Chapter 21 funeral

It was already dawn, and since the morning before yesterday, none of them had eaten a bite or closed their eyes, and only now did they cheer up and prepare for something to eat. The Arrow rebels left some dried meat, canned soup and vegetables, biscuits, flour, tea, and coffee to the five they deported to the primeval jungle.They were already hungry, so they hurriedly brought these things and filled their stomachs indiscriminately. The next thing to do was to make the cabin habitable.It was decided first to clear away the dreadful remains of the tragedy that had happened in the cabin some years before.

Professor Porter and Mr. Philander were very interested in those skeletons and inspected them carefully.They said the two adult skeletons were one male and one female, and both were white. As for the tiny skeleton, they paid little attention.From the fact that it lay in the cradle, there was no doubt that it was the baby of the unfortunate couple. While collecting the man's bones for burial, Clayton found a heavy ring that was apparently worn by the man when he was dying.Because there is a thin finger bone still in that little gold ring. Clayton picked up the ring and examined it carefully, then suddenly cried out in surprise.

It turned out that the ring was engraved with the coat of arms of House Greystoke. Meanwhile, Jenny discovers the books in the cupboard.She opened one and saw on the title page the words "John Clayton, London."She opened another, examined it hastily, and found that it was signed only by one name: Greystoke. "Oh, Mr. Clayton," she cried, "what's the matter? These books are signed with the names of your people." "And this," said Clayton gravely, "is the ring of House Greystoke, since my uncle John Clayton, ex-Lord Greystoke, was thought lost at sea, No one ever saw it again."

"But these things are here! In the primeval jungle of Africa! How can you explain all this?" cried the girl excitedly. "There can only be one explanation, Miss Potter," said Clayton. "The late Lord Greystoke did not die at sea, he died in this cabin, and this hideous skeleton on the floor is his." remains!" "Then, this must be Mrs. Greystoke." Jenny pointed to the pile of bones on the bed, and said respectfully. "The beautiful Lady Alice," said Clayton, "I have often heard my father and mother speak of her beauty and her noble character. Poor woman," he murmured sadly.

With a deep reverence they buried with great solemnity the remains of Lord and Lady Greystoke beside this African hut, and between them the remains of the baby of the mother Carla. Mr. Philander inspected the tiny skull as he placed the heap of finely divided baby bones wrapped in a piece of canvas, then called Professor Porter to him, and they argued for a few minutes more in low voices: "How strange! how strange!" said Professor Porter. "Dear me!" said Mr. Philander, "we must tell Mr. Clayton of this discovery at once." "Tsk tsk, Mr. Philander. Tsk tsk!" Professor Archimedes Potter objected, "Let the dead past bury the death of the past."

In this way, the gray-haired old man repeated this "eulogy" to this strange tomb. Four companions stood around him bowing and taking off their hats. Tarzan the Ape watched the solemn funeral from the tree.But most of the time his eyes were on Jenny Potter's beautiful face and graceful figure. In his pristine, savage breast a new passion surged.He didn't know what kind of feeling it was.He wondered why he was so interested in these people?Why spare no effort to save these three men?But he didn't wonder why he took the lion away from this delicate girl. These men must be stupid, ridiculous, and timid.Even Numa the Lion was smarter than them.If they were all his own kind, he wondered if his old pride in blood was justified.

But this girl, it's another matter entirely.He couldn't explain why, he only knew that she was born to be protected, and he was born to protect her. He wondered why they had to dig a big pit to bury those bones.In his opinion, this is meaningless, and no one will steal such dry bones. He'd understand if there was meat on the bones, because that was their way of preventing hyenas or other "bush robbers" from stealing their prey. After the grave was filled, the funeral attendees made their way to the cottage. Esmeralda was still weeping for the man she had never even heard of before today and who had been dead for twenty years.Later, she happened to glance at the harbor, and immediately stopped her tears.

"Look at those rascals!" she shrieked, pointing at the Arrow. "They're taking us too far. They're slipping off this ghost island!" Indeed, the "Arrow" had weighed anchor, and was sailing slowly through the mouth of the harbor and out to sea. "They promised to leave us some weapons and ammunition," said Clayton. "These heartless beasts!" "I'm sure the father was the idea of ​​that fellow Snapas," said Jenny. "All rogues, but he's kind of human. If they didn't kill him, he'd put us down." Let's go."

"It's a pity they didn't come to see us again before sailing," said Professor Porter. "I suggested that I beg them to leave us those treasures. Because if they were lost, I would be all ruined." Jenny looked at her father sadly. "Never mind, papa dear," she said, "it's no use begging them. It was for the treasure that they killed their chief and dumped us on this dreadful beach. " "Tut tsk, boy, tsk tsk!" said Professor Porter, "you are a good boy, but you have no experience in practical life." Professor Porter turned back and walked slowly towards the jungle, with both hands on the " Under the "swallowtail", it is cut backwards, with a pair of eyes looking at the land under its feet.

The daughter looked at him with a sad smile, then turned to Mr. Philander and whispered: "Don't let him get lost like yesterday, you know it's all up to you, so watch him tighter. " "He's getting harder and harder to control," said Mr. Philander, sighing and shaking his head. "I think he went to the zookeepers and reported to them that there was a lion outside its cage last night." Happy! Oh, Miss Jenny, you don't know how difficult he is to deal with!" "No, I know, Mr. Philander. Though we both love him, you are the only one who can handle him. For whatever he may say to you, he respects your great knowledge and trusts your judgment. The poor man can't tell what is learned from what is clever."

Mr. Philander's face was one of forgiveness and bewilderment. He turned and went after Professor Potter, wondering whether he should be flattered by Miss Potter's sarcastic compliment, or should he be resentful? When Taishan saw the "Aro" sailing high above the coastline, the faces of those people all had terrified expressions.The Kabu boat was a wonderful novelty to him, so he decided to go to a protruding headland on the north side of the entrance to the bay to get a closer look at the boat.If possible, figure out where it goes. He flew quickly through the woods swinging branches, and when he reached the headland, the boat had just sailed out of the harbour.Therefore, he had a clear view of this wonderful "house" that could float on water. There were about twenty people on the deck, running around busy pulling the ropes on the boat. The wind blows slowly.Not many sails were hoisted as the ship sailed through the harbour. But once out of port, all sails were hoisted, so that the sea could be sailed as deftly as possible. The graceful movements of the boat fascinated Taishan.He really wanted to run to the boat and have a look.After a while, his piercing eyes saw a faint blue smoke rising from the sea far to the north.He wondered, how could such a thing appear in the vast expanse? At this time, someone on the watchtower of the "A-Sui" must have noticed this wisp of smoke.For within a few minutes, Tarzan saw that the sails on the ship were lowered, and the bow was turned, and after a while, he saw that it was coming to the shore. A man at the bow kept sending a rope into the sea, and an iron object was hung on the rope.Tarzan couldn't figure out what it was for. At last the ship sailed into the harbor against the wind, dropped anchor, let down the sails, and there was confusion on deck. They lowered a small boat with a large chest in it.After the boat was launched, twelve sailors paddled their oars and sailed towards the headland as if flying.Taishan squatted on a tree there. As the boat approached, Tarzan saw Mouse Face standing at the stern. Within a few minutes of walking, the boat ran aground on the beach.The crew jumped from the boat and lifted the big boxes out on the sand.They were on the north side of the headland, so the people in the hut couldn't see what was going on here at all. The crew quarreled angrily for a while, and "Mouse Face" and a few partners climbed up to the hidden bank of Mount Tai and looked around for a while. "This is a good place." "Mouse Face" pointed to the big tree where Mount Tai was hiding. "It's the same everywhere," said one of his companions. "If they find this chest of treasure on board, it will be confiscated. Therefore, it must be buried here quickly, and whoever escapes the gallows may come here again later." Find the treasure and benefit from it." "Mouse Face" yelled a few times to those who were still standing on the boat, and then they slowly walked towards the shore with their shovels and pickaxes on their shoulders. "Come on! You guys." Snappers - "Mouseface" shouted loudly. "Stop it!" retorted one. "You're not the commander of the fleet, you bloody bastard!" "I'm the captain. I've got to make it clear to you that you're the crew," screamed Snapas, spitting out a barrage of obscenities. "Be careful, boys!" said one of the sailors, who had been silent until now, "we shall never get anywhere in our own fight!" "True," said the sailor, who resented Snapas for his dominance, "but we're not going to get any good fruit from this showy fellow!" "Here you dig," said Snapas, pointing to a place under the tree. "While you dig, Peter, draw a map showing the spot. That way we can find it again later, you, Tom, and Bill, take two brothers and bring the box up." "What are you doing?" asked the previous sailor, "just standing there supervising work?" "Quick!" said Snapas savagely. "You expect your captain to dig with a shovel too, don't you?" The sailors all looked up resentfully.No one likes Snappers. Since he killed the real leader of the gang of rebels, King, he always puts on a stinky air that is at odds with everyone, which makes everyone hate him more and more. "You mean, you don't want to take the shovel and finish the job with everyone? Your shoulder injury can't be so serious." Tarrant, the sailor who had always had trouble with him, said. "Absolutely not!" replied Snapas, fingers tensely gripping the butt of the revolver. "Then God has kept you from working?" said Tarrant. "If you don't want to wield a shovel, take a pickaxe!" As he said that, he picked up a pick and smashed it hard, smashing Snapas' forehead. The sailors stood silently for a moment, watching the consequences of Tarrant's grim "humor".Then a sailor broke the silence. "The bastard deserved it!" he said. Another sailor raised his pick to dig the soil, but the soil was loose, so he dropped the pick and picked up a shovel.Others started digging too.No one mentioned the murder again.But when they were at work, they were in a much better mood than when Snappers was calling the shots. After a while they dug a hole big enough for the box. Tarrant suggested that the dig should be larger and that Snapas' body should be placed on top of the box. "If anyone happens to dig here, you can confuse them," he explained. Everyone thought this suggestion was very good, so they dug the pit farther to hold the corpse.Then a hole was dug down to put the box.The box was wrapped in the sail's tarpaulin and lowered into the pit.When lowered, the top of the box was still a foot from the grave, and earth was added until it was as level as the grave; The two sailors threw Snapas' body carelessly into the pit, removing his gun and a few other bric-a-brac which had belonged to the diggers, before throwing it down. They filled the pit with earth, stepped on it, and stepped on it until it was completely "flattened." Then scattered the rest of the people around, found some dry branches and shrubs and threw them on the "cemetery", doing it as naturally as possible, completely covering up the traces of the land being trampled by people. When they were done, the crew returned to the boat and rowed quickly to the Arrow. The sea breeze is gentle, and the wisp of blue smoke where the water and the sky meet has been clearly seen, and it looks thick and elegant.The rebel crew lost no time in hoisting all their sails and fled southwestward. Tarzan saw all this clearly.These people are rare to see, and their weird behavior caused Taishan to think deeply. He thought that man is indeed more stupid and fierce than the wild beasts in the jungle.How lucky I am to live in a comfortable and peaceful forest! Taishan wondered what was in the box they buried.If you don't want it, why not throw it into the sea?Isn't that easier? Oh, he thought, they must have this box.They hid it here in order to get it again someday. Tarzan jumped down from the tree and began to search the ground where they had dug, to see if the fellows had left anything he liked.After a while, a shovel was found under a clump of bushes they had thrown over the grave. He picked up the shovel, trying to dig a few times like the sailors, but it was so awkward to use, and it hurt his bare feet.But he went on in one breath, and dug up the corpse in a short while.He dragged it out and threw it aside. He continued to dig.He kept digging out the box, took it out, and put it next to the corpse.Then he filled up the small hole under the grave, threw the body in, filled it up again, covered it with bushes and cypress branches, and then went to the box again. The four sailors carrying this box were still sweating profusely.But to the ape Tarzan was as light as an empty box.He tied a rope to the shovel, slung it over his back, and carried the box into the depths of the dense forest. With these "encumbrances", he could not swing the branches through the dense forest, but could only walk along the path, so it took a long time. He walked east and slightly north for several hours before he came to a "high wall" of impenetrable trees, vines, and creeping plants.He had to struggle to climb on the lower branches.Fifteen more minutes later, it appears on that "little stage" where the apes hold a "meeting" to discuss big things, or to celebrate the "Dum-Dum" carnival. He dug near the middle of the clearing, not far from the clay drum or altar.This is much more laborious than turning up the loose soil that has just been filled into the grave.But Tarzan the Ape insisted on digging until he found a deep pit that could hide the box tightly. Since he didn't know the value of the things in this chest, why did he go to such troubles? Tarzan the ape has a human body and a human mind, while the surrounding environment and long-term training have made him an ape at the same time.His brain told him that this chest contained something precious, otherwise the sailors would not have hidden it.Long-term training taught him to imitate those novel and rare movements. Curiosity, now as much about man as about ape, prompted him to open the box and see what was inside. But the heavy lock and the strong iron hoops prevented his cunning and strength from being effective, although he was curious.My heart was not satisfied, so I had to bury the box first. Taishan walked all the way to find food, and when he got back to the hut, it was completely dark. A ray of light shone from the cabin, and it was Clayton who had found a can of oil that had not been touched in twenty years.This was left to the Claytons by Blake Michael.The lights still worked well, and Tarzan was surprised to see that the hut was as bright as day. He had always wondered what the lights were for.Through reading and looking at the pictures, he knew that they were lamps, but he never understood how they could emit the wonderful "sunshine"?Because some paintings paint them so that they light up everything. He approached the small window near the door, and saw that the hut was divided into two parts temporarily by branches and sail tarpaulins. Three men lived in the front room.The two old men were still arguing about something.The young man was sitting on a makeshift bench with his back against the wall, engrossed in reading a book that belonged to Tarzan. Taishan had no special interest in these men, so he went to look for the other two windows.There is the girl, and what a beauty she looks!How delicate is her snow-white skin! She was writing something at Tarzan's desk under the window.On a pile of hay at the far end of the room lay the Negro woman whistling with a sledgehammer. Tai Shan stared at her for an entire hour while she was writing, how much he wanted to say something to her, but he didn't dare.He believed that, like the young fellow, she could not understand his ape language.And he was afraid of frightening her. She finally put what she had written on the table, stood up, and walked to the bed.Several layers of soft grass had already been laid on the bed, and she rearranged it again. Then, she undid her soft blonde coils on the top of her head.Mount Tai suddenly felt as if there was a shimmering waterfall flying down.Taking a closer look, it turns out that the full head of hair is flowing down, shining like pure gold under the light, reflecting her oval face with wavy curves.The hair was long to the waist. Tarzan was completely mesmerized by the sight.She extinguished the lamp, and the cabin was plunged into deep darkness. Taishan was still watching there.He lay down under the window, waiting and listening, and half an hour passed.Later, I finally heard the sound of her breathing evenly as she fell asleep. he is small.Carefully slip your hand in through the middle of the grate until both arms are inside the hut.He fumbled slowly on the table, and finally touched the few pieces of paper written by Jenny.Then, taking the precious thing, she drew her arm and hand very cautiously. Taishan folded these pieces of paper into a small square, stuffed it into the quiver, and disappeared into the jungle like a shadow without sound.