Home Categories foreign novel Tarzan of the Apes Series Ⅰ Tarzan is Born

Chapter 6 Life and Death - 2

Clayton sprang to his feet almost at the same time, rushing to pull the great ape from his prone wife, without even thinking that it might be all useless. But without much effort, or at all, he succeeded.The huge creature slowly fell into the grass in front of him—it turned out that the giant ape was dead, and the bullet had worked. Clayton took a quick look at his wife and found she was unhurt.It is estimated that this ferocious beast died the moment it rushed towards Alice. He gently lifted his unconscious wife and carried her into the hut.It took a full two hours before she regained consciousness.

The first few words she said left Clayton scratching his head.After regaining consciousness, Alice stared at the furnishings in the hut in amazement, then breathed a sigh of satisfaction and said: "Oh, John, it's good to be home indeed! I've been having nightmares, my dear. I thought we were not in London, but in some terrible place, where wild beasts attacked us." "Come, come, Alice," he said, stroking her forehead, "sleep a little longer, and don't worry about those nightmares." That night, a little son was born in this hut next to the primeval forest.At that time, in front of the gate, a leopard roared; on the hill, the mighty roar of a lion echoed in the night sky.

Lady Greystoke never recovered from the horror of the great ape's attack.Although she lived another year after the birth, she never left the cottage, nor did she clearly realize that she was not in England. Sometimes she asked Clayton where these strange noises at night came from; and where were the servants and friends, and why the furniture in her room was so strange and rough.Although he didn't want to hide the truth, she still couldn't understand what his explanations meant. But in other matters, she is quite reasonable.The joy and happiness of having a young son, and the faithful love and concern of her husband, made this year a very happy one for her, the happiest of her young life.

Clayton knew that if she was fully sane she would be doubly troubled with anxiety and worry.Therefore, although he was very painful to see her like this, he couldn't help being a little happy sometimes.Because of this, she was spared a lot of pain. He had long since given up any hope of being saved, save by sheer chance. So, with unremitting enthusiasm, he beautified the hut. He spread lion skins and leopard skins on the floor.Along the walls were cupboards and old bookshelves.He also made himself several eccentric vases containing beautiful flowers that grew in the tropics.The windows were covered with curtains made of bamboo and thatch.The hardest work is that he uses extremely simple tools to process the wood into strips, inlay the walls and ceilings, and lay a smooth floor in the cabin.

He is often amazed that his hands can adapt to such a strange and heavy labor.But he was happy because it was working for her and the little being who brought them joy and inspiration.Although the birth of his son increased his responsibilities a hundredfold, it also showed more and more the danger of their situation. The following year, Clayton was attacked several times by those great apes.Now, they seem to be haunting the cabin quite often.Clayton, though, always carried a rifle and pistol with him, and wasn't too frightened of the beasts. He strengthened the windows and installed a unique wooden lock on the door, so that when he was hunting game and picking wild fruits—in order to survive, he often needed to go out—he didn’t have to worry about wild animals breaking into the hut.

At first, he could hunt a lot of game from the window of the hut.Later, the animals also learned that from this strange hut his rifle burst out with a terrible, thunderous sound. In his spare time, Clayton reads from the library in his new home, often reading aloud to his wife.There are many children's books in his collection-picture books, literacy textbooks, and reading books.For they knew beforehand that their children would be old enough to read and write before they returned to England. At other times, Clayton kept a diary.He had always been accustomed to write in French, and in his diary he recorded every detail of their strange life.

This book is locked inside a small iron box. Lady Alice died peacefully one night, a year after the birth of her little son.She died so quietly that it took Clayton a long time to realize that his wife was gone. Very slowly, a sense of dread for the situation before him came over Clayton.It is even difficult to tell whether he fully realized his great suffering and the terrible responsibility that fell upon his shoulders.He had to babysit—he was a suckling baby that little thing! His last diary entry was made the morning after his wife's death.He described those tragic details in detail in a very harsh style, which added a kind of pathos and melancholy.For it exudes a weary indifference born of long agony and despair.Even such a brutal blow can hardly evoke new pain.He wrote:

"My little boy is crying with hunger. Oh, Alice, Alice, what should I do?" As John Clayton wrote these last words, the hand was doomed to hold the pen forever.His arms were stretched out on the table, and his head was resting on it with great fatigue.The table was made for her, and she was lying motionless and cold on the bed next to him. For a long time, except for the pitiful wailing of the little boy, no other sound broke the dead silence in the forest at noon.
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