Tarzan: The Adventures and the Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Edgar Rice Burroughs

except under command of an officer. I do not know that you would suspect our men, but I am glad that there is now no chance for suspicion to fall on them," he concluded.

      "It would never have occurred to me to suspect the men to whom we owe so much," replied Professor Porter, graciously. "I would as soon suspect my dear Clayton here, or Mr. Philander."

      The Frenchmen smiled, both officers and sailors. It was plain to see that a burden had been lifted from their minds.

      "The treasure has been gone for some time," continued Clayton. "In fact the body fell apart as we lifted it, which indicates that whoever removed the treasure did so while the corpse was still fresh, for it was intact when we first uncovered it."

      "There must have been several in the party," said Jane, who had joined them. "You remember that it took four men to carry it."

      "By jove!" cried Clayton. "That's right. It must have been done by a party of blacks. Probably one of them saw the men bury the chest and then returned immediately after with a party of his friends, and carried it off."

      "Speculation is futile," said Professor Porter sadly. "The chest is gone. We shall never see it again, nor the treasure that was in it."

      Only Jane knew what the loss meant to her father, and none there knew what it meant to her.

      Six days later Captain Dufranne announced that they would sail early on the morrow.

      Jane would have begged for a further reprieve, had it not been that she too had begun to believe that her forest lover would return no more.

      In spite of herself she began to entertain doubts and fears. The reasonableness of the arguments of these disinterested French officers commenced to convince her against her will.

      That he was a cannibal she would not believe, but that he was an adopted member of some savage tribe at length seemed possible to her.

      She would not admit that he could be dead. It was impossible to believe that that perfect body, so filled with triumphant life, could ever cease to harbor the vital spark—as soon believe that immortality were dust.

      As Jane permitted herself to harbor these thoughts, others equally unwelcome forced themselves upon her.

      If he belonged to some savage tribe he had a savage wife—a dozen of them perhaps—and wild, half-caste children. The girl shuddered, and when they told her that the cruiser would sail on the morrow she was almost glad.

      It was she, though, who suggested that arms, ammunition, supplies and comforts be left behind in the cabin, ostensibly for that intangible personality who had signed himself Tarzan of the Apes, and for D'Arnot should he still be living, but really, she hoped, for her forest god—even though his feet should prove of clay.

      And at the last minute she left a message for him, to be transmitted by Tarzan of the Apes.

      She was the last to leave the cabin, returning on some trivial pretext after the others had started for the boat.

      She kneeled down beside the bed in which she had spent so many nights, and offered up a prayer for the safety of her primeval man, and crushing his locket to her lips she murmured:

      "I love you, and because I love you I believe in you. But if I did not believe, still should I love. Had you come back for me, and had there been no other way, I would have gone into the jungle with you—forever."

      Chapter XXV

      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