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field, his head high held and the tropical sun beating upon his smooth, brown skin.
Behind him came D'Arnot, clothed in some garments which had been discarded at the cabin by Clayton
when the officers of the French cruiser had fitted him out in more presentable fashion.
Presently one of the blacks looked up, and beholding Tarzan, turned, shrieking, toward the palisade.
In an instant the air was filled with cries of terror from the fleeing gardeners, but before any had reached
the palisade a white man emerged from the enclosure, rifle in hand, to discover the cause of the
commotion.
What he saw brought his rifle to his shoulder, and Tarzan of the Apes would have felt cold lead once
again had not D'Arnot cried loudly to the man with the leveled gun:
Do not fire! We are friends!
Halt, then! was the reply.
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Stop, Tarzan! cried D'Arnot. He thinks we are enemies.
Tarzan dropped into a walk, and together he and D'Arnot advanced toward the white man by the gate.
The latter eyed them in puzzled bewilderment.
What manner of men are you? he asked, in French.
White men, replied D'Arnot. We have been lost in the jungle for a long time.
The man had lowered his rifle and now advanced with outstretched hand.
I am Father Constantine of the French Mission here, he said, and I am glad to welcome you.
This is Monsieur Tarzan, Father Constantine, replied D'Arnot, indicating the ape-man; and as the
priest extended his hand to Tarzan, D'Arnot added: and I am Paul D'Arnot, of the French Navy.
Father Constantine took the hand which Tarzan extended in imitation of the priest's act, while the latter
took in the superb physique and handsome face in one quick, keen glance.
And thus came Tarzan of the Apes to the first outpost of civilization.
For a week they remained there, and the ape-man, keenly observant, learned much of the ways of men;
meanwhile black women sewed white duck garments for himself and D'Arnot so that they might continue
their journey properly clothed.
The Height of Civilization
Another month brought them to a little group of buildings at the mouth of a wide river, and there Tarzan
saw many boats, and was filled with the timidity of the wild thing by the sight of many men.
Gradually he became accustomed to the strange noises and the odd ways of civilization, so that presently
none might know that two short months before, this handsome Frenchman in immaculate white ducks,
who laughed and chatted with the gayest of them, had been swinging naked through primeval forests to
pounce upon some unwary victim, which, raw, was to fill his savage belly.
The knife and fork, so contemptuously flung aside a month before, Tarzan now manipulated as
exquisitely as did the polished D'Arnot.
So apt a pupil had he been that the young Frenchman had labored assiduously to make of Tarzan of the
Apes a polished gentleman in so far as nicety of manners and speech were concerned.
God made you a gentleman at heart, my friend, D'Arnot had said; but we want His works to show
upon the exterior also.
As soon as they had reached the little port, D'Arnot had cabled his government of his safety, and
requested a three-months' leave, which had been granted.
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He had also cabled his bankers for funds, and the enforced wait of a month, under which both chafed,
was due to their inability to charter a vessel for the return to Tarzan's jungle after the treasure.
During their stay at the coast town Monsieur Tarzan became the wonder of both whites and blacks
because of several occurrences which to Tarzan seemed the merest of nothings.
Once a huge black, crazed by drink, had run amuck and terrorized the town, until his evil star had led
him to where the black-haired French giant lolled upon the veranda of the hotel.
Mounting the broad steps, with brandished knife, the Negro made straight for a party of four men sitting
at a table sipping the inevitable absinthe.
Shouting in alarm, the four took to their heels, and then the black spied Tarzan.
With a roar he charged the ape-man, while half a hundred heads peered from sheltering windows and
doorways to witness the butchering of the poor Frenchman by the giant black.
Tarzan met the rush with the fighting smile that the joy of battle always brought to his lips.
As the Negro closed upon him, steel muscles gripped the black wrist of the uplifted knife-hand, and a
single swift wrench left the hand dangling below a broken bone.
With the pain and surprise, the madness left the black man, and as Tarzan dropped back into his chair
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