Part 3: The Journey to England

Chapter 37

"Archimedes' Decision"

Seeing her ex-fiance plot to kill the queen and her husband had sent Jane into a world of fear and uncertainty. She had not realized that the decision to stay in Africa and marry Tarzan would result in severe consequences for her and her family. Nevertheless, the revelation also had an effect on Archimedes and whether or not he would accept this position that would catapult him into a mentoring state at Oxford University.

As he returned to his quarters that night, Archimedes went into a thinking stage about the future of him and his daughter. Of course, he remembered telling Jane that if she were to ever return to Africa, he would not accompany her. Now, he realized that this may be that time and place to do so, given the fact that Jane had grown up into a beautiful young woman and was with a man who truly loved her for who she was. The next morning, Archimedes was preparing himself for the knighting which was planned for later in the day. As he finished preparing his old British military uniform for the ceremony, a knock was heard at the door and he left the mirror and opened the door to reveal Jane, wearing the powder blue dress that she had gotten from Dumont before she left Africa.

"Jane," he said. "Aren't you supposed to be downstairs at breakfast?"

"I know," she replied. "I wanted to see if you were looking forward to the ceremony later on today. I can imagine if you are nervous about it."

Archimedes opened the door wider and he let Jane inside shutting the door behind him. For he was doing some thinking throughout the night and felt now that he and Jane were alone, he wanted to tell her what he was planning to do.

"Actually, Jane," he said. "I was doing some thinking last night and if it is all right with you, I want to accept this position at Oxford and stay in England."

Jane was now flabbergasted at this and knew that her father had finally gotten close to the gorillas and was now living among them, but now felt that Jane deserved a chance to live with the man of her dreams.

"But why, daddy?" she gasped, putting her gloved hand to her face. "You always told me that you wanted to live among the gorillas and be one of them. You said that I would be by your side and we would live among them together forever and now here you are telling me that you want to stay here and not return to Africa?"

Tears were now beginning to form in her eyes and she placed a handkerchief to her eyes trying to not ruin her makeup.

"Jane, listen to me," soothed Archimedes. "I have seen you grow up into the beautiful young woman that you have become and I have always known that Bobby was never the man for you, but Tarzan is the man for you. If I stay in England and teach students at Oxford University about these creatures, I will also tell them that I have a daughter who chose to follow in her father's footsteps and live among the gorillas with a savage jungle man."

Jane didn't respond as she was now softly crying giving the fact that her father was not going to follow his dream and instead stay in civilization. However, Jane now had a thought that crossed through her mind and turned to face her father.

"Daddy," she said, calming down. "I have learned so much about the civilized and the jungle world in the short time since we left England and that I think you are right about me going to start a new life in the jungles."

"You are absolutely right, Janey," he replied. "Tarzan needs you more than I do. You are his wife and queen of the jungle and he needs you by his side. But, just remember that I will always be with you, no matter what happens. Do you understand?"

A smile came to Jane's face and placing her handkerchief on the bed, leaned forward and hugged her father tightly. After a short embrace they separated and Jane got up and walked to the door, feeling confident of the future after this knighting ceremony that would be bestowed upon her father.

"I'll take that as a 'yes,'" he said. "Go on, I will see you at breakfast."

Jane shut the door behind her and left her father to finish getting ready for the ceremony. She was on her way to breakfast, when she past the door going down to the dungeons where Bobby and the other conspirators were being held.

During the night, shortly after being captured, the conspirators were condemned to death at the Tower of London and Jane wanted to see Bobby one last time, but she was hesitant at first and it took a bit of self-confidence for her to move into the dungeons. She trekked along the silent corridors of the dungeons and only the sounds of her blue and white ankle boots were heard. She entered the room where Bobby and the others were being held and stood in front of their cell with a grim expression on her face.

"I see you have all been condemned to death," she said to Bobby. "And don't expect me to apologize to you for slapping you. You were never the man I thought you were, Robert."

"So you shall see to that," he said. "I wanted you for myself, Jane. We could have spent our lives together and travelled the world and instead, you chose to live your life as a savage. You wanted the dictator to be dead and instead you let her live."

"That is a lie," she said harshly. "The only one who wanted her dead was you and I refuse to spend the rest of my life with a man with a perverted mind for a bright and glorious future."

"Don't you see, Jane?!" he shouted. "Don't you see what you've done?!"

"What I've done?!" she retorted, about to scream at the top of her lungs, but stopped before she could do so.

"All I can say is Bobby," she said calmly. "You will never see me again after today. I am going to live the life I want to live and you will rot in hell. Goodbye."

Jane was about to leave when Bobby had one more thing to say to her.

"Wait!" he said, stopping her and she turned around to stare at him. "I must warn you about something."

"Yes, what is it you want to tell me?" she asked.

"You are vulnerable to the outside world now," replied Bobby. "There are many men who want you for themselves and one day, your ape man will not be there to protect you. If you had married me, then you would never be put into harm's way. You chose this path, Jane Porter. You chose this path."

Jane chose to ignore the comment and went off to breakfast as Bobby looked on in anger. He was now alone and was about to face death for his crimes against the crown and his people while Jane was about to start her new life.

Little did she know later on that the words that Bobby had spoken to her would come back to haunt her somewhere in the not too distant future…