Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Chapters 19 & 20 - Redhead Rewriting Reality

Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Welcome to Redhead Rewriting Reality by Kimberly Sue Iverson
the story of my life as I figureout who I am after a lifetime of
abuse and share my journey with that.
Sharing my journey of building my author career, the struggles,
bettering self and creating a new life.

(00:25):
I'm a multi genre author who's published more than 53 stories
and coming to you from the Pacific Northwest.
And this podcast is for you because like me, you love
stories, journeys and you just want to relax for a bit.
So let me take care of you. This audio is intended for an

(00:46):
adult audience. Themes and topics may not be
suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is now.
Get yourself comfy and make yourself at home and let's dive
in. We are going to be reading
chapters 19 and 20 this week of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice

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Burroughs and I am not sure if it's going to be posted as a
regular episode next week or I will make a special Halloween
episode. But I, I think I mentioned this

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previously that I had looked up and asked if anybody would have
a more Halloween themed story toread for something that again,
is in the public domain. Because I can't read anything
that is under copyright and it has to be under public domain

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royalty free. Unless it's something that say
you wrote. At which point, yes, I could
read that with your permission as a one time use for the
podcast. But for something to read for
more of a Halloween vibe, I was trying to find something that

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would fit that and I ended up finding AI.
Think it was on Project Gutenberg.
Another space where someone had short stories compiled in a
book, not strictly their own, but others and theirs in a mini

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book that I am drawing from for some short horror stories.
I'm not sure how many I will be doing currently I think I
recorded 2 and I still if I keepit at least an hour or under I
think I still have space 'cause I think that was only 30 minutes

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that those took. So I'll do a more Halloween
themed episode either next week on Wednesday or I will post it
just before Halloween, which is the night before probably.
So look for that next week whichever day I post it.

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I might actually do just a separate episode.
And unto this story. Chapter 19.
The Call of the Primitive From the time Tarzan left the tribe
of great anthropoids in which hehad been raised, it was torn by

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continual strife and discord. Turkaus proved a cruel and
capricious king, so that one by one many of the older and weaker
apes, upon whom he was particularly prone to vent his
brutish nature, took their families and sought the quiet

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and safety of the far interior. But at last those who remained
were driven to desperation by the continued truculence of
turquoise, and it so happened that one of them recalled the
parting admonition of Tarzan. If you have a chief who is

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cruel, do not do as the other apes do, and attempt anyone of
you to pit yourself against him alone, but instead let two or
three or four of you attack him together.
Then, if you will do this, no chief will dare to be other than

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he should be, for four of you can kill any chief who may ever
be over you. And the ape who recalled this
wise counsel repeated it to several of his fellows, so that
when Turquoise returned to the tribe that day, he found a warm

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reception awaiting him. There were no formalities.
As Turquoise reached the group, 5 huge hairy beasts sprang upon
him. At heart he was an errant
coward, which is the way with bullies among apes as well as

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among men. So he did not remain to fight
and die, but tore himself away from them as quickly as he could
and fled into the sheltering boughs of the forest.
Two more attempts he made to rejoin the tribe, but on each

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occasion he was set upon and driven away.
At last he gave it up and turnedfoaming with rage and hatred
into the jungle. For several days he wandered
aimlessly, nursing his spite andlooking for some weak thing on

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which to vent his pent anger. It was in this state of mind
that the horrible man like beastswinging from tree to tree came
suddenly upon two women in the jungle.
He was right above them when he discovered them.

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The first intimation Jane Porterhad of his presence was when the
great hairy body dropped to the earth beside her, and she saw
the awful face and the smarling,hideous mouth thrust within a
foot of her. One piercing scream escaped her

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lips as the brute hand clutched her arm.
Then she was dragged toward those awful fangs which yawned
at her throat. But ere they touched that fair
skin another mood claimed the anthropoid.
The tribe had kept his women. He must find others to replace

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them. This hairless white ape would be
the first of his new household. And so he threw her roughly
across his broad, hairy shoulders and leaped back into
the trees, bearing Jane away. Esmeralda's scream of terror had

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mingled once with that of Jane, and then, as was Esmeralda's
manner, under stress of emergency, which required
presence of mind, she swooned. But Jane did not once lose
consciousness. It is true that that awful face

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pressing close to hers, and the stench of the foul breath
beating upon her nostrils, paralyzed her with terror, but
her brain was clear, and she comprehended all that transpired
with what seemed to her marvellous rapidity.

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The brute bore her through the forest, but still she did not
cry out or struggle. The sudden advent of the ape had
confused her to such an extent as she thought now that he was
burying her toward the beach. For this reason she conserved

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her energies and her voice untilshe could see that they had
approached near enough to the camp to attract the succour she
craved. She could not have known it, but
she was being born farther and farther into the impenetrable
jungle. The scream that had brought

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Clayton and the two older men stumbling through the
undergrowth had LED Tarzan of the Apes straight to where
Esmeralda lay. But it was not Esmeralda in whom
his interest centered, though pausing over her, he saw that
she was unhurt. For a moment he scrutinized the

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ground below and the trees above, until the ape that was in
him by virtue of training and environment, combined with the
intelligence that was his by right of birth, told his
wondrous woodcraft the whole story as plainly as though he

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had seen the thing happen with his own eyes.
And then he was gone again, intothe swaying trees, following the
high flung spore which no other human eye could have detected,
much less translated. At bows ends, where the

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anthropoid swings from tree to another, there is most to mark
the trail, but least to point the direction of the quarry, for
there the pressure is downward always toward the small end of
the branch, whether the ape be leaving or entering a tree.

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Nearer the centre of the tree, where the signs of passage are
fainter, the direction is plainly marked.
Here. On this branch a Caterpillar has
been crushed by the fugitive's great foot and Tarzan nose
instinctively where that same foot would touch in the next

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stride. Here he looks to find a tiny
particle of the demolished larvae, OFT times not more than
a speck of moisture. Again, a minute bit of bark has
been upturned by the scraping hand, and the direction of the
brake indicates the direction ofthe passage.

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Or some great limb. For the stem of the tree itself
has been brushed by the hairy body, and a tiny shred of hair
tells him, by the direction fromwhich it is wedged beneath the
bark that he is on the right trail.
Nor does he need to check his speed to catch these seemingly

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faint records of the fleeing beast.
To Tarzan, they stand out boldlyagainst all the myriad other
scars and bruises and signs uponthe leafy way.
But strongest of all is the scent, for Tarzan is pursuing up

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the wind, and his trained nostrils are as sensitive as a
hound's. There are those who believe that
the lower orders are specially endowed by nature with better
olfactory nerves than man, but it is merely a matter of

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development. Man's survival does not hinge so
greatly upon the perfection of his senses.
His power to reason has relievedthem of many of their duties,
and so they have to some extent atrophied, as have the muscles

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which move the ears and scalp merely from disuse.
The muscles are there about the ears and beneath the scalp, and
so are the nerves which transmitsensations to the brain, but
they are underdeveloped because they are not needed.

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Not so with Tarzan of the Apes. From early infancy his survival
had depended upon acuteness of eyesight, hearing, smell, touch,
and taste far more than upon themore slowly developed organ of
reason. The least developed of all in

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Tarzan was the sense of taste, for he could eat luscious fruits
or raw flesh long buried with almost equal appreciation, but
in that he differed but slightlyfrom more civilized epicures.

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Almost silently the ape man speed on in the track of Turcars
and his prey, but the sound of his approach reached the ears of
the fleeing beast and spurted onto greater speed. 3 miles were
covered before Tarzan overtook them, and then Turkaw's, seeing

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that further flight was futile, dropped to the ground in a small
open glade, that he might turn and fight for his prize or be
free to escape unhampered if he saw that the pursuer was more
than a match for him. He still grasped Jane in one

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great arm as Tarzan bounded likea leopard into the arena which
nature had provided for this primeval like battle.
When Turkoz saw that it was Tarzan who pursued him, he
jumped to the conclusion that this was Tarzan's woman, since

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they were of the same kind, white and hairless, and so he
rejoiced at this opportunity fordouble revenge upon his hated
enemy. To Jane the strange apparition
of this God like man was as wineto sick nerves.

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From the description which Clayton and her father and Mr.
Flander had given her, she knew that it must be the same
wonderful creature who had savedthem, and she saw in him only a
protector and a friend. But as Turkaws pushed her

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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 2 charging bulls they came

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together, and like 2 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 live young form
flattened against the trunk of agreat tree, her hands tight

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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 awoman for her.

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As the great muscles of the man's back and shoulders nodded
beneath the tension of his efforts, and the huge biceps and
forearm held at Bay those mightytusks.
The veil of centuries of civilization and culture was
swept from the blurred vision ofthe Baltimore girl when the long

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knife drank deep a dozen times of turquoise's heart's blood and
the great carcass rolled lifeless upon the ground.
It was a primeval woman who sprang forward with outstretched
arms toward the primeval man whohad fought for her and won her

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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 withhalf closed eyes.
For a moment, the 1st in her young life she knew the meaning

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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 ofthe Apes from her and buried her

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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.

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She turned upon him like a tigress, striking his great
breast with her tiny hands. Tarzan could not understand it.
A moment ago it had been his intention to hasten Jane back to
her people, but that little moment was lost now in the dim

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and distant past of things whichwere 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, lived form
close pressed to his. Hot sweet breath against his

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cheek and mouth had fanned a newflame 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 newTarzan.
Again he laid his hand upon her arm.

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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, thefour within the little cabin by

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the beach were awakened by the booming of a cannon.
Clayton was the first to rush out, and there, beyond the
harbour's mouth, he saw two vessels lying at anchor.
One was the arrow, and the othera small French cruiser.

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The sides of the ladder were crowded with men gazing
shoreward, and it was evident toClayton, as to the others who
had now joined him, that the gunwhich they had heard had been
fired to attract their attention.
If they still remained at the cabin, both vessels lay at a

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considerable distance from shore, and it was doubtful if
their glasses would locate the waving hats of the little party
far in between the harbour's points.
Esmeralda had removed her red apron and was waving it
frantically above her head, but Clayton, still fearing that even

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this might not be seen, hurried off toward the northern point,
where lay his signal pyre, readyfor the match.
It seemed an age to him as to those who waited breathlessly
behind ere he reached the great pile of dry branches and
underbrush. As he broke from the dense wood

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and came insight of the vessels again, he was filled with
consternation to see that the Arrow was making sail, and that
the cruiser was already under way.
Quickly lighting the pyre in a dozen places, he hurried to the
extreme point of the promontory,where he stripped off his shirt,

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and, tying it to a fallen branch, stood waving it back and
forth above him. But still the vessels continued
to stand out, and he had given up all hope when the great
column of smoke rising above theforest in one dense vertical
shaft attracted the attention ofa lookout aboard the cruiser,

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and instantly a dozen glasses were levelled on the beach.
Presently Clayton saw the two ships come about again, and
while the Arrow lay drifting quietly on the ocean, the
cruiser steamed slowly back toward shore.
At some distance away she stopped, and a boat was lowered

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and dispatched toward the beach.As it was drawn up, a young
officer stepped out. Monsieur Clayton, I presume?
He asked. Thank God you have come, was
Clayton's reply. And it may be that it is not too

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late even now. What do you mean, Monsieur?
Asked the officer, Clayton told of the abduction of Jane Porter,
and the need of armed men to aidin the search for her.
Monnieux exclaimed the officer sadly yesterday, and it would

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not have been too late to day, and it may be better that the
poor lady were never found. It is horrible, Monsieur, it is
too horrible. Other boats had now put off from
the cruiser, and Clayton, havingpointed out the harbour's
entrance to the officer, enteredthe boat with him, and its nose

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was turned toward the little landlocked Bay into which the
other craft followed. Soon the entire party had
landed, where stood Professor Porter, Mr. Philander, and the
weeping Esmeralda. Among the officers in the last
boats to put off from the cruiser was the commander of the

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vessel, and when he had heard the story of Jane's abduction,
he generously called for volunteers to accompany
Professor Porter and Clayton in their search.
Not an officer or a man was there of those brave and
sympathetic Frenchmen who did not quickly beg leave to be one

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of the expedition. The commander selected 20 men
and two officers, Lieutenant D Arnault and Lieutenant
Charpentier. A boat was dispatched to the
cruiser for provisions, ammunition and carbines.
The men were already armed with revolvers.

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Then to Clayton's inquiries as to how they had happened to
anchor offshore and fire a signal gun.
The commander, Captain Dufrane, explained that a month before
they had sighted the arrow bearing southwest under
considerable canvas, and that when they had signalled her to

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come about she had but crowded on more sail.
They had kept her hole up until sunset, firing several shots
after her, but the next morning she was nowhere to be seen.
They had then continued to cruise up and down the coast for

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several weeks, and had about forgotten the incident of the
recent chase when, early one morning a few days before, the
lookout had described a vessel laboring in the through of a
heavy sea and evidently entirelyout of control.

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As they steamed nearer to the derelict, they were surprised to
note that it was the same vesselthat had run from them a few
weeks earlier. Her forest stay sail and
Mizzen's banker were set as though an effort had been made
to hold her head up into the wind, but the sheets had parted

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and the sails were tearing to ribbons in the half Gale of wind
in the high sea that was runningit was a difficult and dangerous
task to attempt to put a prized crew aboarder, and as no signs
of life had been seen above deck, it was decided to stand by
until the wind and sea abated. But just then a figure was seen

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clinging to the rail and feebly waving a mute signal of despair
toward them. Immediately a boat's crew was
ordered out, and an attempt was successfully made to board the
Arrow. The sight that met the
Frenchman's eyes as they clambered over the ship's side

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was appalling. A dozen dead and dying men
rolled, hit her and thither uponthe pitching deck the living
intermingled with the dead. 2 ofthe corpses appeared to have
been partially devoured as though by wolves.
The prize crew soon had the vessel under proper sail once

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more and the living members of the Ill Starred company carried
below to their hammocks. The dead were wrapped in
tarpaulins and lashed on deck tobe identified by their comrades
before being consigned to the deep.
None of the living was consciouswhen the Frenchman reached the

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arrow's deck. Even the poor devil who had
waved the single despairing signal of distress had lapsed
into unconsciousness before he had learned whether it had
availed or not. It did not take the French
officer long to learn what had caused the terrible condition

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aboard, for when water and Brandy were sought to restore
the men, it was found that therewas none, nor even food, of any
description. He immediately signalled to the
cruiser to send water, medicine,and provisions, and another boat
made the perilous trip to the Arrow.

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When restoratives had been applied, several of the men
regained consciousness, and thenthe whole story was told.
That part of it we know up to the sailing of the arrow after
the murder of Snipes and the burial of his body above the
treasure chest. It seems that the pursuit by the

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cruiser had so terrorized the mutineers that they had
continued out across the Atlantic for several days after
losing her, but on discovering the meagre supply of water and
provisions aboard, they had turned back toward the east.
With no one on board who understood navigation,

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discussions soon arose as to their whereabouts, and as three
days sailing to the east did notraise land, they bore off to the
north, fearing that the high N winds that had prevailed had
driven them South of the southern extremity of Africa.

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They kept on a N northeasterly course for two days, when they
were overtaken by a calm which lasted for nearly a week.
Their water was gone, and in another day they would be
without food. Conditions changed rapidly from
bad to worse. One man went mad and leaped

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overboard. Soon another opened his veins
and drank his own blood. When he died, they threw him
overboard also, though there were those among them who wanted
to keep the corpse on board. Hunger was changing them from
human beasts to wild beasts. Two days before they had been

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picked up by the cruiser. They had become too weak to
handle the vessel. In that same day three men died.
On the following morning it was seen that one of the corpses had
been partially devoured. All that day the men lay glaring
at each other like beasts of prey, and the following morning

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two of the corpses lay almost entirely stripped of flesh.
The men were but little stronger, for their ghoulish
repast, for the want of water was by far the greatest agony
with which they had to contend. And then the cruiser had come

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when those who could had recovered.
The entire story had been told to the French commander, but the
men were too ignorant to be ableto tell him at just what point
on the coast the professor and his party had been marooned.
So the cruiser had steamed slowly along within sight of

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land, firing occasional signal guns and scanning every inch of
the beach with glasses. They had anchored by night, so
as not to neglect a particle of the shoreline, and it had
happened that the preceding night had brought them off the

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very beach where lay the little camp they sought.
The signal guns of the afternoonbefore had not been heard by
those on shore, it was presumed because they had doubtless been
in the thick of the jungle searching for Jane Porter, where
the noise of their own crashing through the underbrush would

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have drowned the report of a fardistant gun.
By the time the two parties had narrated their several
adventures, the cruiser's boat had returned with supplies and
arms for the expedition. Within a few minutes the little
body of sailors and the 2 Frenchofficers, together with

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Professor Porter and Clayton, set off upon their hopeless and
I'll fated quest into the untracked jungle.
Chapter 20. Heredity.
When Jane realized that she was being borne away a captive by
the strange forest creature who had rescued her from the

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clutches of the ape, she struggled desperately to escape.
But the strong arms that held her as easily as though she had
been but a day old Babe only pressed a little more tightly.
So presently she gave up the futile effort and lay quietly,

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looking through half closed lidsat the faces of the man who
strode easily through the tangled undergrowth with her.
The face above her was one of extraordinary beauty, a perfect
type of the strongly masculine, unmarred by dissipation or

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brutal or degrading passions. For though Tarzan of the Apes
was a killer of men and of beasts, he killed as the hunter
kills dispassionately, except onthose rare occasions when he had
killed for hate, though not the brooding, malevolent hate which

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marks the features of its own with hideous lines.
When Tarzan killed, he more often smiled than scowled, and
smiles are the foundation of beauty.
One thing the girl had noticed, particularly when she had seen
Tarzan rushing upon her 'cause the vivid scarlet band upon his

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forehead from above the left eyeto the scalp.
But now, as she scanned his features, she noticed that it
was gone, and only a thin white line marked the spot where it
had been. As she lay more quietly in his
arms, Tarzan slightly relaxed his grip upon her.

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Once he looked down into her eyes and smiled, and the girl
had to close her own to shut outthe vision of that handsome,
winning face. Presently Tarzan took to the
trees, and Jane, wondering that she felt No Fear, began to

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realize that in many respects she had never felt more secure
in her whole life. Then now, as she lay in the arms
of this strong wild creature, being born God alone knew where
or to what fate, deeper and deeper into the savage vastness

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of the untamed forest. When with closed eyes she
commenced to speculate upon the future, and terrifying fears
were conjured by a vivid imagination, she had but to
raise her lids and look upon that noble face so close to
hers, to dissipate the last remnant of apprehension.

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No, he could never harm her, of that she was convinced, when she
translated the fine features andthe frank brave eyes above her
into the chivalry which they proclaimed.
On and on they went, through what seemed to Jane a solid mass

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of verdure, yet ever there appeared to open before this
forest got a passage as by magic, which closed behind them
as they passed. Scarce a branch scraped against
her, yet above and below, beforeand behind, the view presented

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nought but a solid mass of inextricably interwoven branches
and creepers. As Tarzan moved steadily onward,
his mind was occupied with many strange and new thoughts.
Here was a problem the like of which he had never encountered,

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and he felt rather than reasonedthat he must meet it as a man
and not as an ape. The free movement through the
middle terrace, which was the route he had followed for the
most part, had helped to cool the ardor of the first fierce
passion of his new found love. Now he discovered himself

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speculating upon the fate which would have fallen to the girl
had he not rescued her from turquoise.
He knew why the ape had not killed her, and he commenced to
compare his intentions with those of turquoise.
True, it was the order of the jungle for the male to take his

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mate by fours, but could Tarzan be guided by the laws of the
beasts? Was not Tarzan a man?
But what did men do? He was puzzled, for he did not
know. He wished that he might ask the
girl, and then it came to him that she had already answered

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him in the futile struggle she had made to escape and to
repulse him. But now they had come to their
destination, and Tarzan of the Apes, with Jane in his strong
arms, swung lightly to the turf of the arena where the great
apes held their councils and danced the wild orgy of the Dum

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Dum. Though they had come many miles,
it was still but mid afternoon, and the Amphitheatre was bathed
in the half light which filteredthrough the maze of encircling
foliage. The green turf looked soft and
cool and inviting. The myriad noises of the jungle

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seemed far distant and hushed toa mere echo of blurred sounds,
rising and falling like the surfupon a remote shore.
A feeling of dreamy peacefulnessstole over Jane as she sank down
upon the grass where Tarzan had placed her, and as she looked up

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at his great figure towering above her, there was added a
strange sense of perfect security as she watched him from
beneath half closed lids. Tarzan crossed this little
circular clearing. Toward the trees upon the
further side, she noted the graceful majesty of his

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carriage, the perfect symmetry of his magnificent figure, and
the poise of his well shaped head upon his broad shoulders.
What a perfect creature there could be, naughty of cruelty or
baseness beneath that God like exterior.

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Never, she thought, had such a man strode the earth since God
created the first in his own image.
With a bound Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared.
Jane wondered where he had gone.Had he left her there?
To her fate in the lonely jungleshe glanced nervously about.

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Every vine and Bush seemed but the lurking place of some huge
and horrible beast waiting to bury gleaming fangs into her
soft flesh. Every sound she magnified into
the stealthy creeping of a sinuous and malignant body.

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How different now that he had left her.
For a few minutes that seemed hours to the frightened girl,
she sat with tense nerves, waiting for the spring of the
crouching thing that was to end her misery of apprehension.
She almost prayed for the cruel teeth that would give her

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unconsciousness and surcease from the agony of fear.
She heard a sudden slight sound behind her.
With a cry she sprang to her feet and turned to face her end.
There stood Tarzan, his arms filled with ripe and luscious
fruit. Jane reeled and would have

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fallen had not Tarzan, dropping his burden, caught her in his
arms. She did not lose consciousness,
but she clung tightly to him, shuddering and trembling like a
frightened deer. Tarzan of the Apes stroked her
soft hair and tried to comfort and quiet her as Kala had him

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when, as a little ape, he had been frightened by Sabor the
lioness, or Hista the snake. Once he pressed his lips lightly
upon her forehead and she did not move, but closed her eyes
and sighed. She could not analyze her
feelings, nor did she wish to attempt it.

(42:59):
She was satisfied to feel the safety of those strong arms, and
to leave her future to fate, forthe last few hours had taught
her to trust this strange wild creature of the forest as she
would have trusted but few of the men of her acquaintance.
As she thought of the strangeness of it, there

(43:22):
commenced to dawn upon her the realisation that she had
possibly learned something else which she had never really known
before. Love, she wondered.
And then she smiled, and still smiling, she pushed Tarzan
gently away, and looking at him with a half smiling, half

(43:46):
quizzical expression that made her face wholly entrancing, she
pointed to the fruit upon the ground and seated herself upon
the edge of the earthen drum of the anthropoids, for hunger was
asserting itself. Tarzan quickly gathered up the
fruit and bringing it, laid it at her feet, and then he, too,

(44:11):
sat upon the drum beside her, and with his knife opened and
prepared the various fruits for her meal.
Together and in silence they ate, occasionally stealing sly
glances at one another, until finally Jane broke into a merry
laugh in which Tarzan joined. I wish you spoke English, said

(44:36):
the girl. Tarzan shook his head and an
expression of wistful and pathetic longing sobered his
laughing eyes. Then Jane tried speaking to him
in French and then in German, but she had to laugh at her own
blundering attempt at the lattertongue.

(44:58):
Anyway, she said to him in English, You understand my
German as well as they did in Berlin.
Tarzan had long since reached a decision as to what his future
procedure should be. He had had time to recollect all
that he had read of the ways of men and women in the books.

(45:20):
At the cabin. He would act as he imagined the
men in the books would have acted were they in his place.
Again he rose and went into the trees.
But first he tried to explain bymeans of signs that he would
return shortly, and he did so well that Jane understood and

(45:44):
was not afraid. When he had gone, only a feeling
of loneliness came over her, andshe watched the point where he
had disappeared with longing eyes awaiting his return.
As before, she was appraised of his presence, but a soft sound
behind her, and turned to see him coming across the turf with

(46:08):
a great armful of branches. Then he went back again into the
jungle, and in a few minutes reappeared with a quantity of
soft grasses and ferns. Two more trips he made, until he
had quite a pile of material at hand.
Then he spread the ferns and grasses upon the ground in a

(46:30):
soft flat bed, and above it leaned many branches together,
so that they met a few feet overits centre.
Upon these he spread layers of huge leaves of the great
elephant's ear, and with more branches and more leaves he
closed one end of the little shelter he had built.

(46:52):
Then they sat down together again upon the edge of the drum,
and they tried to talk by signs.The magnificent diamond Locket
which hung about Tarzan's neck had been a source of much
wonderment to Jane. She pointed to it now, and
Tarzan removed it and handed thepretty bauble to her.

(47:15):
She saw that it was the work of a skilled artisan, and that the
diamonds were of great brilliancy and superbly set, but
the cutting of them denoted thatthey were of a former day.
She noticed, too, that the Locket opened, and pressing the
hidden clasped, she saw the two halves spring apart to reveal in

(47:38):
either section an ivory miniature.
One was of a beautiful woman, and the other might have been a
likeness of the man who sat beside her, except for a subtle
difference of expression that was scarcely definable.
She looked up at Tarzan to find him leaning toward her, gazing

(48:00):
on the miniatures with an expression of astonishment.
He reached out his hand for the Locket and took it away from
her, examining the likenesses within with unmistakable signs
of surprise and new interest. His manner clearly denoted that
he had never before seen them, nor imagined that the Locket

(48:24):
opened. This fact caused Jane to indulge
in further speculation, and it taxed her imagination to picture
how this beautiful ornament cameinto the possession of a wild
and savage creature of the unexplored jungles of Africa.

(48:45):
Still more wonderful was how it contained the likeness of one
who might be a brother, or more likely, the father of this
woodland demigod, who was even ignorant of the fact that the
Locket opened. Tarzan was still gazing with
fixity at the two faces. Presently he removed the quiver

(49:09):
from his shoulder and, emptying the arrows upon the ground,
reached into the bottom of the bag like receptacle and drew
forth a flat object wrapped in many soft leaves and tied with
bits of long grass. Carefully he unwrapped it,
removing layer after layer of leaves, until at length he held

(49:34):
a photograph in his hand, pointing to the miniature of the
man within the Locket. He handed the photograph to
Jane, holding the open Locket beside it.
The photograph only served to puzzle the girl still more, for
it was evidently another likeness of the same man whose

(49:57):
picture rested in the Locket beside that of the beautiful
young woman. Tarzan was looking at her with
an expression of puzzled bewilderment in his eyes.
As she glanced up at him he seemed to be framing a question
with his lips. The girl pointed to the

(50:17):
photograph, and then to the miniature, and then to him, as
though to indicate that she thought the likenesses were of
him. But he only shook his head, and
then, shrugging his great shoulders, he took the
photograph from her, and, havingcarefully rewrapped it, placed
it again in the bottom of his quiver.

(50:40):
For a few moments he sat in silence, his eyes bent upon the
ground, while Jane held the little Locket in her hand,
turning it over and over in an endeavour to find some further
clue that might lead to the identity of its original owner.

(51:01):
At length a simple explanation occurred to her.
The Locket had belonged to Lord Greystoke, and the likenesses
were of himself and Lady Alice. This wild creature had simply
found it in the cabin by the beach.
How stupid of her not to have thought of that solution before,

(51:26):
but to account for this strange likeness between Lord Greystoke
and this forest God that was quite beyond her.
And it is not strange that she could not imagine that this
naked savage was indeed an English nobleman.
At length Tarzan looked up to watch the girl as she examined

(51:48):
the Locket. He could not fathom the meaning
of the faces within, but he could read the interest and
fascination upon the face of thelive young creature at his side.
She noticed that he was watchingher, and thinking that he wished
his ornament again, she held it out to him.

(52:09):
He took it from her and taking the chain in his two hands, he
placed it about her neck, smiling at her expression of
surprise at his unexpected gift.Jane shook her head vehemently,
and would have removed the golden links from about her
throat, but Tarzan would not lether.

(52:31):
Taking her hands in his when sheinsisted upon it, he held them
tightly to prevent her. At last she desisted, and with a
little laugh raised the Locket to her lips.
Tarzan did not know precisely what she meant, but he guessed
correctly that it was her way ofacknowledging the gift.

(52:54):
And so he rose, and taking the Locket in his hand, stooped
gravely, like some courtier of old, and pressed his lips upon
it where hers had rested. It was a stately and gallant
little compliment, performed with the grace and dignity of
utter consciousness of self. It was the hallmark of his

(53:18):
aristocratic birth, the natural outcropping of many generations
of fine breeding, an hereditary instinct of graciousness which a
lifetime of uncouth and savage training and environment could
not eradicate. It was growing dark now, and so

(53:39):
they ate again of the fruit, which was both food and drink
for them. Then Tarzan rose, and leading
Jane to the little Bower he had erected, motioned her to go
within. For the first time in hours a
feeling of fear swept over her, and Tarzan felt her draw away as

(54:00):
though shrinking from him. Contact with this girl for half
a day had left a very different Tarzan from the one on whom the
morning sun had risen. Now in every fibre of his being,
heredity spoke louder than training.

(54:20):
He had not in one swift transition become a polished
gentleman from a savage ape man.But at last the instincts of the
former predominated, and over all was the desire to please the
woman he loved and to appear well in her eyes.
So Tarzan of the Apes did the only thing he knew to usher Jane

(54:44):
of her safety. He removed his hunting knife
from its sheath and handed it toher hilt first, again motioning
her into the Bower. The girl understood, and taking
the long knife, she entered and lay down upon the soft grasses,
while Tarzan of the Apes stretched himself upon the

(55:06):
ground across the entrance. And thus the rising sun found
the moon in the morning. When Jane awoke she did not at
first recall the strange events of the preceding day, and so she
wondered at her odd surroundings, the little leafy
Bower, the soft grasses of her bed, the unfamiliar prospect

(55:29):
from the opening at her feet. Slowly the circumstances of her
position crept 1 by 1 into her mind, and then a great
wonderment arose in her heart, amighty wave of thankfulness and
gratitude that though she had been in such terrible danger,
yet she was unharmed. She moved to the entrance of the

(55:52):
shelter to look for Tarzan. He was gone, but this time No
Fear assailed her, for she knew that he would return.
In the grass at the entrance to her Bower she saw the imprint of
his body where he had lain all night to guard her.
She knew that the fact that he had been there was all that had

(56:14):
permitted her to sleep in such peaceful security.
With him near, who could entertain fear?
She wondered if there was another man on earth with whom a
girl could feel so safe in the heart of this savage African
jungle. Even the lions in Panthers had
no fears for her now. She looked up to see his lithe

(56:37):
form drop softly from a near by tree as he caught her eyes upon
him, his face lighted with that frank and radiant smile that had
won her confidence the day before.
As he approached her, Jane's heart beat faster and her eyes
brightened as they had never done before at the approach of

(57:02):
any man. He had again been gathering
fruit, and this time he laid at the entrance of her Bower.
Once more they sat down togetherto eat.
Jane commenced to wonder what his plans were.
Would he take her back to the beach, or would he keep her

(57:24):
here? Suddenly she realized that the
matter did not seem to give her much concern.
Could it be that she did not care?
She began to comprehend also that she was entirely contented,
sitting here by the side of thissmiling giant, eating delicious

(57:44):
fruit in a Sylvan paradise far within the remote depths of an
African jungle, that she was contented and very happy.
She could not understand it. Her reason told her that she
should be torn by wild anxietiesweighted by dread fears cast

(58:07):
down by gloomy forebodings. But instead her heart was
singing and she was smiling intothe answering face of the man
beside her. When they had finished their
breakfasts, Tarzan went to her Bower and recovered his knife.
The girl had entirely forgotten it.

(58:30):
She realized that it was becauseshe had forgotten the fear that
prompted her to accept it. Motioning her to follow, Tarzan
walked toward the trees at the edge of the arena and, taking
her in one strong arm, swung to the branches above.

(58:51):
The girl knew that he was takingher back to her people, and she
could not understand the sudden feeling of loneliness and sorrow
which crept over her. For hours they swung slowly
along. Tarzan of the Apes did not
hurry. He tried to draw out the sweet
pleasure of that journey with those dear arms about his neck

(59:16):
as long as possible, and so he went far South of the direct
route to the beach. Several times they halted for
brief rests, which Tarzan did not need, and at noon they
stopped for an hour at a little brook, where they quenched their
thirst and ate. So it was nearly sunset when

(59:40):
they came to the clearing, and Tarzan, dropping to the ground
beside a great tree, parted the tall jungle grass and pointed
out the little cabin to her. She took him by the hand to lead
him to it, that she might tell her father that this man had
saved her from death and worse than death.

(01:00:02):
That he had watched over her as carefully as a mother might have
done. But again the timidity of the
wild thing in the face of human habitation swept over Tarzan of
the Apes. He drew back, shaking his head.
The girl came close to him, looking up with pleading eyes.

(01:00:24):
Somehow she could not bear the thought of his going back into
the terrible jungle alone. Still he shook his head, and
finally he drew her to him very gently and stooped to kiss her.
But first he looked into her eyes and waited to learn if she
were pleased or if she would repulse him.

(01:00:48):
Just an instant the girl hesitated, and then she realized
the truth, and throwing her armsabout his neck, she drew his
face to hers and kissed him unashamed.
I love you, I love you, she murmured.
From far in the distance came the faint sounds of many guns.

(01:01:12):
Tarzan and Jane raised their heads.
From the cabin came Mr. Flander and Esmeralda.
From where Tarzan and the girls stood they could not see the two
vessels. Wine at anchor in the harbour.
Tarzan pointed toward the sounds, touched his breast and

(01:01:33):
pointed again. She understood he was going, and
something told her that it was because he thought her people
were in danger. Again he kissed her.
Come back to me, she whispered. I shall wait for you always.
He was gone, and Jane turned to walk across the clearing to the

(01:01:56):
cabin. Mr. Flander was the 1st to see
her. It was dusk and Mr. Flander was
very near sighted. Quickly.
Esmeralda, he cried. Let us seek safety within.
It is a lioness, bless me. Esmeralda did not bother to
verify Mr. Flander's vision. His tone was enough.

(01:02:20):
She was within the cabin and hadslammed and bolted the door
before he had finished pronouncing her name.
The, bless me, was startled out of Mr. Flander by the discovery
that Esmeralda, in the exuberance of her haste, had
fastened him upon the same side of the door as was the close

(01:02:44):
approaching lioness. He beat furiously upon the heavy
portal. Esmeralda, Esmeralda, he
shrieked. Let me in.
I am being devoured by a lion. Esmeralda thought that the noise
upon the door was made by the lioness in her attempts to

(01:03:06):
pursue her, so after her custom she fainted.
Mr. Flander cast a frightened glance behind him.
Horvors, the thing was quite close now.
He tried to scramble up the sides of the cabin, and
succeeded in catching a fleetinghold upon the thatched roof.

(01:03:31):
For a moment he hung there, clawing with his feet like a cat
on a clothes line. But presently a piece of the
thatch came away, and Mr. Flander, preceding it, was
precipitated upon his back. At the instant he fell, a
remarkable item of Natural History leaped to his mind.

(01:03:56):
If one feigns death, lions and lionesses are supposed to ignore
one, according to Mr. Flander's faulty memory.
So Mr. Flander lay as he had fallen, frozen into the horrid
semblance of death, as his arms and legs had been extended

(01:04:18):
stiffly upward as he came to earth upon his back.
The attitude of death was anything but impressive.
Jane had been watching his antics in mild eyed surprise.
Now she laughed, a little choking gurgle of a laugh, but

(01:04:38):
it was enough. Mr. Flander rolled over upon his
side and peered about. At length he discovered her.
Jane, he cried. Jane Porter, bless me.
He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward her.
He could not believe that it wasshe.

(01:05:00):
And alive, bless me. Where did you come from?
Where in the world have you been?
How mercy, Mr. Philander interrupted the girl.
I can never remember so many questions.
Well, well, said Mr. Flanner, Bless me.

(01:05:23):
I am so filled with surprise andexuberant delight at seeing you
safe and well again that I scarcely know what I'm saying,
really. But come tell me all that has
happened to you. End of chapter 19 and 20 of

(01:05:43):
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar RiceBurroughs, read by your lovely
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Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Chapters 19 & 20

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs - Chapters 19 & 20