Tarzan followed the spoor of the man and the woman where it led from the hut into the jungle.
As it progressed it became apparent that the woman had been lagging behind, and that she had commenced to limp more and more painfully. Her progress was very slow, and Tarzan could see that the man had not waited for her, but that he had been, in some places, a considerable distance ahead of her.
And so it was that Esteban had forged far ahead of Flora Hawkes, whose bruised and bleeding feet would scarce support her.
'Wait for me, Esteban,' she had pleaded. 'Do not desert me. Do not leave me alone here in this terrible jungle.'
'Then keep up with me,' growled the Spaniard. 'Do you think that with this fortune in my possession I am going to wait here forever in the middle of the jungle for someone to come and take it away from me? No, I am going on to the coast as fast as I can. If you can keep up, well and good. If you cannot, that is your own lookout.'
'But you could not desert me. Even you, Esteban, could not be such a beast after all that you have forced me to do for you.'
The Spaniard laughed. 'You are nothing more to me,' he said, 'than an old glove. With this,' and he held the sack of diamonds before him, 'I can purchase the finest gloves in the capitals of the world—new gloves,' and he laughed grimly at his little joke.
'Esteban, Esteban,' she cried, 'come back; come back. I can go no farther. Do not leave me. Please come back and save me.' But he only laughed at her, and as a turn of the trail shut him from her sight, she sank helpless and exhausted to the ground.
CHAPTER XX
THE DEAD RETURN
That night Esteban made his lonely camp beside a jungle trail that wound through the dry wash of an old river bed, along which a tiny rivulet still trickled, according the Spaniard the water which he craved.
The obsession which possessed him that he was in truth Tarzan of the Apes, imparted to him a false courage, so that he could camp alone upon the ground without recourse to artificial protection of any kind, and fortune had favored him in this respect in that it had sent no prowling beasts of prey to find him upon those occasions that he had dared too much. During the period that Flora Hawkes had been with him he had built shelters for her, but now that he had deserted her and was again alone, he could not, in the role that he had assumed, consider so effeminate an act as the building of even a thorn boma for protection during the darkness of the night.
He did, however, build a fire, for he had made a kill and had not yet reached a point of primitive savagery which permitted him even to imagine that he enjoyed raw meat.
Having devoured what meat he wanted and filled himself at the little rivulet, Esteban came back and squatted before his fire, where he drew the pouch of diamonds from his loin cloth and, opening it, spilled a handful of the precious gems into his palm. The flickering firelight playing upon them sent scintillant gleams shooting into the dark of the surrounding jungle night as the Spaniard let a tiny stream of the sparkling stones trickle from one hand to the other, and in the pretty play of light the Spaniard saw visions of the future—power, luxury, beautiful women—all that great wealth might purchase for a man. With half closed eyes he dreamed of the ideal that he should search the world over to obtain—the dream-woman for whom he had always searched—the dream-woman he had never found, the fit companion for such as Esteban Miranda imagined himself to be. Presently through the dark lashes that veiled his narrowed lids the Spaniard seemed to see before him in the flickering light of his camp fire a vague materialization of the figure of his dream—a woman's figure, clothed in flowing diaphanous white which appeared to hover just above him at the outer rim of his firelight at the summit of the ancient river bank.
It was strange how the vision persisted. Esteban closed his eyes tightly, and then opened them ever so little, and there, as it had been before he closed them, the vision remained. And then he opened his eyes wide, and still the figure of the woman in white floated above him.
Esteban Miranda went suddenly pale. 'Mother of God!' he cried. 'It is Flora. She is dead and has come back to haunt me.'
With staring eyes he slowly rose to his feet to confront the apparition, when in soft and gentle tones it spoke.
'Heart of my heart,' it cried, 'it is really you!'
Instantly Esteban realized that this was no disembodied spirit, nor was it Flora—but who was it? Who was this vision of beauty, alone in the savage African wilderness?
Very slowly now it was descending the embankment and coming toward him. Esteban returned the diamonds to the pouch and replaced it inside his loin cloth.
With outstretched arms the girl came toward him. 'My love, my love,' she cried, 'do not tell me that you do not know me.' She was close enough now for the Spaniard to see her rapidly rising and falling breasts and her lips trembling with love and passion. A sudden wave of hot desire swept over him, so with outstretched arms he sprang forward to meet her and crush her to his breast.
Tarzan, following the spoor of the man and the woman, moved in a leisurely manner along the jungle trail, for he realized that no haste was essential to overtake these two. Nor was he at all surprised when he came suddenly upon the huddled figure of a woman, lying in the center of the pathway. He knelt beside her and laid a hand upon her shoulder, eliciting a startled scream.
'God!' she cried, 'this is the end!'
'You are in no danger,' said the ape-man. 'I will not harm you.'
She turned her eyes and looked up at him. At first she thought he was Esteban. 'You have come back to save me, Esteban?' she asked.
'Esteban!' he exclaimed. 'I am not Esteban. That is not my name.' And then she recognized him.
'Lord Greystoke!' she cried. 'It is really you?'
'Yes,' he said, 'and who are you?'
'I am Flora Hawkes. I was Lady Greystoke's maid.'
'I remember you,' he said. 'What are you doing here?'
'I am afraid to tell you,' she said. 'I am afraid of your anger.'
'Tell me,' he commanded. 'You should know, Flora, that I do not harm women.'
'We came to get gold from the vaults of Opar,' she said. 'But that you know.'
'I know nothing of it,' he replied. 'Do you mean that you were with those Europeans who drugged me and left me in their camp?'
'Yes,' she said, 'we got the gold, but you came with your Waziri and took it from us.'
'I came with no Waziri and took nothing from you,' said Tarzan. 'I do not understand you.'
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, for she knew that Tarzan of the Apes did not lie.
'We became separated,' she said, 'after our men turned against us. Esteban stole me from the others, and then, after a while Kraski found us. He was the Russian. He came with a bagful of diamonds and then Esteban killed him and took the diamonds.'
It was now Tarzan's turn to experience surprise.
'And Esteban is the man who is with you?' he asked.
'Yes,' she said, 'but he has deserted me. I could not walk farther on my sore feet. He has gone and left me here to die and he has taken the diamonds with him.'
'We shall find him,' said the ape-man. 'Come.'
'But I cannot walk,' said the girl.
'That is a small matter,' he said, and, stooping, lifted her to his shoulder.
Easily the ape-man bore the exhausted girl along the trail. 'It is not far to water,' he said, 'and water is what you need. It will help to revive you and give you strength, and perhaps I shall be able to find food for you soon.'
'Why are you so good to me?' asked the girl.
