The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-04-06

The Countess de Coude beckoned to a passing steward.
 seWho Is that gentleman2. she asked
 .sHe is booked madame, as M. Tar gan of Africa. replied the steward
 esRather large estates'' thought the girl, but now her interest was still fur ther arouseds
 As Tarzan walked slowly toward the smoking room he came unexpectedly upon two men whispering excitedly just without He would have vouch- safed them not even passing thought but for the strangely guilty glance that one of them shot in his direction
 Tarzan entered the smoking room and sought chair little apart from the others who were there. He felt in no mood for conversation, and as he slipped his absihth he let his mind run rather sorrowfu1ly over the past few weeks of his life. Time and again he had wondered if he had acted wisely in renouncing his birthright to man to whom he owed nothing. It is true that he liked Clayton, bl1t-ah, but that was not the question. It was not for William Cecil Clayton, Lord Grey { stoke. that he had denied his birth. It was for the woman whom both he and <-A-G9O freak of fate had given to Clayton in stead Of foihin.
 That she loved him made the thing doubly difficult to bear. yet he knew { that he could have done nothing less < than he did do that night within the little railway station in the far Wis consin woods. To him her happiness was the first consideration of all, and his brief experience with civilization and civilized men had taught him that without money and position life to most of them was unendurable.
 Jane Porter had been born to both, and had Tarzan taken them away from her future husband it would doubtless have plunged her into life of misery and torture That she would i have spurned Clayton once he had been stripped of both his title and his estates never for once occurred to Tar gan. for he credited to others the same honest loyalty that was so inherent a quality in himself Nor in this in stance had he erred
 TaFzanss thoughts drifted from the pastr to the future He tried to look forward with pleasurable sensations to his return to the jungle of his birth and boyhood, the cruel, fierce jungle | in which he had spent twenty of his twenty-two years. But who or what of all the myriad jungle life would there be to welcome his return3 Not one Only Tantor, the elephant, could 1 he call friend The others would hunt him or flee from him as had been their way in the past
 Not even the apes of hiss own tribe would extend the hand of fellowship to him.
 If civilization had done nothing else for Tarzan of the Apes it had to some extent taught him to crave the society | of his own kind and to feel with genu- inc pleasure the eongeDial warmth of companionship. And in the same ratio ] had itmade any other life distasteful i to him. It was difficult to imagine a | world without a friend without a liv- ing thing who spoke the new tongues which Tarzan had learned to love so well. And so it was that Tarzan look sd with little relish upon the future he had mapned out for himself. As he sat musing over his cigarette his eyes fell upon a mirror before him ss.1d in it he saw reflected a table at V hich four men sat at cards. Present ly one of them rose to leave and then another approached and Earzan could see that he courteously offered to fill ! the vacant chair that the game might ! not be interrupted. He was the small CT of the two whom Tarzan had seen wilispering just outside the smoking room.
 Aside from the man who had but Just entered the game, Tarzan knew t1le name of but one of the other play CTS. It was he who sat opposite the new player. Count Raoul de Coude, -I- . pointed out as one of the celebrities o1 the passag ge. describing him as man Iigh in the official family of the French minister of war
 Suddenly Tarzan's attention was riy. eted upon the picture in the glass. The other swarthy pIotfer had entered and was standing behind the counts chair Tarzan saw him turn and glance fur lively about the room, but his eyes did not rest for sufficient time upon the mirror to note the reflection of Tar zan's watchful eyes. Stealthi1y the maR withdrew something from his pocket Tarzan could not discern wha1 the object was, for the mans hand covered it.>
 Slowly the hand approached ths count, and then, very deftly, the thing that was in it was transferred to. the counts pocket
 The play went on for some ten min utes after this until the count won considerable wager from him who hat last joined the game, and then Tarza1 saw the fellow back of the count. chair nod his head to his confederate Instantly the player arose and pointed a finger at the count.
 Had I known that monsieur was professional card sharp I had not beer so ready to be drawn into the game. he said
 Instantly the count and the two oth CT players were upon their feet
 Coude's face went white
 What do you mean, sir?'' he cried i +Do you know to whom you speak 7's