rry--the train was coming to a
stop at the little platform. Like a man dazed he gathered up his
ulster. He would tell them about the cablegram when they were all on
board the train. Then he ran out upon the platform just as the engine
whistled twice in the final warning that precedes the first rumbling
jerk of coupling pins. The others were on board, leaning out from the
platform of a Pullman, crying to him to hurry. Quite five minutes
elapsed before they were settled in their seats, nor was it until then
that Clayton discovered that Tarzan was not with them.

"Where is Tarzan?" he asked Jane Porter. "In another car?"

"No," she replied; "at the last minute he determined to drive his
machine back to New York. He is anxious to see more of America than is
possible from a car window. He is returning to France, you know."

Clayton did not reply. He was trying to find the right words to
explain to Jane Porter the calamity that had befallen him--and her. He
wondered just what the effect of his knowledge would be on her. Would
she still wish to marry him--to be plain Mrs. Clayton? Suddenly the
awful sacrifice which one of them must make loomed large before his
imagination. Then came the question: Will Tarzan claim his own? The
ape-man had known the contents of the message before he calmly denied
knowledge of his parentage! He had admitted that Kala, the ape, was
his mother! Could it have been for love of Jane Porter?

There was no other explanation which seemed reasonable. Then, having
ignored the evidence of the message, was it not reasonable to assume
that he meant never to claim his birthright? If this were so, what
right had he, William Cecil Clayton, to thwart the wishes, to balk the
self-sacrifice of this strange man? If Tarzan of the Apes could do
this thing to save Jane Porter from unhappiness, why should he, to
whose care she was intrusting her whole future, do aught to jeopardize
her interests?

And so he reasoned until the first generous impulse to proclaim the
truth and relinquish his titles and his estates to their rightful owner
was forgotten beneath the mass of sophistries which self-interest had
advanced. But during the balance of the trip, and for many days
thereafter, he was moody and distraught. Occasionally the thought
obtruded itself that possibly at some later day Tarzan would regret his
magnanimity, and claim his rights.

Several days after they reached Baltimore Clayton broac