第 十六 章 · “Most Remarkable”

. “Most Remarkable”

Several miles south of the cabin, upon a strip of sandy beach, stood

two old men, arguing.

Before them stretched the broad Atlantic. At their backs was the Dark

Continent. Close around them loomed the impenetrable blackness of the

jungle.

Savage beasts roared and growled; noises, hideous and weird, assailed

their ears. They had wandered for miles in search of their camp, but

always in the wrong direction. They were as hopelessly lost as though

they suddenly had been transported to another world.

At such a time, indeed, every fiber of their combined intellects must

have been concentrated upon the vital question of the minute—the

life-and-death question to them of retracing their steps to camp.

Samuel T. Philander was speaking.

“But, my dear professor,” he was saying, “I still maintain that but for

the victories of Ferdinand and Isabella over the fifteenth-century

Moors in Spain the world would be today a thousand years in advance of

where we now find ourselves. The Moors were essentially a tolerant,

broad-minded, liberal race of agriculturists, artisans and

merchants—the very type of people that has made possible such

civilization as we find today in America and Europe—while the

Spaniards—”

“Tut, tut, dear Mr. Philander,” interrupted Professor Porter; “their

religion positively precluded the possibilities you suggest. Moslemism

was, is, and always will be, a blight on that scientific progress which

has marked—”

“Bless me! Professor,” interjected Mr. Philander, who had turned his

gaze toward the jungle, “there seems to be someone approaching.”

Professor Archimedes Q. Porter turned in the direction indicated by the

nearsighted Mr. Philander.

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander,” he chided. “How often must I urge you to

seek that absolute concentration of your mental faculties which alone

may permit you to bring to bear the highest powers of intellectuality

upon the momentous problems which naturally fall to the lot of great

minds? And now I find you guilty of a most flagrant breach of courtesy

in interrupting my learned discourse to call attention to a mere

quadruped of the genus _Felis_. As I was saying, Mr.—”

“Heavens, Professor, a lion?” cried Mr. Philander, straining his weak

eyes toward the dim figure outlined against the dark tropical

underbrush.

“Yes, yes, Mr. Philander, if you insist upon employing slang in your

discourse, a ‘lion.’ But as I was saying—”

“Bless me, Professor,” again interrupted Mr. Philander; “permit me to

suggest that doubtless the Moors who were conquered in the fifteenth

century will continue in that most regrettable condition for the time

being at least, even though we postpone discussion of that world

calamity until we may attain the enchanting view of yon _Felis

carnivora_ which distance proverbially is credited with lending.”

In the meantime the lion had approached with quiet dignity to within

ten paces of the two men, where he stood curiously watching them.

The moonlight flooded the beach, and the strange group stood out in

bold relief against the yellow sand.

“Most reprehensible, most reprehensible,” exclaimed Professor Porter,

with a faint trace of irritation in his voice. “Never, Mr. Philander,

never before in my life have I known one of these animals to be

permitted to roam at large from its cage. I shall most certainly report

this outrageous breach of ethics to the directors of the adjacent

zoological garden.”

“Quite right, Professor,” agreed Mr. Philander, “and the sooner it is

done the better. Let us start now.”

Seizing the professor by the arm, Mr. Philander set off in the

direction that would put the greatest distance between themselves and

the lion.

They had proceeded but a short distance when a backward glance revealed

to the horrified gaze of Mr. Philander that the lion was following

them. He tightened his grip upon the protesting professor and increased

his speed.

“As I was saying, Mr. Philander,” repeated Professor Porter.

Mr. Philander took another hasty glance rearward. The lion also had

quickened his gait, and was doggedly maintaining an unvarying distance

behind them.

“He is following us!” gasped Mr. Philander, breaking into a run.

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander,” remonstrated the professor, “this unseemly

haste is most unbecoming to men of letters. What will our friends think

of us, who may chance to be upon the street and witness our frivolous

antics? Pray let us proceed with more decorum.”

Mr. Philander stole another observation astern.

The lion was bounding along in easy leaps scarce five paces behind.

Mr. Philander dropped the professor’s arm, and broke into a mad orgy of

speed that would have done credit to any varsity track team.

“As I was saying, Mr. Philander—” screamed Professor Porter, as,

metaphorically speaking, he himself “threw her into high.” He, too, had

caught a fleeting backward glimpse of cruel yellow eyes and half open

mouth within startling proximity of his person.

With streaming coat tails and shiny silk hat Professor Archimedes Q.

Porter fled through the moonlight close upon the heels of Mr. Samuel T.

Philander.

Before them a point of the jungle ran out toward a narrow promontory,

and it was for the haven of the trees he saw there that Mr. Samuel T.

Philander directed his prodigious leaps and bounds; while from the

shadows of this same spot peered two keen eyes in interested

appreciation of the race.

It was Tarzan of the Apes who watched, with face a-grin, this odd game

of follow-the-leader.

He knew the two men were safe enough from attack in so far as the lion

was concerned. The very fact that Numa had foregone such easy prey at

all convinced the wise forest craft of Tarzan that Numa’s belly already

was full.

The lion might stalk them until hungry again; but the chances were that

if not angered he would soon tire of the sport, and slink away to his

jungle lair.

Really, the one great danger was that one of the men might stumble and

fall, and then the yellow devil would be upon him in a moment and the

joy of the kill would be too great a temptation to withstand.

So Tarzan swung quickly to a lower limb in line with the approaching

fugitives; and as Mr. Samuel T. Philander came panting and blowing

beneath him, already too spent to struggle up to the safety of the

limb, Tarzan reached down and, grasping him by the collar of his coat,

yanked him to the limb by his side.

Another moment brought the professor within the sphere of the friendly

grip, and he, too, was drawn upward to safety just as the baffled Numa,

with a roar, leaped to recover his vanishing quarry.

For a moment the two men clung panting to the great branch, while

Tarzan squatted with his back to the stem of the tree, watching them

with mingled curiosity and amusement.

It was the professor who first broke the silence.

“I am deeply pained, Mr. Philander, that you should have evinced such a

paucity of manly courage in the presence of one of the lower orders,

and by your crass timidity have caused me to exert myself to such an

unaccustomed degree in order that I might resume my discourse. As I was

saying, Mr. Philander, when you interrupted me, the Moors—”

“Professor Archimedes Q. Porter,” broke in Mr. Philander, in icy tones,

“the time has arrived when patience becomes a crime and mayhem appears

garbed in the mantle of virtue. You have accused me of cowardice. You

have insinuated that you ran only to overtake me, not to escape the

clutches of the lion. Have a care, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter! I am

a desperate man. Goaded by long-suffering patience the worm will turn.”

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut!” cautioned Professor Porter; “you

forget yourself.”

“I forget nothing as yet, Professor Archimedes Q. Porter; but, believe

me, sir, I am tottering on the verge of forgetfulness as to your

exalted position in the world of science, and your gray hairs.”

The professor sat in silence for a few minutes, and the darkness hid

the grim smile that wreathed his wrinkled countenance. Presently he

spoke.

“Look here, Skinny Philander,” he said, in belligerent tones, “if you

are lookin’ for a scrap, peel off your coat and come on down on the

ground, and I’ll punch your head just as I did sixty years ago in the

alley back of Porky Evans’ barn.”

“Ark!” gasped the astonished Mr. Philander. “Lordy, how good that

sounds! When you’re human, Ark, I love you; but somehow it seems as

though you had forgotten how to be human for the last twenty years.”

The professor reached out a thin, trembling old hand through the

darkness until it found his old friend’s shoulder.

“Forgive me, Skinny,” he said, softly. “It hasn’t been quite twenty

years, and God alone knows how hard I have tried to be ‘human’ for

Jane’s sake, and yours, too, since He took my other Jane away.”

Another old hand stole up from Mr. Philander’s side to clasp the one

that lay upon his shoulder, and no other message could better have

translated the one heart to the other.

They did not speak for some minutes. The lion below them paced

nervously back and forth. The third figure in the tree was hidden by

the dense shadows near the stem. He, too, was silent—motionless as a

graven image.

“You certainly pulled me up into this tree just in time,” said the

professor at last. “I want to thank you. You saved my life.”

“But I didn’t pull you up here, Professor,” said Mr. Philander. “Bless

me! The excitement of the moment quite caused me to forget that I

myself was drawn up here by some outside agency—there must be someone

or something in this tree with us.”

“Eh?” ejaculated Professor Porter. “Are you quite positive, Mr.

Philander?”

“Most positive, Professor,” replied Mr. Philander, “and,” he added, “I

think we should thank the party. He may be sitting right next to you

now, Professor.”

“Eh? What’s that? Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut!” said Professor

Porter, edging cautiously nearer to Mr. Philander.

Just then it occurred to Tarzan of the Apes that Numa had loitered

beneath the tree for a sufficient length of time, so he raised his

young head toward the heavens, and there rang out upon the terrified

ears of the two old men the awful warning challenge of the anthropoid.

The two friends, huddled trembling in their precarious position on the

limb, saw the great lion halt in his restless pacing as the

blood-curdling cry smote his ears, and then slink quickly into the

jungle, to be instantly lost to view.

“Even the lion trembles in fear,” whispered Mr. Philander.

“Most remarkable, most remarkable,” murmured Professor Porter,

clutching frantically at Mr. Philander to regain the balance which the

sudden fright had so perilously endangered. Unfortunately for them

both, Mr. Philander’s center of equilibrium was at that very moment

hanging upon the ragged edge of nothing, so that it needed but the

gentle impetus supplied by the additional weight of Professor Porter’s

body to topple the devoted secretary from the limb.

For a moment they swayed uncertainly, and then, with mingled and most

unscholarly shrieks, they pitched headlong from the tree, locked in

frenzied embrace.

It was quite some moments ere either moved, for both were positive that

any such attempt would reveal so many breaks and fractures as to make

further progress impossible.

At length Professor Porter made an attempt to move one leg. To his

surprise, it responded to his will as in days gone by. He now drew up

its mate and stretched it forth again.

“Most remarkable, most remarkable,” he murmured.

“Thank God, Professor,” whispered Mr. Philander, fervently, “you are

not dead, then?”

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander, tut, tut,” cautioned Professor Porter, “I do

not know with accuracy as yet.”

With infinite solicitude Professor Porter wiggled his right arm—joy! It

was intact. Breathlessly he waved his left arm above his prostrate

body—it waved!

“Most remarkable, most remarkable,” he said.

“To whom are you signaling, Professor?” asked Mr. Philander, in an

excited tone.

Professor Porter deigned to make no response to this puerile inquiry.

Instead he raised his head gently from the ground, nodding it back and

forth a half dozen times.

“Most remarkable,” he breathed. “It remains intact.”

Mr. Philander had not moved from where he had fallen; he had not dared

the attempt. How indeed could one move when one’s arms and legs and

back were broken?

One eye was buried in the soft loam; the other, rolling sidewise, was

fixed in awe upon the strange gyrations of Professor Porter.

“How sad!” exclaimed Mr. Philander, half aloud. “Concussion of the

brain, superinducing total mental aberration. How very sad indeed! and

for one still so young!”

Professor Porter rolled over upon his stomach; gingerly he bowed his

back until he resembled a huge tom cat in proximity to a yelping dog.

Then he sat up and felt of various portions of his anatomy.

“They are all here,” he exclaimed. “Most remarkable!”

Whereupon he arose, and, bending a scathing glance upon the still

prostrate form of Mr. Samuel T. Philander, he said:

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander; this is no time to indulge in slothful ease.

We must be up and doing.”

Mr. Philander lifted his other eye out of the mud and gazed in

speechless rage at Professor Porter. Then he attempted to rise; nor

could there have been any more surprised than he when his efforts were

immediately crowned with marked success.

He was still bursting with rage, however, at the cruel injustice of

Professor Porter’s insinuation, and was on the point of rendering a

tart rejoinder when his eyes fell upon a strange figure standing a few

paces away, scrutinizing them intently.

Professor Porter had recovered his shiny silk hat, which he had brushed

carefully upon the sleeve of his coat and replaced upon his head. When

he saw Mr. Philander pointing to something behind him he turned to

behold a giant, naked but for a loin cloth and a few metal ornaments,

standing motionless before him.

“Good evening, sir!” said the professor, lifting his hat.

For reply the giant motioned them to follow him, and set off up the

beach in the direction from which they had recently come.

“I think it the better part of discretion to follow him,” said Mr.

Philander.

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander,” returned the professor. “A short time since

you were advancing a most logical argument in substantiation of your

theory that camp lay directly south of us. I was skeptical, but you

finally convinced me; so now I am positive that toward the south we

must travel to reach our friends. Therefore I shall continue south.”

“But, Professor Porter, this man may know better than either of us. He

seems to be indigenous to this part of the world. Let us at least

follow him for a short distance.”

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander,” repeated the professor. “I am a difficult

man to convince, but when once convinced my decision is unalterable. I

shall continue in the proper direction, if I have to circumambulate the

continent of Africa to reach my destination.”

Further argument was interrupted by Tarzan, who, seeing that these

strange men were not following him, had returned to their side.

Again he beckoned to them; but still they stood in argument.

Presently the ape-man lost patience with their stupid ignorance. He

grasped the frightened Mr. Philander by the shoulder, and before that

worthy gentleman knew whether he was being killed or merely maimed for

life, Tarzan had tied one end of his rope securely about Mr.

Philander’s neck.

“Tut, tut, Mr. Philander,” remonstrated Professor Porter; “it is most

unbeseeming in you to submit to such indignities.”

But scarcely were the words out of his mouth ere he, too, had been

seized and securely bound by the neck with the same rope. Then Tarzan

set off toward the north, leading the now thoroughly frightened

professor and his secretary.

In deathly silence they proceeded for what seemed hours to the two

tired and hopeless old men; but presently as they topped a little rise

of ground they were overjoyed to see the cabin lying before them, not a

hundred yards distant.

Here Tarzan released them, and, pointing toward the little building,

vanished into the jungle beside them.

“Most remarkable, most remarkable!” gasped the professor. “But you see,

Mr. Philander, that I was quite right, as usual; and but for your

stubborn willfulness we should have escaped a series of most

humiliating, not to say dangerous accidents. Pray allow yourself to be

guided by a more mature and practical mind hereafter when in need of

wise counsel.”

Mr. Samuel T. Philander was too much relieved at the happy outcome to

their adventure to take umbrage at the professor’s cruel fling. Instead

he grasped his friend’s arm and hastened him forward in the direction

of the cabin.

It was a much-relieved party of castaways that found itself once more

united. Dawn discovered them still recounting their various adventures

and speculating upon the identity of the strange guardian and protector

they had found on this savage shore.

Esmeralda was positive that it was none other than an angel of the

Lord, sent down especially to watch over them.

“Had you seen him devour the raw meat of the lion, Esmeralda,” laughed

Clayton, “you would have thought him a very material angel.”

“There was nothing heavenly about his voice,” said Jane Porter, with a

little shudder at recollection of the awful roar which had followed the

killing of the lioness.

“Nor did it precisely comport with my preconceived ideas of the dignity

of divine messengers,” remarked Professor Porter, “when

the—ah—gentleman tied two highly respectable and erudite scholars neck

to neck and dragged them through the jungle as though they had been

cows.”