Part 3: The Revenge of Colonel Staquait

Chapter 38

"Freeing Jane Porter and Friends"

Upon seeing the ships that were surrounding them, Colonel Staquait had all of his soldiers and any prisoners with military background or knowledge of weapons take positions or battle stations around the prison, doing everything that they can to keep the British and French armies off of the walls. Unbeknownst to them however, Hugo and Hooft once again disguised as French Foreign Legion officers crept into the prison to free Jane and her friends. They were chosen because of their knowledge of the prison and that they could create a distraction if needed be.

"Will you be quiet?" whispered Hugo, when Hooft had knocked over an empty barrel. "They are going to find us if you make another sound."

"Sorry, junior," apologized Hooft. "But, we can't see. Not without light."

All Hugo could do was roll his eyes as they focused on the task at hand which was to free Jane and her friends from their cells. They weren't sure how they were going to execute this, but one wrong move could end them back here. When they saw Jane's cell, they could see that their English friend was sitting in her cell confused by what was happening around her. Creeping over, Hooft took the keys and placed them in the cell, opening the door much to Jane's confusion. In her eyes, she thought that the people freeing her were committing treason and would be punished for it.

"Excuse me," she whispered. "Are you going to be tried for treason for doing this?"

"Not on our lives," said Hugo, revealing his identity to Jane who was grateful for them to rescue her. "We're getting you out of here."

He opened the cell and Jane ran out, hugging her rescuers and then running over to Staquait's office much to their confusion and worry.

"Lady Jane," remarked Hooft as he saw Jane race towards Staquait's office. "We've got to get out of here. They can't hold forever."

"I know," she said, trying to break open the door. "But my yellow dress is in there."

"But, Jane…" said Hooft, trying to reason with her. But Jane was having none of it and snatched the keys from his hand and opened the door to Staquait's office. Racing in, she looked for the box containing her clothes and eventually found them underneath Staquait's desk. The memories of her forced strip were still fresh in her mind, but Jane was having none of it now as she locked the door behind them and attempted to quickly changed out of her prison uniform and into her yellow dress as Hugo and Hooft waited and worried that they would be caught.

Meanwhile, back on the main British ship, the commanding officer, Colonel Wellington was standing next to Archimedes and Tarzan, wondering what was taking so long.

"I don't understand," said Colonel Wellington. "They should have been out by now. I can't keep the men holding forever."

"They need time to free the others," said Archimedes, trying to defend the accusation. "My daughter will not leave until all of her friends are freed. Hugo and Hooft know that prison and they will know if something's wrong."

"In that case," said Colonel Wellington, exasperated. "They had better know what they are doing; otherwise we are doing this rescue mission for nothing."

But, Tarzan was starting to get worried and jumped into the water and swam over towards the prison as soldiers inside the boats watched in amazement and surprise.

"Tarzan, what are you doing?" cried Archimedes. "You're going to get yourself killed! Come back here!"

But, Tarzan ignored his father in law's cries for help and swam faster and faster towards the prison. He wanted to rescue Jane and while he trusted Hugo and Hooft, he could not wait any longer to be with his wife again. However, Tarzan was not alone as Timon and Pumbaa, who had managed to come along in place of Terk and Tantor, saw that their friend was in trouble and being like Terk and Tantor, they jumped into the water and followed their new friend to the island prison.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," protested Timon. "Jumping into a freezing cold water without any bugs to munch on, why me?"

"Don't be silly, Timon," gasped Pumbaa, as he tried to keep up with Tarzan. "You'd do the same for Simba, would you?"

"I suppose you're right," sighed Timon as a splash of water hit him in the face. "Rescuing damsels in distress is not on my resume, but I can see your point."

So, they swam faster and faster as a French Foreign Legion soldier saw Tarzan was swimming and raised his rifle at him ready to open fire. Upon seeing what was happening, Staquait ran over and demanded to know what was going on.

"What do you see?" he whispered to the guard.

"It's a figure swimming towards us," he said, still holding his gun tightly. "It looks like a man with long hair and very muscular."

Staquait looked down at the water and upon further inspection, he could see that the man his guard was talking about was indeed Tarzan as he could tell by the bare skin and muscles. Upon seeing him, Staquait could see the moment he was waiting for was about to take place. He drew his sword and ran down to the ground level of the prison as Jane had finished changing into her yellow dress and searched desperately for the cell containing her friends. After a few moments, they found the cell and using the keys, Hugo and Hooft opened the door and allowed Jane's friends to escape.

"Jane!" cried Greenley, hugging her friend tightly. "We are so glad to see you!"

"I know," she replied. "But we have to get out of here, come on!"

"Yeah," said Hugo. "What she said!"

But, just as they were about to leave, Colonel Staquait could see that they were escaping and stopped them right in their tracks. Apparently, he had seen that Jane was out of her cell and the door to his office had been opened. Knowing that they were escaping, he chose to confront them before they could all leave.

"You're not going anywhere," he said evilly, pointing his sword at them. "I have always considered myself a man of character, but not tonight."

"Staquait," said Hooft. "We were just releasing these innocent lovely ladies you are holding against their will, so maybe if you would just…"

"Enough," he barked. "I'm going to enjoy executing all of you myself."

But just as he was about to point his sword at them, the sounds of a jungle man's yell rang out through the prison and Staquait quickly turned around to see Tarzan leap faster and faster towards him and once he got close to him, Tarzan jumped into the air and landed on top of Staquait's chest, pushing him to the ground.

As a double edged sword, the sounds of Tarzan's yell was the signal to start the attack on Cape Doom and the sounds of gunfire rang out as the British soldiers on the north end of the prison made their move charging towards the prison.

The Battle of Cape Doom had just begun…