Chapter XX
Heredity
When Jane realized that she was being borne away a captive by thestrange forest creature who had rescued her from the clutches of theape she struggled desperately to escape, but the strong arms that heldher as easily as though she had been but a day-old babe only pressed alittle more tightly.
So presently she gave up the futile effort and lay quietly, lookingthrough half-closed lids at the face of the man who strode easilythrough the tangled undergrowth with her.
The face above her was one of extraordinary beauty.
A perfect type of the strongly masculine, unmarred by dissipation, orbrutal or degrading passions. For, though Tarzan of the Apes was akiller of men and of beasts, he killed as the hunter kills,dispassionately, except on those rare occasions when he had killed forhate--though not the brooding, malevolent hate which marks the featuresof its own with hideous lines.
When Tarzan killed he more often smiled than scowled, and smiles arethe foundation of beauty.
One thing the girl had noticed particularly when she had seen Tarzanrushing upon Terkoz--the vivid scarlet band upon his forehead, fromabove the left eye to the scalp; but now as she scanned his featuresshe noticed that it was gone, and only a thin white line marked thespot where it had been.
As she lay more quietly in his arms Tarzan slightly relaxed his gripupon her.
Once he looked down into her eyes and smiled, and the girl had to closeher own to shut out the vision of that handsome, winning face.
Presently Tarzan took to the trees, and Jane, wondering that she feltno fear, began to realize that in many respects she had never felt moresecure in her whole life than now as she lay in the arms of thisstrong, wild creature, being borne, God alone knew where or to whatfate, deeper and deeper into the savage fastness of the untamed forest.
When, with closed eyes, she commenced to speculate upon the future, andterrifying fears were conjured by a vivid imagination, she had but toraise her lids and look upon that noble face so close to hers todissipate the last remnant of apprehension.
No, he could never harm her; of that she was convinced when shetranslated the fine features and the frank, brave eyes above her intothe chivalry which they proclaimed.
On and on they went through what seemed to Jane a solid mass ofverdure, yet ever there appeared to open before this forest god apassage, as by magic, which closed behind them as they passed.
Scarce a branch scraped against her, yet above and below, before andbehind, the view presented naught but a solid mass of inextricablyinterwoven branches and creepers.
As Tarzan moved steadily onward his mind was occupied with many strangeand new thoughts. Here was a problem the like of which he had neverencountered, and he felt rather than reasoned that he must meet it as aman and not as an ape.
The free movement through the middle terrace, which was the route hehad followed for the most part, had helped to cool the ardor of thefirst fierce passion of his new found love.
Now he discovered himself speculating upon the fate which would havefallen to the girl had he not rescued her from Terkoz.
He knew why the ape had not killed her, and he commenced to compare hisintentions with those of Terkoz.
True, it was the order of the jungle for the male to take his mate byforce; but could Tarzan be guided by the laws of the beasts? Was notTarzan a Man? But what did men do? He was puzzled; for he did notknow.
He wished that he might ask the girl, and then it came to him that shehad already answered him in the futile struggle she had made to escapeand to repulse him.
But now they had come to their destination, and Tarzan of the Apes withJane in his strong arms, swung lightly to the turf of the arena wherethe great apes held their councils and danced the wild orgy of theDum-Dum.
Though they had come many miles, it was still but midafternoon, and theamphitheater was bathed in the half light which filtered through themaze of encircling foliage.
The green turf looked soft and cool and inviting. The myriad noises ofthe jungle seemed far distant and hushed to a mere echo of blurredsounds, rising and falling like the surf upon a remote shore.
A feeling of dreamy peacefulness stole over Jane as she sank down uponthe grass where Tarzan had placed her, and as she looked up at hisgreat figure towering above her, there was added a strange sense ofperfect security.
As she watched him from beneath half-closed lids, Tarzan crossed thelittle circular clearing toward the trees upon the further side. Shenoted the graceful majesty of his carriage, the perfect symmetry of hismagnificent figure and the poise of his well-shaped head upon his broadshoulders.
What a perfect creature! There could be naught of cruelty or basenessbeneath that godlike exterior. Never, she thought had such a manstrode the earth since God created the first in his own image.
With a bound Tarzan sprang into the trees and disappeared. Janewondered where he had gone. Had he left her there to her fate in thelonely jungle?
She glanced nervously about. Every vine and bush seemed but thelurking-place of some huge and horrible beast waiting to bury gleamingfangs into her soft flesh. Every sound she magnified into the stealthycreeping of a sinuous and malignant body.
How different now that he had left her!
For a few minutes that seemed hours to the frightened girl, she satwith tense nerves waiting for the spring of the crouching thing thatwas to end her misery of apprehension.
She almost prayed for the cruel teeth that would give herunconsciousness and surcease from the agony of fear.
She heard a sudden, slight sound behind her. With a cry she sprang toher feet and turned to face her end.
There stood Tarzan, his arms filled with ripe and luscious fruit.
Jane reeled and would have fallen, had not Tarzan, dropping his burden,caught her in his arms. She did not lose consciousness, but she clungtightly to him, shuddering and trembling like a frightened deer.
Tarzan of the Apes stroked her soft hair and tried to comfort and quiether as Kala had him, when, as a little ape, he had been frightened bySabor, the lioness, or Histah, the snake.
Once he pressed his lips lightly upon her forehead, and she did notmove, but closed her eyes and sighed.
She could not analyze her feelings, nor did she wish to attempt it.She was satisfied to feel the safety of those strong arms, and to leaveher future to fate; for the last few hours had taught her to trust thisstrange wild creature of the forest as she would have trusted but fewof the men of her acquaintance.
As she thought of the strangeness of it, there commenced to dawn uponher the realization that she had, possibly, learned something elsewhich she had never really known before--love. She wondered and thenshe smiled.
And still smiling, she pushed Tarzan gently away; and looking at himwith a half-smiling, half-quizzical expression that made her facewholly entrancing, she pointed to the fruit upon the ground, and seatedherself upon the edge of the earthen drum of the anthropoids, forhunger was asserting itself.
Tarzan quickly gathered up the fruit, and, bringing it, laid it at herfeet; and then he, too, sat upon the drum beside her, and with hisknife opened and prepared the various fruits for her meal.
Together and in silence they ate, occasionally stealing sly glances atone another, until finally Jane broke into a merry laugh in whichTarzan joined.
"I wish you spoke English," said the girl.
Tarzan shook his head, and an expression of wistful and patheticlonging sobered his laughing eyes.
Then Jane tried speaking to him in French, and then in German; but shehad to laugh at her own blundering attempt at the latter tongue.
"Anyway," she said to him in English, "you understand my German as wellas they did in Berlin."
Tarzan had long since reached a decision as to what his futureprocedure should be. He had had time to recollect all that he had readof the ways of men and women in the books at the cabin. He would actas he imagined the men in the books would have acted
were they in hisplace.
Again he rose and went into the trees, but first he tried to explain bymeans of signs that he would return shortly, and he did so well thatJane understood and was not afraid when he had gone.
Only a feeling of loneliness came over her and she watched the pointwhere he had disappeared, with longing eyes, awaiting his return. Asbefore, she was appraised of his presence by a soft sound behind her,and turned to see him coming across the turf with a great armful ofbranches.
Then he went back again into the jungle and in a few minutes reappearedwith a quantity of soft grasses and ferns.
Two more trips he made until he had quite a pile of material at hand.
Then he spread the ferns and grasses upon the ground in a soft flatbed, and above it leaned many branches together so that they met a fewfeet over its center. Upon these he spread layers of huge leaves ofthe great elephant's ear, and with more branches and more leaves heclosed one end of the little shelter he had built.
Then they sat down together again upon the edge of the drum and triedto talk by signs.
The magnificent diamond locket which hung about Tarzan's neck, had beena source of much wonderment to Jane. She pointed to it now, and Tarzanremoved it and handed the pretty bauble to her.
She saw that it was the work of a skilled artisan and that the diamondswere of great brilliancy and superbly set, but the cutting of themdenoted that they were of a former day. She noticed too that thelocket opened, and, pressing the hidden clasp, she saw the two halvesspring apart to reveal in either section an ivory miniature.
One was of a beautiful woman and the other might have been a likenessof the man who sat beside her, except for a subtle difference ofexpression that was scarcely definable.
She looked up at Tarzan to find him leaning toward her gazing on theminiatures with an expression of astonishment. He reached out his handfor the locket and took it away from her, examining the likenesseswithin with unmistakable signs of surprise and new interest. Hismanner clearly denoted that he had never before seen them, nor imaginedthat the locket opened.
This fact caused Jane to indulge in further speculation, and it taxedher imagination to picture how this beautiful ornament came into thepossession of a wild and savage creature of the unexplored jungles ofAfrica.
Still more wonderful was how it contained the likeness of one who mightbe a brother, or, more likely, the father of this woodland demi-god whowas even ignorant of the fact that the locket opened.
Tarzan was still gazing with fixity at the two faces. Presently heremoved the quiver from his shoulder, and emptying the arrows upon theground reached into the bottom of the bag-like receptacle and drewforth a flat object wrapped in many soft leaves and tied with bits oflong grass.
Carefully he unwrapped it, removing layer after layer of leaves untilat length he held a photograph in his hand.
Pointing to the miniature of the man within the locket he handed thephotograph to Jane, holding the open locket beside it.
The photograph only served to puzzle the girl still more, for it wasevidently another likeness of the same man whose picture rested in thelocket beside that of the beautiful young woman.
Tarzan was looking at her with an expression of puzzled bewilderment inhis eyes as she glanced up at him. He seemed to be framing a questionwith his lips.
The girl pointed to the photograph and then to the miniature and thento him, as though to indicate that she thought the likenesses were ofhim, but he only shook his head, and then shrugging his greatshoulders, he took the photograph from her and having carefullyrewrapped it, placed it again in the bottom of his quiver.
For a few moments he sat in silence, his eyes bent upon the ground,while Jane held the little locket in her hand, turning it over and overin an endeavor to find some further clue that might lead to theidentity of its original owner.
At length a simple explanation occurred to her.
The locket had belonged to Lord Greystoke, and the likenesses were ofhimself and Lady Alice.
This wild creature had simply found it in the cabin by the beach. Howstupid of her not to have thought of that solution before.
But to account for the strange likeness between Lord Greystoke and thisforest god--that was quite beyond her, and it is not strange that shecould not imagine that this naked savage was indeed an English nobleman.
At length Tarzan looked up to watch the girl as she examined thelocket. He could not fathom the meaning of the faces within, but hecould read the interest and fascination upon the face of the live youngcreature by his side.
She noticed that he was watching her and thinking that he wished hisornament again she held it out to him. He took it from her and takingthe chain in his two hands he placed it about her neck, smiling at herexpression of surprise at his unexpected gift.
Jane shook her head vehemently and would have removed the golden linksfrom about her throat, but Tarzan would not let her. Taking her handsin his, when she insisted upon it, he held them tightly to prevent her.
At last she desisted and with a little laugh raised the locket to herlips.
Tarzan did not know precisely what she meant, but he guessed correctlythat it was her way of acknowledging the gift, and so he rose, andtaking the locket in his hand, stooped gravely like some courtier ofold, and pressed his lips upon it where hers had rested.
It was a stately and gallant little compliment performed with the graceand dignity of utter unconsciousness of self. It was the hall-mark ofhis aristocratic birth, the natural outcropping of many generations offine breeding, an hereditary instinct of graciousness which a lifetimeof uncouth and savage training and environment could not eradicate.
It was growing dark now, and so they ate again of the fruit which wasboth food and drink for them; then Tarzan rose, and leading Jane to thelittle bower he had erected, motioned her to go within.
For the first time in hours a feeling of fear swept over her, andTarzan felt her draw away as though shrinking from him.
Contact with this girl for half a day had left a very diferent Tarzanfrom the one on whom the morning's sun had risen.
Now, in every fiber of his being, heredity spoke louder than training.
He had not in one swift transition become a polished gentleman from asavage ape-man, but at last the instincts of the former predominated,and over all was the desire to please the woman he loved, and to appearwell in her eyes.
So Tarzan of the Apes did the only thing he knew to assure Jane of hersafety. He removed his hunting knife from its sheath and handed it toher hilt first, again motioning her into the bower.
The girl understood, and taking the long knife she entered and lay downupon the soft grasses while Tarzan of the Apes stretched himself uponthe ground across the entrance.
And thus the rising sun found them in the morning.
When Jane awoke, she did not at first recall the strange events of thepreceding day, and so she wondered at her odd surroundings--the littleleafy bower, the soft grasses of her bed, the unfamiliar prospect fromthe opening at her feet.
Slowly the circumstances of her position crept one by one into hermind. And then a great wonderment arose in her heart--a mighty wave ofthankfulness and gratitude that though she had been in such terribledanger, yet she was unharmed.
She moved to the entrance of the shelter to look for Tarzan. He wasgone; but this time no fear assailed her for she knew that he wouldreturn.
In the grass at the entrance to her bower she saw the imprint of hisbody where he had lain all night to guard her. She knew that the factthat he had been there was all that had permitted her to sleep in suchpeaceful security.
With him near, who could entertain fear? She wondered if there wasanother man on earth with whom a girl could feel so safe in the heartof this savage African jungle. Even the lions and panthers had nofears for her now.
She looked up to see his lithe form drop softly from a near-by tree.As he caught her eyes upon him his face lighted with that frank an
dradiant smile that had won her confidence the day before.
As he approached her Jane's heart beat faster and her eyes brightenedas they had never done before at the approach of any man.
He had again been gathering fruit and this he laid at the entrance ofher bower. Once more they sat down together to eat.
Jane commenced to wonder what his plans were. Would he take her backto the beach or would he keep her here? Suddenly she realized that thematter did not seem to give her much concern. Could it be that she didnot care!
She began to comprehend, also, that she was entirely contented sittinghere by the side of this smiling giant eating delicious fruit in asylvan paradise far within the remote depths of an African jungle--thatshe was contented and very happy.
She could not understand it. Her reason told her that she should betorn by wild anxieties, weighted by dread fears, cast down by gloomyforebodings; but instead, her heart was singing and she was smilinginto the answering face of the man beside her.
When they had finished their breakfast Tarzan went to her bower andrecovered his knife. The girl had entirely forgotten it. She realizedthat it was because she had forgotten the fear that prompted her toaccept it.
Motioning her to follow, Tarzan walked toward the trees at the edge ofthe arena, and taking her in one strong arm swung to the branches above.
The girl knew that he was taking her back to her people, and she couldnot understand the sudden feeling of loneliness and sorrow which creptover her.
For hours they swung slowly along.
Tarzan of the Apes did not hurry. He tried to draw out the sweetpleasure of that journey with those dear arms about his neck as long aspossible, and so he went far south of the direct route to the beach.
Several times they halted for brief rests, which Tarzan did not need,and at noon they stopped for an hour at a little brook, where theyquenched their thirst, and ate.
So it was nearly sunset when they came to the clearing, and Tarzan,dropping to the ground beside a great tree, parted the tall junglegrass and pointed out the little cabin to her.
She took him by the hand to lead him to it, that she might tell herfather that this man had saved her from death and worse than death,that he had watched over her as carefully as a mother might have done.
But again the timidity of the wild thing in the face of humanhabitation swept over Tarzan of the Apes. He drew back, shaking hishead.
The girl came close to him, looking up with pleading eyes. Somehow shecould not bear the thought of his going back into the terrible junglealone.
Still he shook his head, and finally he drew her to him very gently andstooped to kiss her, but first he looked into her eyes and waited tolearn if she were pleased, or if she would repulse him.
Just an instant the girl hesitated, and then she realized the truth,and throwing her arms about his neck she drew his face to hers andkissed him--unashamed.
"I love you--I love you," she murmured.
From far in the distance came the faint sound of many guns. Tarzan andJane raised their heads.
From the cabin came Mr. Philander and Esmeralda.
From where Tarzan and the girl stood they could not see the two vesselslying at anchor in the harbor.
Tarzan pointed toward the sounds, touched his breast and pointed again.She understood. He was going, and something told her that it wasbecause he thought her people were in danger.
Again he kissed her.
"Come back to me," she whispered. "I shall wait for you--always."
He was gone--and Jane turned to walk across the clearing to the cabin.
Mr. Philander was the first to see her. It was dusk and Mr. Philanderwas very near sighted.
"Quickly, Esmeralda!" he cried. "Let us seek safety within; it is alioness. Bless me!"
Esmeralda did not bother to verify Mr. Philander's vision. His tonewas enough. She was within the cabin and had slammed and bolted thedoor before he had finished pronouncing her name. The "Bless me" wasstartled out of Mr. Philander by the discovery that Esmeralda, in theexuberance of her haste, had fastened him upon the same side of thedoor as was the close-approaching lioness.
He beat furiously upon the heavy portal.
"Esmeralda! Esmeralda!" he shrieked. "Let me in. I am being devouredby a lion."
Esmeralda thought that the noise upon the door was made by the lionessin her attempts to pursue her, so, after her custom, she fainted.
Mr. Philander cast a frightened glance behind him.
Horrors! The thing was quite close now. He tried to scramble up theside of the cabin, and succeeded in catching a fleeting hold upon thethatched roof.
For a moment he hung there, clawing with his feet like a cat on aclothesline, but presently a piece of the thatch came away, and Mr.Philander, preceding it, was precipitated upon his back.
At the instant he fell a remarkable item of natural history leaped tohis mind. If one feigns death lions and lionesses are supposed toignore one, according to Mr. Philander's faulty memory.
So Mr. Philander lay as he had fallen, frozen into the horrid semblanceof death. As his arms and legs had been extended stiffly upward as hecame to earth upon his back the attitude of death was anything butimpressive.
Jane had been watching his antics in mild-eyed surprise. Now shelaughed--a little choking gurgle of a laugh; but it was enough. Mr.Philander rolled over upon his side and peered about. At length hediscovered her.
"Jane!" he cried. "Jane Porter. Bless me!"
He scrambled to his feet and rushed toward her. He could not believethat it was she, and alive.
"Bless me!" Where did you come from? Where in the world have youbeen? How--"
"Mercy, Mr. Philander," interrupted the girl, "I can never remember somany questions."
"Well, well," said Mr. Philander. "Bless me! I am so filled withsurprise and exuberant delight at seeing you safe and well again that Iscarcely know what I am saying, really. But come, tell me all that hashappened to you."