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provided for this primeval-like battle.
When Terkoz saw that it was Tarzan who pursued him, he jumped to the conclusion that this was
Tarzan's woman, since they were of the same kind--white and hairless--and so he rejoiced at this
opportunity for double revenge upon his hated enemy.
To Jane the strange apparition of this god-like man was as wine to sick nerves.
From the description which Clayton and her father and Mr. Philander had given her, she knew that it
must be the same wonderful creature who had saved them, and she saw in him only a protector and a
friend.
But as Terkoz pushed her roughly aside to meet Tarzan's charge, and she saw the great proportions of
the ape and the mighty muscles and the fierce fangs, her heart quailed. How could any vanquish such a
mighty antagonist?
Like two charging bulls they came together, and like two wolves sought each other's throat. Against the
long canines of the ape was pitted the thin blade of the man's knife.
Jane--her lithe, young form flattened against the trunk of a great tree, her hands tight pressed against her
rising and falling bosom, and her eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear, and
admiration--watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man for possession of a woman--for
her.
As the great muscles of the man's back and shoulders knotted beneath the tension of his efforts, and the
huge biceps and forearm held at bay those mighty tusks, the veil of centuries of civilization and culture
was swept from the blurred vision of the Baltimore girl.
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When the long knife drank deep a dozen times of Terkoz' heart's blood, and the great carcass rolled
lifeless upon the ground, it was a primeval woman who sprang forward with outstretched arms toward
the primeval man who had fought for her and won her.
And Tarzan?
He did what no red-blooded man needs lessons in doing. He took his woman in his arms and smothered
her upturned, panting lips with kisses.
For a moment Jane lay there with half-closed eyes. For a moment--the first in her young life--she knew
the meaning of love.
But as suddenly as the veil had been withdrawn it dropped again, and an outraged conscience suffused
her face with its scarlet mantle, and a mortified woman thrust Tarzan of the Apes from her and buried her
face in her hands.
Tarzan had been surprised when he had found the girl he had learned to love after a vague and abstract
manner a willing prisoner in his arms. Now he was surprised that she repulsed him.
He came close to her once more and took hold of her arm. She turned upon him like a tigress, striking
his great breast with her tiny hands.
Tarzan could not understand it.
A moment ago and it had been his intention to hasten Jane back to her people, but that little moment was
lost now in the dim and distant past of things which were but can never be again, and with it the good
intentions had gone to join the impossible.
Since then Tarzan of the Apes had felt a warm, lithe form close pressed to his. Hot, sweet breath against
his cheek and mouth had fanned a new flame to life within his breast, and perfect lips had clung to his in
burning kisses that had seared a deep brand into his soul--a brand which marked a new Tarzan.
Again he laid his hand upon her arm. Again she repulsed him. And then Tarzan of the Apes did just what
his first ancestor would have done.
He took his woman in his arms and carried her into the jungle.
Early the following morning the four within the little cabin by the beach were awakened by the booming
of a cannon. Clayton was the first to rush out, and there, beyond the harbor's mouth, he saw two vessels
lying at anchor.
One was the Arrow and the other a small French cruiser. The sides of the latter were crowded with men
gazing shoreward, and it was evident to Clayton, as to the others who had now joined him, that the gun
which they had heard had been fired to attract their attention if they still remained at the cabin.
Both vessels lay at a considerable distance from shore, and it was doubtful if their glasses would locate
the waving hats of the little party far in between the harbor's points.
Esmeralda had removed her red apron and was waving it frantically above her head; but Clayton, still
fearing that even this might not be seen, hurried off toward the northern point where lay his signal pyre
ready for the match.
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It seemed an age to him, as to those who waited breathlessly behind, ere he reached the great pile of dry
branches and underbrush.
As he broke from the dense wood and came in sight of the vessels again, he was filled with [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]