Chapter 19

Son of Tarzan

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CHAPTER 19, SON OF TARZAN by Edgar R. Burroughs
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Behind them Korak emerged from the jungle and recovered
his spear from Numa's side. He still was smiling. He had
enjoyed the spectacle exceedingly. There was one thing that
troubled him--the agility with which the she had clambered
from her pony's back into the safety of the tree ABOVE her.
That was more like mangani--more like his lost Meriem. He sighed.
His lost Meriem! His little, dead Meriem! He wondered if this
she stranger resembled his Meriem in other ways. A great longing
to see her overwhelmed him. He looked after the three figures
moving steadily across the plain. He wondered where might lie
their destination. A desire to follow them came over him, but
he only stood there watching until they had disappeared in
the distance. The sight of the civilized girl and the dapper,
khaki clad Englishman had aroused in Korak memories long dormant.

Once he had dreamed of returning to the world of such as
these; but with the death of Meriem hope and ambition seemed
to have deserted him. He cared now only to pass the remainder
of his life in solitude, as far from man as possible. With a
sigh he turned slowly back into the jungle.

Tantor, nervous by nature, had been far from reassured by
close proximity to the three strange whites, and with the report
of Hanson's rifle had turned and ambled away at his long,
swinging shuffle. He was nowhere in sight when Korak returned
to look for him. The ape-man, however, was little concerned by
the absence of his friend. Tantor had a habit of wandering
off unexpectedly. For a month they might not see one another,
for Korak seldom took the trouble to follow the great pachyderm,
nor did he upon this occasion. Instead he found a comfortable
perch in a large tree and was soon asleep.

At the bungalow Bwana had met the returning adventurers on
the verandah. In a moment of wakefulness he had heard the
report of Hanson's rifle far out across the plain, and wondered
what it might mean. Presently it had occurred to him that the
man whom he considered in the light of a guest might have met
with an accident on his way back to camp, so he had arisen and
gone to his foreman's quarters where he had learned that Hanson
had been there earlier in the evening but had departed several
hours before. Returning from the foreman's quarters Bwana had
noticed that the corral gate was open and further investigation
revealed the fact that Meriem's pony was gone and also the one
most often used by Baynes. Instantly Bwana assumed that the
shot had been fired by Hon. Morison, and had again aroused
his foreman and was making preparations to set forth in
investigation when he had seen the party approaching across
the plain.

Explanation on the part of the Englishman met a rather chilly
reception from his host. Meriem was silent. She saw that Bwana
was angry with her. It was the first time and she was heart broken.

"Go to your room, Meriem," he said; "and Baynes, if you will step
into my study, I'd like to have a word with you in a moment."

He stepped toward Hanson as the others turned to obey him.
There was something about Bwana even in his gentlest moods
that commanded instant obedience.

"How did you happen to be with them, Hanson?" he asked.

"I'd been sitting in the garden," replied the trader, "after
leaving Jervis' quarters. I have a habit of doing that as your
lady probably knows. Tonight I fell asleep behind a bush, and was
awakened by them two spooning. I couldn't hear what they said,
but presently Baynes brings two ponies and they ride off. I didn't
like to interfere for it wasn't any of my business, but I knew
they hadn't ought to be ridin' about that time of night, leastways
not the girl--it wasn't right and it wasn't safe. So I follows them
and it's just as well I did. Baynes was gettin' away from the lion
as fast as he could, leavin' the girl to take care of herself, when
I got a lucky shot into the beast's shoulder that fixed him."

Hanson paused. Both men were silent for a time. Presently the
trader coughed in an embarrassed manner as though there was
something on his mind he felt in duty bound to say, but hated to.

"What is it, Hanson?" asked Bwana. "You were about to
say something weren't you?"

"Well, you see it's like this," ventured Hanson. "Bein'
around here evenings a good deal I've seen them two together a
lot, and, beggin' your pardon, sir, but I don't think Mr. Baynes
means the girl any good. I've overheard enough to make me
think he's tryin' to get her to run off with him." Hanson, to fit
his own ends, hit nearer the truth than he knew. He was afraid
that Baynes would interfere with his own plans, and he had hit
upon a scheme to both utilize the young Englishman and get rid
of him at the same time.

"And I thought," continued the trader, "that inasmuch as
I'm about due to move you might like to suggest to Mr. Baynes
that he go with me. I'd be willin' to take him north to the
caravan trails as a favor to you, sir."

Bwana stood in deep thought for a moment. Presently he
looked up.

"Of course, Hanson, Mr. Baynes is my guest," he said, a grim
twinkle in his eye. "Really I cannot accuse him of planning
to run away with Meriem on the evidence that we have, and as
he is my guest I should hate to be so discourteous as to ask him
to leave; but, if I recall his words correctly, it seems to me
that he has spoken of returning home, and I am sure that nothing
would delight him more than going north with you--you say you
start tomorrow? I think Mr. Baynes will accompany you. Drop over
in the morning, if you please, and now good night, and thank you
for keeping a watchful eye on Meriem."

Hanson hid a grin as he turned and sought his saddle. Bwana stepped
from the verandah to his study, where he found the Hon. Morison
pacing back and forth, evidently very ill at ease.

"Baynes," said Bwana, coming directly to the point, "Hanson is
leaving for the north tomorrow. He has taken a great fancy
to you, and just asked me to say to you that he'd be glad to have
you accompany him. Good night, Baynes."

At Bwana's suggestion Meriem kept to her room the following
morning until after the Hon. Morison Baynes had departed.
Hanson had come for him early--in fact he had remained all
night with the foreman, Jervis, that they might get an early start.

The farewell exchanges between the Hon. Morison and his
host were of the most formal type, and when at last the guest
rode away Bwana breathed a sigh of relief. It had been an
unpleasant duty and he was glad that it was over; but he did not
regret his action. He had not been blind to Baynes' infatuation
for Meriem, and knowing the young man's pride in caste he had
never for a moment believed that his guest would offer his name
to this nameless Arab girl, for, extremely light in color though
she was for a full blood Arab, Bwana believed her to be such.

He did not mention the subject again to Meriem, and in this
he made a mistake, for the young girl, while realizing the debt
of gratitude she owed Bwana and My Dear, was both proud and
sensitive, so that Bwana's action in sending Baynes away and
giving her no opportunity to explain or defend hurt and
mortified her. Also it did much toward making a martyr of
Baynes in her eyes and arousing in her breast a keen feeling
of loyalty toward him.

What she had half-mistaken for love before, she now wholly
mistook for love. Bwana and My Dear might have told her much
of the social barriers that they only too well knew Baynes must
feel existed between Meriem and himself, but they hesitated to
wound her. It would have been better had they inflicted this
lesser sorrow, and saved the child the misery that was to follow
because of her ignorance.

As Hanson and Baynes rode toward the former's camp the Englishman
maintained a morose silence. The other was attempting to
formulate an opening that would lead naturally to the proposition
he had in mind. He rode a neck behind his companion, grinning as
he noted the sullen scowl upon the other's patrician face.

"Rather rough on you, wasn't he?" he ventured at last,
jerking his head back in the direction of the bungalow as Baynes
turned his eyes upon him at the remark. "He thinks a lot of the
girl," continued Hanson, "and don't want nobody to marry her
and take her away; but it looks to me as though he was doin'
her more harm than good in sendin' you away. She ought to
marry some time, and she couldn't do better than a fine young
gentleman like you."

Baynes, who had at first felt inclined to take offense at the
mention of his private affairs by this common fellow, was
mollified by Hanson's final remark, and immediately commenced
to see in him a man of fine discrimination.

"He's a darned bounder," grumbled the Hon. Morison; "but
I'll get even with him. He may be the whole thing in Central
Africa but I'm as big as he is in London, and he'll find it out
when he comes home."

"If I was you," said Hanson, "I wouldn't let any man keep me from
gettin' the girl I want. Between you and me I ain't got no use
for him either, and if I can help you any way just call on me."

"It's mighty good of you, Hanson," replied Baynes, warming up a
bit; "but what can a fellow do here in this God-forsaken hole?"

"I know what I'd do," said Hanson. "I'd take the girl along
with me. If she loves you she'll go, all right."

"It can't be done," said Baynes. "He bosses this whole
blooming country for miles around. He'd be sure to catch us."

"No, he wouldn't, not with me running things," said Hanson.
"I've been trading and hunting here for ten years and I know
as much about the country as he does. If you want to take
the girl along I'll help you, and I'll guarantee that there won't
nobody catch up with us before we reach the coast. I'll tell you
what, you write her a note and I'll get it to her by my head man.
Ask her to meet you to say goodbye--she won't refuse that. In the
meantime we can be movin' camp a little further north all the
time and you can make arrangements with her to be all ready
on a certain night. Tell her I'll meet her then while you wait for
us in camp. That'll be better for I know the country well and
can cover it quicker than you. You can take care of the safari
and be movin' along slow toward the north and the girl and I'll
catch up to you."

"But suppose she won't come?" suggested Baynes.

"Then make another date for a last good-bye," said Hanson,
"and instead of you I'll be there and I'll bring her along anyway.
She'll have to come, and after it's all over she won't feel so bad
about it--especially after livin' with you for two months while
we're makin' the coast."

A shocked and angry protest rose to Baynes' lips; but he did
not utter it, for almost simultaneously came the realization
that this was practically the same thing he had been planning
upon himself. It had sounded brutal and criminal from the lips
of the rough trader; but nevertheless the young Englishman saw
that with Hanson's help and his knowledge of African travel the
possibilities of success would be much greater than as though the
Hon. Morison were to attempt the thing single handed. And so
he nodded a glum assent.

The balance of the long ride to Hanson's northerly camp was
made in silence, for both men were occupied with their own
thoughts, most of which were far from being either complimentary
or loyal to the other. As they rode through the wood the
sounds of their careless passage came to the ears of another
jungle wayfarer. The Killer had determined to come back to the
place where he had seen the white girl who took to the trees
with the ability of long habitude. There was a compelling
something in the recollection of her that drew him irresistibly
toward her. He wished to see her by the light of day, to see her
features, to see the color of her eyes and hair. It seemed to him
that she must bear a strong resemblance to his lost Meriem, and
yet he knew that the chances were that she did not. The fleeting
glimpse that he had had of her in the moonlight as she swung from
the back of her plunging pony into the branches of the tree above
her had shown him a girl of about the same height as his Meriem;
but of a more rounded and developed femininity.

Now he was moving lazily back in the direction of the spot
where he had seen the girl when the sounds of the approaching
horsemen came to his sharp ears. He moved stealthily through
the branches until he came within sight of the riders. The younger
man he instantly recognized as the same he had seen with his
arms about the girl in the moonlit glade just the instant before
Numa charged. The other he did not recognize though there was
a familiarity about his carriage and figure that puzzled Korak.

The ape-man decided that to find the girl again he would but
have to keep in touch with the young Englishman, and so he fell
in behind the pair, following them to Hanson's camp. Here the
Hon. Morison penned a brief note, which Hanson gave into the
keeping of one of his boys who started off forthwith toward
the south.

Korak remained in the vicinity of the camp, keeping a careful
watch upon the Englishman. He had half expected to find the
girl at the destination of the two riders and had been
disappointed when no sign of her materialized about the camp.

Baynes was restless, pacing back and forth beneath the trees
when he should have been resting against the forced marches of
the coming flight. Hanson lay in his hammock and smoked.
They spoke but little. Korak lay stretched upon a branch
among the dense foliage above them. Thus passed the balance
of the afternoon. Korak became hungry and thirsty. He doubted
that either of the men would leave camp now before morning, so he
withdrew, but toward the south, for there it seemed most likely
the girl still was.

In the garden beside the bungalow Meriem wandered thoughtfully
in the moonlight. She still smarted from Bwana's, to her,
unjust treatment of the Hon. Morison Baynes. Nothing had been
explained to her, for both Bwana and My Dear had wished to
spare her the mortification and sorrow of the true explanation
of Baynes' proposal. They knew, as Meriem did not, that the
man had no intention of marrying her, else he would have
come directly to Bwana, knowing full well that no objection
would be interposed if Meriem really cared for him.

Meriem loved them both and was grateful to them for all that
they had done for her; but deep in her little heart surged the
savage love of liberty that her years of untrammeled freedom in
the jungle had made part and parcel of her being. Now, for the
first time since she had come to them, Meriem felt like a prisoner
in the bungalow of Bwana and My Dear.

Like a caged tigress the girl paced the length of the enclosure.
Once she paused near the outer fence, her head upon one
side--listening. What was it she had heard? The pad of naked
human feet just beyond the garden. She listened for a moment.
The sound was not repeated. Then she resumed her restless walking.
Down to the opposite end of the garden she passed, turned and
retraced her steps toward the upper end. Upon the sward near
the bushes that hid the fence, full in the glare of the moonlight,
lay a white envelope that had not been there when she had turned
almost upon the very spot a moment before.

Meriem stopped short in her tracks, listening again, and
sniffing--more than ever the tigress; alert, ready. Beyond the
bushes a naked black runner squatted, peering through the foliage.
He saw her take a step closer to the letter. She had seen it.
He rose quietly and following the shadows of the bushes that ran
down to the corral was soon gone from sight.

Meriem's trained ears heard his every move. She made no
attempt to seek closer knowledge of his identity. Already she
had guessed that he was a messenger from the Hon. Morison.
She stooped and picked up the envelope. Tearing it open she
easily read the contents by the moon's brilliant light. It was, as
she had guessed, from Baynes.

"I cannot go without seeing you again," it read. "Come to
the clearing early tomorrow morning and say good-bye to me.
Come alone."

There was a little more--words that made her heart beat faster
and a happy flush mount her cheek.