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24 - Lost Treasure · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four, Lost Treasure. When the expedition returned following
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  Speaker 1: their fruitless endeavor to succor d'arnault, Captain du Fran was
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  Speaker 1: anxious to steam away as quickly as possible, and all
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  Speaker 1: save Jane had acquiesced. No, she said determinedly, I shall
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  Speaker 1: not go, nor should you, for there are two friends
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  Speaker 1: in that jungle who will come out of it some day,
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  Speaker 1: expecting to find us awaiting them. Your officer, Captain Dufran,
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  Speaker 1: is one of them, and the forest man who has
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  Speaker 1: saved the lives of every member of my father's party
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  Speaker 1: is the other. He left me at the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the jungle two days ago to hasten to the aid
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  Speaker 1: of my father and mister Clayton, as he thought, and
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  Speaker 1: he has stayed to rescue Lieutenant d'arnaux. Of that, you
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  Speaker 1: may be sure. Had he been too late to be
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  Speaker 1: of service to the lieutenant, he would have been back
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  Speaker 1: before now. The fact that he is not back is
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  Speaker 1: sufficient proof to me that he is delayed because Lieutenant
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  Speaker 1: d'arnault is wounded, for he has had to follow his
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  Speaker 1: captors further than the village which your sailors attacked. But
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  Speaker 1: poor Darnault's uniform, and all his belongings were found in
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  Speaker 1: that village, Miss porter argued the captain and the natives
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  Speaker 1: showed great excitement when questioned as to the white man's fate. Yes, Captain,
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  Speaker 1: but they did not admit that he was dead. And
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  Speaker 1: as for his clothes and accouterments being in their possession,
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  Speaker 1: Why more civilized people than these poor savage negroes stripped
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  Speaker 1: their prisoners of every article of value, whether they intend
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  Speaker 1: killing them or not. Even the soldiers of my own
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  Speaker 1: dear South looted not only the living but the dead.
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  Speaker 1: It is strong circumstantial evidence, I will admit, but it
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  Speaker 1: is not positive proof. Possibly your forest man himself was
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  Speaker 1: captured or killed by the savages, suggested Captain Deufran. The
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  Speaker 1: girl laughed, you do not know him, she replied, a
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  Speaker 1: little thrill of pride, setting her nerves a tingle at
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  Speaker 1: the thought that she spoke of her own. I admit
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  Speaker 1: that he would be worth waiting for this u superman
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  Speaker 1: of yours, laughed the captain. I most certainly should like
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  Speaker 1: to see him. Then wait for him, my dear captain,
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  Speaker 1: urged the girl, For I intend doing so. The Frenchman
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  Speaker 1: would have been a very much surprised man. Could he
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  Speaker 1: have interpreted the true meaning of the girl's words. They
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  Speaker 1: had been walking from the beach toward the cabin as
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  Speaker 1: they talked, and now they joined a little group sitting
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  Speaker 1: on campstools in the shade of a great tree beside
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  Speaker 1: the cabin. Professor Porter was there, and mister Falander and
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  Speaker 1: Clayton with Lieutenant Charpentier and two of his brother officers,
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  Speaker 1: while Esmeralda hovered in the background. Ever, and anon Venturing
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  Speaker 1: opinions and comments were the freedom of an old and
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  Speaker 1: much indulged family servant. The officers arose and selet rooted
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  Speaker 1: as their superior approached, and Clayton surrendered his campstool to Jane.
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  Speaker 1: We were just discussing poor Paul's fate, said Captain de fran.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Porter insists that we have no absolute proof of
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  Speaker 1: his death, nor have we, And on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: she maintains that the continued absence of your omnipotent jungle
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  Speaker 1: friend indicates that d'arnault is still in need of his services,
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  Speaker 1: either because he is wounded or still is a prisoner
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  Speaker 1: in a more distant native village. It has been suggested
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  Speaker 1: ventured Lieutenant charpentier that the wild man may have been
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  Speaker 1: a member of the tribe of blacks who attacked our party,
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  Speaker 1: that he was hastening to aid them his own people.
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  Speaker 1: Jane shot a quick glance at Clayton. It seems vastly
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  Speaker 1: more reasonable, said professor Porter. I do not agree with you,
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  Speaker 1: objected mister Falander. He had ample opportunity to harm us
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  Speaker 1: himself or to lead his people against us instead. During
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  Speaker 1: our long residence here, he has been uniformly consistent in
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  Speaker 1: his role of protector and provider. That is true, interjected Clayton.
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  Speaker 1: Yet we must not overlook the fact that, except for himself,
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  Speaker 1: the only human beings within hundreds of miles are savage cannibals.
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  Speaker 1: He was armed precisely as are they, which indicates that
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  Speaker 1: he has maintained relations of some nature with them, and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that he has but one against possibly thousands,
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  Speaker 1: suggests that these relations could scarcely have been other than friendly.
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  Speaker 1: It seems improbable, then, that he is not connected with them,
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  Speaker 1: remarked the captain. Possibly a member of this tribe. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: added another of the officers, How could he have lived
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  Speaker 1: a sufficient length of time among the savage denizens of
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  Speaker 1: the jungle brute and human to have become proficient in
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  Speaker 1: woodcraft or in the use of African weapons. You are
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  Speaker 1: judging him according to your own standards, gentlemen, said Jane.
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  Speaker 1: An ordinary white man such as any of you A
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  Speaker 1: pardon me, I did not mean just that. Rather, a
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  Speaker 1: white man above the ordinary in physique and intelligence could
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  Speaker 1: never I grant you have lived a year alone and
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  Speaker 1: naked in this tropical jungle. But this man not only
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  Speaker 1: surpasses the average white man in strength and agility, but
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  Speaker 1: as far transcends our trained athletes and strong men as
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  Speaker 1: they surpass a day old babe. And his courage and
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  Speaker 1: ferocity in battle are those of the wild beast. He
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  Speaker 1: has certainly won a loyal champion, Miss Porter, said Captain
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  Speaker 1: de Frand, laughing. I am sure that there be none
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  Speaker 1: of us here, but would willingly face death a hundred
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  Speaker 1: times in its most terrifying forms to deserve the tributes
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  Speaker 1: of one even half so loyal or so beautiful. You
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  Speaker 1: would not wonder that I defend him, said the girl.
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  Speaker 1: Could you have seen him as I saw him battling
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  Speaker 1: in my behalf with that huge, hairy brute. Could you
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  Speaker 1: have seen him charge the monster as a bull might
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  Speaker 1: charge grisly, absolutely without sign of fear or hesitation. You
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  Speaker 1: would have believed him more than human. Could you have
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  Speaker 1: seen those mighty muscles nodding under the brown skin. Could
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  Speaker 1: you have seen them force back those awful fangs, You
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  Speaker 1: too would have thought him invincible. And could you have
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  Speaker 1: seen the chivalrous treatment which he accorded a strange girl
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  Speaker 1: of a strange race, You would feel the same absolute
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  Speaker 1: confidence in him that I feel. You have won your suit,
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  Speaker 1: my fair pleader, cried the captain. This court finds the
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  Speaker 1: defendant not guilty, and the cruiser shall wait a few
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  Speaker 1: days longer that he may have an opportunity to come
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  Speaker 1: and thank the divine porche all the I would say, Honey,
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  Speaker 1: cried Esmerelda, you all don't mean to tell me that
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  Speaker 1: you're going to stay right here in this here land
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  Speaker 1: of carnivoarable animals when you all got the opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: escapade on that boat. Don't you tell me that? Honey?
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  Speaker 1: Why is Morelda? You should be ashamed of yourself, cried Jane.
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  Speaker 1: Is this any way to show your gratitude to the
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  Speaker 1: man who saved your life twice? Well, Miss Jane, that's
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  Speaker 1: all just as you say, But that their forced man
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  Speaker 1: never did save us to stay here. He done save
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  Speaker 1: us so we could all get away from here. I
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  Speaker 1: expect he'd be mighty peevish when he finds we ain't
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  Speaker 1: got no more sense than to stay right here, after
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  Speaker 1: he'd done give us the chance to get away. I
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  Speaker 1: hoped i'd never have to sleep and this here geological
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  Speaker 1: garden another night, and listened to all them lonesome noises
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  Speaker 1: that come out of that jumble after dark. I don't
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  Speaker 1: blame you a bit, as Morell, said Clayton. And you
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  Speaker 1: certainly did hit it off right when you called them
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  Speaker 1: lonesome noises. I never have been able to find the
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  Speaker 1: right word for them. But that's it, don't you know,
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  Speaker 1: lonesome noises? You and Esmralda had better go and live
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  Speaker 1: on the cruiser, said Jane, in fine scorn. What would
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  Speaker 1: you think if you had to live all your life
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  Speaker 1: in that jungle as our forest man has done. I'm
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  Speaker 1: afraid i'd be a blooming boundery as a wild man,
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  Speaker 1: laughed Clayton, ruefully. Those noises at night make the hair
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  Speaker 1: on my head bristle. I suppose that I should be
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  Speaker 1: ashamed to admit it, but it's the truth. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know about that, said Lieutenant Charpentier. I never thought much
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  Speaker 1: about fear and that sort of thing, never tried to
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  Speaker 1: determine whether I was a coward or brave man. But
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  Speaker 1: the other night, as we lay in the jungle there
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  Speaker 1: after poor d'arnau was taken, and those jungle noises rose
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  Speaker 1: and fell around us, I began to think that I
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  Speaker 1: was a coward. Indeed, it was not the roaring and
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  Speaker 1: growling of the big beast that affected me so much
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  Speaker 1: as it was the stealthy noises, the ones that you
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  Speaker 1: heard suddenly close by, and then listened vainly for a
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  Speaker 1: repetition of the unaccountable sounds as of a great body
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  Speaker 1: moving almost noiselessly, and the knowledge that you didn't know
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  Speaker 1: how close it was, or whether it was creeping closer
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  Speaker 1: after you ceased to hear it. It was those noises
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  Speaker 1: and the eyes, mon dear, I shall see them in
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  Speaker 1: the dark forever, the eyes that you see and those
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  Speaker 1: that you don't see but feel, ah, they are the worst.
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  Speaker 1: All were silent for a moment, and then Jane spoke,
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  Speaker 1: And he is out there, she said, in an awe
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  Speaker 1: hushed whisper. Those eyes will be glaring at him to night,
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  Speaker 1: and at your comrade, Lieutenant d'arnault. Can you leave them, gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: without at least rendering them the passive succor, which, remaining
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  Speaker 1: here a few days longer, might insure them. Tut tut, child,
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  Speaker 1: said Professor Porter. Captain du Fran is willing to remain,
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  Speaker 1: And for my part, I am perfectly willing, perfectly willing
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  Speaker 1: as I have always been, to humor your childish whims.
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  Speaker 1: We can utilize the morrow in recovering the chess, professor,
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  Speaker 1: suggested mister Falander. Quite so, Quite so, mister Flander, I
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  Speaker 1: had almost forgotten the treasure, exclaimed Professor Porter. Possibly we
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  Speaker 1: can borrow some men from Captain du Fran to assist us,
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  Speaker 1: and one of the prisoners to point out the location
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  Speaker 1: of the chest. Most dissuredly, my dear professor, we are
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  Speaker 1: all yours to command, said the captain, And so it
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  Speaker 1: was arranged that on the next day, Lieutenant Charpentier was
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  Speaker 1: to take a detail of ten men and one of
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  Speaker 1: the mutineers of the arrow as a guide and unearthed
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  Speaker 1: the treasure, and that the cruiser would remain for a
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  Speaker 1: full week in the little harbor. At the end of
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  Speaker 1: that time, it was to be assumed that d'arnault was
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  Speaker 1: truly dead, and that the forest man would not return
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  Speaker 1: while they remained. Then the two vessels were to leave
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  Speaker 1: with all the party. Professor Porter did not accompany the
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  Speaker 1: treasure seekers on the following day, but when he saw
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  Speaker 1: them returning empty handed toward noon, he hastened forward to
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  Speaker 1: meet them. His usual preoccupied indifference entirely vanished, and in
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  Speaker 1: its place a nervous and excited manner. Where is the treasure?
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  Speaker 1: He cried to Clayton, while yet a hundred feet separated them.
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  Speaker 1: Clayton shook his head. Gone, he said, as he neared
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  Speaker 1: the Professor. Gone. It cannot be. Who could have taken it,
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  Speaker 1: cried Professor Porter. God only knows. Professor replied Clayton. We
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  Speaker 1: might have thought the fellow who guided us was lying
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  Speaker 1: about the location, But his surprise and consternation on finding
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  Speaker 1: no chest beneath the body of the murdered Snipes were
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  Speaker 1: too real to be feigned. And then our spades showed
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  Speaker 1: us that something had been buried beneath the corpse, for
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  Speaker 1: a hole had been there, and it had been filled
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  Speaker 1: with loose earth, but who could have taken it? Repeated
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  Speaker 1: Professor Porter. Suspicion might naturally fall on the men of
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  Speaker 1: the cruiser, said Lieutenant Charpentier, but for the fact that
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  Speaker 1: saub Lieutenant Jean Viet here assures me that no men
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  Speaker 1: had had sure leave, that none has been on shore
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  Speaker 1: since we anchored here, except under command of an officer.
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  Speaker 1: I do not know that you would suspect our men,
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  Speaker 1: but I am glad that there is now no chance
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  Speaker 1: for suspicion to fall on them, he concluded. It would
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  Speaker 1: never have occurred to me to suspect the men to
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  Speaker 1: whom we owe so much, replied Professor Porter. Graciously, I
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  Speaker 1: would as soon suspect my dear Clayton here or mister Falander.
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  Speaker 1: The Frenchman smiled. Both officers and sailors. It was plain
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  Speaker 1: to see that a burden had been lifted from their minds.
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  Speaker 1: The treasure has been gone for some time, continued Clayton.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the body fell apart as we lifted it,
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  Speaker 1: which indicates that whoever removed the treasurer did so while
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  Speaker 1: the corpse was still fresh, for it was intact when
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  Speaker 1: we first uncovered it. There must have been several in
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  Speaker 1: the party, said Jane, who had joined them. You remember
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  Speaker 1: that it took four men to carry it by, Jove,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: cried Clayton. That's right, it must have been done by
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  Speaker 1: a party of blacks. Probably one of them saw the
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  Speaker 1: men bury the chest, and then returned immediately after with
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  Speaker 1: a party of his friends and carried it off. Speculation
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  Speaker 1: is futile, said Professor Porter. Sadly, the chest is gone.
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  Speaker 1: We shall never see it again, nor the treasure that
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  Speaker 1: was in it. Only Jane knew what the loss meant
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  Speaker 1: to her father, and none there knew what it meant
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  Speaker 1: to her. Six days later, Captain Deufron announced that they
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  Speaker 1: would sail early on the morrow. Jane would have begged
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  Speaker 1: for a further reprieve had it not been that, she too,
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  Speaker 1: had begun to believe that her forest lover would return
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  Speaker 1: no more. In spite of herself, she began to entertain
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  Speaker 1: doubts and fears. The reasonableness of the arguments of these
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  Speaker 1: disinterested French officers commenced to convince her, against her will,
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  Speaker 1: that he was a cannibal she would not believe, but
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  Speaker 1: that he was an adopted member of some savage tribe
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  Speaker 1: at length seemed possible to her. She would not admit
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  Speaker 1: that he could be dead. It was impossible to believe
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  Speaker 1: that that perfect body, so filled with triumphant life could
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  Speaker 1: ever cease to harbor the vital spark as soon believed
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  Speaker 1: that immortality were dust. As Jane permitted herself to harbor
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  Speaker 1: these thoughts, others, equally unwelcome, forced themselves upon her. If
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  Speaker 1: he belonged to some savage tribe, he had a savage wife,
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  Speaker 1: a dozen of them perhaps, and wild half cast children.
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  Speaker 1: The girl shuddered, and when they told her that the
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  Speaker 1: cruiser would sail on the morrow, she was almost glad.
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  Speaker 1: It was she, though, who suggested that arms, ammunition, supplies,
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  Speaker 1: and comforts be left behind in the cabin, ostensibly for
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  Speaker 1: that intangible personality who had signed himself Tarzan of the Apes,
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  Speaker 1: and for Darnault should he still be living. But really
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  Speaker 1: she hoped for her forest God, even though his feet
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  Speaker 1: should prove of clay. At the last minute, she left
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  Speaker 1: a message for him to be transmitted by Tarzan of
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  Speaker 1: the Apes. She was the last to leave the cabin,
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  Speaker 1: returning on some trivial pretext after the others had stole
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  Speaker 1: heard for the boat. She kneeled down beside the bed
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  Speaker 1: in which she had spent so many nights, and offered
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  Speaker 1: up a prayer for the safety of her primeval man,
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  Speaker 1: and crushing his locket to her lips, she murmured, I
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  Speaker 1: love you, and because I love you, I believe in you.
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  Speaker 1: But if I did not believe, still should I love?
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  Speaker 1: Had you come back for me, and had there been
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  Speaker 1: no other way, I would have gone into the jungle
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  Speaker 1: with you forever. End of chapter