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03 - Life and Death · Tarzan of the Apes

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, Life and Death. Morning found them but little,
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  Speaker 1: if at all, refreshed, though it was with a feeling
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  Speaker 1: of intense relief that they saw the day dawn. As
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  Speaker 1: soon as they had made their meager breakfast of salt pork,
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  Speaker 1: coffee and biscuit, Clayton commenced work upon their house, for
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  Speaker 1: he realized that they could hope for no safety and
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  Speaker 1: no peace of mind at night until four strong walls
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  Speaker 1: effectually barred the jungle life from them. The task was
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  Speaker 1: an arduous one and required the better part of a month,
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  Speaker 1: though he built but one small room. He constructed his
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  Speaker 1: cabin of small logs about six inches in diameter, stopping
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  Speaker 1: the chinks with clay, which he found at the depth
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  Speaker 1: of a few feet beneath the surface soil. At one
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  Speaker 1: end he built a fireplace of small stones from the beach.
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  Speaker 1: These also he set in clay, and when the house
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  Speaker 1: had been entirely completed, he applied a coating of the
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  Speaker 1: clay to the entire outside surface, to the thickness of
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  Speaker 1: four inches. In the window opening, he set small branches
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  Speaker 1: about one inch in diameter, both vertically and horizontally, and
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  Speaker 1: so woven that they formed a substantial grating that could
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  Speaker 1: withstand the strength of a powerful animal. Thus the obtained
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  Speaker 1: air and proper ventilation, without fear of lessening the safety
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  Speaker 1: of their cabin. The a shaped roof was thatched with
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  Speaker 1: small branches laid close together, and over these long jungle
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  Speaker 1: grass and palm fronds, with a final coating of clay.
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  Speaker 1: The door he built of pieces of the packing boxes
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  Speaker 1: which had held their belongings, nailing one piece upon another
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  Speaker 1: the grain of continuous layers running transversely, until he had
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  Speaker 1: a solid body some three inches thick, and of such
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  Speaker 1: great strength that they were both moved to laughter as
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  Speaker 1: they gazed upon it. Here the greatest difficulty confronted Clayton,
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  Speaker 1: for he had no means whereby to hang his massive door,
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  Speaker 1: now that he had build it. After two days work, however,
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  Speaker 1: he succeeded in fashioning two massive hardwood hinges, and with
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  Speaker 1: these he hung the door so that it opened and
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  Speaker 1: closed easily. The stuccoing and other final touches were added
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  Speaker 1: after they moved into the house, which they had done
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  Speaker 1: as soon as the roof was on, piling their boxes
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  Speaker 1: before the door at night, and thus having a comparatively
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  Speaker 1: safe and comfortable habitation, the building of a bed, chairs, table,
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  Speaker 1: and shells was a relatively easy matter, so that by
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  Speaker 1: the end of the second month they were well settled,
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  Speaker 1: and but for the constant dread of attack by wild
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  Speaker 1: beasts and the ever growing loneliness, they were not uncomfortable
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  Speaker 1: or unhappy. At night, great best snarled and roared about
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  Speaker 1: their tiny cabin, but so accustomed made one become to
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  Speaker 1: off repeated noises that soon they paid little attention to them,
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  Speaker 1: sleeping soundly the whole night through had they caught fleeting
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  Speaker 1: glimpses of great manlike figures like that of the first night,
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  Speaker 1: but never at sufficiently close range to know positively whether
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  Speaker 1: the half seen forms were those of man or brute.
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  Speaker 1: The brilliant birds and the little monkeys had become accustomed
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  Speaker 1: to their new acquaintances, and as they had evidently never
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  Speaker 1: seen human beings before, they presently, after their first fright
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  Speaker 1: had worn off, approached closer and closer, impelled by that
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  Speaker 1: strange curiosity which dominates the wild creatures of the forests
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  Speaker 1: and the jungle and the plain, so that within the
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  Speaker 1: first month several of the birds had gone so far
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  Speaker 1: as even to accept morsels of food from the friendly
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  Speaker 1: hands of the Claytons. One afternoon, while Clayton was working
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  Speaker 1: upon an addition to their cabin, for he contemplated building
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  Speaker 1: several more rooms, a number of their grotesque little friends
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  Speaker 1: came shrieking and scolding through the trees from the direction
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  Speaker 1: of the ridge. Where As they fled, they cast fearful
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  Speaker 1: glances back of them, and finally they stopped near Clayton,
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  Speaker 1: jabbering excitedly to him, as though to warn him of
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  Speaker 1: approaching danger. At last he saw it the thing the
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  Speaker 1: little monkeys so feared, the man brute of which the
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  Speaker 1: Claytons had caught occasional fleeting glimpses. It was approaching through
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  Speaker 1: the jungle in a semi erect position, and now and
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  Speaker 1: then placing the backs of its close fists upon the
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  Speaker 1: ground a great anthropoid ape, and as it advanced it
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  Speaker 1: amid deep guttural growls and an occasional low barking sound.
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  Speaker 1: Clayton was at some distance from the cabin, having come
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  Speaker 1: to fell a particularly perfect tree for his building operations.
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  Speaker 1: Grown careless from months of continued safety, during which time
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  Speaker 1: he had seen no dangerous animals. During the daylight hours,
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  Speaker 1: he had left his rifles and revolvers all within the
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  Speaker 1: little cabin. And now that he saw the great ape
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  Speaker 1: crashing through the underbrush directly toward him, and from a
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  Speaker 1: direction which practically cut him off from escape, he felt
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  Speaker 1: a vague little shiver play up and down his spine.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that armed only with an axe, his chances
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  Speaker 1: with this ferocious monster were small indeed, and Alice, oh God,
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  Speaker 1: he thought, what will become of Alice? There was yet
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  Speaker 1: a slight chance of reaching the cabin. He turned and
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  Speaker 1: ran toward it, shouting an alarm to his wife to
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  Speaker 1: run in, and closed the great door in case the
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  Speaker 1: ape cut off his retreat. Lady Greystoke had been sitting
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  Speaker 1: a little way from the cabin, and when she heard
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  Speaker 1: his cry, she looked up to see the apes springing
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  Speaker 1: with almost incredible swiftness for so large and awkward an animal.
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  Speaker 1: In an effort to head off Clayton with a low cry,
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  Speaker 1: she sprang toward the cabin, and as she entered, gave
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  Speaker 1: a backward glance which filled her soul with terror, for
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  Speaker 1: the brute had intercepted her husband, who now stood at bay,
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  Speaker 1: grasping his axe with both hands, ready to swing it
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  Speaker 1: upon the ear infuriated animal when he should make his
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  Speaker 1: final charge, close him both the door. Alice cried Clayton,
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  Speaker 1: I can finish this fellow with my axe. But he
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  Speaker 1: knew he was facing a horrible death, and so did she.
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  Speaker 1: The ape was a great bull, weighing probably three hundred pounds.
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  Speaker 1: His nasty, close set eyes gleamed hatred from beneath his
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  Speaker 1: shaggy brows, while his great canine fangs were bared in
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  Speaker 1: a horrid snarl. As he paused a moment before his
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  Speaker 1: prey Over the brute shoulder, Clayton could see the doorway
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  Speaker 1: of his cabin not twenty paces distant, and a great
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  Speaker 1: wave of horror and fear swept over him as he
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  Speaker 1: saw his young wife emerge, armed with one of his rifles.
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  Speaker 1: She had always been afraid of firearms and would never
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  Speaker 1: touch them, but now she rushed toward the ape with
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  Speaker 1: the fearlessness of a lioness protecting its young back. Alice
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  Speaker 1: shouted Clayton, for God's sake, go back, but she would
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  Speaker 1: not heed, and just then the ape charged, so that
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  Speaker 1: Clayton could say no more. The man swung his axe
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  Speaker 1: with all his mighty strength, but the powerful brute seized
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  Speaker 1: it in those terrible hands, and, tearing it from Clayton's grasp,
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  Speaker 1: hurled it far to one side. With an ugly snarl,
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  Speaker 1: he closed upon his defenseless victim, but ere his fangs
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  Speaker 1: had reached the throat they thirsted for. There was a
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  Speaker 1: sharp report, and a bullet entered the ape's back between
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  Speaker 1: his shoulders, throwing Clayton to the ground. The beast turned
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  Speaker 1: upon his new enemy. There before him stood the terrified girl,
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  Speaker 1: vainly trying to fire another bullet into the animal's body,
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  Speaker 1: But she did not understand the mechanism of the firearm,
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  Speaker 1: and the hammer fell feudally upon unempty cartridge. Almost simultaneously,
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  Speaker 1: Clayton regained his feet, and, without thought of the utter
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  Speaker 1: hopelessness of it, he rushed forward to drag the ape
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  Speaker 1: from his wife's prostrate form. With little or no effort,
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  Speaker 1: he succeeded, and the great bulk rolled inertly upon the
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  Speaker 1: turf before him. The ape was dead, the bullet had
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  Speaker 1: done its work. A hasty examination of his wife revealed
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  Speaker 1: no marks upon her, and Clayton decided that the huge
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  Speaker 1: brute had died the instant he had sprung toward Alice
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  Speaker 1: gently He lifted his wife's still unconscious form and bore
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  Speaker 1: her to the little cabin, but it was fully two
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  Speaker 1: hours before she regained consciousness. Her first words filled Clayton
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  Speaker 1: with vague apprehension. For some time after regaining her senses,
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  Speaker 1: Alice gazed wonderingly about the interior of the little cabin,
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  Speaker 1: and then, with a satisfied sigh, said, Oh, John, it
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  Speaker 1: is so good to be really home. I've had an
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  Speaker 1: awful dream, Dear. I thought we were no longer in London,
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  Speaker 1: but in some horrible place where great beasts attacked us.
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  Speaker 1: There there, Alice, he said, stroking her forehead, to sleep again,
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  Speaker 1: and do not worry your head about bad dreams. That night,
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  Speaker 1: a little son was born in the tiny cabin beside
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  Speaker 1: the primeval forest, while a leopard screamed before the door,
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  Speaker 1: and the deep notes of a lion's roar sounded from
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  Speaker 1: beyond the ridge. Lady Greystoke never recovered from the shock
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  Speaker 1: of the great apes attack, and though she lived for
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  Speaker 1: a year after her baby was born, she was never
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  Speaker 1: again outside the cabin, nor did she ever fully realize
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  Speaker 1: that she was not in England. Sometimes she would question
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  Speaker 1: Clayton as to the strange noises of the knights, the
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  Speaker 1: absence of servants and friends, and the strange rudeness of
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  Speaker 1: the furnishings within her room. But though he made no
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  Speaker 1: effort to deceive her, never could she grasp the meaning
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  Speaker 1: of it all. In other ways, she was quite rational,
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  Speaker 1: and the joy and happiness she took in the possession
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  Speaker 1: of her little son and the constant attentions of her husband,
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  Speaker 1: and made that year a very happy one for her,
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  Speaker 1: the happiest of her young life. That it would have
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  Speaker 1: been beset by worries and apprehension had she been in
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  Speaker 1: full command of her mental faculties. Clayton Well knew so
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  Speaker 1: that while he suffered terribly to see her so, there
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  Speaker 1: were times when he was almost glad for her sake
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  Speaker 1: that she could not understand. Long since had he given
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  Speaker 1: up any hope of rescue, except through accident with unremitting zeal.
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  Speaker 1: He had worked to beautify the interior of the cabin.
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  Speaker 1: Skins of lion and panther covered the floor, cupboards and
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  Speaker 1: bookcases lined the walls. Odd vases made by his own
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  Speaker 1: hand from the clay of the region, held beautiful tropical flowers,
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  Speaker 1: curtains of grass, and bamboo covered the windows, and most
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  Speaker 1: arduous task of all. With his meager assortment of tools,
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  Speaker 1: he had fashioned lumber to neatly seal the walls and
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  Speaker 1: ceiling and leas's smooth floor within the cabin. That he
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  Speaker 1: had been able to turn his hands at all to
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  Speaker 1: such unaccustomed labor was a source of mild wonder to him,
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  Speaker 1: but he loved the work because it was for her
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  Speaker 1: and the tiny life that had come to cheer them,
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  Speaker 1: though adding a hundredfold to his responsibilities and to the
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  Speaker 1: terribleness of their situation. During the year that followed, Clayton
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  Speaker 1: was several times attacked by the great apes, which now
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  Speaker 1: seemed to continually infest the vicinity of the cabin. But
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  Speaker 1: as he never again ventured outside without both rifle and revolvers,
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  Speaker 1: he had little fear of the huge beasts. He had
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  Speaker 1: strengthened the window protections and fitted a unique wooden lock
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  Speaker 1: to the cabin door, so that when he hunted for
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  Speaker 1: game and fruits, as it was constantly necessary for him
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  Speaker 1: to do to ensure sustenance, he had no fear that
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  Speaker 1: any animal could break into the little home. At first,
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  Speaker 1: he shot much of the game from the cabin windows.
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  Speaker 1: But toward the end the animals learned to fear this
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  Speaker 1: strange lair, from Whence issued the terrifying thunder of his rifle.
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  Speaker 1: In his leisure, Clayton read often aloud to his wife
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  Speaker 1: from the store of books he had brought for their
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  Speaker 1: new home. Among these were many for little children, picture
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  Speaker 1: books primmers readers, for they had known that their little
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  Speaker 1: child would be old enough for such before they might
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  Speaker 1: hope to return to England. At other times Clayton wrote
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  Speaker 1: in its diary, which he had always been accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: keep in French, and in which he recorded the details
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  Speaker 1: of their strange life. This book he kept locked in
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  Speaker 1: a little metal box. A year from the day her
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  Speaker 1: little son was born, Lady Alice passed quietly away in
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  Speaker 1: the night. So peaceful was her end that it was
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  Speaker 1: hours before Clayton could awake to a realization that his
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  Speaker 1: wife was dead. The horror of the situation came to
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  Speaker 1: him very slowly, and it is doubtful that he ever
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  Speaker 1: fully realized the enormity of his sorrow and the fearful
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  Speaker 1: responsibility that had devolved upon him with the care of
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  Speaker 1: that wee thing. His son, still a nursing babe, The
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  Speaker 1: last entry in his diary was made the morning following
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  Speaker 1: her death, and there he recites the sad details in
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  Speaker 1: a matter of fact way that adds to the pathos
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  Speaker 1: of it, for it breathes a tired apathy, born of
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  Speaker 1: long sorrow and hopelessness, which even this cruel blow could
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  Speaker 1: scarcely awake to further suffering. My little son is crying
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  Speaker 1: for nourishment. Oh, Alice, Alice, what shall I do? And
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  Speaker 1: as John Clayton wrote the last words, his hand was
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  Speaker 1: destined ever to pen. He dropped his head wearily upon
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  Speaker 1: his outstretched arms, where they rested upon the table he
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  Speaker 1: had built for her, who lay still and cold in
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  Speaker 1: the bed beside him. For a long time, no sound
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  Speaker 1: broke the deathlike stillness of the jungle mid day, save
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  Speaker 1: the piteous wailing of the tiny manchild. End of chapter