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They
had been walking from the beach toward the cabin as they talked, and now
they joined a little group sitting on camp stools in the shade of a great
tree beside the cabin.
Professor
Porter was there, and Mr. Philander and Clayton, with Lieutenant
Charpentier and two of his brother officers, while Esmeralda hovered in
the background, ever and anon venturing opinions and comments with the
freedom of an old and much-indulged family servant.
The
officers arose and saluted as their superior approached, and Clayton
surrendered his camp stool to Jane.
"We
were just discussing poor Paul's fate," said Captain Dufranne.
"Miss Porter insists that we have no absolute proof of his
death--nor have we. And on
the other hand she maintains that the continued absence of your omnipotent
jungle friend indicates that D'Arnot is still in need of his services,
either because he is wounded, or still is a prisoner in a more distant
native village."
"It
has been suggested," ventured Lieutenant Charpentier, "that the
wild man may have been a member of the tribe of blacks who attacked our
party--that he was hastening to aid THEM--his own people."
Jane
shot a quick glance at Clayton.
"It
seems vastly more reasonable," said Professor Porter.
"I
do not agree with you," objected Mr. Philander.
"He had ample opportunity to harm us himself, or to lead his
people against us. Instead,
during our long residence here, he has been uniformly consistent in his
role of protector and provider."
"That
is true," interjected Clayton, "yet we must not overlook the
fact that except for himself the only human beings within hundreds of
miles are savage cannibals. He
was armed precisely as are they, which indicates that he has maintained
relations of some nature with them, and the fact that he is but one
against possibly thousands suggests that these relations could scarcely
have been other than friendly."
"It
seems improbable then that he is not connected with them," remarked
the captain; "possibly a member of this tribe."
"Otherwise,"
added another of the officers, "how could he have lived a sufficient
length of time among the savage denizens of the jungle, brute and human,
to have become proficient in woodcraft, or in the use of African
weapons."
"You
are judging him according to your own standards, gentlemen," said
Jane. "An ordinary white man such as any of you--pardon me, I
did not mean just that--rather, a white man above the ordinary in physique
and intelligence could never, I grant you, have lived a year alone and
naked in this tropical jungle; but this man not only surpasses the average
white man in strength and agility, but as far transcends our trained
athletes and `strong men' as they surpass a day-old babe; and his courage
and ferocity in battle are those of the wild beast."
"He
has certainly won a loyal champion, Miss Porter," said Captain
Dufranne, laughing. "I
am sure that there be none of us here but would willingly face death a
hundred times in its most terrifying forms to deserve the tributes of one
even half so loyal--or so beautiful."
"You
would not wonder that I defend him," said the girl, "could you
have seen him as I saw him, battling in my behalf with that huge hairy
brute.
"Could
you have seen him charge the monster as a bull might charge a
grizzly--absolutely without sign of fear or hesitation--you would have
believed him more than human.
"Could
you have seen those mighty muscles knotting under the brown skin--could
you have seen them force back those awful fangs--you too would have
thought him invincible.
"And
could you have seen the chivalrous treatment which he accorded a strange
girl of a strange race, you would feel the same absolute confidence in him
that I feel."
"You
have won your suit, my fair pleader," cried the captain. "This
court finds the defendant not guilty, and the cruiser shall wait a few
days longer that he may have an opportunity to come and thank the divine
Portia."
"For
the Lord's sake honey," cried Esmeralda.
"You all don't mean to tell ME that you're going to stay right
here in this here land of carnivable animals when you all got the
opportunity to escapade on that boat?
Don't you tell me THAT, honey."
"Why,
Esmeralda! You should be
ashamed of yourself," cried Jane.
"Is this any way to show your gratitude to the man who saved
your life twice?"
"Well,
Miss Jane, that's all jest as you say; but that there forest man never did
save us to stay here. He done
save us so we all could get AWAY from here.
I expect he be mighty peevish when he find we ain't got no more
sense than to stay right here after he done give us the chance to get
away.
"I
hoped I'd never have to sleep in this here geological garden another night
and listen to all them lonesome noises that come out of that jumble after
dark."
"I
don't blame you a bit, Esmeralda," said Clayton, "and you
certainly did hit it off right when you called them `lonesome' noises.
I never have been able to find the right word for them but that's
it, don't you know, lonesome noises."
"You
and Esmeralda had better go and live on the cruiser," said Jane, in
fine scorn. "What would you think if you HAD to live all of your
life in that jungle as our forest man has done?"
"I'm
afraid I'd be a blooming bounder as a wild man," laughed Clayton,
ruefully. "Those noises at night make the hair on my head bristle.
I suppose that I should be ashamed to admit it, but it's the
truth."
"I
don't know about that," said Lieutenant Charpentier.
"I never thought much about fear and that sort of thing--never
tried to determine whether I was a coward or brave man; but the other
night as we lay in the jungle there after poor D'Arnot was taken, and
those jungle noises rose and fell around us I began to think that I was a
coward indeed. It was not the
roaring and growling of the big beasts that affected me so much as it was
the stealthy noises--the ones that you heard suddenly close by and then
listened vainly for a repetition of--the unaccountable sounds as of a
great body moving almost noiselessly, and the knowledge that you didn't
KNOW how close it was, or whether it were creeping closer after you ceased
to hear it? It was those
noises--and the eyes.
"MON
DIEU! I shall see them in the dark forever--the eyes that you see,
and those that you don't see, but feel--ah, they are the worst."
All
were silent for a moment, and then Jane spoke.
"And
he is out there," she said, in an awe-hushed whisper. "Those
eyes will be glaring at him to-night, and at your comrade Lieutenant
D'Arnot. Can you leave them,
gentlemen, without at least rendering them the passive succor which
remaining here a few days longer might insure them?"
"Tut,
tut, child," said Professor Porter.
"Captain Dufranne is willing to remain, and for my part I am
perfectly willing, perfectly willing--as I always have been to humor your
childish whims."
"We
can utilize the morrow in recovering the chest, Professor," suggested
Mr. Philander.
"Quite
so, quite so, Mr. Philander, I had almost forgotten the treasure,"
exclaimed Professor Porter. "Possibly
we can borrow some men from Captain Dufranne to assist us, and one of the
prisoners to point out the location of the chest."
"Most
assuredly, my dear Professor, we are all yours to command," said the
captain.
And
so it was arranged that on the next day Lieutenant Charpentier was to take
a detail of ten men, and one of the mutineers of the Arrow as a guide, and
unearth the treasure; and that the cruiser would remain for a full week in
the little harbor. At the end
of that time it was to be assumed that D'Arnot was truly dead, and that
the forest man would not return while they remained.
Then the two vessels were to leave with all the party.
Professor
Porter did not accompany the treasure-seekers on the following day, but
when he saw them returning empty-handed toward noon, he hastened forward
to meet them --his usual preoccupied indifference entirely vanished, and
in its place a nervous and excited manner.
"Where
is the treasure?" he cried to Clayton, while yet a hundred feet
separated them.
Clayton
shook his head.
"Gone,"
he said, as he neared the professor.
"Gone! It cannot be. Who
could have taken it?" cried Professor Porter.
"God
only knows, Professor," replied Clayton.
"We might have thought the fellow who guided us was lying
about the location, but his surprise and consternation on finding no chest
beneath the body of the murdered Snipes were too real to be feigned.
And then our spades showed us that SOMETHING had been buried
beneath the corpse, for a hole had been there and it had been filled with
loose earth."
"But
who could have taken it?" repeated Professor Porter.
"Suspicion
might naturally fall on the men of the cruiser," said Lieutenant
Charpentier, "but for the fact that sub-lieutenant Janviers here
assures me that no men have had shore leave--that none has been on shore
since we anchored here except under command of an officer.
I do not know that you would suspect our men, but I am glad that
there is now no chance for suspicion to fall on them," he concluded.
"It
would never have occurred to me to suspect the men to whom we owe so
much," replied Professor Porter, graciously. "I would as soon
suspect my dear Clayton here, or Mr. Philander."
The
Frenchmen smiled, both officers and sailors.
It was plain to see that a burden had been lifted from their minds.
"The
treasure has been gone for some time," continued Clayton. "In
fact the body fell apart as we lifted it, which indicates that whoever
removed the treasure did so while the corpse was still fresh, for it was
intact when we first uncovered it."
"There
must have been several in the party," said Jane, who had joined them.
"You remember that it took four men to carry it."
"By
jove!" cried Clayton. "That's
right. It must have been done
by a party of blacks. Probably
one of them saw the men bury the chest and then returned immediately after
with a party of his friends, and carried it off."
"Speculation
is futile," said Professor Porter sadly.
"The chest is gone. We
shall never see it again, nor the treasure that was in it."
Only
Jane knew what the loss meant to her father, and none there knew what it
meant to her.
Six
days later Captain Dufranne announced that they would sail early on the
morrow.
Jane
would have begged for a further reprieve, had it not been that she too had
begun to believe that her forest lover would return no more.
In
spite of herself she began to entertain doubts and fears. The
reasonableness of the arguments of these disinterested French officers
commenced to convince her against her will.
That
he was a cannibal she would not believe, but that he was an adopted member
of some savage tribe at length seemed possible to her.
She
would not admit that he could be dead.
It was impossible to believe that that perfect body, so filled with
triumphant life, could ever cease to harbor the vital spark--as soon
believe that immortality were dust.
As
Jane permitted herself to harbor these thoughts, others equally unwelcome
forced themselves upon her.
If
he belonged to some savage tribe he had a savage wife --a dozen of them
perhaps--and wild, half-caste children. The girl shuddered, and when they
told her that the cruiser would sail on the morrow she was almost glad.
It
was she, though, who suggested that arms, ammunition, supplies and
comforts be left behind in the cabin, ostensibly for that intangible
personality who had signed himself Tarzan of the Apes, and for D'Arnot
should he still be living, but really, she hoped, for her forest god--even
though his feet should prove of clay.
And
at the last minute she left a message for him, to be transmitted by Tarzan
of the Apes.
She
was the last to leave the cabin, returning on some trivial pretext after
the others had started for the boat.
She
kneeled down beside the bed in which she had spent so many nights, and
offered up a prayer for the safety of her primeval man, and crushing his
locket to her lips she murmured:
"I
love you, and because I love you I believe in you.
But if I did not believe, still should I love.
Had you come back for me, and had there been no other way, I would
have gone into the jungle with you--forever."
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