As Tarzan of the Apes and Jane, his mate, hurtled through the trees leading back to their bungalow - following an exhausting march with the Waziri across the desert - the ape-man, also a peer of the British aristocracy, let his thoughts wander to the strange, almost unbelievable circ.u.mstances that had brought him into and relieved him from incredible adventure. He and his lady stopped their headlong flight along the middle terrace, and they descended to the earth.
Once there, the mighty white ape took Jane into his arms.
He held her tightly, looking over his shoulder. "Opar is gone," he said, wishing to elaborate, yet unable to expound on his statement. "And with it is gone the Silver Globe."
"Yes," answered his mate.
"Yes," echoed Tarzan, "the city is forever destroyed. And the tunnel to the treasure chambera that too, above all, is gone."
And good riddance, A murmured his wife.
Good riddance? A Tarzan looked aghast.
"Yes. My darling, this has long been a sore spot with me. That this gold was so available, so easily taken; as an Englishman, you simply must start to buckle down to your responsibilities. Not," she added hastily as she observed the look that came over her lord and master"s face, "that you have not discharged your obligations to me and to Jack, but simply that you have a certaina well, obligation to discharge as a civilized Englishman."
The Lord of the Jungle happily heard something approach. "Up that tree," he ordered.
"What? "Jane didn"t understand. "Up that tree." Tarzan gestured with his free hand, drawing his knife with the other. "Quickly. Someone approaches."
Jane did as ordered, as her mate faced the brush around the small swale they had chosen in which to talk. There was an ominous crackling of brush, and a great ape strode boldly into the clearing.
"Nendat!" He announced, beating his chest, and swaggering about.
"I see you," replied Tarzan, strutting about rather ridiculously for the benefit of Jane, happily perched on a high branch.
"My tribe killed many," boasted the ape. "And I, Nendat, led all the beasts. I am Lord of the Jungle." He beat his chest again. "I, Nendat, only Nendat!"
Tarzan glanced over his shoulder, making sure that his mate, Jane, was taking all this in. "There is one Lord of the Jungle," he told the strutting ape, firmly. "One. Tarzan. I am Tarzan!"
Nendat roared his displeasure, tearing a few small shrubs from the earth to emphasize his dislike of the conversation, such as it was.
Tarzan, in the manner of the great apes, thrust out his chest and stuck out his rump, circling the other, showing his extreme displeasure at the tenure of the insulting remarks.
Despite the fact that one or the other might die because of this foolish insistence on leadership, Jane could not help but chuckle at the resemblance to two small boys as Tarzan and the great ape strutted and swaggered about each other, uttering ominous threats and menacing growls. There was a small crackle of brush behind the ape-man=s mate, and she turned in time to see a she-ape climb up beside her. It was Leena, Nendat"s mate. Sociably, Leena offered Jane half a squirming grub, which Lady Greystoke declined politely. Leena gave the equivalent of a shrug, settling herself beside Tarzan"s mate, and watched the contest below.
Somehow, Jane felt very close to the hairy ape, and put an impulsive arm about the s.h.a.ggy body.
"Males! "Jane exclaimed.
Leena munched contentedly on the grub, placed an arm about Tarzan"s mate. She sucked a hollow fang, watching the rather ridiculous show below as the two males snarled and snapped, stomped and swaggered. The she-ape happily scratched a flea, turned a muzzle to Jane. "Males," she agreed, as the pair below, with frightful bellows of rage and much showing of gnashing fangs rolled over and over in the dirt. "Males. Yet for us shes, what else is there?"
"Um," Jane said aloud. "And your mate, Nendat, is he stern with you?"
The two males were rolling on the ground now, a squawling, tangled ma.s.s of disagreement.
Leena considered this question. She felt her jaw. "No more than he should be, no more than is proper. I suffer his blows gladly, as is proper among shes. And you?"
"Oh," Jane hastened to a.s.sure her, "exactly the same." Jane had felt not so much as a stern finger laid upon her, but knew that among the natives, the Waziri, this would mean a certain loss of face; just so must it mean a loss of face among the great apes, although heaven knew what Jane Clayton"s family in Baltimore would think if they knew she was trying to save face with an ape. Jane cast an eye to the really rather nasty disagreement on the ground where the protagonists were roiling in the dirt, muttering obscure curses at each other but doing little real damage. Comfortable after her long ordeal, Jane swung her legs back and forth. "You have children?" she asked Leena.
"Pintat," Leena said, proudly. She tried to erase the obvious pride by picking nonchalantly at her yellowed fangs with her fingernails. "Of little value," she added, as an afterthought. Politely: "You?"
"A small Tarzan. We call him Jack."
Leena grimaced in what might have been a smile. "He is like your mate?"
"Well - yes. And your son? It is a son? "
Leena snuffled, waved a negligent paw at the pair snarling and cuffing each other on the jungle floor. "Like him. Proud. Strong. What can you expect from a male child? I want more. This time, a she. Small. Dainty. Like me." With this, the huge ape encircled Jane in a crushing embrace. Jane winced from the strength, but understood.
The struggle continued for some moments below the branch on which Jane and Leena perched, but without a definite outcome. Indeed, Jane thought, neither wanted a definite outcome. It was a test of strength and fort.i.tude with both seeming more than equal to the occasion. Companionably, they stopped their scuffling and shared a particularly succulent and unwary caterpillar that had wandered across their path.
Jane and Leena stared at each other in what would have pa.s.sed for unvoiced laughter in any civilized society, then the two went their ways. Jane told a panting and still enraged Tarzan that he was indeed, king of the bush, Lord of the Jungle, master of all he surveyed.
Leena undoubtedly told Nendat much the same, At my rate, both males left the common arena, r barking, stomping, wondering if their mates had ob- served with what valor each had conducted himself.
Tarzan swung easily into the tree beside Jane. It was rapidly growing dark. The pair climbed to the upper terrace, to find sleep for the night in the springy boughs.
"Sleep," Tarzan told his mate gruffly. "I will protect you as always."
Jane found a comfortable bough and wedged herself in securely. "Good night. Lord," she said. "Among all men, you are the bravest and strongest."
Tarzan, settling into a comfortable position himself, muttered good-naturedly. It was something to have a mate who knew you were brave - strong - indomitable.
Months had pa.s.sed. The labor of the Waziri and the gold of Opar had rebuilt and refurnished the wasted homestead of the Greystokes; indeed, so much had been leftover that Tarzan had declared a holiday, and he and Jane had placed the plantation under the care of Basuli and had hied themselves off to London.
Actually, the trip was a combined one; both wanted very much to visit Jack, their son, now in his final year at Oxford. Lord Greystoke had matters of business which could be much better handled in person, and Jane, Lady Greystoke, had certain social obligations which were much better met by her ladyship, personally.
Now things had come to somewhat of a standstill. Tarzan ate his roast beef with a wry face, his Yorkshire pudding not at all. Jane sat unhappily over her dessert, deciding that no matter how you named it, it was nothing more than a blob of vanilla pudding with a dash of raspberry jam deposited in the middle. "They look at you" she told Tarzan.
Tarzan looked up from the trifle he"d been toying with. "What, my dear?"
"The women" explained Jane. "They look at you. As if you were some sort of a freak ora or something!"
Lord Greystoke smiled, had another bite of pudding. "Not as good as I"d remembered it," he told Jane, put ting his spoon aside. "Jack looks very well, don"t you think?"
"John, you"re vain!" exclaimed his mate. "You actually like those women looking at you!" Tarzan shoved his plate away, concealing a burp, with the greatest of gentility.
"And you, my darling, you"ve had your share of admirers. Although," he continued, "I can"t say much for any of them. However, I"m sure the whole plot, the entire idea, must be most gratifying to a woman."
"That"s absolutely ridiculous!"
He smiled, gently. "Then so must be these tickets. Transportation back to Africa!" He held the priceless paper in his hand.
"Oh, John!" "Yes, my darlinga"
"You"re such aa a fool?"
"Yes, dear." Patiently, Lord Greystoke finished his trifle as Jane, Lady Greystoke, dropped a few more tears into her luncheon.