Part 1: The Journey to Africa
Chapter 9
"Jane Takes it From Here"
The events from her encounter with Tarzan were still fresh in Jane's mind when she awakened the next morning. She wanted to give her father and Clayton as much of a full detailed account of her encounter as much as possible. Of course, while Archimedes was interested to hear what his daughter had to say, Clayton was less than interested in fantasies that women like Jane were always interested in carrying out to express their emotions to other people. Nervertheless, Jane was more than determined that both men knew the truth.
"Well, he didn't stand upright," said Jane, as she got down on her hands and knees and crouched like a gorilla. "He sort of crouched, like that. And he supported his weight on his knuckles."
"On the knuckles like a gorilla, I suppose," replied Archimedes as he watched his daughter act like a gorilla. "This is extroadinary, Janey!"
"Oh, it was amazing!" sighed Jane as she continued. "He'd bend his elbows out, like this, and then he walks, like this."
Jane demonstrated this by walking and crouching like a gorilla would.
"I see, Jane!" exclaimed Archimedes. "This is Capital! What a discovery you have made for us, my dear Janey! A man with no language, no human behavior-."
"And no respect for personal boundaries!" added Jane, as Tarzan did try to look up her dress back in the trees.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Archimedes. "I know you told us that yesterday."
"He was this close, Daddy, staring at me!" exclaimed Jane as she walked over to a drawing of Tarzan that she had made on the blackboard. "He seemed confused at first, as if he'd never seen another human before. His eyes were intense and focused and...I've never seen such eyes."
There were many men in London who had eyes similar to Tarzan's, but to Jane, this was something that was completely different from that.
"Oh, shall I leave you and the blackboard alone for a moment?" asked Archimedes playfully, but Jane knew that she was being serious about it.
"Oh, stop it, Daddy!" she giggled. "The point is, think of what we could learn from him. We must find him."
But Clayton, who was over in another part of the camp shaving, walked over and tried to convince Professor Porter and Jane that whatever Jane saw the day before was nothing more than make believe. After all, he still had his ambitions to fulfill and that was to capture the gorillas for money.
"Oh, Professor!" said Clayton, hiding his true colors. "You're here to find gorillas, not indulge some girlish fantasy."
Jane did not take this very lightly however as the words 'girlish fantasy' was very offensive to her, especially after an encounter with a savage jungle man.
"Fantasy?" she huffed. Fantasy?! I didn't imagine him! Tarzan is…"
Just at that moment, Tarzan himself came down and stared at Archimedes and Clayton.
"…real!" she finished.
Almost immediately, the two men were fascinated by the sight of the savage wild man. Archimedes' interest was of pure fascination and wonder while Clayton's was of interference and savagery.
"Ah, it's him!" said Archimedes. "It's Tarzan!"
But Clayton grabbed his rifle and pointed it dead square at Tarzan.
"Professor! Jane!" he called. "Get Back!"
"No, wait!" cried Jane, running over and putting the rifle down.
"Clayton!" said Tarzan.
"Huh?" wondered Clayton. "Have we met?"
He then turned to Jane and Archimedes.
"How does he know my name?" he asked.
"He must think it's the sound of a gunshot!" explained Jane as Tarzan got into her face.
"Jane," he said softly.
"Um, hello, Tarzan," she said nervously.
"I see what she means by personal boundaries," Clayton said to himself. Suddenly, he saw Tarzan perform even more questionable behavior around Jane.
"What is he doing?" he asked, feeling the urge to pick up his gun again, but he didn't do so.
"Look at him, Jane," said Archimedes as he watched Tarzan. "He moves like an ape but looks like a man. He could be the missing link."
"Or our link to the gorillas." added Clayton. Knowing that Tarzan was the only one who could lead them to the gorillas, he got close to Tarzan and looked at him dead in the face.
"Where are the gorillas?" he said to him. But of course, being the ape man that he was, Tarzan didn't understand.
"GOR-ILL-AS!" said Clayton clearly and impatiently.
"GOR-ILL-AS!" mimicked Tarzan as he got to Clayton's level.
"Shouting won't help, Mr. Clayton," said Jane, trying to defend the man who saved her life. "He doesn't understand English."
"Well, then I'll make him understand," cried Clayton. "If I can teach a parrot to sing 'God Save the Queen,' I can certainly teach this savage a thing or two." He picked up a piece of chalk and directed Tarzan towards the picture of the gorilla that Jane had drawn earlier.
"Gorilla," said Clayton clearly. But Tarzan, being the uncivilized missing link that he was, took the chalk and decided to look at the drawing himself.
"Gorilla," he said.
"By jove, he's got it!" exclaimed Archimedes. But, Tarzan took the chalk and saying the word 'gorilla' over and over again, began to draw over the drawing of the gorilla and this set a backfire to what they all had in mind.
"Oh, perhaps not," sighed Archimedes dejectedly.
Clayton took the chalk away from Tarzan and looked at him like a schoolteacher would to a disobedient student.
"No, no, no," he said.
"No, no, no," mimicked Tarzan again.
"No, no, no!" said Clayton getting more and more frustrated with Tarzan's incompetent speech. By now, Jane had enough and decided to take matter into her own hands.
"Mr. Clayton," she said, taking the chalk from Clayton's hand. "I'll take it from here, if you don't mind."
Clayton laughed at what Jane had said, thinking that a young woman would teach wild man a thing or two about human society.
"Are you serious, Miss Porter?" he remarked. "I would love to see you teach this wild man a thing or too about human culture."
"You just wait and see, Mr. Clayton," said Jane. "This man can learn a thing or two about human society and I am just the person to teach him."
And so, the lessons between the Englishwoman and the Savage Jungle Man was about to begin…
