Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle · Chapter
The Cross explained
Jim Blake, separated from his safari while hunting lion photographs, is struck by lightning and loses his rifle and camera.
What happens
Jim Blake, separated from his safari while hunting lion photographs, is struck by lightning and loses his rifle and camera. Stranded and lost, he wanders for two days through the forest, surviving a leopard attack. On the third day he emerges at a mountain range and follows a stream into a canyon, where he encounters a massive ancient limestone cross. Despite a sense of menace, he passes it and is immediately captured by two armed negroes wearing crusader-style crosses and armor.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Resilience
Blake endures a lightning strike, being lost, hunger, and a leopard attack, demonstrating resilience in the wilderness.
Civilization vs. Wilderness
Blake's journey from the wild forest to the mysterious cross and armed men blurs the line between untamed nature and an unknown civilization.
Characters to notice
- James Hunter Blake
Separated from his safari after a lightning strike, lost in the forest for two days, and captured by armed men after passing the cross.
Key passages
“The storm that had overtaken Stimbol’s safari wrought even greater havoc with the plans of Jim Blake, altering in the instant of a single blinding flash of lightning the course of his entire life.”
The same storm that disrupted Stimbol's expedition drastically changed Jim Blake's life in a single lightning flash.
Opening sentence establishing the storm's pivotal impact on Blake.
“In the midst of a tremendous forest, entirely surrounded by trees, Nature had chosen to strike him down almost in the center of a natural clearing.”
Blake was struck down by lightning in a small clearing deep within the vast forest.
Describes the location of the lightning strike.
“The most difficult feat that he had ever accomplished lay in making his legs behave themselves. They wanted to run. So did his feet and his heart and his brain. Only his will held them in leash.”
Blake's greatest challenge was forcing himself to walk calmly toward the lions when every instinct screamed to run.
Highlights Blake's internal struggle and courage facing the lions.
“Standing there, tongueless, hoary with age, it seemed to call upon him to stop, to venture not beyond it into the unknown; it warned him back, but not, seemingly, out of a spirit of kindliness and protection, but rather with arrogance and hate.”
The ancient cross seemed to command him to halt, issuing a hostile warning rather than a benevolent one.
Describes the menacing aura of the cross.