"Why didn't you tell me that you knew Jerry Jerome?" she countered.
"I didn't know that I knew him," he explained. "I never knew The Kid's name. He didn't tell me and I never asked."
"There was a reason why I couldn't tell you," said The Kid; "but it's all right now. Jessie just told me."
"You see,—" she hesitated.
"Hi," prompted Old Timer.
The girl smiled and flushed slightly. "You see, Hi," she commenced again, "Jerry thought that he had killed a man. I am going to tell you the whole story because you and he have been such close friends.
"Jerry was in love with a girl in our town. He learned one night that an older man, a man with a vile reputation, had enticed her to his apartment. Jerry went there and broke in. The man was furious, and in the fight that followed Jerry shot him. Then he took the girl home, swearing her to secrecy about her part in the affair. That same night he ran away, leaving a note saying that he had shot Sam Berger, but giving no reason.
"Berger did not die and refused to prosecute; so the case was dropped. We knew that Jerry had run away to save the girl from notoriety, more than from fear of punishment; but we did not know where he had gone. I didn't know where to look for him for a long time.
"Then Berger was shot and killed by another girl, and in the meantime I got a clue from an old school friend of Jerry's and knew that he had come to Africa. Now there was absolutely no reason why he should not return home; and I started out to look for him."
"And you found him," said Old Timer.
"I found something else," said the girl, but he did not catch her meaning.
It was late when they arrived at the village of Bobolo, which they found in a state of excitement. The officer marched his men directly into the village and formed them so that they could command any situation that might arise.
At sight of The Kid and Old Timer and the girl Bobolo appeared frightened. He sought to escape from the village, but the soldiers stopped him, and then the officer informed him that he was under arrest. Bobolo did not ask why. He knew.
"Where is the witch-doctor called Sobito?" demanded the officer.
Bobolo trembled. "He is gone," he said.
"Where?" demanded the officer.
"To Tumbai," replied Bobolo. "A little while ago a demon came and carried him away. He dropped into the village from the sky and took Sobito up in his arms as though he had no weight at all. Then he cried, 'Sobito is going back to the village of Tumbai!', and he ran through the gateway and was gone into the forest before anyone could stop him."
"Did anyone try?" inquired Old Timer with a grin.
"No," admitted Bobolo. "Who could stop a spirit?"
The sun was sinking behind the western forest, its light playing upon the surging current of the great river that rolled past the village of Bobolo. A man and a woman stood looking out across the water that was plunging westward in its long journey to the sea down to the trading posts and the towns and the ships, which are the frail links that connect the dark forest with civilization.
"Tomorrow you will start," said the man. "In six or eight weeks you will be home. Home!" There was a world of wistfulness in the simple, homely word. He sighed. "I am so glad for both of you."
She came closer to him and stood directly in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. "You are coming with us," she said.
"What makes you think so?" he asked.
"Because I love you, you will come."
THE END
EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS TARZAN'S QUEST BOOK 19 IN THE TARZAN SERIES Serialized in The Blue Book Magazine, October 1935—March 1936
First Book Edition—Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., September 1936
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. The Princess Sborov
Chapter 2. Sound Above The Storm
Chapter 3. Out Of Gas
Chapter 4. In The Kraal Of Udalo
Chapter 5. "The Lion Is Coming!"
Chapter 6. The Ballot Of Death
Chapter 7. The Merry Company
Chapter 8. Ydeni, The Kavuru
Chapter 9. Sheeta, The Leopard
Chapter 10. Abduction
Chapter 11. "Seventy Million Dollars"
Chapter 12. Murder In The Night
Chapter 13. Treachery
Chapter 14. Nkima Forgets
Chapter 15. A Bit Of Cloth
Chapter 16. The Message
Chapter 17. The Snake
Chapter 18. A Bit OF Paper
Chapter 19. Hate And Lust
Chapter 20. Nkima Plays A Game
Chapter 21. Only Two Left
Chapter 22. Stalked By Numa
Chapter 23. Captive
Chapter 24. Down Into Darkness
Chapter 25. Defeat
Chapter 26. Tarzan Stalks Brown
Chapter 27. Madmen And Leopards
Chapter 28. Kavandavanda
Chapter 29. To What Doom?
Chapter 30. "The Dead Men Fly!"
Chapter 31. The Wages Of Sin
1. THE PRINCESS SBOROV
"My dear Jane, you know everyone."
"Not quite, Hazel; but one sees everyone in the Savoy."
"Who is that woman at the second table to our right?—the one who spoke so cordially. There is something very familiar about her—I'm sure I've seen her before."
"You probably have. Don't you remember Kitty Krause?"
"O-oh, yes; now I recall her. But she went with an older crowd."
"Yes, she's a full generation ahead of us; but Kitty'd like to forget that and have everyone else forget it."
"Let's see—she married Peters, the cotton king, didn't she?"
"Yes, and when he died he left her so many millions she didn't have enough fingers to count 'em on; so the poor woman will never know how rich she is."