disgust of the lady's devoted brother.
Finding that it seemed impossible to trap Tarzan
through any voluntary act of his own, Rokoff and
Paulvitch put their heads together to hatch a plan
that would trap the ape-man in all the circumstantial
evidence of a compromising position.
For days they watched the papers as well as the
movements of De Coude and Tarzan. At length they
were rewarded. A morning paper made brief mention
of a smoker that was to be given on the following
evening by the German minister. De Coude's name
was among those of the invited guests. If he attended
this meant that he would be absent from his home
until after midnight.
On the night of the banquet Paulvitch waited at the
curb before the residence of the German minister,
where he could scan the face of each guest that
arrived. He had not long to wait before De
Coude descended from his car and passed him.
That was enough. Paulvitch hastened back to
his quarters, where Rokoff awaited him. There
they waited until after eleven, then Paulvitch took
down the receiver of their telephone. He called a
number.
[60]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
"The apartments of Lieutenant D'Arnot?" he
asked, when he had obtained his connection.
" A message for Monsieur Tarzan, if he will be so
kind as to step to the telephone."
For a minute there was silence.
" Monsieur Tarzan ?
"Ah, yes, monsieur, this is Fra^ois in the serv
ice of the Countess de Coude. Possibly monsieur does
poor Fran9ois the honor to recall him yes ?
" Yes, monsieur. I have a message, an urgent mes
sage from the countess. She asks that you hasten to
her at once she is in trouble, monsieur.
66 No, monsieur, poor Francois does not know. Shall
I tell madame that monsieur will be here shortly ?
"Thank you, monsieur. The good God will bless
you."
Paulvitch hung up the receiver and turned to grin
at Rokoff.
"It will take him thirty minutes to get there. If
you reach the German minister's in fifteen, De Coude
should arrive at his home in about forty-five minutes.
It all depends upon whether the fool will remain fif
teen minutes after he finds that a trick has been played
upon him ; but unless I am mistaken Olga will be loath
to let him go in so short a time as that. Here is the
note for De Coude. Hasten ! "
Paulvitch lost no time in reaching the German min
ister's. At the door he handed the note to a footman.
" This is for the Count de Coude. It is very urgent.
You must see that it is placed in his hands at once,"
[61]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
and he dropped a piece of silver into the willing hand
of the servant. Then he returned to his quarters.
A moment later De Coude was apologizing to his
host as he tore open the envelope. What he read left
his face white and his hand trembling:
MONSIEUR LK COUNT DE COUDE:
One who wishes to save the honor of your name takes
this means to warn you that the sanctity of your home
is this minute in jeopardy.
A certain man who for months has been a constant
visitor there during your absence is now with your wife.
If you go at once to your countess' boudoir you will find
them together.
A FRIEND.
Twenty minutes after Paulvitch had called Tarzan,
Rokoff obtained a connection with Olga's private line.
Her maid answered the telephone which was in the
countess' boudoir.
" But madame has retired," said the maid, in answer
to Rokoff 's request to speak with her.
"This is a very urgent message for the countess'
ears alone," replied Rokoff. " Tell her that she must
arise and slip something about her and come to the
telephone. I shall call up again in five minutes."
Then he hung up his receiver. A moment later Paul
vitch entered.
" The count has the message ? " asked Rokoff.
"He should be on his way to his home by now,"
replied Paulvitch.
"Good! My lady will be sitting in her boudoir,
[62]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
very much in negligee, about now. In a minute the
faithful Jacques will escort Monsieur Tarzan into her
presence without announcing him. It will take a few
minutes for explanations. Olga will look very allur
ing in the filmy creation that is her nightdress, and
the clinging robe which but half conceals the charms
that the former does not conceal at all. Olga will be
surprised, but not displeased.
"If there is a drop of red blood in the man the
count will break in upon a very pretty love scene in
about fifteen minutes from now. I think we have
planned marvelously, my dear Alexis. Let us go out
and drink to the very good health of Monsieur Tar
zan in some of old Plancon's unparalleled absinth ; not
forgetting that the Count de Coude is one of the best
swordsmen in Paris, and by far the best shot in all
France."
When Tarzan reached Olga's, Jacques was awaiting
him at the entrance.
" This way, monsieur," he said, and led the way up
the broad, marble staircase. In another moment he
had opened a door, and, drawing aside a heavy cur
tain, obsequiously bowed Tarzan into a dimly lighted
apartment. Then Jacques vanished.
Across the room from him Tarzan saw Olga seated
before a little desk on which stood her telephone. She
was tapping impatiently upon the polished surface of
the desk. She had not heard him enter.
" Olga," he said, " what is wrong? "
She turned toward him with a little cry of alarm.
[63]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Jean!" she cried. "What are you doing here?
Who admitted you? What does it mean? "
Tarzan was thunderstruck, but in an instant he
realized a part of the truth.
"Then you did not send for me, Olga?"
" Send for you at this time of night? Mon Dieu!
Jean, do you think that I am quite mad? "
" Fran9ois telephoned me to come at once ; that you
were in trouble and wanted me."
" Fra^ois ? Who in the world is Fran9ois ? "
" He said that he was in your service. He spoke as
though I should recall the fact."
"There is no one by that name in my employ.
Some one has played a joke upon you, Jean," and
Olga laughed.
"I fear that it may be a most sinister 'joke,'
Olga," he replied. "There is more back of it than
humor."
"What do you mean? You do not think that "
"Where is the count?" he interrupted.
"At the German ambassador's."
"This is another move by your estimable brother.
Tomorrow the count will hear of it. He will question
the servants. Everything will point to to what
Rokoff wishes the count to think."
" The scoundrel ! " cried Olga. She had arisen, and
come close to Tarzan, where she stood looking up into
his face. She was very frightened. In her eyes was
an expression that the hunter sees in those of a poor,
terrified doe puzzled questioning. She trembled,
[64]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
and to steady herself raised her hands to his broad
shoulders. "What shall we do, Jean?" she whis
pered. " It is terrible. Tomorrow all Paris will read
of it he will see to that."
Her look, her attitude, her words were eloquent of
the age-old appeal of defenseless woman to her natural
protector man. Tarzan took one of the warm little
hands that lay on his breast in his own strong one.
The act was quite involuntary, and almost equally so
was the instinct of protection that threw a sheltering
arm around the girl's shoulders.
The result was electrical. Never before had he been
so close to her. In startled guilt they looked suddenly
into each other's eyes, and where Olga de Coude should
have been strong she was weak, for she crept closer
Into the man's arms, and clasped her own about his
neck. And Tarzan of the Apes? He took the pant
ing figure into his mighty arms, and covered the hot
lips with kisses.
Raoul de Coude made hurried excuses to his host
after he had read the note handed him by the ambas
sador's butler. Never afterward could he recall the
nature of the excuses he made. Everything was quite
a blur to him up to the time that he stood on the
threshold of his own home. Then he became very
cool, moving quietly and with caution. For some in-
explicabk reason Jacques had the door open before
he was halfway to the steps. It did not strike him at
the time as being unusual, though afterward he re
marked it.
[65]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Very softly he tiptoed up the stairs and along the
gallery to the door of his wife's boudoir. In his hand
was a heavy walking stick in his heart, murder.
Olga was the first to see him. With a horrified
shriek she tore herself from Tarzan's arms, and the
ape-man turned just in time to ward with his arm a
terrific blow that De Coude had aimed at his head.
Once, twice, three times the heavy stick fell with light
ning rapidity, and each blow aided in the transition of
the ape-man back to the primordial.
With the low, guttural snarl of the bull ape he
sprang for the Frenchman. The great stick was torn
from his grasp and broken in two as though it had
been matchwood, to be flung aside as the now infuri
ated beast charged for his adversary's throat.
Olga de Coude stood a horrified spectator of the
terrible scene which ensued during the next brief
moment, then she sprang to where Tarzan was mur
dering her husband choking the life from him
shaking him as a terrier might shake a rat.
Frantically she tore at his great hands. "Mother
of God!" she cried. "You are killing him, you are
killing him ! Oh, Jean, you are killing my husband ! "
Tarzan was deaf with rage. Suddenly he hurled
the body to the floor, and, placing his foot upon the
upturned breast, raised his head. Then through the
palace of the Count de Coude rang the awesome chal
lenge of the bull ape that has made a kill. From cellar
to attic the horrid sound searched out the servants, and
left them blanched and trembling. The woman in the
[66]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
room sank to her knees beside the body of her hus
band, and prayed.
Slowly the red mist faded from before Tarzan's
eyes. Things began to take form he was regaining
the perspective of civilized man. His eyes fell upon
the figure of the kneeling woman. " Olga," he whis
pered. She looked up, expecting to see the maniacal
light of murder in the eyes above her. Instead she
saw sorrow and contrition.
" Oh, Jean ! " she cried. " See what you have done.
He was my husband. I loved him, and you have killed
him."
Very gently Tarzan raised the limp form of the
Count de Coude and bore it to a couch. Then he put
his ear to the man's breast.
" Some brandy, Olga," he said.
She brought it, and together they forced it between
his lips. Presently a faint gasp came from the white
lips. The head turned, and De Coude groaned.
" He will not die," said Tarzan. " Thank God ! "
" Why did you do it, Jean ? " she asked.
"I do not know. He struck me, and I went mad.
I have seen the apes of my tribe do the same thing.
I have never told you my story, Olga. It would have
been better had you known it this might not have
happened. I never saw my father. The only mother
I ever knew was a ferocious she-ape. Until I was fif
teen I had never seen a human being. I was twenty
before I saw a white man. A little more than a year
ago I was a naked beast of prey in an African jungle.
[67]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
" Do not judge me too harshly. Two years is too
short a time in which to attempt to work the change in
an individual that it has taken countless ages to ac
complish in the white race."
"I do not judge you at all, Jean. The fault is
mine. You must go now he must not find you here
when he regains consciousness. Good-by."
It was a sorrowful Tarzan who walked with bowed
head from the palace of the Count de Coude.
Once outside his thoughts took definite shape, to the
end that twenty minutes later he entered a police sta
tion not far from the Rue Maule. Here he soon
found one of the officers with whom he had had the
encounter several weeks previous. The policeman was
genuinely glad to see again the man who had so
roughly handled him. After a moment of conversa
tion Tarzan asked if he had ever heard of Nikolas
Rokoff or Alexis Paulvitch.
" Very often, indeed, monsieur. Each has a police
record, and while there is nothing charged against
them now, we make it a point to know pretty well
where they may be found should the occasion demand.
It is only the same precaution that we take with every
known criminal. Why does monsieur ask?
"They are known to me," replied Tarzan. "I
wish to see Monsieur Rokoff on a little matter of
business. If you can direct me to his lodgings I shall
appreciate it."
A few minutes later he bade the policeman adieu,
and, with a slip of paper in his pocket bearing a cer-
[68]
THE PLOT THAT FAILED
tain address in a semirespectable quarter, he walked
briskly toward the nearest taxi stand.
Rokoff and Paulvitch had returned to their rooms,
and were sitting talking over the probable outcome of
the evening's events. They had telephoned to the
offices of two of the morning papers from which they
momentarily expected representatives to hear the first
report of the scandal that was to stir social Paris on
the morrow.
A heavy step sounded on the stairway. "Ah, but
these newspaper men are prompt," exclaimed Rokoff ,
and as a knock fell upon the door of their room:
" Enter, monsieur."
The smile of welcome froze upon the Russian's
face as he looked into the hard, gray eyes of his
visitor.
" Name of a name ! " he shouted, springing to his
feet. " What brings you here ? "
" Sit down ! " said Tarzan, so low that the men could
barely catch the words, but in a tone that brought
Rokoff to his chair, and kept Paulvitch in his.
"You know what has brought me here," he con
tinued, in the same low tone. "It should be to kill
you, but because you are Olga de Coude's brother I
shall not do that now.
"I shall give you a chance for your lives. Paul
vitch does not count much he is merely a stupid,
foolish little tool, and so I shall not kill him so long
as I permit you to live. Before I leave you two alive
in this room you will have done two things. The first
[69]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
will be to write a full confession of your connection
with tonight's plot and sign it.
"The second will be to promise me upon pain of
death that you will permit no word of this affair to
get into the newspapers. If you do not do both,
neither of you will be alive when I pass next through
that doorway. Do you understand?" And, without
waiting for a reply : " Make haste ; there is ink before
you, and paper and a pen."
Rokoff assumed a truculent air, attempting by bra
vado to show how little he feared Tarzan's threats.
An instant later he felt the ape-man's steel fingers at
his throat, and Paulvitch, who attempted to dodge
them and reach the door, was lifted completely off the
floor, and hurled senseless into a corner. When Rokoff
commenced to blacken about the face Tarzan released
his hold and shoved the fellow back into his chair.
After a moment of coughing Rokoff sat sullenly glar
ing at the man standing opposite him. Presently
Paulvitch came to himself, and limped painfully back
to his chair at Tarzan's command.
"Now write," said the ape-man. "If it is
necessary to handle you again I shall not be so
lenient."
Rokoff picked up a pen and commenced to write.
" See that you omit no detail, and that you mention
every name," cautioned Tarzan.
Presently there was a knock at the door. " Enter,'*
said Tarzan.
A dapper young man came in. "I am from the
[70]
THE. PLOT THAT FAILED
Matin" he announced. " I understand that Monsieur
Rokoff has a story for me."
"Then you are mistaken, monsieur," replied Tar-
zan. " You have no story for publication, have you,
my dear Nikolas ? "
Rokoff looked up from his writing with an ugly
scowl upon his face.
"No," he growled, "I have no story for publica
tion now."
" Nor ever, my dear Nikolas," and the reporter did
not see the nasty light in the ape-man's eye ; but Nik
olas Rokoff did.
" Nor ever," he repeated hastily.
" It is too bad that monsieur has been troubled,"
said Tarzan, turning to the newspaper man. " I bid
monsieur good evening," and he bowed the dapper
young man out of the room, and closed the door in his
face.
An hour later Tarzan, with a rather bulky manu
script in his coat pocket, turned at the door leading
from Rokoff's room.
" Were I you I should leave France," he said, " for
sooner or later I shall find an excuse to kill you that
will not in any way compromise your sister."
[71]
VI
A DUEL
P\'ARNOT was asleep when Tarzan entered their
^ apartments after leaving Rokoff's. Tarzan did
not disturb him, but the following morning he nar
rated the happenings of the previous evening, omit
ting not a single detail.
"What a fool I have been," he concluded. "De
Coude and his wife were both my friends. How have
I returned their friendship ? Barely did I escape mur
dering the count. I have cast a stigma on the name of
a good woman. It is very probable that I have broken
up a happy home.
"Do you love Olga de Coude?" asked D'Arnot.
"Were I not positive that she does not love me I
could not answer your question, Paul; but without
disloyalty to her I tell you that I do not love her, nor
does she love me. For an instant we were the victims
of a sudden madness it was not love and it would
[72]
A DUEL
have left us, unharmed, as suddenly as it had come
upon us even though De Coude had not returned. As
you know, I have had little experience of women.
Olga de Coude is very beautiful; that, and the dim
light and the seductive surrounding, and the appeal
of the defenseless for protection, might have been re
sisted by a more civilized man, but my civilization is
not even skin deep it does not go deeper than my
clothes.
" Paris is no place for me. I will but continue to
stumble into more and more serious pitfalls. The man-
made restrictions are irksome. I feel always that I
am a prisoner. I cannot endure it, my friend, and so
I think that I shall go back to my own jungle, and
lead the life that God intended that I should lead when
He put me there."
"Do not take it so to heart, Jean," responded
D'Arnot. " You have acquitted yourself much better
than most 'civilized' men would have under similar
circumstances. As to leaving Paris at this time, I
rather think that Raoul de Coude may be expected
to have something to say on that subject before
long."
Nor was D'Arnot mistaken. A week later on Mon
sieur Flaubert was announced about eleven in the
morning, as D'Arnot and Tarzan were breakfasting.
Monsieur Flaubert was an impressively polite gentle
man. With many low bows he delivered Monsieur le
Count de Coude's challenge to Monsieur Tarzan.
Would monsieur be so very kind as to arrange to have
[73]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
a friend meet Monsieur Flaubert at as early an hour
as convenient, that the details might be arranged to
the mutual satisfaction of all concerned?
Certainly. Monsieur Tarzan would be delighted to
place his interests unreservedly in the hands of his
friend, Lieutenant D'Arnot. And so it was arranged
that D'Arnot was to call on Monsieur Flaubert at
two that afternoon, and the polite Monsieur Flaubert,
with many bows, left them.
When they were again alone D'Arnot looked quiz
zically at Tarzan.
"Well? "he said.
" Now to my sins I must add murder, or else myself
be killed," said Tarzan. " I am progressing rapidly
in the ways of my civilized brothers."
"What weapons shall you select?" asked D'Arnot.
" De Coude is accredited with being a master with the
sword, and a splendid shot."
"I might then choose poisoned arrows at twenty
paces, or spears at the same distance," laughed Tar
zan. " Make it pistols, Paul."
"He will kill you, Jean."
" I have no doubt of it," replied Tarzan. " I must
die some day."
"We had better make it swords," said D'Arnot.
" He will be satisfied with wounding you, and there is
less danger of a mortal wound."
" Pistols," said Tarzan, with finality.
D'Arnot tried to argue him out of it, but without
avail, so pistols it was.
[74]
A DUEL
D'Arnot returned from his conference with Mon
sieur Flaubert shortly after four.
" It is all arranged," he said. " Everything is satis
factory. Tomorrow morning at daylight there is a
secluded spot on the road not far from Etamps. For
some personal reason Monsieur Flaubert preferred it.
I did not demur."
" Good ! " was Tarzan's only comment. He did not
refer to the matter again even indirectly. That night
he wrote several letters before he retired. After seal
ing and addressing them he placed them all in an en
velope address to D'Arnot. As he undressed D'Arnot
heard him humming a music-hall ditty.
The Frenchman swore under his breath. He was
very unhappy, for he was positive that when the sun
rose the next morning it would look down upon a dead
Tarzan. It grated upon him to see Tarzan so uncon
cerned.
"This is a most uncivilized hour for people to
kill each other," remarked the ape-man when he
had been routed out of a comfortable bed in the
blackness of the early morning hours. He had
slept well, and so it seemed that his head scarcely
touched the pillow ere his man deferentially aroused
him. His remark was addressed to D'Arnot, who stood
fully dressed in the doorway of Tarzan's bedroom.
D'Arnot had scarcely slept at all during the night.
He was nervous, and therefore inclined to be irritable.
"I presume you slept like a baby all night," he
said.
[75]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Tarzan laughed. " From your tone, Paul, I infer
that you rather harbor the fact against me. I could
not help it, really."
"No, Jean; it is not that," replied D'Arnot, him
self smiling. "But you take the entire matter with
such infernal indifference it is exasperating. One
would think that you were going out to shoot at a
target, rather than to face one of the best shots in
France."
Tarzan shrugged his shoulders. "I am going out
to expiate a great wrong, Paul. A very necessary
feature of the expiation is the marksmanship of my
opponent. Wherefore, then, should I be dissatisfied?
Have you not yourself told me that Count de Coude
is a splendid marksman ? "
" You mean that you hope to be killed? " exclaimed
D'Arnot, in horror.
" I cannot say that I hope to be ; but you must ad
mit that there is little reason to believe that I shall
not be killed."
Had D'Arnot known the thing that was in the ape-
man's mind that had been in his mind almost from
the first intimation that De Coude would call him to
account on the field of honor he would have been
even more horrified than he was.
In silence they entered D'Arnot's great car, and in
similar silence they sped over the dim road that leads
to Etamps. Each man was occupied with his own
thoughts. D'Arnot's were very mournful, for he was
genuinely fond of Tarzan. The great friendship
[76]
A DUEL
which had sprung up between these two men whose
lives and training had been so widely different had but
been strengthened by association, for they were both
men to whom the same high ideals of manhood, of per
sonal courage, and of honor appealed with equal force.
They could understand one another, and each could be
proud of the friendship of the other.
Tarzan of the Apes was wrapped in thoughts of the
past; pleasant memories of the happier occasions of
his lost jungle life. He recalled the countless boy
hood hours that he had spent cross-legged upon the
table in his dead father's cabin, his little brown body
bent over one of the fascinating picture books from
which, unaided, he had gleaned the secret of the
printed language long before the sounds of human
speech fell upon his ears. A smile of contentment
softened his strong face as he thought of that day of
days that he had had alone with Jane Porter in the
heart of his primeval forest.
Presently his reminiscences were broken in upon by
the stopping of the car they were at their destina
tion. Tarzan's mind returned to the affairs of the
moment. He knew that he was about to die, but there
was no fear of death in him. To a denizen of the
cruel jungle death is a commonplace. The first law
of nature compels them to cling tenaciously to life
to fight for it; but it does not teach them to fear
death.
D'Arnot and Tarzan were first upon the field of
honor. A moment later De Coude, Monsieur Flau~
[77]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
bert, and a third gentleman arrived. The last was
introduced to D'Arnot and Tarzan; he was a physi
cian.
D'Arnot and Monsieur Flaubert spoke together in
whispers for a brief time. The Count de Coude and
Tarzan stood apart at opposite sides of the field.
Presently the seconds summoned them. D'Arnot and
Monsieur Flaubert had examined both pistols. The
two men who were to face each other a moment later
stood silently while Monsieur Flaubert recited the con
ditions they were to observe.
They were to stand back to back. At a signal from
Monsieur Flaubert they were to walk in opposite direc
tions, their pistols hanging by their sides. When each
had proceeded ten paces D'Arnot was to give the
final signal then they were to turn and fire at will
until one fell, or each had expended the three shots
allowed.
While Monsieur Flaubert spoke Tarzan selected a
cigarette from his case, and lighted it. De Coude was
the personification of coolness was he not the best
shot in France?
Presently Monsieur Flaubert nodded to D'Arnot,
and each man placed his principal in position.
" Are you quite ready, gentlemen ? " asked Monsieur
Flaubert.
" Quite," replied De Coude.
Tarzan nodded. Monsieur Flaubert gave the sig
nal. He and D'Arnot stepped back a few paces to be
out of the line of fire as the men paced slowly apart.
[78]
A DUEL
Six ! Seven ! Eight ! There were tears in D'Arnot's
eyes. He loved Tarzan very much. Nine! Another
pace, and the poor lieutenant gave the signal he so
hated to give. To him it sounded the doom of his
best friend.
Quickly De Coude wheeled and fired. Tarzan gave
a little start. His pistol still dangled at his side. De
Coude hesitated, as though waiting to see his an
tagonist crumple to the ground. The Frenchman was
too experienced a marksman not to know that he had
scored a hit. Still Tarzan made no move to raise his
pistol. De Coude fired once more, but the attitude of
the ape-man the utter indifference that was so ap
parent in every line of the nonchalant ease of his giant
figure, and the even, unruffled puffing of his cigarette
had disconcerted the best marksman in France.
This time Tarzan did not start, but again De Coude
knew that he had hit.
Suddenly the explanation leaped to his mind his
antagonist was coolly taking these terrible chances in
the hope that he would receive no staggering wound
from any of De Coude's three shots. Then he would
take his own time about shooting De Coude down de
liberately, coolly, and in cold blood. A little shiver
ran up the Frenchman's spine. It was fiendish dia
bolical. What manner of creature was this that could
stand complacently with two bullets in him, waiting
for the third?
And so De Coude took careful aim this time, but his
nerve was gone, and he made a clean miss. Not once
[79]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
had Tarzan raised his pistol hand from where it hung
beside his leg.
For a moment the two stood looking straight into
each other's eyes. On Tarzan's face was a pathetic
expression of disappointment. On De Coude's a rap
idly growing expression of horror yes, of terror.
He. could endure it no longer.
"Mother of God! Monsieur shoot!" he
screamed.
But Tarzan did not raise his pistol. Instead, he ad
vanced toward De Coude, and when D'Arnot and Mon
sieur Flaubert, misinterpreting his intention, would
have rushed between them, he raised his left hand in a
sign of remonstrance.
" Do not fear," he said to them, " I shall not harm
him."
It was most unusual, but they halted. Tarzan ad
vanced until he was quite close to De Coude.
" There must have been something wrong with mon
sieur's pistol," he said. "Or monsieur is unstrung.
Take mine, monsieur, and try again," and Tarzan of
fered his pistol, butt foremost, to the astonished De
Coude.
"Mon Dieu, monsieur ! " cried the latter. " Are you
mad?"
" No, my friend," replied the ape-man ; " but I de
serve to die. It is the only way in which I may atone
for the wrong I have done a very good woman. Take
my pistol and do as I bid."
" It would be murder," replied De Coude. " But
[80]
A DUEL
what wrong did you do my wife? She swore to me
that"
" I do not mean that," said Tarzan quickly. " You
saw all the wrong that passed between us. But that
was enough to cast a shadow upon her name, and to
ruin the happiness of a man against whom I had no
enmity. The fault was all mine, and so I hoped to die
for it this morning. I am disappointed that monsieur
is not so wonderful a marksman as I had been led to
believe."
" You say that the fault was all yours ? " asked De
Coude eagerly.
"All mine, monsieur. Your wife is a very pure
woman. She loves only you. The fault that you saw
was all mine. The thing that brought me there was
no fault of either the Countess de Coude or myself.
Here is a paper which will quite positively demon
strate that," and Tarzan drew from his pocket the
statement Rokoff had written and signed.
De Coude took it and read. D'Arnot and Monsieur
Flaubert had drawn near. They were interested spec
tators of this strange ending of a strange duel. None
spoke until De Coude had quite finished, then he looked
up at Tarzan.
" You are a very brave and chivalrous gentleman,"
he said. " I thank God that I did not kill you."
De Coude was a Frenchman. Frenchmen are im
pulsive. He threw his arms about Tarzan and em
braced him. Monsieur Flaubert embraced D'Arnot.
There was no one to embrace the doctor. So possibly
[81]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
it was pique which prompted him to interfere, and de
mand that he be permitted to dress Tarzan's wounds.
"This gentleman was hit once at least," he said.
"Possibly thrice."
" Twice," said Tarzan. " Once in the left shoulder,
and again in the left side both flesh wounds, I
think." But the doctor insisted upon stretching
him upon the sward, and tinkering with him until
the wounds were cleansed and the flow of blood
checked.
One result of the duel was that they all rode back
to Paris together in D'Arnot's car, the best of friends.
De Coude was so relieved to have had this double as
surance of his wife's loyalty that he felt no rancor at
all toward Tarzan. It is true that the latter had as
sumed much more of the fault than was rightly his,
but if he lied a little he may be excused, for he lied in
the service of a woman, and he lied like a gentleman.
The ape-man was confined to his bed for several
days. He felt that it was foolish and unnecessary, but
the doctor and D'Arnot took the matter so to heart
that he gave in to please them, though it made him
laugh to think of it.
" It is droll," he said to D'Arnot. " To lie abed
because of a pin prick ! Why, when Bolgani, the king
gorilla, tore me almost to pieces, while I was still but a
little boy, did I have a nice soft bed to lie on? No,
only the damp, rotting vegetation of the jungle. Hid
den beneath some friendly bush I lay for days and
weeks with only Kala to nurse me poor, faithful
[82]
A DUEL
Kala, who kept the insects from my wounds and warned
off the beasts of prey.
"When I called for water she brought it to me in
her own mouth the only way she knew to carry it.
There was no sterilized gauze, there was no antiseptic
bandage there was nothing that would not have
driven our dear doctor mad to have seen. Yet I re
covered recovered to lie in bed because of a tiny
scratch that one of the jungle folk would scarce realize
unless it were upon the end of his nose."
But the time was soon over, and before he realized
it Tarzan found himself abroad again. Several times
De Coude had called, and when he found that Tarzan
was anxious for employment of some nature he
promised to see what could be done to find a berth
for him.
It was the first day that Tarzan was permitted to go
out that he received a message from De Coude request
ing him to call at the count's office that afternoon.
He found De Coude awaiting him with a very
pleasant welcome, and a sincere congratulation that he
was once more upon his feet. Neither had ever men
tioned the duel or the cause of it since that morning
upon the field of honor.
"I think that I have found just the thing for you,
Monsieur Tarzan," said the count. " It is a position
of much trust and responsibility, which also requires
considerable physical courage and prowess. I cannot
imagine a man better fitted than you, my dear Mon
sieur Tarzan, for this very position. It will necessitate
[83]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
travel, and later it may lead to a very much better
post possibly in the diplomatic service.
" At first, for a short time only, you will be a special
agent in the service of the ministry of war. Come, I
will take you to the gentleman who will be your chief.
He can explain the duties better than I, and then you
will be in a position to judge if you wish to accept or
no."
De Coude himself escorted Tarzan to the office of
General Rochere, the chief of the bureau to which Tar
zan would be attached if he accepted the position.
There the count left him, after a glowing description
to the general of the many attributes possessed by the
ape-man which should fit him for the work of the
service.
A half hour later Tarzan walked out of the office the
possessor of the first position he had ever held. On
the morrow he was to return for further instructions,
though General Rochere had made it quite plain that
Tarzan might prepare to leave Paris for an almost in
definite period, possibly on the morrow.
It was with feelings of the keenest elation that he
hastened home to bear the good news to D'Arnot. At
last he was to be of some value in the world. He was
to earn money, and, best of all, to travel and see the
world.
He could scarcely wait to get well inside D'Arnot's
sitting room before he burst out with the glad tidings.
D'Arnot was not so pleased.
" It seems to delight you to think that you are to
184]
A DUEL
leave Paris, and that we shall not see each other for
months, perhaps. Tarzan, you are a most ungrateful
beast ! " and D'Arnot laughed.
" No, Paul ; I am a little child. I have a new toy,
and I am tickled to death."
And so it came that on the following day Tarzan
left Paris en route for Marseilles and Oran.
[85]
VII
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
first mission did not bid fair to be
either exciting or vastly important. There was
a certain lieutenant of spahis whom the government
had reason to suspect of improper relations with a
great European power. This Lieutenant Gernois,
who was at present stationed at Sidi-bel-Abbes, had
recently been attached to the general staff, where cer
tain information of great military value had come into
his possession in the ordinary routine of his duties.
It was this information which the government sus
pected the great power was bartering for with the
officer.
It was at most but a vague hint dropped by a cer
tain notorious Parisienne in a jealous mood that had
caused suspicion to rest upon the lieutenant. But
general staffs are jealous of their secrets, and treason
so serious a thing that even a hint of it may not be
safely neglected. And so it was that Tarzan had come
[86]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
to Algeria in the guise of an American hunter and
traveler to keep a close eye upon Lieutenant Gernois.
He had looked forward with keen delight to again
seeing his beloved Africa, but this northern aspect of
it was so different from his tropical jungle home that
he might as well have been back in Paris for all the
heart thrills of home-coming that he experienced. At
Oran he spent a day wandering through the narrow,
crooked alleys of the Arab quarter enjoying the
strange, new sights. The next day found him at
Sidi-bel-Abbes, where he presented his letters of in
troduction to both civil and military authorities let
ters which gave no clew to the real significance of his
mission.
Tarzan possessed a sufficient command of English
to enable him to pass among Arabs and Frenchmen as
an American, and that was all that was required of it.
When he met an Englishman he spoke French in order
that he might not betray himself, but occasionally
talked in English to foreigners who understood that
tongue, but could not note the slight imperfections of
accent and pronunciation that were his.
Here he became acquainted with many of the French
officers, and soon became a favorite among them. He
met Gernois, whom he found to be a taciturn, dyspep
tic-looking man of about forty, having little or no
social intercourse with his fellows.
For a month nothing of moment occurred. Ger
nois apparently had no visitors, nor did he on his occa
sional visits to the town hold communication with any
[87]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
who might even by the wildest flight of imagination
be construed into secret agents of a foreign power.
Tarzan was beginning to hope that, after all, the
rumor might have been false, when suddenly Gernois
was ordered to Bou Saada in the Petit Sahara far to
the south.
A company of spahis and three officers were to re
lieve another company already stationed there. For
tunately one of the officers, Captain Gerard, had be
come an excellent friend of Tarzan's, and so when
the ape-man suggested that he should embrace the op
portunity of accompanying him to Bou Saada, where
he expected to find hunting, it caused not the slightest
suspicion.
At Bouira the detachment detrained, and the bal
ance of the journey was made in the saddle. As Tar
zan was dickering at Bouira for a mount he caught a
brief glimpse of a man in European clothes eying
him from the doorway of a native coffeehouse, but as
Tarzan looked the man turned and entered the little,
low-ceiled mud hut, and but for a haunting impression
that there had been something familiar about the face
or figure of the fellow, Tarzan gave the matter no
further thought.
The march to Aumale was fatiguing to Tarzan,
whose equestrian experiences hitherto had been con
fined to a course of riding lessons in a Parisian acad
emy, and so it was that he quickly sought the com
forts of a bed in the Hotel Grossat, while the officers
and troops took up their quarters at the military post.
[88]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
Although Tarzan was called early the following
morning, the company of spahis was on the march be
fore he had finished his breakfast. He was hurrying
through his meal that the soldiers might not get too
far in advance of him when he glanced through the
door connecting the dining room with the bar.
To his surprise, he saw Gernois standing there in
conversation with the very stranger he had seen iu
the coffeehouse at Bouira the day previous. He could
not be mistaken, for there was the same strangely fa
miliar attitude and figure, though the man's back was
toward him.
As his eyes lingered on the two, Gernois looked up
and caught the intent expression on Tarzan's face.
The stranger was talking in a low whisper at the time,
but the French officer immediately interrupted him,
and the two at once turned away and passed out of
the range of Tarzan's vision.
This was the first suspicious occurrence that Tar
zan had ever witnessed in connection with Gernois'
actions, but he was positive that the men had left the
barroom solely because Gernois had caught Tarzan's
eyes upon them ; then there was the persistent impres
sion of familiarity about the stranger to further aug
ment the ape-man's belief that here at length was
something which would bear watching.
A moment later Tarzan entered the barroom, but
the men had left, nor did he see aught of them in the
street beyond, though he found a pretext to ride to
various shops before he set out after the column which
[89]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
had now considerable start of him. He did not over
take them until he reached Sidi Aissa shortly after
noon, where the soldiers had halted for an hour's rest.
Here he found Gernois with the column, but there was
no sign of the stranger.
It was market day at Sidi Aissa, and the number
less caravans of camels coming in from the desert, and
the crowds of bickering Arabs in the market place,
filled Tarzan with a consuming desire to remain for a
day that he might see more of these sons of the desert.
Thus it was that the company of spahis marched on
that afternoon toward Bou Saada without him. He
spent the hours until dark wandering about the mar
ket in company with a youthful Arab, one Abdul, who
had been recommended to him by the innkeeper as a
trustworthy servant and interpreter.
Here Tarzan purchased a better mount than the
one he had selected at Bouira, and, entering into con
versation with the stately Arab to whom the animal
had belonged, learned that the seller was Kadour Ben
Saden, sheik of a desert tribe far south of Djelfa.
Through Abdul, Tarzan invited his new acquaintance
to dine with him. As the three were making their way
through the crowds of marketers, camels, donkeys, and
horses that filled the market place with a confusing
babel of sounds, Abdul plucked at Tarzan's sleeve.
" Look, master, behind us," and he turned, pointing
at a figure which disappeared behind a camel as Tar
zan turned. "He has been following us about all
afternoon," continued Abdul.
[90]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
"I caught only a glimpse of an Arab in a dark-
blue burnoose and white turban," replied Tarzan. " Is
it he you mean ? "
" Yes. I suspected him because he seems a stranger
here, without other business than following us, which
is not the way of the Arab who is honest, and also be
cause he keeps the lower part of his face hidden, only
his eyes showing. He must be a bad man, or he would
have honest business of his own to occupy his time."
"He is on the wrong scent then, Abdul," replied
Tarzan, "for no one here can have any grievance
against me. This is my first visit to your country,
and none knows me. He will soon discover his error,
and cease to follow us."
"Unless he be bent on robbery," returned Abdul.
" Then all we can do is wait until he is ready to try
his hand upon us," laughed Tarzan, " and I warrant
that he will get his bellyful of robbing now that we
are prepared for him," and so he dismissed the subject
from his mind, though he was destined to recall it be
fore many hours through a most unlooked-for occur
rence.
Kadour Ben Saden having dined well, prepared to
take leave of his host. With dignified protestations
of friendship, he invited Tarzan to visit him in his
wild domain, where the antelope, the stag, the boar,
the panther, and the lion might still be found in suffi
cient numbers to tempt an ardent huntsman.
On his departure the ape-man, with Abdul, wan
dered again into the streets of Sidi Aissa, where he
[91]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
was soon attracted by the wild din of sound coming
from the open doorway of one of the numerous cafes
maures. It was after eight, and the dancing was in
full swing as Tarzan entered. The room was filled
to repletion with Arabs. All were smoking, and drink
ing their thick, hot coffee.
Tarzan and Abdul found seats near the center of
the room, though the terrific noise produced by the
musicians upon their Arab drums and pipes would
have rendered a seat farther from them more accept
able to the quiet-loving ape-man. A rather good-
looking Ouled-Nail was dancing, and, perceiving
Tarzan's European clothes, and scenting a generous
gratuity, she threw her silken handkerchief upon his
shoulder, to be rewarded with a franc.
When her place upon the floor had been taken by
another the bright-eyed Abdul saw her in conversation
with two Arabs at the far side of the room, near a side
door that let upon an inner court, around the gallery
of which were the rooms occupied by the girls who
danced in this cafe.
At first he thought nothing of the matter, but pres
ently he noticed from the corner of his eye one of the
men nod in their direction, and the girl turn and shoot
a furtive glance at Tarzan. Then the Arabs melted
through the doorway into the darkness of the court.
When it came again the girl's turn to dance she
hovered close to Tarzan, and for the ape-man alone
were her sweetest smiles. Many an ugly scowl was
cast upon the tall European by swarthy, dark-eyed
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
sons of the desert, but neither smiles nor scowls pro
duced any outwardly visible effect upon him. Again
the girl cast her handkerchief upon his shoulder, and
again was she rewarded with a franc piece. As she
was sticking it upon her forehead, after the custom
of her kind, she bent low toward Tarzan, whispering
a quick word in his ear.
"There are two without in the court," she said
quickly, in broken French, " who would harm m'sieur.
At first I promised to lure you to them, but you have
been kind, and I cannot do it. Go quickly, before
they find that I have failed them. I think that they
are very bad men."
Tarzan thanked the girl, assuring her that he would
be careful, and, having finished her dance, she crossed
to the little doorway and went out into the court. But
Tarzan did not leave the cafe as she had urged.
For another half hour nothing unusual occurred,
then a surly-looking Arab entered the cafe from the
street. He stood near Tarzan, where he deliberately
made insulting remarks about the European, but as
they were in his native tongue Tarzan was entirely in
nocent of their purport until Abdul took it upon him
self to enlighten him.
"This fellow is looking for trouble," warned Ab
dul. "He is not alone. In fact, in case of a dis
turbance, nearly every man here would be against you.
It would be better to leave quietly, master."
"Ask the fellow what he wants," commanded Tarzan.
" He says that ' the dog of a Christian' insulted the
[93]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Ouled-Nail, who belongs to him. He means trouble,
m'sieur."
"Tell him that I did not insult his or any other
Ouled-Nail, that I wish him to go away and leave me
alone. That I have no quarrel with him, nor has he
any with me."
" He says," replied Abdul, after delivering this mes
sage to the Arab, " that besides being a dog yourself
that you are the son of one, and that your grandmother
was a hyena. Incidentally you are a liar."
The attention of those near by had now been at
tracted by the altercation, and the sneering laughs
that followed this torrent of invective easily indicated
the trend of the sympathies of the majority of the
audience.
Tarzan did not like being laughed at, neither did
he relish the terms applied to him by the Arab, but he
showed no sign of anger as he arose from his seat
upon the bench. A half smile played about his lips,
but of a sudden a mighty fist shot into the face of the
scowling Arab, and back of it were the terrible muscles
of the ape-man.
At the instant that the man fell a half dozen fierce
plainsmen sprang into the room from where they had
apparently been waiting for their cue in the street
before the cafe. With cries of " Kill the unbeliever ! "
and " Down with the dog of a Christian ! " they made
straight for Tarzan.
A number of the younger Arabs in the audience
sprang to their feet to join in the assault upon the
[94]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
unarmed white man. Tarzan and Abdul were rushed
back toward the end of the room by the very force of
numbers opposing them. The young Arab remained
loyal to his master, and with drawn knife fought at
his side.
With tremendous blows the ape-man felled all who
came within reach of his powerful hands. He fought
quietly and without a word, upon his lips the same
half smile they had worn as he rose to strike down the
man who had insulted him. It seemed impossible that
either he or Abdul could survive the sea of wicked-
looking swords and knives that surrounded them, but
the very numbers of their assailants proved the best
bulwark of their safety. So closely packed was the
howling, cursing mob that no weapon could be wielded
to advantage, and none of the Arabs dared use a
firearm for fear of wounding one of his compatriots.
Finally Tarzan succeeded in seizing one of the most
persistent of his attackers. With a quick wrench he
disarmed the fellow, and then, holding him before
them as a shield, he backed slowly beside Abdul toward
the little door which led into the inner courtyard. At
the threshold he paused for an instant, and, lifting
the struggling Arab above his head, hurled him, as
though from a catapult, full in the faces of his
on-pressing fellows.
Then Tarzan and Abdul stepped into the semi-
darkness of the court. The frightened Ouled-Nails
were crouching at the tops of the stairs which led to
their respective rooms, the only light in the courtyard
[95]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
coming from the sickly candles which each girl had
stuck with its own grease to the woodwork of her
door-frame, the better to display her charms to those
who might happen to traverse the dark inclosure.
Scarcely had Tarzan and Abdul emerged from the
room ere a revolver spoke close at their backs from
the shadows beneath one of the stairways, and as they
turned to meet this new antagonist, two muffled figures
sprang toward them, firing as they came. Tarzan
leaped to meet these two new assailants. The fore
most lay, a second later, in the trampled dirt of the
court, disarmed and groaning from a broken wrist.
Abdul's knife found the vitals of the second in the
instant that the fellow's revolver missed fire as he held
it to the faithful Arab's forehead.
The maddened horde within the cafe were now rush
ing out in pursuit of their quarry. The Ouled-Nails
had extinguished their candles at a cry from one of
their number, and the only light within the yard came
feebly from the open and half -blocked door of the
cafe. Tarzan had seized a sword from the man who
had fallen before Abdul's knife, and now he stood
waiting for the rush of men that was coming in search
of them through the darkness.
Suddenly he felt a light hand upon his shoulder
from behind, and a woman's voice whispering, " Quick,
m'sieur ; this way. Follow me."
" Come, Abdul," said Tarzan, in a low tone, to the
youth ; " we can be no worse off elsewhere than we are
here."
[96]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
The woman turned and led them up the narrow
stairway that ended at the door of her quarters.
Tarzan was close beside her. He saw the gold and
silver bracelets upon her bare arms, the strings of gold
coin that depended from her hair ornaments, and the
gorgeous colors of her dress. He saw that she was a
Ouled-Nail, and instinctively he knew that she was the
same who had whispered the warning in his ear earlier
in the evening.
As they reached the top of the stairs they could
hear the angry crowd searching the yard beneath.
" Soon they will search here," whispered the girl.
" They must not find you, for, though you fight with
the strength of many men, they will kill you in the end.
Hasten; you can drop from the farther window of
my room to the street beyond. Before they discover
that you are no longer in the court of the buildings
you will be safe within the hotel."
But even as she spoke, several men had started up
the stairway at the head of which they stood. There
was a sudden cry from one of the searchers. They
had been discovered. Quickly the crowd rushed for
the stairway. The foremost assailant leaped quickly
upward, but at the top he met the sudden sword that
he had not expected the quarry had been unarmed
before.
With a cry, the man toppled back upon those behind
him. Like tenpins they rolled down the stairs. The
ancient and rickety structure could not withstand the
strain of this unwonted weight and jarring. With a
[97]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
creaking and rending of breaking wood it collapsed
beneath the Arabs, leaving Tarzan, Abdul, and the
girl alone upon the frail platform at the top.
" Come ! " cried the Ouled-Nail. " They will reach
us from another stairway through the room next to
mine. We have not a moment to spare."
Just as they were entering the room Abdul heard
and translated a cry from the yard below for several
to hasten to the street and cut off escape from that
side.
" We are lost now," said the girl simply.
"We?" questioned Tarzan.
"Yes, m'sieur," she responded; "they will kill me
as well. Have I not aided you? "
This put a different aspect on the matter. Tarzan
had rather been enjoying the excitement and danger
of the encounter. He had not for an instant sup
posed that either Abdul or the girl could suffer except
through accident, and he had only retreated just
enough to keep from being killed himself. He had
had no intention of running away until he saw that
he was hopelessly lost were he to remain.
Alone he could have sprung into the midst of that
close-packed mob, and, laying about him after the
fashion of Numa, the lion, have struck the Arabs with
such consternation that escape would have been easy.
Now he must think entirely of these two faithful
friends.
He crossed to the window which overlooked the
street. In a minute there would be enemies below.
[98]
THE DANCING GIRL OF SIDI AISSA
Already he could hear the mob clambering the stair
way to the next quarters they would be at the door
beside him in another instant. He put a foot upon
the sill and leaned out, but he did not look down.
Above him, within arm's reach, was the low roof of
the building. He called to the girl. She came and
stood beside him. He put a great arm about her and
lifted her across his shoulder.
" Wait here until I reach down for you from above,' 5
he said to Abdul. " In the meantime shove everything
in the room against that door it may delay them
long enough." Then he stepped to the sill of the
narrow window with the girl upon his shoulders.
"Hold tight," he cautioned her. A moment later he
had clambered to the roof above with the ease and
dexterity of an ape. Setting the girl down, he leaned
far over the roof's edge, calling softly to Abdul. The
youth ran to the window.
" Your hand," whispered Tarzan. The men in the
room beyond were battering at the door. With a
sudden crash it fell splintering in, and at the same
instant Abdul felt himself lifted like a feather onto
the roof above. They were not a moment too soon,
for as the men broke into the room which they had
just quitted a dozen more rounded the corner in the
street below and came running to a spot beneath the
girl's window.
[99]
'S^i-I-*.
VIII
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
AS the three squatted upon the roof above the
quarters of the Ouled-Nails they heard the
angry cursing of the Arabs in the room beneath.
Abdul translated from time to time to Tarzan.
" They are berating those in the street below now,"
said Abdul, " for permitting us to escape so easily.
Those in the street say that we did not come that
way that we are still within the building, and that
those above, being too cowardly to attack us, are
attempting to deceive them into believing that we have
escaped. In a moment they will have fighting of their
own to attend to if they continue their brawling."
Presently those in the building gave up the search,
and returned to the cafe. A few remained in the
street below, smoking and talking.
Tarzan spoke to the girl, thanking her for the
sacrifice she had made for him, a total stranger.
"I liked you," she said simply. "You were unlike
the others who come to the cafe. You did not speak
[100]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
coarsely to me the manner in which you gave me
money was not an insult."
"What shall you do after tonight?" he asked.
" You cannot return to the cafe. Can you even remain
with safety in Sidi Aissa ? "
" Tomorrow it will be forgotten," she replied. " But
I should be glad if it might be that I need never return
to this or another cafe. I have not remained because
I wished to ; I have been a prisoner."
"A prisoner!" ejaculated Tarzan incredulously.
"A slave would be the better word," she answered.
" I was stolen in the night from my father's douar by
a band of marauders. They brought me here and sold
me to the Arab who keeps this cafe. It has been nearly
two years now since I saw the last of mine own people.
They are very far to the south. They never come to
Sidi Aissa."
" You would like to return to your people ? " asked
Tarzan. " Then I shall promise to see you safely so
far as Bou Saada at least. There we can doubtless
arrange with the commandant to send you the rest of
the way."
"Oh, m'sieur," she cried, "how can I ever repay
you! You cannot really mean that you will do so
much for a poor Ouled-Nail. But my father can
reward you, and he will, for is he not a great sheik?
He is Kadour ben Saden."
" Kadour ben Saden ! " ejaculated Tarzan. " Why,
Kadour ben Saden is in Sidi Aissa this very night. He
dined with me but a few hours since."
[101]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
66 My father in Sidi Aissa ? " cried the amazed girl.
"Allah be praised then, for I am indeed saved."
" Hssh ! " cautioned Abdul. " Listen."
From below came the sound of voices, quite distin
guishable upon the still night air. Tarzan could not
understand the words, but Abdul and the girl trans
lated.
"They have gone now," said the latter. "It is
you they want, m'sieur. One of them said that the
stranger who had offered money for your slaying lay
in the house of Akmed din Soulef with a broken wrist,
but that he had offered a still greater reward if some
would lay in wait for you upon the road to Bou Saada
and kill you."
"It is he who followed m'sieur about the market
today," exclaimed Abdul. "I saw him again within
the cafe him and another; and the two went out
into the inner court after talking with this girl here.
It was they who attacked and fired upon us as we came
out of the cafe. Why do they wish to kill you,
m'sieur?"
" I do not know," replied Tarzan, and then, after a?
pause: "Unless " But he did not finish, for the
thought that had come to his mind, while it seemed
the only reasonable solution of the mystery, appeared
at the same time quite improbable.
Presently the men in the street went away. The
courtyard and the cafe were deserted. Cautiously
Tarzan lowered himself to the sill of the girl's window.
The room was empty. He returned to the roof and
[102]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
let Abdul down, then he lowered the girl to the arms
of the waiting Arab.
From the window Abdul dropped the short distance
to the street below, while Tarzan took the girl in his
arms and leaped down as he had done on so many other
occasions in his own forest with a burden in his arms.
A little cry of alarm was startled from the girl's lips,
but Tarzan landed in the street with but an imper
ceptible jar, and lowered her in safety to her feet.
She clung to him for a moment.
" How strong m'sieur is, and how active," she cried.
"El adrea, the black lion, himself is not more so."
"I should like to meet this el adrea of yours," he
said. " I have heard much about him."
"And you come to the douar of my father you shall
see him," said the girl. "He lives in a spur of the
mountains north of us, and comes down from his lair
at night to rob my father's douar. With a single
blow of his mighty paw he crushes the skull of a bull,
and woe betide the belated wayfarer who meets el adrea
abroad at night."
Without further mishap they reached the hotel. The
sleepy landlord objected strenuously to instituting a
search for Kadour ben Saden until the following morn
ing, but a piece of gold put a different aspect on the
matter, so that a few moments later a servant had
started to make the rounds of the lesser native hostel-
ries where it might be expected that a desert sheik
would find congenial associations. Tarzan had felt it
necessary to find the girl's father that night, for fear
[103]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
he might start on his homeward journey too early in
the morning to be intercepted.
They had waited perhaps half an hour when the
messenger returned with Kadour ben Saden. The old
sheik entered the room with a questioning expression
upon his proud face.
"Monsieur has done me the honor to " he com
menced, and then his eyes fell upon the girl. With
outstretched arms he crossed the room to meet her.
" My daughter ! " he cried. "Allah is merciful ! " and
tears dimmed the martial eyes of the old warrior.
When the story of her abduction and her final rescue
had been told to Kadour ben Saden he extended his
hand to Tarzan.
"All that is Kadour ben Saden's is thine, my friend,
even to his life," he said very simply, but Tarzan knew
that those were no idle words.
It was decided that although three of them would
have to ride after practically no sleep, it would be best
to make an early start in the morning, and attempt to
ride all the way to Bou Saada in one day. It would
have been comparatively easy for the men, but for the
girl it was sure to be a fatiguing journey.
She, however, was the most anxious to undertake it,
for it seemed to her that she could not quickly enough
reach the family and friends from whom she had been
separated for two years.
It seemed to Tarzan that he had not closed his eyes
before he was awakened, and in another hour the party
was on its way south toward Bou Saada. For a few
[104]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
miles the road was good, and they made rapid prog
ress, but suddenly it became only a waste of sand, into
which the horses sank fetlock deep at nearly every
step. In addition to Tarzan, Abdul, the sheik, and
his daughter were four of the wild plainsmen of the
sheik's tribe who had accompanied him upon the trip
to Sidi Aissa. Thus, seven guns strong, they enter
tained little fear of attack by day, and if all went well
they should reach Bou Saada before nightfall.
A brisk wind enveloped them in the blowing sand
of the desert, until Tarzan's lips were parched and
cracked. What little he could see of the surrounding
country was far from alluring a vast expanse of
rough country, rolling in little, barren hillocks, and
tufted here and there with clumps of dreary shrub.
Far to the south rose the dim lines of the Saharan
Atlas range. How different, thought Tarzan, from
the gorgeous Africa of his boyhood !
Abdul, always on the alert, looked backward quite
as often as he did ahead. At the top of each hillock
that they mounted he would draw in his horse and,
turning, scan the country to the rear with utmost care.
At last his scrutiny was rewarded.
"Look!" he cried. "There are six horsemen be
hind us."
"Your friends of last evening, no doubt, mon
sieur," remarked Kadour ben Saden dryly to Tarzan.
" No doubt," replied the ape-man. " I am sorry
that my society should endanger the safety of your
journey. At the next village I shall remain and ques-
[105]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
tion these gentlemen, while you ride on. There is no
necessity for my being at Bou Saada tonight, and less
still why you should not ride in peace."
"If you stop we shall stop," said Kadour ben
Saden. " Until you are safe with your friends, or the
enemy has left your trail, we shall remain with you.
There is nothing more to say."
Tarzan but nodded his head. He was a man of few
words, and possibly it was for this reason as much as
any that Kadour ben Saden had taken to him, for if
there be one thing that an Arab despises it is a talka
tive man.
All the balance of the day Abdul caught glimpses
of the horsemen in their rear. They remained always
at about the same distance. During the occasional
halts for rest, and at the longer halt at noon, they
approached no closer.
" They are waiting for darkness," said Kadour ben
Saden.
And darkness came before they reached Bou Saada.
The last glimpse that Abdul had of the grim, white-
robed figures that trailed them, just before dusk made
it impossible to distinguish them, had made it appar
ent that they were rapidly closing up the distance that
intervened between them and their intended quarry.
He whispered this fact to Tarzan, for he did not wish
to alarm the girl. The ape-man drew back beside him.
"You will ride ahead with the others, Abdul," said
Tarzan. " This is my quarrel. I shall wait at the next
convenient spot, and interview these fellows."
[106]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
"Then Abdul shall wait at thy side," replied the
young Arab, nor would any threats or commands move
him from his decision.
"Very well, then," replied Tarzan. "Here is as
good a place as we could wish. Here are rocks at the
top of this hillock. We shall remain hidden here and
give an account of ourselves to these gentlemen when
they appear."
They drew in their horses and dismounted. The
others riding ahead were already out of sight in the
darkness. Beyond them shone the lights of Bou
Saada. Tarzan removed his rifle from its boot and
loosened his revolver in its holster. He ordered Abdul
to withdraw behind the rocks with the horses, so that
they should be shielded from the enemies' bullets should
they fire. The young Arab pretended to do as he was
bid, but when he had fastened the two animals securely
to a low shrub he crept back to lie on his belly a few
paces behind Tarzan.
The ape-man stood erect in the middle of the road,
waiting. Nor did he have long to wait. The sound
of galloping horses came suddenly out of the darkness
below him, and a moment later he discerned the moving
blotches of lighter color against the solid background
of the night.
"Halt," he cried, "or we fire!"
The white figures came to a sudden stop, and for a
moment there was silence. Then came the sound of
a whispered council, and like ghosts the phantom
riders dispersed in all directions. Again the desert
[107]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
lay still about him, yet it was an ominous stillness
that foreboded evil.
Abdul raised himself to one knee. Tarzan cocked
his jungle-trained ears, and presently there came to
him the sound of horses walking quietly through the
sand to the east of him, to the west, to the north, and
to the south. They had been surrounded. Then a
shot came from the direction in which he was looking,
a bullet whirred through the air above his head, and
he fired at the flash of the enemy's gun.
Instantly the soundless waste was torn with the
quick staccato of guns upon every hand. Abdul and
Tarzan fired only at the flashes they could not yet
see their foemen. Presently it became evident that
the attackers were circling their position, drawing
closer and closer in as they began to realize the paltry
numbers of the party which opposed them.
But one came too close, for Tarzan was accustomed
to using his eyes in the darkness of the jungle night,
than which there is no more utter darkness this side
the grave, and with a cry of pain a saddle was emptied.
" The odds are evening, Abdul," said Tarzan, with
a low laugh.
But they were still far too one-sided, and when the
five remaining horsemen whirled at a signal and
charged full upon them it looked as if there would
be a sudden ending of the battle. Both Tarzan and
Abdul sprang to the shelter of the rocks, that they
might keep the enemy in front of them. There was a
mad clatter of galloping hoofs, a volley of shots from
[108]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
both sides, and the Arabs withdrew to repeat the
maneuver; but there were now only four against the
two.
For a few moments there came no sound from out
of the surrounding blackness. Tarzan could not tell
whether the Arabs, satisfied with their losses, had given
up the fight, or were waiting farther along the road
to waylay them as they proceeded on toward Bou
Saada. But he was not left long in doubt, for now
all from one direction came the sound of a new charge.
But scarcely had the first gun spoken ere a dozen shots
rang out behind the Arabs. There came the wild
shouts of a new party to the controversy, and the
pounding of the feet of many horses from down the
road to Bou Saada.
The Arabs did not wait to learn the identity of the
oncomers. With a parting volley as they dashed by
the position which Tarzan and Abdul were holding,
they plunged off along the road toward Sidi Aissa.
A moment later Kadour ben Saden and his men
dashed up.
The old sheik was much relieved to find that neither
Tarzan nor Abdul had received a scratch. Not even
had their horses been wounded. They sought out the
two men who had fallen before Tarzan's shots, and,
finding that both were dead, left them where they lay.
"Why did you not tell me that you contemplated
ambushing those fellows?" asked the sheik in a hurt
tone. "We might have had them all if the seven of
us had stopped to meet them."
[109]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Then it would have been useless to stop at all,"
replied Tarzan, " for had we simply ridden on toward
Bou Saada they would have been upon us presently,
and all could have been engaged. It was to prevent
the transfer of my own quarrel to another's shoulders
that Abdul and I stopped off to question them. Then
there is your daughter I could not be the cause of
exposing her needlessly to the marksmanship of six
men."
Kadour ben Saden shrugged his shoulders. He did
not relish having been cheated out of a fight.
The little battle so close to Bou Saada had drawn
out a company of soldiers. Tarzan and his party met
them just outside the town. The officer in charge
halted them to learn the significance of the shots.
"A handful of marauders," replied Kadour ben
Saden. " They attacked two of our number who had
dropped behind, but when we returned to them the
fellows soon dispersed. They left two dead. None of
my party was injured."
This seemed to satisfy the officer, and after taking
the names of the party he marched his men on toward
the scene of the skirmish to bring back the dead men
for purposes of identification, if possible.
Two days later, Kadour ben Saden, with his daugh
ter and followers, rode south through the pass below
Bou Saada, bound for their home in the far wilder
ness. The sheik had urged Tarzan to accompany him,
and the girl had added her entreaties to those of her
father; but, though he could not explain it to them,
[110]
THE FIGHT IN THE DESERT
Tarzan's duties loomed particularly large after the
happenings of the past few days, so that he could not
think of leaving his post for an instant. But he
promised to come later if it lay within his power to
do so, and they had to content themselves with that
assurance.
During these two days Tarzan had spent practically
all his time with Kadour ben Saden and his daughter.
He was keenly interested in this race of stern and
dignified warriors, and embraced the opportunity which
their friendship offered to learn what he could of their
lives and customs. He even commenced to acquire the
rudiments of their language under the pleasant tutor
age of the brown-eyed girl. It was with real regret
that he saw them depart, and he sat his horse at the
opening to the pass, as far as which he had accompa
nied them, gazing after the little party as long as he
could catch a glimpse of them.
Here were people after his own heart ! Their wild,
rough lives, filled with danger and hardship, appealed
to this half -savage man as nothing had appealed to
him in the midst of the effeminate civilization of the
great cities he had visited. Here was a life that
excelled even that of the jungle, for here he might
have the society of men real men whom he could
honor and respect, and yet be near to the wild nature
that he loved. In his head revolved an idea that when
he had completed his mission he would resign and
return to live for the remainder of his life with the
tribe of Kadour ben Saden.
cm]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Then he turned his horse's head and rode slowly
back to Bou Saada.
The front of the Hotel du Petit Sahara, where
Tarzan stopped in Bou Saada, is taken up with the
bar, two dining-rooms, and the kitchens. Both of the
dining-rooms open directly off the bar, and one of
them is reserved for the use of the officers of the
garrison. As you stand in the barroom you may look
into either of the dining-rooms if you wish.
It was to the bar that Tarzan repaired after speed
ing Kadour ben Saden and his party on their way.
It was yet early in the morning, for Kadour ben Saden
had elected to ride far that day, so that it happened
that when Tarzan returned there were guests still at
breakfast.
As his casual glance wandered into the officers'
dining-room, Tarzan saw something which brought a
look of interest to his eyes. Lieutenant Gernois was
sitting there, and as Tarzan looked a white-robed
Arab approached and, bending, whispered a few words
into the lieutenant's ear. Then he passed on out of
the building through another door.
In itself the thing was nothing, but as the man had
stooped to speak to the officer, Tarzan had caught
sight of something which the accidental parting of the
man's burnoose had revealed he carried his left arm
in a sling.
[112]
IX
NUMA "EL ADREA 7
ON the same day that Kadour ben Saden rode
south the diligence from the north brought
Tarzan a letter from D'Arnot which had been for
warded from Sidi-bel- Abbes. It opened the old wound
that Tarzan would have been glad to have forgotten ;
yet he was not sorry that D'Arnot had written, for
one at least of his subjects could never cease to interest
the ape-man. Here is the letter:
MY DEAR JEAN:
Since last I wrote you I have been across to London
on a matter of business. I was there but three days.
The very first day I came upon an old friend of yours
quite unexpectedly in Henrietta Street. Now you
never in the world would guess whom. None other than
Mr. Samuel T. Philander. But it is true. I can see
your look of incredulity. Nor is this all. He insisted
that I return to the hotel with him, and there I found
the others Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, Miss
Porter, and that enormous black woman, Miss Porter's
maid Esmeralda, you will recall. While I was there
Clayton came in. They are to be married soon, or rather
sooner, for I rather suspect that we shall receive an
nouncements almost any day. On account of his father's
[113]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
death it is to be a very quiet affair only blood relatives.
While I was alone with Mr. Philander the old fellow
became rather confidential. Said Miss Porter had already
postponed the wedding on three different occasions. He
confided that it appeared to him that she was not par
ticularly anxious to marry Clayton at all; but this time
it seems that it is quite likely to go through.
Of course they all asked after you, but I respected
your wishes in the matter of your true origin, and only
spoke to them of your present affairs.
Miss Porter was especially interested in everything I
had to say about you, and asked many questions. I am
afraid I took a rather unchivalrous delight in picturing
your desire and resolve to go back eventually to your
native jungle. I was sorry afterward, for it did seem to
cause her real anguish to contemplate the awful dangers
to which you wished to return. "And yet," she said,
"I do not know. There are more unhappy fates than
the grim and terrible jungle presents to Monsieur Tarzan.
At least his conscience will be free from remorse. And
there are moments of quiet and restfulness by day, and
vistas of exquisite beauty. You may find it strange that
I should say it, who experienced such terrifying expe
riences in that frightful forest, yet at times I long to
return, for I cannot but feel that the happiest moments
of my life were spent there."
There was an expression of ineffable sadness on her
face as she spoke, and I could not but feel that she knew
that I knew her secret, and that this was her way of
transmitting to you a last tender message from a heart
that might still enshrine your memory, though its pos
sessor belonged to another.
Clayton appeared nervous and ill at ease while you
were the subject of conversation. He wore a worried
and harassed expression. Yet he was very kindly in his
expressions of interest in you. I wonder if he suspects
the truth about you ?
Tennington came in with Clayton. They are great
friends, you know. He is about to set out upon one of
[114]
NUMA "EL ADREA"
his interminable cruises in that yacht of his, and was
urging the entire party to accompany him. Tried to
inveigle me into it, too. Is thinking of circumnavigating
Africa this time. I told him that his precious toy would
take him and some of his friends to the bottom of the
ocean one of these days if he didn't get it out of his head
that she was a liner or a battleship.
I returned to Paris day before yesterday, and yester
day I met the Count and Countess de Coude at the races.
They inquired after you. De Coude really seems quite
fond of you. Doesn't appear to harbor the least ill will.
Olga is as beautiful as ever, but a trifle subdued. I
imagine that she learned a lesson through her acquaint
ance with you that will serve her in good stead during
the balance of her life. It is fortunate for her, and for
De Coude as well, that it was you and not another man
more sophisticated.
Had you really paid court to Olga's heart I am afraid
that there would have been no hope for either of you.
She asked me to tell you that Nikolas had left France.
She paid him twenty thousand francs to go away, and
stay. She is congratulating herself that she got rid of
him before he tried to carry out a threat he recently made
her that he should kill you at the first opportunity. She
said that she should hate to think that her brother's blood
was on your hands, for she is very fond of you, and made
no bones in saying so before the count. It never for a
moment seemed to occur to her that there might be any
possibility of any other outcome of a meeting between
you and Nikolas. The count quite agreed with her in
that. He added that it would take a regiment of Rokoffs
to kill you. He has a most healthy respect for your
prowess.
Have been ordered back to my ship. She sails from
Havre in two days under sealed orders. If you will
address me in her care, the letters will find me even
tually. I shall write you as soon as another opportunity
presents. Your sincere friend,
PAUL D'ARNOT.
[115]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"I fear," mused Tarzan, half aloud, "that Olga
has thrown away her twenty thousand francs."
He read over that part of D'Arnot's letter several
times in which he had quoted from his conversation
with Jane Porter. Tarzan derived a rather pathetic
happiness from it, but it was better than no happiness
at all.
The following three weeks were quite uneventful.
On several occasions Tarzan saw the mysterious Arab,
and once again he had been exchanging words with
Lieutenant Gernois; but no amount of espionage or
shadowing by Tarzan revealed the Arab's lodgings,
the location of which Tarzan was anxious to ascertain.
Gernois, never cordial, had kept more than ever
aloof from Tarzan since the episode in the dining-
room of the hotel at Aumale. His attitude on the few
occasions that they had been thrown together had been
distinctly hostile.
That he might keep up the appearance of the
character he was playing, Tarzan spent considerable
time hunting in the vicinity of Bou Saada. He would
spend entire days in the foothills, ostensibly searching
for gazelle, but on the few occasions that he came
close enough to any of the beautiful little animals to
harm them he invariably allowed them to escape with
out so much as taking his rifle from its boot. The
ape-man could see no sport in slaughtering the most
harmless and defenseless of God's creatures for the
mere pleasure of killing.
In fact, Tarzan had never killed for "pleasure,"
[1161
NUMA EL ADREA "
nor to him was there pleasure in killing. It was the
joy of righteous battle that he loved the ecstasy of
victory. And the keen and successful hunt for food
in which he pitted his skill and craftiness against the
skill and craftiness of another ; but to come out of a
town filled with food to shoot down a soft-eyed, pretty
gazelle ah, that was crueller than the deliberate and
cold-blooded murder of a fellow man. Tarzan would
have none of it, and so he hunted alone that none
might discover the sham that he was practicing.
And once, probably because of the fact that he rode
alone, he was like to have lost his life. He was rid
ing slowly through a little ravine when a shot sounded
close behind him, and a bullet passed through the cork
helmet he wore. Although he turned at once and gal
loped rapidly to the top of the ravine, there was no
sign of any enemy, nor did he see aught of another
human being until he reached Bou Saada.
" Yes," he soliloquized, in recalling the occurrence,
"Olga has indeed thrown away her twenty thousand
francs."
That night he was Captain Gerard's guest at a
little dinner.
"Your hunting has not been very fortunate? " ques
tioned the officer.
"No," replied Tarzan; "the game hereabout is
timid, nor do I care particularly about hunting game
birds or antelope. I think I shall move on farther
south, and have a try at some of your Algerian lions."
" Good ! " exclaimed the captain. " We are march-
[117]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
ing toward Djelfa on the morrow. You shall have
company that far at least. Lieutenant Gernois and I,
with a hundred men, are ordered south to patrol a
district in which the marauders are giving considerable
trouble. Possibly we may have the pleasure of hunt
ing the lion together what say you ? "
Tarzan was more than pleased, nor did he hesitate
to say so ; but the captain would have been astonished
had he known the real reason of Tarzan's pleasure.
Gernois was sitting opposite the ape-man. He did not
seem so pleased with his captain's invitation.
" You will find lion hunting more exciting than ga
zelle shooting," remarked Captain Gerard, " and more
dangerous."
"Even gazelle shooting has its dangers," replied
Tarzan. " Especially when one goes alone. I found
it so today. I also found that while the gazelle is the
most timid of animals, it is not the most cowardly."
He let his glance rest only casually upon Gernois
after he had spoken, for he did not wish the man to
know that he was under suspicion, or surveillance,
no matter what he might think. The effect of his
remark upon him, however, might tend to prove his
connection with, or knowledge of, certain recent hap
penings. Tarzan saw a dull red creep up from be
neath Gernois' collar. He was satisfied, and quickly
changed the subject.
When the column rode south from Bou Saada the
next morning there were half a dozen Arabs bringing
up the rear.
[118]
NUMA "EL ADREA"
"They are not attached to the command," replied
Gerard in response to Tarzan's query. " They merely
accompany us on the road for companionship."
Tarzan had learned enough about Arab character
since he had been in Algeria to know that this was no
real motive, for the Arab is never overfond of the
companionship of strangers, and especially of French
soldiers. So his suspicions were aroused, and he de
cided to keep a sharp eye on the little party that
trailed behind the column at a distance of about a
quarter of a mile. But they did not come close enough
even during the halts to enable him to obtain a close
scrutiny of them.
He had long been convinced that there were hired
assassins on his trail, nor was he in great doubt but
that Rokoff was at the bottom of the plot. Whether
it was to be revenge for the several occasions in the
past that Tarzan had defeated the Russian's purposes
and humiliated him, or was in some way connected
with his mission in the Gernois affair, he could not
determine. If the latter, and it seemed probable since
the evidence he had had that Gernois suspected him,
then he had two rather powerful enemies to contend
with, for there would be many opportunities in the
wilds of Algeria, for which they were bound, to dis
patch a suspected enemy quietly and without attract
ing suspicion.
After camping at Djelfa for two days the column
moved to the southwest, from whence word had come
that the marauders were operating against the tribes
[119]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
whose douars were situated at the foot of the moun
tains.
The little band of Arabs who had accompanied
them from Bou Saada had disappeared suddenly the
very night that orders had been given to prepare
for the morrow's march from Djelfa. Tarzan made
casual inquiries among the men, but none could tell
him why they had left, or in what direction they had
gone. He did not like the looks of it, especially in
view of the fact that he had seen Gernois in conver
sation with one of them some half hour after Captain
Gerard had issued his instructions relative to the new
move. Only Gernois and Tarzan knew the direction
of the proposed march. All the soldiers knew was
that they were to be prepared to break camp early the
next morning. Tarzan wondered if Gernois could
have revealed their destination to the Arabs.
Late that afternoon they went into camp at a little
oasis in which was the douar of a sheik whose flocks
were being stolen, and whose herdsmen were being
killed. The Arabs came out of their goatskin tents,
and surrounded the soldiers, asking many questions in
the native tongue, for the soldiers were themselves
natives. Tarzan, who, by this time, with the assistance
of Abdul, had picked up quite a smattering of Arab,
questioned one of the younger men who had accom
panied the sheik while the latter paid his respects to
Captain Gerard.
No, he had seen no party of six horsemen riding
from the direction of Djelfa. There were other oases
[1201
NUMA "EL ADREA"
scattered about possibly they had been journeying
to one of these. Then there were the marauders in
the mountains above they often rode north to Bou
Saada in small parties, and even as far as Aumale and
Bouira. It might indeed have been a few marauders
returning to the band from a pleasure trip to one of
these cities.
Early the next morning Captain Gerard split his
command in two, giving Lieutenant Gernois command
of one party, while he headed the other. They were
to scour the mountains upon opposite sides of the
plain.
"And with which detachment will Monsieur Tarzan
ride ? " asked the captain. " Or maybe it is that mon
sieur does not care to hunt marauders ? "
" Oh, I shall be delighted to go," Tarzan hastened
to explain. He was wondering what excuse he could
make to accompany Gernois. His embarrassment was
short-lived, and was relieved from a most unexpected
source. It was Gernois himself who spoke.
"If my captain will forego the pleasure of Mon
sieur Tarzan's company for this once, I shall esteem
it an honor indeed to have monsieur ride with me
today," he said, nor was his tone lacking in cordiality.
In fact, Tarzan imagined that he had overdone it a
trifle, but, even so, he was both astounded and pleased,
hastening to express his delight at the arrangement.
And so it was that Lieutenant Gernois and Tarzan
rode off side by side at the head of the little detach
ment of spahis. Gernois' cordiality was short-lived.
[121]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
No sooner had they ridden out of sight of Captain
Gerard and his men than he lapsed once more into his
accustomed taciturnity. As they advanced the ground
became rougher. Steadily it ascended toward the
mountains, into which they filed through a narrow
canon close to noon. By the side of a little rivulet
Gernois called the midday halt. Here the men pre
pared and ate their frugal meal, and refilled their
canteens.
After an hour's rest they advanced again along the
canon, until they presently came to a little valley,
from which several rocky gorges diverged. Here they
halted, while Gernois minutely examined the surround
ing heights from the center of the depression.
" We shall separate here," he said, " several riding
into each of these gorges," and then he commenced to
detail his various squads and issue instructions to the
non-commissioned officers who were to command them.
When he had done he turned to Tarzan. " Monsieur
will be so good as to remain here until we return."
Tarzan demurred, but the officer cut him short.
" There may be fighting for one of these sections," he
said, "and troops cannot be embarrassed by civilian
noncombatants during action."
"But, my dear lieutenant," expostulated Tarzan,
"I am most ready and willing to place myself under
command of yourself or any of your sergeants or
corporals, and to fight in the ranks as they direct.
It is what I came for."
"I should be glad to think so," retorted Gernois,
NUMA " EL ADREA "
with a sneer he made no attempt to disguise. Then
shortly: "You are under my orders, and they are
that you remain here until we return. Let that end
the matter," and he turned and spurred away at the
head of his men. A moment later Tarzan found him
self alone in the midst of a desolate mountain fastness.
The sun was hot, so he sought the shelter of a
nearby tree, where he tethered his horse, and sat down
upon the ground to smoke. Inwardly he swore at
Gernois for the trick he had played upon him. A mean
little revenge, thought Tarzan, and then suddenly it
occurred to him that the man would not be such a fool
as to antagonize him through a trivial annoyance of
so petty a description. There must be something
deeper than this behind it. With the thought he arose
and removed his rifle from its boot. He looked to its
loads and saw that the magazine was full. Then he
inspected his revolver. After this preliminary pre
caution he scanned the surrounding heights and the
mouths of the several gorges he was determined
that he should not be caught napping.
The sun sank lower and lower, yet there was no
sign of returning spahis. At last the valley was sub
merged in shadow. Tarzan was too proud to go back
to camp until he had given the detachment ample time
to return to the valley, which he thought was to have
been their rendezvous. With the closing in of night
he felt safer from attack, for he was at home in the
dark. He knew that none might approach him so
cautiously as to elude those alert and sensitive ears
[123]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
of his ; then there were his eyes, too, for he could see
well at night ; and his nose, if they came toward him
from up-wind, would apprise him of the approach of
an enemy while they were still a great way off.
So he felt that he was in little danger, and thus
lulled to a sense of security he fell asleep, with his
back against the tree.
He must have slept for several hours, for when he
was suddenly awakened by the frightened snorting
and plunging of his horse the moon was shining full
upon the little valley, and there, not ten paces before
him, stood the grim cause of the terror of his mount.
Superb, majestic, his graceful tail extended and
quivering, and his two eyes of fire riveted full upon
his prey, stood Numa el adrea, the black lion. A little
thrill of joy tingled through Tarzan's nerves. It was
like meeting an old friend after years of separation.
For a moment he sat rigid to enjoy the magnificent
spectacle of this lord of the wilderness.
But now Numa was crouching for the spring. Very
slowly Tarzan raised his gun to his shoulder. He had
never killed a large animal with a gun in all his life
heretofore he had depended upon his spear, his poi
soned arrows, his rope, his knife, or his bare hands.
Instinctively he wished that he had his arrows and his
knife he would have felt surer with them.
Numa was lying quite flat upon the ground now,
presenting only his head. Tarzan would have pre
ferred to fire a little from one side, for he knew what
terrific damage the lion could do if he lived two
[124]
NUMA " EL ADREA "
minutes, or even a minute after he was hit. The horse
stood trembling in terror at Tarzan's back. The ape-
man took a cautious step to one side Numa but
followed him with his eyes. Another step he took,
and then another. Numa had not moved. Now he
could aim at a point between the eye and the ear.
His finger tightened upon the trigger, and as he
fired Numa sprang. At the same instant the terrified
horse made a last frantic effort to escape the tether
parted, and he went careening down the canon toward
the desert.
No ordinary man could have escaped those fright
ful claws when Numa sprang from so short a distance,
but Tarzan was no ordinary man. From earliest
childhood his muscles had been trained by the fierce
exigencies of his existence to act with the rapidity of
thought. As quick as was el adrea, Tarzan of the
Apes was quicker, and so the great beast crashed
against a tree where he had expected to feel the soft
flesh of man, while Tarzan, a couple of paces to the
right, pumped another bullet into him that brought
him clawing and roaring to his side.
Twice more Tarzan fired in quick succession, and
then el adrea lay still and roared no more. It was no
longer Monsieur Jean Tarzan ; it was Tarzan of the
Apes that put a savage foot upon the body of his
savage kill, and, raising his face to the full moon,
lifted his mighty voice in the weird and terrible chal
lenge of his kind a bull ape had made his kill. And
the wild things in the wild mountains stopped in their
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hunting, and trembled at this new and awful voice,
while down in the desert the children of the wilderness
came out of their goatskin tents and looked toward
the mountains, wondering what new and savage
scourge had come to devastate their flocks.
A half mile from the valley in which Tarzan stood,
a score of white-robed figures, bearing long, wicked-
looking guns, halted at the sound, and looked at one
another with questioning eyes. But presently, as it
was not repeated, they took up their silent, stealthy
way toward the valley.
Tarzan was now confident that Gernois had no in
tention of returning for him, but he could not fathom
the object that had prompted the officer to desert him,
yet leave him free to return to camp. His horse gone,
he decided that it would be foolish to remain longer
in the mountains, so he set out toward the desert.
He had scarcely entered the confines of the canon
when the first of the white-robed figures emerged into
the valley upon the opposite side. For a moment they
scanned the little depression from behind sheltering
bowlders, but when they had satisfied themselves that
it was empty they advanced across it. Beneath the
tree at one side they came upon the body of el adrea.
With muttered exclamations they crowded about it.
Then, a moment later, they hurried down the canon
which Tarzan was threading a brief distance in ad
vance of them. They moved cautiously and in silence,
taking advantage of shelter, as men do who are
stalking man.
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
A S Tarzan walked down the wild canon beneath
* * the brilliant African moon the call of the jungle
was strong upon him. The solitude and the savage
freedom filled his heart with life and buoyancy. Again
he was Tarzan of the Apes every sense alert against
the chance of surprise by some jungle enemy yet
treading lightly and with head erect, in proud con
sciousness of his might.
The nocturnal sounds of the mountains were new to
him, yet they fell upon his ears like the soft voice of
a half -forgotten love. Many he intuitively sensed
ah, there was one that was familiar indeed ; the distant
coughing of Sheeta, the leopard; but there was a
strange note in the final wail which made him doubt.
It was a panther he heard.
Presently a new sound a soft, stealthy sound
obtruded itself among the others. No human ears
other than the ape-man's would have detected it. At
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
first he did not translate it, but finally he realized that
it came from the bare feet of a number of human
beings. They were behind him, and they were coming
toward him quietly. He was being stalked.
In a flash he knew why he had been left in that little
valley by Gernois ; but there had been a hitch in the
arrangements the men had come too late. Closer
and closer came the footsteps. Tarzan halted and
faced them, his rifle ready in his hand. Now he caught
a fleeting glimpse of a white burnoose. He called
aloud in French, asking what they would of him. His
reply was the flash of a long gun, and with the sound
of the shot Tarzan of the Apes plunged forward upon
his face.
The Arabs did not rush out immediately; instead,
they waited to be sure that their victim did not rise.
Then they came rapidly from their concealment, and
bent over him. It was soon apparent that he was not
dead. One of the men put the muzzle of his gun to
the back of Tarzan's head to finish him, but another
waved him aside. " If we bring him alive the reward
is to be greater," explained the latter.
So they bound his hands and feet, and, picking him
up, placed him on the shoulders of four of their
number. Then the march was resumed toward the
desert. When they had come out of the mountains
they turned toward the south, and about daylight
came to the spot where their horses stood in care of
two of their number.
From here on their progress was more rapid.
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
Tarzan, who had regained consciousness, was tied to
a spare horse, which they evidently had brought for
the purpose. His wound was but a slight scratch,
which had furrowed the flesh across his temple. It
had stopped bleeding, but the dried and clotted blood
smeared his face and clothing. He had said no word
since he had fallen into the hands of these Arabs, nor
had they addressed him other than to issue a few brief
commands to him when the horses had been reached.
For six hours they rode rapidly across the burning
desert, avoiding the oases near which their way led.
About noon they came to a douar of about twenty
tents. Here they halted, and as one of the Arabs was
releasing the alfa-grass ropes which bound him to his
mount they were surrounded by a mob of men, women,
and children. Many of the tribe, and more especially
the women, appeared to take delight in heaping insults
upon the prisoner, and some had even gone so far as
to throw stones at him and strike him with sticks, when
an old sheik appeared and drove them away.
"Ali-ben- Ahmed tells me," he said, "that this man
sat alone in the mountains and slew el adrea. What the
business of the stranger who sent us after him may be,
I know not, and what he may do with this man when
we turn him over to him, I care not ; but the prisoner
is a brave man, and while he is in our hands he shall
be treated with the respect that be due one who hunts
the lord with the large head alone and by night and
slays him."
Tarzan had heard of the respect in which Arabs
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held a lion-killer, and he was not sorry that chance
had played into his hands thus favorably to relieve
him of the petty tortures of the tribe. Shortly after
this he was taken to a goatskin tent upon the upper
side of the douar. There he was fed, and then,
securely bound, was left lying on a piece of native
carpet, alone in the tent.
He could see a guard sitting before the door of his
frail prison, but when he attempted to force the stout
bonds that held him he realized that any extra precau
tion on the part of his captors was quite unnecessary ;
not even his giant muscles could part those numerous
strands.
Just before dusk several men approached the tent
where he lay, and entered it. All were in Arab dress,
but presently one of the number advanced to Tarzan's
side, and as he let the folds of cloth that had hidden
the lower half of his face fall away the ape-man saw
the malevolent features of Nikolas Rokoff. There
was a nasty smile on the bearded lips.
"Ah, Monsieur Tarzan," he said, "this is indeed a
pleasure. But why do you not rise and greet your
guest?" Then, with an ugly oath, "Get up, you
dog!" and, drawing back his booted foot, he kicked
Tarzan heavily in the side. "And here is another, and
another, and another," he continued, as he kicked
Tarzan about the face and side. "One for each of
the injuries you have done me."
The ape-man made no reply he did not even
deign to look upon the Russian again after the first
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
glance of recognition. Finally the sheik, who had
been standing a mute and frowning witness of the
cowardly attack, intervened.
"Stop!" he commanded. "Kill him if you will,
but I will see no brave man subjected to such indig
nities in my presence. I have half a mind to turn him
loose, that I may see how long you would kick him
then."
This threat put a sudden end to RokofPs brutality,
for he had no craving to see Tarzan loosed from his
bonds while he was within reach of those powerful
hands.
"Very well," he replied to the Arab; "I shall kill
him presently."
" Not within the precincts of my douar," returned
the sheik. "When he leaves here he leaves alive.
What you do with him in the desert is none of my
concern, but I shall not have the blood of a French
man on the hands of my tribe on account of another
man's quarrel they would send soldiers here and kill
many of my people, and burn our tents and drive away
our flocks."
"As you say," growled Rokoff. "I'll take him out
into the desert below the douar, and dispatch him."
" You will take him a day's ride from my country,"
said the sheik, firmly, " and some of my children shall
follow you to see that you do not disobey me other
wise there may be two dead Frenchmen in the desert."
Rokoff shrugged. " Then I shall have to wait until
the morrow it is already dark."
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"As you will," said the sheik. "But by an hour
after dawn you must be gone from my douar. I have
little liking for unbelievers, and none at all for a
coward."
Rokoff would have made some kind of retort, but
he checked himself, for he realized that it would re
quire but little excuse for the old man to turn upon
him. Together they left the tent. At the door Rokoff
could not resist the temptation to turn and fling a
parting taunt at Tarzan.
" Sleep well, monsieur," he said, " and do not for
get to pray well, for when you die tomorrow it will
be in such agony that you will be unable to pray for
blaspheming."
No one had bothered to bring Tarzan either food
or water since noon, and consequently he suffered
considerably from thirst. He wondered if it would be
worth while to ask his guard for water, but after
making two or three requests without receiving any
response, he decided that it would not.
Far up in the mountains he heard a lion roar. How
much safer one was, he soliloquized, in the haunts of
wild beasts than in the haunts of men. Never in all
his jungle life had be been more relentlessly tracked
down than in the past few months of his experience
among civilized men. Never had he been any nearer
death.
Again the lion roared. It sounded a little nearer.
Tarzan felt the old, wild impulse to reply with the
challenge of his kind. His kind? He had almost
THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
forgotten that he was a man and not an ape. He
tugged at his bonds. God, if he could but get them
near those strong teeth of his. He felt a wild wave
of madness sweep over him as his efforts to regain his
liberty met with failure.
Numa was roaring almost continually now. It was
quite evident that he was coming down into the desert
to hunt. It was the roar of a hungry lion. Tarzan
envied him, for he was free. No one would tie him
with ropes and slaughter him like a sheep. It was
that which galled the ape-man. He did not fear to
die, no it was the humiliation of defeat before
death, without even a chance to battle for his life.
It must be near midnight, thought Tarzan. He
had several hours to live. Possibly he would yet find
a way to take Rokoff with him on the long journey.
He could hear the savage lord of the desert quite
close by now. Possibly he sought his meat from
among the penned animals within the douar.
For a long time silence reigned, then Tarzan's
trained ears caught the sound of a stealthily moving
body. It came from the side of the tent nearest the
mountains the back. Nearer and nearer it came.
He waited, listening intently, for it to pass. For a
time there was silence without, such a terrible silence
that Tarzan was surprised that he did not hear the
breathing of the animal he felt sure must be crouching
close to the back wall of his tent.
There! It is moving again. Closer it creeps.
Tarzan turns his head in the direction of the sound.
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It is very dark within the tent. Slowly the back rises
from the ground, forced up by the head and shoulders
of a body that looks all black in the semi-darkness.
Beyond is a faint glimpse of the dimly starlit desert.
A grim smile plays about Tarzan's lips. At least
Rokoff will be cheated. How mad he will be! And
death will be more merciful than he could have hoped
for at the hands of the Russian.
Now the back of the tent drops into place, and all
is darkness again whatever it is is inside the tent
with him. He hears it creeping close to him now
it is beside him. He closes his eyes and waits for the
mighty paw. Upon his upturned face falls the gentle
touch of a soft hand groping in the dark, and then a
girl's voice in a scarcely audible whisper pronounces
his name.
"Yes, it is I," he whispers in reply. "But in the
name of Heaven who are you ? "
"The Ouled-Nail of Sidi Aissa," came the answer.
While she spoke Tarzan could feel her working about
his bonds. Occasionally the cold steel of a knife
touched his flesh. A moment later he was free.
" Come ! " she whispered.
On hands and knees he followed her out of the tent
by the way she had come. She continued crawling
thus flat to the ground until she reached a little patch
of shrub. There she halted until he gained her side.
For a moment he looked at her before he spoke.
" I cannot understand," he said at last. " Why are
you here? How did you know that I was a prisoner
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
in that tent? How does it happen that it is you who
have saved me ? "
She smiled. " I have come a long way tonight,"
she said, "and we have a long way to go before we
shall be out of danger. Come ; I shall tell you all
about it as we go."
Together they rose and set off across the desert in
the direction of the mountains.
" I was not quite sure that I should ever reach you,"
she said at last. "El adrea is abroad tonight, and
after I left the horses I think he winded me and was
following I was terribly frightened."
"What a brave girl," he said. "And you ran all
that risk for a stranger an alien an unbeliever?"
She drew herself up very proudly.
"I am the daughter of the Sheik Kabour ben
Saden," she answered. "I should be no fit daughter
of his if I would not risk my life to save that of the
man who saved mine while he yet thought that I was
but a common Ouled-Nail."
" Nevertheless," he insisted, " you are a very brave
girl. But how did you know that I was a prisoner
back there?"
"Achmet-din-Taieb, who is my cousin on my father's
side, was visiting some friends who belong to the tribe
that captured you. He was at the douar when you
were brought in. When he reached home he was tell
ing us about the big Frenchman who had been cap
tured by Ali-ben-Ahmed for another Frenchman who
wished to kill him. From the description I knew
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
that it must be you. My father was away. I tried
to persuade some of the men to come and save you,
but they would not do it, saying : * Let the unbeliev
ers kill one another if they wish. It is none of our
affair, and if we go and interfere with Ali-ben- Ahmed's
plans we shall only stir up a fight with our own
people.'
" So when it was dark I came alone, riding one
horse and leading another for you. They are tethered
not far from here. By morning we shall be within my
father's douar. He should be there himself by now
then let them come and try to take Kadour ben Saden's
friend."
For a few moments they walked on in silence.
"We should be near the horses," she said. "It is
strange that I do not see them here."
Then a moment later she stopped, with a little cry
of consternation.
" They are gone ! " she exclaimed. " It is here that
I tethered them."
Tarzan stooped to examine the ground. He found
that a large shrub had been torn up by the roots.
Then he found something else. There was a wry smile
on his face as he rose and turned toward the girl.
"El adrea has been here. From the signs, though, I
rather think that his prey escaped him. With a little
start they would be safe enough from him in the
open."
There was nothing to do but continue on foot. The
way led them across a low spur of the mountains, but
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
the girl knew the trail as well as she did her mother's
face. They walked in easy, swinging strides, Tarzan
keeping a hand's breadth behind the girl's shoulder,
that she might set the pace, and thus be less fatigued.
As they walked they talked, occasionally stopping to
listen for sounds of pursuit.
It was now a beautiful, moonlit night. The air was
crisp and invigorating. Behind them lay the intermi
nable vista of the desert, dotted here and there with an
occasional oasis. The date palms of the little fertile
spot they had just left, and the circle of goatskin tents,
stood out in sharp relief against the yellow sand a
phantom paradise upon a phantom sea. Before them
rose the grim and silent mountains. Tarzan's blood
leaped in his veins. This was life! He looked down
upon the girl beside him a daughter of the desert
walking across the face of a dead world with a son of
the jungle. He smiled at the thought. He wished
that he had had a sister, and that she had been like
this girl. What a bully chum she would have been!
They had entered the mountains now, and were
progressing more slowly, for the trail was steeper
and very rocky.
For a few minutes they had been silent. The girl
was wondering if they would reach her father's douar
before the pursuit had overtaken them. Tarzan was
wishing that they might walk on thus forever. If the
girl were only a man they might. He longed for a
friend who loved the same wild life that he loved. He
had learned to crave companionship, but it was his
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
misfortune that most of the men he knew preferred
immaculate linen and their clubs to nakedness and the
jungle. It was, of course, difficult to understand, yet
it was very evident that they did.
The two had just turned a projecting rock around
which the trail ran when they were brought to a sud
den stop. There, before them, directly in the middle
of the path, stood Numa, el adrea, the black lion. His
green eyes looked very wicked, and he bared his teeth,
and lashed his bay-black sides with his angry tail.
Then he roared the fearsome, terror-inspiring roar
of the hungry lion which is also angry.
"Your knife," said Tarzan to the girl, extending
his hand. She slipped the hilt of the weapon into his
waiting palm. As his fingers closed upon it he drew
her back and pushed her behind him. " Walk back to
the desert as rapidly as you can. If you hear me call
you will know that all is well, and you may return."
"It is useless," she replied, resignedly. "This is
the end."
" Do as I tell you," he commanded. " Quickly ! He
is about to charge." The girl dropped back a few
paces, where she stood watching for the terrible sight
that she knew she should soon witness.
The lion was advancing slowly toward Tarzan, his
nose to the ground, like a challenging bull, his tail
extended now and quivering as though with intense
excitement.
The ape-man stood, half crouching, the long Arab
knife glistening in the moonlight. Behind him the
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THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
tense figure of the girl, motionless as a carven statue.
She leaned slightly forward, her lips parted, her eyes
wide. Her only conscious thought was wonder at the
bravery of the man who dared face with a puny knife
the lord with the large head. A man of her own blood
would have knelt in prayer and gone down beneath
those awful fangs without resistance. In either case
the result would be the same it was inevitable ; but
she could not repress a thrill of admiration as her eyes
rested upon the heroic figure before her. Not a tremor
in the whole giant frame his attitude as menacing
and defiant as that of el adrea himself.
The lion was quite close to him now but a few
paces intervened he crouched, and then, with *
deafening roar, he sprang.
[139]
XI
JOHN CALDWEI/L, LONDON
A S Numa el adrea launched himself with wide-
* ^ spread paws and bared fangs he looked to find
this puny man as easy prey as the score who had
gone down beneath him in the past. To him man was
a clumsy, slow-moving, defenseless creature he had
little respect for him.
But this time he found that he was pitted against a
creature as agile and as quick as himself. When his
mighty frame struck the spot where the man had been
he was no longer there.
The watching girl was transfixed by astonishment
at the ease with which the crouching man eluded the
great paws. And now, O Allah! He had rushed in
behind el adrea's shoulder even before the beast could
turn, and had grasped him by the mane. The lion
reared upon his hind legs like a horse Tarzan had
known that he would do this, and he was ready. A
giant arm encircled the black-maned throat, and once,
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JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
twice, a dozen times a sharp blade darted in and out of
the bay-black side behind the left shoulder.
Frantic were the leaps of Numa awful his roars
of rage and pain; but the giant upon his back could
not be dislodged or brought within reach of fangs or
talons in the brief interval of life that remained to
the lord with the large head. He was quite dead when
Tarzan of the Apes released his hold and arose. Then
the daughter of the desert witnessed a thing that ter
rified her even more than had the presence of el adrea.
The man placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill,
and, with his handsome face raised toward the full
moon, gave voice to the most frightful cry that ever
had smote upon her ears.
With a little cry of fear she shrank away from him
she thought that the fearful strain of the encoun
ter had driven him mad. As the last note of that
fiendish challenge died out in the diminishing echoes
of the distance the man dropped his eyes until they
rested upon the girl.
Instantly his face was lighted by the kindly smile
that was ample assurance of his sanity, and the girl
breathed freely once again, smiling in response.
" What manner of man are you ? " she asked. " The
thing you have done is unheard of. Even now I can
not believe that it is possible for a lone man armed
only with a knife to have fought hand to hand with
el adrea and conquered him, unscathed to have con-*,
quered him at all. And that cry it was not human.
Why did you do that?"
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Tarzan flushed. "It is because I forget," he said,
" sometimes, that I am a civilized man. When I kill it
must be that I am another creature." He did not try
to explain further, for it always seemed to him that a
woman must look with loathing upon one who was yet
so nearly a beast.
Together they continued their journey. The sun
was an hour high when they came out into the desert
again beyond the mountains. Beside a little rivulet
they found the girl's horses grazing. They had
come this far on their way home, and with the cause
of their fear no longer present had stopped to
feed.
With little trouble Tarzan and the girl caught
them, and, mounting, rode out into the desert toward
the douar of Sheik Kadour-ben-Saden.
No sign of pursuit developed, and they came in
safety about nine o'clock to their destination. The
sheik had but just returned. He was frantic with
grief at the absence of his daughter, whom he thought
had been again abducted by the marauders. With
fifty men he was already mounted to go in search of
her when the two rode into the douar.
His joy at the safe return of his daughter was only
equaled by his gratitude to Tarzan for bringing her
safely to him through the dangers of the night, and
his thankfulness that she had been in time to save
the man who had once saved her.
No honor that Kadour-ben-Saden could heap upon
the ape-man in acknowledgment of his esteem and
JOHN CALDWEJLL, LONDON
friendship was neglected. When the girl had recited
the story of the slaying of el adrea Tarzan was sur
rounded by a mob of worshiping Arabs it was a
sure road to their admiration and respect.
The old sheik insisted that Tarzan remain indef
initely as his guest. He even wished to adopt him as
a member of the tribe, and there was for some time a
half-formed resolution in the ape-man's mind to ac
cept and remain forever with these wild people, whom
he understood and who seemed to understand him. His
friendship and liking for the girl were potent factors
in urging him toward an affirmative decision.
Had she been a man, he argued, he should not have
hesitated, for it would have meant a friend after his
own heart, with whom he could ride and hunt at will ;
but as it was they would be hedged by the convention
alities that are even more strictly observed by the wild
nomads of the desert than by their more civilized
brothers and sisters. And in a little while she would
be married to one of these swarthy warriors, and there
would be an end to their friendship. So he decided
against the sheik's proposal, though he remained a
week as his guest.
When he left, Kadour-ben-Saden and fifty white-
robed warriors rode with him to Bou Saada. While
they were mounting in the douar of Kadour-ben-Saden
the morning of their departure, the girl came to bid
farewell to Tarzan.
"I have prayed that you would remain with us,"
she said simply, as he leaned from his saddle to clasp
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
her hand in farewell, " and now I shall pray that you
will return."
There was an expression of wistfulness in her beau
tiful eyes, and a pathetic droop at the corners of her
mouth. Tarzan was touched.
" Who knows ?" and then he turned and rode after
the departing Arabs.
Outside Bou Saada he bade Kadour-ben-Saden and
his men good-by, for there were reasons which made
him wish to make his entry into the town as secret as
possible, and when he had explained them to the sheik
the latter concurred in his decision. The Arabs were
to enter Bou Saada ahead of him, saying nothing as
to his presence with them. Later Tarzan would come
in alone, and go directly to an obscure native inn.
Thus, making his entrance after dark, as he did, he
was not seen by any one who knew him, and reached
the inn unobserved. After dining with Kadour-ben-
Saden as his guest, he went to his former hotel by a
roundabout way, and, coming in by a rear entrance,
sought the proprietor, who seemed much surprised to
see him alive.
Yes, there was mail for monsieur ; he would fetch it.
No, he would mention monsieur's return to no one.
Presently he returned with a packet of letters. One
was an order from his superior to lay off on his pres
ent work, and hasten to Cape Town by the first
steamer he could get. His further instructions would
be awaiting him there in the hands of another agent
whose name and address were given. That was all -
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JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
brief but explicit. Tarzan arranged to leave Bou
Saada early the next morning. Then he started for
the garrison to see Captain Gerard, whom the hotel
man had told him had returned with his detachment
the previous day.
He found the officer in his quarters. He was filled
with surprise and pleasure at seeing Tarzan alive and
well.
"When Lieutenant Gernois returned and reported
that he had not found you at the spot that you had
chosen to remain while the detachment was scouting,
I was filled with alarm. We searched the mountains
for days. Then came word that you had been killed
and eaten by a lion. As proof your gun was brought
to us. Your horse had returned to camp the second
day after your disappearance. We could not doubt.
Lieutenant Gernois was grief-stricken he took all
the blame upon himself. It was he who insisted on
carrying on the search himself. It was he who found
the Arab with your gun. He will be delighted to know
that you are safe."
" Doubtless," said Tarzan, with a grim smile.
" He is down in the town now, or I should send for
him," continued Captain Gerard. "I shalHell him as
soon as he returns."
Tarzan let the officer think that he had been lost,
wandering finally into the douar of Kadour-ben-Saden,
who had escorted him back to Bou Saada. As soon as
possible he bade the good officer adieu, and hastened
back into the town. At the native inn he had learned
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
through Kadour-ben-Saden a piece of interesting in
formation. It told of a black-bearded white man who
went always disguised as an Arab. For a time he had
nursed a broken wrist. More recently he had been
away from Bou Saada, but now he was back, and Tar-
zan knew his place of concealment. It was for there
he headed.
Through narrow, stinking alleys, black as Erebus,
he groped, and then up a rickety stairway, at the end
of which was a closed door and a tiny, unglazed win
dow. The window was high under the low eaves of
the mud building. Tarzan could just reach the sill.
He raised himself slowly until his eyes topped it. The
room within was lighted, and at a table sat Rokoff
and Gernois. Geraois was speaking.
66 Rokoff, you are a devil ! " he was saying. " You
have hounded me until I have lost the last shred of my
honor. You have driven me to murder, for the blood
of that man Tarzan is on my hands. If it were not
that that other devil's spawn, Paulvitch, still knew my
secret, I should kill you here tonight with my bare
hands."
Rokoff laughed. " You would not do that, my dear
lieutenant," he said. "The moment I am reported
dead by assassination that dear Alexis will forward to
the minister of war full proof of the affair you so ar
dently long to conceal ; and, further, will charge you
with my murder. Come, be sensible. I am your best
friend. Have I not protected your honor as though
it were my own?"
[146]
JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
Gernois sneered, and spat out an oath.
" Just one more little payment," continued Rokoff,
" and the papers I wish, and you have my word of
honor that I shall never ask another cent from you,
or further information."
"And a good reason why," growled Gernois.
"What you ask will take my last cent, and the only
valuable military secret I hold. You ought to be pay
ing me for the information, instead of taking both it
and money, too."
" I am paying you by keeping a still tongue in my
head," retorted Rokoff. "But let's have done. Will
you, or will you not? I give you three minutes to
decide. If you are not agreeable I shall send a note
to your commandant tonight that will end in the
degradation that Dreyfus suffered the only differ
ence being that he did not deserve it."
For a moment Gernois sat with bowed head. At
length he arose. He drew two pieces of paper from
his blouse.
"Here," he said hopelessly. "I had them ready,
for I knew that there could be but one outcome." He
held them toward the Russian.
Rokoff's cruel face lighted in malignant gloating.
He seized the bits of paper.
"You have done well, Gernois," he said. "I shall
not trouble you again unless you happen to accumu
late some more money or information," and he grinned.
" You never shall again, you dog ! " hissed Gernois.
" The next time I shall kill you. I came near doing
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it tonight. For an hour I sat with these two pieces
of paper on my table before me ere I came here be
side them lay my loaded revolver. I was trying to
decide which I should bring. Next time the choice
shall be easier, for I already have decided. You had
a close call tonight, Rokoff; do not tempt fate a
second time."
Then Gernois rose to leave. Tarzan barely had
time to drop to the landing and shrink back into the
shadows on the far side of the door. Even then he
scarcely hoped to elude detection. The landing was
very small, and though he flattened himself against
the wall at its far edge he was scarcely more than a
foot from the doorway. Almost immediately it
opened, and Gernois stepped out. Rokoff was behind
him. Neither spoke. Gernois had taken perhaps three
steps down the stairway when he halted and half
turned, as though to retrace his steps.
Tarzan knew that discovery would be inevitable.
Rokoff still stood on the threshold a foot from him,
but he was looking in the opposite direction, toward
Gernois. Then the officer evidently reconsidered his
decision, and resumed his downward course. Tarzan
could hear Rokoff's sigh of relief. A moment later the
Russian went back into the room and closed the door.
Tarzan waited until Gernois had had time to get
well out of hearing, then he pushed open the door and
stepped into the room. He was on top of Rokoff be
fore the man could rise from the chair where he sat
scanning the paper Gernois had given him. As his
[148]
JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
eyes turned and fell upon the ape-man's face his own
went livid.
"You! "he gasped.
" I," replied Tarzan.
"What do you want?" whispered Rokoff, for the
look in the ape-man's eyes frightened him. "Have
you come to kill me ? You do not dare. They would
guillotine you. You do not dare kill me."
" I dare kill you, Rokoff," replied Tarzan, " for no
one knows that you are here or that I am here, and
Paulvitch would tell them that it was Gernois. I
heard you tell Gernois so. But that would not in
fluence me, Rokoff. I would not care who knew that
I had killed you; the pleasure of killing you would
more than compensate for any punishment they might
inflict upon me. You are the most despicable cur of a
coward, Rokoff, I have ever heard of. You should be
killed. I should love to kill you," and Tarzan ap
proached closer to the man.
Rokoff's nerves were keyed to the breaking point.
With a shriek he sprang toward an adjoining room,
but the ape-man was upon his back while his leap was
yet but half completed. Iron fingers sought his
throat the great coward squealed like a stuck pig,
until Tarzan had shut off his wind. Then the ape-man
dragged him to his feet, still choking him. The Rus
sian struggled futilely he was like a babe in the
mighty grasp of Tarzan of the Apes.
Tarzan sat him in a chair, and long before there
was danger of the man's dying he released his hold
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upon his throat. When the Russian's coughing spell
had abated Tarzan spoke to him again.
" I have given you a taste of the suffering of
death," he said. " But I shall not kill this time. I
am sparing you solely for the sake of a very good
woman whose great misfortune it was to have been
born of the same woman who gave birth to you. But
I shall spare you only this once on her account.
Should I ever learn that you have again annoyed her
or her husband should you ever annoy me again
should I hear that you have returned to France or to
any French possession, I shall make it my sole busi
ness to hunt you down and complete the choking I
commenced tonight." Then he turned to the table, on
which the two pieces of paper still lay. As he picked
them up Rokoff gasped in horror.
Tarzan examined both the check and the other. He
was amazed at the information the latter contained.
RokofF had partially read it, but Tarzan knew that
no one could remember the salient facts and figures it
held which made it of real value to an enemy of
France.
" These will interest the chief of staff," he said, as
he slipped them into his pocket.
Rokoff groaned. He did not dare curse aloud.
The next morning Tarzan rode north on his way to
Bouira and Algiers. As he had ridden past the hotel
Lieutenant Gernois was standing on the veranda. As
his eyes discovered Tarzan he went white as chalk. The
ape-man would have been glad had the meeting not oc-
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JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
curred, but he could not avoid it. He saluted the offi
cer as he rode past. Mechanically Gernois returned
the salute, but those terrible, wide eyes followed the
horseman, expressionless except for horror. It was
as though a dead man looked upon a ghost.
At Sidi Aissa Tarzan met a French officer with whom
he had become acquainted on the occasion of his recent
sojourn in the town.
" You left Bou Saada early ? " questioned the officer.
" Then you have not heard about poor Gernois."
"He was the last man I saw as I rode away," re
plied Tarzan. " What about him ? "
" He is dead. He shot himself about eight o'clock
this morning."
Two days later Tarzan reached Algiers. There he
found that he would have a two days' wait before he
could catch a ship bound for Cape Town. He oc
cupied his time in writing out a full report of his
mission. The secret papers he had taken from Rokoff
he did not inclose, for he did not dare trust them out
of his own possession until he had been authorized to
turn them over to another agent, or himself returned
to Paris with them.
As Tarzan boarded his ship after what seemed a
most tedious wait to him, two men watched him from
an upper deck. Both were fashionably dressed and
smooth shaven. The taller of the two had sandy hair,
but his eyebrows were very black. Later in the day
they chanced to meet Tarzan on deck, but as one hur
riedly called his companion's attention to something at
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
sea their faces were turned from Tarzan as he passed,
so that he did not notice their features. In fact, he
had paid no attention to them at all.
Following the instructions of his chief, Tarzan had
booked his passage under an assumed name John
Caldwell, London. He did not understand the neces
sity of this, and it caused him considerable specula
tion. He wondered what role he was to play in Cape
Town.
"Well," he thought, "thank Heaven that I am rid
of Rokoff. He was commencing to annoy me. I won
der if I am really becoming so civilized that presently
I shall develop a set of nerves. He would give them
to me if any one could, for he does not fight fair.
One never knows through what new agency he is going
to strike. It is as though Numa, the lion, had induced
Tantor, the elephant, and Histah, the snake, to join
him in attempting to kill me. I would then never have
known what minute, or by whom, I was to be attacked
next. But the brutes are more chivalrous than man
they do not stoop to cowardly intrigue."
At dinner that night Tarzan sat next to a young
woman whose place was at the captain's left. The
officer introduced them.
Miss Strong! Where had he heard the name be
fore? It was very familiar. And then the girl's
mother gave him the clew, for when she addressed her
daughter she called her Hazel.
Hazel Strong! What memories the name inspired.
It had been a letter to this girl, penned by the fair
JOHN CALDWELL, LONDON
hand of Jane Porter, that had carried to him the first
message from the woman he loved. How vividly he
recalled the night he had stolen it from the desk in
the cabin of his long-dead father, where Jane Porter
had sat writing it late into the night, while he crouched
in the darkness without. How terror-stricken she
would have been that night had she known that the
wild jungle beast squatted outside her window, watch
ing her every move.
And this was Hazel Strong Jane Porter's best
friend !
[153]
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SHIPS THAT PASS
T ET us go back a few months to the little, wind-
* ' swept platform of a railway station in northern
Wisconsin. The smoke of forest fires hangs low over
the surrounding landscape, its acrid fumes smarting
the eyes of a little party of six who stand waiting the
coming of the train that is to bear them away toward
the south.
Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, his hands clasped
beneath the tails of his long coat, paces back and
forth under the ever-watchful eye of his faithful sec
retary, Mr. Samuel T. Philander. Twice within the
past few minutes he has started absent-mindedly across
the tracks in the direction of a near-by swamp, only
to be rescued and dragged back by the tireless Mr.
Philander.
Jane Porter, the professor's daughter, is in strained
and lifeless conversation with William Cecil Clayton
and Tarzan of the Apes. Within the little waiting
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SHIPS THAT PASS
room, but a bare moment before, a confession of love
and a renunciation had taken place that had blighted
the lives and happiness of two of the party, but Will
iam Cecil Clayton, Lord Greystoke, was not one of
them.
Behind Miss Porter hovered the motherly Esmer-
alda. She, too, was happy, for was she not returning
to her beloved Maryland ? Already she could see dimly
through the fog of smoke the murky headlight of the
oncoming engine. The men began to gather up the
hand baggage. Suddenly Clayton exclaimed.
" By Jove ! I've left my ulster in the waiting-room,"
and hastened off to fetch it.
" Good-bye, Jane," said Tarzan, extending his hand.
" God bless you ! "
" Good-bye," replied the girl faintly. " Try to for
get me no, not that I could not bear to think
that you had forgotten me."
"There is no danger of that, dear," he answered.
" I wish to Heaven that I might forget. It would be
so much easier than to go through life always remem
bering what might have been. You will be happy,
though; I am sure you shall you must be. You
may tell the others of my decision to drive my car on
to New York I don't feel equal to bidding Clayton
good-bye. I want always to remember him kindly, but
I fear that I am too much of a wild beast yet to be
trusted too long with the man who stands between me
and the one person in all the world I want."
As Clayton stooped to pick up his coat in the wait-
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
ing room his eyes fell on a telegraph blank lying face
down upon the floor. He stooped to pick it up, think
ing it might be a message of importance which some
one had dropped. He glanced at it hastily, and then
suddenly he forgot his coat, the approaching train
everything but that terrible little piece of yellow
paper in his hand. He read it twice before he could
fully grasp the terrific weight of meaning that it
bore to him.
When he had picked it up he had been an English
nobleman, the proud and wealthy possessor of vast
estates a moment later he had read it, and he knew
that he was an untitled and penniless beggar. It was
D'Arnot's cablegram to Tarzan, and it read :
Finger prints prove you Greystoke. Congratulations.
D'ARNOT.
He staggered as though he had received a mortal
blow. Just then he heard the others calling to him to
hurry the train was coming to a stop at the little
platform. Like a man dazed he gathered up his ulster.
He would tell them about the cablegram when they
were all on board the train. Then he ran out upon
the platform just as the engine whistled twice in the
final- warning that precedes the first rumbling jerk of
coupling pins. The others were on board, leaning out
from the platform of a Pullman, crying to him to
hurry. Quite five minutes elapsed before they were
settled in their seats, nor was it until then that Clayton
discovered that Tarzan was not with them.
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SHIPS THAT PASS
"Where is Tarzan?" he asked Jane Porter. "In
another car?"
"No," she replied; "at the last minute he deter
mined to drive his machine back to New York. He is
anxious to see more of America than is possible from
a car window. He is returning to France, you know."
Clayton did not reply. He was trying to find the
right words to explain to Jane Porter the calamity
that had befallen him and her. He wondered just
what the effect of this knowledge would be on her.
Would she still wish to marry him to be plain Mrs.
Clayton? Suddenly the awful sacrifice which one of
them must make loomed large before his imagination.
Then came the question : Will Tarzan claim his own?
The ape-man had known the contents of the message
before he calmly denied knowledge of his parentage !
He had admitted that Kala, the ape, was his mother!
Could it have been for love of Jane Porter?
There was no other explanation which seemed rea
sonable. Then, having ignored the evidence of the
message, was it not reasonable to assume that he meant
never to claim his birthright? If this were so, what
right had he, William Cecil Clayton, to thwart the
wishes, to balk the self-sacrifice of this strange man?
If Tarzan of the Apes could do this thing to save
Jane Porter from unhappiness, why should he, to
whose care she was intrusting her whole future, do
aught to jeopardize her interests?
And so he reasoned until the first generous impulse
to proclaim the truth and relinquish his titles and his
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
estates to their rightful owner was forgotten beneath
the mass of sophistries which self-interest had ad
vanced. But during the balance of the trip, and for
many days thereafter, he was moody and distraught.
Occasionally the thought obtruded itself that possibly
at some later day Tarzan would regret his magnanim
ity, and claim his rights.
Several days after they reached Baltimore Clayton
broached the subject of an early marriage to Jane.
" What do you mean by early ? " she asked.
" Within the next few days. I must return to Eng
land at once I want you to return with me, dear.'*
" I can't get ready so soon as that," replied Jane.
" It will take a whole month, at least."
She was glad, for she hoped that whatever called
him to England might still further delay the wedding.
She had made a bad bargain, but she intended carry
ing her part loyally to the bitter end if she could
manage to secure a temporary reprieve, though she
felt that she was warranted in doing so. His reply
disconcerted her.
"Very well, Jane," he said. "I am disappointed,
but I shall let my trip to England wait a month ; then
we can go back together."
But when the month was drawing to a close she
found still another excuse upon which to hang a post
ponement, until at last, discouraged and doubting,
Clayton was forced to go back to England alone.
The several letters that passed between them brought
Clayton no nearer to a consummation of/ his hopes
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SHIPS THAT PASS
than he had been before, and so it was that he wrote
directly to Professor Porter, and enlisted his services.
The old man had always favored the match. He
liked Clayton, and, being of an old southern family,
he put rather an exaggerated value on the advan
tages of a title, which meant little or nothing to his
daughter.
Clayton urged that the professor accept his invita
tion to be his guest in London, an invitation which
included the professor's entire little family Mr.
Philander, Esmeralda, and all. The Englishman ar
gued that once Jane was there, and home ties had been
broken, she would not so dread the step which she had
so long hesitated to take.
So the evening that he received Clayton's letter
Professor Porter announced that they would leave for
London the following week.
But once in London Jane Porter was no more tract
able than she had been in Baltimore. She found one
excuse after another, and when, finally, Lord Tenning-
ton invited the party to cruise around Africa in his
yacht, she expressed the greatest delight in the idea,
but absolutely refused to be married until they had re
turned to London. As the cruise was to consume a
year at least, for they were to stop for indefinite
periods at various points of interest, Clayton mentally
anathematized Tennington for ever suggesting such
a ridiculous trip.
It was Lord Tennington's plan to cruise through
the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea to the Indian
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Ocean, and thus down the East Coast, putting in at
every port that was worth the seeing.
And so it happened that on a certain day two ves
sels passed in the Strait of Gibraltar. The smaller, a
trim white yacht, was speeding toward the east, and on
her deck sat a young woman who gazed with sad eyes
upon a diamond-studded locket which she idly fingered.
Her thoughts were far away, in the dim, leafy fastness
of a tropical jungle and her heart was with her
thoughts.
She wondered if the man who had given her the
beautiful bauble, that had meant so much more to him
than the intrinsic value which he had not even known
could ever have meant to him, was back in his savage
forest.
And upon the deck of the larger vessel, a passenger
steamer passing toward the east, the man sat with an
other young woman, and the two idly speculated upon
the identity of the dainty craft gliding so gracefully
through the gentle swell of the lazy sea.
When the yacht had passed the man resumed the
conversation that her appearance had broken off.
"Yes," he said, "I like America very much, and
that means, of course, that I like Americans, for a
country is only what its people make it. I met some
very delightful people while I was there. I recall one
family from your own city, Miss Strong, whom I liked
particularly Professor Porter and his daughter."
"Jane Porter!" exclaimed the girl. "Do you
mean to tell me that you know Jane Porter? Why,
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SHIPS THAT PASS
she is the very best friend I have in the world. We
were little children together we have known each
other for ages."
"Indeed!" he answered, smiling. "You would
have difficulty in persuading any one of the fact who
had seen either of you."
"I'll qualify the statement, then," she answered,
with a laugh. "We have known each other for two
ages hers and mine. But seriously we are as dear
to each other as sisters, and now that I am going to
lose her I am almost heartbroken."
"Going to lose her?" exclaimed Tarzan. "Why,
what do you mean? Oh, yes, I understand. You mean
that now that she is married and living in England,
you will seldom if ever see her."
" Yes," replied she ; " and the saddest part of it all
is that she is not marrying the man she loves. Oh, it
is terrible. Marrying from a sense of duty ! I think
it is perfectly wicked, and I told her so. I have felt
so strongly on the subject that although I was the
only person outside of blood relations who was to have
been asked to the wedding I would not let her invite
me, for I should not have gone to witness the terrible
mockery. But Jane Porter is peculiarly positive. She
has convinced herself that she is doing the only hon
orable thing that she can do, and nothing in the world
will ever prevent her from marrying Lord Grey stoke
except Greystoke himself, or death."
" I am sorry for her," said Tarzan.
"And I am sorry for the man she loves," said the
[161]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
girl, " for lie loves her. I never met him, but from
what Jane tells me he must be a very wonderful person.
It seems that he was born in an African jungle, and
brought up by fierce, anthropoid apes. He had never
seen a white man or woman until Professor Porter
and his party were marooned on the coast right at the
threshold of his tiny cabin. He saved them from all
manner of terrible beasts, and accomplished the most
wonderful feats imaginable, and then to cap the climax
he fell in love with Jane and she with him, though she
never really knew it for sure until she had promised
herself to Lord Greystoke."
"Most remarkable," murmured Tarzan, cudgeling
his brain for some pretext upon which to turn the sub-
ject. He delighted in hearing Hazel Strong talk of
Jane, but when he was the subj ect of the conversation
he was bored and embarrassed. But he was soon given
a respite, for the girl's mother joined them, and the
talk became general.
The next few days passed uneventfully. The sea
was quiet. The sky was clear. The steamer plowed
steadily on toward the south without pause. Tarzan
spent quite a little time with Miss Strong and her
mother. They whiled away their hours on deck read
ing, talking, or taking pictures with Miss Strong's
camera. When the sun had set they walked.
One day Tarzan found Miss Strong in conversation
with a stranger, a man he had not seen on board be
fore. As he approached the couple the man bowed to
the girl and turned to walk away.
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"Wait, Monsieur Thuran," said Miss Strong;
" you must meet Mr. Caldwell. We are all fellow pas
sengers, and should be acquainted."
The two men shook hands. As Tarzan looked into
the eyes of Monsieur Thuran he was struck by the
strange familiarity of their expression.
"I have had the honor of monsieur's acquaintance
in the past, I am sure," said Tarzan, " though I can
not recall the circumstances."
Monsieur Thuran appeared ill at ease.
" I cannot say, monsieur," he replied. " It may be
so. I have had that identical sensation myself when
meeting a stranger."
" Monsieur Thuran has been explaining some of the
mysteries of navigation to me," explained the girl.
Tarzan paid little heed to the conversation that en
sued he was attempting to recall where he had met
Monsieur Thuran before. That it had been under pe
culiar circumstances he was positive. Presently the
sun reached them, and the girl asked Monsieur Thuran
to move her chair farther back into the shade. Tarzan
happened to be watching the man at the time, and no
ticed the awkward manner in which he handled the
chair his left wrist was stiff. That clew was suffi
cient a sudden train of associated ideas did the
rest.
Monsieur Thuran had been trying to find an ex
cuse to make a graceful departure. The lull in the
conversation following the moving of their position
gave him an opportunity to make his excuses. Bow-
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ing low to Miss Strong, and inclining his head to
Tarzan, he turned to leave them.
" Just a moment," said Tarzan. " If Miss Strong
will pardon me I will accompany you. I shall return
in a moment, Miss Strong."
Monsieur Thuran looked uncomfortable. When
the two men had passed out of the girl's sight,
Tarzan stopped, laying a heavy hand on the other's
shoulder.
"What is your game now, Rokoff?" he asked.
" I am leaving France as I promised you," replied
the other, in a surly voice.
" I see you are," said Tarzan ; " but I know you so
well that I can scarcely believe that your being on the
same boat with me is purely a coincidence. If I could
believe it the fact that you are in disguise would im
mediately disabuse my mind of any such idea."
"Well," growled Rokoff, with a shrug, "I cannot
see what you are going to do about it. This vessel
flies the English flag. I have as much right on board
her as you, and from the fact that you are booked un
der an assumed name I imagine that I have more
right."
"We will not discuss it, Rokoff. All I wanted to
say to you is that you must keep away from Miss
Strong she is a decent woman."
Rokoff turned scarlet.
"If you don't I shall pitch you overboard," con
tinued Tarzan. "Do not forget that I am just wait
ing for some excuse." Then he turned on his heel,
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SHIPS THAT PASS
and left Rokoff standing there trembling with sup
pressed rage.
He did not see the man again for days, but Rokoff
was not idle. In his stateroom with Paulvitch he
fumed and swore, threatening the most terrible of re
venges.
"I would throw him overboard tonight," he cried,
"were I sure that those papers were not on his per
son. I cannot chance pitching them into the ocean
with him. If you were not such a stupid coward,
Alexis, you would find a way to enter his stateroom
and search for the documents."
Paulvitch smiled. "You are supposed to be the
brains of this partnership, my dear Nikolas," he re
plied. "Why do you not find the means to search
Monsieur Caldwell's stateroom eh?"
Two hours later fate was kind to them, for Paul
vitch, who was ever on the watch, saw Tarzan leave
his room without locking the door. Five minutes
later Rokoff was stationed where he could give the
alarm in case Tarzan returned, and Paulvitch was
deftly searching the contents of the ape-man's
luggage.
He was about to give up in despair when he saw a
coat which Tarzan had just removed. A moment later
he grasped an official envelope in his hand. A quick
glance at its contents brought a broad smile to the Rus
sian's face.
When he left the stateroom Tarzan himself could
not have told that an article in it had been touched
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
since he left it Paulvitch was a past master in his
chosen field.
When he handed the packet to Rokoff in the seclu
sion of their stateroom the larger man rang for a
steward, and ordered a pint of champagne.
" We must celebrate, my dear Alexis," he said.
"It was luck, Nikolas," explained Paulvitch. "It
is evident that he carries these papers always upon
his person just by chance he neglected to transfer
them when he changed coats a few minutes since. But
there will be the deuce to pay when he discovers his
loss. I am afraid that he will immediately connect you
with it. Now that he knows that you are on board he
will suspect you at once."
"It will make no difference whom he suspects
after tonight," said Rokoff, with a nasty grin.
After Miss Strong had gone below that night Tar-
zan stood leaning over the rail looking far out to sea.
Every night he had done this since he had come on
board sometimes he stood thus for an hour. And
the eyes that had been watching his every movement
since he had boarded the ship at Algiers knew that this
was his habit.
Even as he stood there this night those eyes were on
him. Presently the last straggler had left the deck.
It was a clear night, but there was no moon objects
on deck were barely discernible.
From the shadows of the cabin two figures crept
stealthily upon the ape-man from behind. The lap
ping of the waves against the ship's sides, the whir-
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ring of the propeller, the throbbing of the engines,
drowned the almost soundless approach of the two.
They were quite close to him now, and crouching
low, like tacklers on a gridiron. One of them raised
his hand and lowered it, as though counting off sec
onds one two three ! As one man the two
leaped for their victim. Each grasped a leg, and be
fore Tarzan of the Apes, lightning though he was,
could turn to save himself he had been pitched over
the low rail and was falling into the Atlantic.
Hazel Strong was looking from her darkened port
across the dark sea. Suddenly a body shot past her
eyes from the deck above. It dropped so quickly into
the dark waters below that she could not be sure of
what it was it might have been a man, she could not
say. She listened for some outcry from above for
the always- fearsome call, "Man overboard!" but it
did not come. All was silence on the ship above all
was silence in the sea below.
The girl decided that she had but seen a bundle of
refuse thrown overboard by one of the ship's crew,
and a moment later sought her berth.
[167]
XIII
^ I^HE next morning at breakfast Tarzan's place
-* was vacant. Miss Strong was mildly curious,
for Mr. Caldwell had always made it a point to wait
that he might breakfast with her and her mother. As
she was sitting on deck later Monsieur Thuran paused
to exchange a half dozen pleasant words with her.
He seemed in most excellent spirits his manner was
the extreme of affability. As he passed on Miss
Strong thought what a very delightful man was Mon
sieur Thuran.
The day dragged heavily. She missed the quiet
companionship of Mr. Caldwell there had been
something about him that had made the girl like him
from the first; he had talked so entertainingly of the
places he had seen the peoples and their customs
the wild beasts ; and he had always had a droll way
of drawing striking comparisons between savage ani
mals and civilized men that showed a considerable
[168]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
knowledge of the former, and a keen, though some
what cynical, estimate of the latter.
When Monsieur Thuran stopped again to chat with
her in the afternoon she welcomed the break in the
day's monotony. But she had begun to become seri
ously concerned in Mr. Caldwell's continued absence;
somehow she constantly associated it with the start
she had had the night before, when the dark object
fell past her port into the sea. Presently she broached
the subject to Monsieur Thuran. Had he seen Mr.
Caldwell today? He had not. Why?
" He was not at breakfast as usual, nor have I seen
him once since yesterday," explained the girl.
Monsieur Thuran was extremely solicitous.
" I did not have the pleasure of intimate acquain
tance with Mr. Caldwell," he said. "He seemed a
most estimable gentleman, however. Can it be that he
is indisposed, and has remained in his stateroom? It
would not be strange."
" No," replied the girl, " it would not be strange, of
course ; but for some inexplicable reason I have one of
those foolish feminine presentiments that all is not
right with Mr. Caldwell. It is the strangest feeling
it is as though I knew that he was not on board the
ship."
Monsieur Thuran laughed pleasantly. " Mercy, my
dear Miss Strong," he said ; " where in the world could
he be then? We have not been within sight of land
for days."
" Of course, it is ridiculous of me," she admitted.
[169]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
And then : " But I am not going to worry about it
any longer; I am going to find out where Mr. Cald-
well is," and she motioned to a passing steward.
" That may be more difficult than you imagine, my
dear girl," thought Monsieur Thuran, but aloud he
said : " By all means."
"Find Mr. Caldwell, please," she said to the stew
ard, " and tell him that his friends are much worried
by his continued absence."
"You are very fond of Mr. Caldwell?" suggested
Monsieur Thuran.
"I think he is splendid," replied the girl. "And
mamma is perfectly infatuated with him. He is the
sort of man with whom one has a feeling of perfect
security no one could help but have confidence in
Mr. Caldwell."
A moment later the steward returned to say that
Mr. Caldwell was not in his stateroom. "I cannot
find him, Miss Strong, and" he hesitated "I
have learned that his berth was not occupied last
night. I think that I had better report the matter to
the captain."
" Most assuredly," exclaimed Miss Strong. " I shall
go with you to the captain myself. It is terrible! I
know that something awful has happened. My pre
sentiments were not false, after all."
It was a very frightened young woman and an ex
cited steward who presented themselves before the cap
tain a few moments later. He listened to their stories
in silence a look of concern marking his expression
[170]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
as the steward assured him that he had sought for the
missing passenger in every part of the ship that a
passenger might be expected to frequent.
"And you are sure, Miss Strong, that you saw a
body fall overboard last night ? " he asked.
"There is not the slightest doubt about that," she
answered. " I cannot say that it was a human body
there was no outcry. It might have been only what I
thought it was a bundle of refuse. But if Mr.
Caldwell is not found on board I shall always be posi
tive that it was he whom I saw fall past my port."
The captain ordered an immediate and thorough
search of the entire ship from stem to stern no nook
or cranny was to be overlooked. Miss Strong remained
in his cabin, waiting the outcome of the quest. The
captain asked her many questions, but she could tell
him nothing about the missing man other than what
she had herself seen during their brief acquaintance
on shipboard. For the first time she suddenly realized
how very little indeed Mr. Caldwell had told her about
himself or his past life. That he had been born in
Africa and educated in Paris was about all she knew,
and this meager information had been the result of her
surprise that an Englishman should speak English
with such a marked French accent.
"Did he ever speak of any enemies?" asked the
captain.
"Never."
"Was he acquainted with any of the other pas
sengers ? "
[m]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Only as he had been with me through the cir
cumstance of casual meeting as fellow shipmates."
"Er was he, in your opinion, Miss Strong, a
man who drank to excess ? "
"I do not know that he drank at all he certainly
had not been drinking up to half an hour before I
saw that body fall overboard," she answered, " for I
was with him on deck up to that time."
" It is very strange," said the captain. " He did not
look to me like a man who was sub j ect to fainting spells,
or anything of that sort. And even had he been it is
scarcely credible that he should have fallen completely
over the rail had he been taken with an attack while
leaning upon it he would rather have fallen inside,
upon the deck. If he is not on board, Miss Strong,
he was thrown overboard and the fact that you
heard no outcry would lead to the assumption that he
was dead before he left the ship's deck murdered."
The girl shuddered.
It was a full hour later that the first officer returned
to report the outcome of the search.
"Mr. Caldwell is not on board, sir," he said.
" I fear that there is something more serious than
accident here, Mr. Brently," said the captain. " I wish
that you would make a personal and very careful ex
amination of Mr. Caldwell's effects, to ascertain if
there is any clew to a motive either for suicide or mur
der sift the thing to the bottom."
66 Aye, aye, sir ! " responded Mr. Brently, and left
to commence his investigation.
[172]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
Hazel Strong was prostrated. For two days she did
not leave her cabin, and when she finally ventured on
deck she was very wan and white, with great, dark
circles beneath her eyes. Waking or sleeping, it
seemed that she constantly saw that dark body drop
ping, swift and silent, into the cold, grim sea.
Shortly after her first appearance on deck following
the tragedy, Monsieur Thuran joined her with many
expressions of kindly solicitude.
" Oh, but it is terrible, Miss Strong," he said. " I
cannot rid my mind of it."
"Nor I," said the girl wearily. "I feel that he
might have been saved had I but given the alarm."
"You must not reproach yourself, my dear Miss
Strong," urged Monsieur Thuran. "It was in no
way your fault. Another would have done as you
did. Who would think that because something fell
into the sea from a ship that it must necessarily be a
man ? Nor would the outcome have been different had
you given an alarm. For a while they would have
doubted your story, thinking it but the nervous hallu
cination of a woman had you insisted it would have
been too late to have rescued him by the time the ship
could have been brought to a stop, and the boats low
ered and rowed back miles in search of the unknown
spot where the tragedy had occurred. No, you must
not censure yourself. You have done more than any
other of us for poor Mr. Caldwell you were the
only one to miss him. It was you who instituted the
search."
[173]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
The girl could not help but feel grateful to him
for his kind and encouraging words. He was with her
often almost constantly for the remainder of the
voyage and she grew to like him very much indeed.
Monsieur Thuran had learned that the beautiful Miss
Strong, of Baltimore, was an American heiress a
very wealthy girl in her own right, and with future
prospects that quite took his breath away when he con
templated them, and since he spent most of his time
in that delectable pastime it is a wonder that he
breathed at all.
It had been Monsieur Thuran's intention to leave
the ship at the first port they touched after the dis
appearance of Tarzan. Did he not have in his coat
pocket the thing he had taken passage upon this very
boat to obtain? There was nothing more to detain
him here. He could not return to the Continent fast
enough, that he might board the first express for St.
Petersburg.
But now another idea had obtruded itself, and was
rapidly crowding his original intentions into the back
ground. That American fortune was not to be sneezed
at, nor was its possessor a whit less attractive.
"Sapristi! but she would cause a sensation in St.
Petersburg." And he would, too, with the assistance
of her inheritance.
After Monsieur Thuran had squandered a few mil
lion dollars, he discovered that the vocation was so en
tirely to his liking that he would continue on down to
Cape Town, where he suddenly decided that he had
[174]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
pressing engagements that might detain him there for
some time.
Miss Strong had told him that she and her mother
were to visit the latter's brother there they had not
decided upon the duration of their stay, and it would
probably run into months.
She was delighted when she found that Monsieur
Thuran was to be there also.
"I hope that we shall be able to continue our ac
quaintance," she said. " You must call upon mamma
and me as soon as we are settled."
Monsieur Thuran was delighted at the prospect,
and lost no time in saying so. Mrs. Strong was not
quite so favorably impressed by him as her daughter.
"I do not know why I should distrust him," she
said to Hazel one day as they were discussing him.
" He seems a perfect gentleman in every respect, but
sometimes there is something about his eyes a fleet
ing expression which I cannot describe, but which
when I see it gives me a very uncanny feeling."
The girl laughed. " You are a silly dear, mamma,"
she said.
"I suppose so, but I am sorry that we have not
poor Mr. Caldwell for company instead."
" And I, too," replied her daughter.
Monsieur Thuran became a frequent visitor at the
home of Hazel Strong's uncle in Cape Town. His
attentions were very marked, but they were so punc
tiliously arranged to meet the girl's every wish that
she came to depend upon him more and more. Did
[175]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
she or her mother or a cousin require an escort was
there a little friendly service to be rendered, the genial
and ubiquitous Monsieur Thuran was always avail
able. Her uncle and his family grew to like him for
his unfailing courtesy and willingness to be of serv
ice. Monsieur Thuran was becoming indispensable.
At length, feeling the moment propitious, he pro
posed. Miss Strong was startled. She did not know
what to say.
" I had never thought that you cared for me in any
such way," she told him. "I have looked upon you
always as a very dear friend. I shall not give you my
answer now. Forget that you have asked me to be
your wife. Let us go on as we have been then I
can consider you from an entirely different angle for
a time. It may be that I shall discover that my feel
ing for you is more than friendship. I certainly have
not thought for a moment that I loved you."
This arrangement was perfectly satisfactory to
Monsieur Thuran. He deeply regretted that he had
been hasty, but he had loved her for so long a time,
and so devotedly, that he thought that every one
must know it.
"From the first time that I saw you, Hazel," he
said, "I have loved you. I am willing to wait, for I
am certain that so great and pure a love as mine will
be rewarded. All that I care to know is that you do
not love another. Will you tell me ? "
" I have never been in love in my life," she replied,
and he was quite satisfied. On the way home that night
[176]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
he purchased a steam yacht, and built a million-dollar
villa on the Black Sea.
The next day Hazel Strong enjoyed one of the hap
piest surprises of her life she ran face to face upon
Jane Porter as she was coming out of a jeweler's shop.
"Why, Jane Porter!" she exclaimed. "Where in
the world did you drop from? Why, I can't believe
my own eyes."
" Well, of all things ! " cried the equally astonished
Jane. " And here I have been wasting whole reams of
perfectly good imagination picturing you in Balti
more the very idea!" And she threw her arms
about her friend once more, and kissed her a dozen
times.
By the time mutual explanations had been made
Hazel knew that Lord Tennington's yacht had put in
at Cape Town for at least a week's stay, and at the
end of that time was to continue on her voyage this
time up the West Coast and so back to England.
" Where," concluded Jane, " I am to be married."
" Then you are not married yet ? " asked Hazel. -
"Not yet," replied Jane, and then, quite irrele
vantly, "I wish England were a million miles from
here."
Visits were exchanged between the yacht and Hazel's
relatives. Dinners were arranged, and trips into the
surrounding country to entertain the visitors. Mon
sieur Thuran was a welcome guest at every function.
He gave a dinner himself to the men of the party, and
managed to ingratiate himself in the good will of
[177]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Lord Tennington by many little acts of hospitality.
Monsieur Thuran had heard dropped a hint of
something which might result from this unexpected
visit of Lord Tennington's yacht, and he wanted to
be counted in on it. Once when he was alone with the
Englishman he took occasion to make it quite plain
that his engagement to Miss Strong was to be an
nounced immediately upon their return to America.
" But not a word of it, my dear Tennington not a
word of it."
" Certainly, I quite understand, my dear fellow,"
Tennington had replied. " But you are to be congrat
ulated ripping girl, don't you know really."
The next day it came. Mrs. Strong, Hazel, and
Monsieur Thuran were Lord Tennington's guests
aboard his yacht. Mrs. Strong had been telling
them how much she had enjoyed her visit at Cape
Town, and that she regretted that a letter just re
ceived from her attorneys in Baltimore had necessi
tated her cutting her visit shorter than they had
intended.
" When do you sail ? " asked Tennington.
"The first of the week, I think," she replied.
"Indeed?" exclaimed Monsieur Thuran. "I am
very fortunate. I, too, have found that I must re
turn at once, and now I shall have the honor of accom
panying and serving you."
"That is nice of you, Monsieur Thuran," replied
Mrs. Strong. "I am sure that we shall be glad to
place ourselves under your protection." But in the
[178]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
bottom of her heart was the wish that they might es
cape him. Why, she could not have told.
" By Jove ! " ejaculated Lord Tennington, a moment
later. " Bully idea, by Jove ! "
"Yes, Tennington, of course," ventured Clayton;
"it must be a bully idea if you had it, but what the
deuce is it? Goin' to steam to China via the south
pole?"
"Oh, I say now, Clayton," returned Tennington,
" you needn't be so rough on a fellow just because you
didn't happen to suggest this trip yourself you've
acted a regular bounder ever since we sailed.
"No, sir," he continued, "it's a bully idea, and
you'll all say so. It's to take Mrs. Strong and Miss
Strong, and Thuran, too, if he'll come, as far as Eng
land with us on the yacht. Now, isn't that a corker? "
" Forgive me, Tenny, old boy," cried Clayton. " It
certainly is a corking idea I never should have sus
pected you of it. You're quite sure it's original, are
you?"
"And we'll sail the first of the week, or any other
time that suits your convenience, Mrs. Strong," con
cluded the big-hearted Englishman, as though the
thing were all arranged except the sailing date.
" Mercy, Lord Tennington, you haven't even given
us an opportunity to thank you, much less decide
whether we shall be able to accept your generous in
vitation," said Mrs. Strong.
" Why, of course you'll come," responded Tenning
ton. "We'll make as good time as any passenger
[179]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
boat, and you'll be fully as comfortable ; and, anyway,
we all want you, and won't take no for an answer."
And so it was settled that they should sail the fol
lowing Monday.
Two days out the girls were sitting in Hazel's
cabin, looking at some prints she had had finished in
Cape Town. They represented all the pictures she
had taken since she had left America, and the girls
were both engrossed in them, Jane asking many ques
tions, and Hazel keeping up a perfect torrent of com
ment and explanation of the various scenes and people.
" And here," she said suddenly, " here's a man you
know. Poor fellow, I have so often intended asking
you about him, but I never have been able to think of
it when we were together." She was holding the little
print so that Jane did not see the face of the man it
portrayed.
"His name was John Caldwell," continued Hazel.
"Do you recall him? He said that he met you in
America. He is an Englishman."
" I do not recollect the name," replied Jane. " Let
me see the picture."
"The poor fellow was lost overboard on our trip
down the coast," she said, as she handed the print to
Jane.
"Lost over Why, Hazel, Hazel don't tell
me that he is dead drowned at sea ! Hazel ! Why
don't you say that you are joking!" And before the
astonished Miss Strong could catch her Jane Porter
had slipped to the floor in a swoon.
[180]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE' 9
After Hazel had restored her chum to conscious
ness she sat looking at her for a long time before
either spoke.
" I did not know, Jane," said Hazel, in a constrained
voice, "thai; you knew Mr. Caldwell so intimately
that his death could prove such a shock to you."
" John Caldwell ? " questioned Miss Porter. " You
do not mean to tell me that you do not know who
this man was, Hazel ? "
"Why, yes, Jane; I know perfectly well who he
was his name was John Caldwell ; he was from Lon
don."
" Oh, Hazel, I wish I could believe it," moaned the
girl. "I wish I could believe it, but those features
are burned so deep into my memory and my heart that
I should recognize them anywhere in the world from
among a thousand others, who might appear identical
to any one but me."
"What do you mean, Jane?" cried Hazel, now
thoroughly alarmed. " Who do you think it is ? "
" I don't think, Hazel. I know that that is a pic
ture of Tarzan of the Apes.
"Jane!"
"I cannot be mistaken. Oh, Hazel, are you sure
that he is dead ? Can there be no mistake ? "
"I am afraid not, dear," answered Hazel sadly.
" I wish I could think that you are mistaken, but now
a hundred and one little pieces of corroborative evi
dence occur to me that meant nothing to me while I
thought that he was John Caldwell, of London. He
[181]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
said that he had been born in Africa, and educated in
France."
" Yes, that would be true," murmured Jane Porter
dully.
" The first officer, who searched his luggage, found
nothing to identify John Caldwell, of London. Prac
tically all his belongings had been made, or purchased,
in Paris. Everything that bore an initial was marked
either with a 4 T' alone, or with <J. C. T. ' We
thought that he was traveling incognito under his
first two names the J. C. standing for John
Caldwell."
" Tarzan of the Apes took the name Jean C. Tar-
zan," said Jane, in the same lifeless monotone. " And
he is dead! Oh, Hazel, it is horrible! He died all
alone in this terrible ocean ! It is unbelievable that
that brave heart should have ceased to beat that
those mighty muscles are quiet and cold forever!
That he who was the personification of life and health
and manly strength should be the prey of slimy,
crawling things, that " But she could go no fur
ther, and with a little moan she buried her head in
her arms, and sank sobbing to the floor.
For days Miss Porter was ill, and would see no one
except Hazel and the faithful Esmeralda. When at
last she came on deck all were struck by the sad
change that had taken place in her. She was no
longer the alert, vivacious American beauty who had
charmed and delighted all who came in contact with
her. Instead she was a very quiet and sad little girl
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE"
with an expression of hopeless wistfulness that
none but Hazel Strong could interpret.
The entire party strove their utmost to cheer and
amuse her, but all to no avail. Occasionally the jolly
Lord Tennington would wring a wan smile from her,
but for the most part she sat with wide eyes looking
out across the sea.
With Jane Porter's illness one misfortune after an
other seemed to attack the yacht. First an engine
broke down, and they drifted for two days while tem
porary repairs were being made. Then a squall struck
them unaware, that carried overboard nearly every
thing above deck that was portable. Later two of the
seamen fell to fighting in the forecastle, with the re
sult that one of them was badly wounded with a knife,
and the other had to be put in irons. Then, to cap the
climax, the mate fell overboard at night, and was
drowned before help could reach him. The yacht
cruised about the spot for ten hours, but no sign of
the man was seen after he disappeared from the deck
into the sea.
Every member of the crew and guests was gloomy
and depressed after these series of misfortunes. All
were apprehensive of worse to come, and this was es
pecially true of the seamen who recalled all sorts of
terrible omens and warnings that had occurred during
the early part of the voyage, and which they could
now clearly translate into the precursors of some grim
and terrible tragedy to come.
Nor did the croakers have long to wait. The second
[188]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
might after the drowning of the mate the little yacht
was suddenly wracked from stem to stern. About one
o'clock in the morning there was a terrific impact that
threw the slumbering guests and crew from berth and
bunk. A mighty shudder ran through the frail craft ;
she lay far over to starboard; the engines stopped.
For a moment she hung there with her decks at an
angle of forty-five degrees then, with a sullen, rend
ing sound, she slipped back into the sea and righted.
Instantly the men rushed upon deck, followed
closely by the women. Though the night was cloudy,
there was little wind or sea, nor was it so dark but that
just off the port bow a black mass could be discerned
floating low in the water.
" A derelict," was the terse explanation of the offi
cer of the watch.
Presently the engineer hurried on deck in search of
the captain.
"That patch we put on the cylinder head's blown
out, sir," he reported, "and she's makin' water fast
for'ard on the port bow."
An instant later a seaman rushed up from below.
" My Gawd ! " he cried. " Her whole bleedin' bot
tom's ripped out. She can't float twenty minutes."
" Shut up ! " roared Tennington. " Ladies, go be
low and get some of your things together. It may
not be so bad as that, but we may have to take to the
boats. It will be safer to be prepared. Go at once,
please. And, Captain Jerrold, send some competent
man below, please, to ascertain the exact extent of the
[184]
THE WRECK OF THE "LADY ALICE 9 '
damage. In the meantime I might suggest that you
have the boats provisioned."
The calm, low voice of the owner did much to re
assure the entire party, and a moment later all were
occupied with the duties he had suggested. By the
time the ladies had returned to the deck the rapid pro
visioning of the boats had been about completed, and
a moment later the officer who had gone below had re
turned to report. But his opinion was scarcely needed
to assure the huddled group of men and women that
the end of the Lady Alice was at hand.
"Well, sir?" said the captain, as his officer hesi
tated.
" I dislike to frighten the ladies, sir," he said, " but
she can't float a dozen minutes, in my opinion. There's
a hole in her you could drive a bally cow through,
sir."
For five minutes the Lady Alice had been settling
rapidly by the bow. Already her stern loomed high in
the air, and foothold on the deck was of the most pre
carious nature. She carried four boats, and these
were all filled and lowered away in safety. As they
pulled rapidly from the stricken little vessel Jane Por
ter turned to have one last look at her. Just then
there came a loud crash and an ominous rumbling
and pounding from tne heart of the ship her ma
chinery had broken loose, and was dashing its way
toward the bow, tearing out partitions and bulkheads
as it went the stern rose rapidly high above them ;
for a moment she seemed to pause there a vertical
[185]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
shaft protruding from the bosom of the ocean, and
then swiftly she dove headforemost beneath the waves.
In one of the boats the brave Lord Tennington
wiped a tear from his eye he had not seen a for
tune in money go down forever into the sea, but a
dear, beautiful friend whom he had loved.
At last the long night broke, and a tropical sun
smote down upon the rolling water. Jane Porter had
dropped into a fitful slumber the fierce light of the
sun upon her upturned face awoke her. She looked
about her. In the boat with her were three sailors,
Clayton, and Monsieur Thuran. Then she looked for
the other boats, but as far as the eye could reach there
was nothing to break the fearful monotony of that
waste of waters they were alone in a small boat
upon the broad Atlantic.
[186]
XIV
BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE
AS Tarzan struck the water, his first impulse was
to swim clear of the ship and possible danger
from her propellers. He knew whom to thank for his
present predicament, and as he lay in the sea, just
supporting himself by a gentle movement of his hands,
his chief emotion was one of chagrin that he had been
so easily bested by Rokoff .
He lay thus for some time, watching the receding
and rapidly diminishing lights of the steamer without
it ever once occurring to him to call for help. He
never had called for help in his life, and so it is not
strange that he did not think of it now. Always had
he depended upon his own prowess and resourceful
ness, nor had there ever been since the days of Kala
any to answer an appeal for succor. When it did
occur to him it was too late.
There was, thought Tarzan, a possible one chance
in a hundred thousand that he might be picked up,
and an even smaller chance that he would reach land,
[187]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
so he determined that to combine what slight chances
there were, he would swim slowly in the direction of
the coast the ship might have been closer in than
he had known.
His strokes were long and easy it would be many
hours before those giant muscles would commence to
feel fatigue. As he swam, guided toward the east by
the stars, he noticed that he felt the weight of his
shoes, and so he removed them. His trousers went
next, and he would have removed his coat at the same
time but for the precious papers in its pocket. To
reassure himself that he still had them he slipped
his hand in to feel, but to his consternation they were
gone.
Now he knew that something more than revenge had
prompted Rokoff to pitch him overboard the Rus
sian had managed to obtain possession of the papers
Tarzan had wrested from him at Bou Saada. The
ape-man swore softly, and let his coat and shirt sink
into the Atlantic. Before many hours he had divested
himself of his remaining garments, and was swimming
easily and unencumbered toward the east.
The first faint evidence of dawn was paling the
stars ahead of him when the dim outlines of a low-
lying black mass loomed up directly in his track. A
few strong strokes brought him to its side it was
the bottom of a wave-washed derelict. Tarzan
clambered upon it he would rest there until day
light at least. He had no intention to remain there
inactive a prey to hunger and thirst. If he must
1188]
BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE
die he preferred dying in action while making some
semblance of an attempt to save himself.
The sea was quiet, so that the wreck had only a
gently undulating motion, that was soothing to the
swimmer who had had no sleep for twenty hours. Tar-
zan of the Apes curled up upon the slimy timbers, and
was soon asleep.
The heat of the sun awoke him early in the fore
noon. His first conscious sensation was of thirst,
which grew almost to the proportions of suffering with
full returning consciousness; but a moment later it
was forgotten in the joy of two almost simultaneous
discoveries. The first was a mass of wreckage floating
beside the derelict in the midst of which, bottom up,
rose and fell an overturned lifeboat; the other was
the faint, dim line of a far-distant shore showing on
the horizon in the east.
Tarzan dove into the water, and swam around the
wreck to the lifeboat. The cool ocean refreshed him
almost as much as would a draft of water, so that it
was with renewed vigor that he brought the smaller
boat alongside the derelict, and, after many herculean
efforts, succeeded in dragging it onto the slimy ship's
bottom. There he righted and examined it the boat
was quite sound, and a moment later floated upright
alongside the wreck. Then Tarzan selected several
pieces of wreckage that might answer him as paddles,
and presently was making good headway toward the
far-off shore.
It was late in the afternoon by the time he came
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close enough to distinguish objects on land, or to
make out the contour of the shore line. Before him
lay what appeared to be the entrance to a little, land
locked harbor. The wooded point to the north was
strangely familiar. Could it be possible that fate had
thrown him up at the very threshold of his own be
loved jungle! But as the bow of his boat entered
the mouth of the harbor the last shred of doubt was
cleared away, for there before him upon the farther
shore, under the shadows of his primeval forest, stood
his own cabin built before his birth by the hand of
his long-dead father, John Clayton, Lord Greystoke.
With long sweeps of his giant muscles Tarzan sent
the little craft speeding toward the beach. Its prow
had scarcely touched when the ape-man leaped to shore
his heart beat fast in joy and exultation as each
long-familiar object came beneath his roving eyes
the cabin, the beach, the little brook, the dense jungle,
the black, impenetrable forest. The myriad birds in
their brilliant plumage the gorgeous tropical
blooms upon the festooned creepers falling in great
loops from the giant trees.
Tarzan of the Apes had come into his own again,
and that all the world might know it he threw back his
young head, and gave voice to the fierce, wild chal
lenge of his tribe. For a moment silence reigned
upon the jungle, and then, low and weird, came an
answering challenge it was the deep roar of Numa,
the lion ; and from a great distance, faintly, the fear
some answering bellow of a bull ape.
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Tarzan went to the brook first, and slaked his thirst.
Then he approached his cabin. The door was still
closed and latched as he and D'Arnot had left it. He
raised the latch and entered. Nothing had been dis
turbed; there were the table, the bed, and the little
crib built by his father the shelves and cupboards
just as they had stood for over twenty-three years
just as he had left them nearly two years before.
His eyes satisfied, Tarzan's stomach began to call
aloud for attention the pangs of hunger suggested
a search for food. There was nothing in the cabin,
nor had he any weapons ; but upon a wall hung one of
his old grass ropes. It had been many times broken
and spliced, so that he had discarded it for a better
one long before. Tarzan wished that he had a knife.
Well, unless he was mistaken he should have that and a
spear and bows and arrows before another sun had
set the rope would take care of that, and in the
meantime it must be made to procure food for him.
He coiled it carefully, and, throwing it about his
shoulder, went out, closing the door behind him.
Close to the cabin the jungle commenced, and into
it Tarzan of the Apes plunged, wary and noiseless
once more a savage beast hunting its food. For a
time he kept to the ground, but finally, discovering no
spoor indicative of near-by meat, he took to the trees.
With the first dizzy swing from tree to tree all the old
joy of living swept over him. Vain regrets and dull
heartache were forgotten. Now was he living. Now,
indeed, was the true happiness of perfect freedom his.
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Who would go back to the stifling, wicked cities of
civilized man when the mighty reaches of the great
jungle offered peace and liberty? Not he.
While it was yet light Tarzan came to a drinking
place by the side of a jungle river. There was a ford
there, and for countless ages the beasts of the forest
had come down to drink at this spot. Here of a night
might always be found either Sabor or Numa crouch
ing in the dense foliage of the surrounding jungle
awaiting an antelope or a water buck for their meal.
Here came Horta, the boar, to water, and here came
Tarzan of the Apes to make a kill, for he was very
empty.
On a low branch he squatted above the trail. For
an hour he waited. It was growing dark. A little to
one side of the ford in the densest thicket he heard
the faint sound of padded feet, and the brushing of a
huge body against tall grasses and tangled creepers.
None other than Tarzan might have heard it, but the
ape-man heard and translated it was Numa, the
lion, on the same errand as himself. Tarzan smiled.
Presently he heard an animal approaching warily
along the trail toward the drinking place. A moment
more and it came in view it was Horta, the boar.
Here was delicious meat and Tarzan's mouth wa
tered. The grasses where Numa lay were very still
now ominously still. Horta passed beneath Tar
zan a few more steps and he would be within the
radius of Numa's spring. Tarzan could imagine how
old Numa's eyes were shining how he was already
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sucking in his breath for the awful roar which would
freeze his prey for the brief instant between the mo
ment of the spring and the sinking of terrible fangs
into splintering bones.
But as Numa gathered himself, a slender rope flew
through the air from the low branches of a near-by
tree. A noose settled about Horta's neck. There was
a frightened grunt, a squeal, and then Numa saw his
quarry dragged backward up the trail, and, as he
sprang, Horta, the boar, soared upward beyond his
clutches into the tree above, and a mocking face looked
down and laughed into his own.
Then indeed did Numa roar. Angry, threatening,
hungry, he paced back and forth beneath the taunting
ape-man. Now he stopped, and, rising on his hind
legs against the stem of the tree that held his enemy,
sharpened his huge claws upon the bark, tearing out
great pieces that laid bare the white wood beneath.
And in the meantime Tarzan had dragged the
struggling Horta to the limb beside him. Sinewy
fingers completed the work the choking noose had
commenced. The ape-man had no knife, but nature
had equipped him with the means of tearing his food
from the quivering flank of his prey, and gleaming
teeth sank into the succulent flesh while the raging
lion looked on from below as another enjoyed the
dinner that he had thought already his.
It was quite dark by the time Tarzan had gorged
himself. Ah, but it had been delicious ! Never had he
quite accustomed himself to the ruined flesh that civil-
193]
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ized men had served him, and in the bottom of his
savage heart there had constantly been the craving
for the warm meat of the fresh kill, and the rich, red
blood.
He wiped his bloody hands upon a bunch of leaves,
slung the remains of his kill across his shoulder, and
swung off through the middle terrace of the forest
toward his cabin, and at the same instant Jane Porter
and William Cecil Clayton arose from a sumptuous
dinner upon the Lady Alice, thousands of miles to the
east, in the Indian Ocean.
Beneath Tarzan walked Numa, the lion, and when
the ape-man deigned to glance downward he caught
occasional glimpses of the baleful green eyes follow
ing through the darkness. Numa did not roar now
instead, he moved stealthily, like the shadow of a great
cat; but yet he took no step that did not reach the
sensitive ears of the ape-man.
Tarzan wondered if he would stalk him to his cabin
door. He hoped not, for that would mean a night's
sleep curled in the crotch of a tree, and he much pre
ferred the bed of grasses within his own abode. But
he knew just the tree and the most comfortable crotch,
if necessity demanded that he sleep out. A hundred
times in the past some great jungle cat had followed
him home, and compelled him to seek shelter in this
same tree, until another mood or the rising sun had
sent his enemy away.
But presently Numa gave up the chase and, with a
series of blood-curdling moans and roars, turned
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angrily back in search of another and an easier dinner.
So Tarzan came to his cabin unattended, and a few
moments later was curled up in the mildewed remnants
of what had once been a bed of grasses. Thus easily
did Monsieur Jean C. Tarzan slough the thin skin of
his artificial civilization, and sink happy and con
tented into the deep sleep of the wild beast that has
fed to repletion. Yet a woman's "yes" would have
bound him to that other life forever, and made the
thought of this savage existence repulsive.
Tarzan slept late into the following forenoon, for
he had been very tired from the labors and exertion of
the long night and day upon the ocean, and the jungle
jaunt that had brought into play muscles that he had
scarce used for nearly two years. When he awoke he
ran to the brook first to drink. Then he took a plunge
into the sea, swimming about for a quarter of an hour.
Afterward he returned to his cabin, and breakfasted
off the flesh of Horta. This done, he buried the
balance of the carcass in the soft earth outside the
cabin, for his evening meal.
Once more he took his rope and vanished into the
jungle. This time he hunted nobler quarry man;
although had you asked him his own opinion he could
have named a dozen other denizens of the jungle
which he considered far the superiors in nobility of
the men he hunted. Today Tarzan was in quest of
weapons. He wondered if the women and children
had remained in Mbonga's village after the punitive
expedition from the French cruiser had massacred all
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the warriors in revenge for D'Arnot's supposed death.
He hoped that he should find warriors there, for he
knew not how long a quest he should have to make
were the village deserted.
The ape-man traveled swiftly through the forest, and
about noon came to the site of the village, but to his
disappointment found that the jungle had overgrown
the plantain fields and that the thatched huts had fallen
in decay. There was no sign of man. He clambered
about among the ruins for half an hour, hoping that
he might discover some forgotten weapon, but his
search was without fruit, and so he took up his quest
once more, following up the stream, which flowed from
a southeasterly direction. He knew that near fresh
water he would be most likely to find another settle
ment.
As he traveled he hunted as he had hunted with his
ape people in the past, as Kala had taught him to
hunt, turning over rotted logs to find some toothsome
vermin, running high into the trees to rob a bird's
nest, or pouncing upon a tiny rodent with the quick
ness of a cat. There were other things that he ate,
too, but the less detailed the account of an ape's diet,
the better and Tarzan was again an ape, the same
fierce, brutal anthropoid that Kala had taught him to
be, and that he had been for the first twenty years of
his life.
Occasionally he smiled as he recalled some friend
who might even at the moment be sitting placid and
immaculate within the precincts of his select Parisian
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club just as Tarzan had sat but a few months
before; and then he would stop, as though turned
suddenly to stone as the gentle breeze carried to his
trained nostrils the scent of some new prey or a
formidable enemy.
That night he slept far inland from his cabin,
securely wedged into the crotch of a giant tree, sway
ing a hundred feet above the ground. He had eaten
heartily again this time from the flesh of Bara, the
deer, who had fallen prey to his quick noose.
Early the next morning he resumed his journey,
always following the course of the stream. For three
days he continued his quest, until he had come to a
part of the jungle in which he never before had been.
Occasionally upon the higher ground the forest was
much thinner, and in the far distance through the trees
he could see ranges of mighty mountains, with wide
plains in the foreground. Here, in the open spaces,
were new game countless antelope and vast herds of
zebra. Tarzan was entranced he would make a
long visit to this new world.
On the morning of the fourth day his nostrils were
suddenly surprised by a faint new scent. It was the
scent of man, but yet a long way off. The ape-man
thrilled with pleasure. Every sense was on the alert
as with crafty stealth he moved quickly through the
trees, up-wind, in the direction of his prey. Presently
he came upon it a lone warrior treading softly
through the jungle.
Tarzan followed close above his quarry, waiting for
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a clearer space in which to hurl his rope. As he
stalked the unconscious man, new thoughts presented
themselves to the ape-man thoughts born of the
refining influences of civilization, and of its cruelties.
It came to him that seldom if ever did civilized man
kill a fellow being without some pretext, however
slight. It was true that Tarzan wished this man's
weapons and ornaments, but was it necessary to take
his life to obtain them ?
The longer he thought about it, the more repugnant
became the thought of taking human life needlessly;
and thus it happened that while he was trying to de
cide just what to do, they had come to a little clearing,
at the far side of which lay a palisaded village of
beehive huts.
As the warrior merged from the forest, Tarzan
caught a fleeting glimpse of a tawny hide worming
its way through the matted jungle grasses in his
wake it was Numa, the lion. He, too, was stalking
the black man. With the instant that Tarzan realized
the native's danger his attitude toward his erstwhile
prey altered completely now he was a fellow man
threatened by a common enemy.
Numa was about to charge there was little time
in which to compare various methods or weigh the
probable results of any. And then a number of things
happened, almost simultaneously the lion sprang
from his ambush toward the retreating black Tarzan
cried out in warning and the black turned just in
time to see Numa halted in mid-flight by a slender
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strand of grass rope, the noosed end of which had
fallen cleanly about his neck.
The ape-man had acted so quickly that he had been
unable to prepare himself to withstand the strain and
shock of Numa's great weight upon the rope, and so
it was that though the rope stopped the beast before
his mighty talons could fasten themselves in the flesh
of the black, the strain overbalanced Tarzan, who
came tumbling to the ground not six paces from the
infuriated animal. Like lightning Numa turned upon
this new enemy, and, defenseless as he was, Tarzan of
the Apes was nearer to death that instant than he ever
before had been. It was the black who saved him.
The warrior realized in an instant that he owed his
life to this strange white man, and he also saw that
only a miracle could save his preserver from those
fierce yellow fangs that had been so near to his own
flesh.
With the quickness of thought his spear arm flew
back, and then shot forward with all the force of the
sinewy muscles that rolled beneath the shimmering
ebon hide. True to its mark the iron-shod weapon
flew, transfixing Numa's sleek carcass from the right
groin to beneath the left shoulder. With a hideous
scream of rage and pain the brute turned again upon
the black. A dozen paces he had gone when Tarzan's
rope brought him to a stand once more then he
wheeled again upon the ape-man, only to feel the
painful prick of a barbed arrow as it sank half its
length in his quivering flesh. Again he stopped, and
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by this time Tarzan had run twice around the stem of
a great tree with his rope, and made the end fast.
The black saw the trick, and grinned, but Tarzan
knew that Numa must be quickly finished before those
mighty teeth had found and parted the slender cord
that held him. It was a matter of but an instant to
reach the black's side and drag his long knife from its
scabbard. Then he signed the warrior to continue to
shoot arrows into the great beast while he attempted
to close in upon him with the knife ; so as one tanta
lized upon one side, the other sneaked cautiously
in upon the other. Numa was furious. He raised
his voice in a perfect frenzy of shrieks, growls, and
hideous moans, the while he reared upon his hind legs
in futile attempt to reach first one and then the other
of his tormentors.
But at length the agile ape-man saw his chance, and
rushed in upon the beast's left side behind the mighty
shoulder. A giant arm encircled tlae tawny throat, and
a long blade sank once, true as a die, into the fierce
heart. Then Tarzan arose, and the black man and
the white looked into each other's eyes across the body
of their kill and the black made the sign of peace
and friendship, and Tarzan of the Apes answered it in
kind.
[200]
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FROM APE TO SAVAGE
^ I A HE noise of their battle with Numa had drawn
-*- an excited horde of savages from the nearby
village, and a moment after the lion's death the two
men were surrounded by lithe, ebon warriors, gesticu
lating and jabbering a thousand questions that
drowned each ventured reply.
And then the women came, and the children eager,
curious, and, at sight of Tarzan, more questioning
than ever. The ape-man's new friend finally suc
ceeded in making himself heard, and when he had done
talking the men and women of the village vied with
one another in doing honor to the strange creature
who had saved their fellow and battled single-handed
with fierce Numa.
At last they led him back to their village, where they
brought him gifts of fowl, and goats, and cooked
food. When he pointed to their weapons the warriors
hastened to fetch spear, shield, arrows, and a bow.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
His friend of the encounter presented him with the
knife with which he had killed Numa. There was
nothing in all the village he could not have had for
the asking.
How much easier this was, thought Tarzan, than
murder and robbery to supply his wants. How close
he had been to killing this man whom he never had
seen before, and who now was manifesting by every
primitive means at his command friendship and affec
tion for his would-be slayer. Tarzan of the Apes was
ashamed. Hereafter he would at least wait until he
knew men deserved it before he thought of killing
them.
The idea recalled Rokoff to his mind. He wished
that he might have the Russian to himself in the dark
jungle for a few minutes. There was a man who
deserved killing if ever any one did. And if he could
have seen Rokoff at that moment as he assiduously
bent every endeavor to the pleasant task of ingra
tiating himself into the affections of the beautiful
Miss Strong, he would have longed more than ever to
mete out to the man the fate he deserved.
Tarzan's first night with the savages was devoted to
a wild orgy in his honor. There was feasting, for the
hunters had brought in an antelope and a zebra as
trophies of their skill, and gallons of the weak native
beer were consumed. As the warriors danced in the
firelight, Tarzan was again impressed by the symmetry
of their figures and the regularity of their features
the flat noses and thick lips of the typical West Coast
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FROM APE TO SAVAGE
savage were entirely missing. In repose the faces of
the men were intelligent and dignified, those of the
women ofttimes prepossessing.
It was during this dance that the ape-man first
noticed that some of the men and many of the women
wore ornaments of gold principally anklets and
armlets of great weight, apparently beaten out of the
solid metal. When he expressed a wish to examine one
of these, the owner removed it from her person and
insisted, through the medium of signs, that Tarzan
accept it as a gift. A close scrutiny of the bauble
convinced the ape-man that the article was of virgin
gold, and he was surprised, for it was the first time
that he had ever seen golden ornaments among the
savages of Africa, other than the trifling baubles those
near the coast had purchased or stolen from Euro
peans. He tried to ask them from whence the metal
came, but he could not make them understand.
When the dance was done Tarzan signified his inten
tion to leave them, but they almost implored him to
accept the hospitality of a great hut which the chief
set apart for his sole use. He tried to explain that
he would return in the morning, but they could not
understand. When he finally walked away from them
toward the side of the village opposite the gate, they
were still further mystified as to his intentions.
Tarzan, however, knew just what he was about. In
the past he had had experience with the rodents and
vermin that infest every native village, and, while he
was not overscrupulous about such matters, he much
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
preferred the fresh air of the swaying trees to the
fetid atmosphere of a hut.
The natives followed him to where a great tree
overhung the palisade, and as Tarzan leaped for a
lower branch and disappeared into the foliage above,
precisely after the manner of Manu, the monkey, there
were loud exclamations of surprise and astonishment.
For half an hour they called to him to return, but as
he did not answer them they at last desisted, and sought
the sleeping-mats within their huts.
Tarzan went back into the forest a short dis
tance until he had found a tree suited to his primi
tive requirements, and then, curling himself in a
great crotch, he fell immediately into a deep
sleep.
The following morning he dropped into the village
street as suddenly as he had disappeared the preceding
night. For a moment the natives were startled and
afraid, but when they recognized their guest of the
night before they welcomed him with shouts and laugh
ter. That day he accompanied a party of warriors to
the nearby plains on a great hunt, and so dexterous
did they find this white man with their own crude
weapons that another bond of respect and admiration
was thereby wrought.
For weeks Tarzan lived with his savage friends,
hunting buffalo, antelope, and zebra for meat, and
elephant for ivory. Quickly he learned their simple
speech, their native customs, and the ethics of their
wild, primitive tribal life. He found that they were
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FROM APE TO SAVAGE
not cannibals that they looked with loathing and
contempt upon men who ate men.
Busuli, the warrior whom he had stalked to the
village, told him many of the tribal legends how,
many years before, his people had come many long
marches from the north; how once they had been
great and powerful tribe; and how the slave raiders
had wrought such havoc among them with their death-
dealing guns that they had been reduced to a mere
remnant of their former numbers and power.
" They hunted us down as one hunts a fierce beast,"
said Busuli. "There was no mercy in them. When
it was not slaves they sought it was ivory, but usually it
was both. Our men were killed and our women driven
away like sheep. We fought against them for many
years, but our arrows and spears could not prevail
against the sticks which spit fire and lead and death to
many times the distance that our mightiest warrior
could place an arrow. At last, when my father was
a young man, the Arabs came again, but our warriors
saw them a long way off, and Chowambi, who was
chief then, told his people to gather up their belong
ings and come away with him that he would lead
them far to the south until they found a spot to which
the Arab raiders did not come.
"And they did as he bid, carrying all their belong
ings, including many tusks of ivory. For months they
wandered, suffering untold hardships and privations,
for much of the way was through dense jungle, and
across mighty mountains, but finally they came to this
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spot, and although they sent parties farther on to
search for an even better location, none has ever been
found."
"And the raiders have never found you here?"
asked Tarzan.
"About a year ago a small party of Arabs and
Manyuema stumbled upon us, but we drove them off,
killing many. For days we followed them, stalking
them for the wild beasts they are, picking them off
one by one, until but a handful remained, but these
escaped us."
As Busuli talked he fingered a heavy gold armlet
that encircled the glossy hide of his left arm.
Tarzan's eyes had been upon the ornament, but his
thoughts were elsewhere. Presently he recalled the
question he had tried to ask when he first came to the
tribe the question he could not at that time make
them understand. For weeks he had forgotten so
trivial a thing as gold, for he had been for the time a
truly primeval man with no thought beyond today.
But of a sudden the sight of gold awakened the sleep
ing civilization that was in him, and with it came the
lust for wealth. That lesson Tarzan had learned well in
his brief experience of the ways of civilized man. He
knew that gold meant power and pleasure. He pointed
to the bauble.
" From whence came the yellow metal, Busuli ? " he
asked.
The black pointed toward the southeast.
" A moon's march away maybe more," he replied.
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FROM APE TO SAVAGE
"Have you been there?" asked Tarzan.
" No, but some of our people were there years ago,
when my father was yet a young man. One of the
parties that searched farther for a location for the
tribe when first they settled here came upon a strange
people who wore many ornaments of yellow metal.
Their spears were tipped with it, as were their arrows,,
and they cooked in vessels made all of solid metal like
my armlet.
"They lived in a great village in huts that were
built of stone and surrounded by a great wall. They
were very fierce, rushing out and falling upon our
warriors before ever they learned that their errand
was a peaceful one. Our men were few in number, but
they held their own at the top of a little rocky hill,
until the fierce people went back at sunset into their
wicked city. Then our warriors came down from their
hill, and, after taking many ornaments of yellow metal
from the bodies of those they had slain, they marched
back out of the valley, nor have any of us ever
returned.
"They are wicked people neither white like you
nor black like me, but covered with hair as is Bol-
gani, the gorilla. Yes, they are very bad people
indeed, and Chowambi was glad to get out of their
country."
"And are none of those alive who were with Chow
ambi, and saw these strange people and their wonderful
city? " asked Tarzan.
"Waziri, our chief, was there," replied BusulL
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" He was a very young man then, but he accompanied
Chowambi, who was his father."
So that night Tarzan asked Waziri about it, and
Waziri, who was now an old man, said that it was a
long march, but that the way was not difficult to follow.
He remembered it well.
"For ten days we followed this river which runs
beside our village. Up toward its source we traveled
until on the tenth day we came to a little spring far
up upon the side of a lofty mountain range. In this
little spring our river is born. The next day we
crossed over the top of the mountain, and upon the
other side we came to a tiny rivulet which we followed
down into a great forest. For many days we traveled
along the winding banks of the rivulet that had now
become a river, until we came to a greater river, into
which it emptied, and which ran down the center of a
mighty valley.
"Then we followed this large river toward its
source, hoping to come to more open land. After
twenty days of marching from the time we had crossed
the mountains and passed out of our own country we
came again to another range of mountains. Up their
side we followed the great river, that had now dwin
dled to a tiny rivulet, until we came to a little cave
near the mountain-top. In this cave was the mother
of the river.
" I remember that we camped there that night, and
that it was very cold, for the mountains were high.
The next day we decided to ascend to the top of the
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FROM APE TO SAVAGE
mountains, and see what the country upon the other
side looked like, and if it seemed no better than that
which he had so far traversed we would return to our
village and tell them that they had already found the
best place in all the world to live.
"And so we clambered up the face of the rocky
cliffs until we reached the summit, and there from a
flat mountain-top we saw, not far beneath us, a shallow
valley, very narrow ; and upon the far side of it was a
great village of stone, much of which had fallen and
crumbled into decay."
The balance of Waziri's story was practically the
same as that which Busuli had told.
" I should like to go there and see this strange city,"
said Tarzan, "and get some of their yellow metal
from its fierce inhabitants."
"It is a long march," replied Waziri, "and I am
an old man, but if you will wait until the rainy season
is over and the rivers have gone down I will take some
of my warriors and go with you."
And Tarzan had to be contented with that arrange
ment, though he would have liked it well enough to
have set off the next morning he was as impatient
as a child. Really Tarzan of the Apes was but a
child, or a primeval man, which is the same thing in
a way.
The next day but one a small party of hunters
returned to the village from the south to report a
large herd of elephant some miles away. By climbing
trees they had had a fairly good view of the herd,
[209]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
which they described as numbering several large tusk
ers, a great many cows and calves, and full-grown bulls
whose ivory would be worth having.
The balance of the day and evening was filled with
preparation for a great hunt spears were over
hauled, quivers were replenished, bows were restrung ;
and all the while the village witch doctor passed
through the busy throngs disposing of various charms
and amulets designed to protect the possessor from
hurt, or bring him good fortune in the morrow's hunt.
At dawn the hunters were off. There w r ere fifty
sleek, black warriors, and in their midst, lithe and
active as a young forest god, strode Tarzan of the
Apes, his brown skin contrasting oddly with the ebony
of his companions. Except for color he was one of
them. His ornaments and weapons were the same as
theirs he spoke their language he laughed and
joked with them, and leaped and shouted in the brief
wild dance that preceded their departure from the
village, to all intent and purpose a savage among
savages. Nor, had he questioned himself, is it to be
doubted that he would have admitted that he was far
more closely allied to these people and their life than
to the Parisian friends whose ways, apelike, he had
successfully mimicked for a few short months.
But he did think of D'Arnot, and a grin of amuse
ment showed his strong white teeth as he pictured the
immaculate Frenchman's expression could he by some
means see Tarzan as he was that minute. Poor Paul,
who had prided himself on having eradicated from his
[210]
FROM APE TO SAVAGE
friend the last traces of wild savagery. " How quickly
have I fallen ! " thought Tarzan ; but in his heart he
did not consider it a fall rather, he pitied the poor
creatures of Paris, penned up like prisoners in their
silly clothes, and watched by policemen all their poor
lives, that they might do nothing that was not entirely
artificial and tiresome.
A two hours' march brought them close to the
vicinity in which the elephants had been seen the pre
vious day. From there on they moved very quietly
indeed searching for the spoor of the great beasts.
At length they found the well-marked trail along
which the herd had passed not many hours before. In
single file they followed it for about half an hour.
It was Tarzan who first raised his hand in signal that
the quarry was at hand his sensitive nose had warned
him that the elephants were not far ahead of them.
The blacks were skeptical when he told them how he
knew.
" Come with me," said Tarzan, " and we shall see."
With the agility of a squirrel he sprang into a tree
and ran nimbly to the top. One of the blacks followed
more slowly and carefully. When he had reached a
lofty limb beside the ape-man the latter pointed to the
south, and there, some few hundred yards away, the
black saw a number of huge black backs swaying back
and forth above the top of the lofty jungle grasses.
He pointed the direction to the watchers below, indi
cating with his fingers the number of beasts he could
count.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Immediately the hunters started toward the ele
phants. The black in the tree hastened down, but
Tarzan stalked, after his own fashion, along the leafy
way of the middle terrace.
It is no child's play to hunt wild elephants with the
crude weapons of primitive man. Tarzan knew that
few native tribes ever attempted it, and the fact that
his tribe did so gave him no little pride already he
was commencing to think of himself as a member of
the little community.
As Tarzan moved silently through the trees he saw
the warriors below creeping in a half circle upon the
still unsuspecting elephants. Finally they were within
sight of the great beasts. Now they singled out two
large tuskers, and at a signal the fifty men rose from
the ground where they had lain concealed, and hurled
their heavy war spears at the two marked beasts.
There was not a single miss; twenty-five spears were
embedded in the sides of each of the giant animals.
One never moved from the spot where it stood when
the avalanche of spears struck it, for two, perfectly
aimed, had penetrated its heart, and it lunged forward
upon its knees, rolling to the ground without a
struggle.
The other, standing nearly head-on toward the
hunters, had not proved so good a mark, and though
every spear struck not one entered the great heart.
For a moment the huge bull stood trumpeting in rage
and pain, casting about with its little eyes for the
author of its hurt. The blacks had faded into the
FROM APE TO SAVAGE
jungle before the weak eyes of the monster had fallen
upon any of them, but now he caught the sound of
their retreat, and, amid a terrific crashing of under
brush and branches, he charged in the direction of the
noise.
It so happened that chance sent him in the direction
of Busuli, whom he was overtaking so rapidly that it
was as though the black were standing still instead of
racing at full speed to escape the certain death which
pursued him. Tarzan had witnessed the entire per
formance from the branches of a nearby tree, and now
that he saw his friend's peril he raced toward the
infuriated beast with loud cries, hoping to distract
him.
But it had been as well had he saved his breath, for
the brute was deaf and blind to all else save the par
ticular object of his rage that raced futilely before
him. And now Tarzan saw that only a miracle could
save Busuli, and with the same unconcern with which
he had once hunted this very man he hurled himself
into the path of the elephant to save the black war
rior's life.
He still grasped his spear, and while Tantor was
yet six or eight paces behind his prey, a sinewy white
warrior dropped as from the heavens, almost directly
in his path. With a vicious lunge the elephant
swerved to the right to dispose of this temerarious
foeman who dared intervene between himself and his
intended victim; but he had not reckoned on the
lightning quickness that could galvanize those steel
[213]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
muscles into action so marvelously swift as to baffle
even a. keener eyesight than Tantor's.
And so it happened that before the elephant realized
that his new enemy had leaped from his path Tarzan
had driven his iron-shod spear from behind the massive
shoulder straight into the fierce heart, and the colossal
pachyderm had toppled to his death at the feet of the
ape-man.
Busuli had not beheld the manner of his deliverance,
but Waziri, the old chief, had seen, and several of the
other warriors, and they hailed Tarzan with delight
as they swarmed about him and his great kill. When
he leaped upon the mighty carcass, and gave voice to
the weird challenge with which he announced a great
victory, the blacks shrank back in fear, for to them it
marked the brutal Bolgani, whom they feared fully as
much as they feared Numa, the lion ; but with a fear
with which was mixed a certain uncanny awe of the
manlike thing to which they attributed supernatural
powers.
But when Tarzan lowered his raised head and smiled
upon them they were reassured, though they did not
understand. Nor did they ever fully understand this
strange creature who ran through the trees as quickly
as Manu, yet was even more at home upon the ground
than themselves ; who was except as to color like unto
themselves, yet as powerful as ten of them, and single-
handed a match for the fiercest denizens of the fierce
jungle.
When the remainder of the warriors had gathered,
[214]
FROM APE TO SAVAGE
the hunt was again taken up and the stalking of the
retreating herd once more begun; but they had cov
ered a bare hundred yards when from behind them,
at a great distance, sounded faintly a strange popping.
For an instant they stood like a group of statuary,
intently listening. Then Tarzan spoke.
" Guns ! " he said. " The village is being attacked."
"Come!" cried Waziri.- "The Arab raiders have
returned with their cannibal slaves for our ivory and
our women ! "
/
XVI
THE IVORY RAIDERS
TT 7AZIRFS warriors marched at a rapid trot
* * through the jungle in the direction of the
village. For a few minutes the sharp cracking of
guns ahead warned them to haste, but finally the re
ports dwindled to an occasional shot, presently ceasing
altogether. Nor was this less ominous than the rattle
of musketry, for it suggested but a single solution to
the little band of rescuers that the illy garrisoned
village had already succumbed to the onslaught of a
superior force.
The returning hunters had covered a little more
than three miles of the five that had separated them
from the village when they met the first of the fugi
tives who had escaped the bullets and clutches of the
foe. There were a dozen women, youths, and girls in
the party, and so excited were they that they could
scarce make themselves understood as they tried to
relate to Waziri the calamity that had befallen hi
people.
[216]
THE IVORY RAIDERS
" They are as many as the leaves of the forest,"
cried one of the women, in attempting to explain the
enemy's force. "There are many Arabs and count
less Manyuema, and they all have guns. They crept
close to the village before we knew that they were
about, and then, with many shouts, they rushed in
upon us, shooting down men, and women, and children.
Those of us who could fled in all directions into the
jungle, but more were killed. I do not know whether
they took any prisoners or not they seemed only
bent upon killing us all. The Manyuema called us
many names, saying that they would eat us all before
they left our country that this was our punishment
for killing their friends last year. I did not hear
much, for I ran away quickly."
The march toward the village was now resumed,
more slowly and with greater stealth, for Waziri knew
that it was too late to rescue their only mission
could be one of revenge. Inside the next mile a
hundred more fugitives were met. There were many
men among these, and so the fighting strength of the
party was augmented.
Now a dozen warriors were sent creeping ahead to
reconnoiter. Waziri remained with the main body,
which advanced in a thin line that spread in a great
crescent through the forest. By the chief's side
walked Tarzan.
Presently one of the scouts returned. He had come
within sight of the village.
" They are all within the palisade," he whispered.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Good!" said Waziri. "We shall rush in upon
them and slay them all," and he made ready to send
word along the line that they were to halt at the edge
of the clearing until they saw him rush toward the
village then all were to follow.
"Wait!" cautioned Tarzan. "If there are even
fifty guns within the palisade we shall be repulsed and
slaughtered. Let me go alone through the trees, so
that I may look down upon them from above, and see
just how many there be, and what chance we might
have were we to charge. It were foolish to lose a
single man needlessly if there be no hope of success.
I have an idea that we can accomplish more by cunning
than by force. Will you wait, Waziri ? "
" Yes," said the old chief. " Go ! "
So Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared
in the direction of the village. He moved more cau
tiously than was his wont, for he knew that men with
guns could reach him quite as easily in the treetops as
on the ground. And when Tarzan of the Apes elected
to adopt stealth, no creature in all the jungle could
move so silently or so completely efface himself from
the sight of an enemy.
In five minutes he had wormed his way to the great
tree that overhung the palisade at one end of the
village, and from his point of vantage looked down
upon the savage horde beneath. He counted fifty
Arabs and estimated that there were five times as many
Manyuema. The latter were gorging themselves upon
food and, under the very noses of their white masters,
THE IVORY RAIDERS
preparing the gruesome feast which is the piece
de resistance that follows a victory in which the
bodies of their slain enemies fall into their horrid
hands.
The ape-man saw that to charge that wild horde,
armed as they were with guns, and barricaded behind
the locked gates of the village, would be a futile task,
and so he returned to Waziri and advised him to wait ;
that he, Tarzan, had a better plan.
But a moment before one of the fugitives had re
lated to Waziri the story of the atrocious murder of
the old chief's wife, and so crazed with rage was the
old man that he cast discretion to the winds. Calling
his warriors about him, he commanded them to charge,
and, with brandishing spears and savage yells, the little
force of scarcely more than a hundred dashed madly
toward the village gates. Before the clearing had
been half crossed the Arabs opened up a withering fire
from behind the palisade.
With the first volley Waziri fell. The speed of the
chargers slackened. Another volley brought down a
half dozen more. A few reached the barred gates, only
to be shot in their tracks, without the ghost of a
chance to gain the inside of the palisade, and then the
whole attack crumpled, and the remaining warriors
scampered back into the forest.
As they ran the raiders opened the gates, rushing
after them, to complete the day's work with the utter
extermination of the tribe. Tarzan had been among
the last to turn back toward the forest, and now, as he
[219]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
ran slowly, he turned from time to time to speed a
well-aimed arrow into the body of a pursuer.
Once within the jungle, he found a little knot of
determined blacks waiting to give battle to the on
coming horde, but Tarzan cried to them to scatter,
keeping out of harm's way until they could gather in
force after dark.
66 Do as I tell you," he urged, " and I will lead you
to victory over these enemies of yours. Scatter through
the forest, picking up as many stragglers as you can
find, and at night, if you think that you have been
followed, come by roundabout ways to the spot where
we killed the elephants today. Then I will explain
my plan, and you will find that it is good. You cannot
hope to pit your puny strength and simple weapons
against the numbers and the guns of the Arabs and
the Manyuema."
They finally assented. "When you scatter," ex
plained Tarzan, in conclusion, "your foes will have
to scatter to follow you, and so it may happen that
if you are watchful you can drop many a Manyuema
with your arrows from behind some great trees."
They had barely time to hasten away farther into
the forest before the first of the raiders had crossed
the clearing and entered it in pursuit of them.
Tarzan ran a short distance along the ground be
fore he took to the trees. Then he raced quickly to
the upper terrace, there doubling on his tracks and
making his way rapidly back toward the village. Here
he found that every Arab and Manyuema had joined
[220]
THE IVORY RAIDERS
in the pursuit, leaving the village deserted except for
the chained prisoners and a single guard.
The sentry stood at the open gate, looking in the
direction of the forest, so that he did not see the agile
giant that dropped to the ground at the far end of
the village street. With drawn bow the ape-man crept
stealthily toward his unsuspecting victim. The prison
ers had already discovered him, and with wide eyes
filled with wonder and with hope they watched their
would-be rescuer. Now he halted not ten paces from
the unconscious Manyuema. The shaft was drawn
back its full length at the height of the keen gray eye
that sighted along its polished surface. There was a
sudden twang as the brown fingers released their hold,
and without a sound the raider sank forward upon his
face, a wooden shaft transfixing his heart and pro
truding a foot from his black chest.
Then Tarzan turned his attention to the fifty women
and youths chained neck to neck on the long slave
chain. There was no releasing of the ancient padlocks
in the time that was left him, so the ape-man called to
them to follow him as they were, and, snatching the
gun and cartridge belt from the dead sentry, he led
the now happy band out through the village gate and
into the forest upon the far side of the clearing.
It was a slow and arduous march, for the slave chain
was new to these people, and there were many delays
as one of their number would stumble and fall, drag
ging others down with her. Then, too, Tarzan had
been forced to make a wide detour to avoid any possi-
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
bility of meeting with returning raiders. He was
partially guided by occasional shots which indicated
that the Arab horde was still in touch with the villag
ers; but he knew that if they would but follow his
advice there would be but few casualties other than on
the side of the marauders.
Toward dusk the firing ceased entirely, and Tarzan
knew that the Arabs had all returned to the village.
He could scarce repress a smile of triumph as he
thought of their rage on discovering that their guard
had been killed and their prisoners taken away. Tar
zan had wished that he might have taken some of the
great store of ivory the village contained, solely for
the purpose of still further augmenting the wrath of
his enemies ; but he knew that that was not necessary
for its salvation, since he already had a plan mapped
out which would effectually prevent the Arabs leaving
the country with a single tusk. And it would have
been cruel to have needlessly burdened these poor,
overwrought women with the extra weight of the
heavy ivory.
It was after midnight when Tarzan, with his slow-
moving caravan, approached the spot where the
elephants lay. Long before they reached it they had
been guided by the huge fire the natives had built in
the center of a hastily improvised boma, partially for
warmth and partially to keep off chance lions.
When they had come close to the encampment
Tarzan called aloud to let them know that friends
were coming. It was a joyous reception the little
THE IVORY RAIDERS
party received when the blacks within the boma saw
the long file of fettered friends and relatives enter the
firelight. These had all been given up as lost forever,
as had Tarzan as well, so that the happy blacks would
have remained awake all night to feast on elephant
meat and celebrate the return of their fellows, had not
Tarzan insisted that they take what sleep they could,
against the work of the coming day.
At that, sleep was no easy matter, for the women
who had lost their men or their children in the day's
massacre and battle made night hideous with their con
tinued wailing and howling. Finally, however, Tar
zan succeeded in silencing them, on the plea that their
noise would attract the Arabs to their hiding-place,
when all would be slaughtered.
When dawn came Tarzan explained his plan of
battle to the warriors, and without demur one and all
agreed that it was the safest and surest way in which
to rid themselves of their unwelcome visitors and be
revenged for the murder of their fellows.
First the women and children, with a guard of some
twenty old warriors and youths, were started south
ward, to be entirely out of the zone of danger. They
had instructions to erect temporary shelter and con
struct a protecting boma of thorn bush ; for the plan
of campaign which Tarzan had chosen was one which
might stretch out over many days, or even weeks,
during which time the warriors would not return to
the new camp.
Two hours after daylight a thin circle of black
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
warriors surrounded the village. At intervals one was
perched high in the branches of a tree which could
overlook the palisade. Presently a Manyuema within
the village fell, pierced by a single arrow. There had
been no sound of attack none of the hideous war-
cries or vainglorious waving of menacing spears that
ordinarily marks the attack of savages just a silent
messenger of death from out of the silent forest.
The Arabs and their followers were thrown into a
fine rage at this unprecedented occurrence. They ran
for the gates, to wreak dire vengeance upon the fool
hardy perpetrator of the outrage ; but they suddenly
realized that they did not know which way to turn to
find the foe. As they stood debating, with many angry
shouts and much gesticulating, one of the Arabs sank
silently to the ground in their very midst a thin
arrow protruding from his heart.
Tarzan had placed the finest marksmen of the tribe
in the surrounding trees, with directions never to reveal
themselves while the enemy was faced in their direc
tion. As a black released his messenger of death he
would slink behind the sheltering stem of the tree
he had selected, nor would he again aim until a watch
ful eye told him that none was looking toward his tree.
Three times the Arabs started across the clearing in
the direction from which they thought the arrows
came, but each time another arrow would come from
behind to take its toll from among their number.
Then they would turn and charge in a new direction.
Finally they set out upon a determined search of the
THE IVORY RAIDERS
forest, but the blacks melted before them, so that they
saw no sign of an enemy.
But above them lurked a grim figure in the dense
foliage of the mighty trees it was Tarzan of the
Apes, hovering over them as if he had been the shadow
of death. Presently a Manyuema forged ahead of
his companions; there was none to see from what
direction death came, and so it came quickly, and a
moment later those behind stumbled over the dead
body of their comrade the inevitable arrow piercing
the still heart.
It does not take a great deal of this manner of
warfare to get upon the nerves of white men, and so
it is little to be wondered at that the Manyuema were
soon panic-stricken. Did one forge ahead an arrow
found his heart; did one lag behind he never again
was seen alive ; did one stumble to one side, even for a
bare moment from the sight of his fellows, he did not
return and always when they came upon the bodies
of their dead they found those terrible arrows driven
with the accuracy of superhuman power straight
through the victim's heart. But worse than all else
was the hideous fact that not once during the morning
had they seen or heard the slightest sign of an enemy
other than the pitiless arrows.
When finally they returned to the village it was no
better. Every now and then, at varying intervals that
were maddening in the terrible suspense they caused,
a man would plunge forward dead. The blacks be
sought their white masters to leave this terrible place,
[225]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
but the Arabs feared to take up the march through
the grim and hostile forest beset by this new and
terrible enemy while laden with the great store of
ivory they had found within the village; but, worse
yet, they hated to leave the ivory behind.
Finally the entire expedition took refuge within
the thatched huts here, at least, they would be free
from the arrows. Tarzan, from the tree above the
village, had marked the hut into which the chief Arabs
had gone, and, balancing himself upon an overhang
ing limb, he drove his heavy spear with all the force
of his giant muscles through the thatched roof. A
howl of pain told him that it had found a mark. With
this parting salute to convince them that there was no
safety for them anywhere within the country, Tarzan
returned to the forest, collected his warriors, and
withdrew a mile to the south to rest and eat. He
kept sentries in several trees that commanded a view
of the trail toward the village, but there was no
pursuit.
An inspection of his force showed not a single
casualty not even a minor wound; while rough
estimates of the enemies' loss convinced the blacks
that no fewer than twenty had fallen before their
arrows. They were wild with elation, and were for
finishing the day in one glorious rush upon the village,
during which they would slaughter the last of their
foemen. They were even picturing the various tor
tures they would inflict, and gloating over the suffer
ing of the Manyuema, for whom they entertained a
[226]
THE IVORY RAIDERS
peculiar hatred, when Tarzan put his foot down flatly
upon the plan.
" You are crazy ! " he cried. " I have shown you
the only way to fight these people. Already you have
killed twenty of them without the loss of a single
warrior, whereas, yesterday, following your own
tactics, which you would now renew, you lost at
least a dozen, and killed not a single Arab or
Manyuema. You will fight just as I tell you to fight,
or I shall leave you and go back to my own
country."
They were frightened when he threatened this, and
promised to obey him scrupulously if he would but
promise not to desert them.
"Very well," he said. "We shall return to the
elephant boma for the night. I have a plan to give
the Arabs a little taste of what they may expect if
they remain in our country, but I shall need no help.
Come ! If they suffer no more for the balance of the
day they will feel reassured, and the relapse into fear
will be even more nerve-racking than as though we
continued to frighten them all afternoon."
So they marched back to their camp of the previous
night, and, lighting great fires, ate and recounted the
adventures of the day until long after dark. Tarzan
slept until midnight, then he arose and crept into the
Cimmerian blackness of the forest. An hour later he
came to the edge of the clearing before the village.
There was a camp-fire burning within the palisade.
The ape-man crept across the clearing until he stood
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
before the barred gates. Through the interstices he
saw a lone sentry sitting before the fire.
Quietly Tarzan went to the tree at the end of the
village street. He climbed softly to his place, and
fitted an arrow to his bow. For several minutes he
tried to sight fairly upon the sentry, but the waving
branches and flickering firelight convinced him that
the danger of a miss was too great he must touch
the heart full in the center to bring the quiet and
sudden death his plan required.
He had brought, besides his bow, arrows, and rope,
the gun he had taken the previous day from the other
sentry he had killed. Caching all these in a con
venient crotch of the tree, he dropped lightly to the
ground within the palisade, armed only with his long
knife. The sentry's back was toward him. Like a cat
Tarzan crept upon the dozing man. He was within
two paces of him now another instant and the knife
would slide silently into the fellow's heart.
Tarzan crouched for a spring, for that is ever the
quickest and surest attack of the jungle beast when
the man, warned, by some subtle sense, sprang to his
fet and faced the ape-man.
[228]
XVII
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIEI
WHEN the eyes of the black Manyuema savage
fell upon the strange apparition that confronted
him with menacing knife they went wide in horror.
He forgot the gun within his hands; he even forgot
to cry out his one thought was to escape this fear
some-looking white savage, this giant of a man upon
whose massive rolling muscles and mighty chest the
flickering firelight played.
But before he could turn Tarzan was upon him, and
then the sentry thought to scream for aid, but it was
too late. A great hand was upon his windpipe, and
he was being borne to the earth. He battled furiously
but futilely with the grim tenacity of a bulldog
those awful fingers were clinging to his throat. Swiftly
and surely life was being choked from him. His eyes
bulged, his tongue protruded, his face turned to a
ghastly purplish hue there was a convulsive tremor
[229]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
of the stiffening muscles, and the Manyuema sentry
lay quite still.
The ape-man threw the body across one of his broad
shoulders and, gathering up the fellow's gun, trotted
silently up the sleeping village street toward the tree
that gave him such easy ingress to the palisaded vil
lage. He bore the dead sentry into the midst of the
leafy maze above.
First he stripped the body of cartridge belt and
such ornaments as he craved, wedging it into a con
venient crotch while his nimble fingers ran over it in
search of the loot he could not plainly see in the dark.
When he had finished he took the gun that had be
longed to the man, and walked far out upon a limb,
from the end of which he could obtain a better view
of the huts. Drawing a careful bead on the beehive
structure in which he knew the chief Arabs to be, he
pulled the trigger. Almost instantly there was an
answering groan. Tarzan smiled. He had made an
other lucky hit.
Following the shot there was a moment's silence in
the camp, and then Manyuema and Arab came pouring
from the huts like a swarm of angry hornets ; but if
the truth were known they were even more frightened
than they were angry. The strain of tl>e preceding
day had wrought upon the fears of both black and
white, and now this single shot in the night conjured
all manner of terrible conjectures in their terrified
minds.
When they discovered that their sentry had dis-
[230]
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
appeared, their fears were in no way allayed, and, as
though to bolster their courage by warlike actions,
they began to fire rapidly at the barred gates of the
village, although no enemy was in sight. Tarzan took
advantage of the deafening roar of this fusillade to
fire into the mob beneath him.
No one heard his shot above the din of rattling
musketry in the street, but some who were standing
close saw one of their number crumple suddenly to
the earth. When they leaned over him he was dead.
They were panic-stricken, and it took all the brutal
authority of the Arabs to keep the Manyuema from
rushing helter-skelter into the jungle anywhere to
escape from this terrible village.
After a time they commenced to quiet down, and as
no further mysterious deaths occurred among them
they took heart again. But it was a short-lived
respite, for just as they had concluded that they would
not be disturbed again Tarzan gave voice to a weird
moan, and as the raiders looked up in the direction
from which the sound seemed to come, the ape-man,
who stood swinging the dead body of the sentry gently
to and fro, suddenly shot the corpse far out above
their heads.
With howls of alarm the throng broke in all direc
tions to escape this new and terrible creature who
seemed to be springing upon them. To their fear-
distorted imaginations the body of the sentry, falling
with wide-sprawled arms and legs, assumed the like
ness of a great beast of prey. In their anxiety to
[231]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
escape, many of the blacks scaled the palisade, while
others tore down the bars from the gates and rushed
madly across the clearing toward the jungle.
For a time no one turned back toward the thing
that had frightened them, but Tarzan knew that they
would in a moment, and when they discovered that it
was but the dead body of their sentry, while they
would doubtless be still further terrified, he had a
rather definite idea as to what they would do, and so
he faded silently away toward the south, taking the
moonlit upper terrace back toward the camp of the
Waziri.
Presently one of the Arabs turned and saw that the
thing that had leaped from the tree upon them lay
still and quiet where it had fallen in the center of the
village street. Cautiously he crept back toward it
until he saw that it was but a man. A moment later
he was beside the figure, and in another had recognized
it as the corpse of the Manyuema who had stood on
guard at the village gate.
His companions rapidly gathered around at his call,
and after a moment's excited conversation they did
precisely what Tarzan had reasoned they would. Rais
ing their guns to their shoulders, they poured volley
after volley into the tree from which the corpse had
been thrown had Tarzan remained there he would
have been riddled by a hundred bullets.
When the Arabs and Manyuema discovered that
the only marks of violence upon the body of their
dead comrade were giant finger prints upon his swollen
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
throat they were again thrown into deeper apprehen
sion and despair. That they were not even safe within
a palisaded village at night came as a distinct shock to
them. That an enemy could enter into the midst of
their camp and kill their sentry with bare hands seemed
outside the bounds of reason, and so the superstitions
Manyuema commenced to attribute their ill luck to
supernatural causes ; nor were the whites able to offer
any better explanation.
With at least fifty of their number flying through
the black jungle, and without the slightest knowledge
of when their uncanny foemen might resume the
cold-blooded slaughter they had commenced, it was
a desperate band of cutthroats that waited sleep-
lessly for the dawn. Only on the promise of the
Arabs that they would leave the village at daybreak,
and hasten onward toward their own land, would
the remaining Manyuema consent to stay at the
village a moment longer. Not even fear of their
cruel masters was sufficient to overcome this new
terror.
And so it was that when Tarzan and his warriors
returned to the attack the next morning they found
the raiders prepared to march out of the village. The
Manyuema were laden with stolen ivory. As Tarzan
saw it he grinned, for he knew that they would not
carry it far. Then he saw something which caused
him anxiety a number of the Manyuema were
lighting torches in the remnant of the camp-fire.
They were about to fire the village.
[233]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Tarzan was perched in a tall tree some hundred
yards from the palisade. Making a trumpet of his
hands, he called loudly in the Arab tongue : " Do not
fire the huts, or we shall kill you all ! Do not fire the
huts, or we shall kill you all ! "
A dozen times he repeated it. The Manyuema hesi
tated, then one of them flung his torch into the camp-
fire. The others were about to do the same when an
Arab sprung upon them with a stick, beating them
toward the huts. Tarzan could see that he was com
manding them to fire the little thatched dwellings.
Then he stood erect upon the swaying branch a hun
dred feet above the ground, and, raising one of the
Arab guns to his shoulder, took careful aim and fired.
With the report the Arab who was urging on his men
to burn the village fell in his tracks, and the Man
yuema threw away their torches and fled from the
village. The last Tarzan saw of them they were
racing toward the jungle, while their former masters
knelt upon the ground and fired at them.
But however angry the Arabs might have been at
the insubordination of their slaves, they were at least
convinced that it would be the better part of wisdom
to forego the pleasure of firing the village that had
given them two such nasty receptions. In their hearts,
however, they swore to return again with such force
as would enable them to sweep the entire country for
miles around, until no vestige of human life remained.
They had looked in vain for the owner of the voice
which had frightened off the men who had been de-
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
tailed to put the torch to the huts, but not even the
keenest eye among them had been able to locate him.
They had seen the puff of smoke from the tree follow
ing the shot that brought down the Arab, but, though
a volley had immediately been loosed into its foliage,
there had been no indication that it had been effective.
Tarzan was too intelligent to be caught in any such
trap, and so the report of his shot had scarcely died
away before the ape-man was on the ground and racing
for another tree a hundred yards away. Here he
again found a suitable perch from which he could
watch the preparations of the raiders. It occurred to
him that he might have considerable more fun with
them, so again he called to them through his impro
vised trumpet.
"Leave the ivory!" he cried. "Leave the ivory!
Dead men have no use for ivory ! "
Some of the Manyuema started to lay down their
loads, but this was altogether too much for the avari
cious Arabs. With loud shouts and curses they aimed
their guns full upon the bearers, threatening instant
death to any who might lay down his load. They
could give up firing the village, but the thought of
abandoning this enormous fortune in ivory was quite
beyond their conception better death than that.
And so they marched out of the village of the
Waziri, and on the shoulders of their slaves was the
ivory ransom of a score of kings. Toward the north
they marched, back toward their savage settlement in
the wild and unknown country which lies back from
[235]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
the Kongo in the uttermost depths of The Great
Forest, and on either side of them traveled an invisible
and relentless foe.
Under Tarzan's guidance the black Waziri warriors
stationed themselves along the trail on either side in
the densest underbrush. They stood at far intervals,
and, as the column passed, a single arrow or a heavy
spear, well aimed, would pierce a Manyuema or an
Arab. Then the Waziri would melt into the distance
and run ahead to take his stand farther on. They did
not strike unless success were sure and the danger of
detection almost nothing, and so the arrows and the
spears were few and far between, but so persistent
and inevitable that the slow-moving column of heavy-
laden raiders was in a constant state of panic panic
at the pierced body of the comrade who had just
fallen panic at the uncertainty of who the next
would be to fall, and when.
It was with the greatest difficulty that the Arabs
prevented their men a dozen times from throwing away
their burdens and fleeing like frightened rabbits up
the trail toward the north. And so the day wore on
a frightful nightmare of a day for the raiders a day
of weary but well-repaid work for the Waziri. At
night the Arabs constructed a rude boma in a little
clearing by a river, and went into camp.
At intervals during the night a rifle would bark
close above their heads, and one of the dozen sentries
which they now had posted would tumble to the
ground. Such a condition was insupportable, for
[236]
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
they saw that by means of these hideous tactics they
would be completely wiped out, one by one, without
inflicting a single death upon their enemy. But yet,
with the persistent avariciousness of the white man,
the Arabs clung to their loot, and when morning
came forced the demoralized Manyuema to take up
their burdens of death and stagger on into the
jungle.
For three days the withering column kept up its
frightful march. Each hour was marked by its deadly
arrow or cruel spear. The nights were made hideous
by the barking of the invisible gun that made sentry
duty equivalent to a death sentence.
On the morning of the fourth day the Arabs were
compelled to shoot two of their blacks before they
could compel the balance to take up the hated ivory,
and as they did so a voice rang out, clear and strong,
from the jungle: "Today you die, oh, Manyuema,
Unless you lay down the ivory. Fall upon your cruel
masters and kill them! You have guns, why do you
not use them? Kill the Arabs, and we will not harm
you. We will take you back to our village and feed
you, and lead you out of our country in safety and
in peace. Lay down the ivory, and fall upon your
masters we will help you. Else you die ! "
As the voice died down the raiders stood as though
turned to stone. The Arabs eyed their Manyuema
slaves ; the slaves looked first at one of their fellows,
and then at another they were but waiting for some
one to take the initiative. There were some thirty
[237]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Arabs left, and about one hundred and fifty blacks.
AH were armed even those who were acting as por
ters had their rifles slung across their backs.
The Arabs drew together. The sheik ordered the
Manyuema to take up the march, and as he spoke he
cocked his rifle and raised it. But at the same instant
one of the blacks threw down his load, and, snatching
his rifle from his back, fired point-blank at the group
of whites. In an instant the camp was a cursing,
howling mass of demons, fighting with guns and
knives and pistols. The Arabs stood together, and
defended their lives valiantly, but with the rain of
lead that poured upon them from their own slaves,
and the shower of arrows and spears which now leaped
from the surrounding jungle aimed solely at them,
there was little question from the first what the out
come would be. In ten minutes from the time the
first porter had thrown down his load the last of the
Arabs lay dead.
When the firing had ceased Tarzan spoke again to
the Manyuema:
" Take up our ivory, and return it to our village,
from whence you stole it. We shall not harm you."
For a moment the Manyuema hesitated. They had
no stomach to retrace that difficult three days' trail.
They talked together in low whispers, and one turned
toward the jungle, calling aloud to the voice that had
spoken to them from out of the foliage.
" How do we know that when you have us in your
village you will not kill us all? " he asked.
[238]
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
" You do not know," replied Tarzan, " other than
that we have promised not to harm you if you will
return our ivory to us. But this you do know, that
it lies within our power to kill you all if you do not
return as we direct, and are we not more likely to do
so if you anger us than if you do as we bid ? "
" Who are you that speaks the tongue of our Arab
masters ? " cried the Manyuema spokesman. " Let us
see you, and then we shall give you our answer."
Tarzan stepped out of the jungle a dozen paces
from them.
"Look!" he said. When they saw that he was
white they were filled with awe, for never had they
seen a white savage before, and at his great muscles
and giant frame they were struck with wonder and ad
miration.
"You may trust me," said Tarzan. "So long as
you do as I tell you, and harm none of my people, we
shall do you no hurt. Will you take up our ivory
and return in peace to our village, or shall we follow
along your trail toward the north as we have followed
for the past three days ? "
The recollection of the horrid days that had just
passed was the thing that finally decided the Man
yuema, and so, after a short conference, they took
up their burdens and set off to retrace their steps
toward the village of the Waziri.
At the end of the third day they marched into the
village gate, and were greeted by the survivors of
the recent massacre, to whom Tarzan had sent a mes-
[239]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
eenger in their temporary camp to the south on the
day that the raiders had quitted the village, telling
them that they might return in safety.
It took all the mastery and persuasion that Tarzan
possessed to prevent the Waziri falling on the Man-
yuema tooth and nail, and tearing them to pieces, but
when he had explained that he had given his word that
they would not be molested if they carried the ivory
back to the spot from which they had stolen it, and
had further impressed upon his people that they owed
their entire victory to him, they finally acceded to his
demands, and allowed the cannibals to rest in peace
within their palisade.
That night the village warriors held a big palaver
to celebrate their victories, and to choose a new chief.
Since old Waziri's death Tarzan had been directing
the warriors in battle, and the temporary command
had been tacitly conceded to him. There had been
no time to choose a new chief from among their own
number, and, in fact, so remarkably successful had
they been under the ape-man's generalship that they
had had no wish to delegate the supreme authority to
another for fear that what they already had gained
might be lost. They had so recently seen the results
of running counter to this savage white man's advice
in the disastrous charge ordered by Waziri, in which
he himself had died, that it had not been difficult for
them to accept Tarzan's authority as final.
The principal warriors sat in a circle about a small
fire to discuss the relative merits of whomever might
[240]
THE WHITE CHIEF OF THE WAZIRI
be suggested as old Waziri's successor. It was Busuli
who spoke first :
" Since Waziri is dead, leaving no son, there is but
one among us whom we know from experience is fitted
to make us a good king. There is only one who has
proved that he can successfully lead us against the
guns of the white man, and bring us easy victory
without the loss of a single life. There is only one,
and that is the white man who has led us for the past
few days," and Busuli sprang to his feet, and with
uplifted spear and half-bent, crouching body com
menced to dance slowly about Tarzan, chanting in
time to his steps: "Waziri, king of the Waziri;
Waziri, killer of Arabs ; Waziri, king of the Waziri."
One by one the other warriors signified their ac
ceptance of Tarzan as their king by joining in the
solemn dance. The women came and squatted about
the rim of the circle, beating upon tom-toms, clapping
their hands in time to the steps of the dancers, and
joining in the chant of the warriors. In the center
of the circle sat Tarzan of the Apes Waziri, king
of the Waziri, for, like his predecessor, he was to take
the name of his tribe as his own.
Faster and faster grew the pace of the dancers,
louder and louder their wild and savage shouts. The
women rose and fell in unison, shrieking now at the
tops of their voices. The spears were brandishing
fiercely, and as the dancers stooped down and beat
their shields upon the hard-tramped earth of the vil
lage street the whole sight was as terribly primeval
[241]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
and savage as though it were being staged in the dim
dawn of humanity, countless ages in the past.
As the excitement waxed the ape-man sprang to his
feet and joined in the wild ceremony. In the center of
the circle of glittering black bodies he leaped and
roared and shook his heavy spear in the same mad
abandon that enthralled his fellow savages. The last
remnant of his civilization was forgotten he was a
primitive man to the fullest now ; reveling in the free
dom of the fierce, wild life he loved, gloating in his
kingship among these wild blacks.
Ah, if Olga de Coude had but seen him then could
she have recognized the well-dressed, quiet young man
whose well-bred face and irreproachable manners had
so captivated her but a few short months ago? And
Jane Porter! Would she have still loved this savage
warrior chieftain, dancing naked among his naked
savage subjects? And D'Arnot! Could D'Arnot
have believed that this was the same man he had in
troduced into half a dozen of the most select clubs of
Paris ? What would his fellow peers in the House of
Lords have said had one pointed to this dancing giant,
with his barbaric headdress and his metal ornaments,
and said: "There., my lords, is John Clayton, Lord
Greystoke."
And so Tarzan of the Apes came into a real king
ship among men slowly but surely was he following
the evolution of his ancestors, for had he not started
at the very bottom?
XVIII
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
JANE Porter had been the first of those in the life
boat to awaken the morning after the wreck of the
Lady Alice. The other members of the party were
asleep upon the thwarts or huddled in cramped posi
tions in the bottom of the boat.
When the girl realized that they had become sep
arated from the other boats she was filled with alarm.
The sense of utter loneliness and helplessness which
the vast expanse of deserted ocean aroused in her was
so depressing that, from the first, contemplation of
the future held not the slightest ray of promise for
her. She was confident that they were lost lost be
yond possibility of succor.
Presently Clayton awoke. It was several minutes
before he could gather his senses sufficiently to realize
where he was, or recall the disaster of the previous
night. Finally his bewildered eyes fell upon the girl.
"Jane!" he cried. "Thank God that we are to
gether!"
[243]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Look," said the girl dully, indicating the horizon
with an apathetic gesture. " We are all alone."
Clayton scanned the water in every direction.
"Where can they be?" he cried. "They cannot
have gone down, for there has been n sea, and they
were afloat after the yacht sank I saw them all."
He awoke the other members of the party, and ex
plained their plight.
"It is just as well that the boats are scattered, sir,"
said one of the sailors. " They are all provisioned, so
that they do not need each other on that score, and
should a storm blow up they could be of no service to
one another even if they were together, but scattered
about the ocean there is a much better chance that
one at least will be picked up, and then a search will
be at once started for the others. Were we together
there would be but one chance of rescue, where now
there may be four."
They saw the wisdom of his philosophy, and were
cheered by it, but their joy was short-lived, for when
it was decided that they should row steadily toward
the east and the continent, it was discovered that the
sailors who had been at the only two oars with which
the boat had been provided had fallen asleep at their
work, and allowed both to slip into the sea, nor were
they in sight anywhere upon the water.
During the angry words and recriminations which
followed the sailors nearly came to blows, but Clayton
succeeded in quieting them; though a moment later
Monsieur Thuran almost precipitated another row by
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
making a nasty remark about the stupidity of all Eng
lishmen, and especially English sailors.
"Come, come, mates," spoke up one of the men,
Tompkins, who had taken no part in the altercation,
" shootin' hoff hour bloomin' mugs won't get us noth-
in'. Has Spider 'ere said afore, we'll hall bloody well
be picked hup, hanyway, sez 'e, so wot's the use o'
squabblin'? Let's heat, sez I."
" That's not a bad idea," said Monsieur Thuran, and
then, turning to the third sailor, Wilson, he said:
" Pass one of those tins aft, my good man."
"Fetch it yerself," retorted Wilson sullenly. "I
ain't a-takin' no orders from no furriner you
ain't captain o' this ship yet."
The result was that Clayton himself had to get the
tin, and them another angry altercation ensued when
one of the sailors accused Clayton and Monsieur
Thuran of conspiring to control the provisions so that
they could have the lion's share.
"Some one should take command of this boat,"
spoke up Jane Porter, thoroughly disgusted with the
disgraceful wrangling that had marked the very open
ing of a forced companionship that might last for
many days. "It is terrible enough to be alone in a
frail boat on the Atlantic, without having the added
misery and danger of constant bickering and brawling
among the members of our party. You men should
elect a leader, and then abide by his decisions in all
matters. There is greater need for strict discipline
here than there is upon a well-ordered ship."
[245]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
She had hoped before she voiced her sentiments that
it would not be necessary for her to enter into the
transaction at all, for she believed that Clayton was
amply able to cope with every emergency, but she had
to admit that so far at least he had shown no greater
promise of successfully handling the situation than
any of the others, though he had at least refrained
from adding in any way to the unpleasantness, even
going so far as to give up the tin to the sailors when
they objected to its being opened by him.
The girl's words temporarily quieted the men, and
finally it was decided that the two kegs of water and
the four tins of food should be divided into two parts,
one-half going forward to the three sailors to do with
as they saw best, and the balance aft to the three pas
sengers.
Thus was the little company divided into two camps,
and when the provisions had been apportioned each
immediately set to work to open and distribute food
and water. The sailors were the first to get one of the
tins of "food" open, and their curses of rage and
disappointment caused Clayton to ask what the trouble
might be.
"Trouble!" shrieked Spider. "Trouble! It's worse
than trouble it's death! This tin is full of
coal oil ! "
Hastily now Clayton and Monsieur Thuran tore
open one of theirs, only to learn the hideous truth that
it also contained, not food, but coal oil. One after
another the four tins on board were opened. And as
THfi LOTTERY OF DEATH
the contents of each became known howls of anger an
nounced the grim truth there was not an ounce of
food upon the boat.
"Well, thank Gawd it wasn't the water," cried
Tompkins. "Hit's easier to get halong without
food than hit his without water. We can heat hour
shoes if worse comes to worst, but we couldn't drink
'em."
As he spoke Wilson had been boring a hole in one
of the water kegs, and as Spider held a tin cup he
tilted the keg to pour a draft of the precious fluid. A
thin stream of blackish, dry particles filtered slowly
through the tiny aperture into the bottom of the cup.
With a groan Wilson dropped the keg, and sat staring
at the dry stuff in the cup, speechless with horror.
" The kegs are filled with gunpowder," said Spider,
in a low tone, turning to those aft. And so it proved
when the last had been opened.
" Coal oil and gunpowder ! " cried Monsieur Thuran.
"Sapristi! What a diet for shipwrecked mariners!"
With the full knowledge that there was neither food
nor water on board, the pangs of hunger and thirst
became immediately aggravated, and so on the first
day of their tragic adventure real suffering com
menced in grim earnest, and the full horrors of ship
wreck were upon them.
As the days passed conditions became horrible. Ach
ing eyes scanned the horizon day and night until the
weak and weary watchers would sink exhausted to the
bottom of the boat, and there wrest in dream-distudbed
[247]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
slumber a moment's respite from the horrors of the
waking reality.
The sailors, goaded by the remorseless pangs of
hunger, had eaten their leather belts, their shoes, the
sweatbands from their caps, although both Clayton
and Monsieur Thuran had done their best to convince
them that these would only add to the suffering they
were enduring.
Weak and hopeless, the entire party lay beneath the
pitiless tropic sun, with parched lips and swollen
tongues, waiting for the death they were beginning to
crave. The intense suffering of the first few days
had become deadened for the three passengers who
had eaten nothing, but the agony of the sailors was
pitiful, as their weak and impoverished jstomachs
attempted to cope with the bits of leather with
which they had filled them. Tompkins was the first
to succumb. Just a week from the day the Lady
Alice went down the sailor died horribly in frightful
convulsions.
For hours his contorted and hideous features lay
grinning back at those in the stern of the little boat,
until Jane Porter could endure the sight no longer.
"Can you not drop his body overboard, William?"
she asked.
Clayton rose and staggered toward the corpse. The
two remaining sailors eyed him with a strange, baleful
light in their sunken orbs. Futilely the Englishman
tried to lift the corpse over the side of the boat, but
his strength was not equal to the task.
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
" Lend me a hand here, please," he said to Wilson,
who lay nearest him.
"Wot do you want to throw 'im over for?" ques
tioned the sailor, in a querulous voice.
" We've got to before we're too weak to do it," re
plied Clayton. " He'd be awful by tomorrow, after a
day under that broiling sun."
" Better leave well enough alone," grumbled Wilson.
" We may need him before tomorrow."
Slowly the meaning of the man's words percolated
into Clayton's understanding. At last he realized the
fellow's reason for objecting to the disposal of the
dead man.
"God!" whispered Clayton, in a horrified tone.
"You don't mean "
"W'y not?" growled Wilson. "Hain't we gotta
live? He's dead," he added, jerking his thumb in the
direction of the corpse. " He won't care."
"Come here, Thuran," said Clayton, turning to
ward the Russian. " We'll have something worse than
death aboard us if we don't get rid of this body before
dark."
Wilson staggered up menacingly to prevent the
contemplated act, but when his comrade, Spider, took
sides with Clayton and Monsieur Thuran he gave up,
and sat eying the corpse hungrily as the three men,
by combining their efforts, succeeded in rolling it over
board.
All the balance of the day Wilson sat glaring at
Clayton, in his eyes the gleam of insanity. Toward
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
evening, as the sun was sinking into the sea, he com
menced to chuckle and mumble to himself, but his eyes
never left Clayton.
After it became quite dark Clayton could still feel
those terrible eyes upon him. He dared not sleep,
and yet so exhausted was he that it was a constant fight
to retain consciousness. After what seemed an eternity
of suffering his head dropped upon a thwart, and he
slept. How long he was unconscious he did not know
he was awakened by a shuffling noise quite close to
him. The moon had risen, and as he opened his startled
eyes he saw Wilson creeping stealthily toward him,
his mouth open and his swollen tongue hanging out.
The slight noise had awakened Jane Porter at the
same time, and as she saw the hideous tableau she gave
a shrill cry of alarm, and at the same instant the sailor
lurched forward and fell upon Clayton. Like a wild
beast his teeth sought the throat of his intended
prey, but Clayton, weak though he was, still found
sufficient strength to hold the maniac's mouth from
him.
At Jane Porter's scream Monsieur Thuran and
Spider awoke. On seeing the cause of her alarm, both
men crawled to Clayton's rescue, and between the three
of them were able to subdue Wilson and hurl him to
the bottom of the boat. For a few minutes he lay
there chattering and laughing, and then, with an awful
scream, and before any of his companions could pre
vent, he staggered to his feet and leaped overboard.
The reaction from the terrific strain of excitement
[250]
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
left the weak survivors trembling and prostrated.
Spider broke down and wept; Jane Porter prayed;
Clayton swore softly to himself; Monsieur Thuran
sat with his head in his hands, thinking. The result
of his cogitation developed the following morning in
a proposition he made to Spider and Clayton.
" Gentlemen," said Monsieur Thuran, " you see the
fate that awaits us all unless we are picked up within
a day or two. That there is little hope of that is evi
denced by the fact that during all the days we have
drifted we have seen no sail, nor the faintest smudge of
smoke upon the horizon.
" There might be a chance if we had food, but with
out food there is none. There remains for us, then,
but one of two alternatives, and we must choose at
once. Either we must all die together within a few
days, or one must be sacrificed that the others may live.
Do you quite clearly grasp my meaning? "
Jane Porter, who had overheard, was horrified. If
the proposition had come from the poor, ignorant
sailor, she might possibly have not been so surprised ;
but that it should come from one who posed as a man
of culture and refinement, from a gentleman, she could
scarcely credit.
" It is better that we die together, then," said Clay
ton.
"That is for the majority to decide," replied Mon
sieur Thuran. "As only one of us three will be the
object of sacrifice, we shall decide. Miss Porter is not
interested, since she will be in no danger."
[251]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"How shall we know who is to be first?" asked
Spider.
"It may be fairly fixed by lot," replied Monsieur
Thuran. " I have a number of franc pieces in my
pocket. We can choose a certain date from among
them the one to draw this date first from beneath a
piece of cloth will be the first."
"I shall have nothing to do with any such diabol
ical plan," muttered Clayton ; " even yet land may be
sighted or a ship appear in time."
"You will do as the majority decide, or you will
be * the first ' without the formality of drawing lots,"
said Monsieur Thuran threateningly. " Come, let us
vote on the plan ; I for one am in favor of it. How
about you, Spider?"
" And I," replied the sailor.
"It is the will of the majority," announced Mon
sieur Thuran, "and now let us lose no time in draw
ing lots. It is as fair for one as for another. That
three may live, one of us must die perhaps a few hours
sooner than otherwise."
Then he began his preparations for the lottery of
death, while Jane Porter sat wide-eyed and horrified at
thought of the thing that she was about to witness.
Monsieur Thuran spread his coat upon the bottom of
the boat, and then from a handful of money he se
lected six franc pieces. The other two men bent close
above him as he inspected them. Finally he handed
them all to Clayton.
"Look at them carefully," he said. "The oldest
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
date is eighteen-seventy-five, and there is only one of
that year."
Clayton and the sailor inspected each coin. To
them there seemed not the slightest difference that
could be detected other than the dates. They were
quite satisfied. Had they known that Monsieur Thu-
ran's past experience as a card sharp had trained his
sense of touch to so fine a point that he could almost
differentiate between cards by the mere feel of them,
they would scarcely have felt that the plan was so en
tirely fair. The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than
the other coins, but neither Clayton nor Spider could
have detected it without the aid of a micrometer.
"In what order shall we draw?" asked Monsieur
Thuran, knowing from past experience that the ma
jority of men always prefer last chance in a lottery
where the single prize is some distasteful thing
there is always the chance and the hope that another
will draw it first. Monsieur Thuran, for reasons of
his own, preferred to draw first if the drawing should
happen to require a second adventure beneath the
coat.
And so when Spider elected to draw last he gra
ciously offered to take the first chance himself. His
hand was under the coat for but a moment, yet those
quick, deft fingers had felt of each coin, and found
and discarded the fatal piece. When he brought forth
his hand it contained an 1888 franc piece. Then
Clayton drew. Jane Porter leaned forward with a
tense and horrified expression on her face as the hand
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
of the man she was to marry groped about beneath the
coat. Presently he withdrew it, a franc piece lying in
the palm. For an instant he dared not look, but Mon
sieur Thuran, who had leaned nearer to see the date,
exclaimed that he was safe.
Jane Porter sank weak and trembling against the
side of the boat. She felt sick and dizzy. And now,
if Spider should not draw the 1875 piece she must
endure the whole horrid thing again.
The sailor already had his hand beneath the coat.
Great beads of sweat were standing upon his brow. He
trembled as though with a fit of ague. Aloud he
cursed himself for having taken the last draw, for now
his chances for escape were but three to one, whereas
Monsieur Thuran's had been five to one, and Clayton's
four to one.
The Russian was very patient, and did not hurry
the man, for he knew that he himself was quite safe
whether the 1875 piece came out this time or not.
When the sailor withdrew his hand and looked at the
piece of money within, he dropped fainting to the bot
tom of the boat. Both Clayton and Monsieur Thuran
hastened weakly to examine the coin, which had rolled
from the man's hand and lay beside him. It was not
dated 1875. The reaction from the state of fear he
had been in had overcome Spider quite as effectually as
though he had drawn the fated piece.
But now the whole proceeding must be gone through
again. Once more the Russian drew forth a harmless
coin. Jane Porter closed her eyes as Clayton reached
[254]
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
beneath the coat. Spider bent, wide-eyed, toward the
hand that was to decide his fate, for whatever luck was
Clayton's on this last draw, the opposite would be
Spider's.
Then William Cecil Clayton, Lord Greystoke, re
moved his hand from beneath the coat, and with a coin
tight pressed within his palm where none might see it,
he looked at Jane Porter. He did not dare open his
hand.
" Quick ! " hissed Spider. " My Gawd, let's see it."
Clayton opened his fingers. Spider was the first to
see the date, and ere any knew what his intention was
he raised himself to his feet, and lunged over the side
of the boat, to disappear forever into the green depths
beneath the coin had not been the 1875 piece.
The strain had exhausted those who remained to
such an extent that they lay half unconscious for the
balance of the day, nor was the subject referred to
again for several days. Horrible days of increasing
weakness and hopelessness. At length Monsieur Thu-
ran crawled to where Clayton lay.
" We must draw once more before we are too weak
even to eat," he whispered.
Clayton was in such a state that he was scarcely
master of his own will. Jane Porter had not spoken
for three days. He knew that she was dying. Hor
rible as the thought was, he hoped that the sacrifice
of either Thuran or himself might be the means of
giving her renewed strength, and so he immediately
agreed to the Russian's proposal.
[253]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
They drew under the same plan as before, but there
could be but one result Clayton drew the 1875 piece.
" When shall it be? " he asked Thuran.
The Russian had already drawn a pocketknif e from
his trousers, and was weakly attempting to open it.
"Now," he muttered, and his greedy eyes gloated
upon the Englishman.
" Can't you wait until dark ? " asked Clayton. " Miss
Porter must not see this thing done. We were to have
been married, you know."
A look of disappointment came over Monsieur Thu-
ran's face.
"Very well," he replied hesitatingly. "It will not
be long until night. I have waited for many days
I can wait a few hours longer."
"Thank you, my friend," murmured Clayton.
" Now I shall go to her side and remain with her until
it is time. I would like to have an hour or two with
her before I die."
When Clayton reached the girl's side she was un
conscious he knew that she was dying, and he was
glad that she should not have to see or know the awful
tragedy that was shortly to be enacted. He took her
hand and raised it to his cracked and swollen lips. For
a long time he lay caressing the emaciated, clawlike
thing that had once been the beautiful, shapely white
hand of the young Baltimore belle.
It was quite dark before he knew it, but he was re
called to himself by a voice out of the night. It was
the Russian calling him to his doom.
[256]
THE LOTTERY OF DEATH
"I am coming, Monsieur Thuran," he hastened to
reply.
Thrice he attempted to turn himself upon his hands
and knees, that he might crawl back to his death, but
in the few hours that he had lain there he had become
too weak to return to Thuran's side.
" You will have to come to me, monsieur," he called
weakly. "I have not sufficient strength to gain my
hands and knees."
" Sapristi! " muttered Monsieur Thuran. " You are
attempting to cheat me out of my winnings."
Clayton heard the man shuffling about in the bot
tom of the boat. Finally there was a despairing groan.
" I cannot crawl," he heard the Russian wail. " It is
too late. You have tricked me, you dirty English
dog."
"I have not tricked you, monsieur," replied Clay
ton. "I have done my best to rise, but I shall try
again, and if you will try possibly each of us can
crawl halfway, and then you shall have your 'win
nings.' "
Again Clayton exerted his remaining strength to
the utmost, and he heard Thuran apparently doing
the same. Nearly an hour later the Englishman suc
ceeded in raising himself to his hands and knees, but
at the first forward movement he pitched upon his
face.
A moment later he heard an exclamation of relief
from Monsieur Thuran.
" I am coming," whispered the Russian.
[257]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Again Clayton essayed to stagger on to meet his
fate, but once more he pitched headlong to the boat's
bottom, nor, try as he would, could he again rise. His
last effort caused him to roll over on his back, and there
he lay looking up at the stars, while behind him, com
ing ever nearer and nearer, he could hear the laborious
shuffling, and the stertorous breathing of the Russian.
It seemed that he must have lain thus an hour wait
ing for the thing to crawl out of the dark and end his
misery. It was quite close now, but there were longer
and longer pauses between its efforts to advance, and
each forward movement seemed to the waiting Eng
lishman to be almost imperceptible.
Finally he knew that Thuran was quite close beside
him. He heard a cackling laugh, something touched
his face, and he lost consciousness.
[858]
XIX
THE CITY OF GOLD
^T^HE very night that Tarzan of the Ape* became
"* chief of the Waziri the woman he loved lay dying
in a tiny boat two hundred miles west of him upon
the Atlantic. As he danced among his naked fellow
savages, the firelight gleaming against his great,
rolling muscles, the personification of physical perfec
tion and strength, the woman who loved him lay thin
and emaciated in the last coma that precedes death by
thirst and starvation.
The week following the induction of Tarzan into
the kingship of the Waziri was occupied in escorting
the Manyuema of the Arab raiders to the northern
boundary of Waziri in accordance with the promise
which Tarzan had made them. Before he left them
he exacted a pledge from them that they would not
lead any expeditions against the Waziri in the future,
nor was it a difficult promise to obtain. They had
had sufficient experience with the fighting tactics of the
[259]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
new Waziri chief not to have the slightest desire to
accompany another predatory force within the bound
aries of his domain.
Almost immediately upon his return to the village
Tarzan commenced making preparations for leading
an expedition in search of the ruined city of gold
which old Waziri had described to him. He selected
fifty of the sturdiest warriors of his tribe, choosing
only men who seemed anxious to accompany him on the
arduous march, and share the dangers of a new and
hostile country.
The fabulous wealth of the fabled city had been
almost constantly in his mind since Waziri had re
counted the strange adventures of the former expedi
tion which had stumbled upon the vast ruins by chance.
The lure of adventure may have been quite as power
ful a factor in urging Tarzan of the Apes to under
take the journey as the lure of gold, but the lure of
gold was there, too, for he had learned among civilized
man something of the miracles that may be wrought
by the possessor of the magic yellow metal. What he
would do with a golden fortune in the heart of savage
Africa it had not occurred to him to consider it
would be enough to possess the power to work won
ders, even though he never had an opportunity to
employ it.
So one glorious tropical morning Waziri, chief of
the Waziri, set out at the head of fifty clean-limbed
ebon warriors in quest of adventure and of riches.
They followed the course which old Waziri had de-
[260]
THE CITY OF GOLD
scribed to Tarzan. For days they marched up one
river, across a low divide; down another river; up a
third, until at the end of the twenty-fifth day they
camped upon a mountainside, from the summit of
which they hoped to catch their first view of the mar
velous city of treasure.
Early the next morning they were climbing the
almost perpendicular crags which formed the last, but
greatest, natural barrier between them and their des
tination. It was nearly noon before Tarzan, who
headed the thin line of climbing warriors, scrambled
over the top of the last cliff and stood upon the little
flat table-land of the mountaintop.
On either hand towered mighty peaks thousands of
feet higher than the pass through which they were en
tering the forbidden valley. Behind him stretched
the wooded valley across which they had marched for
many days, and at the opposite side the low range
which marked the boundary of their own country.
But before him was the view that centered his at
tention. Here lay a desolate valley a shallow, nar
row valley dotted with stunted trees and covered with
many great bowlders. And on the far side of the valley
lay what appeared to be a mighty city, its great walls,
its lofty spires, its turrets, minarets, and domes show
ing red and yellow in the sunlight. Tarzan was yet
too far away to note the marks of ruin to him it
appeared a wonderful city of magnificent beauty, and
in imagination he peopled its broad avenues and its
huge temples with a throng of happy, active people.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
For an hour the little expedition rested upon the
mountaintop, and then Tarzan led them down into the
valley below. There was no trail, but the way was
less arduous than the ascent of the opposite face of
the mountain had been. Once in the valley their
progress was rapid, so that it was still light when
they halted before the towering walls of the ancient
city.
The outer wall was fifty feet in height where it had
not fallen into ruin, but nowhere as far as they could
see had more than ten or twenty feet of the upper
courses fallen away. It was still a formidable defense.
On several occasions Tarzan had thought that he dis
cerned things moving behind the ruined portions of
the wall near to them, as though creatures were watch
ing them from behind the bulwarks of the ancient pile.
And often he felt the sensation of unseen eyes upon
him, but not once could he be sure that it was more
than imagination.
That night they camped outside the city. Once, at
midnight, they were awakened by a shrill scream from
beyond the great wall. It was very high at first, de
scending gradually until it ended in a series of dismal
moans. It had a strange effect upon the blacks, almost
paralyzing them with terror while it lasted, and it was
an hour before the camp settled down to sleep once
more. In the morning the effects of it were still visible
in the fearful, sidelong glances that the Waziri con
tinually cast at the massive and forbidding structure
which loomed above them.
THE CITY OF GOLD
It required considerable encouragement and urging
on Tarzan's part to prevent the blacks from abandon
ing the venture on the spot and hastening back across
the valley toward the cliffs they had scaled the day be
fore. But at length, by dint of commands, and
threats that he would enter the city alone, they agreed
to accompany him.
For fifteen minutes they marched along the face
of the wall before they discovered a means of ingress.
Then they came to a narrow cleft about twenty inches
wide. Within, a flight of concrete steps, worn hollow
by centuries of use, rose before them, to disappear at
a sharp turning of the passage a few yards ahead.
Into this narrow alley Tarzan made his way, turning
his giant shoulders sideways that they might enter at
all. Behind him trailed his black warriors. At the
turn in the cleft the stairs ended, and the path was
level ; but it wound and twisted in a serpentine fashion,
until suddenly at a sharp angle it debouched upon a
narrow court, across which loomed an inner wall
equally as high as the outer. This inner wall was set
with little round towers alternating along its entire
summit with pointed monoliths. In places these had
fallen, and the wall was ruined, but it was in a much
better state of preservation than the outer wall.
Another narrow passage led through this wall, and
at its end Tarzan and his warriors found themselves
in a broad avenue, on the opposite side of which
crumbling edifices of hewn granite loomed dark and
forbidding. Upon the crumbled debris along the face
[263]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
of the buildings trees had grown, and vines wound in
and out of the hollow, staring windows ; but the build
ing directly opposite them seemed less overgrown than
the others, and in a much better state of preservation.
It was a massive pile, surmounted by an enormous
dome. At either side of its great entrance stood rows
of tall pillars, each capped by a huge, grotesque bird
carved from the solid rock of the monoliths.
As the ape-man and his companions stood gazing
in varying degrees of wonderment at this ancient city
in the midst of savage Africa, several of them became
aware of movement within the structure at which they
were looking. Dim, shadowy shapes appeared to be
moving about in the semidarkness of the interior.
There was nothing tangible that the eye could grasp
only an uncanny suggestion of life where it seemed
that there should be no life, for living things seemed
out of place in this weird, dead city of the long-dead
past.
Tarzan recalled something that he had read in the
library at Paris of a lost race of white men that native
legend described as living in the heart of Africa. He
wondered if he were not looking upon the ruins of
the civilization that this strange people had wrought
amid the savage surroundings of their strange and
savage home. Could it be possible that even now a
remnant of that lost race inhabited the ruined gran
deur that had once been their progenitors ? Again he
became conscious of a stealthy movement within the
great temple before him.
[264]
THE CITY OF GOLD
" Come ! " he said, to his Waziri. " Let us have a
look at what lies behind those ruined walls."
His men were loath to follow him, but when they
saw that he was bravely entering the frowning portal
they trailed a few paces behind in a huddled group
that seemed the personification of nervous terror. A
single shriek such as they had heard the night before
would have been sufficient to have sent them all racing
madly for the narrow cleft that led through the great
walls to the outer world.
As Tarzan entered the building he was distinctly
aware of many eyes upon him. There was a rustling
in the shadows of a near-by corridor, and he could
have sworn that he saw a human hand withdrawn
from an embrasure that opened above him into the
domelike rotunda in which he found himself.
The floor of the chamber was of concrete, the walls
of smooth granite, upon which strange figures of men
and beasts were carved. In places tablets of yellow
metal had been set in the solid masonry of the walls.
When he approached closer to one pf these tablets
he saw that it was of gold, and bore many heiro-
glyphics. Beyond this first chamber there were others,
and back of them the building branched out into
enormous wings. Tarzan passed through several of
these chambers, finding many evidences of the fab
ulous wealth of the original builders. In one room
were seven pillars of solid gold, and in another the
floor itself was of the precious metal. And all the
while that he explored, his blacks huddled close to-
[265]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
gether at his back, and strange shapes hovered upon
either hand and before them and behind, yet never
close enough that any might say that they were not
alone.
The strain, however, was telling upon the nerves of
the Waziri. They begged Tarzan to return to the
sunlight. They said that no good could come of such
an expedition, for the ruins were haunted by the
spirits of the dead who had once inhabited them.
" They are watching us, O king," whispered Busuli.
"They are waiting until they have led us into the
innermost recesses of their stronghold, and then they
will fall upon us and tear us to pieces with their
teeth. That is the way with spirits. My mother's
uncle, who is a great witch doctor, has told me all
about it many times."
Tarzan laughed. " Run back into the sunlight, my
children," he said. "I will join you when I have
searched this old ruin from top to bottom, and found
the gold, or found that there is none. At least we
may take the tablets from the walls, though the pillars
are too heavy for us to handle; but there should be
great storerooms filled with gold gold that we can
carry away upon our backs with ease. Run on now,
out into the fresh air where you may breath easier."
Some of the warriors started to obey their chief
with alacrity, but Busuli and several others hesitated
to leave him hesitated between love and loyalty for
their king, and superstitious fear of the unknown.
And then, quite unexpectedly, that occurred which de-
[266]
THE CITY OF GOLD
cided the question without the necessity for further
discussion. Out of the silence of the ruined temple
there rang, close to their ears, the same hideous shriek
they had heard the previous night, and with horrified
cries the black warriors turned and fled through the
empty halls of the age-old edifice.
Behind them stood Tarzan of the Apes where they
had left him, a grim smile upon his lips waiting for
the enemy he fully expected was about to pounce upon
him. But again silence reigned, except for the faint
suggestion of the sound of naked feet moving stealth
ily in near-by places.
Then Tarzan wheeled and passed on into the depths
of the temple. From room to room he went, until he
came to one at which a rude, barred door still stood,
and as he put his shoulder against it to push it in,
again the shriek of warning rang out almost beside
him. It was evident that he was being warned to re
frain from desecrating this particular room. Or could
it be that within lay the secret to the treasure stores?
At any rate, the very fact that the strange, invisible
guardians of this weird place had some reason for wish
ing him not to enter this particular chamber was suffi
cient to treble Tarzan's desire to do so, and though
the shrieking was repeated continuously, he kept his
shoulder to the door until it gave before his giant
strength to swing open upon creaking wooden hinges.
Within all was black as the tomb. There was no
window to let in the faintest ray of light, and as the
corridor upon which it opened was itself in semi-dark-
[267]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
ness, even the open door shed no relieving rays within.
Feeling before him upon the floor with the butt of his
spear, Tarzan entered the Stygian gloom. Suddenly
the door behind him closed, and at the same time hands
clutched him from every direction out of the dark
ness.
The ape-man fought with all the savage fury of
self-preservation backed by the herculean strength
that was his. But though he felt his blows land, and
his teeth sink into soft flesh, there seemed always two
new hands to take the place of those that he fought
off. At last they dragged him down, and slowly, very
slowly, they overcame him by the mere weight of their
numbers. And then they bound him his hands be
hind his back and his feet trussed up to meet them.
He had heard no sound except the heavy breathing
of his antagonists, and the noise of the battle. He
knew not what manner of creatures had captured him,
but that they were human seemed evident from the fact
that they had bound him.
Presently they lifted him from the floor, and half
dragging, half pushing him, they brought him out of
the black chamber through another doorway into an
inner courtyard of the temple. Here he saw his cap
tors. There must have been a hundred of them
short, stocky men, with great beards that covered their
faces and fell upon their hairy breasts.
The thick, matted hair upon their heads grew low
over their receding brows, and hung about their
shoulders and their backs. Their crooked legs were
[268]
THE CITY OF GOLD
short and heavy, their arms long and muscular. About
their loins they wore the skins of leopards and of
lions, and great necklaces of the claws of these same
animals depended upon their breasts. Massive circlets
of virgin gold adorned their arms and legs. For
weapons they carried heavy, knotted bludgeons, and
in the belts that confined their single garments each
had a long, wicked-looking knife.
But the feature of them that made the most start
ling impression upon their prisoner was their white
skins neither in color nor feature was there a trace
of the negroid about them. Yet, with their receding
foreheads, wicked little close-set eyes, and yellow
fangs, they were far from prepossessing in appear
ance.
During the fight within the dark chamber, and
while they had been dragging Tarzan to the inner
court, no word had been spoken, but now several of
them exchanged grunting, monosyllabic conversation
in a language unfamiliar to the ape-man, and pres
ently they left him lying upon the concrete floor while
they trooped off on their short legs into another part
of the temple beyond the court.
As Tarzan lay there upon his back he saw that the
temple entirely surrounded the little inclosure, and that
on all sides its lofty walls rose high above him. At the
top a little patch of blue sky was visible, and, in one
direction, through an embrasure, he could see foliage,
but whether it was beyond or within the temple he
did not know.
[269]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
About the court, from the ground to the top of the
temple, were series of open galleries, and now and
then the captive caught glimpses of bright eyes gleam
ing from beneath masses of tumbling hair, peering
down upon him from above.
The ape-man gently tested the strength of the
bonds that held him, and while he could not be sure
it seemed that they were of insufficient strength to
withstand the strain of his mighty muscles when the
time came to make a break for freedom; but he did
not dare to put them to the crucial test until darkness
had fallen, or he felt that no spying eyes were upon
him.
He had lain within the court for several hours be
fore the first rays of sunlight penetrated the vertical
shaft ; almost simultaneously he heard the pattering of
bare feet in the corridors about him, and a moment
later saw the galleries above fill with crafty faces as a
score or more entered the courtyard.
For a moment every eye was bent upon the noon
day sun, and then in unison the people in the galleries
and those in the court below took up the refrain of a
low, weird chant. Presently those about Tarzan be
gan to dance to the cadence of their solemn song.
They circled him slowly, resembling in their manner
of dancing a number of clumsy, shuffling bears ; but
as yet they did not look at him, keeping their little
eyes fixed upon the sun.
For ten minutes or more they kept up their monot
onous chant and steps, and then suddenly, and in per-
[270]
THE CITY OF GOLD
feet unison, they turned toward their victim with up
raised bludgeons and emitting fearful howls, the while
they contorted their features into the most diabolical
expressions, they rushed upon him.
At the same instant a female figure dashed into
the midst of the bloodthirsty horde, and, with a blud
geon similar to their own, except that it was wrought
from gold, beat back the advancing men.
[271]
LA
T?OR a moment Tarzan thought that by some
strange freak of fate a miracle had saved him,
but when he realized the ease with which the girl had,
single-handed, beaten off twenty gorilla-like males, and
an instant later, as he saw them again take up their
dance about him while she addressed them in a sing
song monotone, which bore every evidence of rote, he
came to the conclusion that it was all but a part of
the ceremony of which he was the central figure.
After a moment or two the girl drew a knife from
her girdle, and, leaning over Tarzan, cut the bonds
from his legs. Then, as the men stopped their dance,
and approached, she motioned to him to rise. Placing
the rope that had been about his legs around his neck,
she led him across the courtyard, the men following
in twos.
Through winding corridors she led, farther and
farther into the remoter precincts of the temple, until
LA
they came to a great chamber in the center of which
stood an altar. Then it was that Tarzan translated
the strange ceremony that had preceded his introduc
tion into this holy of holies.
He had fallen into the hands of descendants of the
ancient sun worshippers. His seeming rescue by a
votaress of the high priestess of the sun had been but
a part of the mimicry of their heathen ceremony
the sun looking down upon him through the opening
at the top of the court had claimed him as his own,
and the priestess had come from the inner temple to
save him from the polluting hands of worldlings
to save him as a human offering to their flaming
deity.
And had he needed further assurance as to the cor
rectness of his theory he had only to cast his eyes
upon the brownish-red stains that caked the stone altar
and covered the floor in its immediate vicinity, or to
the human skulls which grinned from countless niches
in the towering walls.
The priestess led the victim to the altar steps.
Again the galleries above filled with watchers, while
from an arched doorway at the east end of the cham
ber a procession of females filed slowly into the room.
They wore, like the men, only skins of wild animals
caught about their waists with rawhide belts or chains
of gold; but the black masses of their hair were
incrusted with golden headgear composed of many
circular and oval pieces of gold ingeniously held
together to form a metal cap from which depended,
[273]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
at each side of the head, long strings of oval pieces
falling to the waist.
The females were more symmetrically proportioned
than the males, their features were much more perfect,
the shapes of their heads and their large, soft, black
eyes denoting far greater intelligence and humanity
than was possessed by their lords and masters.
Each priestess bore two golden cups, and as they
formed in line along one side of the altar the men
formed opposite them, advancing and taking each a
cup from the female opposite. Then the chant began
once more, and presently from a dark passageway be
yond the altar another female emerged from the cav
ernous depths beneath the chamber.
The high priestess, thought Tarzan. She was a
young woman with a rather intelligent and shapely
face. Her ornaments were similar to those worn by
her votaries, but much more elaborate, many being set
with diamonds. Her bare arms and legs were almost
concealed by the massive, be jeweled ornaments which
covered them, while her single leopard skin was sup
ported by a close-fitting girdle of golden rings set in
strange designs tvith innumerable small diamonds. In
the girdle she carried a long, jeweled knife, and in her
hand a slender wand in lieu of a bludgeon.
As she advanced to the opposite side of the altar she
halted, and the chanting ceased. The priests and
priestesses knelt before her, while with wand extended
above them she recited a long and tiresome prayer.
Her voice wag soft and musical Tarzan could scarce
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LA
realize that its possessor in a moment more would be
transformed by the fanatical ecstasy of religious zeal
into a wild-eyed and bloodthirsty executioner, who,
with dripping knife, would be the first to drink her
victim's red, warm blood from the little golden cup
that stood upon the altar.
As she finished her prayer she let her eyes rest for
the first time upon Tarzan. With every indication of
considerable curiosity she examined him from head to
foot. Then she addressed him, and when she had fin
ished stood waiting, as thought she expected a reply.
" I do not understand your language," said Tarzan.
" Possibly we may speak together in another tongue ? "
But she could not understand him, though he tried
French, English, Arab, Waziri, and, as a last resort,
the mongrel tongue of the West Coast.
She shook her head, and it seemed that there was a
note of weariness in her voice as she motioned to the
priests to continue with the rites. These now circled
in a repetition of their idiotic dance, which was ter
minated finally at a command from the priestess, who
had stood throughout, still looking intently upon
Tarzan.
At her signal the priests rushed upon the ape-man,
and, lifting him bodily, laid him upon his back across
the altar, his head hanging over one edge, his legs
over the opposite. Then they and the priestesses
formed in two lines, with their little golden cups in
readiness to capture a share of the victim's lifeblood
after the sacrificial knife had accomplished its work.
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In the line of priests an altercation arose as to who
should have first place. A burly brute with all the
refined intelligence of a gorilla stamped upon his
bestial face was attempting to push a smaller man to
second place, but the smaller one appealed to the high
priestess, who in a cold, peremptory voice sent the
larger to the extreme end of the line. Tarzan could
hear him growling and rumbling as he went slowly to
the inferior station.
Then the priestess, standing above him, began re
citing what Tarzan took to be an invocation, the while
she slowly raised her thin, sharp knife aloft. It seemed
ages to the ape-man before her arm ceased its upward
progress and the knife halted high above his unpro
tected breast.
Then it started downward, slowly at first, but as the
incantation increased in rapidity, with greater speed.
At the end of the line Tarzan could still hear the
grumbling of the disgruntled priest. The man's voice
rose louder and louder. A priestess near him spoke in
sharp tones of rebuke. The knife was quite near to
Tarzan's breast now, but it halted for an instant as
the high priestess raised her eyes to shoot her swift
displeasure at the instigator of this sacrilegious in
terruption.
There was a sudden commotion in the direction of
the disputants, and Tarzan rolled his head in their
direction in time to see the burly brute of a priest leap
upon the woman opposite him, dashing out her brains
with a single blow of his heavy cudgel. Then that
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LA
happened which Tarzan had witnessed a hundred times
before among the wild denizens of his own savage
jungle. He had seen the thing fall upon Kerchak,
and Tublat, and Terkoz; upon a dozen of the other
mighty bull apes of his tribe; and upon Tantor, the
elephant; there was scarce any of the males of the
forest that did not at times fall prey to it. The priest
went mad, and with his heavy bludgeon ran amuck
among his fellows.
His screams of rage were frightful as he dashed
hither and thither, dealing terrific blows with his giant
weapon, or sinking his yellow fangs into the flesh of
some luckless victim. And during it the priestess stood
with poised knife above Tarzan, her eyes fixed in hor
ror upon the maniacal thing that was dealing out
death and destruction to her votaries.
Presently the room was emptied except for the dead
and dying on the floor, the victim upon the altar, the
high priestess, and the madman. As the cunning
eyes of the latter fell upon the woman they lighted
with a new and sudden lust. Slowly he crept toward
her, and now he spoke; but this time there fell upon
Tarzan's surprised ears a language he could under
stand ; the last one that he would ever have thought of
employing in attempting to converse with human be
ings the low guttural barking of the tribe of great
anthropoids his own mother tongue. And the
woman answered the man in the same language.
He was threatening she attempting to reason
with him, for it was quite evident that she saw that he
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
was past her authority. The brute was quite close
now creeping with clawlike hands extended toward
her around the end of the altar.
Tarzan strained at the bonds which held his arms
pinioned behind him. The woman did not see she
had forgotten her prey in the horror of the danger
that threatened herself. As the brute leaped past
Tarzan to clutch his victim, the ape-man gave one
superhuman wrench at the thongs that held him. The
effort sent him rolling from the altar to the stone floor
on the opposite side from that on which the priestess
stood ; but as he sprang to his feet the thongs dropped
from his freed arms, and at the same time he realized
that he was alone in the inner temple the high priest
ess and the mad priest had disappeared.
And then a muffled scream came from the cavernous
mouth of the dark hole beyond the sacrificial altar
through which the priestess had entered the temple.
Without even a thought for his own safety, or the
possibility for escape which this rapid series of for
tuitous circumstances had thrust upon him, Tarzan of
the Apes answered the call of the woman in danger.
With a lithe bound he was at the gaping entrance to
the subterranean chamber, and a moment later was
running down a flight of age-old concrete steps that
led he knew not where.
The faint light that filtered in from above showed
him a large, low-ceiled vault from which several door
ways led off into inky darkness, but there was no need
to thread an unknown way, for there before him lay
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LA
the objects of his search the mad brute had the girl
upon the floor, and gorilla-like fingers were clutching
frantically at her throat as she struggled to escape
the fury of the awful thing upon her.
As Tarzan's heavy hand fell upon his shoulder the
priest dropped his victim, and turned upon her would-
be rescuer. With foam-flecked lips and bared fangs
the mad sun-worshiper battled with the tenfold power
of the maniac. In the blood lust of his fury the crea
ture had undergone a sudden reversion to type,
which left him a wild beast, forgetful of the dagger
that projected from his belt thinking only of
nature's weapons with which his brute prototype had
battled.
But if he could use his teeth and hands to advan
tage, he found one even better versed in the school of
savage warfare to which he had reverted, for Tarzan
of the Apes closed with him, and they fell to the floor
tearing and rending at one another like two bull apes ;
while the primitive priestess stood flattened against
the wall, watching with wide, fear-fascinated eyes the
growling, snapping beasts at her feet.
At last she saw the stranger close one mighty hand
upon the throat of his antagonist, and as he forced
the bruteman's head far back rain blow after blow
upon the upturned face. A moment later he threw
the still thing from him, and, arising, shook himself
like a great lion. He placed a foot upon the car
cass before him, and raised his head to give the victory
cry of his kind, but as his eyes fell upon the opening
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
above him leading into the temple of human sacrifice
he thought better of his intended act.
The girl, who had been half paralyzed by fear as
the two men fought, had just commenced to give
thought to her probable fate now that, though released
from the clutches of a madman, she had fallen into the
hands of one whom but a moment before she had been
upon the point of killing. She looked about for some
means of escape. The black mouth of a diverging
corridor was near at hand, but as she turned to dart
into it the ape-man's eyes fell upon her, and with a
quick leap he was at her side, and a restraining hand
was laid upon her arm.
" Wait ! " said Tarzan of the Apes, in the language
of the tribe of Kerchak.
The girl looked at him in astonishment.
"Who are you," she whispered, "who speaks the
language of the first man ? "
"I am Tarzan of the Apes," he answered in the
vernacular of the anthropoids.
" What do you want of me? " she continued. " For
what purpose did you save me from Tha ? "
"I could not see a woman murdered?" It was a
half question that answered her.
" But what do you intend to do with me now ? " she
continued.
" Nothing," he replied, " but you can do something
for me you can lead me out of this place to free
dom." He made the suggestion without the slight
est thought that she would accede. He felt quite sure
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LA
that the sacrifice would go on from the point where it
had been interrupted if the high priestess had her way,
though he was equally positive that they would find
Tarzan of the Apes unbound and with a long dagger
in his hand a much less tractable victim than Tarzan
disarmed and bound.
The girl stood looking at him for a long moment
before she spoke.
66 You are a very wonderful man," she said. " You
are such a man as I have seen in my daydreams ever
since I was a little girl. You are such a man as I
imagine the forbears of my people must have been
the great race of people who built this mighty city in
the heart of a savage world that they might wrest
from the bowels of the earth the fabulous wealth for
which they had sacrificed their far-distant civilization.
"I cannot understand why you came to my rescue
in the first place, and now I cannot understand why,
having me within your power, you do not wish to be
revenged upon me for having sentenced you to death
for having almost put you to death with my own
hand."
"I presume," replied the ape-man, "that you but
followed the teachings of your religion. I cannot
blame you for that, no matter what I may think of
your creed. But who are you what people have I
fallen among?"
" I am La, high priestess of the Temple of the Sun,
in the city of Opar. We are descendants of a people
who came to this savage world more than ten thou-
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
sand years ago in search of gold. Their cities
stretched from a great sea under the rising sun to a
great sea into which the sun descends at night to cool
his flaming brow. They were very rich and very
powerful, but they lived only a few months of the
year in their magnificent palaces here; the rest of
the time they spent in their native land, far, far to
the north.
66 Many ships went back and forth between this new
world and the old. During the rainy season there
were but few of the inhabitants remained here, only
those who superintended the working of the mines by
the black slaves, and the merchants who had to stay
to supply their wants, and the soldiers who guarded
the cities and the mines.
" It was at one of these times that the great calam
ity occurred. When the time came for the teeming
thousands to return none came. For weeks the people
waited. Then they sent out a great galley to learn
why no one came from the mother country, but though
they sailed about for many months, they were unable
to find any trace of the mighty land that had for
countless ages borne their ancient civilization it had
sunk into the sea.
"From that day dated the downfall of my people.
Disheartened and unhappy, they soon became a prey
to the black hordes of the north and the black hordes
of the south. One by one the cities were deserted or
overcome. The last remnant was finally forced to take
shelter within this mighty mountain fortress. Slowly
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LA
we have dwindled in power, in civilization, in intellect,
in numbers, until now we are no more than a small
tribe of savages apes.
" In fact, the apes live with us, and have for many
ages. We call them the first men we speak their
language quite as much as we do our own ; only in the
rituals of the temple do we make any attempt to re
tain our mother tongue. In time it will be forgotten,
and we will speak only the language of the apes ; in
time we will no longer banish those of our people who
mate with apes, and so in time we shall descend to the
very beasts from which ages ago our progenitors may
have sprung."
"But why are you more human than the others?'*
asked the man.
"For some reason the women have not reverted to
savagery so rapidly as the men. It may be because
only the lower types of men remained here at the time
of the great catastrophe, while the temples were filled
with the noblest daughters of the race. My strain has
remained clearer than the rest because for countless
ages my foremothers were high priestesses the sac
red office descends from mother to daughter. Our hus
bands are chosen for us from the noblest in the land.
The most perfect man, mentally and physically, is se
lected to be the husband of the high priestess."
"From what I saw of the gentlemen above," said
Tarzan, with a grin, "there should be little trouble
ia choosing from among them."
The girl looked at him quizzically for a moment.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Do not be sacrilegious," she said. "They are
very holy men they are priests."
"Then there are others who are better to look
upon ? " he asked.
" The others are all more ugly than the priests,"
she replied.
Tarzan shuddered at her fate, for even in the dim
light of the vault he was impressed by her beauty.
"But how about myself?" he asked suddenly.
" Are you going to lead me to liberty ? "
"You have been chosen by The Flaming God as
his own," she answered solemnly. " Not even I have
the power to save you should they find you again.
But I do not intend that they shall find you. You
risked your life to save mine. I may do no less for
you. It will be no easy matter it may require days ;
but in the end I think that I can lead you beyond the
walls. Come, they will look here for me presently,
and if they find us together we shall both be lost
they would kill me did they think that I had proved
false to my god."
" You must not take the risk, then," he said quickly.
"I will return to the temple, and if I can fight my
way to freedom there will be no suspicion thrown upon
you."
But she would not have it so, and finally persuaded
him to follow her, saying that they had already re
mained in the vault too long to prevent suspicion from
falling upon her even if they returned to the temple.
"I will hide you. and then return alone," she said,
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LA
"telling them that I was long unconscious after you
killed Tha, and that I do not know whither you es
caped."
And so she led him through winding corridors of
gloom, until finally they came to a small chamber into
which a little light filtered through a stone grating in
the ceiling.
"This is the Chamber of the Dead," she said.
"None will think of searching here for you they
would not dare. I will return after it is dark. By
that time I may have found a plan to effect your es
cape."
She was gone, and Tarzan of the Apes was left
alone in the Chamber of the Dead, beneath the long-
dead city of Opar.
[885]
XXI
THE CASTAWAYS
LAYTON dreamed that he was drinking his fill of
water, pure, delightful drafts of fresh water.
With a start he gained consciousness to find himself
wet through by torrents of rain that were falling
upon his body and his upturned face. A heavy trop
ical shower was beating down upon them. He opened
his mouth and drank. Presently he was so revived and
strengthened that he was enabled to raise himself upon
his hands. Across his legs lay Monsieur Thuran. A
few feet aft Jane Porter was huddled in a pitiful little
heap in the bottom of the boat she was quite still.
Clayton knew that she was dead.
After infinite labor he released himself from Thu-
ran's pinioning body, and with renewed strength
crawled toward the girl. He raised her head from the
rough boards of the boat's bottom. There might be
life in that poor, starved frame even yet. He could
not quite abandon all hope, and so he seized a water-
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THE CASTAWAYS
soaked rag and squeezed the precious drops between
the swollen lips of the hideous thing that had but a
few short days before glowed with the resplendent life
of happy youth and glorious beauty.
For some time there was no sign of returning ani
mation, but at last his efforts were rewarded by a slight
tremor of the half -closed lids. He chafed the thin
hands, and forced a few more drops of water into the
parched throat. The girl opened her eyes, looking
up at him for a long time before she could recall her
surroundings.
" Water ? " she whispered. " Are we saved ? "
"It is raining," he explained. "We may at least
drink. Already it has revived us both."
" Monsieur Thuran? " she asked. " He did not kill
you. Is he dead ? "
"I do not know," replied Clayton. "If he lives
and this rain revives him " But he stopped
there, remembering too late that he must not add
further to the horrors which the girl already had
endured.
But she guessed what he would have said.
" Where is he? " she asked.
Clayton nodded his head toward the prostrate form
of the Russian. For a time neither spoke.
"I will see if I can revive him," said Clayton at
length.
"No," she whispered, extending a detaining hand
toward him. " Do not do that he will kill you when
the water has given him strength. If he is dying, let
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
him die. Do not leave me alone in this boat with that
beast."
Clayton hesitated. His honor demanded that he at
tempt to revive Thuran, and there was the possibility,
too, that the Russian was beyond human aid. It was
not dishonorable to hope so. As he sat fighting out
his battle he presently raised his eyes from the body
of the man, and as they passed above the gunwale of
the boat he staggered weakly to his feet with a little
cry of joy.
"Land, Jane!" he almost shouted through his
cracked lips. " Thank God, land ! "
The girl looked, too, and there, not a hundred yards
away, she saw a yellow beach, and, beyond, the lux
urious foliage of a tropical jungle.
"Now you may revive him," said Jane Porter,
for she, too, had been haunted with the pangs of
conscience which had resulted from her decision to
prevent Clayton from offering succor to their com
panion.
It required the better part of half an hour before
the Russian evinced sufficient symptoms of returning
consciousness to open his eyes, and it was some time
later before they could bring him to a realization of
their good fortune. By this time the boat was scrap
ing gently upon the sandy bottom.
Between the refreshing water that he had drunk
and the stimulus of renewed hope, Clayton found
strength to stagger through the shallow water to the
shore with a line made fast to the boat's bow. This
[288]
THE CASTAWAYS
he fastened to a small tree which grew at the top of a
low bank, for the tide was at flood, and he feared that
the boat might carry them all out to sea again with
the ebb, since it was quite likely that it would be be
yond his strength to get Jane Porter to the shore for
several hours.
Next he managed to stagger and crawl toward the
near-by jungle, where he had seen evidences of profu
sion of tropical fruit. His former experience in the
jungle of Tarzan of the Apes had taught him which
of the many growing things were edible, and after
nearly an hour of absence he returned to the beach
with a little armful of food.
The rain had ceased, and the hot sun was beating
down so mercilessly upon her that Jane Porter insisted
on making an immediate attempt to gain the land.
Still further invigorated by the food Clayton had
brought, the three were able to reach the half shade of
the small tree to which their boat was moored. Here,
thoroughly exhausted, they threw themselves down to
rest, sleeping until dark.
For a month they lived upon the beach in compar
ative safety. As their strength returned the two men
constructed a rude shelter in the branches of a tree,
high enough from the ground to insure safety from
the larger beasts of prey. By day they gathered
fruits and trapped small rodents; at night they lay
cowering within their frail shelter while savage den
izens of the jungle made hideous the hours of dark
ness.
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
They slept upon litters of jungle grasses, and for
covering at night Jane Porter had only an old ulster
that belonged to Clayton, the same garment that he
had worn upon that memorable trip to the Wisconsin
woods. Clayton had erected a frail partition of
boughs to divide their arboreal shelter into two rooms
one for the girl and the other for Monsieur Thu-
ran and himself.
From the first the Russian had exhibited every trait
of his true character selfishness, boorishness, ar
rogance, cowardice, and lust. Twice had he and Clay
ton come to blows because of Thuran's attitude to
ward the girl. Clayton dared not leave her alone with
him for an instant. The existence of the Englishman
and his fiancee was one continual nightmare of horror,
and yet they lived on in hope of ultimate rescue.
Jane Porter's thoughts often reverted to her other
experience on this savage shore. Ah, if the invincible
forest god of that dead past were but with them now.
No longer would there be aught to fear from prowl
ing beasts, or from the bestial Russian. She could not
well refrain from comparing the scant protection af
forded her by Clayton with what she might have ex
pected had Tarzan of the Apes been for a single in
stant confronted by the sinister and menacing atti
tude of Monsieur Thuran. Once, when Clayton had
gone to the little stream for water, and Thuran had
spoken coarsely to her, she voiced her thoughts.
"It is well for you, Monsieur Thuran," she said,
"that the poor Monsieur Tarzan who was lost from
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the ship that brought you and Miss Strong to Cape
Town is not here now."
"You knew the pig?" asked Thuran, with a sneer.
"I knew the man," she replied. "The only real
man, I think, that I have ever known."
There was something in her tone of voice that led
the Russian to attribute to her a deeper feeling for
his enemy than friendship, and he grasped at the
suggestion to be further revenged upon the man
whom he supposed dead by besmirching his memory
to the girl.
" He was worse than a pig," he cried. " He was a
poltroon and a coward. To save himself from the
righteous wrath of the husband of a woman he had
wronged, he perjured his soul in an attempt to place
the blame entirely upon her. Not succeeding in this,
he ran away from France to escape meeting the hus
band upon the field of honor. That is why he was on
board the ship that bore Miss Strong and myself to
Cape Town. I know whereof I speak, for the woman
in the case is my sister. Something more I know that
I have never told another your brave Monsieur Tar-
zan leaped overboard in an agony of fear because I
recognized him, and insisted that he make reparation
to me the following morning we could have fought
with knives in my stateroom."
Jane Porter laughed. "You do not for a moment
imagine that one who has known both Monsieur Tar-
zan and you could ever believe such an impossible
tale?"
[291]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
" Then why did he travel under an assumed name? "
asked Monsieur Thuran.
"I do not believe you," she cried, but nevertheless
the seed of suspicion was sown, for she knew that
Hazel Strong had known her forest god only as John
Caldwell, of London.
A scant five miles north of their rude shelter, all un
known to them, and practically as remote as though
separated by thousands of miles of impenetrable
jungle, lay the snug little cabin of Tarzan of the
Apes. While farther up the coast, a few miles be
yond the cabin, in crude but well-built shelters, lived
a little party of eighteen souls the occupants of
the three boats from the Lady Alice from which Clay
ton's boat had become separated.
Over a smooth sea they had rowed to the mainland
in less than three days. None of the horrors of
shipwreck had been theirs, and though depressed
by sorrow, and suffering from the shock of the
catastrophe and the unaccustomed hardships of their
new existence there was none much the worse for the
experience.
All were buoyed by the hope that the fourth boat
had been, picked up, and that a thorough search of
the coast would be quickly made. As all the firearms
and ammunition on the yacht had been placed in Lord
Tennington's boat, the parf;y was well equipped for
defense, and for hunting the larger game for food.
Professor Archimedes Q. Porter was their only im-<
mediate anxiety. Fully assured in his own mind that
THE CASTAWAYS
his daughter had been picked up by a passing steamer,
he gave over the last vestige of apprehension concern
ing her welfare, and devoted his giant intellect solely
to the consideration of those momentous and abstruse
scientific problems which he considered the only proper
food for thought in one of his erudition. His mind
appeared blank to the influence of all extraneous mat
ters.
" Never," said the exhausted Mr. Samuel T. Philan
der, to Lord Tennington, "never has Professor Por
ter been more difficult er I might say, impossible.
Why, only this morning, after I had been forced to
relinquish my surveillance for a brief half hour he
was entirely missing upon my return. And, bless me,
sir, where do you imagine I discovered him? A half
mile out in the ocean, sir, in one of the lifeboats, row
ing away for dear life. I do not know how he at
tained even that magnificent distance from shore, for
he had but a single oar, with which he was blissfully
rowing about in circles.
" When one of the sailors had taken me out to him
in another boat the professor became quite indignant
at my suggestion that we return at once to land.
'Why, Mr. Philander,' he said, 'I am surprised that
you, sir, a man of letters yourself, should have the
temerity so to interrupt the progress of science. I
had about deduced from certain astronomic phenom
ena I have had under minute observation during the
past several tropic nights an entirely new nebular hy
pothesis which will unquestionably startle the scientific
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
world. I wish to consult a very excellent monograph
on Laplace's hypothesis, which I understand is in a
certain private collection in New York City. Your
interference, Mr. Philander, will result in an irrepar
able delay, for I was just rowing over to obtain this
pamphlet.' And it was with the greatest difficulty that
I persuaded him to return to shore, without resorting
to force," concluded Mr. Philander.
Miss Strong and her mother were very brave under
the strain of almost constant apprehension of the at
tacks of savage beasts. Nor were they quite able to
accept so readily as the others the theory that Jane,
Clayton, and Monsieur Thuran had been picked up
safely.
Jane Porter's Esmeralda was in a constant state of
tears at the cruel fate which had separated her from
her "po' li'le honey."
Lord Tennington's great-hearted good nature never
deserted him for a moment. He was still the jovial
host, seeking always for the comfort and pleasure of
his guests. With the men of his yacht he remained
the just but firm commander there was never any
more question in the jungle than there had been on
board the Lady Alice as to who was the final authority
in all questions of importance, and in all emergencies
requiring cool and intelligent leadership.
Could this well-organized and comparatively secure
party of castaways have seen the ragged, fear-haunted
trio a few miles south of them they would scarcely
have recognized in them the formerly immaculate mem-
[294]
THE CASTAWAYS
bers of the little company that had laughed and played
upon the Lady Alice.
Clayton and Monsieur Thuran were almost naked,
so torn had their clothes been by the thorn bushes and
tangled vegetation of the matted jungle through
which they had been compelled to force their way in
search of their ever more difficult food supply.
Jane Porter had of course not been subjected to
these strenuous expeditions, but her apparel was, nev
ertheless, in a sad state of disrepair.
Clayton, for lack of any better occupation, had
carefully saved the skin of every animal they had
killed. By stretching them upon the stems of trees,
and diligently scraping them, he had managed to save
them in a fair condition, and now that his clothes were
threatening to cover his nakedness no longer, he com
menced to fashion a rude garment of them, using a
sharp thorn for a needle, and bits of tough grass and
animal tendons in lieu of thread.
The result when completed was a sleeveless garment
which fell nearly to his knees. As it was made up of
numerous small pelts of different species of rodents, it
presented a rather strange and wonderful appearance,
which, together with the vile stench which permeated
it, rendered it anything other than a desirable addi
tion to a wardrobe. But the time came when for the
sake of decency he was compelled to don it, and even
the misery of their condition could not prevent Jane
Porter from laughing heartily at sight of him.
Later, Thuran also found it necessary to construct
[295]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
a similar primitive garment, so that, with their bare
legs and heavily bearded faces, they looked not unlike
reincarnations of two prehistoric progenitors of the
human race. Thuran acted like one.
Nearly two months of this existence had passed
when the first great calamity befell them. It was
prefaced by an adventure which came near terminat
ing abruptly the sufferings of two of them terminat
ing them in the grim and horrible manner of the
jungle, forever.
Thuran, down with an attack of jungle fever, lay
in the shelter among the branches of their tree of
refuge. Clayton had been into the jungle a few hun
dred yards in search of food. As he returned Jane
Porter walked to meet him. Behind the man, cunning
and crafty, crept an old and mangy lion. For three
days his ancient thews and sinews had proved insuf
ficient for the task of providing his cavernous belly
with meat. For months he had eaten less and less fre
quently, and farther and farther had he roamed from
his accustomed haunts in search of easier prey. At
last he had found nature's weakest and most defense
less creature in a moment more Numa would dine.
Clayton, all unconscious of the lurking death be
hind him, strode out into the open toward Jane. He
had reached her side, a hundred feet from the tangled
edge of jungle when past his shoulder the girl saw the
tawny head and the wicked yellow eyes as the grasses
parted, and the huge beast, nose to ground, stepped
softly into view.
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THE CASTAWAYS
So frozen with horror was she that she could utter
no sound, but the fixed and terrified gaze of her fear-
widened eyes spoke as plainly to Clayton as words.
A quick glance behind him revealed the hopelessness
of their situation. The lion was scarce thirty paces
from them, and they were equally as far from the shel
ter. The man was armed with a stout stick as effica
cious against a hungry lion, he realized, as a toy
pop-gun charged with a tethered cork.
Numa, ravenous with hunger, had long since learned
the futility of roaring and moaning as he searched for
prey, but now that it was as surely his as though
already he had felt the soft flesh beneath his still
mighty paw, he opened his huge jaws, and gave vent
to his long-pent rage in a series of deafening roars
that made the air tremble.
"Run, Jane!" cried Clayton. "Quick! Run for
the shelter!" But her paralyzed muscles refused to
respond, and she stood mute and rigid, staring with
ghastly countenance at the living death creeping
toward them.
Thuran, at the sound of that awful roar, had come
to the opening of the shelter, and as he saw the tab
leau below him he hopped up and down, shrieking to
them in Russian.
" Run ! Run ! " he cried. " Run, or I shall be left
all alone in this horrible place," and then he broke
down and commenced to weep.
For a moment this new voice distracted the atten
tion of the lion, who halted to cast an inquiring glance
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
in the direction of the tree. Clayton could endure the
strain no longer. Turning his back upon the beast,
he buried his head in his arms and waited.
The girl looked at him in horror. Why did he not
do something? If he must die, why not die like a
man bravely ; beating at that terrible face with his
puny stick, no matter how futile it might be. Would
Tarzan of the Apes have done thus? Would he not
at least have gone down to his death fighting hero
ically to the last?
Now the lion was crouching for the spring that
would end their young lives beneath cruel, rending,
yellow fangs. Jane Porter sank to her knees in
prayer, closing her eyes to shut out the last hideous
instant. Thuran, weak from fever, fainted.
Seconds dragged into minutes, long minutes into
an eternity, and yet the beast did not spring. Clay
ton was almost unconscious from the prolonged agony
of fright his knees trembled a moment more and
he would collapse.
Jane Porter could endure it no longer. She opened
her eyes. Could she be dreaming?
" William," she whispered ; " look !
Clayton mastered himself sufficiently to raise his
head and turn toward the lion. An ejaculation of sur
prise burst from his lips. At their very feet the beast
lay crumpled in death. A heavy war spear protruded
from the tawny hide. It had entered the great back
above the right shoulder, and, passing entirely through
the body, had pierced the savage heart.
[298]
THE CASTAWAYS
Jane Porter had risen to her feet; as Clayton
turned back to her she staggered in weakness. He
put out his arms to save her from falling, and then
drew her close to him pressing her head against his
shoulder, he stooped to kiss her in thanksgiving.
Gently the girl pushed him away.
"Please do not do that, William," she said. "I
have lived a thousand years in the past brief moments.
I have learned in the face of death how to live. I do
not wish to hurt you more than is necessary; but I
can no longer bear to live out the impossible position
I have attempted because of a false sense of loyalty
to an impulsive promise I made you.
"The last few seconds of my life have taught me
that it would be hideous to attempt further to deceive
myself and you, or to entertain for an instant longer
the possibility of ever becoming your wife, should we
regain civilization."
"Why, Jane," he cried, "what do you mean?
What has our providential rescue to do with altering
your feelings toward me? You are but unstrung
tomorrow you will be yourself again."
" I am more nearly myself this minute than I have
been for over a year," she replied. " The thing that
has just happened has again forced to my memory
the fact that the bravest man that ever lived honored
me with his love. Until it was too late I did not
realize that I returned it, and so I sent him away. He
is dead now, and I shall never marry. I certainly
could not wed another less brave than he without har-
[299]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
boring constantly a feeling of contempt for the rel
ative cowardice of my husband. Do you understand
me?"
"Yes," he answered, with bowed head, his face
mantling with the flush of shame.
And it was the next day that the great calamity
befell.
[300]
xxn
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
TT was quite dark before La, the high priestess, re-
* turned to the Chamber of the Dead with food and
drink for Tarzan. She bore no light, feeling with
her hands along the crumbling walls until she gained
the chamber. Through the stone grating above, a
tropic moon served dimly to illuminate the interior.
Tarzan, crouching in the shadows at the far side of
the room as the first sound of approaching footsteps
reached him, came forth to meet the girl as he recog
nized that it was she.
" They are furious," were her first words. " Never
before has a human sacrifice escaped the altar. Al
ready fifty have gone forth to track you down. They
have searched the temple all save this single room.'*
" Why do they fear to come here ? " he asked.
" It is the Chamber of the Dead. Here the dead re
turn to worship. See this ancient altar? It is here
that the dead sacrifice the living if they find a vic-
[301]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
tim here. That is the reason our people shun this
chamber. Were one to enter he knows that the waiting
dead would seize him for their sacrifice."
"But you? "he asked.
"I am high priestess I alone am safe from the
dead. It is I who at rare intervals bring them a
human sacrifice from the world above. I alone may
enter here in safety."
" Why have they not seized me ? " he asked, humor
ing her grotesque belief.
She looked at him quizzically for a moment. Then
she replied :
" It is the duty of a high priestess to instruct, to in
terpret according to the creed that others, wiser
than herself, have laid down; but there is nothing in
the creed which says that she must believe. The more
one knows of one's religion the less one believes no
one living knows more of mine than I."
"Then your only fear in aiding me to escape is
that your fellow mortals may discover your duplic
ity?"
"That is all the dead are dead; they cannot
harm or help. We must therefore depend entirely
upon ourselves, and the sooner we act the better it will
be. I had difficulty in eluding their vigilance but now
in bringing you this morsel of food. To attempt to
repeat the thing daily would be the height of folly.
Come, let us see how far we may go toward liberty
before I must return."
She led him back to the chamber beneath the altar
[302]
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
room. Here she turned into one of the several cor
ridors leading from it. In the darkness Tarzan could
not see which one. For ten minutes they groped
slowly along a winding passage, until at length they
came to a closed door. Here he heard her fumbling
with a key, and presently came the sound of a metal
bolt grating against metal. The door swung in on
scraping hinges, and they entered.
"You will be safe here until tomorrow night," she
said.
Then she went out, and, closing the door, locked it
behind her.
Where Tarzan stood it was dark as Erebus. Not
even his trained eyes could penetrate the utter black
ness. Cautiously he moved forward until his out
stretched hand touched a wall, then very slowly he
traveled around the four walls of the chamber.
Apparently it was about twenty feet square. The
floor was of concrete, the walls of the dry masonry
that marked the method of construction above ground.
Small pieces of granite of various sizes were ingen
iously laid together without mortar to construct these
ancient foundations.
The first time around the walls Tarzan thought he
detected a strange phenomenon for a room with no
windows and but a single door. Again he crept care
fully around close to the wall. No, he could not be
mistaken! He paused before the center of the wall
opposite the door. For a moment he stood quite
motionless, then he moved a few feet to one side.
[303]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Again he returned, only to move a few feet to the
other side.
Once more he made the entire circuit of the room,
feeling carefully every foot of the walls. Finally he
stopped again before the particular section that had
aroused his curiosity. There was no doubt of it ! A
distinct draft of fresh air was blowing into the cham
ber through the interstices of the masonry at that
particular point and nowhere else.
Tarzan tested several pieces of the granite which
made up the wall at this spot, and finally was re
warded by finding one which lifted out readily. It
was about ten inches wide, with a face some three by
six inches showing within the chamber. One by one
the ape-man lifted out similarly shaped stones. The
wall at this point was constructed entirely, it seemed,
of these almost perfect slabs. In a short, time he had
removed some dozen,' when he reached in to test the
next layer of masonry. To his surprise, he felt noth
ing behind the masonry he had removed as far as his
long arm could reach.
It was a matter of but a few minutes to remove
enough of the wall to permit his body to pass through
the aperture. Directly ahead of him he thought he
discerned a faint glow scarcely more than a less
impenetrable darkness. Cautiously he moved forward
on hands and knees, until at about fifteen feet, or the
average thickness of the foundation walls, the floor
ended abruptly in a sudden drop. As far out as he
could reach he felt nothing, nor could he find the
[304]
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
bottom of the black abyss that yawned before him,
though, clinging to the edge of the floor, he lowered
his body into the darkness to its full length.
Finally it occurred to him to look up, and there
above him he saw through a round opening a tiny
circular patch of starry sky. Feeling up along the
sides of the shaft as far as he could reach, the ape-
man discovered that so much of the wall as he could
feel converged toward the center of the shaft as it
rose. This fact precluded possibility of escape in
that direction.
As he sat speculating on the nature and uses of this
strange passage and its terminal shaft, the moon
topped the opening above, letting a flood of soft,
silvery light into the shadowy place. Instantly the
nature of the shaft became apparent to Tarzan, for
far below him he saw the shimmering surface of water.
He had come upon an ancient well but what was the
purpose of the connection between the well and the
dungeon in which he had been hidden ?
As the moon crossed the opening of the shaft its
light flooded the whole interior, and then Tarzan saw
directly across from him another opening in the oppo
site wall. He wondered if this might not be the mouth
of a passage leading to possible escape. It would be
worth investigating, at least, and this he determined
to do.
Quickly returning to the wall he had demolished to
explore what lay beyond it, he carried the stones into
the passageway and replaced them from that side.
[305]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
The deep deposits of dust which he had noticed upon
the blocks as he had first removed them from the wall
had convinced him that even if the present occupants
of the ancient pile had knowledge of this hidden
passage they had made no use of it for perhaps
generations.
The wall replaced, Tarzan turned to the shaft,
which was some fifteen feet wide at this point. To
leap across the intervening space was a small matter
to the ape-man, and a moment later he was proceed
ing along a narrow tunnel, moving cautiously for
fear of being precipitated into another shaft such as
he had just crossed.
He had advanced some hundred feet when he came
to a flight of steps leading downward into Stygian
gloom. Some twenty feet below, the level floor of
the tunnel recommenced, and shortly afterward his
progress was stopped by a heavy wooden door which
was secured by massive wooden bars upon the side
of Tarzan's approach. This fact suggested to the
ape-man that he might surely be in a passageway
leading to the outer world, for the bolts, barring
progress from the opposite side, tended to substan
tiate this hypothesis, unless it were merely a prison to
which it led.
Along the tops of the bars were deep layers of
dust a further indication that the passage had lain
long unused. As he pushed the massive obstacle aside,
its great hinges shrieked out in weird protest against
this unaccustomed disturbance. For a moment Tar-
[306]
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
zan paused to listen for any responsive note which
might indicate that the unusual night noise had
alarmed the inmates of the temple; but as he heard
nothing he advanced beyond the doorway.
Carefully feeling about, he found himself within a
large chamber, along the walls of which, and down
the length of the floor, were piled many tiers of metal
ingots of an odd though uniform shape. To his
groping hands they felt not unlike double-headed
bootjacks. The ingots were quite heavy, and but for
the enormous number of them he would have been
positive that they were gold ; but the thought of the
fabulous wealth these thousands of pounds of metal
would have represented were they in reality gold,
almost convinced him that they must be of some baser
metal.
At the far end of the chamber he discovered another
barred door, and again the bars upon the inside re
newed the hope that he was traversing an ancient and
forgotten passageway to liberty. Beyond the door
the passage ran straight as a war spear, and it soon
became evident to the ape-man that it had already led
him beyond the outer walls of the temple. If he but
knew the direction it was leading him ! If toward the
west, then he must also be beyond the city's outer
walls.
With increasing hopes he forged ahead as rapidly
as he dared, until at the end of half an hour he came
to another flight of steps leading upward. At the
bottom this flight was of concrete, but as he ascended
[307]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
his naked feet felt a sudden change in the substance
they were treading. The steps of concrete had given
place to steps of granite. Feeling with his hands, the
ape-man discovered that these latter were evidently
hewed from rock, for there was no crack to indicate a
joint.
For a hundred feet the steps wound spirally up,
until at a sudden turning Tarzan came into a narrow
cleft between two rocky walls. Above him shone the
starry sky, and before him a steep incline replaced
the steps that had terminated at its foot. Up this
pathway Tarzan hastened, and at its upper end came
out upon the rough top of a huge granite bowlder.
A mile away lay the ruined city of Opar, its domes
and turrets bathed in the soft light of the equatorial
moon. Tarzan dropped his eyes to the ingot he had
brought away with him. For a moment he examined
it by the moon's bright rays, then he raised his head
to look out upon the ancient piles of crumbling
grandeur in the distance.
" Opar," he mused, " Opar, the enchanted city of a
dead and forgotten past. The city of the beauties
and the beasts. City of horrors and death; but
city of fabulous riches." The ingot was of virgin
gold.
The bowlder on which Tarzan found himself lay
well out in the plain between the city and the distant
cliffs he and his black warriors had scaled the morning
previous. To descend its rough and precipitous face
was a task of infinite labor and considerable peril even
[308]
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
to the ape-man ; but at last he felt the soft soil of the
valley beneath his feet, and without a backward glance
at Opar he turned his face toward the guardian cliffs,
and at a rapid trot set off across the valley.
The sun was just rising as he gained the summit
of the flat mountain at the valley's western boundary.
Far beneath him he saw smoke arising above the tree-
tops of the forest at the base of the foothills.
" Man," he murmured. "And there were fifty who
went forth to track me down. Can it be they ? "
Swiftly he descended the face of the cliff, and,
dropping into a narrow ravine which led down to the
far forest, he hastened onward in the direction of the
smoke. Striking the forest's edge about a quarter
of a mile from the point at which the slender column
arose into the still air, he took to the trees. Cautiously
he approached until there suddenly burst upon his
view a rude boma, in the center of which, squatted
about their tiny fires, sat his fifty black Waziri. He
called to them in their own tongue :
"Arise, my children, and greet thy king ! "
With exclamations of surprise and fear the war
riors leaped to their feet, scarcely knowing whether
to flee or not. Then Tarzan dropped lightly from
an overhanging branch into their midst. When they
realized that it was indeed their chief in the flesh, and
no materialized spirit, they went mad with joy.
"We were cowards, oh, Waziri," cried Basuli.
" We ran away and left you to your fate ; but when
our panic was over we swore to return and save you,
[309]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
or at least take revenge upon your murderers. We
were but now preparing to scale the heights once more
and cross the desolate valley to the terrible city."
" Have you seen fifty frightful men pass down from
the cliffs into this forest, my children ? " asked Tarzan.
"Yes, Waziri," replied Basuli. "They passed us
late yesterday, as we were about to turn back after
you. They had no woodcraft. We heard them coming
for a mile before we saw them, and as we had other
business in hand we withdrew into the forest and let
them pass. They were waddling rapidly along upon
short legs, and now and then one would go upon all
fours like Bolgani, the gorilla. They were indeed
fifty frightful men, Waziri."
When Tarzan had related his adventures and told
them of the yellow metal he had found, not one de
murred when he outlined a plan to return by night
and bring away what they could carry of the vast
treasure; and so it was that as dusk fell across the
desolate valley of Opar fifty ebon warriors trailed at
a smart trot over the dry and dusty ground toward
the giant bowlder that loomed before the city.
If it had seemed a difficult task to descend the face
of the bowlder, Tarzan soon found that it would be
next to impossible to get his fifty warriors to the
summit. Finally the feat was accomplished by dint
of herculean efforts upon the part of the ape-man.
Ten spears were fastened end to end, and with one
end of this remarkable chain attached to his waist,
Tarzan at last succeeded in reaching the summit.
[310]
THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
Once there, he drew up one of his blacks, and
in this way the entire party was finally landed in
safety upon the bowlder's top. Immediately Tarzan
led them to the treasure chamber, where to each waa
allotted a load of two ingots, for each about eighty
pounds.
By midnight the entire party stood once more at
the foot of the bowlder, but with their heavy loads it
was mid-forenoon ere they reached the summit of the
cliffs. From there on the homeward journey was slow,
as these proud fighting men were unaccustomed to the
duties of porters. But they bore their burdens un
complainingly, and at the end of thirty days entered
their own country.
Here, instead of continuing on toward the north
west and their village, Tarzan guided them almost
directly west, until on the morning of the thirty-third
day he bade them break camp and return to their own
village, leaving the gold where they had stacked it the
previous night.
" And you, Waziri ? " they asked.
"I shall remain here for a few days, my children,"
he replied. "Now hasten back to thy wives and
children."
When they had gone Tarzan gathered up two of
the ingots and, springing into a tree, ran lightly above
the tangled and impenetrable mass of undergrowth for
a couple of hundred yards, to emerge suddenly upon a
circular clearing about which the giants of the jungle
forest towered like a guardian host. In the center o
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
this natural amphitheater, was a little flat-topped
mound of hard earth.
Hundreds of times before had Tarzan been to this
secluded spot, which was so densely surrounded by
thorn bushes and tangled vines and creepers of huge
girth that not even Sheeta, the leopard, could worm
his sinuous way within, nor Tantor, with his giant
strength, force the barriers which protected the coun
cil chamber of the great apes from all but the harmless
denizens of the savage jungle.
Fifty trips Tarzan made before he had deposited
all the ingots within the precincts of the amphitheater.
Then from the hollow of an ancient, lightning-blasted
tree he produced the very spade with which he had
uncovered the chest of Professor Archimedes Q. Porter
which he had once, apelike, buried in this selfsame
spot. With this he dug a long trench, into which he
laid the fortune that his blacks had carried from the
forgotten treasure vaults of the city of Opar.
That night he slept within the amphitheater, and
early the next morning set out to revisit his cabin
before returning to his Waziri. Finding things as
he had left them, he went forth into the jungle to
hunt, intending to bring his prey to the cabin where
he might feast in comfort, spending the night upon a
comfortable couch.
For five miles toward the south he roamed, toward
the banks of a fair-sized river that flowed into the sea
about six miles from his cabin. He had gone inland
about half a mile when there came suddenly to his
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THE TREASURE VAULTS OF OPAR
trained nostrils the one scent that sets the whole
savage jungle aquiver Tarzan smelled man.
The wind was blowing off the ocean, so Tarzan
knew that the authors of the scent were west of him.
Mixed with the man scent was the scent of Numa.
Man and lion. "I had better hasten," thought the
ape-man, for he had recognized the scent of whites.
"Numa may be a-hunting."
When he came through the trees to the edge of the
jungle he saw a woman kneeling in prayer, and before
her stood a wild, primitive-looking white man, his face
buried in his arms. Behind the man a mangy lion
was advancing slowly toward this easy prey. The
man's face was averted ; the woman's bowed in prayer.
He could not see the features of either.
Already Numa was about to spring. There was
not a second to spare. Tarzan could not even unsling
his bow and fit an arrow in time to send one of his
deadly poisoned shafts into the yellow hide. He was
too far away to reach the beast in time with his knife.
There was but a single hope a lone alternative. And
with the quickness of thought the ape-man acted.
A brawny arm flew back for the briefest fraction
of an instant a huge spear poised above the giant's
shoulder and then the mighty arm shot out, and
swift death tore through the intervening leaves to
bury itself in the heart of the leaping lion. Without
a sound he rolled over at the very feet of his intended
victims dead.
For a moment neither the man nor the woman
[313]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
moved. Then the latter opened her eyes to look with
wonder upon the dead beast behind her companion.
As that beautiful head went up Tarzan of the Apes
gave a gasp of incredulous astonishment. Was he
mad? It could not be the woman he loved! But,
indeed, it was none other.
And the woman rose, and the man took her in his
arms to kiss her, and of a sudden the ape-man saw
red through a bloody mist of murder, and the old
scar upon his forehead burned scarlet against his
brown hide.
There was a terrible expression upon his savage
face as he fitted a poisoned shaft to his bow. An ugly
light gleamed in those gray eyes as he sighted full at
the back of the unsuspecting man beneath him.
For an instant he glanced along the polished shaft,
drawing the bowstring far back, that the arrow might
pierce through the heart for which it was aimed.
But he did not release the fatal messenger. Slowly
the point of the arrow drooped; the scar upon the.
brown forehead faded; the bowstring relaxed; and
Tarzan of the Apes, with bowed head, turned sadly
into the jungle toward the village of the Waziri.
[314]
XXIII
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
T7OR several long minutes Jane Porter and William
* Cecil Clayton stood silently looking at the dead
body of the beast whose prey they had so narrowly
escaped becoming.
The girl was the first to speak again after her out
break of impulsive avowal.
" Who could it have been ? " she whispered.
"God knows!" was the man's only reply.
"If it is a friend, why does he not show himself? "
continued Jane. "Wouldn't it be well to call out to
him, and at least thank him ? "
Mechanically Clayton did her bidding, but there
was no response.
Jane Porter shuddered. "The mysterious jungle,"
she murmured. "The terrible jungle. It renders
even the manifestations of friendship terrifying."
" We had best return to the shelter," said Clayton.
"You will be at least a little safer there. I am no
protection whatever," he added bitterly.
[315]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
"Do not say that, William," she hastened to
urge, acutely sorry for the wound her words had
caused. "You have done the best you could. You
have been noble, and self-sacrificing, and brave. It
is no fault of yours that you are not a superman.
There is only one other man I have ever known who
could have done more than you. My words were
ill chosen in the excitement of the reaction I did
not wish to wound you. All that I wish is that we
may both understand once and for all that I can
never marry you that such a marriage would be
wicked."
"I think I understand," he replied. "Let us not
speak of it again at least until we are back in
civilization."
The next day Thuran was worse. Almost con
stantly he was in a state of delirium. They could do
nothing to relieve him, nor was Clayton over-anxious
to attempt anything. On the girl's account he feared
the Russian in the bottom of his heart he hoped the
man would die. The thought that something might
befall him that would leave her entirely at the mercy
of this beast caused him greater anxiety than the
probability that almost certain death awaited her
should she be left entirely alone upon the outskirts of
the cruel forest.
The Englishman had extracted the heavy spear
from the body of the lion, so that when he went into
the forest to hunt that morning he had a feeling of
much greater security than at any time since they had
[316]
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
been cast upon the savage shore. The result was that
he penetrated farther from the shelter than ever before.
To escape as far as possible from the mad ravings
of the fever-stricken Russian, Jane Porter had de
scended from the shelter to the foot of the tree she
dared not venture farther. Here, beside the crude
ladder Clayton had constructed for her, she sat look
ing out to sea, in the always surviving hope that a
vessel might be sighted.
Her back was toward the jungle, and so she did
not see the grasses part, or the savage face that
peered from between. Little, bloodshot, close-set eyes
scanned her intently, roving from time to time about
the open beach for indications of the presence of
others than herself.
Presently another head appeared, and then another
and another. The man in the shelter commenced to
rave again, and the heads disappeared as silently and
as suddenly as they had come. But soon they were
thrust forth once more, as the girl gave no sign of
perturbation at the continued wailing of the man
above.
One by one grotesque forms emerged from the jungle
to creep stealthily upon the unsuspecting woman. A
faint rustling of the grasses attracted her attention.
She turned, and at the sight that confronted her
staggered to her feet with a little shriek of fear.
Then they closed upon her with a rush. Lifting her
bodily in his long, gorilla-like arms, one of the crea
tures turned and bore her into the jungle. A filthy
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
paw covered her mouth to stifle her screams. Added
to the weeks of torture she had already undergone,
the shock was more than she could withstand. Shat
tered nerves collapsed, and she lost consciousness.
When she regained her senses she found herself in
the thick of the primeval forest. It was night. A
huge fire burned brightly in the little clearing in which
she lay. About it squatted fifty frightful men. Their
heads and faces were covered with matted hair.
Their long arms rested upon the bent knees of their
short, crooked legs. They were gnawing, like beasts,
upon unclean food. A pot boiled upon the edge of
the fire, and out of it one of the creatures would
occasionally drag a hunk of meat with a sharpened
stick.
When they discovered that their captive had re
gained consciousness, a piece of this repulsive stew
was tossed to her from the foul hand of a nearby
feaster. It rolled close to her side, but she only closed
her eyes as a qualm of nausea surged through her.
For many days they traveled through the dense
forest. The girl, footsore and exhausted, was half
dragged, half pushed through the long, hot, tedious
days. Occasionally, when she would stumble and fall,
she was cuffed and kicked by the nearest of the fright
ful men. Long before they reached their journey's
end her shoes had been discarded the soles entirely
gone. Her clothes were torn to mere shreds and tat
ters, and through the pitiful rags her once white and
tender skin showed raw and bleeding from contact
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THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
with the thousand pitiless thorns and brambles through
which she had been dragged.
The last two days of the journey found her in such
utter exhaustion that no amount of kicking and abuse
could force her to her poor, bleeding feet. Outraged
nature had reached the limit of endurance, and the
girl was physically powerless to raise herself even to
her knees.
As the beasts surrounded her, chattering threaten
ingly the while they goaded her with their cudgels and
beat and kicked her with their fists and feet, she lay
with closed eyes, praying for the merciful death that
she knew alone could give her surcease from suffering ;
but it did not come, and presently the fifty frightful
men realized that their victim was no longer able to
walk, and so they picked her up and carried her the
balance of the journey.
Late one afternoon she saw the ruined walls of a
mighty city looming before them, but so weak and
sick was she that it inspired not the faintest shadow
of interest. Wherever they were bearing her, there
could be but one end to her captivity among these
fierce half brutes.
At last they passed through two great walls and
came to the ruined city within. Into a crumbling pile
they bore her, and here she was surrounded by hun
dreds more of the same creatures that had brought
her; but among them were females who looked less
horrible. At sight of them the first faint hope that
she had entertained came to mitigate her misery. But
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
it was short-lived, for the women offered her no sym
pathy, though, on the other hand, neither did they
abuse her.
After she had been inspected to the entire satisfac
tion of the inmates of the building she was borne to
a dark chamber in the vaults beneath, and here upon
the bare floor she was left, with a metal bowl of water
and another of food.
For a week she saw only some of the women whose
duty it was to bring her food and water. Slowly her
strength was returning soon she would be in fit
condition to offer as a sacrifice to The Flaming God.
Fortunate indeed it was that she could not know the
fate for which she was destined.
As Tarzan of the Apes moved slowly through the
jungle after casting the spear that saved Clayton and
Jane Porter from the fangs of Numa, his mind was
filled with all the sorrow that belongs to a freshly
opened heart wound.
He was glad that he had stayed his hand in time
to prevent the consummation of the thing that in the
first mad wave of jealous wrath he had contemplated.
Only the fraction of a second had stood between
Clayton and death at the hands of the ape-man. In
the short moment that had elapsed after he had recog
nized the girl and her companion and the relaxing of
the taut muscles that held the poisoned shaft directed
at the Englishman's heart, Tarzan had been swayed
by the swift and savage impulses of brute life.
[320]
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
He had seen the woman he craved his woman
his mate in the arms of another. There had been
but one course open to him, according to the fierce
jungle code that guided him in this other existence;
but just before it had become too late the softer senti
ments of his inherent chivalry had risen above the
flaming fires of his passion and saved him. A thou
sand times he gave thanks that they had triumphed
before his fingers had released that polished arrow.
As he contemplated his return to the Waziri the
idea became repugnant. He did not wish to see a
human being again. At least he would range alone
through the jungle for a time, until the sharp edge
of his sorrow had become blunted. Like his fellow
beasts, he preferred to suffer in silence and alone.
That night he slept again in the amphitheater of
the apes, and for several days he hunted from there,
returning at night. On the afternoon of the third
day he returned early. He had lain stretched upon
the soft grass of the circular clearing for but a few
moments when he heard far to the south a familiar
sound. It was the passing through the jungle of a
band of great apes he could not mistake that. For
several minutes he lay listening. They were coming
in the direction of the amphitheater.
Tarzan arose lazily and stretched himself. His
keen ears followed every movement of the advancing
tribe. They were upwind, and presently he caught
their scent, though he had not needed this added
evidence to assure him that he was right.
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
As they came closer to the amphitheater Tarzan of
the Apes melted into the branches upon the other side
of the arena. There he waited to inspect the new
comers. Nor had he long to wait.
Presently a fierce, hairy face appeared among the
lower branches opposite him. The cruel little eyes
took in the clearing at a glance, then there was a
chattered report returned to those behind. Tarzan
could hear the words. The scout was telling the other
members of the tribe that the coast was clear and that
they might enter the amphitheater in safety.
First the leader dropped lightly upon the soft
carpet of the grassy floor, and then, one by one,
nearly a hundred anthropoids followed him. There
were the huge adults and several young. A few
nursing babes clung close to the shaggy necks of their
savage mothers.
Tarzan recognized many members of the tribe. It
was the same into which he had come as a tiny babe.
Many of the adults had been little apes during his
boyhood. He had frolicked and played about this
very jungle with them during their brief childhood.
He wondered if they would remember him the
memory of some apes is not overlong, and two years
may be an eternity to them.
From the talk which he overheard he learned that
they had come to choose a new king their late chief
had fallen a hundred feet beneath a broken limb to
an untimely end.
Tarzan walked to the end of an overhanging limb
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
in plain view of them. The quick eyes of a female
caught sight of him first. With a barking guttural
she called the attention of the others. Several huge
bulls stood erect to get a better view of the intruder.
With bared fangs and bristling necks they advanced
slowly toward him, with deep-throated, ominous growls.
"Karnath, I am Tarzan of the Apes," said the
ape-man in the vernacular of the tribe. " You remem
ber me. Together we teased Numa when we were still
little apes, throwing sticks and nuts at him from the
safety of high branches."
The brute he had addressed stopped with a look of
half-comprehending, dull wonderment upon his savage
face.
"And Magor," continued Tarzan, addressing an
other, " do you not recall your former king he who
slew the mighty Kerchak? Look at me! Am I
not the same Tarzan mighty hunter invincible
fighter that you all knew for many seasons ? "
The apes all crowded forward now, but more in
curiosity than threatening. They muttered among
themselves for a few moments.
"What do you want among us now?" asked
Karnath.
"Only peace," answered the ape-man.
Again the apes conferred. At length Karnath
spoke again.
"Come in peace, then, Tarzan of the Apes," he
said.
And so Tarzan of the Apes dropped lightly to the
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
turf into the midst of the fierce and hideous horde
he had completed the cycle of evolution, and had
returned to be once again a brute among brutes.
There were no greetings such as would have taken
place among men after a separation of two years.
The majority of the apes went on about the little
activities that the advent of the ape-man had inter
rupted, paying no further attention to him than as
though he had not been gone from the tribe at all.
One or two young bulls who had not been old
enough to remember him sidled up on all fours to
sniff at him, and one bared his fangs and growled
threateningly he wished to put Tarzan immediately
into his proper place. Had Tarzan backed off, growl
ing, the young bull would quite probably have been
satisfied, but always after Tarzan's station among his
fellow apes would have been beneath that of the bull
which had made him step aside.
But Tarzan of the Apes did not back off. Instead,
he swung his giant palm with all the force of his
mighty muscles, and, catching the young bull along
side the head, sent him sprawling across the turf. The
ape was up and at him again in a second, and this
time they closed with tearing fingers and rending
fangs or at least that had been the intention of the
young bull ; but scarcely had they gone down, growl
ing and snapping, than the ape-man's fingers found
the throat of his antagonist.
Presently the young bull ceased to struggle, and
lay quite still. Then Tarzan released his hold and
[324]
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
arose he did not wish to kill, only to teach the
young ape, and others who might be watching, that
Tarzan of the Apes was still master.
The lesson served its purpose the young apes
kept out of his way, as young apes should when their
betters were about, and the old bulls made no attempt
to encroach upon his prerogatives. For several days
the she-apes with young remained suspicious of him,
and when he ventured too near rushed upon him with
wide mouths and hideous roars. Then Tarzan dis
creetly skipped out of harm's way, for that also is a
custom among the apes only mad bulls will attack
a mother. But after a while even they became accus
tomed to him.
He hunted with them as in days gone by, and when
they found that his superior reason guided him to
the best food sources, and that his cunning rope
ensnared toothsome game that they seldom if ever
tasted, they came again to look up to him as they
had in the past after he had become their king. And
so it was that before they left the amphitheater to
return to their wanderings they had once more chosen
him as their leader.
The ape-man felt quite contented with his new lot.
He was not happy that he never could be again,
but he was at least as far from everything that might
remind him of his past misery as he could be. Long
since he had given up every intention of returning
to civilization, and now he had decided to see no more
his black friends of the Waziri. He had forsworn
[325]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
humanity forever. He had started life an ape as
an ape he would die.
He could not, however, erase from his memory the
fact that the woman he loved was within a short
journey of the stamping-ground of his tribe; nor
could he banish the haunting fear that she might be
constantly in danger. That she was illy protected he
had seen in the brief instant that had witnessed Clay
ton's inefficiency. The more Tarzan thought of it,
the more keenly his conscience pricked him.
Finally he caine to loathe himself for permitting
his own selfish sorrow and jealousy to stand between
Jane Porter and safety. As the days passed the thing
preyed more and more upon his mind, and he had
about determined to return to the coast and place
himself on guard over Jane Porter and Clayton, when
news reached him that altered all his plans and sent
him dashing madly toward the east in reckless dis
regard of accident and death.
Before Tarzan had returned to the tribe, a certain
young bull, not being able to secure a mate from
among his own people, had, according to custom, fared
forth through the wild jungle, like some knight-errant
of old, to win a fair lady from some neighboring
community.
He had but just returned with his bride, and was
narrating his adventures quickly before he should
forget them. Among other things he told of seeing a
great tribe of strange-looking apes.
" They were all hairy-faced bulls but one," he said,
[326]
THE FIFTY FRIGHTFUL MEN
"and that one was a she, lighter in color even than
this stranger," and he chucked a thumb at Tarzan.
The ape-man was all attention in an instant. He
asked questions as rapidly as the slow-witted anthro
poid could answer them.
"Were the bulls short, with crooked legs?"
"They were."
"Did they wear the skins of Numa and Sheeta
about their loins, and carry sticks and knives?"
"They did."
"And were there many yellow rings about their
arms and legs?"
"Yes."
"And the she one was she small and slender,
and very white ? "
"Yes."
" Did she seem to be one of the tribe, or was she a
prisoner ? "
"They dragged her along sometimes by an
arm sometimes by the long hair that grew upon
her head ; and always they kicked and beat her. Oh,
but it was great fun to watch them."
"God!" muttered Tarzan.
" Where were they when you saw them, and which
way were they going?" continued the ape-man.
"They were beside the second water back there,"
and he pointed to the south. " When they passed me
they were going toward the morning, upward along
the edge of the water."
"When was this?" asked Tarzan.
[327]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
" Half a moon since."
Without another word the ape-man sprang into the
trees and fled like a disembodied spirit eastward in the
direction of the forgotten city of Opar.
[328]
XXIV
HOW TAEZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
WHEN Clayton returned to the shelter and found
Jane Porter was missing, he became frantic with
fear and grief. He found Monsieur Thuran quite
rational, the fever having left him with the surprising
suddenness which is one of its peculiarities. The
Russian, weak and exhausted, still lay upon his bed of
grasses within the shelter.
When Clayton asked him about the girl he seemed
surprised to know that she was not there.
" I have heard nothing unusual," he said. " But
then I have been unconscious much of the time."
Had it not been for the man's very evident weak
ness, Clayton should have suspected him of having
sinister knowledge of the girl's whereabouts; but he
could see that Thuran lacked sufficient vitality even
to descend, unaided, from the shelter. He could not,
in his present physical condition, have harmed the
[329]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
girl, nor could he have climbed the rude ladder back to
the shelter.
Until dark the Englishman searched the nearby
jungle for a trace of the missing one or a sign of
the trail of her abductor. But though the spoor left
by the fifty frightful men, unversed in woodcraft as
they were, would have been as plain to the densest
denizen of the jungle as a city street to the English
man, yet he crossed and recrossed it twenty times
without observing the slightest indication that many
men had passed that way but a few short hours since.
As he searched, Clayton continued to call the girl's
name aloud, but the only result of this was to attract
Numa, the lion. Fortunately the man saw the shadowy
form worming its way toward him in time to climb
into the branches of a tree before the beast was close
enough to reach him. This put an end to his search
for the balance of the afternoon, as the lion paced
back and forth beneath him until dark.
Even after the beast had left, Clayton dared not
descend into the awful blackness beneath him, and so
he spent a terrifying and hideous night in the tree.
The next morning he returned to the beach, relin
quishing the last hope of succoring Jane Porter.
During the week that followed, Monsieur Thuran
rapidly regained his strength, lying in the shelter
while Clayton hunted food for both. The men never
spoke except as necessity demanded. Clayton now
occupied the section of the shelter which had been
reserved for Jane Porter, and only saw the Russian
[330]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
when he took food or water to him, or performed the
other kindly offices which common humanity required.
When Thuran was again able to descend in search
of food, Clayton was stricken with fever. For days
he lay tossing in delirium and suffering, but not once
did the Russian come near him. Food the English
man could not have eaten, but his craving for water
amounted practically to torture. Between the recur
rent attacks of delirium, weak though he was, he
managed to reach the brook once a day and fill a tiny
can that had been among the few appointments of the
lifeboat.
Thuran watched him on these occasions with an
expression of malignant pleasure he seemed really
to enjoy the suffering of the man who, despite the
just contempt in which he held him, had ministered to
him to the best of his ability while he lay suffering the
same agonies.
At last Clayton became so weak that he was no
longer able to descend from the shelter. For a day
he suffered for water without appealing to the Rus
sian, but finally, unable to endure it longer, he asked
Thuran to fetch him a drink.
The Russian came to the entrance to Clayton's
room, a dish of water in his hand. A nasty grin
contorted his features.
" Here is water," he said. " But first let me remind
you that you maligned me before the girl that you
kept her to yourself, and would not share her with
me"
[331]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
Clayton interrupted him. " Stop ! " he cried.
"Stop! What manner of cur are you that you tra
duce the character of a good woman whom we believe
dead ! God ! I was a fool ever to let you live you
are not fit to live even in this vile land."
" Here is your water," said the Russian. "All you
will get," and he raised the basin to his lips and
drank; what was left he threw out upon the ground
below. Then he turned and left the sick man.
Clayton rolled over, and, burying his face in his
arms, gave up the battle.
The next day Thuran determined to set out toward
the north along the coast, for he knew that eventually
he must come to the habitations of civilized men at
least he could be no worse off than he was here, and,
furthermore, the ravings of the dying Englishman
were getting on his nerves.
So he stole Clayton's spear and set off upon his
journey. He would have killed the sick man before
he left had it not occurred to him that it would really
have been a kindness to do so.
That same day he came to a little cabin by the
beach, and his heart filled with renewed hope as he
saw this evidence of the proximity of civilization,
for he thought it but the outpost of a nearby settle
ment. Had he known to whom it belonged, and that
its owner was at that very moment but a few miles
inland, Nikolas Rokoff would have fled the place as
he would a pestilence. But he did not know, and so
he remained for a few days to enjoy the security and
J332]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
comparative comforts of the cabin. Then he took up
his northward journey once more.
In Lord Tennington's camp preparations were
going forward to build permanent quarters, and then
to send out an expedition of a few men to the north
in search of relief.
As the days had passed without bringing the
longed-for succor, hope that Jane Porter, Clayton,
and Monsieur Thuran had been rescued began to die.
No one spoke of the matter longer to Professor
Porter, and he was so immersed in his scientific dream
ing that he was not aware of the elapse of time.
Occasionally he would remark that within a few
days they should certainly see a steamer drop anchor
off their shore, and that then they should all be re
united happily. Sometimes he spoke of it as a train,
and wondered if it were being delayed by snowstorms.
"If I didn't know the dear old fellow so well by
now," Tennington remarked to Miss Strong, "I
should be quite certain that he was er not quite
right, don't you know."
" If it were not so pathetic it would be ridiculous,"
said the girl, sadly. " I, who have known him all my
life, know how he worships Jane ; but to others it must
seem that he is perfectly callous to her fate. It is
only that he is so absolutely impractical that he cannot
conceive of so real a thing as death unless nearly
certain proof of it is thrust upon him."
" You'd never guess what he was about yesterday,"
continued Tennington. " I was coming in alone from
[333]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
a little hunt when I met him walking rapidly along
the game trail that I was following back to camp.
His hands were clasped beneath the tails of his long
black coat, and his top hat was set firmly down upon
his head, as with eyes bent upon the ground he
hastened on, probably to some sudden death had I not
intercepted him.
" * Why, where in the world are you bound, pro
fessor?' I asked him. *I am going into town, Lord
Tennington,' he said, as seriously as possible, 'to
complain to the postmaster about the rural free de
livery service we are suffering from here. Why, sir, I
haven't had a piece of mail in weeks. There should
be several letters for me from Jane. The matter must
be reported to Washington at once.'
"And would you believe it, Miss Strong," continued
Tennington, "I had the very deuce of a job to con
vince the old fellow that there was not only no rural
free delivery, but no town, and that he was not even
on the same continent as Washington, nor in the same
hemisphere.
" When he did realize he commenced to worry about
his daughter I think it is the first time that he really
has appreciated our position here, or the fact that
Miss Porter may not have been rescued."
" I hate to think about it," said the girl, " and yet
I can think of nothing else than the absent members
of our party."
"Let us hope for the best," replied Tennington.
"You yourself have set us each a splendid example
[334]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
of bravery, for in a way your loss has been the
greatest."
" Yes," she replied ; " I could have loved Jane
Porter no more had she been my own sister."
Tennington did not show the surprise he felt. That
was not at all what he meant. He had been much
with this fair daughter of Maryland since the wreck
of the Lady Alice, and it had recently come to him
that he had grown much more fond of her than would
prove good for the peace of his mind, for he recalled
almost constantly now the confidence which Mon
sieur Thuran had imparted to him that he and Miss
Strong were engaged. He wondered if, after all,
Thuran had been quite accurate in his statement. He
had never seen the slightest indication on the girl's
part of more than ordinary friendship.
"And then in Monsieur Thuran's loss, if they are
lost, you would suffer a severe bereavement," he
ventured.
She looked up at him quickly. " Monsieur Thuran
had become a very dear friend," she said. "I liked
him very much, though I have known him but a short
time."
"Then you were not engaged to marry him?" he
blurted out.
" Heavens, no ! " she cried. " I did not care for him
at all in that way."
There was something that Lord Tennington wanted
to say to Hazel Strong he wanted very badly to
say it, and to say it at once ; but somehow the words
[335]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
stuck in his throat. He started lamely a couple of
times, cleared his throat, became red in the face,
and finally ended by remarking that he hoped the
cabins would be finished before the rainy season
commenced.
But, though he did not know it, he had conveyed
to the girl the very message he intended, and it left
her happy happier than she had ever before been in
all her life.
Just then further conversation was interrupted by
the sight of a strange and terrible-looking figure
which emerged from the jungle just south of the
camp. Tennington and the girl saw it at the same time.
The Englishman reached for his revolver, but when
the half-naked, bearded creature called his name aloud
and came running toward them he dropped his hand
and advanced to meet it.
None would have recognized in the filthy, emaciated
creature, covered by a single garment of small skins,
the immaculate Monsieur Thuran the party had last
seen upon the deck of the Lady Alice.
Before the other members of the little community
were apprised of his presence Tennington and Miss
Strong questioned him regarding the other occupants
of the missing boat.
" They are all dead," replied Thuran. " The three
sailors died before we made land. Miss Porter was
carried off into the jungle by some wild animal while
I was lying delirious with fever. Clayton died of the
same fever but a few days since. And to think that
[336]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
all this time we have been separated by but a few
miles scarcely a day's march. It is terrible!"
How long Jane Porter lay in the darkness of the
vault beneath the temple in the ancient city of Opar
she did not know. For a time she was delirious with
fever, but after this passed she commenced slowly to
regain her strength. Every day the woman who
brought her food beckoned to her to arise, but for
many days the girl could only shake her head to
indicate that she was too weak.
But eventually she was able to gain her feet,
and then to stagger a few steps by supporting herself
with one hand upon the wall. Her captors now
watched her with increasing interest. The day
was approaching, and the victim was gaining in
strength.
Presently the day came, and a young woman whom
Jane Porter had not seen before came with several
others to her dungeon. Here some sort of ceremony
was performed that it was of a religious nature the
girl was sure, and so she took new heart, and rejoiced
that she had fallen among people upon whom the
refining and softening influences of religion evidently
had fallen. They would treat her humanely of that
she was now quite sure.
And so when they led her from her dungeon,
through long, dark corridors, and up a flight of
concrete steps to a brilliant courtyard, she went will
ingly, even gladly for was she not among the
[337]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
servants of God? It might be, of course, that their
interpretation of the supreme being differed from her
own, but that they owned a god was sufficient evidence
to her that they were kind and good.
But when she saw a stone altar in the center of the
courtyard, and dark-brown stains upon it and the
nearby concrete of the floor, she began to wonder
and to doubt. And as they stooped and bound her
ankles, and secured her wrists behind her, her doubts
were turned to fear. A moment later, as she was
lifted and placed supine across the altar's top, hope
left her entirely, and she trembled in an agony of
fright.
During the grotesque dance of the votaries which
followed, she lay frozen in horror, nor did she require
the sight of the thin blade in the hands of the high
priestess as it rose slowly above her to enlighten her
further as to her doom.
As the hand began its descent, Jane Porter closed
her eyes and sent up a silent prayer to the Maker she
was so soon to face then she succumbed to the strain
upon her tired nerves, and swooned.
Day and night Tarzan of the Apes raced through
the primeval forest toward the ruined city in which
he was positive the woman he loved lay either a prisoner
or dead.
In a day and a night he covered the same distance
that the fifty frightful men had taken the better part
of a week to traverse, for Tarzan of the Apes traveled
[338]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
along the middle terrace high above the tangled ob
stacles that impede progress upon the ground.
The story the young bull ape had told made it clear
to him that the girl captive had been Jane Porter, for
there was not another small white "she" in all the
jungle. The "bulls" he had recognized from the
ape's crude description as the grotesque parodies upon
humanity who inhabit the ruins of Opar. And the
girl's fate he could picture as plainly as though he
were an eyewitness to it. When they would lay her
across that grim altar he could not guess, but that
her dear, frail body would eventually find its way there
he was confident.
But finally, after what seemed long ages to the
impatient ape-man, he topped the barrier cliffs that
hemmed the desolate valley, and below him lay the
grim and awful ruins of the now hideous city of Opar.
At a rapid trot he started across the dry and dusty,
bowlder-strewn ground toward the goal of his desires.
Would he be in time to rescue? He hoped against
hope. At least he could be revenged, and in his wrath
it seemed to him that he was equal to the task of
wiping out the entire population of that terrible city.
It was nearly noon when he reached the great bowlder
at the top of which terminated the secret passage to
the pits beneath the city. Like a cat he scaled the
precipitous sides of the frowning granite kopje. A
moment later he was running through the darkness
of the long, straight tunnel that led to the treasure
vault. Through this he passed, then on and on until
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
at last he came to the well-like shaft upon the opposite
side of which lay the dungeon with the false wall.
As he paused a moment upon the brink of the well
a faint sound came to him through the opening above.
His quick ears caught and translated it it was the
dance of death that preceded a sacrifice, and the sing
song ritual of the high priestess. He could even
recognize the woman's voice.
Could it be that the ceremony marked the very
thing he had so hastened to prevent! A wave of
horror swept over him. Was he, after all, to be just
a moment too late? Like a frightened deer he leaped
across the narrow chasm to the continuation of the
passage beyond. At the false wall he tore like one
possessed to demolish the barrier that confronted
him with giant muscles he forced the opening,
thrusting his head and shoulders through the first
small hole he made, and carrying the balance of the
wall with him, to clatter resoundingly upon the cement
floor of the dungeon.
With a single leap he cleared the length of the
chamber and threw himself against the ancient door.
But here he stopped. The mighty bars upon the other
side were proof even against such muscles as his. It
needed but a moment's effort to convince him of the
futility of endeavoring to force that impregnable bar
rier. There was but one other way, and that led
back through the long tunnels to the bowlder a mile
beyond the city's walls, and then back across the open
as he had come to the city first with his Waziri.
[340]
HOW TARZAN CAME AGAIN TO OPAR
He realized that to retrace his steps and enter the
city from above ground would mean that he would be
too late to save the girl, if it were indeed she who lay
upon the sacrificial altar above him. But there seemed
no other way, and so he turned and ran swiftly back
into the passageway beyond the broken wall. At the
well he heard again the monotonous voice of the high
priestess, and, as he glanced aloft, the opening, twenty
feet above, seemed so near that he was tempted to leap
for it in a mad endeavor to reach the inner courtyard
that lay so near.
If he could but get one end of his grass rope caught
upon some projection at the top of that tantalizing
aperture ! In the instant's pause and thought an idea
occurred to him. He would attempt it. Turning
back to the tumbled wall, he seized one of the large,
flat slabs that had composed it. Hastily making one
end of his rope fast to the piece of granite, he re
turned to the shaft, and, coiling the balance of the
rope on the floor beside him, the ape-man took the
heavy slab in both hands, and, swinging it several
times to get the distance and the direction fixed, he let
the weight fly up at a slight angle, so that, instead
of falling straight back into the shaft again, it grazed
the far edge, tumbling over into the court beyond.
Tarzan dragged for a moment upon the slack end
of the rope until he felt that the stone was lodged
with fair security at the shaft's top, then he swung
out over the black depths beneath. The moment his
full weight came upon the rope he felt it slip from
[341]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
above. He waited there in awful suspense as it
dropped in little jerks, inch by inch. The stone was
being dragged up the outside of the masonry sur
rounding the top of the shaft would it catch at the
very edge, or would his weight drag it over to fall
upon him as he hurtled into the unknown depths below ?
[342]
XXV
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
T?OR a brief, sickening moment Tarzan felt the
*- slipping of the rope to which he clung, and heard
the scraping of the block of stone against the masonry
above.
Then of a sudden the rope was still the stone
had cauglit at the very edge. Gingerly the ape-man
clambered up the frail rope. In a moment his head
was above the edge of the shaft. The court was
empty. The inhabitants of Opar were viewing the
sacrifice. Tarzan could hear the voice of La from the
nearby sacrificial court. The dance had ceased. It
must be almost time for the knife to fall ; but even as
he thought these things he was running rapidly
toward the sound of the high priestess' voice.
Fate guided him to the very doorway of the great
roofless chamber. Between him and the altar was the
long row of priests and priestesses, awaiting with
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THE RETURN OF TARZAN
their golden cups the spilling of the warm blood of
their victim.
La's hand was descending slowly toward the bosom
of the frail, quiet figure that lay stretched upon the
hard stone. Tarzan gave a gasp that was almost a
sob as he recognized the features of the girl he loved.
And then the scar upon his forehead turned to a
flaming band of scarlet, a red mist floated before his
eyes, and, with the awful roar of the bull ape gone
mad, he sprang like a huge lion into the midst of the
votaries.
Seizing a cudgel from the nearest priest, he laid
about him like a veritable demon as he forged his
rapid way toward the altar. The hand of La had
paused at the first noise of interruption. When she
saw who the author of it was she went white. She
had never been able to fathom the secret of the strange
white man's escape from the dungeon in which she
had locked him. She had not intended that he should
ever leave Opar, for she had looked upon his giant
frame and handsome face with the eyes of a woman
and not those of a priestess.
In her clever mind she had concocted a story of
wonderful revelation from the lips of the flaming god
himself, in which she had been ordered to receive this
white stranger as a messenger from him to his people
on earth. That would satisfy the people of Opar, she
knew. The man would be satisfied, she felt quite sure,
to remain and be her husband rather than to return to
the sacrificial altar.
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
But when she had gone to explain her plan to him
he had disappeared, though the door had been tightly
locked as she had left it. And now he had returned
materialized from thin air and was killing her priests
as though they had been sheep. For the moment she
forgot her victim, and before she could gather her
wits together again the huge white man was standing
before her, the woman who had lain upon the altar m
his arms.
"One side, La," he cried. "You saved me once,
and so I would not harm you ; but do not interfere or
attempt to follow, or I shall have to kill you also."
As he spoke he stepped past her toward the entrance
to the subterranean vaults.
"Who is she?" asked the high priestess, pointing
at the unconscious woman.
" She is mine," said Tarzan of the Apes.
For a moment the girl of Opar stood wide-eyed and
staring. Then a look of hopeless misery suffused
her eyes tears welled into them, and with a little
cry she sank to the cold floor, just as a swarm of
frightful men dashed past her to leap upon the
ape-man.
But Tarzan of the Apes was not there when they
reached out to seize him. With a light bound he
had disappeared into the passage leading to the pits
below, and when his pursuers came more cautiously
after they found the chamber empty, but they laughed
and jabbered to one another, for they knew that there
was no exit from the pits other than the one through
[345]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
which he had entered. If he came out at all he must
come this way, and they would wait and watch for him
above.
And so Tarzan of the Apes, carrying the uncon
scious Jane Porter, came through the pits of Opar
beneath the temple of The Flaming God without
pursuit. But when the men of Opar had talked fur
ther about the matter, they recalled to mind that this
very man had escaped once before into the pits, and,
though they had watched the entrance he had not come
forth; and yet today he had come upon them from
the outside. They would again send fifty men out
into the valley to find and capture this desecrater of
their temple.
After Tarzan reached the shaft beyond the broken
wall, he felt so positive of the successful issue of his
flight that he stopped to replace the tumbled stones,
for he was not anxious that any of the inmates should
discover this forgotten passage, and through it come
upon the treasure chamber. It was in his mind to
return again to Opar and bear away a still greater
fortune than he had already buried in the amphitheater
of the apes.
On through the passageways he trotted, past the
first door and through the treasure vault; past the
second door and into the long, straight tunnel that
led to the lofty hidden exit beyond the city. Jane
Porter was still unconscious.
At the crest of the great bowlder he halted to cast
a backward glance toward the city. Coming across
[346]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
the plain he saw a band of the hideous men of Opar.
For a moment he hesitated. Should he descend and
make a race for the distant cliffs, or should he hide
here until night? And then a glance at the girl's
white face determined him. He could not keep her
here and permit her enemies to get between them and
liberty. For aught he knew they might have been
followed through the tunnels, and to have foes before
and behind would result in almost certain capture,
since he could not fight his way through the enemy
burdened as he was with the unconscious girl.
To descend the steep face of the bowlder with Jane
Porter was no easy task, but by binding her across his
shoulders with the grass rope he succeeded in reaching
the ground in safety before the Oparians arrived at
the great rock. As the descent had been made upon
the side away from the city, the searching party saw
nothing of it, nor did they dream that their prey was
so close before them.
By keeping the kopje between them and their pur
suers, Tarzan of the Apes managed to cover nearly
a mile before the men of Opar rounded the granite
sentinel and saw the fugitive before them. With loud
cries of savage delight, they broke into a mad run,
thinking doubtless that they would soon overhaul the
burdened runner; but they both underestimated the
powers of the ape-man and overestimated the possi
bilities of their own short, crooked legs.
By maintaining an easy trot, Tarzan kept the dis
tance between them always the same. Occasionally he
[347]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
would glance at the face so near his own. Had it
not been for the faint beating of the heart pressed so
close against his own, he would not have known that
she was alive, so white and drawn was the poor, tired
face.
And thus they came to the flat-topped mountain
and the barrier cliffs. During the last mile Tarzan
had let himself out, running like a deer that he might
have ample time to descend the face of the cliffs be
fore the Oparians could reach the summit and hurl
rocks down upon them. And so it was that he was
half a mile down the mountainside ere the fierce little
men came panting to the edge.
With cries of rage and disappointment they ranged
along the cliff top shaking their cudgels, and dancing
up and down in a perfect passion of anger. But this
time they did not pursue beyond the boundary of
their own country. Whether it was because they re
called the futility of their former long and irksome
search, or after witnessing the ease with which the
ape-man swung along before them, and the last burst
of speed, they realized the utter hopelessness of fur
ther pursuit, it is difficult to say; but as Tarzan
reached the woods that began at the base of the foot
hills which skirted the barrier cliffs they turned their
faces once more toward Opar.
Just within the forest's edge, where he could yet
watch the cliff tops, Tarzan laid his burden upon the
grass, and going to the near-by rivulet brought water
with which he bathed her face and hands; but even
[348]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
this did not revive her, and, greatly worried, he gath
ered the girl into his strong arms once more and hur
ried on toward the west.
Late in the afternoon Jane Porter regained con
sciousness. She did not open her eyes at once she
was trying to recall the scenes that she had last wit
nessed. Ah, she remembered now. The altar, the
terrible priestess, the descending knife. She gave
a little shudder, for she thought that either this was
death or that the knife had buried itself in her heart
and she was experiencing the brief delirium preceding
death.
And when finally she mustered courage to open her
eyes, the sight that met them confirmed her fears, for
she saw that she was being borne through a leafy para
dise in the arms of her dead love. " If this be death,"
she murmured, " thank God that I am dead."
" You spoke, Jane ! " cried Tarzan. " You are re
gaining consciousness ! "
"Yes, Tarzan of the Apes," she replied, and for
the first time in months a smile of peace and happiness
lighted her face.
"Thank God!" cried the ape-man, coming to the
ground in a little grassy clearing beside the stream.
" I was in time, after all."
" In time ? What do you mean ? " she questioned.
"In time to save you from death upon the altar,
dear," he replied. "Do you not remember?"
"Save me from death!" she asked, in a puzzled
tone. " Are we not both dead, my Tarzan ? "
[349]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
He had placed her upon the grass by now, her back
resting against the stem of a huge tree. At her ques
tion he stepped back where he could the better see her
face.
" Dead ! " he repeated, and then he laughed. " You
are not, Jane; and if you will return to the city of
Opar and ask them who dwell there they will tell you
that I was not dead a few short hours ago. No, dear,
we are both very much alive."
"But both Hazel and Monsieur Thuran told me
that you had fallen into the ocean many miles
from land," she urged, as though trying to convince
him that he must indeed be dead. "They said that
there was no question but that it must have been you,
and less that you could have survived or been picked
up."
"How can I convince you that I am no spirit?"
he asked, with a laugh. " It was I whom the delight
ful Monsieur Thuran pushed overboard, but I did not
drown I will tell you all about it after a while
and here I am very much the same wild man you first
knew, Jane Porter."
The girl rose slowly to her feet and caine toward
him.
" I cannot even yet believe it," she murmured. " It
cannot be that such happiness can be true after all
the hideous things that I have passed through these
awful months since the Lady Alice went down."
She came close to him and laid a hand, soft and
trembling, upon his arm.
[350]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
"It must be that I am dreaming, and that I shall
awaken in a moment to see that awful knife descending
toward my heart kiss me, dear, just once before I
lose my dream forever."
Tarzan of the Apes needed no second invitation.
He took the girl he loved in his strong arms, and kissed
her not once, but a hundred times, until she lay there
panting for breath ; yet when he stopped she put her
arms about his neck and drew his lips down to hers
once more.
" Am I alive and a reality, or am I but a dream ? "
he asked.
"If you are not alive, my man," she answered, "I
pray that I may die thus before I awaken to the ter
rible realities of my last waking moments."
For a while both were silent gazing into each
others' eyes as though each still questioned the reality
of the wonderful happiness that had come to them.
The past, with all its hideous disappointments and
horrors, was forgotten the future did not belong to
them ; but the present ah, it was theirs ; none could
take it from them. It was the girl who first broke the
sweet silence.
"Where are we going, dear?" she asked. "What
are we going to do?"
" Where would you like best to go ? " he asked.
" What would you like best to do ? "
"To go where you go, my man; to do whatever
seems best to you," she answered.
" But Clayton ? " he asked. For a moment he had
[351]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
forgotten that there existed upon the earth other than
they two. "We have forgotten your husband."
" I am not married, Tarzan of the Apes," she cried.
"Nor am I longer promised in marriage. The day
before those awful creatures captured me I spoke to
Mr. Clayton of my love for you, and he understood
then that I could not keep the wicked promise that I
had made. It was after we had been miraculously
saved from an attacking lion." She paused suddenly
and looked up at him, a questioning light in her eyes.
" Tarzan of the Apes," she cried, " it was you who did
that thing? It could have been no other."
He dropped his eyes, for he was ashamed.
"How could you have gone away and left me?"
she cried reproachfully.
" Don't, Jane ! " he pleaded. " Please don't ! You
cannot know how I have suffered since for the cruelty
of that act, or how I suffered then, first in jealous
rage, and then in bitter resentment against the fate
that I had not deserved. I went back to the apes after
that, Jane, intending never again to see a human be
ing." He told her then of his life since he had re
turned to the jungle of how he had dropped like a
plummet from a civilized Parisian to a savage Waziri
warrior, and from there back to the brute that he had
been raised.
She asked him many questions, and at last fearfully
of the things that Monsieur Thuran had told her of
the woman in Paris. He narrated ever} 7 detail of his
civilized life to her, omitting nothing, for he felt no
[352]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
shame, since his heart always had been true to her.
When he had finished he sat looking at her, as though
waiting for her judgment, and his sentence.
"I knew that he was not speaking the truth," she
said. " Oh, what a horrible creature he is ! "
" You are not angry with me, then ? " he asked.
And her reply, though apparently most irrelevant,
was truly feminine.
"Is Olga de Coude very beautiful?" she asked.
And Tarzan laughed and kissed her again. " Not
one-tenth so beautiful as you, dear," he said.
She gave a contented little sigh, and let her head
rest against his shoulder. He knew that he was for
given.
That night Tarzan built a snug little bower high
among the swaying branches of a giant tree, and there
the tired girl slept, while in a crotch beneath her the
ape-man curled, ready, even in sleep, to protect her.
It took them many days to make the long journey
to the coast. Where the way was easy they walked
hand in hand beneath the arching bows of the mighty
forest, as might in a far-gone past have walked their
primeval forbears. When the underbrush was tangled
he took her in his great arms, and bore her lightly
through the trees, and the days were all too short, for
they were very happy. Had it not been for their
anxiety to reach and succor Clayton they would have
drawn out the sweet pleasure of that wonderful jour
ney indefinitely.
On the last day before they reached the coast Tar-
[353]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
zan caught the scent of men ahead of them the scent
of black men. He told the girl, and cautioned her to
maintain silence. "There are few friends in the
jungle," he remarked dryly.
In half an hour they came stealthily upon a small
party of black warriors filing toward the west. As
Tarzan saw them he gave a cry of delight it was a
band of his own Waziri. Busuli was there, and others
who had accompanied him to Opar. At sight of him
they danced and cried out in exuberant joy. For
weeks they had been searching for him, they told him.
The blacks exhibited considerable wonderment at
the presence of the white girl with him, and when they
found that she was to be his woman they vied with one
another to do her honor. With the happy Waziri
laughing and dancing about them they came to the
rude shelter by the shore.
There was no sign of life, and no response to their
calls. Tarzan clambered quickly to the interior of
the little tree hut, only to emerge a moment later with
an empty tin. Throwing it down to Busuli, he told
him to fetch water, and then he beckoned Jane Porter
to come up.
Together they leaned over the emaciated thing that
once had been an English nobleman. Tears came to
the girl's eyes as she saw the poor, sunken cheeks and
hollow eyes, and the lines of suffering upon the once
young and handsome face.
" He still lives," said Tarzan. " We will do all that
can be done for him, but I fear that we are too late."
[354]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
When Busuli had brought the water Tarzan forced
a few drops between the cracked and swollen lips. He
wetted the hot forehead and bathed the pitiful limbs.
Presently Clayton opened his eyes. A faint, shad
owy smile lighted his countenance as he saw the girl
leaning over him. At sight of Tarzan the expression
changed to one of wonderment.
"It's all right, old fellow," said the ape-man.
" We've found you in time. Everything will be all
right now, and we'll have you on your feet again be
fore you know it."
The Englishman shook his head weakly. " It's too
late," he whispered. " But it's just as well. I'd rather
die."
" Where is Monsieur Thuran ? " asked the girl.
" He left me after the fever got bad. He is a devil.
When I begged for the water that I was too weak to
get he drank before me, threw the rest out, and laughed
in my face." At the thought of it the man was sud
denly animated by a spark of vitality. He raised
himself upon one elbow. "Yes," he almost shouted;
" I will live. I will live long enough to find and kill
that beast!" But the brief effort left him weaker
than before, and he sank back again upon the rotting
grasses that, with his old ulster, had been the bed of
Jane Porter.
"Don't worry about Thuran," said Tarzan of the
Apes, laying a reassuring hand on Clayton's forehead.
"He belongs to me, and I shall get him in the end,
never fear."
[355]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
For a long time Clayton lay very still. Several
times Tarzan had to put his ear quite close to the
sunken chest to catch the faint beating of the worn-
out heart. Toward evening he aroused again for a
brief moment.
"Jane," he whispered. The girl bent her head
closer to catch the faint message. " I have wronged
you and him," he nodded weakly toward the ape-
man. " I loved you so it is a poor excuse to offer
for injuring you; but I could not bear to think of
giving you up. I do not ask your forgiveness. I
only wish to do now the thing I should have done over
a year ago." He fumbled in the pocket of the ulster
beneath him for something that he had discovered
there while he lay between the paroxysms of fever.
Presently he found it a crumpled bit of yellow
paper. He handed it to the girl, and as she took it
his arm fell limply across his chest, his head dropped
back, and with a little gasp he stiffened and was still.
Then Tarzan of the Apes drew a fold of the ulster
across the upturned face.
For a moment they remained kneeling there, the
girl's lips moving in silent prayer, and as they rose
and stood on either side of the now peaceful form,
tears came to the ape-man's eyes, for through the
anguish that his own heart had suffered he had
learned compassion for the suffering of others.
Through her own tears the girl read the message
upon the bit of faded yellow paper, and as she read
her eyes went very wide. Twice she read those start-
[356]
THROUGH THE FOREST PRIMEVAL
ling words before she could fully comprehend their
meaning.
Finger prints prove you Greystoke. Congratulations.
D'ARNOT.
She handed the paper to Tarzan. "And he has
known it all this time," she said, "and did not tell
you?"
"I knew it first, Jane," replied the man. "I did
not know that he knew it at all. I must have dropped
this message that night in the waiting room. It was
there that I received it."
"And afterward you told us that your mother was
a she-ape, and that you had never known your
father?" she asked incredulously.
"The title and the estates meant nothing to me
without you, dear," he replied. " And if I had taken
them away from him I should have been robbing the
woman I love don't you understand, Jane?" It
was as though he attempted to excuse a fault.
She extended her arms toward him across the body
of the dead man, and took his hands in hers.
" And I would have thrown away a love like that ! "
she said.
[857]
XXVI
THE PASSING OF THE APE-MAN
next morning they set out upon the short
journey to Tarzan's cabin. Four Waziri bore the
body of the dead Englishman. It had been the ape-
man's suggestion that Clayton be buried beside the for
mer Lord Greystoke near the edge of the jungle
against the cabin that the older man had built.
Jane Porter was glad that it was to be so, and in
her heart of hearts she wondered at the marvelous
fineness of character of this wondrous man, who,
though raised by brutes and among brutes, had the
true chivalry and tenderness which one only associates
with the refinements of the highest civilization.
They had proceeded some three miles of the five that
had separated them from Tarzan's own beach when
the Waziri who were ahead stopped suddenly, point
ing in amazement at a strange figure approaching
them along the beach. It was a man with a shiny silk
hat, who walked slowly with bent head, and hands
[358]
THE PASSING OF THE APE-MAN
clasped behind him underneath the tails of his long,
black coat.
At sight of him Jane Porter uttered a little cry of
surprise and joy, and ran quickly ahead to meet him.
At the sound of her voice the old man looked up, and
when he saw who it was confronting him he, too, cried
out in relief and happiness. As Professor Archimedes
Q. Porter folded his daughter in his arms tears
streamed down his seamed old face, and it was several
minutes before he could control himself sufficiently to
speak.
When a moment later he recognized Tarzan it was
with difficulty that they could convince him that his
sorrow had not unbalanced his mind, for with the other
members of the party he had been so thoroughly con
vinced that the ape-man was dead it was a problem to
reconcile the conviction with the very lifelike appear
ance of Jane's "forest god." The old man was
deeply touched at the news of Clayton's death.
"I cannot understand it," he said. "Monsieur
Thuran assured us that Clayton passed away many
days ago."
"Thuran is with you?" asked Tarzan.
" Yes ; he but recently found us and led us to your
cabin. We were camped but a short distance north of
it. Bless me, but he will be delighted to see you
both."
" And surprised," commented Tarzan.
A short time later the strange party came to the
clearing in which stood the ape-man's cabin. It was
[359]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
filled with people coming and going, and almost the
first whom Tarzan saw was D'Arnot.
"Paul!" he cried. "In the name of sanity what
are you doing here? Or are we all insane? "
It was quickly explained, however, as were many
other seemingly strange things. D'Arnot's ship had
been cruising along the coast, on patrol duty, when at
the lieutenant's suggestion they had anchored off the
little landlocked harbor to have another look at the
cabin and the jungle in which many of the officers
and men had taken part in exciting adventures two
years before. On landing they had found Lord Ten-
nington's party, and arrangements were being made
to take them all on board the following morning, and
carry them back to civilization.
Hazel Strong and her mother, Esmeralda, and Mr.
Samuel T. Philander were almost overcome by happi
ness at Jane Porter's safe return. Her escape seemed
to them little short of miraculous, and it was the con
sensus of opinion that it could have been achieved by
no other man than Tarzan of the Apes. They loaded
the uncomfortable ape-man with eulogies and atten
tions until he wished himself back in the amphitheater
of the apes.
All were interested in his savage Waziri, and many
were the gifts the black men received from these
friends of their king, but when they learned that he
might sail away from them upon the great canoe that
lay at anchor a mile off shore they became very sad.
As yet the newcomers had seen nothing of Lord
[360]
THE PASSING OF THE APE-MAN
Tennington and Monsieur Thuran. They had gone
out for fresh meat early in the day, and had not yet
returned.
"How surprised this man, whose name you say is
Rokoff, will be to see you," said Jane Porter to Tar-
zan.
" His surprise will be short-lived," replied the ape-
man grimly, and there was that in his tone that made
her look up into his face in alarm. What she read
there evidently confirmed her fears, for she put her
hand upon his arm, and pleaded with him to leave the
Russian to the laws of France.
"In the heart of the jungle, dear," she said, "with
no other form of right or justice to appeal to other
than your own mighty muscles, you would be war
ranted in executing upon this man the sentence he de
serves ; but with the strong arm of a civilized govern
ment at your disposal it would be murder to kill him
now. Even your friends would have to submit to
your arrest, or if you resisted it you would plunge
us all into misery and unhappiness again. I cannot
bear to lose you again, my Tarzan. Promise me that
you will but turn him over to Captain Duf ranne, and
let the law take its course the beast is not worth
risking our happiness for."
He saw the wisdom of her appeal, and promised. A
half hour later Rokoff and Tennington emerged from
the jungle. They were walking side by side. Ten-
nington was the first to note the presence of strangers
in the camp. He saw the black warriors palavering
[361]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
with the sailors from the cruiser, and then he saw a
lithe, brown giant talking with Lieutenant D'Arnot
and Captain Dufranne.
"Who is that, I wonder," said Tennington to Ro-
koff , and as the Russian raised his eyes and met those
of the ape-man full upon him, he staggered and went
white.
"Sapristi!" he cried, and before Tennington
realized what he intended he had thrown his gun to
his shoulder, and aiming point-blank at Tarzan pulled
the trigger. But the Englishman was close to him
so close that his hand reached the leveled barrel a frac
tion of a second before the hammer fell upon the cart
ridge, and the bullet that was intended for Tarzan's
heart whirred harmlessly above his head.
Before the Russian could fire again the ape-man
was upon him and had wrested the firearm from his
grasp. Captain Dufranne, Lieutenant D'Arnot, and a
dozen sailors had rushed up at the sound of the shot,
and now Tarzan turned the Russian over to them with
out a word. He had explained the matter to the
French commander before Rokoff arrived, and the of
ficer gave immediate orders to place the Russian in
irons and confine him on board the cruiser.
Just before the guard escorted the prisoner into the
small boat that was to transport him to his temporary
prison Tarzan asked permission to search him, and to
his delight found the stolen papers concealed upon
his person.
The shot had brought Jane Porter and the others
[362]
THE PASSING OF THE APE-MAN
from the cabin, and a moment after the excitement
had died down she greeted the surprised Lord Ten-
nington. Tarzan joined them after he had taken the
papers from Rokoff, and, as he approached, Jane
Porter introduced him to Tennington.
"John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, my lord," she
said.
The Englishman looked his astonishment in spite of
his most herculean efforts to appear courteous, and it
required many repetitions of the strange story of the
ape-man as told by himself, Jane Porter, and Lieuten
ant D'Arnot to convince Lord Tennington that they
were not all quite mad.
At sunset they buried William Cecil Clayton beside
the jungle graves of his uncle and his aunt, the former
Lord and Lady Greystoke. And it was at Tarzan's
request that three volleys were fired over the last rest
ing place of " a brave man, who met his death bravely."
Professor Porter, who in his younger days had been
ordained a minister, conducted the simple services for
the dead. About the grave, with bowed heads, stood
as strange a company of mourners as the sun ever
looked down upon. There were French officers and
sailors, two English lords, Americans, and a score of
savage African braves.
Following the funeral Tarzan asked Captain Du-
franne to delay the sailing of the cruiser a couple of
days while he went inland a few miles to fetch his " be
longings," and the officer gladly granted the favor.
Late the next afternoon Tarzan and his Waziri re-
[363]
THE RETURN OF TARZAN
turned with the first load of " belongings," and when
the party saw the ancient ingots of virgin gold they
swarmed upon the ape-man with a thousand ques
tions ; but he was smilingly obdurate to their appeals
he declined to give them the slightest clew as to the
source of his immense treasure. " There are a thou
sand that I left behind," he explained, "for every
one that I brought away, and when these are spent
I may wish to return for more."
The next day he returned to camp with the balance
of his ingots, and when they were stored on board the
cruiser Captain Dufranne said he felt like the com
mander of an old-time Spanish galleon returning from
the treasure cities of the Aztecs. " I don't know what
minute my crew will cut my throat, and take over the
ship," he added.
The next morning, as they were preparing to em
bark upon the cruiser, Tarzan ventured a suggestion
to Jane Porter.
"Wild beasts are supposed to be devoid of senti
ment," he said, "but nevertheless I should like to be
married in the cabin where I was born, beside the
graves of my mother and my father, and surrounded
by the savage jungle that always has been my home."
"Would it be quite regular, dear?" she asked.
" For if it would I know of no other place in which I
should rather be married to my forest god than be
neath the shade of his primeval forest."
And when they spoke of it to the others they were
assured that it would be quite regular, and a most
[364]
THE PASSING OF THE APE-MAN
splendid termination of a remarkable romance. So
the entire party assembled within the little cabin and
about the door to witness the second ceremony that
Professor Porter was to solemnize within three days.
D'Arnot was to be best man, and Hazel Strong
bridesmaid, until Tennington upset all the arrange
ments by another of his marvelous " ideas."
" If Mrs. Strong is agreeable," he said, taking the
bridesmaid's hand in his, " Hazel and I think it would
be ripping to make it a double wedding."
The next day they sailed, and as the cruiser steamed
slowly out to sea a tall man, immaculate in white
flannel, and a graceful girl leaned against her rail ta
watch the receding shore line upon which danced
twenty naked, black warriors of the Waziri, waving
their war spears above their savage heads, and shout
ing farewells to their departing king.
" I should hate to think that I am looking upon the
jungle for the last time, dear," he said, " were it not
that I know that I am going to a new world of happi
ness with you forever," and, bending down, Tarzan of
the Apes kissed his mate upon her lips.
THE END.
[365]
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Lady Betty Across the Water.
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