Part 20 (2/2)
”Why, of course you'll coood tier boat, and you'll be fully as comfortable; and, anye all want you, and won't take no for an answer”
And so it was settled that they should sail the following Monday
Two days out the girls were sitting in Hazel's cabin, looking at some prints she had had finished in Cape Town They represented all the pictures she had taken since she had left Aup a perfect torrent of comment and explanation of the various scenes and people
”And here,” she said suddenly, ”here's ayou about hiether” She was holding the little print so that Jane did not see the face of the man it portrayed
”His name was John Caldwell,” continued Hazel ”Do you recall hilishman”
”I do not recollect the name,” replied Jane ”Let me see the picture”
”The poor felloas lost overboard on our trip down the coast,” she said, as she handed the print to Jane
”Lost over--Why, Hazel, Hazel--don't tell me that he is dead--drowned at sea! Hazel! Why don't you say that you are joking!” And before the astonished Miss Strong could catch her Jane Porter had slipped to the floor in a swoon
After Hazel had restored her chu time before either spoke
”I did not know, Jane,” said Hazel, in a constrained voice, ”that you knew Mr Caldwell so intimately that his death could prove such a shock to you”
”John Caldwell?” questioned Miss Porter ”You do not mean to tell me that you do not knoho this man was, Hazel?”
”Why, yes, Jane; I know perfectly ho he was--his name was John Caldwell; he was from London”
”Oh, Hazel, I wish I could believe it,” irl ”I wish I could believe it, but those features are burned so deep into nize theht appear identical to any one but hly alarmed ”Who do you think it is?”
”I don't think, Hazel I know that that is a picture of Tarzan of the Apes”
”Jane!”
”I cannot be mistaken Oh, Hazel, are you sure that he is dead? Can there be no mistake?”
”I am afraid not, dear,” answered Hazel sadly ”I wish I could think that you are mistaken, but now a hundred and one little pieces of corroborative evidence occur to ht that he was John Caldwell, of London He said that he had been born in Africa, and educated in France”
”Yes, that would be true,” murmured Jane Porter dully
”The first officer, who searched his luggage, found nothing to identify John Caldwell, of London Practically all his belongings had beenthat bore an initial was ht that he was traveling incognito under his first two na for John Caldwell”
”Tarzan of the Apes took the name Jean C Tarzan,” said Jane, in the same lifeless monotone ”And he is dead! Oh! Hazel, it is horrible!
He died all alone in this terrible ocean! It is unbelievable that that brave heart should have ceased to beat--that those hty muscles are quiet and cold forever! That he as the personification of life and health and s, that--” But she could go no further, and with a littleto the floor
For days Miss Porter was ill, and would see no one except Hazel and the faithful Esmeralda When at last she cae that had taken place in her She was no longer the alert, vivacious Ahted all who came in contact with her Instead she was a very quiet and sad little girl--with an expression of hopeless wistfulness that none but Hazel Strong could interpret
The entire party strove their utmost to cheer and amuse her, but all to no avail Occasionally the jolly Lord Tennington would wring a wan smile fro out across the sea