Tarzan of the Apes
together. This platform he paved with the huge fronds of elephant’s ear
which grew in profusion about them, and over the fronds he laid a great
sail folded into several thicknesses.
Seven feet higher he constructed a similar, though lighter platform to
serve as roof, and from the sides of this he suspended the balance of
his sailcloth for walls.
When completed he had a rather snug little nest, to which he carried
their blankets and some of the lighter luggage.
It was now late in the afternoon, and the balance of the daylight hours
were devoted to the building of a rude ladder by means of which Lady
Alice could mount to her new home.
All during the day the forest about them had been filled with excited
birds of brilliant plumage, and dancing, chattering monkeys, who
watched these new arrivals and their wonderful nest building operations
with every mark of keenest interest and fascination.
Notwithstanding that both Clayton and his wife kept a sharp lookout
they saw nothing of larger animals, though on two occasions they had
seen their little simian neighbors come screaming and chattering from
the near-by ridge, casting frightened glances back over their little
shoulders, and evincing as plainly as though by speech that they were
fleeing some terrible thing which lay concealed there.
Just before dusk Clayton finished his ladder, and, filling a great
basin with water from the near-by stream, the two mounted to the
comparative safety of their aerial chamber.
As it was quite warm, Clayton had left the side curtains thrown back
over the roof, and as they sat, like Turks, upon their blankets, Lady
Alice, straining her eyes into the darkening shadows of the wood,
suddenly reached out and grasped Clayton’s arms.
“John,” she whispered, “look! What is it, a man?”
As Clayton turned his eyes in the direction she indicated, he saw
silhouetted dimly against the shadows beyond, a great figure standing
upright upon the ridge.
For a moment it stood as though listening and then turned slowly, and
melted into the shadows of the jungle.
“What is it, John?”
“I do not know, Alice,” he answered gravely, “it is too dark to see so
far, and it may have been but a shadow cast by the rising moon.”
“No, John, if it was not a man it was some huge and grotesque mockery
of man. Oh, I am afraid.”
He gathered her in his arms, whispering words of courage and love into
her ears.
Soon after, he lowered the curtain walls, tying them securely to the
trees so that, except for a little opening toward the beach, they were
entirely enclosed.
As it was now pitch dark within their tiny aerie they lay down upon
their blankets to try to gain, through sleep, a brief respite of
forgetfulness.
Clayton lay facing the opening at the front, a rifle and a brace of
revolvers at his hand.
Scarcely had they closed their eyes than the terrifying cry of a
panther rang out from the jungle behind them. Closer and closer it came
until they could hear the great beast directly beneath them. For an
hour or more they heard it sniffing and clawing at the trees which
supported their platform, but at last it roamed away across the beach,
where Clayton could see it clearly in the brilliant moonlight—a great,
handsome beast, the largest he had ever seen.
During the long hours of darkness they caught but fitful snatches of
sleep, for the night noises of a great jungle teeming with myriad
animal life kept their overwrought nerves on edge, so that a hundred
times they were startled to wakefulness by piercing screams, or the
stealthy moving of great bodies beneath them.
CHAPTER III.
Life and Death
Morning found them but little, if at all refreshed, though it was with
a feeling of intense relief that they saw the day dawn.
As soon as they had made their meager breakfast of salt pork, coffee
and biscuit, Clayton commenced work upon their house, for he realized
that they could hope for no safety and no peace of mind at night until
four strong walls effectually barred the jungle life from them.
The task was an arduous one and required the better part of a month,
though he built but one small room. He constructed his cabin of small
logs about six inches in diameter, stopping the chinks with clay which
he found at the depth of a few feet beneath the surface soil.
At one end he built a fireplace of small stones from the beach. These
also he set in clay and when the house had been entirely completed he
applied a coating of the clay to the entire outside surface to the
thickness of four inches.
In the window opening he set small branches about an inch in diameter
both vertically and horizontally, and so woven that they formed a
substantial grating that could withstand the strength of a powerful
animal. Thus they obtained air and proper ventilation without fear of
lessening the safety of their cabin.
The A-shaped roof was thatched with small branches laid close together
and over these long jungle grass and palm fronds, with a final coating
of clay.
The door he built of pieces of the packing-boxes which had held their
belongings, nailing one piece upon another, the grain of contiguous
layers running transversely, until he had a solid body some three
inches thick and of such great strength that they were both moved to
laughter as they gazed upon it.
Here the greatest difficulty confronted Clayton, for he had no means
whereby to hang his massive door now that he had built it. After two
days’ work, however, he succeeded in fashioning two massive hardwood
hinges, and with these he hung the door so that it opened and closed
easily.
The stuccoing and other final touches were added after they moved into
the house, which they had done as soon as the roof was on, piling their
boxes before the door at night and thus having a comparatively safe and
comfortable habitation.
The building of a bed, chairs, table, and shelves was a relatively easy
matter, so that by the end of the second month they were well settled,
and, but for the constant dread of attack by wild beasts and the ever
growing loneliness, they were not uncomfortable or unhappy.
At night great beasts snarled and roared about their tiny cabin, but,
so accustomed may one become to oft repeated noises, that soon they
paid little attention to them, sleeping soundly the whole night
through.
Thrice had they caught fleeting glimpses of great man-like figures like
that of the first night, but never at sufficiently close range to know
positively whether the half-seen forms were those of man or brute.
The brilliant birds and the little monkeys had become accustomed to
their new acquaintances, and as they had evidently never seen human
beings before they presently, after their first fright had worn off,
approached closer and closer, impelled by that strange curiosity which
dominates the wild creatures of the forest and the jungle and the
plain, so that within the first month several of the birds had gone so
far as even to accept morsels of food from the friendly hands of the
Claytons.
One afternoon, while Clayton was working upon an addition to their
cabin, for he contemplated building several more rooms, a number of
their grotesque little friends came shrieking and scolding through the
trees from the direction of the ridge. Ever as they fled they cast
fearful glances back of them, and finally they stopped near Clayton
jabbering excitedly to him as though to warn him of approaching danger.
At last he saw it, the thing the little monkeys so feared—the man-brute
of which the Claytons had caught occasional fleeting glimpses.
It was approaching through the jungle in a semi-erect position, now and
then placing the backs of its closed fists upon the ground—a great
anthropoid ape, and, as it advanced, it emitted deep guttural growls
and an occasional low barking sound.
Clayton was at some distance from the cabin, having come to fell a
particularly perfect tree for his building operations. Grown careless
from months of continued safety, during which time he had seen no
dangerous animals during the daylight hours, he had left his rifles and
revolvers all within the little cabin, and now that he saw the great
ape crashing through the underbrush directly toward him, and from a
direction which practically cut him off from escape, he felt a vague
little shiver play up and down his spine.
He knew that, armed only with an ax, his chances with this ferocious
monster were small indeed—and Alice; O God, he thought, what will
become of Alice?
There was yet a slight chance of reaching the cabin. He turned and ran
toward it, shouting an alarm to his wife to run in and close the great
door in case the ape cut off his retreat.
Lady Greystoke had been sitting a little way from the cabin, and when
she heard his cry she looked up to see the ape springing with almost
incredible swiftness, for so large and awkward an animal, in an effort
to head off Clayton.
With a low cry she sprang toward the cabin, and, as she entered, gave a
backward glance which filled her soul with terror, for the brute had
intercepted her husband, who now stood at bay grasping his ax with both
hands ready to swing it upon the infuriated animal when he should make
his final charge.
“Close and bolt the door, Alice,” cried Clayton. “I can finish this
fellow with my ax.”
But he knew he was facing a horrible death, and so did she.
The ape was a great bull, weighing probably three hundred pounds. His
nasty, close-set eyes gleamed hatred from beneath his shaggy brows,
while his great canine fangs were bared in a horrid snarl as he paused
a moment before his prey.
Over the brute’s shoulder Clayton could see the doorway of his cabin,
not twenty paces distant, and a great wave of horror and fear swept
over him as he saw his young wife emerge, armed with one of his rifles.
She had always been afraid of firearms, and would never touch them, but
now she rushed toward the ape with the fearlessness of a lioness
protecting its young.
“Back, Alice,” shouted Clayton, “for God’s sake, go back.”
But she would not heed, and just then the ape charged, so that Clayton
could say no more.
The man swung his ax with all his mighty strength, but the powerful
brute seized it in those terrible hands, and tearing it from Clayton’s
grasp hurled it far to one side.
With an ugly snarl he closed upon his defenseless victim, but ere his
fangs had reached the throat they thirsted for, there was a sharp
report and a bullet entered the ape’s back between his shoulders.
Throwing Clayton to the ground the beast turned upon his new enemy.
There before him stood the terrified girl vainly trying to fire another
bullet into the animal’s body; but she did not understand the mechanism
of the firearm, and the hammer fell futilely upon an empty cartridge.
Almost simultaneously Clayton regained his feet, and without thought of
the utter hopelessness of it, he rushed forward to drag the ape from
his wife’s prostrate form.
With little or no effort he succeeded, and the great bulk rolled
inertly upon the turf before him—the ape was dead. The bullet had done
its work.
A hasty examination of his wife revealed no marks upon her, and Clayton
decided that the huge brute had died the instant he had sprung toward
Alice.
Gently he lifted his wife’s still unconscious form, and bore her to the
little cabin, but it was fully two hours before she regained
consciousness.
Her first words filled Clayton with vague apprehension. For some time
after regaining her senses, Alice gazed wonderingly about the interior
of the little cabin, and then, with a satisfied sigh, said:
“O, John, it is so good to be really home! I have had an awful dream,
dear. I thought we were no longer in London, but in some horrible place