Part 3
He ran to the window, looking toward the harbor. He saw a boat being lowered from the great ship beside the one already in the water. Soon he saw many people clambering over the ship's sides and dropping into the boats. They were coming back in full force!
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He watched bundles and boxes being lowered. As they shoved off, the ape-man snatched up a piece of paper and with a pencil printed several lines of strong well-made characters. This notice he stuck upon the door with a sharp wood splinter. Then gathering his precious box and weapons he disappeared into the forest.
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Fifteen villainous-appearing seamen landed from the boats. Blood-thirsty and filthy they looked. The five others comprised two elderly men--evidently scholars--a handsome young man in white ducks, a huge negress, and a very beautiful girl of about nineteen. In silence the party advanced toward the cabin.
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The sailors carried the boxes and bales followed by the five of so different a class. Coming to the cabin, they saw with puzzled surprise the new-made sign. Few of the sailors could read. "Hi, perfesser," one shouted, "read the bloomin' notis." The old gentleman addressed, read, and murmured, "Most remarkable!"
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A sailor grasped him by the collar and bawled into his ear: "Read it out loud, you blithering idiot!" The professor read: THIS IS THE HOUSE OF TARZAN THE KILLER OF BEASTS AND MANY BLACK MEN. DO NOT HARM THE THINGS WHICH ARE TARZAN'S. TARZAN WATCHES. TARZAN OF THE APES.
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The thought uppermost in their minds was: "Who is Tarzan of the Apes?" The rat-faced sailor growled out an insulting oath! The young man's face paled in anger. "You've murdered our officer and robbed us," he said. "Now shut up or I'll break your neck with my bare hands."
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He deliberately turned his back upon the sailor and walked away. The sailor's hand crept slyly to his revolver. His eyes glared vengefully.... Two keen eyes had watched every move of the party from a near-by tree. Tarzan saw the surprise caused by his notice and now watched the quarrel.
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The act of the rat-faced sailor in killing his comrade, the day before, had aroused a strong dislike in Tarzan. He liked the fine-looking young man. But now he naturally expected to see the young man murdered. Spear in hand, his mighty arm was ready to strike.
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Then three things happened almost simultaneously. The sailor leveled his weapon at the young man's back, the girl screamed a warning, and a long spear shot like a bolt from above. It passed through the man's right shoulder, and the seaman crumpled up with a scream of pain and terror.
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The sailors stood in a frightened group, with drawn revolvers. The wounded man writhed and shrieked upon the ground. The young man, whose name was Clayton, picked up the fallen revolver. Jane, the girl, ran to him. "Who could it have been?" she whispered. Meanwhile her father and his scholarly companion had wandered into the primeval jungle.
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"I daresay Tarzan of the Apes is watching us all right!" Clayton answered. "Go into the cabin while I go in search of your father." He gave Jane his revolver and when he saw the door close safely behind Jane and her servant, Esmeralda, he strode into the dense jungle.
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When Jane and Esmeralda found themselves safely behind the cabin door, the negress's first thought was to barricade the portal from within. She turned to search for some means to do it. With her first look, she gave a shriek of terror, running to her mistress like a frightened child.
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Jane saw the cause of her cry! Lying prone upon the floor beside them was the whitened skeleton of a man. A further glance revealed the second skeleton upon the bed. And then the tiny skeleton in the cradle! "What horrible place are we in?" murmured the awe-struck girl. Esmeralda trembled.
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What might lie before them in this ill-fated cabin? She endeavored to shake off the gloomy forebodings. She bade Esmeralda cease her wailings, and the two of them barred the heavy door. Then they sat down upon a bench, their arms about one another, two thoroughly frightened women, and waited.
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Meanwhile, the cowardly crew of the "Arrow" pulled rapidly for the ship. Tarzan watched. The most wonderful sight of all to him was the face of the beautiful white girl. Here at last was one of his own kind. He decided to follow young Clayton and learn his errand.
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Presently Tarzan came up with him. Clayton was lost. At intervals he called aloud. Tarzan decided he was searching for the old man. Suddenly Tarzan caught the yellow glint of a sleek hide moving cautiously toward the unsuspecting young man. It was Sheeta, the leopard, crouching for the spring!
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And then, shrill and horrible, there rose upon the jungle stillness the awful cry of the challenging ape. Sheeta hesitated, then turned, crashing into the underbrush. Clayton's blood ran cold--he felt the icy fingers of fear upon his heart. Never had so fearful a sound smote upon his ears.
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Clayton could not know that to that very voice he owed his life nor that the creature who hurled it forth _was his own cousin_--the _real_ Lord Greystoke. He started stumbling back to where he thought the cabin lay. Darkness was quickly setting in. Heavens!--to die here alone!
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Presently he heard a faint sound. Then he saw it! The lithe body of a huge lion. Agonized he watched--powerless to fly. Came a noise above him, an arrow hit the beast, who sprang in pain and terror. Then a naked giant dropped from the tree above--squarely on the brute's back!
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The scene Clayton witnessed there in the twilight depths of the African jungle was burned forever into the Englishman's brain. The giant man before him encircled the lion with his powerful right arm while with his left hand he plunged a knife time and again into the beast's unprotected side.
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It was all accomplished quickly. The lion sank lifeless. Then the strange figure that had vanquished it stood erect upon the carcass, and throwing back the wild and handsome head, gave out the fearsome cry that a few minutes earlier had so startled Clayton. Then he gathered up his weapons.
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Clayton spoke to the stranger in English, thanking him. The only answer was a steady stare and a shrug of the mighty shoulders. Tarzan drew his knife, deftly carving a dozen strips from the lion's carcass. Then squatting upon his haunches, he proceeded to eat, motioning Clayton to join him.
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Clayton could not bring himself to share the uncooked meat his strange host was so apparently relishing. Again he essayed speech with the ape-man, who replied in a strange tongue, like monkeys chattering. Then he arose, motioning Clayton to follow him. Bewildered and confused, Clayton hesitated to do so.
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The ape-man, seeing Clayton disinclined to follow, grasped him by the coat, dragging him along for a while. The Englishman concluded he was a prisoner. Thus they traveled into the impenetrable forest amid wild calls of savage life and falling night. Suddenly there came a faint report--a single shot--then silence.
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In the cabin by the beach two thoroughly terrified women crouched. The negress sobbed hysterically. The white girl, dry-eyed, was torn by fears and forebodings. They heard the almost incessant roars from the savage jungle. And now there came the sound of a heavy body brushing against the cabin's side!
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Silence--then she distinctly heard an animal outside, sniffing at the door. They shuddered instinctively. A gentle scratching--the beast was trying to force an entrance. Now, silhouetted against the moonlit sky beyond, Jane saw the head of a huge lioness, its gleaming eyes fastened upon her in intent ferocity.
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For twenty minutes the huge brute alternately sniffed and tore at the door. Then she launched her great weight against the timeworn window lattice. They saw a portion of it give way. Esmeralda fainted. The horrified prisoner within beheld one great paw ... then its head thrust within the room.
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Slowly the powerful neck and shoulders spread the bars apart.... The girl rose as in a trance, seeking with ever-increasing terror some loophole of escape.... Suddenly her hand, tight pressed against her bosom, felt the outline of Clayton's revolver. Quickly she leveled it ... and pulled the trigger.
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There was a flash of flame, a roar of pain. This was the shot heard by Tarzan and Clayton. Then Jane, too, fainted. But Sabor was not killed. She saw her prey resistless. Slowly she forced her great bulk through the opening. On this sight Jane again opened her eyes!
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When Clayton heard the shot, he became agonized with fear and apprehension. He knew Jane was threatened with some danger. Tarzan heard also and quickened his pace. Soon Clayton was left hopelessly behind. He called aloud to the ape-man. Tarzan dropped lightly to his side from the branches above.
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Stooping down before Clayton, Tarzan motioned him to grasp him about the neck, and with the white man upon his back, took to the trees. The next few minutes were such as the Englishman never forgot. High into swaying branches he was borne with what seemed to him incredible swiftness.
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From one lofty branch the agile creature swung with Clayton through a dizzy arc to a neighboring tree; then for a hundred yards maybe, the sure feet threaded a maze of interwoven limbs, balancing like a tight-rope-walker high above the black depths. How Clayton admired those giant muscles!
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Clayton fairly caught his breath at the sight of the horrid depths below them. Yet, with all his seeming speed, Tarzan was actually feeling his way with comparative slowness, searching constantly for limbs of adequate strength to hold this double weight. Presently they came to the clearing before the beach.
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Tarzan's quick ears had heard the strange sounds of the lioness's efforts to force the cabin. They dropped a hundred feet--landing with scarcely a jar. The ape-man darted ahead, just in time to see the huge lioness's tawny body slowly disappearing through the window of the cabin!
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Within the cabin Jane saw the lioness almost through the window. She reached for the fallen revolver. Raised it. Then she saw Esmeralda, inert but alive. She could not leave her. She must use one cartridge on the senseless woman before she turned the cold muzzle toward herself again.
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Quickly Jane ran to the side of Esmeralda. She pressed the muzzle of the revolver tight against that devoted heart, closed her eyes, and--Sabor, the lioness, emitted a frightful shriek. The girl, startled, recoiled and turned to face the brute, again raising the weapon against her own temple.
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She didn't fire again. Surprised, she saw the huge animal being drawn slowly back through the window and in the moonlight the heads of two men. Tarzan had seized the long tail in both his hands, braced himself, and thrown all his mighty strength into the effort to draw the beast back.
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Slowly the lioness was emerging from the window. Tarzan, suddenly releasing his hold upon her, sprang full upon her back. Tighter his strong young arms forced her head lower and lower. The immense muscles of Tarzan's shoulders and biceps leaped into corded knots--a super-human effort--and Sabor's vertebrae snapped!
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Instantly Tarzan was on his feet. For the second time Clayton heard Tarzan give the bull-ape's savage roar of victory. He ran toward Jane's agonized cry. Calming her fears, they came out to the dead body of the lioness, to thank their rescuer. But Tarzan of the Apes was gone.
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Tarzan went in search of Jane's father. Finally he found the old man, and the professor, brought them safely to the cabin, and again vanished into the jungle. Esmeralda "came to" at the lioness's last shriek. The reunited party of castaways related their experiences and talked long of the mysterious ape-man.
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When it grew light, they ate of their scanty store of food. They decided to bury the skeletons. The professor discovered they were those of white people. On the man's finger he found a massive ring. Clayton gave a cry of astonishment!... It bore the crest of the house of Greystoke.
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And then Jane in a book saw the single name: Greystoke. Thus they identified the skeletons and with deep reverence buried them. The professor had noted that the infant's bones were not a human's. He murmured "Most remarkable," but said nothing. From the trees Tarzan of the Apes watched the solemn ceremony.
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Most of all he watched the sweet face and graceful figure of Jane. He knew that she was created to be protected and that he was created to protect her. Esmeralda chanced to glance toward the harbor. She cried out, pointing to the "Arrow" slowly sailing seaward!
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Now they knew they were deserted--marooned by merciless sailors on this jungle shore. Tarzan saw their consternation; also the departure of the ship. He swung through the trees to see closely this strange floating house. Presently his keen eyes saw the faintest suspicion of smoke on the horizon.
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The sailors also saw that smoke. The ship came about and headed for land. There was a great scurrying about on deck. A boat was lowered; in it a great chest was placed. Men bent to the oars; pulled rapidly to the very point where Tarzan crouched, hidden in a tree.
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Beaching the boat, the men lifted out the great chest. They argued angrily--they quarreled, and a sailor buried his pick in the brain of the rat-faced man. Digging a deep trench, they buried the treasure with the corpse, obliterating all signs. Then they pulled rapidly back to the "Arrow."
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The smoke on the horizon increased, and the sailors lost no time in getting under full sail. Tarzan, an interested spectator, sat speculating on the strange actions. He wondered what the chest contained. Dropping to the ground he found a spade and began digging until he uncovered the body.
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He dragged it from the grave, then unearthed the chest, replacing the body and the earth. Four sailors had sweated beneath the burden of that chest. Tarzan of the Apes picked it up easily and carried it into the densest part of the jungle. He traveled for several hours.
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His brain told him the chest contained valuables. He desired to open it, but the iron lock and bands baffled even his strength. So he buried it. Darkness settled before he was back in the cabin's vicinity. Astonished, he saw the interior of the cabin appear as bright as day.
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Within the cabin, lights were burning. Clayton had found an unopened tin of oil and lamps, still usable. Tarzan peered within. He saw his cabin divided into two rooms, partitioned by boughs and sailcloth. The men were reading and talking. He sought the other window. There was the girl.
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How beautiful her features--how delicate her snowy skin! She was writing at Tarzan's own table. Upon a pile of grasses lay the negress asleep. For an hour Tarzan feasted his eyes upon her as she wrote. How he longed to speak to her. At length she arose, leaving her manuscript.
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She went to the bed, loosened her soft mass of golden hair. Below her waist it tumbled. Tarzan was spellbound! Then she extinguished the lamp and all within was darkness. Still Tarzan watched. Creeping close he waited, listening. At last she was asleep. Cautiously he intruded his arm within the cabin.
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Carefully he felt upon the desk. At last he grasped the manuscript Jane had been writing. Cautiously he withdrew it. Tarzan folded the precious sheets into a small parcel, tucking them into his arrow quiver. Then he melted away into the jungle as softly and as noiselessly as a shadow.
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Tarzan awoke early. His first thought was of that writing, hidden in his quiver. How he hoped he could read what the beautiful girl had written. Tarzan suffered a bitter disappointment, baffled by the strange writing. Long he pored over it. Finally he recognized the letters. His heart leaped for joy.
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Slowly Tarzan deciphered Jane's letter. It was to a friend in America. In it she narrated their strange experiences. How her father had come into possession of an old Spanish manuscript telling of buried treasure; how they had finally found it; how it had brought misfortune to them, and of Tarzan.
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Tarzan sat long in a brown study after reading the letter. He couldn't understand much of the new and wonderful things it told of. He wrote beneath Jane's signature "I am Tarzan of the Apes." Next morning she found her missing letter in the exact spot from which it had disappeared.
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A cold, clammy chill ran up her spine as she saw the printed words. But as days passed without mishap, her fears calmed. Unseen by them, Tarzan left offerings of food at the cabin. He told himself that one day he would venture into the camp and talk with them.
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A month passed before Tarzan visited the camp by daylight. He found all gone. His golden-haired divinity had vanished! So he printed a message for her.... "I WANT YOU.... I AM YOURS.... KNOW THAT TARZAN OF THE APES LOVES YOU." Suddenly his keen ears heard a familiar sound.
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It was the passing of a great ape through the forest. For an instant he listened intently. Then from the jungle came the agonized scream of a woman, and Tarzan of the Apes, dropping his first love letter upon the ground, shot like a panther into the forest.
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After Tarzan left the tribe of apes, it was torn by continual strife and confusion. Terkoz, now their king, proved a cruel and capricious leader. In desperation the apes decided to turn him out. So one day as he returned to the tribe, five huge, hairy beasts sprang upon him.
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At heart Terkoz was a coward. So he did not remain to fight and die. Tearing himself away, he fled, foaming with rage and hatred, into the jungle. Several days he wandered aimlessly. Swinging from tree to tree, this horrible, man-like beast came suddenly upon the two women.
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He was right above when Jane saw him, his awful face thrust within a foot of her. One piercing scream escaped her ere the brute had clutched her arm. Then another mood seized him. He leaped into the trees, bearing Jane to a fate a thousand times worse than death.
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Jane did not once lose consciousness as she was borne farther into the impenetrable jungle. The scream that brought Clayton stumbling through the underbrush had led Tarzan of the Apes straight to where lay the fainting Esmeralda. His ape training told him plainly the whole story. He instantly gave chase.
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On he sped in the track of Terkoz and his prey. Terkoz heard and was spurred to greater effort. Three miles were covered before Tarzan overtook them. Seeing flight was futile, Terkoz dropped groundward. Tarzan bounded like a leopard into the open glade. Terkoz turned to fight for his prize.
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Like two charging bulls they came together, and like two wolves they sought each other's throat. Jane, her lithe young figure flattened against a tree trunk, hands pressed tight against her bosom, and eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear, and admiration, watched ape and ape-man battle for possession of her.
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The great muscles of Tarzan's back and shoulders knotted beneath the tension of his efforts. His huge biceps and forearm held at bay those mighty tusks. The long knife drank deep a dozen times of Terkoz's life blood. Then the great carcass rolled lifeless upon the ground.
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The veil of centuries of civilization and culture was swept from Jane! It was a primeval woman who sprang forward with outstretched arms toward the primeval man who had fought for her and won her.... And Tarzan took his woman in his arms and smothered her upturned, panting lips with kisses.
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Suddenly her face suffused with scarlet blushes. She thrust Tarzan of the Apes from her and buried her face in her hands. He came close again and took hold of her. She turned like a tigress, striking his great breast with her tiny hands. Tarzan could not understand it.
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A moment before Tarzan had intended to hasten Jane back to her people. That moment was lost. He had felt a warm, lithe form pressed close to his. Again he sought her ... again she repulsed him. _Then Tarzan took his woman in his arms and carried her into the jungle._
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Early the following morning, the men in the cabin were awakened by the booming of a cannon. Clayton rushed out and saw two vessels lying in the harbor. One was the "Arrow"--the other a small French cruiser. Quickly he ran to light the pile of wood he kept in readiness.
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Before the flames arose. Clayton saw in consternation the cruiser steaming away. Stripping off his shirt, he waved it back and forth above him. Now the great column of smoke rose high, attracting the attention of the ship's lookout. The cruiser steamed slowly back toward shore. A boat was lowered.
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As it beached, a young officer stepped out. Quickly Clayton told their story, ending with Jane's abduction. Lieutenant d'Arnot then narrated the capture of the "Arrow"; how it had drifted in heavy seas many days, without water or food until all but two of the mutineers were dead.
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The sight that met the Frenchman's eyes as they clambered over the ship's side was appalling! Dead and dying rolled upon the pitching deck. Two of the corpses appeared partially devoured. Hunger had changed the mutineers to wild beasts. The sole survivor told the whole ghastly tale to the French commander.
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The cruiser then sought the little camp. By the time the two parties had narrated their several adventures, the cruiser's boat returned with supplies and arms. With twenty sailors, they set off upon that hopeless and ill-fated quest into the untracked jungle to find the stolen girl.
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Jane realized she was being borne away a captive. She struggled desperately. But Tarzan's strong arms held her more tightly. Once he looked down into her eyes and smiled. The face above her was of extraordinary beauty. Presently he took to the trees. On and on they went for many miles.
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Now they had come to their destination. In his strong arms Tarzan placed her softly upon the green turf. She noted his magnificent figure towering above her, its perfect symmetry, the poise of his fine head upon his broad shoulders. Surely his purpose could not be base or cruel.
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With a bound Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared. Had he left her there to her fate in the lonely jungle?... She heard a sudden, slight sound!... There stood Tarzan, his arms filled with luscious, ripe fruit. He stroked her hair and tried to comfort and quiet her.
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The last few hours had taught her to trust this strange, wild creature. It commenced to dawn upon her that she had, possibly, learned something she had never really known before--LOVE. She wondered--and then she smiled.... And still smiling, she pushed Tarzan gently away, pointing to the food.
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Together, in silence they ate. He made a little bower of boughs and grasses. Then he did the only thing he knew to assure Jane of her safety. He handed her his knife--motioning her to sleep. She entered, while Tarzan stretched himself upon the ground across the entrance.
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