Chapter XXVII
The Giant Again
A taxicab drew up before an oldfashioned residence upon the outskirtsof Baltimore.
A man of about forty, well built and with strong, regular features,stepped out, and paying the chauffeur dismissed him.
A moment later the passenger was entering the library of the old home.
"Ah, Mr. Canler!" exclaimed an old man, rising to greet him.
"Good evening, my dear Professor," cried the man, extending a cordialhand.
"Who admitted you?" asked the professor.
"Esmeralda."
"Then she will acquaint Jane with the fact that you are here," said theold man.
"No, Professor," replied Canler, "for I came primarily to see you."
"Ah, I am honored," said Professor Porter.
"Professor," continued Robert Canler, with great deliberation, asthough carefully weighing his words, "I have come this evening to speakwith you about Jane.
"You know my aspirations, and you have been generous enough to approvemy suit."
Professor Archimedes Q. Porter fidgeted in his armchair. The subjectalways made him uncomfortable. He could not understand why. Canlerwas a splendid match.
"But Jane," continued Canler, "I cannot understand her. She puts meoff first on one ground and then another. I have always the feelingthat she breathes a sigh of relief every time I bid her good-by."
"Tut, tut," said Professor Porter. "Tut, tut, Mr. Canler. Jane is amost obedient daughter. She will do precisely as I tell her."
"Then I can still count on your support?" asked Canler, a tone ofrelief marking his voice.
"Certainly, sir; certainly, sir," exclaimed Professor Porter. "Howcould you doubt it?"
"There is young Clayton, you know," suggested Canler. "He has beenhanging about for months. I don't know that Jane cares for him; butbeside his title they say he has inherited a very considerable estatefrom his father, and it might not be strange,--if he finally won her,unless--" and Canler paused.
"Tut--tut, Mr. Canler; unless--what?"
"Unless, you see fit to request that Jane and I be married at once,"said Canler, slowly and distinctly.
"I have already suggested to Jane that it would be desirable," saidProfessor Porter sadly, "for we can no longer afford to keep up thishouse, and live as her associations demand."
"What was her reply?" asked Canler.
"She said she was not ready to marry anyone yet," replied ProfessorPorter, "and that we could go and live upon the farm in northernWisconsin which her mother left her.
"It is a little more than self-supporting. The tenants have alwaysmade a living from it, and been able to send Jane a trifle beside, eachyear. She is planning on our going up there the first of the week.Philander and Mr. Clayton have already gone to get things in readinessfor us."
"Clayton has gone there?" exclaimed Canler, visibly chagrined. "Whywas I not told? I would gladly have gone and seen that every comfortwas provided."
"Jane feels that we are already too much in your debt, Mr. Canler,"said Professor Porter.
Canler was about to reply, when the sound of footsteps came from thehall without, and Jane entered the room.
"Oh, I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed, pausing on the threshold. "Ithought you were alone, papa."
"It is only I, Jane," said Canler, who had risen, "won't you come inand join the family group? We were just speaking of you."
"Thank you," said Jane, entering and taking the chair Canler placed forher. "I only wanted to tell papa that Tobey is coming down from thecollege tomorrow to pack his books. I want you to be sure, papa, toindicate all that you can do without until fall. Please don't carrythis entire library to Wisconsin, as you would have carried it toAfrica, if I had not put my foot down."
"Was Tobey here?" asked Professor Porter.
"Yes, I just left him. He and Esmeralda are exchanging religiousexperiences on the back porch now."
"Tut, tut, I must see him at once!" cried the professor. "Excuse mejust a moment, children," and the old man hastened from the room.
As soon as he was out of earshot Canler turned to Jane.
"See here, Jane," he said bluntly. "How long is this thing going onlike this? You haven't refused to marry me, but you haven't promisedeither. I want to get the license tomorrow, so that we can be marriedquietly before you leave for Wisconsin. I don't care for any fuss orfeathers, and I'm sure you don't either."
The girl turned cold, but she held her head bravely.
"Your father wishes it, you know," added Canler.
"Yes, I know."
She spoke scarcely above a whisper.
"Do you realize that you are buying me, Mr. Canler?" she said finally,and in a cold, level voice. "Buying me for a few paltry dollars? Ofcourse you do, Robert Canler, and the hope of just such a contingencywas in your mind when you loaned papa the money for that hair-brainedescapade, which but for a most mysterious circumstance would have beensurprisingly successful.
"But you, Mr. Canler, would have been the most surprised. You had noidea that the venture would succeed. You are too good a businessmanfor that. And you are too good a businessman to loan money for buriedtreasure seeking, or to loan money without security--unless you hadsome special object in view.
"You knew that without security you had a greater hold on the honor ofthe Porters than with it. You knew the one best way to force me tomarry you, without seeming to force me.
"You have never mentioned the loan. In any other man I should havethought that the prompting of a magnanimous and noble character. Butyou are deep, Mr. Robert Canler. I know you better than you think Iknow you.
"I shall certainly marry you if there is no other way, but let usunderstand each other once and for all."
While she spoke Robert Canler had alternately flushed and paled, andwhen she ceased speaking he arose, and with a cynical smile upon hisstrong face, said:
"You surprise me, Jane. I thought you had more self-control--morepride. Of course you are right. I am buying you, and I knew that youknew it, but I thought you would prefer to pretend that it wasotherwise. I should have thought your self respect and your Porterpride would have shrunk from admitting, even to yourself, that you werea bought woman. But have it your own way, dear girl," he addedlightly. "I am going to have you, and that is all that interests me."
Without a word the girl turned and left the room.
Jane was not married before she left with her father and Esmeralda forher little Wisconsin farm, and as she coldly bid Robert Canler goodbyas her train pulled out, he called to her that he would join them in aweek or two.
At their destination they were met by Clayton and Mr. Philander in ahuge touring car belonging to the former, and quickly whirled awaythrough the dense northern woods toward the little farm which the girlhad not visited before since childhood.
The farmhouse, which stood on a little elevation some hundred yardsfrom the tenant house, had undergone a complete transformation duringthe three weeks that Clayton and Mr. Philander had been there.
The former had imported a small army of carpenters and plasterers,plumbers and painters from a distant city, and what had been but adilapidated shell when they reached it was now a cosy little two-storyhouse filled with every modern convenience procurable in so short atime.
"Why, Mr. Clayton, what have you done?" cried Jane Porter, her heartsinking within her as she realized the probable size of the expenditurethat had been made.
"S-sh," cautioned Clayton. "Don't let your father guess. If you don'ttell him he will never notice, and I simply couldn't think of himliving in the terrible squalor and sordidness which Mr. Philander and Ifound. It was so little when I would like to do so much, Jane. Forhis sake, please, never mention it."
"But you know that we can't repay you," cried the girl. "Why do youwant to put me under such terrible obligations?"
"Don't, Jane," said Clayton sadly. "If it had been just you, believeme, I
wouldn't have done it, for I knew from the start that it wouldonly hurt me in your eyes, but I couldn't think of that dear old manliving in the hole we found here. Won't you please believe that I didit just for him and give me that little crumb of pleasure at least?"
"I do believe you, Mr. Clayton," said the girl, "because I know you arebig enough and generous enough to have done it just for him--and, ohCecil, I wish I might repay you as you deserve--as you would wish."
"Why can't you, Jane?"
"Because I love another."
"Canler?"
"No."
"But you are going to marry him. He told me as much before I leftBaltimore."
The girl winced.
"I do not love him," she said, almost proudly.
"Is it because of the money, Jane?"
She nodded.
"Then am I so much less desirable than Canler? I have money enough,and far more, for every need," he said bitterly.
"I do not love you, Cecil," she said, "but I respect you. If I mustdisgrace myself by such a bargain with any man, I prefer that it be oneI already despise. I should loathe the man to whom I sold myselfwithout love, whomsoever he might be. You will be happier," sheconcluded, "alone--with my respect and friendship, than with me and mycontempt."
He did not press the matter further, but if ever a man had murder inhis heart it was William Cecil Clayton, Lord Greystoke, when, a weeklater, Robert Canler drew up before the farmhouse in his purring sixcylinder.
A week passed; a tense, uneventful, but uncomfortable week for all theinmates of the little Wisconsin farmhouse.
Canler was insistent that Jane marry him at once.
At length she gave in from sheer loathing of the continued and hatefulimportuning.
It was agreed that on the morrow Canler was to drive to town and bringback the license and a minister.
Clayton had wanted to leave as soon as the plan was announced, but thegirl's tired, hopeless look kept him. He could not desert her.
Something might happen yet, he tried to console himself by thinking.And in his heart, he knew that it would require but a tiny spark toturn his hatred for Canler into the blood lust of the killer.
Early the next morning Canler set out for town.
In the east smoke could be seen lying low over the forest, for a firehad been raging for a week not far from them, but the wind still lay inthe west and no danger threatened them.
About noon Jane started off for a walk. She would not let Claytonaccompany her. She wanted to be alone, she said, and he respected herwishes.
In the house Professor Porter and Mr. Philander were immersed in anabsorbing discussion of some weighty scientific problem. Esmeraldadozed in the kitchen, and Clayton, heavy-eyed after a sleepless night,threw himself down upon the couch in the living room and soon droppedinto a fitful slumber.
To the east the black smoke clouds rose higher into the heavens,suddenly they eddied, and then commenced to drift rapidly toward thewest.
On and on they came. The inmates of the tenant house were gone, for itwas market day, and none was there to see the rapid approach of thefiery demon.
Soon the flames had spanned the road to the south and cut off Canler'sreturn. A little fluctuation of the wind now carried the path of theforest fire to the north, then blew back and the flames nearly stoodstill as though held in leash by some master hand.
Suddenly, out of the northeast, a great black car came careening downthe road.
With a jolt it stopped before the cottage, and a black-haired giantleaped out to run up onto the porch. Without a pause he rushed intothe house. On the couch lay Clayton. The man started in surprise, butwith a bound was at the side of the sleeping man.
Shaking him roughly by the shoulder, he cried:
"My God, Clayton, are you all mad here? Don't you know you are nearlysurrounded by fire? Where is Miss Porter?"
Clayton sprang to his feet. He did not recognize the man, but heunderstood the words and was upon the veranda in a bound.
"Scott!" he cried, and then, dashing back into the house, "Jane! Jane!where are you?"
In an instant Esmeralda, Professor Porter and Mr. Philander had joinedthe two men.
"Where is Miss Jane?" cried Clayton, seizing Esmeralda by the shouldersand shaking her roughly.
"Oh, Gaberelle, Mister Clayton, she done gone for a walk."
"Hasn't she come back yet?" and, without waiting for a reply, Claytondashed out into the yard, followed by the others. "Which way did shego?" cried the black-haired giant of Esmeralda.
"Down that road," cried the frightened woman, pointing toward the southwhere a mighty wall of roaring flames shut out the view.
"Put these people in the other car," shouted the stranger to Clayton."I saw one as I drove up--and get them out of here by the north road.
"Leave my car here. If I find Miss Porter we shall need it. If Idon't, no one will need it. Do as I say," as Clayton hesitated, andthen they saw the lithe figure bound away cross the clearing toward thenorthwest where the forest still stood, untouched by flame.
In each rose the unaccountable feeling that a great responsibility hadbeen raised from their shoulders; a kind of implicit confidence in thepower of the stranger to save Jane if she could be saved.
"Who was that?" asked Professor Porter.
"I do not know," replied Clayton. "He called me by name and he knewJane, for he asked for her. And he called Esmeralda by name."
"There was something most startlingly familiar about him," exclaimedMr. Philander, "And yet, bless me, I know I never saw him before."
"Tut, tut!" cried Professor Porter. "Most remarkable! Who could ithave been, and why do I feel that Jane is safe, now that he has set outin search of her?"
"I can't tell you, Professor," said Clayton soberly, "but I know I havethe same uncanny feeling."
"But come," he cried, "we must get out of here ourselves, or we shallbe shut off," and the party hastened toward Clayton's car.
When Jane turned to retrace her steps homeward, she was alarmed to notehow near the smoke of the forest fire seemed, and as she hastenedonward her alarm became almost a panic when she perceived that therushing flames were rapidly forcing their way between herself and thecottage.
At length she was compelled to turn into the dense thicket and attemptto force her way to the west in an effort to circle around the flamesand reach the house.
In a short time the futility of her attempt became apparent and thenher one hope lay in retracing her steps to the road and flying for herlife to the south toward the town.
The twenty minutes that it took her to regain the road was all that hadbeen needed to cut off her retreat as effectually as her advance hadbeen cut off before.
A short run down the road brought her to a horrified stand, for therebefore her was another wall of flame. An arm of the main conflagrationhad shot out a half mile south of its parent to embrace this tiny stripof road in its implacable clutches.
Jane knew that it was useless again to attempt to force her way throughthe undergrowth.
She had tried it once, and failed. Now she realized that it would bebut a matter of minutes ere the whole space between the north and thesouth would be a seething mass of billowing flames.
Calmly the girl kneeled down in the dust of the roadway and prayed forstrength to meet her fate bravely, and for the delivery of her fatherand her friends from death.
Suddenly she heard her name being called aloud through the forest:
"Jane! Jane Porter!" It rang strong and clear, but in a strange voice.
"Here!" she called in reply. "Here! In the roadway!"
Then through the branches of the trees she saw a figure swinging withthe speed of a squirrel.
A veering of the wind blew a cloud of smoke about them and she could nolonger see the man who was speeding toward her, but suddenly she felt agreat arm about her. Then she was lifted up, and she felt the rushingof the wind and the occasional brush of a branch as she
was borne along.
She opened her eyes.
Far below her lay the undergrowth and the hard earth.
About her was the waving foliage of the forest.
From tree to tree swung the giant figure which bore her, and it seemedto Jane that she was living over in a dream the experience that hadbeen hers in that far African jungle.
Oh, if it were but the same man who had borne her so swiftly throughthe tangled verdure on that other day! but that was impossible! Yetwho else in all the world was there with the strength and agility to dowhat this man was now doing?
She stole a sudden glance at the face close to hers, and then she gavea little frightened gasp. It was he!
"My forest man!" she murmured. "No, I must be delirious!"
"Yes, your man, Jane Porter. Your savage, primeval man come out of thejungle to claim his mate--the woman who ran away from him," he addedalmost fiercely.
"I did not run away," she whispered. "I would only consent to leavewhen they had waited a week for you to return."
They had come to a point beyond the fire now, and he had turned back tothe clearing.
Side by side they were walking toward the cottage. The wind hadchanged once more and the fire was burning back upon itself--anotherhour like that and it would be burned out.
"Why did you not return?" she asked.
"I was nursing D'Arnot. He was badly wounded."
"Ah, I knew it!" she exclaimed.
"They said you had gone to join the blacks--that they were your people."
He laughed.
"But you did not believe them, Jane?"
"No;--what shall I call you?" she asked. "What is your name?"
"I was Tarzan of the Apes when you first knew me," he said.
"Tarzan of the Apes!" she cried--"and that was your note I answeredwhen I left?"
"Yes, whose did you think it was?"
"I did not know; only that it could not be yours, for Tarzan of theApes had written in English, and you could not understand a word of anylanguage."
Again he laughed.
"It is a long story, but it was I who wrote what I could not speak--andnow D'Arnot has made matters worse by teaching me to speak Frenchinstead of English.
"Come," he added, "jump into my car, we must overtake your father, theyare only a little way ahead."
As they drove along, he said:
"Then when you said in your note to Tarzan of the Apes that you lovedanother--you might have meant me?"
"I might have," she answered, simply.
"But in Baltimore--Oh, how I have searched for you--they told me youwould possibly be married by now. That a man named Canler had come uphere to wed you. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"Do you love him?"
"No."
"Do you love me?"
She buried her face in her hands.
"I am promised to another. I cannot answer you, Tarzan of the Apes,"she cried.
"You have answered. Now, tell me why you would marry one you do notlove."
"My father owes him money."
Suddenly there came back to Tarzan the memory of the letter he hadread--and the name Robert Canler and the hinted trouble which he hadbeen unable to understand then.
He smiled.
"If your father had not lost the treasure you would not feel forced tokeep your promise to this man Canler?"
"I could ask him to release me."
"And if he refused?"
"I have given my promise."
He was silent for a moment. The car was plunging along the uneven roadat a reckless pace, for the fire showed threateningly at their right,and another change of the wind might sweep it on with raging furyacross this one avenue of escape.
Finally they passed the danger point, and Tarzan reduced their speed.
"Suppose I should ask him?" ventured Tarzan.
"He would scarcely accede to the demand of a stranger," said the girl."Especially one who wanted me himself."
"Terkoz did," said Tarzan, grimly.
Jane shuddered and looked fearfully up at the giant figure beside her,for she knew that he meant the great anthropoid he had killed in herdefense.
"This is not the African jungle," she said. "You are no longer asavage beast. You are a gentleman, and gentlemen do not kill in coldblood."
"I am still a wild beast at heart," he said, in a low voice, as thoughto himself.
Again they were silent for a time.
"Jane," said the man, at length, "if you were free, would you marry me?"
She did not reply at once, but he waited patiently.
The girl was trying to collect her thoughts.
What did she know of this strange creature at her side? What did heknow of himself? Who was he? Who, his parents?
Why, his very name echoed his mysterious origin and his savage life.
He had no name. Could she be happy with this jungle waif? Could shefind anything in common with a husband whose life had been spent in thetree tops of an African wilderness, frolicking and fighting with fierceanthropoids; tearing his food from the quivering flank of fresh-killedprey, sinking his strong teeth into raw flesh, and tearing away hisportion while his mates growled and fought about him for their share?
Could he ever rise to her social sphere? Could she bear to think ofsinking to his? Would either be happy in such a horrible misalliance?
"You do not answer," he said. "Do you shrink from wounding me?"
"I do not know what answer to make," said Jane sadly. "I do not knowmy own mind."
"You do not love me, then?" he asked, in a level tone.
"Do not ask me. You will be happier without me. You were never meantfor the formal restrictions and conventionalities ofsociety--civilization would become irksome to you, and in a littlewhile you would long for the freedom of your old life--a life to whichI am as totally unfitted as you to mine."
"I think I understand you," he replied quietly. "I shall not urge you,for I would rather see you happy than to be happy myself. I see nowthat you could not be happy with--an ape."
There was just the faintest tinge of bitterness in his voice.
"Don't," she remonstrated. "Don't say that. You do not understand."
But before she could go on a sudden turn in the road brought them intothe midst of a little hamlet.
Before them stood Clayton's car surrounded by the party he had broughtfrom the cottage.