Tarzan of the Apes | Page 9

thing which lay concealed there.
Just before dusk Clayton finished his ladder, and, filling a great basin
with water from the near-by stream, the two mounted to the
comparative safety of their aerial chamber.
As it was quite warm, Clayton had left the side curtains thrown back
over the roof, and as they sat, like Turks, upon their blankets, Lady
Alice, straining her eyes into the darkening shadows of the wood,
suddenly reached out and grasped Clayton's arms.
"John," she whispered, "look! What is it, a man?"
As Clayton turned his eyes in the direction she indicated, he saw
silhouetted dimly against the shadows beyond, a great figure standing
upright upon the ridge.
For a moment it stood as though listening and then turned slowly, and
melted into the shadows of the jungle.
"What is it, John?"
"I do not know, Alice," he answered gravely, "it is too dark to see so far,
and it may have been but a shadow cast by the rising moon."

"No, John, if it was not a man it was some huge and grotesque mockery
of man. Oh, I am afraid."
He gathered her in his arms, whispering words of courage and love into
her ears.
Soon after, he lowered the curtain walls, tying them securely to the
trees so that, except for a little opening toward the beach, they were
entirely enclosed.
As it was now pitch dark within their tiny aerie they lay down upon
their blankets to try to gain, through sleep, a brief respite of
forgetfulness.
Clayton lay facing the opening at the front, a rifle and a brace of
revolvers at his hand.
Scarcely had they closed their eyes than the terrifying cry of a panther
rang out from the jungle behind them. Closer and closer it came until
they could hear the great beast directly beneath them. For an hour or
more they heard it sniffing and clawing at the trees which supported
their platform, but at last it roamed away across the beach, where
Clayton could see it clearly in the brilliant moonlight--a great,
handsome beast, the largest he had ever seen.
During the long hours of darkness they caught but fitful snatches of
sleep, for the night noises of a great jungle teeming with myriad animal
life kept their overwrought nerves on edge, so that a hundred times they
were startled to wakefulness by piercing screams, or the stealthy
moving of great bodies beneath them.
Chapter 3
Life and Death
Morning found them but little, if at all refreshed, though it was with a
feeling of intense relief that they saw the day dawn.

As soon as they had made their meager breakfast of salt pork, coffee
and biscuit, Clayton commenced work upon their house, for he realized
that they could hope for no safety and no peace of mind at night until
four strong walls effectually barred the jungle life from them.
The task was an arduous one and required the better part of a month,
though he built but one small room. He constructed his cabin of small
logs about six inches in diameter, stopping the chinks with clay which
he found at the depth of a few feet beneath the surface soil.
At one end he built a fireplace of small stones from the beach. These
also he set in clay and when the house had been entirely completed he
applied a coating of the clay to the entire outside surface to the
thickness of four inches.
In the window opening he set small branches about an inch in diameter
both vertically and horizontally, and so woven that they formed a
substantial grating that could withstand the strength of a powerful
animal. Thus they obtained air and proper ventilation without fear of
lessening the safety of their cabin.
The A-shaped roof was thatched with small branches laid close
together and over these long jungle grass and palm fronds, with a final
coating of clay.
The door he built of pieces of the packing-boxes which had held their
belongings, nailing one piece upon another, the grain of contiguous
layers running transversely, until he had a solid body some three inches
thick and of such great strength that they were both moved to laughter
as they gazed upon it.
Here the greatest difficulty confronted Clayton, for he had no means
whereby to hang his massive door now that he had built it. After two
days' work, however, he succeeded in fashioning two massive
hardwood hinges, and with these he hung the door so that it opened and
closed easily.
The stuccoing and other final touches were added after they moved into

the house, which they had done as soon as the roof was on, piling their
boxes before the door at night and thus having a comparatively safe