Chapter 7
"Planning Her Next Move"
While Jane was dealing with the consequences of wearing corsets while being pregnant, in a first class stateroom, Lady Waltham sat at her dresser preparing herself for first class dinner that evening while her manservant, Hobbs, was spying on Jane and her family. Next to her dresser sat a vile of what appeared to be poison and a syringe sticking out of it.
"Miss Porter nearly collapsed at the luncheon today," said Hobbs, bowing to his mistress. "She claims to be pregnant with Tarzan's child, milady. I don't know if that interests you at all."
"Of course, it interests me, Hobbs," snapped Lady Waltham, turning around with a quick jerk. "We need here for the plan to be carried out, a plan that is to make Tarzan suffer what I suffered when Clayton was killed."
She then rose to her feet and pulled the vile out from its holding place and looked at it very carefully, almost as if she had been waiting for it to form a depiction of her brother.
"You see this, Hobbs?" she asked sharply, putting the vile in his face. "This is the poison that will travel through Tarzan's body and render him useless."
"What are you planning to do, my lady?" replied Hobbs, still standing stiff. "Tell me, and I will carry out your orders."
After a moment, Lady Waltham put down the vile and looked back at her manservant. She knew very strongly that Hobbs was going to be key in executing her plan of revenge.
"Very well, Hobbs," she said, hissing like a snake. "Not tonight, but tomorrow on the day of the lord, I want you to capture Tarzan's father-in-law and his beloved wife and place them in a part of the ship where Tarzan won't find them so easily. And another thing, I want them to be alone if you will with no one else around. Perhaps the best way is to capture them when they return to the state room after mass."
"But, won't Tarzan accompany them?" suggested Hobbs, thinking his mistress had left out something important. "Anyone who is a Catholic should honor the lord on his day of worship."
Lady Waltham considered the matter for a moment, but then came to the realization that Tarzan had never been to a church service before. So, he would probably be doing something else while Jane and Archimedes would be honoring the lord.
"Tell me this, Hobbs," pondered Lady Waltham, walking towards her door. "Would you thinkthat a wild man like Tarzan, who was born and raised in the jungle by gorillas, would be baptized by a priest? He never was baptized to begin with, so God won't allow anyone to enter his house without being blessed with the Holy Spirit."
"I think you might be mistaken…" began Hobbs, but Lady Waltham interrupted him.
"I know how the way of being a Catholic works," she interrupted, pointing her cane at him. "I will create a distraction and then you move in and do what I ask you to do. Understand?"
Hobbs nodded nervously, breaking his stiff pose and it was at that moment, Lady Waltham then realized that she had made a mistake in her plan. She needed to get close to Tarzan, get to know him and her targets a little better. Then, she had gotten an idea.
"But wait, my manservant," she said, quickly turning back towards him. "Isn't tonight a formal dinner in first class?"
"Yes, according to the captain, it is," replied Hobbs. Shall you meet Tarzan tonight?"
"Yes, Hobbs," said Lady Waltham. "Tonight, I shall get to know my target without revealing my true intentions until the moment is right. Once I know his weaknesses, then we will make our move at the right time."
Unbeknownst to them however, Timon and Pumbaa had snuck out of the stateroom and were listening in on the conversation.
"This doesn't sound good, Pumba," whispered Timon, pulling himself away from the door. "We got to warn them somehow."
"They are going for a nice night of dinner and dancing," replied Pumbaa. "They are probably just making it up somehow."
"You call that making it up?" remarked Timon in disgust.
"Oh, come on, maybe its just for what humans call it, a play, or something," said Pumbaa, knowing that it was time to leave before anyone spotted them. "Now, should we be getting back to the stateroom before anyone sees us?"
So, they started off, but then both of them remembered Pumbaa's poor sense of direction and this stopped them both dead in their tracks.
"We should be getting back, Pumbaa," said Timon. "Except for one little thing…"
"What's that?" asked Pumbaa and the meerkat turned around and looked at Pumbaa right in the eyes.
"WE DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET BACK!" cried Timon and these caused the two animal friends to get into a panic and attempt to find their way back to the stateroom.
Meanwhile, Tarzan and Archimedes were waiting for Jane to finish dressing before making their way down to dinner. Tarzan was now wearing a tuxedo, provided to him by Molly Brown, who had stopped by to help Tarzan into the tuxedo.
"You shine like a new penny," she said to Tarzan, who was feeling slightly uncomfortable in the tuxedo. "Don't worry, its only for one night."
"I really appreciate it, Mrs. Brown," replied Tarzan, trying to breathe with the bow tie, which was making him uncomfortable.
Just then, Jane emerged wearing her blue dress that she had gotten from Dumont and had previously worn it to the wedding of Basuil and Naoh. Her choice of wardrobe didn't sit well with Molly, who was starting to question it slightly.
"Lovely dress, Jane," she said, questionably. "But, you don't happen to have anything more foo foo rah?"
Jane spun around to show off her dress to Molly and after a moment, she responded to her question.
"I save it for formal occasions such as this," replied Jane. "I wore it to a wedding in a jungle village recently."
"Jungle village, you say?" remarked Molly. "Then, tell me more about it at dinner, shall we?"
She bent her elbow to Archimedes who then clutched it with his elbow, despite being slightly hesitant about it.
"Care to escort a lady to dinner, Professor?" she chuckled.
"Don't mind if I do," replied Archimedes, as he led Molly to the dinner with Tarzan not too far behind, escorting Jane in the same way.
As they left, Lady Waltham and Hobbs were also on their way, eager to understand their targets a little better while at the same time, preparing themselves for the moment when they would strike against their targets.
