Chapter 5
The Plot That Failed
For a month Tarzan was a regular and very welcome devotee at the shrineof the beautiful Countess de Coude. Often he met other members of theselect little coterie that dropped in for tea of an afternoon. Moreoften Olga found devices that would give her an hour of Tarzan alone.
For a time she had been frightened by what Nikolas had insinuated. Shehad not thought of this big, young man as anything more than friend,but with the suggestion implanted by the evil words of her brother shehad grown to speculate much upon the strange force which seemed toattract her toward the gray-eyed stranger. She did not wish to lovehim, nor did she wish his love.
She was much younger than her husband, and without having realized itshe had been craving the haven of a friendship with one nearer her ownage. Twenty is shy in exchanging confidences with forty. Tarzan wasbut two years her senior. He could understand her, she felt. Then hewas clean and honorable and chivalrous. She was not afraid of him.That she could trust him she had felt instinctively from the first.
From a distance Rokoff had watched this growing intimacy with maliciousglee. Ever since he had learned that Tarzan knew that he was a Russianspy there had been added to his hatred for the ape-man a great fearthat he would expose him. He was but waiting now until the moment waspropitious for a master stroke. He wanted to rid himself forever ofTarzan, and at the same time reap an ample revenge for the humiliationsand defeats that he had suffered at his hands.
Tarzan was nearer to contentment than he had been since the peace andtranquility of his jungle had been broken in upon by the advent of themarooned Porter party. He enjoyed the pleasant social intercourse withOlga's friends, while the friendship which had sprung up between thefair countess and himself was a source of never-ending delight. Itbroke in upon and dispersed his gloomy thoughts, and served as a balmto his lacerated heart.
Sometimes D'Arnot accompanied him on his visits to the De Coude home,for he had long known both Olga and the count. Occasionally De Coudedropped in, but the multitudinous affairs of his official position andthe never-ending demands of politics kept him from home usually untillate at night.
Rokoff spied upon Tarzan almost constantly, waiting for the time thathe should call at the De Coude palace at night, but in this he wasdoomed to disappointment. On several occasions Tarzan accompanied thecountess to her home after the opera, but he invariably left her at theentrance--much to the disgust of the lady's devoted brother.
Finding that it seemed impossible to trap Tarzan through any voluntaryact of his own, Rokoff and Paulvitch put their heads together to hatcha plan that would trap the ape-man in all the circumstantial evidenceof a compromising position.
For days they watched the papers as well as the movements of De Coudeand Tarzan. At length they were rewarded. A morning paper made briefmention of a smoker that was to be given on the following evening bythe German minister. De Coude's name was among those of the invitedguests. If he attended this meant that he would be absent from hishome until after midnight.
On the night of the banquet Paulvitch waited at the curb before theresidence of the German minister, where he could scan the face of eachguest that arrived. He had not long to wait before De Coude descendedfrom his car and passed him. That was enough. Paulvitch hastened backto his quarters, where Rokoff awaited him. There they waited untilafter eleven, then Paulvitch took down the receiver of their telephone.He called a number.
"The apartments of Lieutenant D'Arnot?" he asked, when he had obtainedhis connection.
"A message for Monsieur Tarzan, if he will be so kind as to step to thetelephone."
For a minute there was silence.
"Monsieur Tarzan?"
"Ah, yes, monsieur, this is Francois--in the service of the Countess deCoude. Possibly monsieur does poor Francois the honor to recallhim--yes?
"Yes, monsieur. I have a message, an urgent message from the countess.She asks that you hasten to her at once--she is in trouble, monsieur.
"No, monsieur, poor Francois does not know. Shall I tell madame thatmonsieur will be here shortly?
"Thank you, monsieur. The good God will bless you."
Paulvitch hung up the receiver and turned to grin at Rokoff.
"It will take him thirty minutes to get there. If you reach the Germanminister's in fifteen, De Coude should arrive at his home in aboutforty-five minutes. It all depends upon whether the fool will remainfifteen minutes after he finds that a trick has been played upon him;but unless I am mistaken Olga will be loath to let him go in so short atime as that. Here is the note for De Coude. Hasten!"
Paulvitch lost no time in reaching the German minister's. At the doorhe handed the note to a footman. "This is for the Count de Coude. Itis very urgent. You must see that it is placed in his hands at once,"and he dropped a piece of silver into the willing hand of the servant.Then he returned to his quarters.
A moment later De Coude was apologizing to his host as he tore open theenvelope. What he read left his face white and his hand trembling.
MONSIEUR LE COUNT DE COUDE:
One who wishes to save the honor of your name takes this means to warnyou that the sanctity of your home is this minute in jeopardy.
A certain man who for months has been a constant visitor there duringyour absence is now with your wife. If you go at once to yourcountess' boudoir you will find them together.
A FRIEND.
Twenty minutes after Paulvitch had called Tarzan, Rokoff obtained aconnection with Olga's private line. Her maid answered the telephonewhich was in the countess' boudoir.
"But madame has retired," said the maid, in answer to Rokoff's requestto speak with her.
"This is a very urgent message for the countess' ears alone," repliedRokoff. "Tell her that she must arise and slip something about her andcome to the telephone. I shall call up again in five minutes." Thenhe hung up his receiver. A moment later Paulvitch entered.
"The count has the message?" asked Rokoff.
"He should be on his way to his home by now," replied Paulvitch.
"Good! My lady will be sitting in her boudoir, very much in negligee,about now. In a minute the faithful Jacques will escort MonsieurTarzan into her presence without announcing him. It will take a fewminutes for explanations. Olga will look very alluring in the filmycreation that is her night-dress, and the clinging robe which but halfconceals the charms that the former does not conceal at all. Olga willbe surprised, but not displeased.
"If there is a drop of red blood in the man the count will break inupon a very pretty love scene in about fifteen minutes from now. Ithink we have planned marvelously, my dear Alexis. Let us go out anddrink to the very good health of Monsieur Tarzan in some of oldPlancon's unparalleled absinth; not forgetting that the Count de Coudeis one of the best swordsmen in Paris, and by far the best shot in allFrance."
When Tarzan reached Olga's, Jacques was awaiting him at the entrance.
"This way, Monsieur," he said, and led the way up the broad, marblestaircase. In another moment he had opened a door, and, drawing asidea heavy curtain, obsequiously bowed Tarzan into a dimly lightedapartment. Then Jacques vanished.
Across the room from him Tarzan saw Olga seated before a little desk onwhich stood her telephone. She was tapping impatiently upon thepolished surface of the desk. She had not heard him enter.
"Olga," he said, "what is wrong?"
She turned toward him with a little cry of alarm.
"Jean!" she cried. "What are you doing here? Who admitted you? Whatdoes it mean?"
Tarzan was thunderstruck, but in an instant he realized a part of thetruth.
"Then you did not send for me, Olga?"
"Send for you at this time of night? MON DIEU! Jean, do you thinkthat I am quite mad?"
"Francois telephoned me to come at once; that you were in trouble andwanted me."
"Francois? Who in the world i
s Francois?"
"He said that he was in your service. He spoke as though I shouldrecall the fact."
"There is no one by that name in my employ. Some one has played a jokeupon you, Jean," and Olga laughed.
"I fear that it may be a most sinister 'joke,' Olga," he replied."There is more back of it than humor."
"What do you mean? You do not think that--"
"Where is the count?" he interrupted.
"At the German ambassador's."
"This is another move by your estimable brother. Tomorrow the countwill hear of it. He will question the servants. Everything will pointto--to what Rokoff wishes the count to think."
"The scoundrel!" cried Olga. She had arisen, and come close to Tarzan,where she stood looking up into his face. She was very frightened. Inher eyes was an expression that the hunter sees in those of a poor,terrified doe--puzzled--questioning. She trembled, and to steadyherself raised her hands to his broad shoulders. "What shall we do,Jean?" she whispered. "It is terrible. Tomorrow all Paris will readof it--he will see to that."
Her look, her attitude, her words were eloquent of the age-old appealof defenseless woman to her natural protector--man. Tarzan took one ofthe warm little hands that lay on his breast in his own strong one.The act was quite involuntary, and almost equally so was the instinctof protection that threw a sheltering arm around the girl's shoulders.
The result was electrical. Never before had he been so close to her.In startled guilt they looked suddenly into each other's eyes, andwhere Olga de Coude should have been strong she was weak, for she creptcloser into the man's arms, and clasped her own about his neck. AndTarzan of the Apes? He took the panting figure into his mighty arms,and covered the hot lips with kisses.
Raoul de Coude made hurried excuses to his host after he had read thenote handed him by the ambassador's butler. Never afterward could herecall the nature of the excuses he made. Everything was quite a blurto him up to the time that he stood on the threshold of his own home.Then he became very cool, moving quietly and with caution. For someinexplicable reason Jacques had the door open before he was halfway tothe steps. It did not strike him at the time as being unusual, thoughafterward he remarked it.
Very softly he tiptoed up the stairs and along the gallery to the doorof his wife's boudoir. In his hand was a heavy walking stick--in hisheart, murder.
Olga was the first to see him. With a horrified shriek she toreherself from Tarzan's arms, and the ape-man turned just in time to wardwith his arm a terrific blow that De Coude had aimed at his head.Once, twice, three times the heavy stick fell with lightning rapidity,and each blow aided in the transition of the ape-man back to theprimordial.
With the low, guttural snarl of the bull ape he sprang for theFrenchman. The great stick was torn from his grasp and broken in twoas though it had been matchwood, to be flung aside as the nowinfuriated beast charged for his adversary's throat. Olga de Coudestood a horrified spectator of the terrible scene which ensued duringthe next brief moment, then she sprang to where Tarzan was murderingher husband--choking the life from him--shaking him as a terrier mightshake a rat.
Frantically she tore at his great hands. "Mother of God!" she cried."You are killing him, you are killing him! Oh, Jean, you are killingmy husband!"
Tarzan was deaf with rage. Suddenly he hurled the body to the floor,and, placing his foot upon the upturned breast, raised his head. Thenthrough the palace of the Count de Coude rang the awesome challenge ofthe bull ape that has made a kill. From cellar to attic the horridsound searched out the servants, and left them blanched and trembling.The woman in the room sank to her knees beside the body of her husband,and prayed.
Slowly the red mist faded from before Tarzan's eyes. Things began totake form--he was regaining the perspective of civilized man. His eyesfell upon the figure of the kneeling woman. "Olga," he whispered. Shelooked up, expecting to see the maniacal light of murder in the eyesabove her. Instead she saw sorrow and contrition.
"Oh, Jean!" she cried. "See what you have done. He was my husband. Iloved him, and you have killed him."
Very gently Tarzan raised the limp form of the Count de Coude and boreit to a couch. Then he put his ear to the man's breast.
"Some brandy, Olga," he said.
She brought it, and together they forced it between his lips.Presently a faint gasp came from the white lips. The head turned, andDe Coude groaned.
"He will not die," said Tarzan. "Thank God!"
"Why did you do it, Jean?" she asked.
"I do not know. He struck me, and I went mad. I have seen the apes ofmy tribe do the same thing. I have never told you my story, Olga. Itwould have been better had you known it--this might not have happened.I never saw my father. The only mother I knew was a ferocious she-ape.Until I was fifteen I had never seen a human being. I was twentybefore I saw a white man. A little more than a year ago I was a nakedbeast of prey in an African jungle.
"Do not judge me too harshly. Two years is too short a time in whichto attempt to work the change in an individual that it has takencountless ages to accomplish in the white race."
"I do not judge at all, Jean. The fault is mine. You must go now--hemust not find you here when he regains consciousness. Good-by."
It was a sorrowful Tarzan who walked with bowed head from the palace ofthe Count de Coude.
Once outside his thoughts took definite shape, to the end that twentyminutes later he entered a police station not far from the Rue Maule.Here he soon found one of the officers with whom he had had theencounter several weeks previous. The policeman was genuinely glad tosee again the man who had so roughly handled him. After a moment ofconversation Tarzan asked if he had ever heard of Nikolas Rokoff orAlexis Paulvitch.
"Very often, indeed, monsieur. Each has a police record, and whilethere is nothing charged against them now, we make it a point to knowpretty well where they may be found should the occasion demand. It isonly the same precaution that we take with every known criminal. Whydoes monsieur ask?"
"They are known to me," replied Tarzan. "I wish to see Monsieur Rokoffon a little matter of business. If you can direct me to his lodgings Ishall appreciate it."
A few minutes later he bade the policeman adieu, and, with a slip ofpaper in his pocket bearing a certain address in a semirespectablequarter, he walked briskly toward the nearest taxi stand.
Rokoff and Paulvitch had returned to their rooms, and were sittingtalking over the probable outcome of the evening's events. They hadtelephoned to the offices of two of the morning papers from which theymomentarily expected representatives to hear the first report of thescandal that was to stir social Paris on the morrow.
A heavy step sounded on the stairway. "Ah, but these newspaper men areprompt," exclaimed Rokoff, and as a knock fell upon the door of theirroom: "Enter, monsieur."
The smile of welcome froze upon the Russian's face as he looked intothe hard, gray eyes of his visitor.
"Name of a name!" he shouted, springing to his feet, "What brings youhere!"
"Sit down!" said Tarzan, so low that the men could barely catch thewords, but in a tone that brought Rokoff to his chair, and keptPaulvitch in his.
"You know what has brought me here," he continued, in the same lowtone. "It should be to kill you, but because you are Olga de Coude'sbrother I shall not do that--now.
"I shall give you a chance for your lives. Paulvitch does not countmuch--he is merely a stupid, foolish little tool, and so I shall notkill him so long as I permit you to live. Before I leave you two alivein this room you will have done two things. The first will be to writea full confession of your connection with tonight's plot--and sign it.
"The second will be to promise me upon pain of death that you willpermit no word of this affair to get into the newspapers. If you donot do both, neither of you will be alive when I pass next through thatdoorway. Do you understand?" And, without waiting for a reply: "Makehaste; there is ink before you, and pap
er and a pen."
Rokoff assumed a truculent air, attempting by bravado to show howlittle he feared Tarzan's threats. An instant later he felt theape-man's steel fingers at his throat, and Paulvitch, who attempted tododge them and reach the door, was lifted completely off the floor, andhurled senseless into a corner. When Rokoff commenced to blacken aboutthe face Tarzan released his hold and shoved the fellow back into hischair. After a moment of coughing Rokoff sat sullenly glaring at theman standing opposite him. Presently Paulvitch came to himself, andlimped painfully back to his chair at Tarzan's command.
"Now write," said the ape-man. "If it is necessary to handle you againI shall not be so lenient."
Rokoff picked up a pen and commenced to write.
"See that you omit no detail, and that you mention every name,"cautioned Tarzan.
Presently there was a knock at the door. "Enter," said Tarzan.
A dapper young man came in. "I am from the MATIN," he announced. "Iunderstand that Monsieur Rokoff has a story for me."
"Then you are mistaken, monsieur," replied Tarzan. "You have no storyfor publication, have you, my dear Nikolas."
Rokoff looked up from his writing with an ugly scowl upon his face.
"No," he growled, "I have no story for publication--now."
"Nor ever, my dear Nikolas," and the reporter did not see the nastylight in the ape-man's eye; but Nikolas Rokoff did.
"Nor ever," he repeated hastily.
"It is too bad that monsieur has been troubled," said Tarzan, turningto the newspaper man. "I bid monsieur good evening," and he bowed thedapper young man out of the room, and closed the door in his face.
An hour later Tarzan, with a rather bulky manuscript in his coatpocket, turned at the door leading from Rokoff's room.
"Were I you I should leave France," he said, "for sooner or later Ishall find an excuse to kill you that will not in any way compromiseyour sister."
The Return of Tarzan Page 5
