Tarzan of the Apes / Тарзан – приёмыш обезьян. Эдгар Райс Берроуз

to whatever follows as though you had helped to plot and carry it out with your own head and hands.”

      “You do not understand, dear,” replied Clayton. “It is of you I am thinking.”

      “Duty is duty, John. I realize the danger which must follow, but I can face it with you.”

      “Have it as you will[11] then, Alice,” he answered, smiling. “But there goes the captain to his cabin now. I am going to warn him.”

      So saying, he strolled carelessly in the direction of the companionway[12] through which the captain had passed, and a moment later was knocking at his door.

      “Come in,” growled the deep tones of that rude officer.

      And when Clayton had entered, and closed the door behind him:

      “Well?”

      “I have come to report the gist of a conversation I heard today. In short, the men contemplate mutiny and murder.”

      “It's a lie!” roared the captain. “And if you have been interfering again with the discipline of this ship, or meddling in affairs that don't concern you, you can take the consequences[13], and be damned. I don't care whether you are an English lord or not. I'm captain of this ship, and from now on keep your meddling nose out of my business.”

      The captain shrieked the last words at the top of his voice, emphasizing his remarks by a loud thumping of the table with one huge fist, and shaking the other in Clayton's face.

      Greystoke never turned a hair[14], but stood calmly looking at the excited man.

      “Captain Billings,” he said finally, “if you will pardon my frankness, I might remark that you are something of an ass.”

      Then he turned and left the captain with the same indifferent ease that was habitual with him.

      So, the last chance of their working together for their common good was gone.

      “Well, Alice,” said Clayton, as he rejoined his wife, “The fellow proved most ungrateful. He jumped at me like a mad dog.

      “So I will spend my energies in looking after our own welfare. And now I am going to our cabin to look over my revolvers.”

      They found their cabin in disorder. Clothing from their open boxes and bags spread the little apartment, and even their beds had been torn to pieces.

      “Evidently someone was more anxious about our belongings than we,” said Clayton. “Let's have a look around, Alice, and see what's missing.”

      A thorough search revealed the fact that nothing had been taken but Clayton's two revolvers and the small supply of ammunition he had saved for them.

      “Those are the things I most needed,” said Clayton, “and the fact that they wished for them is most sinister.”

      “What are we to do, John?” asked his wife. “Perhaps you were right in that our best chance lies in maintaining a neutral position.

      “If the officers are able to prevent a mutiny, we have nothing to fear, while if the mutineers are victorious, we may stay alive only because we didn't antagonize them.”

      “Right you are, Alice. We'll keep in the middle of the road.”

      As they started to straighten up their cabin, Clayton and his wife simultaneously noticed a piece of paper protruded from beneath the door.

      Clayton picked it up. It was a bit of paper folded into a square.

      Opening it, they found a warning to the Claytons to keep from reporting the loss of the revolvers, or from repeating what the old sailor had told them – if they wanted to be alive.

      “I suppose we'll be good,” said Clayton with a sad smile. “About all we can do is to sit tight and wait for whatever may come.”

      Chapter 2

      THE SAVAGE HOME

      They didn't have to wait long, for the next morning as Clayton was walking on deck before breakfast as usual, shots rang out.

      The sight which met his eyes confirmed his worst fears.

      Facing the little group of officers was the entire crew of the Fuwalda, and at their head stood Black Michael.

      Before the officers had taken a dozen backward steps, the men were upon them. An ax in the hands of a strong Negro split the captain from forehead to chin, and an instant later the others were down: dead or wounded from dozens of blows and bullet wounds.

      As the last officer went down he thought he should returned to his wife until some members of the crew find her alone below.

      Clayton feared for his wife's safety at the hands of these ignorant, half-brutes into whose hands fate had thrown them. As he turned to descend the ladder, he was surprised to see his wife standing on the steps almost at his side.

      “How long have you been here, Alice?”

      “Since the beginning,” she replied. “How awful, John. Oh, how awful! What can we hope for at the hands of such as those?”

      “Breakfast, I hope,” he answered, smiling bravely in an attempt to reduce her fears. “At least,” he added, “I'm going to ask them. Come with me, Alice. We must not let them think we expect any but polite treatment.”

      The men had by this time surrounded the dead and wounded officers, and without compassion threw both living and dead over the sides of the vessel. With equal heartlessness, they got rid of their own dead and dying.

      Soon one of the crew noticed the approaching Claytons, and with a cry of: “Here's two more for the fishes,” rushed toward them with an ax.

      But Black Michael was quicker, so that the fellow went down with a bullet in his back before he had taken a half dozen steps.

      With a loud roar, Black Michael attracted the attention of the others, and, pointing to Lord and Lady Greystoke, cried:

      “These here are my friends, and they are to be left alone. Do you understand?

      “I'm captain of this ship now, and what I say goes[15],” he added, turning to Clayton. “Just keep to yourselves, and nobody'll harm you,” and he looked threateningly on his fellows.

      The Claytons followed Black Michael's instructions so well that they saw very little of the crew and knew nothing of the plans the men were making.

      On the fifth day following the murder of the ship's officers, land was sighted by the lookout[16]. Black Michael announced to Clayton that if investigation showed that the place was habitable[17] he and Lady Greystoke would be put ashore with their belongings.

      “You'll be all right there for a few months,” he explained, “then I'll see that your government's notified where you are and they'll soon send somebody to take you out. It would be hard to land you in civilization without a lot of questions.”

      About three o'clock in the afternoon they approached a beautiful wooded shore.

      No signs of habitation were visible but that the land might easily support human life was evidenced by the abundant bird and animal life of which the watchers on the Fuwalda's deck caught occasional glimpses, as well as by the shimmer of a little river with fresh water.

      Clayton and Lady Alice still stood by the ship's rail in silent

11

Будь по-твоему

12

сходной люк

13

отвечать за последствия

14

(ид.) и бровью не повёл

15

как скажу, так и будет

16

(мор.) вперёдсмотрящий

17

пригодно для жилья