The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-06-11
PAG

member of his party nor ever offer
harm t. one. i
The girls head went high.
There could be but one suitable re
ply to your assertion she said Jelly
land | regret that 1 am not a mar thai
| might make It,"
She turned quickly and entered the
cabin.
Clayton was an Englishman, so the
girl had passed quite out Of sight be-
fore he deduced what reply a man
would have made.
Upon my word" he said ruefully,
''she called me n liar. And ! fancy l
deserved it. I'd better go to bed"
But before he did so he called gently
10 Jane Porter upon the opposite side
of the sailcloth partition. for he wish
ed to apologize, but he might as well
have addressed the sphinx. Then he
wrote upon a piece Of paper and showed
it beneath the partition.
Jane Porter saw the little note and
ignored 1t. for she was very angry and
hurt and mortified, but she was a wo-
man, and so eventually she picked it
up and read 1t. 1t said:
My Dear Miss Porter-I had no reason
to insinuate what / did. My only excuse
is that my nerves must be unstrung. which
Is no excuse at all.
Please try to think that I did not say
it. l am very sorry. | would not have
hurt you above all others In the world.
Say that you forgive me.
VIM. CECIL CLAYTON.
HE did think 1t or he never would
have said it," reasoned the girl. But
1t cannot be true. | know 1t is not
true"
One sentence in the letter frightened
her-"I would not have hurt you above
all others in the world"
\ week ago that sentence would
have filed her with delight. Now 1t
depressed her.
She wished she had never met Clay.
ton. She was sorry hat she had eve
seen the forest god--no, she was glad
And there was that other note she had
found I'm the grass before the cabin the
day after her return from the jungle.
the love note signed by Tarzan of the
apes.
Who could be this new sutton? IL
he were another Of the wild denizens
Of this terrible forest, what might he
not do to claim her?
When D'Arnot regained conscious
ness he found himself lying upon a bed
Of soft ferns and grasses beneath a
little A shaped shelter Of boughs.
At his feet an opening looked out
upon a greensward. and at Il little dis
lance beyond was the dense wall Of
jungle and forest.
He was very lame and sore and
weak, and as full consciousness re-
turned he felt the sharp torture Of
many cruel wounds and the dull ach-
Ing Of every bone and muscle In his
body as a result Of the hideous beating
he had received.
The incessant hum of the Jungle,
the rustling of millions Of leaves, the
buzz Of insects. the voices Of the birds
and monkeys seemed blended into a
strangely soothing pur. as though he
lay apart, far from the myriad life
that surrounded him and whose sounds
came to him only family.
At length he fell into slumber, nor
did he awake again until afternoon.
Looking through the opening at his
feet. he saw the figure of a man squat
ting on his launches.
The broad, muscular back was turn
ed toward him; but, tanned though 1t
was, D'Arnot saw that it was the
back Of n white man, and he thanked
heaven.
The Frenchman called family. The
man turned and, rising. came toward
the shelter. His face was very hand
some, the handsomest, thought DAT
not, that he had ever seen.
STOPPING, he crawled into the shelter
beside the wounded officer and placed
a cool hand upon his forehead.
D'ArnOt spoke to him In French, but
the man only shook his ~head-sadly, 1t
seemed to the Frenchman.
Then D'Arnot tried English. but still
the man shook his head. Italian, Span
1871 diu pel DiouSHL oIIlildl ulS-
enlargement.
After examining D'Arnot's wounds
the nan left the shelter and disap-
peared. In half an hour he was back
with fruit and u hollow, gourdlike veg
etable filed with water.
D'Arnot drank and ate a little. Sud
denly the man fastened from the shell.
ter, only to return n few minutes later
with several pieces Of bark and-won-
der Of wonders-a lead pencil.
Squatting beside D'Arnot, he wrote
for a minute on the smooth inner
surface Of the bark; then he handed II
to the Frenchman. D'Arnot read:
I am Tarzan of the apes. VIII are you?
Can you read this language?
D'Arnot eagerly seized the pencil;
then he stopped. This strange man
wrote English. Evidently he was an
Englishman.
yes" said D'Arnot, 81 read Eng.
lish. | speak it also. Now we may
talk. First let me thank you for all
that you have done for me-"
The man only shook his head and
pointed to the pencil and the bark.
mon Dieu" cried D'Arnot. "If you
are English, why is it her that you
cannot speak English?"
And then in a flash it came to him
the man was a mute, possibly a deaf