The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-01-20

I
the lower branches, and in another
fftene minutes he emerged into the
amphitheater of the apes, where
they met in council, or to celebrate
the rites of the Dum-Dum.
Near the center OF the clearing
and not far from the drum, or altar,
he commenced to dig. This was
harder work than turning up the
freshly excavated earth at the grave,
but Tarzan Of the Apes was perse-
vering and>so he kept at his labor
until he was rewarded by seeing a
hole sufficiently deep to receive the
chest and effectually hide it from
view.
Why had he gone to all this labor
without knowing the value of the
contents of the chest?
Tarzan of the Apes had a mans
figure and a mans brain, but he
was an ape by training and en-
vironment. His brain told him that
the chest contained something valu-
able, or the men would not have
hidden it; his training had taught
him to initiate whatever was new
and unusual, and now the natural
curiosity, which is as common to
men as to apes, prompted him to
open the chest and examine its con-
tents.
But the heavy lock and massive
iron bands baff1ed both his cunning
and his immense strength, so that
he was compelled to bury the chest
without having his curiosity salts
fed.
BY the time Tarzan had hunted
his way back to the vicinity of the
cabin, feeding as he went, it was
quite dark.
Within the little building a light
was burning, for Clayton had found
an unopened tin of oil which had
stood intact for twenty years; a part
Of the supplies left with the Clay
tons by Black Michael. The lamps
also were still useable, and thus the
interior of the cabin appeared as
bright as day to the astonished Tar
Zan.,
He had often wondered at the en-
act purpose of the lamps His read
ing and the pictures had told him
what they were, but he had no idea
of how they could be made to pro-
duce the wondrous sunlight that
some Of his pictures had portrayed
them as diffusing upon all surround
ing objects.
AS he approached the findow
nearest the door he saw that the
cabin had been divided into two
rooms by a rough partition of
boughs and sailcloth.
In the front room were the three
men; the two older deep in argu-
ment. while the younger, tilted back
against the wall on an improvised
stool, was deeply engrossed in read
ing one Of Tarzan's books.
Tarzan was not particularly in
terested in the men. however, so he
sought the other window. There
was, the girl. How beautiful her
features! How delicate her, snowy
skinl
She was writing at Tarzan's own
table beneath the window. Upon
pile OF grasses at the far side Of
the room lay the negress, asleep.
For an hour Tarzan Toasted his
eyes upon her while she wrote. How
he longed to speak to her, but he
dared not attempt 1t, for he was
convinced that, ike the young men,
she would not understand him, and
he feared. too. that he might
brighten her away.
At length she arose, leaving her
manuscript upon the table. She
went TO the bed upon which had
been spread several layers of soft
grasses. These she rearranged.
Then she loosened the soft mass of
golden hair which crowned her
head. Like a shimmering waterfall
turned to FURNISHED metal by "a
dying sun it fell about her oval
face; in waving lines, below her
waist 1t tumbled
Tarzan was spellbound. Then she
extinguished the lamp and all within
the cabin was wrapped in Cimmerian'
darkness.
Still Tarzan watched without.
Creeping close beneath the window
he waited, listening, for half an
hour. At last he was rewarded by
the sounds of the regular breathing
within which denotes sleep. /.
Cautiously he intruded his hand
between the meshes of the lattice
until his whole arm was within the
cabin. Carefully he felt upon the
desk. At last he grasped the man
uscript upon which Jane Porter had
been writing, and as cautiously with
drew his arm and hand, holding the
| precious treasure.
Tarzan folded the sheets into a
small parcel which he tucked into
the CULVER with HIS arrows. Then
he melted away into the jungle as
softly and as noiselessly as a
shadow.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Jungle Toll
ARLY the following morning
Ill., Tarzan awoke. and the first
IL thought of the new day, as
the last of yesterday, was Of the
wonderful writing which lay hidden
in his CULVER.
At the first glance he suffered the
bitterest disappointment Of his
whole life; never before had he SO
yearned for anything as now he did
I for the ability to interpret a message
from that golden-haired divinity who
had come, so suddenly and so unex-
pectedly into his life.
What IL the message were not In
tended for him7 It was an expires:
sion of her thoughts. and that was
all sufficient for Tarzan of the