第81章
The Outpost of the World.
With the report of his gun D'Arnot saw the door fly open and the figure of a man pitch headlong within onto the cabin floor.
The Frenchman in his panic raised his gun to fire again into the prostrate form, but suddenly in the half dusk of the open door he saw that the man was white and in another instant realized that he had shot his friend and protector, Tarzan of the Apes.
With a cry of anguish D'Arnot sprang to the ape-man's side, and kneeling, lifted the latter's head in his arms--calling Tarzan's name aloud.
There was no response, and then D'Arnot placed his ear above the man's heart.To his joy he heard its steady beating beneath.
Carefully he lifted Tarzan to the cot, and then, after closing and bolting the door, he lighted one of the lamps and examined the wound.
The bullet had struck a glancing blow upon the skull.
There was an ugly flesh wound, but no signs of a fracture of the skull.
D'Arnot breathed a sigh of relief, and went about bathing the blood from Tarzan's face.
Soon the cool water revived him, and presently he opened his eyes to look in questioning surprise at D'Arnot.
The latter had bound the wound with pieces of cloth, and as he saw that Tarzan had regained consciousness he arose and going to the table wrote a message, which he handed to the ape-man, explaining the terrible mistake he had made and how thankful he was that the wound was not more serious.
Tarzan, after reading the message, sat on the edge of the couch and laughed.
"It is nothing," he said in French, and then, his vocabulary failing him, he wrote:
You should have seen what Bolgani did to me, and Kerchak, and Terkoz, before I killed them--then you would laugh at such a little scratch.
D'Arnot handed Tarzan the two messages that had been left for him.
Tarzan read the first one through with a look of sorrow on his face.The second one he turned over and over, searching for an opening--he had never seen a sealed envelope before.
At length he handed it to D'Arnot.
The Frenchman had been watching him, and knew that Tarzan was puzzled over the envelope.How strange it seemed that to a full-grown white man an envelope was a mystery.
D'Arnot opened it and handed the letter back to Tarzan.
Sitting on a camp stool the ape-man spread the written sheet before him and read:
TO TARZAN OF THE APES:
Before I leave let me add my thanks to those of Mr.Clayton for the kindness you have shown in permitting us the use of your cabin.
That you never came to make friends with us has been a great regret to us.We should have liked so much to have seen and thanked our host.
There is another I should like to thank also, but he did not come back, though I cannot believe that he is dead.
I do not know his name.He is the great white giant who wore the diamond locket upon his breast.
If you know him and can speak his language carry my thanks to him, and tell him that I waited seven days for him to return.
Tell him, also, that in my home in America, in the city of Baltimore, there will always be a welcome for him if he cares to come.
I found a note you wrote me lying among the leaves beneath a tree near the cabin.I do not know how you learned to love me, who have never spoken to me, and I am very sorry if it is true, for I have already given my heart to another.
But know that I am always your friend, JANE PORTER.
Tarzan sat with gaze fixed upon the floor for nearly an hour.It was evident to him from the notes that they did not know that he and Tarzan of the Apes were one and the same.
"I have given my heart to another," he repeated over and over again to himself.
Then she did not love him! How could she have pretended love, and raised him to such a pinnacle of hope only to cast him down to such utter depths of despair!
Maybe her kisses were only signs of friendship.How did he know, who knew nothing of the customs of human beings?
Suddenly he arose, and, bidding D'Arnot good night as he had learned to do, threw himself upon the couch of ferns that had been Jane Porter's.
D'Arnot extinguished the lamp, and lay down upon the cot.
For a week they did little but rest, D'Arnot coaching Tarzan in French.At the end of that time the two men could converse quite easily.
One night, as they were sitting within the cabin before retiring, Tarzan turned to D'Arnot.
"Where is America?" he said.
D'Arnot pointed toward the northwest.
"Many thousands of miles across the ocean," he replied."Why?""I am going there."
D'Arnot shook his head.
"It is impossible, my friend," he said.
Tarzan rose, and, going to one of the cupboards, returned with a well-thumbed geography.
Turning to a map of the world, he said:
"I have never quite understood all this; explain it to me, please."When D'Arnot had done so, showing him that the blue represented all the water on the earth, and the bits of other colors the continents and islands, Tarzan asked him to point out the spot where they now were.
D'Arnot did so.
"Now point out America," said Tarzan.
And as D'Arnot placed his finger upon North America, Tarzan smiled and laid his palm upon the page, spanning the great ocean that lay between the two continents.
"You see it is not so very far," he said; "scarce the width of my hand."D'Arnot laughed.How could he make the man understand?
Then he took a pencil and made a tiny point upon the shore of Africa.
"This little mark," he said, "is many times larger upon this map than your cabin is upon the earth.Do you see now how very far it is?"Tarzan thought for a long time.
"Do any white men live in Africa?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Where are the nearest?"
D'Arnot pointed out a spot on the shore just north of them.
"So close?" asked Tarzan, in surprise.
"Yes," said D'Arnot; "but it is not close.""Have they big boats to cross the ocean?""Yes."
"We shall go there to-morrow," announced Tarzan.
Again D'Arnot smiled and shook his head.
"It is too far.We should die long before we reached them.""Do you wish to stay here then forever?" asked Tarzan.
"No," said D'Arnot.