Chapter XXVII. The Giant Again

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

　　A taxicab drew up before an oldfashioned residence uponthe outskirts of Baltimore.

　　A man of about forty, well built and with strong, regularfeatures, stepped out, and paying the chauffeur dismissed him.

　　A moment later the passenger was entering the library ofthe old home.

　　"Ah, Mr. Canler!" exclaimed an old man, rising to greet him.

　　"Good evening, my dear Professor," cried the man, extendinga cordial hand.

　　"Who admitted you?" asked the professor.

　　"Esmeralda."

　　"Then she will acquaint Jane with the fact that you arehere," said the old man.

　　"No, Professor," replied Canler, "for I came primarily tosee you."

　　"Ah, I am honored," said Professor Porter.

　　"Professor," continued Robert Canler, with great deliberation,as though carefully weighing his words, "I have comethis evening to speak with you about Jane."

　　"You know my aspirations, and you have been generousenough to approve my suit."

　　Professor Archimedes Q. Porter fidgeted in his armchair.The subject always made him uncomfortable. He could notunderstand why. Canler was a splendid match.

　　"But Jane," continued Canler, "I cannot understand her.She puts me off first on one ground and then another. I havealways the feeling that she breathes a sigh of relief every timeI bid her good-by."

　　"Tut, tut," said Professor Porter. "Tut, tut, Mr. Canler.Jane is a most obedient daughter. She will do precisely as Itell her."

　　"Then I can still count on your support?" asked Canler, atone of relief marking his voice.

　　"Certainly, sir; certainly, sir," exclaimed Professor Porter."How could you doubt it?"

　　"There is young Clayton, you know," suggested Canler. "He hasbeen hanging about for months. I don't know that Jane caresfor him; but beside his title they say he has inherited avery considerable estate from his father, and it might not bestrange,--if he finally won her, unless--" and Canler paused.

　　"Tut--tut, Mr. Canler; unless--what?"

　　"Unless, you see fit to request that Jane and I be marriedat once," said Canler, slowly and distinctly.

　　"I have already suggested to Jane that it would be desirable,"said Professor Porter sadly, "for we can no longer afford tokeep up this house, and live as her associations demand."

　　"What was her reply?" asked Canler.

　　"She said she was not ready to marry anyone yet," repliedProfessor Porter, "and that we could go and live upon thefarm in northern Wisconsin which her mother left her.

　　"It is a little more than self-supporting. The tenants havealways made a living from it, and been able to send Jane atrifle beside, each year. She is planning on our going up therethe first of the week. Philander and Mr. Clayton have alreadygone to get things in readiness for us."

　　"Clayton has gone there?" exclaimed Canler, visibly chagrined."Why was I not told? I would gladly have gone andseen that every comfort was provided."

　　"Jane feels that we are already too much in your debt, Mr.Canler," said Professor Porter.

　　Canler was about to reply, when the sound of footstepscame from the hall without, and Jane entered the room.

　　"Oh, I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed, pausing on thethreshold. "I thought you were alone, papa."

　　"It is only I, Jane," said Canler, who had risen, "won't youcome in and join the family group? We were just speaking of you."

　　"Thank you," said Jane, entering and taking the chair Canlerplaced for her. "I only wanted to tell papa that Tobey iscoming down from the college tomorrow to pack his books. Iwant you to be sure, papa, to indicate all that you can dowithout until fall. Please don't carry this entire library toWisconsin, as you would have carried it to Africa, if I hadnot put my foot down."

　　"Was Tobey here?" asked Professor Porter.

　　"Yes, I just left him. He and Esmeralda are exchangingreligious experiences on the back porch now."

　　"Tut, tut, I must see him at once!" cried the professor."Excuse me just a moment, children," and the old manhastened from the room.

　　As soon as he was out of earshot Canler turned to Jane.

　　"See here, Jane," he said bluntly. "How long is this thinggoing on like this? You haven't refused to marry me, but youhaven't promised either. I want to get the license tomorrow,so that we can be married quietly before you leave for Wisconsin.I don't care for any fuss or feathers, and I'm sure youdon't either."

　　The girl turned cold, but she held her head bravely.

　　"Your father wishes it, you know," added Canler.

　　"Yes, I know."

　　She spoke scarcely above a whisper.

　　"Do you realize that you are buying me, Mr. Canler?" shesaid finally, and in a cold, level voice. "Buying me for a fewpaltry dollars? Of course you do, Robert Canler, and thehope of just such a contingency was in your mind when youloaned papa the money for that hair-brained escapade, whichbut for a most mysterious circumstance would have beensurprisingly successful.

　　"But you, Mr. Canler, would have been the most surprised.You had no idea that the venture would succeed. You are toogood a businessman for that. And you are too good abusinessman to loan money for buried treasure seeking, or toloan money without security--unless you had some specialobject in view.

　　"You knew that without security you had a greater hold onthe honor of the Porters than with it. You knew the one bestway to force me to marry you, without seeming to force me.

　　"You have never mentioned the loan. In any other man Ishould have thought that the prompting of a magnanimousand noble character. But you are deep, Mr. Robert Canler. Iknow you better than you think I know you.

　　"I shall certainly marry you if there is no other way, butlet us understand each other once and for all."

　　While she spoke Robert Canler had alternately flushed andpaled, and when she ceased speaking he arose, and with acynical smile upon his strong face, said:

　　"You surprise me, Jane. I thought you had more self-control--more pride. Of course you are right. I am buying you,and I knew that you knew it, but I thought you would preferto pretend that it was otherwise. I should have thought yourself respect and your Porter pride would have shrunk fromadmitting, even to yourself, that you were a bought woman.But have it your own way, dear girl," he added lightly. "Iam going to have you, and that is all that interests me."

　　Without a word the girl turned and left the room.

　　Jane was not married before she left with her father andEsmeralda for her little Wisconsin farm, and as she coldlybid Robert Canler goodby as her train pulled out, he called toher that he would join them in a week or two.

　　At their destination they were met by Clayton and Mr.Philander in a huge touring car belonging to the former, andquickly whirled away through the dense northern woods towardthe little farm which the girl had not visited beforesince childhood.

　　The farmhouse, which stood on a little elevation somehundred yards from the tenant house, had undergone a completetransformation during the three weeks that Clayton andMr. Philander had been there.

　　The former had imported a small army of carpenters andplasterers, plumbers and painters from a distant city, andwhat had been but a dilapidated shell when they reached itwas now a cosy little two-story house filled with every modernconvenience procurable in so short a time.

　　"Why, Mr. Clayton, what have you done?" cried Jane Porter,her heart sinking within her as she realized the probablesize of the expenditure that had been made.

　　"S-sh," cautioned Clayton. "Don't let your father guess. Ifyou don't tell him he will never notice, and I simply couldn'tthink of him living in the terrible squalor and sordidnesswhich Mr. Philander and I found. It was so little when Iwould like to do so much, Jane. For his sake, please, nevermention it."

　　"But you know that we can't repay you," cried the girl."Why do you want to put me under such terrible obligations?"

　　"Don't, Jane," said Clayton sadly. "If it had been just you,believe me, I wouldn't have done it, for I knew from the startthat it would only hurt me in your eyes, but I couldn't thinkof that dear old man living in the hole we found here. Won'tyou please believe that I did it just for him and give me thatlittle crumb of pleasure at least?"

　　"I do believe you, Mr. Clayton," said the girl, "because Iknow you are big enough and generous enough to have doneit just for him--and, oh Cecil, I wish I might repay you asyou deserve--as you would wish."

　　"Why can't you, Jane?"

　　"Because I love another."

　　"Canler?"

　　"No."

　　"But you are going to marry him. He told me as muchbefore I left Baltimore."

　　The girl winced.

　　"I do not love him," she said, almost proudly.

　　"Is it because of the money, Jane?"

　　She nodded.

　　"Then am I so much less desirable than Canler? I havemoney enough, and far more, for every need," he said bitterly.

　　"I do not love you, Cecil," she said, "but I respect you. If Imust disgrace myself by such a bargain with any man, I preferthat it be one I already despise. I should loathe the manto whom I sold myself without love, whomsoever he mightbe. You will be happier," she concluded, "alone--with myrespect and friendship, than with me and my contempt."

　　He did not press the matter further, but if ever a man hadmurder in his heart it was William Cecil Clayton, LordGreystoke, when, a week later, Robert Canler drew up beforethe farmhouse in his purring six cylinder.

　　A week passed; a tense, uneventful, but uncomfortableweek for all the inmates of the little Wisconsin farmhouse.

　　Canler was insistent that Jane marry him at once.

　　At length she gave in from sheer loathing of the continuedand hateful importuning.

　　It was agreed that on the morrow Canler was to drive totown and bring back the license and a minister.

　　Clayton had wanted to leave as soon as the plan wasannounced, but the girl's tired, hopeless look kept him.He could not desert her.

　　Something might happen yet, he tried to console himselfby thinking. And in his heart, he knew that it would requirebut a tiny spark to turn his hatred for Canler into the bloodlust of the killer.

　　Early the next morning Canler set out for town.

　　In the east smoke could be seen lying low over the forest,for a fire had been raging for a week not far from them, butthe wind still lay in the west and no danger threatened them.

　　About noon Jane started off for a walk. She would not letClayton accompany her. She wanted to be alone, she said,and he respected her wishes.

　　In the house Professor Porter and Mr. Philander were immersedin an absorbing discussion of some weighty scientific problem.Esmeralda dozed in the kitchen, and Clayton, heavy-eyed aftera sleepless night, threw himself down upon the couch in theliving room and soon dropped into a fitful slumber.

　　To the east the black smoke clouds rose higher into theheavens, suddenly they eddied, and then commenced to driftrapidly toward the west.

　　On and on they came. The inmates of the tenant housewere gone, for it was market day, and none was there tosee the rapid approach of the fiery demon.

　　Soon the flames had spanned the road to the south and cutoff Canler's return. A little fluctuation of the wind nowcarried the path of the forest fire to the north, then blew backand the flames nearly stood still as though held in leash bysome master hand.

　　Suddenly, out of the northeast, a great black car camecareening down the road.

　　With a jolt it stopped before the cottage, and a black-hairedgiant leaped out to run up onto the porch. Without apause he rushed into the house. On the couch lay Clayton.The man started in surprise, but with a bound was at the sideof the sleeping man.

　　Shaking him roughly by the shoulder, he cried:

　　"My God, Clayton, are you all mad here? Don't you knowyou are nearly surrounded by fire? Where is Miss Porter?"

　　Clayton sprang to his feet. He did not recognize the man,but he understood the words and was upon the veranda in a bound.

　　"Scott!" he cried, and then, dashing back into the house,"Jane! Jane! where are you?"

　　In an instant Esmeralda, Professor Porter and Mr. Philanderhad joined the two men.

　　"Where is Miss Jane?" cried Clayton, seizing Esmeralda bythe shoulders and shaking her roughly.

　　"Oh, Gaberelle, Mister Clayton, she done gone for a walk."

　　"Hasn't she come back yet?" and, without waiting for a reply,Clayton dashed out into the yard, followed by the others."Which way did she go?" cried the black-haired giant of Esmeralda.

　　"Down that road," cried the frightened woman, pointingtoward the south where a mighty wall of roaring flames shutout the view.

　　"Put these people in the other car," shouted the stranger toClayton. "I saw one as I drove up--and get them out of hereby the north road.

　　"Leave my car here. If I find Miss Porter we shall need it.If I don't, no one will need it. Do as I say," as Claytonhesitated, and then they saw the lithe figure bound away crossthe clearing toward the northwest where the forest still stood,untouched by flame.

　　In each rose the unaccountable feeling that a greatresponsibility had been raised from their shoulders; a kindof implicit confidence in the power of the stranger to saveJane if she could be saved.

　　"Who was that?" asked Professor Porter.

　　"I do not know," replied Clayton. "He called me by nameand he knew Jane, for he asked for her. And he calledEsmeralda by name."

　　"There was something most startlingly familiar about him,"exclaimed Mr. Philander, "And yet, bless me, I know I neversaw him before."

　　"Tut, tut!" cried Professor Porter. "Most remarkable!Who could it have been, and why do I feel that Jane is safe,now that he has set out in search of her?"

　　"I can't tell you, Professor," said Clayton soberly, "but Iknow I have the same uncanny feeling."

　　"But come," he cried, "we must get out of here ourselves,or we shall be shut off," and the party hastened towardClayton's car.

　　When Jane turned to retrace her steps homeward, she wasalarmed to note how near the smoke of the forest fireseemed, and as she hastened onward her alarm became almosta panic when she perceived that the rushing flames wererapidly forcing their way between herself and the cottage.

　　At length she was compelled to turn into the dense thicketand attempt to force her way to the west in an effort to circlearound the flames and reach the house.

　　In a short time the futility of her attempt became apparentand then her one hope lay in retracing her steps to the roadand flying for her life to the south toward the town.

　　The twenty minutes that it took her to regain the road wasall that had been needed to cut off her retreat as effectually asher advance had been cut off before.

　　A short run down the road brought her to a horrifiedstand, for there before her was another wall of flame. Anarm of the main conflagration had shot out a half mile southof its parent to embrace this tiny strip of road in itsimplacable clutches.

　　Jane knew that it was useless again to attempt to force herway through the undergrowth.

　　She had tried it once, and failed. Now she realized that itwould be but a matter of minutes ere the whole space betweenthe north and the south would be a seething mass ofbillowing flames.

　　Calmly the girl kneeled down in the dust of the roadwayand prayed for strength to meet her fate bravely, and for thedelivery of her father and her friends from death.

　　Suddenly she heard her name being called aloud throughthe forest:

　　"Jane! Jane Porter!" It rang strong and clear, but in astrange voice.

　　"Here!" she called in reply. "Here! In the roadway!"

　　Then through the branches of the trees she saw a figureswinging with the speed of a squirrel.

　　A veering of the wind blew a cloud of smoke about themand she could no longer see the man who was speeding towardher, but suddenly she felt a great arm about her. Thenshe was lifted up, and she felt the rushing of the wind andthe occasional brush of a branch as she was borne along.

　　She opened her eyes.

　　Far below her lay the undergrowth and the hard earth.

　　About her was the waving foliage of the forest.

　　From tree to tree swung the giant figure which bore her,and it seemed to Jane that she was living over in a dream theexperience that had been hers in that far African jungle.

　　Oh, if it were but the same man who had borne her soswiftly through the tangled verdure on that other day! butthat was impossible! Yet who else in all the world was therewith the strength and agility to do what this man was now doing?

　　She stole a sudden glance at the face close to hers, andthen she gave a little frightened gasp. It was he!

　　"My forest man!" she murmured, "No, I must be delerious!"

　　"Yes, your man, Jane Porter. Your savage, primeval mancome out of the jungle to claim his mate--the woman whoran away from him," he added almost fiercely.

　　"I did not run away," she whispered. "I would only consentto leave when they had waited a week for you to return."

　　They had come to a point beyond the fire now, and he hadturned back to the clearing.

　　Side by side they were walking toward the cottage. Thewind had changed once more and the fire was burning backupon itself--another hour like that and it would be burned out.

　　"Why did you not return?" she asked.

　　"I was nursing D'Arnot. He was badly wounded."

　　"Ah, I knew it!" she exclaimed.

　　"They said you had gone to join the blacks--that theywere your people."

　　He laughed.

　　"But you did not believe them, Jane?"

　　"No;--what shall I call you?" she asked. "What is your name?"

　　"I was Tarzan of the Apes when you first knew me," he said.

　　"Tarzan of the Apes!" she cried--"and that was your noteI answered when I left?"

　　"Yes, whose did you think it was?"

　　"I did not know; only that it could not be yours, for Tarzanof the Apes had written in English, and you could notunderstand a word of any language."

　　Again he laughed.

　　"It is a long story, but it was I who wrote what I could notspeak--and now D'Arnot has made matters worse by teachingme to speak French instead of English.

　　"Come," he added, "jump into my car, we must overtakeyour father, they are only a little way ahead."

　　As they drove along, he said:

　　"Then when you said in your note to Tarzan of the Apesthat you loved another--you might have meant me?"

　　"I might have," she answered, simply.

　　"But in Baltimore--Oh, how I have searched for you--theytold me you would possibly be married by now. That aman named Canler had come up here to wed you. Is that true?"

　　"Yes."

　　"Do you love him?"

　　"No."

　　"Do you love me?"

　　She buried her face in her hands.

　　"I am promised to another. I cannot answer you, Tarzanof the Apes," she cried.

　　"You have answered. Now, tell me why you would marryone you do not love."

　　"My father owes him money."

　　Suddenly there came back to Tarzan the memory of theletter he had read--and the name Robert Canler and thehinted trouble which he had been unable to understand then.

　　He smiled.

　　"If your father had not lost the treasure you would not feelforced to keep your promise to this man Canler?"

　　"I could ask him to release me."

　　"And if he refused?"

　　"I have given my promise."

　　He was silent for a moment. The car was plunging along theuneven road at a reckless pace, for the fire showed threateninglyat their right, and another change of the wind might sweep iton with raging fury across this one avenue of escape.

　　Finally they passed the danger point, and Tarzan reducedtheir speed.

　　"Suppose I should ask him?" ventured Tarzan.

　　"He would scarcely accede to the demand of a stranger,"said the girl. "Especially one who wanted me himself."

　　"Terkoz did," said Tarzan, grimly.

　　Jane shuddered and looked fearfully up at the giant figurebeside her, for she knew that he meant the great anthropoidhe had killed in her defense.

　　"This is not the African jungle," she said. "You are nolonger a savage beast. You are a gentleman, and gentlemendo not kill in cold blood."

　　"I am still a wild beast at heart," he said, in a low voice,as though to himself.

　　Again they were silent for a time.

　　"Jane," said the man, at length, "if you were free, wouldyou marry me?"

　　She did not reply at once, but he waited patiently.

　　The girl was trying to collect her thoughts.

　　What did she know of this strange creature at her side?What did he know of himself? Who was he? Who, his parents?

　　Why, his very name echoed his mysterious origin and hissavage life.

　　He had no name. Could she be happy with this junglewaif? Could she find anything in common with a husbandwhose life had been spent in the tree tops of an Africanwilderness, frolicking and fighting with fierce anthropoids;tearing his food from the quivering flank of fresh-killed prey,sinking his strong teeth into raw flesh, and tearing away hisportion while his mates growled and fought about him fortheir share?

　　Could he ever rise to her social sphere? Could she bear tothink of sinking to his? Would either be happy in such ahorrible misalliance?

　　"You do not answer," he said. "Do you shrink fromwounding me?"

　　"I do not know what answer to make," said Jane sadly. "Ido not know my own mind."

　　"You do not love me, then?" he asked, in a level tone.

　　"Do not ask me. You will be happier without me. Youwere never meant for the formal restrictions andconventionalities of society--civilization would becomeirksome to you, and in a little while you would long for thefreedom of your old life--a life to which I am as totallyunfitted as you to mine."

　　"I think I understand you," he replied quietly. "I shall noturge you, for I would rather see you happy than to be happymyself. I see now that you could not be happy with--an ape."

　　There was just the faintest tinge of bitterness in his voice.

　　"Don't," she remonstrated. "Don't say that. You do notunderstand."

　　But before she could go on a sudden turn in the roadbrought them into the midst of a little hamlet.

　　Before them stood Clayton's car surrounded by the partyhe had brought from the cottage.