He sniffs the air, growls, “You… Porter?” The voice is hoarse, as if rarely used.
V. The Bargain To earn freedom, Jane must heal Olsen, who is fevered from poison. Tarzan leads her to a hidden hot spring where orchid sap mixed with charcoal draws out toxins. While she works, she teaches Tarzan words he has forgotten: “forgiveness,” “accident,” “love.” He teaches her to listen—to hear parrots gossip, to feel elephants’ seismic songs.
Jane opens the camera, exposes the nitrate to the sun, and burns the reels. “No more trophies,” she says.
–––––––––––––––––––– The End
By dawn, the soldiers are dead, Olsen is wounded, and their canoes are stove in. Kutu whispers the name the local Bantu fear to say: “Mangani. The ghost-ape. He protects the orchid vale.”
Night by night, the camera records not the savage white ape but a man learning to be human again. Olsen, half-delirious, mutters, “If we get out, this film will make millions.” Jane pockets the reels, uneasy.