Chap­ter 13 – The Beasts of Tarzan begins with Jane Clay­ton con­fronting a renewed hor­ror. Cap­tured once again by the ever-per­sis­tent Rokoff, she is brought face-to-face with the cru­el inten­tions of a man dri­ven by vengeance and pride. In his twist­ed attempt to strike at Tarzan, Rokoff presents Jane with a child, under the impres­sion that it is her own son. He mocks her mater­nal instincts, plan­ning to turn the child over to a can­ni­bal tribe, using this act as a sym­bol­ic vic­to­ry over Tarzan. What he doesn’t know is that the child in ques­tion is not alive. Jane had already real­ized this, and with a calm exte­ri­or, she watch­es as Rokoff dis­cov­ers the truth—his plan shat­tered. His face con­torts with rage, not only because he has failed, but because he was deceived by a woman he con­sid­ers beneath him.

Rokoff’s fury does not set­tle. In a fren­zy of spite, he threat­ens Jane with one of the most har­row­ing fates imaginable—he intends to make her the bride of a sav­age chief, but not before exact­ing his own con­trol over her. His threats reek of des­per­a­tion, mask­ing his crum­bling dom­i­nance. Jane, ter­ri­fied yet unbro­ken, men­tal­ly dis­tances her­self from his words, her mind focused on her real son, Jack, whom she believes is still safe in Lon­don. Despite being sur­round­ed by jun­gle dan­gers and human deprav­i­ty, she draws strength from this belief. It serves as her invis­i­ble armor, allow­ing her to endure with­out col­laps­ing under pres­sure. In this grim sit­u­a­tion, her abil­i­ty to main­tain com­po­sure reveals the deep reserves of strength she rarely had rea­son to call upon before.

Forced to march through the jun­gle to Rokoff’s encamp­ment, Jane remains ever alert. Her steps may seem sub­mis­sive, but her thoughts are alive with cal­cu­la­tion. Each detail she absorbs—the weapons, the lay­out of the camp, the posi­tion of guards—feeds her plan. Once inside Rokoff’s tent, for­tune favors her resolve. The Russ­ian, arro­gant and dis­tract­ed, under­es­ti­mates her deter­mi­na­tion. Jane seizes a moment when his guard drops, grab­bing his revolver and strik­ing him with a blow fueled by months of trau­ma and a desire for jus­tice. Rokoff falls uncon­scious, and Jane, with­out hes­i­ta­tion, snuffs out the lantern’s light, plung­ing the area into dark­ness.

This crit­i­cal moment is more than a phys­i­cal vic­to­ry. It is a recla­ma­tion of pow­er. For too long, Jane has endured—now she acts. The jun­gle out­side roars and hums, a dan­ger­ous realm, but for her, it promis­es some­thing else: free­dom. Step­ping into its shad­owy depths is a risk, but it offers more than cap­tiv­i­ty ever could. Jane weighs her next move with urgency. Her life and the hope of find­ing Tarzan or allies depend on the choic­es she makes with­in the next few hours. Each rus­tle in the under­brush could be a predator—or a path to sal­va­tion.

Jane’s escape into the jun­gle is not just about flee­ing Rokoff. It is also a tri­al of her own inner for­ti­tude. Hav­ing lived as a noble­woman in soci­ety, she is far removed from the wilder­ness. Yet now, every vine she push­es aside and every hid­den trail she fol­lows reshapes her into some­thing stronger. Though the jungle’s dan­gers loom large, her will to sur­vive out­paces the threat. She is dri­ven not by fear, but by the belief that her child is wait­ing some­where, safe and unaware of the sac­ri­fices made for him. This belief shields her from despair and sharp­ens her instincts. Even in exhaus­tion, she press­es for­ward, refus­ing to suc­cumb.

Back at the camp, con­fu­sion spreads like wild­fire. Rokoff’s men dis­cov­er his con­di­tion but fail to under­stand what exact­ly hap­pened. Some sus­pect an ani­mal attack, oth­ers whis­per about jun­gle spir­its, and a few blame each oth­er. The absence of Jane sends unease rip­pling through the group, already strained by their leader’s increas­ing­ly vio­lent out­bursts. With­out her pres­ence and with­out guid­ance, their cohe­sion begins to frac­ture. Mean­while, the jun­gle reclaims the woman who van­ished into its depths, offer­ing her both dan­ger and dis­guise. Her fate becomes a mys­tery, hid­den by shad­ows and silence.

This chap­ter does more than show­case anoth­er thrilling escape. It deep­ens the trans­for­ma­tion of Jane Clay­ton from a pas­sive cap­tive into an active force of sur­vival. Her choic­es under pres­sure, her intel­li­gence, and her brav­ery serve as a coun­ter­bal­ance to the cru­el­ty of Rokoff and the wild nature of the jun­gle. It high­lights that true strength often lies not in brute force but in the unshak­en spir­it of some­one fight­ing for love, fam­i­ly, and jus­tice. As she dis­ap­pears into the wilder­ness, Jane’s jour­ney con­tin­ues, now guid­ed by her own hand rather than some­one else’s chains.