Tarzan of the Apes | Page 8

of the mutiny; with heroic fortitude
she had looked into the terrible future; but now that the horror of
absolute solitude was upon them, her overwrought nerves gave way,
and the reaction came.
He did not attempt to check her tears. It were better that nature have her

way in relieving these long-pent emotions, and it was many minutes
before the girl--little more than a child she was--could again gain
mastery of herself.
"Oh, John," she cried at last, "the horror of it. What are we to do? What
are we to do?"
"There is but one thing to do, Alice," and he spoke as quietly as though
they were sitting in their snug living room at home, "and that is work.
Work must be our salvation. We must not give ourselves time to think,
for in that direction lies madness.
"We must work and wait. I am sure that relief will come, and come
quickly, when once it is apparent that the Fuwalda has been lost, even
though Black Michael does not keep his word to us."
"But John, if it were only you and I," she sobbed, "we could endure it I
know; but--"
"Yes, dear," he answered, gently, "I have been thinking of that, also;
but we must face it, as we must face whatever comes, bravely and with
the utmost confidence in our ability to cope with circumstances
whatever they may be.
"Hundreds of thousands of years ago our ancestors of the dim and
distant past faced the same problems which we must face, possibly in
these same primeval forests. That we are here today evidences their
victory.
"What they did may we not do? And even better, for are we not armed
with ages of superior knowledge, and have we not the means of
protection, defense, and sustenance which science has given us, but of
which they were totally ignorant? What they accomplished, Alice, with
instruments and weapons of stone and bone, surely that may we
accomplish also."
"Ah, John, I wish that I might be a man with a man's philosophy, but I
am but a woman, seeing with my heart rather than my head, and all that

I can see is too horrible, too unthinkable to put into words.
"I only hope you are right, John. I will do my best to be a brave
primeval woman, a fit mate for the primeval man."
Clayton's first thought was to arrange a sleeping shelter for the night;
something which might serve to protect them from prowling beasts of
prey.
He opened the box containing his rifles and ammunition, that they
might both be armed against possible attack while at work, and then
together they sought a location for their first night's sleeping place.
A hundred yards from the beach was a little level spot, fairly free of
trees; here they decided eventually to build a permanent house, but for
the time being they both thought it best to construct a little platform in
the trees out of reach of the larger of the savage beasts in whose realm
they were.
To this end Clayton selected four trees which formed a rectangle about
eight feet square, and cutting long branches from other trees he
constructed a framework around them, about ten feet from the ground,
fastening the ends of the branches securely to the trees by means of
rope, a quantity of which Black Michael had furnished him from the
hold of the Fuwalda.
Across this framework Clayton placed other smaller branches quite
close together. This platform he paved with the huge fronds of
elephant's ear which grew in profusion about them, and over the fronds
he laid a great sail folded into several thicknesses.
Seven feet higher he constructed a similar, though lighter platform to
serve as roof, and from the sides of this he suspended the balance of his
sailcloth for walls.
When completed he had a rather snug little nest, to which he carried
their blankets and some of the lighter luggage.

It was now late in the afternoon, and the balance of the daylight hours
were devoted to the building of a rude ladder by means of which Lady
Alice could mount to her new home.
All during the day the forest about them had been filled with excited
birds of brilliant plumage, and dancing, chattering monkeys, who
watched these new arrivals and their wonderful nest building operations
with every mark of keenest interest and fascination.
Notwithstanding that both Clayton and his wife kept a sharp lookout
they saw nothing of larger animals, though on two occasions they had
seen their little simian neighbors come screaming and chattering from
the near-by ridge, casting frightened glances back over their little
shoulders, and evincing as plainly as though by speech that they were
fleeing some terrible