"But what does `Tarzan of the Apes' mean?" cried the girl.
"I do not know, Miss Porter," replied the young man, "unless
we have discovered a runaway simian from the London
Zoo who has brought back a European education to his jungle
home. What do you make of it, Professor Porter?" he
added, turning to the old man.
Professor Archimedes Q. Porter adjusted his spectacles.
"Ah, yes, indeed; yes indeed--most remarkable, most
remarkable!" said the professor; "but I can add nothing further
to what I have already remarked in elucidation of this truly
momentous occurrence," and the professor turned slowly in
the direction of the jungle.
"But, papa," cried the girl, "you haven't said anything
about it yet."
"Tut, tut, child; tut, tut," responded Professor Porter, in a
kindly and indulgent tone, "do not trouble your pretty head
with such weighty and abstruse problems," and again he wandered
slowly off in still another direction, his eyes bent upon
the ground at his feet, his hands clasped behind him beneath
the flowing tails of his coat.
"I reckon the daffy old bounder don't know no more'n we
do about it," growled the rat-faced sailor.
"Keep a civil tongue in your head," cried the young man,
his face paling in anger, at the insulting tone of the sailor.
"You've murdered our officers and robbed us. We are absolutely
in your power, but you'll treat Professor Porter and
Miss Porter with respect or I'll break that vile neck of yours
with my bare hands--guns or no guns," and the young fellow
stepped so close to the rat-faced sailor that the latter, though
he bore two revolvers and a villainous looking knife in his
belt, slunk back abashed.
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