Chap­ter 14 – The Beasts of Tarzan opens with Tarzan fol­low­ing the slow but deter­mined guid­ance of Tam­budza, an elder­ly woman whose frail body still car­ries deep knowl­edge of the jun­gle paths. Though slowed by age and chron­ic aches, Tambudza’s resolve helps guide Tarzan through the under­brush toward the encamp­ment where the Russ­ian adver­sary, Rokoff, had last been seen. Each step they take feels loaded with urgency as Tarzan grows more anx­ious over Jane’s fate, uncer­tain of how far ahead or how much dan­ger she faces. The jun­gle around them breathes with life, but every dis­tant sound only sharp­ens Tarzan’s instinct, mak­ing the jour­ney feel even longer. Tam­budza, despite her limp and weari­ness, push­es for­ward, know­ing the stakes are high for the man who walks beside her. Her qui­et under­stand­ing of the ter­rain offers direc­tion where maps can­not, and her bond with the jun­gle becomes Tarzan’s path to hope.

At the same time, chaos brews at Rokoff’s camp. Hav­ing learned of Tarzan’s approach, Rokoff erupts in a fit of fury upon dis­cov­er­ing Jane has van­ished. His reac­tion is not mere­ly frus­tra­tion but full-blown rage, unleash­ing ver­bal attacks and threats on the very men who have trav­eled with him through this dan­ger­ous land. The emo­tion­al storm he ignites begins to frac­ture his ten­u­ous grip over the group. Dis­trust and fear grow rapid­ly among his fol­low­ers, not only toward the jun­gle but now toward Rokoff him­self. As his threats become unpre­dictable and his vio­lence increas­es, his men begin to weigh their loy­al­ty against their sur­vival. In a move that seals his fate, some of them aban­don him out­right, steal­ing what sup­plies they can and dis­ap­pear­ing into the dense jun­gle, seek­ing their own routes back to safe­ty. His camp, once a cen­ter of con­trol, falls apart under the weight of his own para­noia and cru­el­ty.

Soon after, Tarzan reach­es the aban­doned camp. What he finds con­firms the chaos: items are strewn about, signs of a quick and pan­icked exo­dus are clear, and there is no trace of either Rokoff or Jane. His heart sinks. The trail has grown cold, and his fears begin to hard­en into grim deter­mi­na­tion. With lit­tle left to do there, he turns back toward the vil­lage of M’ganwazam, hop­ing some­one might have seen where Jane went or over­heard whis­pers of her cap­ture. As he moves with urgency, the jun­gle seems to close in tighter around him, press­ing his patience and resolve. In his mind, fail­ure is not an option—each moment mat­ters, and he clings to the belief that Jane is still alive, still out there some­where wait­ing for him to find her.

Mean­while, Jane faces her own test of endurance. Left to her own devices, she sur­vives by recall­ing the acts of brav­ery shown to her by those like Ander­ssen, who sac­ri­ficed him­self to give her a chance at free­dom. Retriev­ing the hid­den rifle he left behind, she arms her­self for what­ev­er might come. The jun­gle, unfa­mil­iar and per­ilous, demands that she not only stay hid­den but also act wise­ly at every turn. Her strength, pre­vi­ous­ly untest­ed in such con­di­tions, is now emerg­ing, honed by the con­stant pres­sure of threat and neces­si­ty. As she moves qui­et­ly, she wit­ness­es a strange and awe-inspir­ing moment: an ape, a man, and a pan­ther stand­ing togeth­er with­out con­flict. Unknown to her, the man is Tarzan. The har­mo­ny of this scene chal­lenges every­thing she knows about the wild, about fear, and about sur­vival.

Even­tu­al­ly, she finds her way to the riv­er, where a hid­den canoe offers the promise of escape. She unties it and pre­pares to set off, her thoughts rac­ing with the hope of find­ing safer ground. Just as she is about to depart, Rokoff stum­bles into view. No longer the intim­i­dat­ing vil­lain she once feared, he is now des­per­ate, beg­ging to be tak­en along. Jane, see­ing through his cow­ardice, refus­es his pleas. She push­es away from the shore, watch­ing as he is left behind in the grow­ing shad­ows, no longer a cap­tor, but a bro­ken man left to the jungle’s mer­cy. That deci­sion reflects her growth—not just in courage but in judg­ment, rec­og­niz­ing who deserves help and who must face the con­se­quences of their cru­el­ty alone.

The jun­gle, unpre­dictable and wild, becomes a reflec­tion of the inner trans­for­ma­tions expe­ri­enced by every char­ac­ter. Tarzan, though wound­ed by uncer­tain­ty, charges for­ward with an unbreak­able will to find the woman he loves. Jane, now far more than a damsel in dis­tress, takes con­trol of her own sur­vival with increas­ing con­fi­dence and clar­i­ty. Rokoff, the archi­tect of so much suf­fer­ing, final­ly finds him­self alone, exposed to the very wilder­ness he thought he could manip­u­late. In this chap­ter, the jun­gle is not mere­ly a setting—it is a force that tests, reveals, and rede­fines each indi­vid­ual. From vengeance to resilience, betray­al to redemp­tion, these moments mark the shift­ing tides of con­trol and char­ac­ter. And as the rivers run and the for­est watch­es, the fates of these lives edge ever clos­er to their inevitable clash.