Chapter 21 unrequited love

Clayton dreamed that he was drinking to his heart's content, pure, sweet, very pleasant water.He had a jolt, woke up and found that it was raining heavily.The dense rain fell on his body and face, and his whole body was soaked.The hasty rain that comes and goes so often in the tropics is pouring down.He opened his mouth and sucked greedily. After a while, he felt that he had the strength to support half of his body with his hands.Mr. Thrane was on his legs, and Jenny Potter lay huddled in the bottom of the boat a few feet from him, pitifully motionless.Clayton thought she must be dead. It took Clayton a lot of effort to get two legs out from under Thrane's body.Pulling himself together, he asked the girl to climb over and lift her head up from the rough planks of the bottom of the boat.The poor, starved body might still be alive, and he couldn't be completely disappointed.So he twisted a piece of rain-soaked cloth and dripped the precious water drop by drop between Jenny's swollen lips.She was terribly emaciated.But just a few days ago, she was still young and beautiful, full of youthful vitality, radiating with the glory of life.

Jenny didn't wake up for a long time.But Clayton's efforts were rewarded, and her half-closed eyelids trembled slightly at last.He touched those bony hands, and poured some rainwater into the girl's already parched throat.She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him for a long time before she gradually remembered what happened before. "Water?" she whispered. "Are we saved?" "It's raining," he explained. "At least there's water to drink. Aren't we both alive?" "Where's Mr. Thrane?" she asked. "Did he kill you? Did he die?"

"I don't know," Clayton replied, "if he is still alive, the rain will save him..." He stopped suddenly, regretting that he should not tell the truth, and let the man who had already suffered a lot. The miserable girl is tortured by fear again. But she guessed the reason why he hesitated to speak. "Where is he?" she asked. Clayton nodded in the direction of the prone Russian.For a while neither of them spoke. "I'll see if I can revive him," said Clayton at last. "No," she said softly, holding out a hopeful hand to him, "don't do such a foolish thing! When the rain restores his strength, he will kill you. If he is going to die, just Let him die. Don't leave me alone in this boat with this beast."

Clayton hesitated.Morality and honor demanded that he save Thrane.At the same time, he still harbored a kind of luck—maybe this Russian has reached the point of "hopeless", so going to have a look can only relieve the burden on his heart, and will not do any other harm.As he sat there engaged in a violent thought struggle, his eyes flicked casually over the man and over the top edge of the gunwale.Suddenly, he yelled happily and struggled to his feet. "Land, Jenny!" he cried through parted lips. "Thank God, Land!" The girl also raised her head, and there was a yellow beach a hundred yards away, and on the other side of the beach was a tropical jungle with lush trees and rich green shade.

"Now you can bring him back," said Jenny Porter.Because she has also been deeply disturbed by herself for dissuading Clayton from saving his fellow shipmates. After about half an hour, the Russians gradually regained consciousness and opened their eyes.It was a little while longer before he managed to make it clear to him that they had been lucky.At this time, the bottom of the boat has lightly touched the sand. Recovering a little strength from drinking the rain, and encouraged by a renewed hope, Clayton waded up to the shore with a struggle, and fastened a rope fastened by the bow to the bottom of the low bank. Because the tide had reached its highest point, he was afraid that the waves would wash them back to the sea when the tide ebbed.And within a few hours he would not have the strength to carry Jenny Potter ashore.

So, he staggered and walked slowly towards the nearby jungle. He had already seen all kinds of wild fruits on the trees.The previous experience gained in the jungle of Tarzan made him know which wild fruits can satisfy his hunger and which ones cannot be eaten.After about an hour, he returned to the beach with a lot of fruit in his hands. The rain had stopped, and the hot sun was beating down on Jenny Potter, who insisted on going ashore at once.Thanks to the "nourishing" of the food Clayton brought back, the three men staggered to the bottom of the small tree to which the boat was tied.Exhausted, they lay down in the shade and slept until dark.

They lived a month of relative safety on the beach.After recovering their physical strength, the two men built a simple hut between the branches of a big tree. The hut was quite high from the ground, enough to avoid the attacks of the larger beasts. During the day they collected wild fruits and caught some small animals, and at night they huddled tiredly in the vulnerable small shack, trembling with fear.The beasts in the jungle screamed and walked around, adding a terrifying color to the thick night. They used the branches and thatch from the jungle to build grass beds and sleep on them.At night, Jenny Porter could only cover Clayton's long coat to keep out the cold.It was the coat he wore on that memorable trip to Wisconsin.Clayton divided the hut into two parts with twigs, and the girl slept on one side, and himself and Mr. Thrane on the other.

The despicable things in Mr. Thrane's character are exposed from the beginning-selfishness, rudeness, brutality, cowardice, lust.Clayton had already had two fights with Thrane for his rudeness to Jenny.Clayton never dared to leave Jenny alone with him for a moment.This kind of life is almost always a nightmare for Clayton and his fiancée.They can only hold on to the hope of being saved in the end, and wait and see. Jenny Potter often thought of the last time she had been on the deserted beach.what!How nice it would be if the invincible "God of the Forest" who had long been an old friend was with them!If that was the case, she would no longer be afraid of the attack of wild beasts, nor would she be afraid of this Russian Lun who was inferior to beasts.She couldn't help comparing this paltry protection Clayton had given her with the protection Tarzan had given her.She thought that if Tarzan met this Mr. Thrane, and saw his wicked and hostile attitude towards her, he would punish her severely, and never let him go lightly.Once, when Clayton went to fetch water from the creek, Selan wanted to be rude to her again, and Jenny couldn't help but speak out.

"You're lucky, Mr. Thrane," she said. "Mr. Tarzan, who was in the same boat as you and Miss Strong for Cape Town, fell into the sea and was drowned. If he were here now, you wouldn't be here." It looks good." "You know that stupid pig?" Thrane asked with a grin. "I know this man," she answered. "I think he's the only real man I've ever known." The tone of her voice made the Russian feel that she had more than friendship for his enemy.He loses no time in taking revenge on Tarzan who he thought was dead - destroying the good memory he left for the girl.

"He's worse than a pig," he cried. "He's a coward, a coward, who, when he insulted a woman, sold his soul to justify himself when he aroused the wrath of her husband." , put the blame entirely on the woman. This vile deed did not come to pass, and he fled France just as the husband was about to duel him. That's why he got on the train that Miss Strong and I were in. The reason for the steamship to Cape Town. The reason I know these details is that the woman was my sister. There is another thing I have never told anyone: the reason why your brave Mr. Tarzan died. because I recognized him and insisted on meeting him the next morning—with a knife in my sleeping cabin."

Jenny Potter laughed out loud. "Don't think that people who know you and Mr. Tarzan will believe such nonsense." "But he's traveling under the pseudonym, how do you explain it?" Mr. Thrane asked. "I don't believe your nonsense," she said aloud.However, the seeds of doubt had been sown in her heart.For she knew that Tarzan had lied when Hazel Strong had met her "sylvan" when he said he was from London and his name was John Caldwell. Not five miles north of their humble shack stood Tarzan's cozy cabin.However, due to the barrier of the impenetrable virgin forest, it seems to be thousands of miles away.A few miles beyond the cabin on the front shoreline there are a few crude but well-built shacks.Eighteen people lived in the shack, all passengers of the "Alice" who had come here on the three lifeboats.It was with them that Clayton's boat had been lost. Because of the calm weather, it took them three days to row a small boat to this continent.They hadn't gone through all the misery that followed a shipwreck, and though it was sad, sad, and frightened by the disaster, and the new way of life was hard to get used to, it wasn't too bad. Everyone wants a fourth boat, which is where Clayton and Jenny ride The boat has been saved.It is hoped that a fleet will soon conduct a comprehensive search along the coast to find their whereabouts.All the guns and ammunition on the yacht were put on Lord Tannington's boat, so this group of people can not only defend themselves, but also hunt some relatively large game. Only Professor Archimedes Potter worried everyone the most.After he was convinced that his daughter was rescued by a passing ship, he no longer worried about her safety, but devoted all his attention to his scientific research.The learned professor regards this research as his only spiritual food, and the changes of external things have no influence on him. An exhausted Mr. Samuel Philander complained to Lord Tannington: "Professor Potter has never been so unruly, no, there is simply no way to manage him. You see, this morning I didn't notice for half an hour, and when I came back the old man was gone. Can you guess where I found him, sir? In a boat! He was rowing like hell half a mile from the shore Well, sir! I don't know how he paddled so far, for he has only one oar, and he's spinning in the sea! "A sailor took me to him in another boat, and I sent him ashore immediately, and the professor was furious. 'What, Mr. Philander,' said he, 'you really surprised me. As a man with a degree, How can you interrupt someone else's scientific work so recklessly? During these few nights in the tropics, I have been observing celestial bodies carefully and have deduced a new nebula hypothesis. This hypothesis will undoubtedly be used in scientific research. I am going to find an excellent monograph on the Laplace's nebula hypothesis. I know it is in a private library in New York. Mr. Philander, your interference has irreparably delayed My research work. Because I was just going to row the boat to find the booklet.' I talked dryly, and with great difficulty persuaded him to go back to the coast. ① Laplace (Pierre Simon, Marquis de, 1749-1827): French astronomer and mathematician. Move a little bit! said Mr. Philander at last. Miss Strong and her mother were quite brave in the face of many attacks by the beasts of the jungle.Nor were they as easy as others to believe that Jenny, Clayton, and Mr. Thrane were saved. Esmeralda, Jenny Potter's maid, was in tears all the time, and she felt that it was too cruel for Fate to separate her from her "poor darling". Lord Tannington was still a broad-minded, happy-go-lucky host, always looking for comfort and pleasure in his guests.To the crew on the yacht, he remains an upright and steadfast commander.Tennington had absolute authority on all important matters, and in any emergency he led calmly and intelligently, and ordered life in the jungle without major problems. If these 18 well-organized and relatively safe "refugees" saw the three shabby and panic-stricken "friends" a few miles to the south, they would never recognize them as the previous three. A well-dressed and spotless passenger laughing and playing on the "Alice". As food became more and more difficult to find, Clayton and Mr. Thrane had to search through the thorny bushes and into the depths of the vine-ridden forest, and their clothes were torn to strips, and they were almost naked. Jenny Potter certainly didn't have to trek to collect wild berries, but her clothes were too torn to be stitched. Having nothing to do, being idle and bored, Clayton accumulated the skins of the small animals they had killed, needled them onto the tree trunks, scraped and scratched them whenever he had time, and finally "tanned" them Made of softer leather.Now, the tattered clothes on his body can no longer cover his body, so he uses sharp thorns as needles, strong fiber thatch or animal tendon as thread to sew a rough clothes. This is a knee-length leather waistcoat without sleeves, made of many different kinds of small animal skins. It looks weird and strange, and it also smells like animal skins. An ideal dress. Although the conditions were difficult and the situation was miserable, Jenny Porter couldn't help laughing and laughing happily when she saw how funny he looked in this dress. Later, Thrane also had to sew such a primitive man's clothes for himself.With their bare legs and full beards, they look like the embodiment of human ancestors. About two months later, the first catastrophe befell them.The "prologue" to the catastrophe ended the misery of two of them almost abruptly—a cruel, terrible way of ending life in the jungle. Thrane had "jungle fever" and was lying in the little shack hidden among the branches and leaves on the big tree.Clayton went into the woods several hundred yards away to find food. When he came back, Jenny Potter ran to meet him.And behind him sneakily followed a cunning, sinister, vicious, old and dirty lion.It was exhausted, and because it couldn't catch animals that ran faster than it, it didn't see any meat for three whole days.In the past few months, it has been able to eat less and less. In order to catch easy prey, it has to go farther and farther away from its frequent haunts.Now that he had finally discovered the weakest and most defenseless animal ever created by the Creator, Numa the old lion could have a good meal at once. Unaware of the imminence of death, Clayton came out of the jungle, across the clearing, and walked straight to Jenny.He had come to her side, about 100 feet from the vine-tangled jungle.At this time, Jenny looked over his shoulder, and suddenly saw a brown head and a pair of fierce yellow eyes protruding from the thatch.In the blink of an eye, a gigantic beast came out quietly with its nose calling the ground. Jenny was too scared to say a word.But the sudden widening of her eyes, the terrified, motionless gaze, told Clayton clearly what was happening.He quickly turned his head and glanced, and immediately realized that they were in a desperate situation.The lion was within thirty paces of them, and they were about the same distance from the shelter in the trees.Clayton had a thick, strong branch in his hand, but he knew that to the hungry lion it was nothing more than a toy gun with a cork on it. Numa became more and more greedy and fierce because of hunger.It has already learned that when looking for prey, no matter how loudly it roars or howls softly, it will not help.But now it has absolute certainty, it seems to feel that the soft skin is trembling under its powerful claws.So, it opened its sharp claws and let out a series of deafening roars, venting out the anger that had been pent up in its heart for a long time. "Run, Jenny!" Clayton yelled, "Run, run to the shed!" But her limbs, paralyzed with fear, had difficulty responding. She stood there blankly, her face pale, and she watched helplessly as the god of death who was about to swallow her alive approached step by step. Thrane heard the roar of the lion and climbed to the entrance of the hut, and seeing the terrible scene under the tree, he was frightened and ran back and forth.And screamed at them in Russian. "Run, run!" he yelled, "Run! If you all die, I'll be the only one left in this damn place." His spirit seemed to have completely collapsed, and he began to cry . Thrane's cries caught the lion's attention.For a while, it stopped roaring and cast an inquiring look at the big tree.Clayton couldn't bear the great fear and pain, and turned his back to the beast, holding his head and waiting. Jenny raised her head and glanced at him in horror.Why doesn't he take action?If death is a must, why not face death bravely like a manly man?No matter how useless it is, you should raise the wooden club in your hand and hit the beast's head.What would happen if Tarzan the Ape encountered this situation?In the face of death, wouldn't he fight bravely and tenaciously to the last minute? Now the lion had crouched and was ready to pounce and end their young lives with his cruel yellow tusk.Jenny Potter knelt down and prayed, closing her eyes for fear of seeing that terrible last moment.Thrane fainted because of his fever and weakness. The time changed from seconds to minutes, and the long minutes seemed to become an eternity. But the beast hadn't rushed over yet.Clayton was nearly unconscious from the pain caused by the fear.His legs were trembling, and he would surely collapse on the ground in a moment. Jenny Potter couldn't bear it anymore, and slowly opened her eyes, ah, is this a dream? "William," she cried softly, "look!" Kington tried hard to control himself, raised his head with difficulty, turned his face to glance at the lion, and then let out a cry of surprise.It turned out that the lion was curled up at their feet, dead.A heavy and sharp spear pierced its right shoulder, across its body, and pierced its heart. Jenny Potter stood up.Clayton turned to her and saw her limp and staggering as if to move away from him.He was afraid that she would fall, so he quickly stretched out his arms to hug her, and let her head stick tightly to his shoulder.Wanting to express his gratitude, he bent down and kissed her. The girl pushed him away gently. "Come on, William," she said, "I seem to have lived a thousand years in just a few moments; in the face of death, I seem to suddenly know how to live. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I can no longer bear the promise that the impulse of false loyalty has prompted me to make; I can no longer bear the situation that this promise has put me in. "Just now, in the last few seconds of my life, I understood this truth; To try to keep lying to yourself, or to accept the suggestion of being your wife again - if we ever go back to civilization - is very ugly and very horrible. " "Why, Jenny!" cried Clayton, "what do you mean? How could this utterly unexpected rescue of us change your feelings for me?You're too nervous, you'll be fine tomorrow. " "At this moment, I am closer to myself than I have been at any time in a year." She replied, "What happened just now reminds me once again of the bravest man in the world and the love he gave me. Unfortunately, waiting for me It was too late to realize that I, too, loved him sincerely. As a result, I kept him out of civilization again. Now that he is dead, I will never marry again. Yes, Certainly I would not marry a man who is more cowardly than he is. Certainly I am not tormented now and then by a feeling of contempt for my husband's cowardice. Do you understand me?" "Yes," he replied, bowing his head in shame. The next day, a bigger disaster happened.