Chap­ter 17 — The beasts of Tarzan unfolds with Mugam­bi steer­ing a dugout canoe along the wind­ing riv­er, accom­pa­nied by a native woman and the fierce beasts loy­al to Tarzan. Trav­el­ing silent­ly under the night sky, they glide swift­ly through the dark cur­rent, their mis­sion singular—to return to Tarzan and aid him. The wild ener­gy with­in the canoe is bare­ly restrained, with the ani­mals rest­less but instinc­tive­ly aligned with Mugambi’s calm author­i­ty. Sud­den­ly, a sur­prise encounter dis­rupts their stealthy pas­sage as they col­lide with anoth­er canoe occu­pied by men loy­al to Rokoff. A flur­ry of con­fu­sion erupts, gun­shots ring through the night, and the star­tled ani­mals snarl in chaos. The vio­lence of the moment echoes across the water, sum­mon­ing the atten­tion of Tarzan, who is near­by but unaware the “Kin­caid” has already moved down­stream.

As the echo of gun­fire slices through the still­ness, Tarzan quick­ly aban­dons his posi­tion and rush­es toward the dis­tur­bance. His trained sens­es read the direc­tion and urgency of the sounds, lead­ing him clos­er to dan­ger. At the same time, the “Kin­caid” has float­ed unex­pect­ed­ly due to the river’s shift­ing cur­rents, its course altered by an eddy, plac­ing Jane Clay­ton once again in per­il. She stands on the ves­sel, unaware of how close her res­cue is or the loom­ing con­flict that will decide her fate. Tarzan, now fueled by wor­ry and rage, arrives in time to con­front the sit­u­a­tion unrav­el­ing before him. The bat­tle that ensues on the deck is swift and fero­cious. With Mugambi’s war­riors and the sav­age beasts fight­ing at his side, Tarzan seizes con­trol.

Among the pan­ic, Rokoff tries to reclaim dom­i­nance but fails to inspire loy­al­ty. His cow­ardice becomes vis­i­ble to all, his voice trem­bling as he com­mands retreat. Real­iz­ing his fall from pow­er, his own crew turns against him. In a chill­ing moment of jus­tice, Rokoff is hurled from the ves­sel into the shad­ows of the jun­gle. There, Shee­ta the pan­ther awaits—her fangs deliv­er­ing a judg­ment that years of con­fronta­tion had been build­ing toward. Tarzan watch­es, not with pity but with sat­is­fac­tion, under­stand­ing that fate often meets cru­el­ty with a mir­ror. Jane’s pres­ence tem­pers his wrath, ensur­ing the safe­ty of the crew takes prece­dence over per­son­al revenge.

The bat­tle sub­sides, but the con­se­quences linger in the silence that fol­lows. Jane is final­ly safe, though exhaust­ed by the string of threats she has endured. Around her stand Tarzan, Mugam­bi, and the now-dis­pers­ing beasts, their bond forged in the cru­cible of the wild. The ship’s sur­vivors stare in awe at the strength and intel­li­gence that Tarzan com­mands. As order returns, the emo­tion­al weight of the jour­ney sets in—each of them changed by what they’ve faced. Though vic­to­ry has been earned, the jun­gle nev­er tru­ly releas­es those who walk its depths. The group silent­ly pre­pares for what lies ahead, know­ing sur­vival is only momen­tary respite in their unpre­dictable world.

The chap­ter cap­tures the relent­less ten­sion that defines Tarzan’s sto­ry, high­light­ing themes of loy­al­ty, jus­tice, and instinct. It is not only a tale of sur­vival but of identity—how every char­ac­ter, beast or human, reveals their true nature when test­ed by the wild. Tarzan’s restraint in spar­ing Rokoff from his own hands speaks vol­umes of his evolved moral­i­ty, shaped by his love for Jane and the wis­dom earned through hard­ship. This moment also reflects the dichoto­my of man and beast—how Tarzan stands between both worlds, capa­ble of vio­lence, yet gov­erned by pur­pose. With Rokoff gone, the threat that haunt­ed them is final­ly extin­guished. Yet the scars, both phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al, will serve as per­ma­nent reminders of the jungle’s law: only the strong endure, and those with­out hon­or per­ish.