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Chapter 9 - Chivalry or Villainy
From her cabin port upon the Kincaid, Jane Clayton had seen her husband
rowed to the verdure-clad shore of Jungle Island, and then the ship once more
proceeded upon its way.
For several days she saw no one other than Sven Anderssen, the Kincaid's
taciturn and repellent cook. She asked him the name of the shore upon which
her husband had been set.
"Ay tank it blow purty soon purty hard," replied the Swede, and that was all that
she could get out of him.
She had come to the conclusion that he spoke no other English, and so she
ceased to importune him for information; but never did she forget to greet him
pleasantly or to thank him for the hideous, nauseating meals he brought her.
Three days from the spot where Tarzan had been marooned the Kincaid came to
anchor in the mouth of a great river, and presently Rokoff came to Jane Clayton's
cabin.
"We have arrived, my dear," he said, with a sickening leer. "I have come to offer
you safety, liberty, and ease. My heart has been softened toward you in your
suffering, and I would make amends as best I may.
"
Your husband was a brute--you know that best who found him naked in his
native jungle, roaming wild with the savage beasts that were his fellows. Now I
am a gentleman, not only born of noble blood, but raised gently as befits a man of
quality.
"
To you, dear Jane, I offer the love of a cultured man and association with one of
culture and refinement, which you must have sorely missed in your relations with
the poor ape that through your girlish infatuation you married so thoughtlessly.
I love you, Jane. You have but to say the word and no further sorrows shall
afflict you--even your baby shall be returned to you unharmed."
Outside the door Sven Anderssen paused with the noonday meal he had been
carrying to Lady Greystoke. Upon the end of his long, stringy neck his little head
was cocked to one side, his close-set eyes were half closed, his ears, so expressive
was his whole attitude of stealthy eavesdropping, seemed truly to be cocked
forward--even his long, yellow, straggly moustache appeared to assume a sly
droop.
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