The Return of Tarzan Read online

  Chapter 6

  A Duel

  D'Arnot was asleep when Tarzan entered their apartments after leavingRokoff's. Tarzan did not disturb him, but the following morning henarrated the happenings of the previous evening, omitting not a singledetail.

  "What a fool I have been," he concluded. "De Coude and his wife wereboth my friends. How have I returned their friendship? Barely did Iescape murdering the count. I have cast a stigma on the name of a goodwoman. It is very probable that I have broken up a happy home."

  "Do you love Olga de Coude?" asked D'Arnot.

  "Were I not positive that she does not love me I could not answer yourquestion, Paul; but without disloyalty to her I tell you that I do notlove her, nor does she love me. For an instant we were the victims ofa sudden madness--it was not love--and it would have left us, unharmed,as suddenly as it had come upon us even though De Coude had notreturned. As you know, I have had little experience of women. Olga deCoude is very beautiful; that, and the dim light and the seductivesurroundings, and the appeal of the defenseless for protection, mighthave been resisted by a more civilized man, but my civilization is noteven skin deep--it does not go deeper than my clothes.

  "Paris is no place for me. I will but continue to stumble into moreand more serious pitfalls. The man-made restrictions are irksome. Ifeel always that I am a prisoner. I cannot endure it, my friend, andso I think that I shall go back to my own jungle, and lead the lifethat God intended that I should lead when He put me there."

  "Do not take it so to heart, Jean," responded D'Arnot. "You haveacquitted yourself much better than most 'civilized' men would haveunder similar circumstances. As to leaving Paris at this time, Irather think that Raoul de Coude may be expected to have something tosay on that subject before long."

  Nor was D'Arnot mistaken. A week later on Monsieur Flaubert wasannounced about eleven in the morning, as D'Arnot and Tarzan werebreakfasting. Monsieur Flaubert was an impressively polite gentleman.With many low bows he delivered Monsieur le Count de Coude's challengeto Monsieur Tarzan. Would monsieur be so very kind as to arrange tohave a friend meet Monsieur Flaubert at as early an hour as convenient,that the details might be arranged to the mutual satisfaction of allconcerned?

  Certainly. Monsieur Tarzan would be delighted to place his interestsunreservedly in the hands of his friend, Lieutenant D'Arnot. And so itwas arranged that D'Arnot was to call on Monsieur Flaubert at two thatafternoon, and the polite Monsieur Flaubert, with many bows, left them.

  When they were again alone D'Arnot looked quizzically at Tarzan.

  "Well?" he said.

  "Now to my sins I must add murder, or else myself be killed," saidTarzan. "I am progressing rapidly in the ways of my civilizedbrothers."

  "What weapons shall you select?" asked D'Arnot. "De Coude isaccredited with being a master with the sword, and a splendid shot."

  "I might then choose poisoned arrows at twenty paces, or spears at thesame distance," laughed Tarzan. "Make it pistols, Paul."

  "He will kill you, Jean."

  "I have no doubt of it," replied Tarzan. "I must die some day."

  "We had better make it swords," said D'Arnot. "He will be satisfiedwith wounding you, and there is less danger of a mortal wound.""Pistols," said Tarzan, with finality.

  D'Arnot tried to argue him out of it, but without avail, so pistols itwas.

  D'Arnot returned from his conference with Monsieur Flaubert shortlyafter four.

  "It is all arranged," he said. "Everything is satisfactory. Tomorrowmorning at daylight--there is a secluded spot on the road not far fromEtamps. For some personal reason Monsieur Flaubert preferred it. Idid not demur."

  "Good!" was Tarzan's only comment. He did not refer to the matteragain even indirectly. That night he wrote several letters before heretired. After sealing and addressing them he placed them all in anenvelope addressed to D'Arnot. As he undressed D'Arnot heard himhumming a music-hall ditty.

  The Frenchman swore under his breath. He was very unhappy, for he waspositive that when the sun rose the next morning it would look downupon a dead Tarzan. It grated upon him to see Tarzan so unconcerned.

  "This is a most uncivilized hour for people to kill each other,"remarked the ape-man when he had been routed out of a comfortable bedin the blackness of the early morning hours. He had slept well, and soit seemed that his head scarcely touched the pillow ere his mandeferentially aroused him. His remark was addressed to D'Arnot, whostood fully dressed in the doorway of Tarzan's bedroom.

  D'Arnot had scarcely slept at all during the night. He was nervous,and therefore inclined to be irritable.

  "I presume you slept like a baby all night," he said.

  Tarzan laughed. "From your tone, Paul, I infer that you rather harborthe fact against me. I could not help it, really."

  "No, Jean; it is not that," replied D'Arnot, himself smiling. "But youtake the entire matter with such infernal indifference--it isexasperating. One would think that you were going out to shoot at atarget, rather than to face one of the best shots in France."

  Tarzan shrugged his shoulders. "I am going out to expiate a greatwrong, Paul. A very necessary feature of the expiation is themarksmanship of my opponent. Wherefore, then, should I bedissatisfied? Have you not yourself told me that Count de Coude is asplendid marksman?"

  "You mean that you hope to be killed?" exclaimed D'Arnot, in horror.

  "I cannot say that I hope to be; but you must admit that there islittle reason to believe that I shall not be killed."

  Had D'Arnot known the thing that was in the ape-man's mind--that hadbeen in his mind almost from the first intimation that De Coude wouldcall him to account on the field of honor--he would have been even morehorrified than he was.

  In silence they entered D'Arnot's great car, and in similar silencethey sped over the dim road that leads to Etamps. Each man wasoccupied with his own thoughts. D'Arnot's were very mournful, for hewas genuinely fond of Tarzan. The great friendship which had sprung upbetween these two men whose lives and training had been so widelydifferent had but been strengthened by association, for they were bothmen to whom the same high ideals of manhood, of personal courage, andof honor appealed with equal force. They could understand one another,and each could be proud of the friendship of the other.

  Tarzan of the Apes was wrapped in thoughts of the past; pleasantmemories of the happier occasions of his lost jungle life. He recalledthe countless boyhood hours that he had spent cross-legged upon thetable in his dead father's cabin, his little brown body bent over oneof the fascinating picture books from which, unaided, he had gleanedthe secret of the printed language long before the sounds of humanspeech fell upon his ears. A smile of contentment softened his strongface as he thought of that day of days that he had had alone with JanePorter in the heart of his primeval forest.

  Presently his reminiscences were broken in upon by the stopping of thecar--they were at their destination. Tarzan's mind returned to theaffairs of the moment. He knew that he was about to die, but there wasno fear of death in him. To a denizen of the cruel jungle death is acommonplace. The first law of nature compels them to cling tenaciouslyto life--to fight for it; but it does not teach them to fear death.

  D'Arnot and Tarzan were first upon the field of honor. A moment laterDe Coude, Monsieur Flaubert, and a third gentleman arrived. The lastwas introduced to D'Arnot and Tarzan; he was a physician.

  D'Arnot and Monsieur Flaubert spoke together in whispers for a brieftime. The Count de Coude and Tarzan stood apart at opposite sides ofthe field. Presently the seconds summoned them. D'Arnot and MonsieurFlaubert had examined both pistols. The two men who were to face eachother a moment later stood silently while Monsieur Flaubert recited theconditions they were to observe.

  They were to stand back to back. At a signal from Monsieur Flaubertthey were to walk in opposite directions, their pistols hanging bytheir sides. When each had proceeded ten paces D'Arnot was to give thefinal sign
al--then they were to turn and fire at will until one fell,or each had expended the three shots allowed.

  While Monsieur Flaubert spoke Tarzan selected a cigarette from hiscase, and lighted it. De Coude was the personification ofcoolness--was he not the best shot in France?

  Presently Monsieur Flaubert nodded to D'Arnot, and each man placed hisprincipal in position.

  "Are you quite ready, gentlemen?" asked Monsieur Flaubert.

  "Quite," replied De Coude.

  Tarzan nodded. Monsieur Flaubert gave the signal. He and D'Arnotstepped back a few paces to be out of the line of fire as the men pacedslowly apart. Six! Seven! Eight! There were tears in D'Arnot'seyes. He loved Tarzan very much. Nine! Another pace, and the poorlieutenant gave the signal he so hated to give. To him it sounded thedoom of his best friend.

  Quickly De Coude wheeled and fired. Tarzan gave a little start. Hispistol still dangled at his side. De Coude hesitated, as thoughwaiting to see his antagonist crumple to the ground. The Frenchman wastoo experienced a marksman not to know that he had scored a hit. StillTarzan made no move to raise his pistol. De Coude fired once more, butthe attitude of the ape-man--the utter indifference that was soapparent in every line of the nonchalant ease of his giant figure, andthe even unruffled puffing of his cigarette--had disconcerted the bestmarksman in France. This time Tarzan did not start, but again De Coudeknew that he had hit.

  Suddenly the explanation leaped to his mind--his antagonist was coollytaking these terrible chances in the hope that he would receive nostaggering wound from any of De Coude's three shots. Then he wouldtake his own time about shooting De Coude down deliberately, coolly,and in cold blood. A little shiver ran up the Frenchman's spine. Itwas fiendish--diabolical. What manner of creature was this that couldstand complacently with two bullets in him, waiting for the third?

  And so De Coude took careful aim this time, but his nerve was gone, andhe made a clean miss. Not once had Tarzan raised his pistol hand fromwhere it hung beside his leg.

  For a moment the two stood looking straight into each other's eyes. OnTarzan's face was a pathetic expression of disappointment. On DeCoude's a rapidly growing expression of horror--yes, of terror.

  He could endure it no longer.

  "Mother of God! Monsieur--shoot!" he screamed.

  But Tarzan did not raise his pistol. Instead, he advanced toward DeCoude, and when D'Arnot and Monsieur Flaubert, misinterpreting hisintention, would have rushed between them, he raised his left hand in asign of remonstrance.

  "Do not fear," he said to them, "I shall not harm him."

  It was most unusual, but they halted. Tarzan advanced until he wasquite close to De Coude.

  "There must have been something wrong with monsieur's pistol," he said."Or monsieur is unstrung. Take mine, monsieur, and try again," andTarzan offered his pistol, butt foremost, to the astonished De Coude.

  "MON DIEU, monsieur!" cried the latter. "Are you mad?"

  "No, my friend," replied the ape-man; "but I deserve to die. It is theonly way in which I may atone for the wrong I have done a very goodwoman. Take my pistol and do as I bid."

  "It would be murder," replied De Coude. "But what wrong did you do mywife? She swore to me that--"

  "I do not mean that," said Tarzan quickly. "You saw all the wrong thatpassed between us. But that was enough to cast a shadow upon her name,and to ruin the happiness of a man against whom I had no enmity. Thefault was all mine, and so I hoped to die for it this morning. I amdisappointed that monsieur is not so wonderful a marksman as I had beenled to believe."

  "You say that the fault was all yours?" asked De Coude eagerly.

  "All mine, monsieur. Your wife is a very pure woman. She loves onlyyou. The fault that you saw was all mine. The thing that brought methere was no fault of either the Countess de Coude or myself. Here isa paper which will quite positively demonstrate that," and Tarzan drewfrom his pocket the statement Rokoff had written and signed.

  De Coude took it and read. D'Arnot and Monsieur Flaubert had drawnnear. They were interested spectators of this strange ending of astrange duel. None spoke until De Coude had quite finished, then helooked up at Tarzan.

  "You are a very brave and chivalrous gentleman," he said. "I thank Godthat I did not kill you."

  De Coude was a Frenchman. Frenchmen are impulsive. He threw his armsabout Tarzan and embraced him. Monsieur Flaubert embraced D'Arnot.There was no one to embrace the doctor. So possibly it was pique whichprompted him to interfere, and demand that he be permitted to dressTarzan's wounds.

  "This gentleman was hit once at least," he said. "Possibly thrice."

  "Twice," said Tarzan. "Once in the left shoulder, and again in theleft side--both flesh wounds, I think." But the doctor insisted uponstretching him upon the sward, and tinkering with him until the woundswere cleansed and the flow of blood checked.

  One result of the duel was that they all rode back to Paris together inD'Arnot's car, the best of friends. De Coude was so relieved to havehad this double assurance of his wife's loyalty that he felt no rancorat all toward Tarzan. It is true that the latter had assumed much moreof the fault than was rightly his, but if he lied a little he may beexcused, for he lied in the service of a woman, and he lied like agentleman.

  The ape-man was confined to his bed for several days. He felt that itwas foolish and unnecessary, but the doctor and D'Arnot took the matterso to heart that he gave in to please them, though it made him laugh tothink of it.

  "It is droll," he said to D'Arnot. "To lie abed because of a pinprick! Why, when Bolgani, the king gorilla, tore me almost to pieces,while I was still but a little boy, did I have a nice soft bed to lieon? No, only the damp, rotting vegetation of the jungle. Hiddenbeneath some friendly bush I lay for days and weeks with only Kala tonurse me--poor, faithful Kala, who kept the insects from my wounds andwarned off the beasts of prey.

  "When I called for water she brought it to me in her own mouth--theonly way she knew to carry it. There was no sterilized gauze, therewas no antiseptic bandage--there was nothing that would not have drivenour dear doctor mad to have seen. Yet I recovered--recovered to lie inbed because of a tiny scratch that one of the jungle folk would scarcerealize unless it were upon the end of his nose."

  But the time was soon over, and before he realized it Tarzan foundhimself abroad again. Several times De Coude had called, and when hefound that Tarzan was anxious for employment of some nature he promisedto see what could be done to find a berth for him.

  It was the first day that Tarzan was permitted to go out that hereceived a message from De Coude requesting him to call at the count'soffice that afternoon.

  He found De Coude awaiting him with a very pleasant welcome, and asincere congratulation that he was once more upon his feet. Neitherhad ever mentioned the duel or the cause of it since that morning uponthe field of honor.

  "I think that I have found just the thing for you, Monsieur Tarzan,"said the count. "It is a position of much trust and responsibility,which also requires considerably physical courage and prowess. Icannot imagine a man better fitted than you, my dear Monsieur Tarzan,for this very position. It will necessitate travel, and later it maylead to a very much better post--possibly in the diplomatic service.

  "At first, for a short time only, you will be a special agent in theservice of the ministry of war. Come, I will take you to the gentlemanwho will be your chief. He can explain the duties better than I, andthen you will be in a position to judge if you wish to accept or no."

  De Coude himself escorted Tarzan to the office of General Rochere, thechief of the bureau to which Tarzan would be attached if he acceptedthe position. There the count left him, after a glowing description tothe general of the many attributes possessed by the ape-man whichshould fit him for the work of the service.

  A half hour later Tarzan walked out of the office the possessor of thefirst position he had ever held. On the morrow he was to return forfurther instructions,
though General Rochere had made it quite plainthat Tarzan might prepare to leave Paris for an almost indefiniteperiod, possibly on the morrow.

  It was with feelings of the keenest elation that he hastened home tobear the good news to D'Arnot. At last he was to be of some value inthe world. He was to earn money, and, best of all, to travel and seethe world.

  He could scarcely wait to get well inside D'Arnot's sitting room beforehe burst out with the glad tidings. D'Arnot was not so pleased.

  "It seems to delight you to think that you are to leave Paris, and thatwe shall not see each other for months, perhaps. Tarzan, you are amost ungrateful beast!" and D'Arnot laughed.

  "No, Paul; I am a little child. I have a new toy, and I am tickled todeath."

  And so it came that on the following day Tarzan left Paris en route forMarseilles and Oran.