The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-01-28

By the cabin door stood Jane
Porter.
THE poor 1ieutenant7' she asked.
did you find no trace of him?"
I'VE were too late. Miss Porter
he replied sadly.
Tell me. What had happened?"
she asked.
81 cannot, Miss Porter. It is too
horrible
You do not mean that they had
tortured him?' she whispered.
I'VE do not know what they did
Ito him before they killed him. he
answered, his. face drawn with IA
tgue and the sorrow he felt for poor
D'Arnot-and he emphasized the
word before.
Before they killed him! What do
you mean? They are not -?
They are not --?"
She was thinking Of what Clay
ton had said of the forest mans
probable relationship to this tribe
and she could not frame the aw-
full word. >.
Yes, Miss Porter, they were
cannibals." he said almost bitterly,
for to him, too. had suddenly come
the thought Of the forest man, and
the strange. unaccountable jealousy
he had felt two days before swept
over him once more.
And then in sudden brutality
that was as unlike Clayton as cour-
teous consideration is unlike an ape,
he blurted out:
When your forest god left you he
he was doubtlessly hurrying to the
feast"
He was sorry ere the words were
spoken, though he did not know how
! cruelty they had cut the girl. His
regret was for his 5baseIess disloy-
atty to one who had saved the lives
Of every member Of his party, nor
ever offered harm to one.
The girls head went high.
There could be but one suitable
reply to your assertion, Mr.. Clay
ton" she said icily. land regret
that am not man, that I might
make it." She turned quickly and
entered the cabin.
Clayton was an Englishman, so
the girl had passed quite out Of
sight before he deduced what reply
a man would have made.
Upon my word he said ruefuIIy.
"she called me a liar And I fancy
jolly well deserved it," he added
thoughtfully. Clayton, my boy. I
know you are tired out and un.
strung, but that's no reason why
you should make an ass of your
self. You'd better go to bed"
But before he did so he called
gently to Jane Porter upon the op-
T.osite side of the sail cloth parti-
ton, for he wished 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 it, for she was very angry
and hurt and mortified, but-she was
la woman, and so eventually she
picked it up and read it,
My Dear Miss Porter:
4 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 and think that did
not say it. 1 am very sorry. 1
would not have hurt you, above all
others in the world. Say that you
forgive me.
VIM. CECIL CLAYTON.
He did think it or he never would
have said it," reasoned the girl, ''but
1t cannot be true-oh, know it is
not trueY'
One sentence in the letter fright
ened her: 81 would not have hurt
you above all others in the world"
A week ago that sentence would
have filed her with delight, now it
depressed her.
She wished she had never met
Clayton. She was sorry that she
had ever seen the forest god--no,
she was glad. And there was that
other note she had found in 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? If
he were another OF the wild denizens
Of this terrible forest what might
he not do TO claim her?
CHAPTER xxIII
Brother Men
When D'Arnot regained conscious
ness, he found himself lying upon a
bed Of soft ferns end grasses be-
meath q little "a" shaped shelter Of
boughs.
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
aching OF every bone and muscle in
his body as a result of the hideous
beating he had received.
At length he recollected the whole
hideous scene at the stake. and
finally recalled the strange white fig
ure in whose arms he had sunk into
oblivion.
D'Arnot wondered what fate lay in
store for him now. He could neither
see nor hear any signs Of life about
him.
At length he fell In quiet sluna-
Der, nor did he awake again until
afternoon.
Once more he experienced the
strange sense of utter bewilderment
that had r1aarlxed his earlier avail ro.,