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16 - Most Remarkable · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen most remarkable. Several miles south of the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: upon a strip of sandy beach, stood two old men arguing.
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  Speaker 1: Before them stretched the broad Atlantic. At their backs was
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  Speaker 1: the dark continent. Close around them loomed the impenetrable blackness
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  Speaker 1: of the jungle. Savage beasts roared and growled. Noises hideous
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  Speaker 1: and weird assailed their ears. They had wandered for miles
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  Speaker 1: in search of their camp, but always in the wrong direction.
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  Speaker 1: They were as hopelessly lost as though they had suddenly
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  Speaker 1: been transported to another world. At such a time, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: every fiber of their combined intellects must have been concentrated
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  Speaker 1: upon the vital question of the minute, the life and
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  Speaker 1: death question. To them of retracing their steps to camp,
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  Speaker 1: Samuel T. Phalander was speaking, But my dear professor, he
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  Speaker 1: was saying, I still maintained that but for the victories
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  Speaker 1: of Ferdinand and Isabella over the fifteenth century Moors in Spain,
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  Speaker 1: the world would be today a thousand years in advance
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  Speaker 1: of where we now find ourselves. The Moors were essentially
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  Speaker 1: a tolerant, broad minded, liberal race of agriculturists, artisans, and merchants.
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  Speaker 1: The very type of people that has made possible such
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  Speaker 1: civilization as we find today in America and Europe. While
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  Speaker 1: the Spaniards tut tut, dear mister Falander, interrupted Professor Porter,
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  Speaker 1: their religion positively precluded the possibilities you suggest. Moslemism was,
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  Speaker 1: is and always will be a blight on that scientific
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  Speaker 1: progress which has marked bless me, Professor interjected mister Falander,
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  Speaker 1: who had turned his gaze toward the jungle. There seems
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  Speaker 1: to be someone approaching. Professor Archimedes's Keuporter turned in the
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  Speaker 1: direction indicated by the near sight of mister Falander. Tut
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander, he chided, how often must I urge you
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  Speaker 1: to seek that absolute concentration of your mental faculties, which
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  Speaker 1: alone may permit you to bring to bear the highest
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  Speaker 1: powers of intellectuality upon the momentous problems which naturally fall
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  Speaker 1: to the lot of great minds. And now I find
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  Speaker 1: you guilty of a most flagrant breach of courtesy in
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  Speaker 1: interrupting my learned discourse to call attention to a mere
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  Speaker 1: quadruped of thy genus fellis is I was saying, mister
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  Speaker 1: Heaven's Professor. A lion, cried mister Falander, straining his weak
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  Speaker 1: eyes toward the dim figure outlined against the dark tropical underbrush. Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander, if you insist upon employing slang and your
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  Speaker 1: discourse a lion. But as I was saying, bless me,
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  Speaker 1: Professor again interrupted, mister Falander, permit me to suggest that, doubtless,
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  Speaker 1: the more so who were conquered in the fifteenth century
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  Speaker 1: will continue in that most regrettable condition for the time being,
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  Speaker 1: at least, even though we postpone discussion of that world
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  Speaker 1: calamity until we may attain the enchanting view of Yon
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  Speaker 1: Fellas Carnivora, which distance proverbially is credited with lending. In
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  Speaker 1: the meantime, the lion had approached with quiet dignity to
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  Speaker 1: within ten paces of the two men, where he stood
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  Speaker 1: curiously watching them. The moonlight flooded the beach, and the
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  Speaker 1: strange group stood out in bold relief against the yellow sand.
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  Speaker 1: Most reprehensible, most reprehensible, exclaimed Professor Porter, with a faint
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  Speaker 1: trace of irritation in his voice. Never, mister Flander, never
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  Speaker 1: before in my life have I known one of these
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  Speaker 1: animals to be permitted to roam it large from its cage.
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  Speaker 1: I shall most certainly report this outrageous breach of ethics
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  Speaker 1: to the directors of the adjacent zoological Quite right, professor,
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  Speaker 1: agreed mister Falander. And the sooner it is done, the better.
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  Speaker 1: Let us start now. Seizing the professor by the arm,
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander set off in the direction that would put
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  Speaker 1: the greatest distance between themselves and the lion. They had
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  Speaker 1: proceeded but a short distance when a backward glance revealed,
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  Speaker 1: to the horrified gaze of mister Falander that the lion
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  Speaker 1: was following them. He tightened his grip upon the protesting
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  Speaker 1: professor and increased his speed. As I was saying, mister Falander,
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  Speaker 1: repeated Professor of Porter. Mister Falander took another hasty glance rearward.
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  Speaker 1: The lion also had quickened his gait and was doggedly
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  Speaker 1: maintaining an unvarying distance behind them. He is following us,
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  Speaker 1: gasped mister Falander, breaking into a run. Tut tut, mister
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  Speaker 1: Falander remonstrated the professor. This unseemly haste is most unbequing
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  Speaker 1: coming to men of letters. What will our friends think
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  Speaker 1: of us, who may chance to be upon the street
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  Speaker 1: and witness our frivolous antics. Pray let us proceed with
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  Speaker 1: more decorum. Mister Falander stole another observation astern the line
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  Speaker 1: was bounding along in easy leaps, scarce five paces behind.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Falander dropped the Professor's arm and broke into a
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  Speaker 1: mad orgy of speed that would have done credit to
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  Speaker 1: any varsity track team. As I was saying, mister Falander
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  Speaker 1: screamed Professor Porter, as metaphorically speaking, he himself threw her
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  Speaker 1: into high He too had caught a fleeting backward glimpse
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  Speaker 1: of cool yellow eyes and half open mouthed within startling
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  Speaker 1: proximity of his person with streaming coat tails and shiny
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  Speaker 1: silk hat. Professor Archimedes's cue. Porter fled through the moonlight,
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  Speaker 1: close upon the heels of mister Samuel T. Falander. Before them,
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  Speaker 1: a point of the jungle ran out toward a narrow
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  Speaker 1: promise inventory, and it was for the haven of the
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  Speaker 1: trees he saw there that mister Samuel T. Falander directed
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  Speaker 1: his prodigious leaps and bounds, while from the shadows of
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  Speaker 1: the same spot peered two keen eyes and interested appreciation
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  Speaker 1: of the race. It was Tarzan and the apes who
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  Speaker 1: watched with face a grin this odd game of follow
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  Speaker 1: the leader. He knew the two men were safe enough
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  Speaker 1: from attack in so far as the lion was concerned.
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  Speaker 1: The very fact that Numa had forgone such easy prey
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  Speaker 1: at all convinced the wise forest craft of Tarzan that
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  Speaker 1: Numa's belly already was full. The lion might stalk them
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  Speaker 1: and too hungry again, but the chances were that, if
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  Speaker 1: not angered, he would soon tire of the sport and
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  Speaker 1: slink away to his jungle lair. Really, the one great
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  Speaker 1: danger was that one of the men might stumble and fall,
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  Speaker 1: and then the Yellow Devil would be upon him in
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  Speaker 1: a moment, and the joy of the kill would be
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  Speaker 1: too great a temptation to withstand. So Tarzan swung quickly
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  Speaker 1: to a lower limb in line with the approaching fugitives,
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  Speaker 1: and as mister Samuel T. Falander came, panting and blowing
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  Speaker 1: beneath him, already too spent to struggle up to the
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  Speaker 1: safety of the limb, Tarzan reached down and, grasping him
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  Speaker 1: by the collar of his coat, yanked him to the
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  Speaker 1: limb by his side. Another moment brought the professor within
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  Speaker 1: the sphere of the friendly grip and he too, was
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  Speaker 1: drawn upward to safety, just as the baffled Numa, with
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  Speaker 1: a roar, leaped to recover his vanishing quarry. For a moment,
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  Speaker 1: the two men clung panting to the great branch, while
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan squatted with his back to the stem of the tree,
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  Speaker 1: watching them with mingled curiosity and amusement. It was the
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  Speaker 1: Professor who first broke the silence. I am deeply pained,
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander, that you should have evinced such a paucity
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  Speaker 1: of manly courage in the presence of one of the
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  Speaker 1: lower orders, and by your crass timidity, have caused me
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  Speaker 1: to exert myself to such an unaccustomed degree, in order
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  Speaker 1: that I might resume my discourse. As I was saying,
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander, when you interrupted me, the mores Professor Archimedes
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  Speaker 1: cue Porter broke in, mister Falander, in icy tones. The
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  Speaker 1: time has arrived when patience becomes a crime and mayhem
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  Speaker 1: appears garbed in the mantle of virtue. You have accused
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  Speaker 1: me of cowardice. You have insinuated that you ran only
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  Speaker 1: to overtake me, not to escape the clutches of the lion.
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  Speaker 1: Have a care, Professor Archimedes Cue Porter, I am a
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  Speaker 1: desperate man, goaded by long suffering patients. The worm will turn.
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  Speaker 1: Tut tut, mister Falander. Tut tut, cautioned Professor Porter, you
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  Speaker 1: forget yourself. I forget nothing as yet, Professor Archimedes cue Porter.
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  Speaker 1: But believe me, sir, I am tottering on the verge
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  Speaker 1: of forgetfulness as to your exalt position in the world
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  Speaker 1: of science and your gray hairs. The Professor sat in
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  Speaker 1: silence for a few minutes, and the darkness hid the
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  Speaker 1: grim smile that wreathed his wrinkled countenance. Presently he spoke,
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  Speaker 1: Look here, skinny Falander, he said, in belligerent tones, if
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  Speaker 1: you are looking for a scrap, peel off your coat
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  Speaker 1: and come on down on the ground, and I'll punch
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  Speaker 1: your head, just as I did sixty years ago in
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  Speaker 1: the alley back of Porky Eavans. Barn Ark gasped the
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  Speaker 1: astonished mister Falander. Lordy, how good that sounds when you're human.
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  Speaker 1: Arc I love you, but somehow it seems as though
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  Speaker 1: you had forgotten how to be human for the last
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  Speaker 1: twenty years. The Professor reached out a thin, trembling old
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  Speaker 1: hand through the darkness until it found his old friend's shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: Forgive me, skinny, he said softly. It hasn't been quite
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  Speaker 1: twenty years, and God alone knows how hard I I
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  Speaker 1: have tried to be human for Jane's sake and yours too,
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  Speaker 1: since he took my other Jane away. Another old hand
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  Speaker 1: stole up from mister Falander's side to clasp the one
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  Speaker 1: that lay upon his shoulder, and no other message could
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  Speaker 1: better have translated the one heart to the other. They
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  Speaker 1: did not speak for some minutes. The lion below them
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  Speaker 1: paced nervously back and forth. The third figure in the
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  Speaker 1: tree was hidden by the dense shadows near the stem.
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  Speaker 1: He too, was silent, motionless as a graven image. You
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  Speaker 1: certainly pulled me up into this tree just in time,
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  Speaker 1: said the professor at last. I want to thank you.
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  Speaker 1: You saved my life. But I didn't pull you up here, Professor,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Falander. Bless me. The excitement of the moment
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  Speaker 1: quite caused me to forget that I myself was drawn
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  Speaker 1: up here by some outside agency. There must be someone
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  Speaker 1: or something in this tree with us, eh, ejaculated Professor Porter.
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  Speaker 1: Are you quite positive, mister Falander? Most positive? Professor replied
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  Speaker 1: mister Falander, and he added, I think we should thank
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  Speaker 1: the party. He may be sitting right next to you now,
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  Speaker 1: Professor Eh, what's that? Tut tut, mister Falander. Tut tut,
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  Speaker 1: said Professor Porter, edging cautiously nearer to mister Falander. Just
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  Speaker 1: then it occurred to Tarzan of the Apes that Numa
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  Speaker 1: had loitered beneath the tree for a sufficient length of time.
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  Speaker 1: So he raised his young head toward the heavens, and
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  Speaker 1: there rang out upon the terrified ears of the two
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  Speaker 1: old men, the awful warning challenge of the anthropoid. The
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  Speaker 1: two friends, huddling trembling in their precarious position on the limb,
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  Speaker 1: saw the great Lion halt in his restless pacing as
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  Speaker 1: the blood curdling cry smote his ears, and then slink
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  Speaker 1: quickly into the jungle, to be instantly lost to view.
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  Speaker 1: Even the lion trembles in fear, whispered mister Falander. Most remarkable,
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  Speaker 1: Most remarkable, murdered Professor Porter, clutching frantically at mister Falander
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  Speaker 1: to regain the balance which the sudden fright had so
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  Speaker 1: perilously endangered. Unfortunately for them, both mister Falander's center of
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  Speaker 1: equilibrium was at that very moment hanging upon the ragged
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  Speaker 1: edge of nothing, so that it needed but the gentle impetus,
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  Speaker 1: supplied by the additional weight of Professor Porter's body, to
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  Speaker 1: topple the devoted secretary from the limb. For a moment,
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  Speaker 1: they swayed uncertainly, and then with mingled and most unscholarly shrieks,
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  Speaker 1: they pitched headlong from the tree. Locked in frenzied embrace.
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  Speaker 1: It was quite some moments ere either moved, for both
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  Speaker 1: were positive that any such attempt would reveal so many
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  Speaker 1: breaks and fractures as to make further progress impossible. At length,
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  Speaker 1: Professor Porter made it an attempt to move one leg.
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  Speaker 1: To his surprise, it responded to his will as in
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  Speaker 1: days gone by. He now drew up its mate and
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  Speaker 1: stretched it forth again. Most remarkable, Most remarkable, he murmured,
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  Speaker 1: Thank God. Professor whispered mister Falander fervently, you are not dead.
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  Speaker 1: Then Tut tut, mister Falander, Tut tut, cautioned Professor Porter,
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  Speaker 1: I do not know with accuracy as yet, with infinite solicitude,
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  Speaker 1: Professor Porter wiggled his right arm joy it was intact. Breathlessly,
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  Speaker 1: He waved his left arm above his prostrate body. It
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  Speaker 1: waved most remarkable, Most remarkable, he said, to whom are
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  Speaker 1: you signaling? Professor asked mister Falander in an excited tone.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Porter deigned to make no response to this puerile inquiry. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: he raised his head gently from the ground, nodding it
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  Speaker 1: back and forth a half dozen times. Most remarkable, he breathed,
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  Speaker 1: It remains intact. Mister Falander had not moved from where
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  Speaker 1: he had fallen. He had not dared the attempt. How
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  Speaker 1: indeed could one move when one's arms and legs and
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  Speaker 1: back were broken. One eye was buried in the soft loam.
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  Speaker 1: The other, rolling sidewise, was fixed in awe upon the
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  Speaker 1: strange gyrations of Professor Porter. How sad, exclaimed mister Falander,
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  Speaker 1: half aloud. Concussion of the brain superinducing total mental aberration.
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  Speaker 1: How very sad, indeed, and for one still so young.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Porter rolled over upon his stomach gingerly. He bowed
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  Speaker 1: his back until he resembled a huge tom cat in
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: proximity to a yelping dog. Then he sat up and
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  Speaker 1: felt at various portions of his anatomy. They are all here,
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  Speaker 1: he exclaimed, most remarkable, whereupon he arose, and, bending a
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  Speaker 1: scathing glance upon the still prostrate form of mister Samuel T. Falander,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Tut tut, mister Falander, this is no time
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  Speaker 1: to indulge in slothful ease. We must be up and doing.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Falander lifted his other eye out of the mud
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  Speaker 1: and gazed in speechless rage at Professor Porter. Then he
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  Speaker 1: attempted to rise, Nor could there have been any more
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  Speaker 1: surprise than he when his efforts were immediately crowned with
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  Speaker 1: marked success. He was still bursting with rage, however, at
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: the cruel injustice of Professor Porter's insinuation, and was on
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  Speaker 1: the point of rendering a tart rejoinder, when his eyes
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  Speaker 1: fell upon a strange figure standing a few paces away.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: Scrutinizing them intently. Professor Porter had recovered his shiny still cat,
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  Speaker 1: which he had brushed carefully upon the sleeve of his
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: coat and replaced upon his head. When he saw mister
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Flander pointing to something behind him. He turned to behold
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  Speaker 1: a giant, naked but for a loincloth and a few
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  Speaker 1: metal ornaments, standing motionless before him. Good evening, Sir, said
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  Speaker 1: the Professor, lifting his hat for reply, The giant motioned
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  Speaker 1: them to follow him and set off up the beach
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  Speaker 1: in the direction from which they had recently come. I
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: think it is the better part of discretion to follow him,
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  Speaker 1: said mister Falander. Tut tut, mister Flander returned the professor.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: A short time since you were advancing a most logical
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: argument and substantiation of your theory that camp lay directly
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  Speaker 1: south of us. I was skeptical, but you finally convinced me.
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  Speaker 1: So now I am positive that toward the south we
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: must travel to reach our friends. Therefore, I shall continue south.
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  Speaker 1: But Professor Porter, this man may know better than either
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  Speaker 1: of us. He seems to be indigenous to this part
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  Speaker 1: of the world. Let us at least follow him for
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a short distance. Tut tut, mister Falander repeated the professor.
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  Speaker 1: I am a difficult man to convince, but when once convinced,
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  Speaker 1: my decision is unalterable. I shall continue in the proper
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  Speaker 1: direction if I have to circumambulate the continent of Africa
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  Speaker 1: to reach my destination. Further argument was interrupted by Tarzan, who,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: seeing that these strange men were not following him, had
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: returned to their side. Again. He beckoned to them, but
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: still they stood in argument. Presently the ape man lost
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  Speaker 1: patience with their stupid ignorance. He grasped the frightened mister
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  Speaker 1: Falander by the shoulder, and before that worthy gentleman knew
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: whether he was being killed or merely maimed for life,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Tarzan had tied one end of his rope securely about
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: mister Falander's neck. Tut tut, mister Falander remonstrated Professor, it
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  Speaker 1: is most unbeseeming in you to submit to such indignities.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: But scarcely were the words out of his mouth. Ere
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: he too had been seized and securely bound by the
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: neck with the same rope. Then Tarzan set off toward
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: the north, leading the now thoroughly frightened Professor and his
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: secretary in deathly silence. They proceeded for what seemed hours
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to the two tired and hopeless old men. But presently,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: as they topped the little rise of ground, they were
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: overjoyed to see the cabin lying before them, not a
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: hundred yards distant. Here Tarzan released them, and, pointing toward
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the little building, vanished into the jungle beside them. Most remarkable,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: most remarkable, gasped the Professor. But you see, mister Philander,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: that I was quite right as usual, and but for
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: your stubborn wilfulness, we should have escaped a series of
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: most humiliating, not to say dangerous accidents. Pray allow yourself
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: to be guided by a more mature and practical mind hereafter,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: when in need of wise counsel. Mister Samuel T. Falander
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: was too much relieved at the happy outcome to their
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: adventure to take umbrage at the Professor's cruel fling. Instead,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: he grasped his friend's arm and hastened him forward in
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the direction of the cabin. It was a much relieved
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: party of castaways that found itself once more united. Dawn
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: discovered them, still recounting their various adventures and speculating upon
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the identity of the strange guardian and protector they had
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: found on this savage shore. As Morelda was positive that
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: it was none other than an angel of the Lord,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: sent down especially to watch over them. Had you seen
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: him devour the raw meat of the lion, as Morella
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: laughed Clayton, you would have thought him a very material angel.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: There was nothing heavenly about his voice, said Jane Porter,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: with a little shudder at recollection of the awful roar
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: which had followed the killing of the lioness. Nor did
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: it precisely comport with my preconceived ideas of the dignity
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: of divine messengers, remarked Professor Porter. But when the um
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: gentlemen tied two highly respectable and erudite scholars neck to
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: neck and dragged them through the jungle as though they
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: had been cows end of Chapter