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About The Maupin times. (Maupin, Or.) 1914-1930 | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1919)
The Son of Tarzan Coprrixht, by Fmnk A. Hdomt Co. FOREWORD. Those strange or!.ial stories "Tarzan ol the Apes" and "The Return of Tarzan" cap tured the delighted fancy of millions of readers. Although they were full of thrills, "The Son of Tarzan" holds the read er'i interest with wonderful te nacityandyieldsnothingtothern in the line of breathless adven ture. In this wonderful Tarzan story you will meet Tarzan himself, who is John Clayton, Lord Greystoke; Lady Grey stoke, his wife; Alexis Paul vitch, friend of the murderer Rokoff; Akut, the gray ape, and many others, not the least of whom is Jack Clayton, the son of Tarzan. CHAPTER . i u'r Paulvltch and an Ape. The Murjorle W.'s long boat was flouting down the broad Ugambl with ebb tide and current. Her crew were lazily enjoying this respite from the arduous lubor ef rowing upstream. Three miles below them lay the Mur jorle herself, quite ready to sail so eoon as they should have clambered aboard and swung the long boat to Us davits. Presently the attention of every man was drawn from his dreaming or his gossiping to the northern bank of the Irlver. There, screaming at them In a cracked falsetto, and with skinny arms .outstretched, stood a strange appari tion of a man. "Wot In thunder" ejaculated one of " the crew. "A white man " muttered the mate; an then: "Man the oars, boys, and we'll Just pull over an' see what he wants." When they came close to the shore they saw an emuclated creature with scant white locks, tangled and matted. The thin, bent body was naked save for a loin cloth. Tears were rolling down the sunken, pockniurken cheeks. The man Jubbered at them In a strange tongue. "Rooshun," hazarded the mate. "Savvy EngilshJ" he called to the man. The scarecrow did, and la that tongue, brokenly and haltingly, as though it had been many years since he bad used It, he begged them p take him with them away from this awful country. Once on board the Murjorle W. the stranger told his rescuers a pitiful tale of prlvutlon, hardships and torture, ex tending over a period of ten years. How he happened to have come to Africa he did not tell them, leaving them to assume thut lie had forgotten the incidents of his life prior to the frightful ordeals that had wrecked him mentally and physically. Ills name, he said, was Alexis 1'uulvltcU. A few straggly, yellow-white locks had supplanted the thick dark hulr thut had once covered his head. Ills limbs were bent and twisted ; he walked with a shuffling, unsteady gait, his body doubled forward. Ills teeth were gone knocked out by his savage masters. jEven his mentality was but a sorry .mockery of what It once had been. They took him aboard the Marjorle jW., and there they fed and nursed hliu. Be gained a little in strength, but his .appearance never altered for the bet ter a human derelict, battered and Wrecked, they had found him ; a humun 'derelict, battered and wrecked, he would remain until death claimed him. 'Alexis Paulvltch could easily have passed for eighty. j The Murjorle W. had been chartered by a syudlcute of wealthy manufac turers, equipped with a laboratory and a stuff of scientists and sent out to search for some natural product which the manufacturers who footed the bills had been importing from South Amer ica at an enormous cost What the product was none on board the Mar jorle W. knew except the scientists; nor Is It of any moment to us, other than thut It led the ship to a certain Island off the coast of Africa after Alexis Paulvltch had been taken aboard. ! The ship lay at anchor off the coast for several weeks. The monotony of life aboard her became trying for the crew. They went often ashore, and finally Paulvltch asked to accompany them he, too, was tiring of the blight ing sameness of existence upon the ship. The Island was heavily Umbered. Dense Jungle ran down almost to the beach. The scientists were far Inland, prosecuting their search for the valu- j able . commodity that native rumor .upon the mainland had led them to be lieve might be found here In market able quantity. 1 j The ship's company fished, bunted .and explored. Pjtulvltch shuffled up land down the beach or lay In the shade (of the great trees that skirted It. By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS One duy, us the men were gathered at a little distance, Inspecting the body of a panther thut hud fullen to the gun of one of them w4io had been hunting Inland, Paulvltch luy sleeping beneath his tree. Ho was awukencd by the touch of a hund upon his shoulder. With a sturt he But up to see a huge anthropoid ape squuttlug at bis side, Inspecting him Intently. The Russlun was thoroughly fright ened. He glunced towurd the sailors they were a couple of hundred yards away. Aguln the ape plucked at bis shoul ders, Jubberlng pluintlvely. Puulvltch suw no mcnuce in the Inquiring guze or In the attitude of the beast, lie got slowly to his feet. The ape rose at his side. . Half doubled, the man shuffled cau tiously away toward the sailors. The ape moved with him, taking one of his arms. They had come almost to the little knot of men before they were seen, and by this time Paulvltch had become assured thut the beust meant him no barm. The animal evidently was accustomed to the association of human beings. It occurred to the Russian that the ape represented considerable and cer tain money value, and before tbey reached the sailors he hud decided thut ne should be the one to profit by It. When the men looked up and saw the oddly paired couple shuffling to ward them they were filled with amaze ment and started on a run toward the two. The ape showed no sign of fear. Instead, he grasped each sailor by the shoulder and peered long and earnestly Into his face. Huvlng inspected them all, be returned to Puulvltch's side, dis appointment written strongly upon his countenance and in his carriage. The men were delighted with him. They gathered about, asking Puulvltch many questions and examining his com panion. The Itusslun told them thut With Mighty Blows of Hie Open Palme He Felled One After Another. the ape was his. Nothing further would he offer, but kept harping continually upon the same theme : "The ape is mine. The ape Is mine." Tiring of Paulvltch, one of the men essayed a pleasantry. Circling about behind the ape, he prodded the anthro poid In the back with a pin. Like a flash the beast wheeled upon Its tormentor, and in the brief Instant of turning the placid, friendly animal was metamorphosed to a frenzied de mon of rage. . The broad grin that hud sat ipon the sailor's face as he perpetrated his little Joke froze to an expression of terror, lie attempted to dodge the long arms that reached for him, but, falling, drew a long knife that bung at his belt The ape tore the weapon from the. man's grasp with a single wrench and fluug It to one side; then bis yellow fangs were burled in the sailor's shoul der. With sticks and knives the' man's companions fell upon the beast, while Paulvltch danced around the cursing, snarling pack, mumbling and scream ing pleug and threats. He saw bis vi sions of wealth rapidly dissipating be fore the weapons of the sailors. The ape, however, proved no easy victim to the superior numbers that seemed fated to overwhelm him. Ris ing from the sailor who had precipi tated the battle, be shook bis giant shoulders, freeing himself from two of the men that were dinging to his back and with mighty blows of his open palms felled one after another of his attackers, leaping hither and thither with the agility of a small monkey. The fight had been witnessed by the captain and mate, who were Just land ing from the Marjorle W and Paul vltch saw these two now running for ward with drawn revolvers, while the two sailors who had brought them ashore trailed at their heels. The ape stood looking about blm at the havoc he bad wrought but whether he was awaiting a renewal of the attack or was deliberating which of hi foes he WW1 should exterminate first Paulvltch could not guess. What ho could guess, however, was that the tnoiu'ut the two officers came within firing distance of the benst they would put un end to him In short order unHw something were done, and done quickly, to prevent The ape had made no move to attack the Russian, but even so, tlio man was none too sure of what might happen were he to Interfere with the suvugo beast, now thoroughly aroused to rage and with the smell of new spilled blood fresh in its nostrils. For an Instant he hesitated, and then again there roso be fore htm the dreams of affluence which this great anthropoid would doubtless turn to realities once Paulvltch hud landed him safely In some greut me tropolis like London. The cuptuln wus shouting to hlra now to stand aside so he might luive a shot at the animal, but lnsteud Paulvltch shuffled to the ape's side and, though the man's hulr quivered ut its roots, be mastered his fear and luid hold of the animal's arm. "Come I" he commanded, and tugged to pull the benst from among the sail ors, many of whom were now sitting up In wide-eyed fright or crawling away from their conqueror upon hands and knees. Slowly the ape permitted Itself to be led to one side, nor did It show the slightest indication of a desire to barm the Russian. The cuptuln came to a halt a few paces from the odd pair. "Get aside I" he commanded. "I'll put that brute where he won't chew up any more able seamen I" "It wasn't his fault, cuptuln," plead ed Paulvltch. "Please don't shoot him, The men started it they attacked him first You see, he's perfectly gentle and he's mine he's mine he's mine I I won't let you kill him I" ho concluded. as his hulf wrecked mentality pictured anew the pleasure that money would buy In London money that he could not hope to possess without some suci windfall as the ape represented. The captain lowered his weapon. "The men started It, did they?" he repeated. "How about that?" and he turned toward the snllors, who had by this time picked themselves from the ground, none of them much the worse for his experience except the fullow who had been the cuuse of It and who would doubtless nurse a sore shouldei for a week or so. "Simpson done Jt," said one of the men. "He stuck a pin into the monk from behind, and the monk got hlra which served him bloomln' well right an' he got the rest of us, too, for which I can't blame him, since we all Jumped him to once." The captain looked at Simpson, who sheepishly admitted the truth of the allegation ; then he stepped over to the ape as though to discover for himself the sort of temper the beast possessed. But it was noticeable that he kept his revolver cocked and leveled as he did so. However, he spoke soothingly to the animal, who squatted at the Russian's side, looking first at one and then an other of the snllors. As the captain approached him the ape half rose and waddled forward to meet him. Upon his countenance was the same straight, searching expression that hud marked his scrutiny of euch of the sailors he hud first encountered. He enme quite close to the officer and laid a paw upon one of the man's shoulders, studying his face Intently for a long moment ; then came the ex pression of disappointment, accompa nied by what was almost a human sigh, as he turned away to peer In the same curious fashion Into the faces of the mate and the two sailors who bad arrived with the officers. In each instance he sighed and passed on, returning at length to Pnulvltch's side, where he squatted down once more, thereafter evincing little or no Interest in any of the other men and apparently forgetful of his recent bat tle with them. When the party returned aboard the Marjorle W., Paulvltch was accompa nied by the ape, who seemed anxious to follow him. The captain Interposed no obstacles to the arrangement, and so the great anthropoid was tacitly ad mitted to membership in the ship's company. Once aboard he examined each new face minutely, evincing the same dis appointment In each Instance that had marked bis scrutiny of the others. The strange ape It taken to London and there meeti old friends. Lord Greystoke Is worried and puzzled by hie ton Jack's restleseneM. . CTO BIS CONTINUED.) Musk Like Radium. Musk has certain radioactive prop erties that cause the odor of the per fume to be carried through the air la a very extraordinary way. The radio active property of musk affects very strangely the natives" who carry It to market If a package of musk is held close to the body for any length of time It produces sores that are de scribed as being similar In character to those caused by pure radium. , wmm, T .yrloht by' "V'-W, a. Muntiit Co. Copyi Frank A. Mumcy Co. n " THE STRANGE ANIMAL GOES TO LONDON AND THERE IS PUT ON EXHIBITON BY PAULVITCH JACK .CLAYTON BCOMES RESTLESS Synopsis. A scientific expedition off the African coast rescues Alexis Paulvltch. Ho brings ubourd an npc, Intelligent and friendly. CHAPTER I Continued. The officers and scientists aboard of ten discussed the beast, but they were unable to account satisfactorily for the strange ceremony with which he greet ed each new face. Hud he been discov ered upon the mainland or any other place than the uhnost unknown lslund that had been his home they would have concluded thut he had formerly been a pet of man, but thnt theory was not tenable In the face of the Isolation of his uninhabited Island. He seemed continually to be search ing for some one, and during the first days of the return voyage from the Island he was often discovered nosing about In vurlous parts of the ship, but after he had seen and examined each face of the ship's company and explor ed every corner of the vessel, he lapsed Into utter indifference of nil about him. Even the Russian elicited only casual interest when he brought him food. At other times the ape appeared merely to tolerate hlra. He never showed affection for him or for anyone else upon the Marjorle W. Nor did he at any time evince any in dication of the savage temper that had marked his resentment of the attack of the sailors upon him at the time that he had come among them. - Most of his time was spent In the eye of the ship, scanning the horizon ahead, as though he were endowed with sufficient reason to know that the vessel was bound for some port where - there would be other human beings to undergo his searching scrutiny. All In all, Ajax, as he had been dubbed, was considered the most remarkable and In telligent ape that anyone aboard the Murjorle W. had ever seen. Nor was his Intelligence the only re markable attribute he owned. His stature and physique were, for an ape, awe-lnspirlng. That he was old was quite evident, but if his age had Im paired his physical or mental powers In the slightest It was not apparent. And so at length the Marjorle W. came to England, and there the officers and the scientists, filled with compas sion for the pitiful wreck of a man they had rescued from the jungles, fur nished Pnulvitch with funds and bid him and Ajnx Godspeed. Upon the dock and all through the journey to London the Russian had his hands full with Ajax. Each new face of the thousands that came within the nnthrapold's ken must be carefully scrutinized, much to the horror of many of his victims. But at lust, fulling ap parently to discover whom he sought, the great ape relapsed into morbid op difference, only occasionally evincing Interest In a passing face. In London Paulvltch went directly vlth his prize to a famous animal trainer. This man was much impressed with Ajax, with the result that he agreed to train him for" a lion's share of the profits of exhibiting him and In the meantime to provide for the keep of both the ape and his owner. And so came Ajax to London, and there wns forged another link in the chain of strange circumstances that were to affect the lives of many people. CHAPTER II. "To See Ajax." Mr. Harold Moore was a bilious countenanced, studious young man. He took himself very seriously, and his life and his work, which latter was the tutoring of the young son of Lord Greystoke, a British nobleman. He felt that bis charge was not making the progress that his parents bad a right to expect and he was now con scientiously explain.ng this fact to the boy's mother. "His sole Interest seems to be feats of physical prowess and the reading of everything that he can get hold of re lating to savage beasts and the lives and customs of uncivilized peoples, i Particularly stories of animals appeal to him. He will Bit for hours together poring over the) work of some African explorer, and upon two occasions I have found him sitting up In bed at night reading Carl Hagenbeck's book on men and beasts. " For several minutes neither spoke. It was the boy's mother who finally broke the silence. " "It Is very necessary, Mr. Moore," she said, "that you do everything In your power to discourage this tendency In Jack; be " But she got no further. A loud .....Llf """ " '"' 'n -'-- "Whoop 1" from the direction of the window brought them both to their feet. The room was on the second floor of the house, end opposite the window to which their attention had been attract ed was a lurge tree, a brunch of which spread to within a few feet of the sill. Upon this brunch they both discov ered the subject of their conversation, a tall, well built boy, balancing with ease upon the bending limb and utter ing loud shouts of glee as he noted the terrified expressions upon the faces of his audience. The mother and tutor both rushed toward the window, but before they had crossed half the room the boy had leaped nimbly to the sill and entered the apartment with them. 1 "Oh, mother," ho cried, "there's a wonderful educated ape being shown at one of the music halls. Willie Grimsby suw it last night He says It can do everything but talk. It rides a bicycle, eats with knife and fork, counts up to ten and ever so many other won derful things. And can I go and see it too? Oh, please, mother please let me!" Patting the boy's cheek affectionate ly, the mother shook her head nega tively. "No, Jack," she said; "you know I do not approve of such exhi bitions." "I don't see why not, mother," re plied the boy. "All the other fellows go, and they go to the zoo, too, and you'll never let me do even that. Any body'd think I was a girl or or a mol lycoddle. .Oh, father," he exclaimed as the door opened to admit a tall, gray eyed man "oh, father, can't I go?" "Go where, my son?" asked the new comer. "He wants to go to a music hall to see a trained ape," said the mother, looking warnlngly at her husband. "Who Ajax?" questioned the man. The boy nodded. "Well, I don't know that I blame you, my son," said the father. "I wouldn't mind seeing him myself. They say he is very wonderful and that for an an thropoid he is unusually large. Let's all go, Jane. What do you say?" He turned towurd his wife. But that lady only shook her head in a most positive manner and, turning to Mr. Moore, asked him if it was not time that he and Jack were in the study for their morning recitations. When the two had left she turned to ward her husband. It was from her husband that the boy had inherited his longing for the wild. Lord Greystoke's parents had They Both Discovered the Subject of Their Conversation. been set on the shore of the west coast of Africa by mutineers. After their death their Infant son was stolen nnd mothered by an ape, and he In turn be came the king of a tribe of great apes. He was known as Tarzan. After mnnv adventures he was rescued and finally settled down in London. "John," Lady Greystoke said, "some thing must be done to discourage Jack's tendency toward anything that may excite the craving for the savage life, which, I fear, he has inherited from you. Ton know from your own expe rience bow strong Is the call of the wild at times. Ion know that often It hai necessitated a stem struggle on your part to. resist the" almost Insane desire which occasionally overwhelms you to plunge nnco ngnln Into the Jun guo life thut claimed you for so many years, nnd ut the suiuu time you know better thun any other how frightful a fate It would be for Jack were the trail to the savuge Jungle mude either allur ing or ousy to hlni." "I doubt if there Is any danger of his Inheriting a tusto for Jungle life from me," replied the mun, "for I cannot conceive thut such a thing may be transmitted from father to son. And sometimes, June, I think thut in your solicitude for his future you go a bit too fur In your restrictive measures. His love for nnlmuls his . desire, for example, to see this trained ape Is only natural in a healthy, normal boy of his age." And John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, put un arm about his wife, laughing good-nuturedly down Into her up turned face before he bent bis head and kissed her. Then, more seriously, he continued; "You have never told Jack anything concerning my early life, nor have you permitted me to, and In this I think that you have made a mistake. Had I been able to tell him of the experi ences of Turznn of the Apes I could doubtless have taken much of the glamor and romance from Jungle life thnt naturally surround It in the minds of those who huve hud no experience of It. Ho might then huve profited by my experience; but now, should the Jungle lust every claim him, he will have nothing to guide him but his own impulses, and I know how powerful these muy be in the wrong direction at times." But Lady Greystoke only shook her bead as she hud a hundred other times when the subject hud claimed their at tention in the past. "No, John," she insisted. "I shall never give my consent to the implant ing In Jack's mind of any suggestion A Moment Later He Was Infinitely More Astonished. of the savage life from which we both wish to preserve him." Mr. Moore's room was next to that of his youthful charge, and It was the tutor's custom to have a look Into the boy's each evening as the former was about to retire. This evening he was particularly careful not to neglect this duty, for he had just come from a con ference with the boy's father and moth er, in which it had' been impressed upon him that he must exercise the greatest care to prevent Jack visiting the music hall where Ajux was being shown. So when ha opened the boy's door at about half -past nine he was greatly ex cited, though not entirely surprised, to find the future Lord Greystoke fully dressed for the street nnd about to crawl from his open bedroom window. Mr. Moore made a rapid sprint across the apartment, but the waste of energy was unnecessary, for when the boy heard him within the chamber and realized that he had been discovered, he turned back, as though to relinquish his planned adventure. "Where were you going?" panted the excited Mr. Moore. "I am going to see Ajax," replied the boy quietly. "I am astonished I" cried Mr. Moore. A moment later he was infinitely more astonished, for the boy, approaching, close to him, suddenly seized him about the waist, lifted him from his feet and threw him, back downward, upon the bed, shoving his face deep into the soft pillow. "Be quiet," admonished the victor, "or I'll choke you." Mr. Moore struggled, but his efforts were in vain. Whatever else Tarzan of the Apes may or may not have handed down to his son, he had at least be queathed him almost as marvelous a physique as be himself had possessed at the same age. Kneeling upon'hlm, Jack tore strips from a sheet and bound the man's hands behind his back. Then he rolled him over and stuffed a gag of the same material between his teeth, securing It with a strip wound about the back of his victim's head. Next he tied Mr. Moore's fet together. ' Young Jack Clayton over cornea parental opposition, throt tles the crabbed Mr. Moore and goes to see the performing ape, with whom he make friends. ITO BE CONTINUED.) Cruel Constable. Country Constable (to motorist) ton have evidently been drinking to excess. There Is hardly enough left In this bottle to soften my heart suffi ciently to release yoa II Life.