Chap­ter 15 — The beasts of Tarzan push­es the nar­ra­tive into deep­er ten­sion as Tarzan forges ahead along the wild Ugam­bi Riv­er, chas­ing the faint trail of his kid­napped wife, Jane. He inter­prets the sub­tle signs left in the mud and along the foliage, each mark sug­gest­ing that she was close but under grow­ing dan­ger. With ani­mal instinct sharp­en­ing his focus, Tarzan real­izes that Jane is no longer alone; Rokoff is close, pos­si­bly gain­ing on her. Pan­ic does not over­come him—purpose does. Spot­ting a small canoe in the dis­tance, his heart lurch­es as he iden­ti­fies the fig­ure of Rokoff pad­dling hasti­ly. With a roar that star­tles birds from the tree­tops, Tarzan charges, his feet splash­ing into the riv­er, call­ing Mugam­bi to his side, the beasts surg­ing with them like a liv­ing tidal wave.

The chase becomes a blur of motion. Tarzan, pow­ered by rage and des­per­a­tion, cuts through the water with alarm­ing speed. Rokoff, thrown into pan­ic, attempts to increase dis­tance but is gripped by dread at the sight of his pur­suer. Just when Tarzan clos­es in, a sud­den attack by a lurk­ing riv­er preda­tor pulls him under, and silence falls. Rokoff, shak­en and splat­tered with water, assumes his ene­my is defeat­ed. But the jun­gle teach­es that noth­ing stays buried for long. He flees down­riv­er, think­ing only of escape, nev­er know­ing how close death came. The fear drains him more than the heat or the weight of his stolen free­dom. The jun­gle, how­ev­er, is nev­er mer­ci­ful to the guilty.

While Rokoff van­ish­es into the depths of the jun­gle, tor­ment­ed by para­noia and exhaus­tion, Jane con­tin­ues her lone­ly pas­sage down the Ugam­bi. She rows cau­tious­ly, paus­ing only to rest in hid­den patch­es along the shore, her eyes always alert. The riv­er is both her path and her cage—keeping her mov­ing but not offer­ing safe­ty. Still, she rows with resolve. Each stroke brings her clos­er to either sal­va­tion or per­il. Her hope rests in reach­ing some ves­sel, some sig­nal that civ­i­liza­tion has not ful­ly aban­doned her. Even­tu­al­ly, after days of this exhaust­ing nav­i­ga­tion, she spots a faint sil­hou­ette of a ship—anchored and still.

Jane approach­es the ves­sel, heart pound­ing, unsure whether dan­ger or res­cue awaits. She finds it desert­ed except for a few drunk­en sailors who pose no imme­di­ate threat. With quick think­ing, she locks them in and takes tem­po­rary com­mand of the ves­sel. There’s no time for cel­e­bra­tion. Her sur­vival now depends on her abil­i­ty to stay alert. Every sound from the jun­gle, every rip­ple on the water, could bring allies or ene­mies. Still, Jane pre­pares for the worst, bar­ri­cad­ing her­self as best she can. Her will to fight burns as strong as her long­ing to reunite with Tarzan.

Back in the for­est, Mugam­bi waits anx­ious­ly for signs of Tarzan, unsure if the jun­gle has claimed him or if he stalks silent­ly toward vengeance. The ani­mals, rest­less but loy­al, sense their leader’s absence. Yet none dare aban­don the pur­suit. The wild respects power—and Tarzan’s return would only be a mat­ter of time. Mean­while, Rokoff stum­bles through unfa­mil­iar ter­rain, tor­ment­ed not only by the land­scape but by the cer­tain­ty that Tarzan is not dead. His steps are clum­sy, his thoughts frag­ment­ed. Every rustling branch becomes a threat, every shad­ow a preda­tor. His con­trol is unrav­el­ing.

This chap­ter under­scores the raw per­se­ver­ance that defines its char­ac­ters. Tarzan, even sub­merged by nature’s threats, refus­es to sur­ren­der. Jane, sur­round­ed by dan­ger, still seizes moments of courage to stand her ground. Rokoff, in con­trast, illus­trates how fear can destroy a man faster than any beast. The nar­ra­tive puls­es with urgency, pulling read­ers deep­er into a sto­ry where love fuels endurance, and revenge lurks behind every tree. As the riv­er nar­rows, the paths of these char­ac­ters are set to col­lide again—with fate and fury lead­ing the way.