第59章

Scarcely a day passed that did not find Professor Porter straying in his preoccupied indifference toward the jaws of death.Mr.Samuel T.Philander, never what one might call robust, was worn to the shadow of a shadow through the ceaseless worry and mental distraction resultant from his Herculean efforts to safeguard the professor.

A month passed.Tarzan had finally determined to visit the camp by daylight.

It was early afternoon.Clayton had wandered to the point at the harbor's mouth to look for passing vessels.Here he kept a great mass of wood, high piled, ready to be ignited as a signal should a steamer or a sail top the far horizon.

Professor Porter was wandering along the beach south of the camp with Mr.Philander at his elbow, urging him to turn his steps back before the two became again the sport of some savage beast.

The others gone, Jane and Esmeralda had wandered into the jungle to gather fruit, and in their search were led farther and farther from the cabin.

Tarzan waited in silence before the door of the little house until they should return.His thoughts were of the beautiful white girl.They were always of her now.He wondered if she would fear him, and the thought all but caused him to relinquish his plan.

He was rapidly becoming impatient for her return, that he might feast his eyes upon her and be near her, perhaps touch her.The ape-man knew no god, but he was as near to worshipping his divinity as mortal man ever comes to worship.

While he waited he passed the time printing a message to her; whether he intended giving it to her he himself could not have told, but he took infinite pleasure in seeing his thoughts expressed in print--in which he was not so uncivilized after all.He wrote:

I am Tarzan of the Apes.I want you.I am yours.You are mine.We live here together always in my house.I will bring you the best of fruits, the tenderest deer, the finest meats that roam the jungle.I will hunt for you.I am the greatest of the jungle fighters.I will fight for you.I am the mightiest of the jungle fighters.You are Jane Porter, I saw it in your letter.

When you see this you will know that it is for you and that Tarzan of the Apes loves you.

As he stood, straight as a young Indian, by the door, waiting after he had finished the message, there came to his keen ears a familiar sound.It was the passing of a great ape through the lower branches of the forest.

For an instant he listened intently, and then from the jungle came the agonized scream of a woman, and Tarzan of the Apes, dropping his first love letter upon the ground, shot like a panther into the forest.

Clayton, also, heard the scream, and Professor Porter and Mr.Philander, and in a few minutes they came panting to the cabin, calling out to each other a volley of excited questions as they approached.A glance within confirmed their worst fears.

Jane and Esmeralda were not there.

Instantly, Clayton, followed by the two old men, plunged into the jungle, calling the girl's name aloud.For half an hour they stumbled on, until Clayton, by merest chance, came upon the prostrate form of Esmeralda.

He stopped beside her, feeling for her pulse and then listening for her heartbeats.She lived.He shook her.

"Esmeralda!" he shrieked in her ear."Esmeralda! For God's sake, where is Miss Porter? What has happened? Esmeralda!"Slowly Esmeralda opened her eyes.She saw Clayton.She saw the jungle about her.

"Oh, Gaberelle!" she screamed, and fainted again.

By this time Professor Porter and Mr.Philander had come up.

"What shall we do, Mr.Clayton?" asked the old professor.