Part 8 (2/2)
”What weapons shall you select?” asked D'Arnot ”De Coude is accredited with being a ht then choose poisoned arrows at twenty paces, or spears at the sahed Tarzan ”Make it pistols, Paul”
”He will kill you, Jean”
”I have no doubt of it,” replied Tarzan ”I must die some day”
”We had better make it swords,” said D'Arnot ”He will be satisfied ounding you, and there is less danger of a mortal wound”
”Pistols,” said Tarzan, with finality
D'Arnot tried to argue him out of it, but without avail, so pistols it was
D'Arnot returned from his conference with Monsieur Flaubert shortly after four
”It is all arranged,” he said ”Everything is satisfactory Toht--there is a secluded spot on the road not far from Etamps For some personal reason Monsieur Flaubert preferred it I did not demur”
”Good!” was Tarzan's only coain even indirectly That night he wrote several letters before he retired After sealing and addressing them he placed them all in an envelope addressed to D'Arnot As he undressed D'Arnot heard hi a music-hall ditty
The Frenchman swore under his breath He was very unhappy, for he was positive that when the sun rose the next rated upon him to see Tarzan so unconcerned
”This is a most uncivilized hour for people to kill each other,”
remarked the ape-man when he had been routed out of a co hours He had slept well, and so it seemed that his head scarcely touched the pillow ere his man deferentially aroused him His remark was addressed to D'Arnot, who stood fully dressed in the doorway of Tarzan's bedrooht He was nervous, and therefore inclined to be irritable
”I presuht,” he said
Tarzan laughed ”Froainst me I could not help it, really”
”No, Jean; it is not that,” replied D'Arnot, hi ”But you take the entireOne would think that you were going out to shoot at a target, rather than to face one of the best shots in France”
Tarzan shrugged his shoulders ”I a, Paul A very necessary feature of the expiation is the marksmanshi+p of my opponent Wherefore, then, should I be dissatisfied? Have you not yourself told me that Count de Coude is a splendid marksman?”
”You mean that you hope to be killed?” exclaimed D'Arnot, in horror
”I cannot say that I hope to be; but you must admit that there is little reason to believe that I shall not be killed”
Had D'Arnot known the thing that was in the ape-man's mind--that had been in his mind almost from the first intimation that De Coude would call him to account on the field of honor--he would have been even more horrified than he was
In silence they entered D'Arnot's great car, and in similar silence they sped over the dim road that leads to Etahts D'Arnot's were very reat friendshi+p which had sprung up between these twohad been so widely different had but been strengthened by association, for they were both h ideals of e, and of honor appealed with equal force They could understand one another, and each could be proud of the friendshi+p of the other
Tarzan of the Apes rapped in thoughts of the past; pleasant le life He recalled the countless boyhood hours that he had spent cross-legged upon the table in his dead father's cabin, his little brown body bent over one of the fascinating picture books froleaned the secret of the printed language long before the sounds of human speech fell upon his ears A sht of that day of days that he had had alone with Jane Porter in the heart of his primeval forest
Presently his re of the car--they were at their destination Tarzan's mind returned to the affairs of the moment He knew that he was about to die, but there was no fear of death in hile death is a co tenaciously to life--to fight for it; but it does not teach them to fear death