1895 July The Return Of Tarzan

Date:  toward the evening of July 23, 1895

Event:  Tarzan, Jane, and the Waziri arrive at William Cecil Clayton's rude shelter in time to watch him die.

Source:  "Toward evening he arose again for a brief moment." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. 

Chat: Just before Clayton dies, he utters a statement that hints the incidents in Northern Wisconsin occurred a little cover over a year ago. "I only wish to do now the thing I should have done over a year." ERB- The Return Of Tarzan. In the timeline, it is a year and a day which agrees with William Cecil Clayton's dying statement. 

Joe Kubert

Date:  the next morning July 24,1895

Event: Tarzan and company set out for the Greystoke cabin taking William Cecil Clayton's body to be buried beside John and Alice.                    

Source: "It had been the ape man's suggestion that Clayton is buried beside the former Lord Greystike near the edge of the jungle against the cabin that the older man had built." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. 

Joe Kubert

Date:  July 24, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and company run into Jane's father, Professor Archimedes Q. P Porter.

Source:  "They had proceeded some three miles of the five that had separated them from Tarzan's own beach when the Waziri who were ahead stopped suddenly," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

The Return Of Tarzan

Date:  July 24, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and company reach the cabin to discover Lieutenant Paul D'Arnot and the others. Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) and Lord Tennington were out hunting.

Source:  "A short time later the strange party came to the clearing in which stood the ape-man's cabin."  ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Chat:  This is the second time French sailors have been on Portuguese Angolan soil to rescue the Porters. "D'Arnot's ship had been cruising along the coast, on patrol duty, when at the lieutenant's suggestion they had anchored off the little landlocked harbor to have another look at the cabin and the jungle in which many of the officers and men had taken part in exciting adventures two years before." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. This passage clearly informs us The Return Of Tarzan covers a span of two years.

Russ Manning

Date:  July 24, 1895

Event:  Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) and Lord Tennington return and Nickolas Roloff is arrested by Captain Dufranne. Tarzan recaptures Lieutenant Gernois' secret papers.

Source:  "A half hour later Rockoff and Tennington emerged from the jungle." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  sunset July 24, 1895

Event:  William Cecil Clayton is buried.

Source:  "At sunset, they buried William Cecil Clayton beside the jungle graves of his aunt, the former Lord and Lady Greystoke." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Chat:  Notice that Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, specifically points out that William Cecil Clayton is buried on Alice's graveside and not John's. Ever wonder if that is a hint Tarzan is buried beside his father in the far distant future?

Joe Kubert

Date:  July 26, 1895

Event:  Tarzan returned with the second load of gold.

Source:  "The next day he returned to camp with the balance of his ingots," ERB-The Return Of  Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  July 27, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and Jane, Lord Tennington, and Hazel Strong were married in a double wedding by Jane's father Professor Archimedes Q. Porter who was an ordained Presbyterian minister.

Source:  "So the entire party assembled within the little cabin and above the door to witness the second ceremony that Professor Porter was to solemnize within three days." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  July 28, 1895

Event:  The French steam cruiser sailed for civilization.

Source:  "The next day they sailed." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

About The Author

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines, over a span of forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more excepted date May 1888.

James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, and Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022. Swordsman On Unium is going through the publishing process.