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01 - Out of the Sea · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, out to Sea. I had this story from
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  Speaker 1: one who had no business to tell it to me
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  Speaker 1: or to any other. I may credit the seductive influence
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  Speaker 1: of an old vintage upon the narrator for the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of it, and my own skeptical incredulity during the days
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  Speaker 1: that followed for the balance of the strange tale. When
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  Speaker 1: my convivial host discovered that he had told me so much,
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  Speaker 1: and that I was prone to doubtfulness, his foolish pride
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  Speaker 1: assumed the task the old vintage had commenced, and so
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  Speaker 1: he unearthed written evidence in the form of musty manuscript
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  Speaker 1: and dry official records of the British Colonial Office to
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  Speaker 1: support many of the salient features of his remarkable narrative.
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  Speaker 1: I do not say the story is true, for I
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  Speaker 1: did not witness the happenings which it portrays. But the
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  Speaker 1: fact that in the telling of it to you I
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  Speaker 1: have taken fictitious names for the principal characters quite sufficiently
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  Speaker 1: evidences the sincerity of my own belief that it may
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  Speaker 1: be true. The yellow, mildewed pages of the Diary of
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  Speaker 1: a Man Long Dead and the records of the Colonial
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  Speaker 1: Office dovetail perfectly with the narrative of my convivial host.
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  Speaker 1: And so I give you the story as I painstakeredly
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  Speaker 1: pieced it out from these several various agencies. If you
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  Speaker 1: do not find it credible, you will at least be
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  Speaker 1: as one with me in acknowledging that it is unique,
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  Speaker 1: remarkable and interesting. From the records of the Colonial Office,
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  Speaker 1: and from the dead Man's diary, we learn that a
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  Speaker 1: certain young English nobleman, whom we shall call John Clayton,
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  Speaker 1: Lord Greystoke, was commissioned to make a peculiarly delicate investigation
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  Speaker 1: of conditions in a British West Coast African colony from
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  Speaker 1: whose simple native inhabitants. Another European power was known to
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  Speaker 1: be recruiting soldiers for its native arts, which it used
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  Speaker 1: solely for the forcible collection of rubber and ivory from
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  Speaker 1: the savage tribes along the Congo and the Rowimi. The
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  Speaker 1: natives of the British colony complained that many of their
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  Speaker 1: young men were enticed away through the medium of fair
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  Speaker 1: and glowing promises, but that few, if any, ever returned
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  Speaker 1: to their families. The Englishmen in Africa went even further,
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  Speaker 1: saying that these poor blacks were held in virtual slavery,
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  Speaker 1: since after their terms of enlistment expired, their ignorance was
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  Speaker 1: imposed upon by their white officers, and they were told
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  Speaker 1: that they had yet several years to serve. And so
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  Speaker 1: the Colonial Office appointed John Clayton to a new post
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  Speaker 1: in British West Africa. But his confidential instructions centered on
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  Speaker 1: a thorough investigation of the unfair treatment of black British
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  Speaker 1: subjects by the officers of a friendly European power. Why
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  Speaker 1: he was sent is, however, of little moment to the story,
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  Speaker 1: for he never made an investigation, nor in fact, did
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  Speaker 1: he ever reach his destination. Clayton was the type of
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  Speaker 1: Englishman that one likes best to associate with the noblest
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  Speaker 1: monuments of historic achievement upon a thousand victorious battlefields. A strong,
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  Speaker 1: virile man mentally, morally and physically in stature, he was
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  Speaker 1: above the average height, His eyes were gray, his features
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  Speaker 1: regular and strong, his carriage that of perfect robust health.
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  Speaker 1: Influenced by his years of army training. Political ambition had
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  Speaker 1: caused him to sink transference from the Army to the
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  Speaker 1: Colonial Office, and so we find him, still young, entrusted
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  Speaker 1: with a delicate and important commission in the service of
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  Speaker 1: the Queen. When he received this appointment, he was both
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  Speaker 1: elated and appalled. The preferment seemed to him in the
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  Speaker 1: nature of a well merited reward for painstaking and intelligent
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  Speaker 1: survyce us, and as a stepping stone to posts of
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  Speaker 1: greater importance and responsibility. But on the other hand, he
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  Speaker 1: had been married to the Honorable Alice Rutherford was scarce
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  Speaker 1: the three months, and it was the thought of taking
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  Speaker 1: this fair young girl into the dangers in isolation of
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  Speaker 1: tropical Africa that appalled him. For her sake, he would
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  Speaker 1: have refused the appointment, but she would not have it,
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  Speaker 1: so instead she insisted that he accept and indeed take
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  Speaker 1: her with him. There were mothers and brothers, and sisters,
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  Speaker 1: and aunts and cousins to express various opinions on the subject,
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  Speaker 1: but as to what they severally advised, history is silent.
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  Speaker 1: We know only that on a bright May morning in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, John Lord Greystoke and Lady Alice sailed
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  Speaker 1: from Dover on their way to Africa. A month later
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  Speaker 1: they arrived at Freetown, where they chartered a small sailing
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  Speaker 1: vessel to Fualda, which was to bear them to their
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  Speaker 1: final destination, and here John Lord Greystoke and Lady Alice's
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  Speaker 1: wife vanished from the eyes and from the knowledge of men.
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  Speaker 1: Two months after they weighed anchor and cleared from the
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  Speaker 1: port of Freetown, a half dozen British war vessels were
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  Speaker 1: scouring the South Atlantic for trace of them or their
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  Speaker 1: little vessel, and it was almost immediately that the wreckage
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  Speaker 1: was found upon the shores of Saint Helena, which convinced
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  Speaker 1: the world that the Fualda had gone down with all
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  Speaker 1: on board, and hence the search was stopped ere it
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  Speaker 1: had scarce begun, though hope lingered in longing hearts for
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  Speaker 1: many years. The Fualda, a barcantine of about one hundred tons,
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  Speaker 1: was a vessel of the type often seen in coastwise
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  Speaker 1: trade in the far Southern Atlantic. Their crews composed of
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  Speaker 1: the off scourings of the sea, unhanged murderers and cut
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  Speaker 1: throats of every race and every nation. The fu Walda
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  Speaker 1: was no exct exception to the rule. Her officers were
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  Speaker 1: swarthy bullies, hating and hated by their crew. The captain,
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  Speaker 1: while a competent seaman, was a brute in his treatment
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  Speaker 1: of his men. He knew or at least, he used
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  Speaker 1: but two arguments in his dealings with him, a belaying
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  Speaker 1: pin and a revolver nor it is likely that the
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  Speaker 1: Motley Aggregation he signed would have understood aught else. So
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  Speaker 1: it was that from the second day out from Freetown,
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  Speaker 1: John Clayton and his young wife witnessed scenes upon the
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  Speaker 1: deck of the Fualda such as they had believed were
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  Speaker 1: never enacted outside the covers of printed stories of the Sea.
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  Speaker 1: It was on the morning of the second day that
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  Speaker 1: the first link was forged in what was destined to
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  Speaker 1: form a chain of circumstances ending in a life for
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  Speaker 1: one then unborn, such as has never been paralleled in
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  Speaker 1: the history of man. Two sailors were washing down the
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  Speaker 1: deck of the Fualda. The first mate was on duty,
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  Speaker 1: and the captain had stopped to speak with John Clayton
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  Speaker 1: and Lady Alice. The men were working backwards towards the
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  Speaker 1: little party, who were facing away from the sailors. Closer
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  Speaker 1: and closer they came, until one of them was directly
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  Speaker 1: behind the captain. In another moment, he would have passed by,
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  Speaker 1: and this strange narrative would never have been recorded. But
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  Speaker 1: just that instant the officer turned to leave Lord in
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  Speaker 1: Lady Greystoke, and as he did so, tripped against the
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  Speaker 1: sailor and sprawled headlong upon the deck, overturning the water
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  Speaker 1: pails so that he was drenched in its dirty contents.
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  Speaker 1: For an instant the scene was ludicrous, but only for
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  Speaker 1: an instant. With a volley of awful oaths, his face
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  Speaker 1: suffused with a scarlet of mortification and rage, the captain
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  Speaker 1: regained his feet and with a terrific blow felled the
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  Speaker 1: sailor to the deck. The man was small and rather old,
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  Speaker 1: so that the brutality of the act was thus accentuated.
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  Speaker 1: The other seaman, however, was neither old nor small, a
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  Speaker 1: huge bear of a man with fierce black mustachios and
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  Speaker 1: a great bull neck set between massive shoulders. As he
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  Speaker 1: saw his mate go down, he crouched and with a
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  Speaker 1: low snarl, sprang upon the captain, crushing him to his knees.
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  Speaker 1: With a single mighty blow from scarlet. The officer's face
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  Speaker 1: went white, for this was mutiny, and mutiny he had
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  Speaker 1: met and subdued before in his brutal career. Without waiting
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  Speaker 1: to rise, he whipped a revolver from his pocket, firing
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  Speaker 1: point blank at the great mountain of muscle towering before him.
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  Speaker 1: But quick as he was, John Clayton was almost as quick,
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  Speaker 1: so that the bullet, which was intended for the sailor's heart,
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  Speaker 1: lodged in the sailor's leg instead. For Lord Greystoke had
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  Speaker 1: struck down the captain's arm as he had seen the
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  Speaker 1: weapon flash in the sun. Words passed between Clayton and
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  Speaker 1: the captain, the former making it plain that he was
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  Speaker 1: disgusted with the brutality displayed toward the crew, nor would
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  Speaker 1: he countenance anything further of the kind. While he and
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  Speaker 1: Lady Greystoke remained passengers. The captain was on the point
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  Speaker 1: of making an angry reply, but thinking better of it,
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  Speaker 1: turned on his heel and black and scowling strode aft.
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  Speaker 1: He did not care to antagonize an English official, for
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  Speaker 1: the Queen's mighty arm wielded a punitive instrument which he
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  Speaker 1: could appreciate, in which he feared England's far reaching navy.
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  Speaker 1: The two sailors picked themselves up, the older man assisting
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  Speaker 1: his wounded comrade to rise. The big fellow, who was
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  Speaker 1: known among his mates as Black Michael, tried his leg gingerly,
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  Speaker 1: and finding that it bore his weight, turned to Clayton
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  Speaker 1: with a word of gruff thanks. Though the fellow's the
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  Speaker 1: tone was surly, his words were evidently well meant. Ere
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  Speaker 1: he had scarce finished his little speech, He had turned
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  Speaker 1: and was limping off towards the forecastle, with the very
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  Speaker 1: apparent intention of forestalling any further conversation. They did not
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  Speaker 1: see him again for several days, nor did the captain
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  Speaker 1: accord them more than the surliest of grunts when he
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  Speaker 1: was forced to speak to them. They took their meals
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  Speaker 1: in his cabin, as they had before the unfortunate occurrence,
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  Speaker 1: for the captain was careful to see that his duties
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  Speaker 1: never permitted him to eat. At the same time, the
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  Speaker 1: other officers were coarse, illiterate fellows, but little above the
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  Speaker 1: villainous crew. They bullied and were only too glad to
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  Speaker 1: avoid social intercourse with the polished English noble and his lady,
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  Speaker 1: so that the Claytons were left very much to themselves.
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  Speaker 1: This in itself accorded perfectly with their desires, but it
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  Speaker 1: also rather isolated them from the life of the ship,
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  Speaker 1: so that they were unable to keep in touch with
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  Speaker 1: the daily happenings which were to culminate so soon in
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  Speaker 1: bloody tragedy. There was in the whole atmosphere of the
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  Speaker 1: craft that undefinable something which pre Sage's disaster outwardly to
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  Speaker 1: the knowledge of the Claytons, all went on as before
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  Speaker 1: upon the little vessel, but that there was an undertow
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  Speaker 1: leading them towards some unknown danger both felt, though they
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  Speaker 1: did not speak of it to each other. On the
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  Speaker 1: second day after the wounding of Black Michael Clayton came
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  Speaker 1: on deck just in time to see the limp body
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  Speaker 1: of one of the crew being carried below by four
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  Speaker 1: of his fellows, while the first mate, a heavy belaying
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  Speaker 1: pin in his hand, stood glowering at the little party
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  Speaker 1: of sullen sailors. Clayton asked no questions he did not
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  Speaker 1: need to, and the following day, as the great lines
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  Speaker 1: of a British battleship grew out of the distant horizon,
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  Speaker 1: he half determined to demand that he and Lady Alice
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  Speaker 1: be put aboard her, for his fears were steadily increasing
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  Speaker 1: that nothing but harm could result from remaining on the
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  Speaker 1: lowering sullen Fualda. Toward noon, they were within speaking distance
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  Speaker 1: of the British vessel. But when Clayton had nearly decided
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  Speaker 1: to ask the captain to put them aboard her, the
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  Speaker 1: obvious ridiculousness of such a request became suddenly apparent. What
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  Speaker 1: reason could he give the officer commanding Her Majesty's ship
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  Speaker 1: for desiring to go back in the direction from which
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  Speaker 1: he had just come? What if he told them that
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  Speaker 1: two insubordinate seamen had been roughly handled by their officers,
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  Speaker 1: they would but laugh in their sleeves and attribute his
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  Speaker 1: reason for wishing to leave the ship to but one
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  Speaker 1: thing cowardice. John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, did not ask to
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  Speaker 1: be transferred to the British Man of War. Late in
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  Speaker 1: the afternoon he saw her upper works fay below the
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  Speaker 1: far her, but not before he learned that which confirmed
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  Speaker 1: his greatest fears and caused him to curse the false
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  Speaker 1: pride which had restrained him from seeking safety for his
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  Speaker 1: young wife a few short hours before, when safety was
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  Speaker 1: within reach, a safety which was now gone forever. It
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  Speaker 1: was mid afternoon that brought the little old sailor, who
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  Speaker 1: had been felled by the captain a few days before,
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  Speaker 1: to where Clayton and his wife stood by the ship's side.
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  Speaker 1: Watching the ever diminishing outlines of the great battleship. The
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  Speaker 1: old fellow was polishing brasses, and as he came edging
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  Speaker 1: along until close to Clayton, he said, in an undertone,
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  Speaker 1: elles de pay, sir, on this ere craft, and mark
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  Speaker 1: my word for it, sir, elles de pay. What do
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  Speaker 1: you mean, my good fellow, asked Clayton. Why haven't you
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  Speaker 1: seen Watts going on? Hasn't you heard that devil's spot
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  Speaker 1: of a capting and his mates knocking the blooming lights out?
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  Speaker 1: And half the crew two busted heads yesterday and three
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  Speaker 1: to day. Black Michael's as good as new again, and
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  Speaker 1: he's not the bully to stand for it, not he,
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  Speaker 1: And mark my word for it, sir. You mean, my man,
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  Speaker 1: that the crew contemplates mutiny, asked Clayton. Mutiny, exclaimed the
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  Speaker 1: old fellow. Mutiny. They means murder, sir, And mark my
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  Speaker 1: word for it, sir. When HiT's coming, sir, HiT's coming.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm not a saying when. And I said, too
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  Speaker 1: damn much now, But you was a good sort the
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  Speaker 1: other day, and I thought it no more right to
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  Speaker 1: warn you, but keep a still tongue in your head.
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  Speaker 1: And when your ears shooting, get below and stay there,
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  Speaker 1: that's all. Only keep a still tongue in your head,
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  Speaker 1: or they'll put a pill between your ribs and mark
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  Speaker 1: my word for it, sir. And the old fellow went
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  Speaker 1: on with polishing, which carried him away from where the
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  Speaker 1: Claytons were standing. Deuce a cheerful outlook, Alice said Clayton,
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  Speaker 1: you should warn the captain at once, John, Possibly the
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  Speaker 1: trouble may yet be averted. She said, I suppose I should.
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  Speaker 1: But yet from purely selfish motives, I am almost prompted
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  Speaker 1: to keep a still tongue in my head. Whatever they
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  Speaker 1: do now, they will spare us in recognition of my
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  Speaker 1: stand for this fellow Black Michael. But should they find
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  Speaker 1: that I had betrayed them, there would be no mercy
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  Speaker 1: shown us. Alice, you have but one duty, John, and
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  Speaker 1: that lies in the interest of vested authority. If you
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: do not warn the captain, you are as much a
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: party to whatever follows, as though you would help to
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  Speaker 1: plot and carry it out with your own head and hands.
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  Speaker 1: You do not understand, dear, replied Clayton, It is of
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  Speaker 1: you I am thinking. There lies my first duty. The
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  Speaker 1: captain has brought condition upon himself. So why then, should
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  Speaker 1: I risk subjecting my wife to unthinkable horrors and a
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  Speaker 1: probably futile attempt to save him from his own brutal folly.
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  Speaker 1: You have no conception, dear, of what would follow were
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  Speaker 1: this pack of cutthroats to gain control of Uffualda. Duty
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  Speaker 1: is duty, John, and no amount of sophistries may change it.
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  Speaker 1: I would be a poor wife for an English lord
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  Speaker 1: were I to be responsible for his shirking a plain duty.
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  Speaker 1: I realize the danger which must follow, but I can
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  Speaker 1: face it with you. Have it as you will, then, Alice,
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  Speaker 1: he answered, smiling, maybe we are borrowing trouble. While I
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: do not like the looks of things on board this ship,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: they may not be so bad after all. For it
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  Speaker 1: is possible that the ancient mariner was but voicing the
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  Speaker 1: desires of his wicked old heart, rather than speaking of
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  Speaker 1: real facts. Mutiny on the high sea may have been
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: common one hundred years ago, but in this good year
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty eight, it is the least likely of happenings.
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  Speaker 1: But there goes the captain to his cabin. Now, if
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to warn him, I might as well get
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  Speaker 1: the beastly job over, for I have little stomach to
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  Speaker 1: talk with a brute at all, so saying, he strolled
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: carelessly in the direction of the companionway through which the
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: captain had passed, and a moment later was knocking at
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  Speaker 1: his door. Come in, growled the deep tones of that
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  Speaker 1: surly officer, and when Clayton had entered and closed the
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: door behind him, Well, I have come to report the
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: gist of a conversation I heard today because I feel
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: that while there may be nothing to it, it is
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: as well that you be forearmed. In short, the men
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: contemplate mutiny and murder. It's a lie, roared the captain.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: And if you have been interfering again with a discipline
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  Speaker 1: of the ship, or meddling in affairs that don't concern you,
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  Speaker 1: you can take the consequences and be damned. I don't
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  Speaker 1: care whether you are an English lord or not. I'm
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: captain of this year's ship, and from now on you
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  Speaker 1: keep your meddling nose out of my business. The captain
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: had worked himself up to such a frenzy of rage
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  Speaker 1: that he was fairly purple of face, and he shrieked
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the last words at the top of his voice, emphasizing
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: his remarks by a loud thumping of the table with
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: one huge fist and shaking the other in Clayton's face.
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Grace dug never turned a hair, but stood eyeing the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: excited man with level gaze. Captain Billings, he drawled, finally,
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  Speaker 1: if you will pardon my candor, I might remark that
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you are something of an ass. Whereupon he turned and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: left the Captain with the same indifferent ease that was
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: habitual with him, and which was more surely calculated to
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: raise the ire of a man of Billings's class than
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: a tort of invective. So whereas the Captain might easily
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: have been brought to regret his hasty speech had Clayton
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: attempted to conciliate him, his temper was now irrevocably set
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  Speaker 1: in the mold in which Clayton had left it, and
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: the last chance of their working together for their common
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: good was gone. Well, Alice, said Clayton, as he rejoined
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  Speaker 1: his wife. I might have saved my breath. The fellow
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: proved most ungrateful, fairly jumped at me like a mad dog.
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  Speaker 1: He and his blasted old ship may hang for aught.
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  Speaker 1: I care, and until we are safely off the thing.
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  Speaker 1: I shall spend my energies in looking after our own welfare,
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  Speaker 1: and I rather fancy the first step to that end
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: should be to go to our cabin and look over
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: my revolvers. I am sorry now that we packed the
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: larger guns and the ammunition with the below. They found
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: their quarters in a bad state of disorder. Clothing from
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: their open boxes and bags strewed the little apartment, and
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: even their beds had been torn to pieces. Evidently someone
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: was more anxious about our belongings than we, said Clayton.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Let's have a look around, Allison, see what's missing. A
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: thorough search revealed the fact that nothing had been taken
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: but Clayton's two revolvers and the small supply of ammunition
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: he had saved out for them. Those are the very
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: things I most wished they had left us, said Clayton,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: And the fact that they wished for them, and them alone,
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  Speaker 1: is most sinister. What are we to do, John asked
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: his wife. Perhaps you were right in that our best
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: chance lies in maintaining a neutral position. If the officers
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: are able to prevent a mutiny, we have nothing to fear,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: while if the mutineers are victorious, are one slim hope
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: lies in not having attempted to thwart or antagonize them. Right,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: you are, Alice, We'll keep in the middle of the road.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: As they started to straighten up their cabin, Clayton and
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: his wife simultaneously noticed the corner of a piece of
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: paper protruding from beneath the door of their quarters. As
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Clayton stooped to reach for it, he was amazed to
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: see it move further into the room, and then they
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: realized that it was being pushed inward by some one
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: from without. Quickly and silently, he stepped toward the door,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: but as he reached for the knob to throw it open,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: his wife's hand fell upon his wrist. No, John, she whispered,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: They do not wish to be seen, and so we
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: cannot afford to see them. Do not forget that we
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: are keeping to the middle of the road. Clayton smiled
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and dropped his hand to his side. Thus he stood
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: watching the little bit of white paper until it finally
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: remained at rest upon the floor just inside the door.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Then Clayton stooped and picked it up. It was a
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: bit of grimy white paper roughly folded into a ragged square,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Opening it, they found a crude message, printed almost illegibly
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and with many evidences of an unaccustomed task translated. It
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: was a warning to the Claytons to refrain from reporting
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: the loss of the revolvers, or from repeating what the
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: old sailor had told them to refrain on pain of death.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I rather imagine will be good, said Clayton, with a
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: rueful smile. About all we can do is to sit
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: tight and wait for whatever may come. End of chapter