1912 The Son Of Tarzan


Date August 13, 1912. through September 17, 1912
Event:  Thinking Kovudoo's people had killed and eaten Jeanne/Meriem, Jack/Meriem roamed the jungle for a year.
Source:  "For a long year he led his solitary, roaming life." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:   During that period Jack spent most of his time with Tantor, the elephant in between visits to the tribe of Akut and the baboons of the hill country. "Occasionally he fell in with Akut and his tribe, hunting with them for a day or two; or he might travel to the hill country where the baboons had come to accept him as a matter of course; but most of all was he with Tantor, the elephant - the great grey battle ship of the jungle - the super-dread-naught of his savage world." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan


Date August 13, 1912. through September 17, 1912
Event: Thinking Kovudoo's people had killed and eaten Jeanne/Meriem, Jack/Korak roamed the jungle for a year.
Source:  "For a long year he led his solitary, roaming life." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:   During that period Jack spent most of his time with Tantor, the elephant in between visits to the tribe of Akut and the baboons of the hill country. "Occasionally he fell in wt h Akut and his tribe, hunting with them for a day or two; or he might travel to the hill country where the baboons had come to accept him as a matter of course; but most of all was he with Tantor, the elephant - the great grey battle ship of the jungle - the super-dread-naught of his savage world." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan


Date:  August 18, 1912
Event:   Jeanne turned sixteen at the Greystoke farm.
Source: "She was sixteen now, though she easily might have passed for nineteen, and she was very good to look upon, with her black hair and her tanned skin and all the freshness and purity of health and innocence." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  This is a description we can set a solid date to. As a working date, we have concluded that Jeanne/Meriem was born on August 18, 1896. August 18, 1896, plus sixteen equals August 18, 1912.


Date:  August 19, 1912
Event:  Visitors arrived at the Greystoke farm.
Source:  "At last the visitors arrived. There were three men and two women - the wives of the two older men." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 19 is a working date and is not provided by ERB.
Chat:  It is here we learn Jeanne/Meriem has been at the Greystoke farm for one year. "She had ridden much during her year with Bwana and My Dear." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    It is also here we learn that Tarzan does permit European guests to hunt animals for sport and not for food. "When Bwana had gone forth to shoot for meat she had always been his enthusiastic companion, but with the coming of the London guests the hunting had deteriorated into mere killing." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:   August 20, 1912
Event:  While Tarzan and the English guest were out hunting Malbihn witnessed Jeanne/Meriem rescue a goat from Numa, the lion.
Source:  "So Meriem remained behind and spent her days either with My Dear upon the shaded verandah, or riding her favorite pony across the plains or to the forest edge." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 20 is a working date only and is not provided by ERB.
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Date:  August 20, 1912
Event:  After saving the goat, Jeanne came upon Jack's baboon tribe and made friends with them.
Source:  "She was singing blithely; but her song came to a sudden stop when she came within sight of the tree, for there, disporting themselves with glee and pulling and hauling upon her belongings, were a number of baboons." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
Chat:  When the Hon. Morison Baynes asked Meriem if Korak was her husband she replied, "I am to young to have a husband." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    Remember, Jeanne has just turned sixteen at this time. Also, Hon. Morison was from the House of Baynes. "Morison was one that was not at all calculated to detract from the glory of the house of Baynes, or that of its representative." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. August 20, 1912, is a working date and is not provided by ERB.


Date:  several days later on the evening of August 27, 1912 
Event:   Hon. Morison tells Jeanne he loves her.
Source:  "For several days the Hon. Morison made no appreciable progress toward the consummation of his scheme." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. 
    "He was sitting with Meriem upon the verandah one evening after the others had retired." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  Again, the just-turned-sixteen-year-old Jeanne/Meriem informs us she is too young to be married. "I am to young to marry yet, and I am not sure that I would be happy in London or Paris - they rather frighten me." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  the following day August 28, 1912
Event:  A man named Mr. Hanson, of Scandinavian origin, who claimed to be lost rode into the Greystoke farm. Tarzan gave him permission to camp on his property for a couple of weeks.
Source:  "Meriem and Bwana were sitting on the verandah together the following day when a horseman appeared in the distance riding across the plain toward the bungalow, Bwana shaded his eyes with his hand and gazed out toward the oncoming rider." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  While addressing Mr. Hanson Tarzan informs us. "No, there are none to the south of us for many miles," replied Bwana. "Since Kovudoo deserted his country I rather doubt that one could find a native in that direction under two or three hundred miles." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  August 28, 1912, through September 18, 1912
Event:  During his stay, Hanson accompanied Tarzan's guest on several hunting trips.
Source: "He accompanied the men on several hunting trips where they found him perfectly at home and well versed in all the finer points of big game hunting." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  It is here we learn Tarzan's farm foreman is white. "Of an evening he often spent much time with the white foreman of the big farm, evidently finding in the society of this rougher man more common interests than the cultured guests of Bwana possessed for him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    Hanson also later informs us the white foreman's name is, Jervis. "I'd been sitting in the garden," replied the trader, "after leaving Jervis' quarters." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 17, 1912                                                                                                    Event:  Meriem and Hon. Morison went horseback riding in the night.                                  Source:  "And thus matters stood when, one hot night, Meriem, unable to sleep, rose and wandered out into the garden." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                                                        Chat:  Here is our fourth chance to test our 1872 chronology. ERB describes a "hot night". Although Kenya's varied environments experience various climate conditions, the temperature remains comfortably warm year-round. Much of Kenya experiences heavy rainfall from March through May and, to a lesser extent from October through December. The best time for most outdoor activities, including safari and mountain climbing, is during the dry season June through September. Our date September 17 passes the "hot night" climate test provided by ERB.


Date:  September 17, 1912
Event
:  Jeanne/Meriem and Hon. Morison while riding heard Numa, the lion. Jack/Korak, on the back of Tantor, the elephant, picked up the scent of Numa, and man. Jack/Korak raced to protect the man from Numa.
Source:  "Meriem and Baynes had drawn up in a small, natural clearing." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
       "Behind him the other that had caught his scent and that of man together came to a sitting posture upon the branch of a tree in which he had reposed himself for slumber." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 17, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak wounds a charging lion, and Jeanne/Meriem and Hon, Morison escape safely.                                                                                                                                        Source:  "He did not wish to be seen, nor had he." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 17, 1912
Event:  Hanson hears the commotion and shows up in time to kill the wounded lion, who is still attacking.
Source:  "Hanson had almost reached the wood when he heard the lion's terrific roars, and knew that the charge had come." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 17, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak retrieved his spear from the dead lion and watched as Jeanne/Meriem, who he had not recognized, Hon. Morison and Hanson made their way toward Tarzan's farm.
Source:  "He looked after the three figures moving steadily across the plain." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 17, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak slept in a comfortable perch while the others reached the Greystoke farm.
Source:  "Instead he found a comfortable perch in a large tree and was soon asleep." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "At the bungalow Bwana had met the returning adventures on the veranda." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 17, 1912
Event:  Hanson relays the events to Tarzan and offers to take Hon Baynes north to a trading route.
Source:  "And I thought, "continued the trader, "that in as much as I'm about to move you might like to suggest to Mr. Baynes that he go with me." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
     "Baynes," said Bwana, coming directly to the point, "Hanson is leaving for the north tomorrow. He has taken a great fancy to you, and just asked me to say that he'd be glad to have you accompany him. Goodnight, Baynes." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  morning September 18, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison Baynes and Hanson departed from Tarzan's farm. 
Source:  "At Bwana's suggestion Meriem kept to her room the following morning until after the Hon. Morison Baynes had departed." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "For three weeks Hanson had remained." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.
     "Jack, on the back of Tantor, the elephant, picked up the scent of Numa, and man. Jack raced to protect the man from Numa." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.   
SOURCE:  "Meriem and Baynes had drawn up in a small, natural clearing." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "Behind him the other that had caught his scent and that of man together came to a sitting posture upon the branch of a tree in which he had reposed himself for slumber." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 18, 1912
Event:  Upon the trial, Hon. Morison Baynes and Hanson made plans to steal Jeanne/Meriem. 
Source:  "I know what I'd do," said Hanson. "I'd take the girl along with me." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
Chat:  It is here that ERB tells us Tarzan's Kenyan plantation is a two-month quick march from the coast. "She'll have to come, and after it's all over she won't feel so bad about it - especially after livin' with you for two months while we're makin' the coast. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 18, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak happened upon Baynes and Hanson as they made their way to Hanson's northern base camp and he followed them.
Source:  "As they rode through the wood the sounds of their careless passage came to the ears of another jungle wayfarer." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 18, 1912
Event:  Once there Baynes wrote Jeanne/Meriem a note and Hanson's boy raced off to deliver it.
Source:  "Here the Hon. Morison penned a brief note, which Hanson gave into the keeping of one of his boys who started off forthwith toward the south." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  afternoon September 18, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak left Hanson's camp to hunt.
Source:  "He doubted that either of the men would leave camp now before morning, so he withdrew, but toward the south, for there it seemed most likely the girl still was." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  night September 18, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem wandered in the Greystoke's garden while thinking and found a letter from Baynes. The letter asked Jeanne/Meriem to meet Baynes the following morning.
Source:  "In the garden beside the bungalow Meriem wandered thoughtfully in the moonlight." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  before daylight September 19, 1912
Event:  Before daylight, Baynes set out to meet Jeanne/Meriem. Jack/Korak followed.
Source: "It was still dark when the Hon. Morison Baynes set forth for the trysting place. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  nine o'clock September 19, 1912
Event:  Baynes and his guide arrived and the meeting place, along with the following Jack/Korak.
Source:  "It was nine o'clock before Baynes drew rein in the clearing. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  ten o'clock September 19, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem arrived at the meeting place, Jack/Korak recognized his Meriem for the first time but he did not reveal himself.
Source:  "An hour passed. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 19, 1912
Event:  Broken-hearted, the unseen Jack/Korak exited and took up the hunt.
Source:  "Immediately Korak became aware that he was empty-again he was a beast." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 19, 1912
Event:  Jack followed Baynes back to his camp.
Source:  "And so it came that a few minutes after the Hon. Morison Baynes entered the camp to be greeted by Hanson, Jack/Korak slipped noiselessly into a nearby tree." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  dark September 19, 1912
Event:  Baynes remained in camp until after dark.
Source:  "Darkness came and still the young man remained." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  nine o'clock September 19, 1912
Event:  Hanson rode out to meet Jeanne/Meriem for Baynes.
Source: "It was nine o'clock before he saw a solitary figure galloping toward him from the direction of the bungalow." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  night of September 19, 1812, into the morning of September 20, 1912
Event:  Hanson lied to Jeanne/Meriem and led her away from Baynes.
Source:  "All night they rode, straight toward the west." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  night of September 19,1912, into the morning of September 20, 1912
Event:  The native boy Hanson left behind was treed by a lion for the night.
Source:  "Until daylight the beast fed, while the black clung, sleepless, to his perch, wondering what had become of his master and the two ponies." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  night of September 19, 1912, into the morning of September 20, 1912
Event:  Waiting at the Swede's camp the Hon. Morison spent a sleepless night.
Source:  "In the Swede's camp the Hon. Morison had spent an almost sleepless night of nervous apprehension and doubts and fears." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  ERB gives a great description of Tarzan's world at this time. "Baynes had heard much of his host's summary method of dealing out punishment to male factors great and small who transgressed the laws or customs of his savage little world which lay beyond the outer ramparts of what men are pleased to call frontiers. In this savage world where there was no law the Big Bwana was law unto himself and all who dwelt about him. It was even rumored that he had extracted the death penalty from a white man who had maltreated a native girl" ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  shortly after sunrise September 20, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison, and camp, made their way northward.
Source:  "It was the head-man who awoke him shortly after sunrise to remind him that they must at once take up their northward journey." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  shortly after sunrise September 20, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak followed Hon. Morison's group until he realized it was going in the wrong direction. Korak, the killer, set out after Hanson's safari. 
Source:  "Korak had waited about the camp, watching the Hon. Morison until the safari had started north." ERB-The Sun Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 20, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak, from his hiding in a tree, saw Tarzan ride by on a horse but did not recognize him.
Source:  "Korak saw the man pass beneath him where he hid in the great tree that had harbored him before upon the edge of the fateful little clearing." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  morning September 20, 1912
Event:  The following morning Hanson and Jeanne/Meriem stopped for breakfast.
Source: "When morning came, Hanson permitted a short halt for breakfast, which he had provided in well-filled saddle bags before leaving his camp." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 20, 1912
Event:  After breakfast, the two pushed on until the heat of the day.
Source:  "Then they pushed on again, nor did they halt a second time until in the heat of the day he stopped and motioned the girl to dismount." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  noon September 20, 1912
Event:  Hanson's native boy caught up to Hon. Morison's camp and told him about the double cross. Hon. Morison and Hanson's native boy set out for Hanson's camp.
Source:  "It was noon when a tired and sweat-covered runner overtook the trudging little column." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
 

Date:  September 20, 1912
Event:  After the first days march, Hon. Morison was forced to abandon his horse.
Source:  "The black was taking him the shortest way, which was no way at all for a horseman, and after the first day's march the young Englishman was forced to abandon his mount, and follow his nimble guide entirely on foot." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  dark September 20, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison and the native marched until it was too dark to see. 
Source:  "Only when it became too dark to see would he permit a halt." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 20, 1912, through September 21, 1912
Event:  Hanson and Jeanne traveled part of the night and all of the following day. Jeanne/Meriem began to get suspicious.
Source:  "But though they traveled part of the night and all the following day no sign of the safari appeared ahead of them." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Finally Jeanne/Meriem openly challenged Hanson.
Source:  "It was not until the second day, however, that Meriem rebelled." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  mid-afternoon  September 21, 1912
Event:  Hanson and Jeanne/Meriem came upon the banks of a broad river.
Source:  "It was mid afternoon when they suddenly broke out of the jungle upon the banks of a broad and placid river." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Upon reaching Hanson's camp Jeanne/Meriem realized she had been tricked. Also, the sudden realization came over her that Hanson was really the Swede Malbihn.
Source:  "He was the Swede Malbihn who had attacked her once before, who had shot his companion who would have saved her, and from whom she had been rescued by Bwana." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Once in the camp Hanson, who Jeanne/Meriem now knew was Malbihn, attacked the girl but she was able to escape.
Source:  "As Meriem struggled with Malbihn, her hands pinioned to her sides by his brawny grip, hope died within her." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event: Jeanne/Meriem escaped Malbihn's camp but soon realized she had no protection or means to hunt. The girl had no choice but to return to the Swede's camp.
Source:  "And so she turned her face back toward the camp from which she had but just escaped." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event: Jeanne/Meriem discovered pictures and newspaper clippings about herself in Malbihn's tent before she escaped the camp a second time.
Source: "She slipped the photograph into her waist." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem exits the Swede's camp and hides out until Malbihn, and company, canoe upstream. Jeanne/Meriem finds a hidden canoe and crosses the river. Malbihn sees her about halfway across and begins pursuit. 
Source: "his quarry already was half way across the river," ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak not realizing Jeanne/Meriem was in danger, slowly followed Hanson's safari.
Source:  "And in the meantime Korak wandered slowly westward, coming upon the trail of Tantor, the elephant, whom he overtook browsing in the deep shade of the jungle." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
    "Sometimes lolling upon Tantor's back, sometimes roaming the jungle in solitude, Korak made his way slowly toward the West and South. He made but a few miles a day, for he had a whole lifetime before him and no place in particular to go." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Tarzan followed the false trail north.
Source:  "Far to the north the Big Bwana and his black warriors clung tenaciously to the trail of the fleeing safari that was luring them further and further from the girl they sought to save," ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Jane waited impatiently at the bungalow for word about Jeanne/Meriem.
Source:  "while back at the bungalow the woman who had loved Meriem as though she had been her own waited impatiently and in sorrow for the return of the rescuing party and the girl she was positive her invincible lord and master would bring back with him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Malbihn fired at Jeanne/Meriem and missed. She found cover in an abandoned village. The Hon. Morison Baynes heard the shot.
Source:  "A mile away toward the east, fighting his way through the jungle along the trail taken by Malbihn when he had brought Meriem to his camp, a man in torn Khaki - filthy, haggard, unkept-came to a sudden stop at the report of Malbihn's rifle resounded faintly through the tangled forest." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat: Ironically, as Jeanne fled Malbihn she fled into Kovudoo's destroyed village but in her haste, she didn't even realize it. "There was a smile on her lips as she dropped to the ground to cross a little clearing where once had stood a native village surrounded by its fields. The ruined huts still stood in crumbling decay. The rank vegetation of the jungle overgrew the cultivated ground." ERB-The Son Of Taran.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  The Sheik Amor ben Khatour captures Jeanne/Meriem in Kovudoo's destroyed village.
Source:  "The Sheik and his party had been marching southward along the river when one of them, dropping out of line to fetch water, had seen Meriem paddling desperately from the opposite shore." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  As Baynes and his black guide rushed toward the shot origin, they heard several more gunshots. 
Source:  "As the two forged ahead their goal they were startled by a volley of shots ahead of them. Then came a few scattering reports, some savage yells, and silence." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 21, 1912
Event:  Malbihn's band fired upon the Shiek's men as the Swede's group retreated.
Source:  "One of the bullets from Malbihn's force had struck a black standing in the village street where he had been left with another to guard Meriem, and his companions had left him where he had fallen, after appropriating his apparel and belongings." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 21, 1912
Event:  Sheik Amor ben Khatour and his men took Jeanne/Meriem and headed south.
Source:  "The Sheik reached the shore, and after a volley and a few parting shots that were returned from the canoes the Arab called his men off and securing his prisoner set off toward the South." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  After reaching Kovudoo's abandoned village Baynes, and his native guide, saw Malbihn and company paddling across the river. After finding a hidden canoe the two set out across the river after Malbihn's bunch.
Source:  "Together they forced their way through the screening foliage until they could obtain a view of the river, and there, almost to the other shore, they saw Malbihn's canoes making rapidly for camp." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison Baynes and Malbihn shoot each other in a gunbattle on the opposite shore of Kovudoo's village. 
Source:  "And thus, doggedly, the two wounded men continued to carry on trees already had sprung up in what had been the village street, but desolation and loneliness hung like a pall above the scene. To Meriem, however, it presented but a place denuded of large trees which she must cross quickly to regain the jungle upon the opposite side before Malbihn should have landed" ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  The Sheik Amor ben Khatour captures Jeanne/Meriem in Kovudoo's destroyed village.
Source:  "The Sheik and his party had been marching southward along the river when one of them, dropping out of line to fetch water, had seen Meriem paddling desperately from the opposite shore." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  As Baynes and his black guide rushed toward the shot's origin, they heard several more gunshots. 
Source:  "As the two forged ahead their goal they were startled by a volley of shots ahead of them. Then came a few scattering reports, some savage yells, and silence." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 21, 1912
Event:  Malbihn's band fired upon the Shiek's men as the Swede's group retreated.
Source:  "One of the bullets from Malbihn's force had struck a black standing in the village street where he had been left with another to guard Meriem, and his companions had left him where he had fallen, after appropriating his apparel and belongings." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 21, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison Baynes drifted down the river for hours. 
Source:  "As his canoe drifted out of sight and range of the wounded Swede the Hon. Morison sank weakly to its bottom where he lay for long hours in partial stupor." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 21, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak happened upon the trail of the Sheik's men, but having no business with them the young Englishman avoided them. Jack/Korak went fishing and laired up for the night.
Source:  "Thus he came upon the trail of The Sheik's band as it traveled down river from the point where The Sheik had captured Meriem to its own stockaded village." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "The river suggested fishing and so he waddled upon its shores, catching fish after a fashion of his own devising and eating them raw. When night came he curied up in a great tree beside the stream - the one from which he had been fishing during the afternoon and was soon asleep. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  night September 21, 1912
Event:  It was night before Hon. Morison Baynes regained consciousness still floating down river. 
Source:  "It was night before he fully regained consciousness" ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 21, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak rescued Hon. Morison Baynes as he tried, almost unsuccessfully, to reach shore.
Source:  "He felt a soft, warm pad upon the fingers of one of his hands where they circled the branch to which he clung, and then something reached down out of the blackness above and dragged him up among the branches of the tree." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  dawn September 22, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison Baynes tells Jack/Korak everything. Jack/Korack races through the trees towards the north to rescue Jeanne/Meriem. Baynes follows more slowly on the ground.
Source:  "Before he was done the first gray dawn had relieved the darkness." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "And so Korak set out rapidly toward the North, and limping slowly and painfully along, soon far to the rear, came the tired and wounded Baynes." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  For two days the Sheik's force traveled until they reached the safety of his village.
Source:  "A two day's march brought them at last to the familiar scenes of her
childhood, and the first face upon which she set her eyes as she was driven through the gates into the strong stockade was that of the toothless, hideous Mabunu, her one time nurse." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  For some unknown reason ERB counts the day Jeanne was captured as one of the marching days. In other words, Jeanne is captured and there is a day's march. The following day there is a day's march and the Sheik's village is reached. There is a passage of two days, not three.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak reaches the river bank opposite Malbihn's camp. He abandons Tantor and takes to the trees racing south.
Source:  "Korak had reached the river bank opposite Malbihn's camp before Baynes had covered two miles." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:   Jeanne/Meriem was not in Shiek Amor ben Khatour's village one full day before Abdul Kamak, one of the Sheik's younger men, was caught trying to steal her.
Source:  "Yes," he said, "I hate The Sheik," and as he spoke he sprang toward the older man, felled him with a blow and dashed on across the village to the line where his horse was, picketed, saddled and ready, for Abdul Kamak had been about to ride forth to hunt when he had seen the stranger girl alone by the bushes." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  late in the afternoon September 22, 1912
Event: The fleeing Abdul Kamak passed by the hidden Hon. Morison Baynes.
Source: "Late in the afternoon the Englishman was still plodding wearily along, forced a stop often for rest when he heard the sound of the galloping feet of a horse behind him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.

 
Date:  a half hour later September 22, 1912
Event:  The Sheik's men happen upon Hon. Morison Baynes while chasing Abdul Kamak. They take him captive, and two Arabs transport Baynes by horse towards the Sheik's village.
Source:  "At sight of him they shouted in Arabic, which, of course, he could not understand, and then they closed about him, threatening and angry." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "They disarmed him and ordered him to climb to the rump of one of the horses, and then the two who had been detailed to guard him turned and rode back toward the South, while the others continued their pursuit of Abdul Kamak." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event
:  Jack/Korak crosses the river on Tantor to get to Malbhin's camp.
Source: "Toward the northwest Korak guided his huge mount, until they came out upon the river a mile or more above the Swede's camp, at a point. Where Korak knew that there was an elephant ford." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  While Malbihn lay recovering from his wounds, Jack/Korak and Tantor, attacked his camp. The Swede confessed and told Jack/Korak the Sheik Amor ben Khatour had stolen Jeanne/Meriem. Tantor kills Malbihn.
Source:  "And then from around the corner of his tent loomed a huge bulk, and Tantor, the great tusker, towered above him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. "Korak ran from the tent just in time to see the enraged elephant's trunk encircled the beast's victim, and then hammock, canopy and man were swung high over Tantor's head." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:   September 22, 1912
Event
:  Baynes arrives at Sheik Amor ben Khatour's village and is reunited with Jeanne/Meriem.
Source:  "Baynes looked in the direction indicated and his eyes went wide, for there, sitting cross-legged upon the ground, her back toward them, was Meriem." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  It is here that ERB lets us know that the Sheik's village is under British law operating out of Algiers. "The man flushed at the thought of his duplicity which these recollections aroused - thoughts which were interrupted by The Sheik, who instructed the Hon. Morison to write a letter to the British consul at Algiers, dictating the exact phraseology of it with a fluency that indicated to his captive that this was not the first time the old rascal had occasion to negotiate with English relatives for the reason of a kinsman." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Baynes is tied up and placed in a native hut.
Source: "The latter nodded impatiently, and the Hon. Morison rose and followed his guide toward a native hut which lay close beside one of the outside goatskin tents. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  After her evening meal Jeanne/Meriem retired to her quarters.
Source:  "The evening meal over Meriem had gone to her pallet in the women's quarters of The Sheik's tent, a little corner screened off in the rear by a couple of priceless Persian rugs to form a partition." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  dark September 22, 1912
Event:  It was dark by the time Jack/Korakk reached Sheik Amor ben Khatour's village.
Source:  "It was dark when he came to the palisade, strengthened considerably since the day that he had rescued Meriem from her pitiful life within its cruel confines." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912 
Event:  Sheik Amor ben Khatour gave Jeanne/Meriem to his half-brother, Ali ben Kadin.
Source:  "Therefore I have given you to Ali ben Kadin, my brother. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22,1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem was led forcefully, to Ali ben Kadin's tent.
Source:  "Come!" he comanded, and dragged her from The Sheik's tent and to his own." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:   dark September 22, 1912
Event
:  In a desperate effort to find Jeanne/Meriem the Englishman began humming a song which was a Greystoke favorite, God Save the King.
Source:  "In the dark, stifling interior his guard led him, then stepped to the doorway and called to a couple of black boys squatting before their own huts." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
     "At the bungalow he had often heard Meriem sing God Save the King, as My Dear accompanied her on the piano. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:   September 22, 1912
Event:   As Ali ben Kadin forced himself upon Jeanne/Meriem she heard Baynes humming God Save the King.
Source:  "Twice she tore away from him, and in one of the intervals during which she managed to elude him she heard Baynes' voice humming the tune that she knew was meant for her ears." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Upon entering the Sheik's village Jack/Korak heard Baynes singing God Save the King.
Source:  "The sound of laughter fell upon his ears, and then from the opposite side of the village came the notes of a once familiar tune: God Save the King." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Hon. Morison Baynes hears Jeanne/Meriem being attacked by Ali ben Kadin and he escapes.
Source:  "Then he heard an angry exclamation in a man's voice, followed by the sounds of a scuffle." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event
:  Hon Morison Baynes has to fight a giant native before entering Ali ben Kadin's tent.
Source:  "As the Hon. Morison saw his way blocked by the huge frame of the giant black his disappointment and rage filled him with a bestial fury that transformed him into a savage beast." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  While Baynes fought the native, Jack/Korak entered Ali ben Kadin's tent, killed him, and rescued Jeanne/Meriem from rape.
Source:  "The half-caste had just dragged Meriem into the rear chamber as Korak's sharp knife slit a six foot opening in the tent wall, and Korak, tall and mighty, sprang through upon the astonished visions of the inmates." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event: Jack/Korak held Sheik Amor ben Khatour's men at bay long enough for Baynes and Jeanne/Meriem to escape. He, however, was captured.
Source:  "The ape-man fought well - fought as he had never fought before: but the odds were to great for victory, though he won that which he most craved - time for the Englishman to escape with Meriem." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Bound, captive of the Sheik, Jack/Korak heard Tantor and called to him.
Source:  "He turned his head a trifle in the direction from which the sound had come and then there broke from his lips a low, weird call." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  The Shiek ordered Jack/Korak to be burned at the stake; to be carried out immediately.
Source:  "Burn him," he commanded. "At once. The stake is set." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  Septemper 22, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem and Baynes did not escape, but returned to rescue Jack/Korak. 
Source:  "A hundred feet away they saw Korak bound to a stake - the brush piled about him already alight." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  Tantor, rescues Jack/Korak, then kills Sheik Amor ben Khatour.
Source: "He raised his weapon and fired once, the bullet missed its mark, and Tantor was upon him, crushing him beneath those gigantic feet as he raced over him as you or I might crush out the life of an ant that chanced to be in our pathway." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  At this occurrence ERB lets us know it is still night. "And then, bearing his burden carefully, Tantor, the elephant, entered the blackness of the jungle." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912
Event:  In the confusion of Jack/Korak's rescue, Jeanne/Meriem and Baynes steal horses, escape, and flee northward. Baynes is wounded in the escape.
Source:  "Meriem and Baynes leaped their flying mounts through the breach in the palisade and were gone up the well-worn trail toward the north." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
    "Baynes had been wounded by a shot from the rifle of one of the Arabs, and the girl wanted to get him back to Bwana's home, where he could be properly cared
for." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
Chat:  ERB, for a second time tells us it is still dark. They could see by the light of the torture fire that still burned that the blacks and Arabs were recovering from their panic." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 22, 1912 
Event:  Tantor carried Jack/Korak deep into the jungle.
Source:  "Tantor carried him deep into the jungle, nor paused until no sound from the distant village reached his keen ears." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  dawn September 23, 1912
Event
:  By dawn, Jack/Korak was still unable to escape his ropes.
Source:  "And while he struggled through the night with his bonds, Baynes and Meriem were riding rapidly northward along the river." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    "Dawn came, and still Korak was no nearer freedom than before." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:
  Realizing he would die if he did not escape, Jack/Korak had Tantor carry him to the northeast in search of man.
Source:  "He commanded the elephant to lift him and carry him toward the northeast." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Baynes and Jeanne/Meriem run into Tarzan. She tells him about Korak, who she does not know is Jack Clayton.
Source:  "All night they rode, and the day was still young when they came suddenly upon a party hurrying southward." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912                                                                                              Event: Tarzan has Baynes and Jeanne/Meriem escorted back to his farm. He sets out in search of the mysterious Korak.
Source:  "Bwana stood watching them until they were out of sight." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  It is here we learn Tarzan actually has two headmen. The white man, Jarvis, is the foreman on the farm. "Of an evening he often spent much time with the white foreman of the big farm, evidently finding in the society of this rougher man more common interests than the cultured guests of Bwana possessed for him." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
     "Presently it occurred to him that the man whom he considered in the light of a guest might have met with an accident on his way back to camp, so he had arisen and gone to his foreman's quarters where he had learned that Hanson had been there earlier in the evening but had departed several hours before." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    And the black man Muviri who leads Waziri warriors in the field. "Then he motioned to his head-man to take his horse and commence the return journey to the farm." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 23, 1912 
Event:  Baynes comes down with a fever, and Jeanne/Meriem escapes her
escorts and searches for Jack/Korak.
Source:  "He sent his men into the jungle to search for her, but they came back empty handed. After a while he resumed his march toward the farm, for Baynes, by this time, was delirious with fever." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Jack/Korak called aloud often in hopes of attracting Akut and his tribe.
Source:  "As Tantor bore him along through the forest Korak called aloud now and then in the hope of attracting Akut's band of anthropoids, whose wanderings often brought them into their neighborhood." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem traveled several hours into the jungle before hearing the cry of a great ape.
Source: "She had been traveling rapidly for several hours without rest when she heard ahead of her the familiar cry of a great ape calling to his kind." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date September 23, 1912
Event:  Far to the south Akut heard his cry.
Source:  "Akut, to the south of him, heard his calls faintly, and came." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  After traveling for several hours Tarzan heard the faint cry of a bull ape/
Source:  "He had traveled thus for several hours when, ahead of him and a little to his left, he heard, far off in the jungle, a faint response - the cry of a bull ape answering his cry." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem was the first to reach Jack/Korak, but Tantor would not let her approach. 
Source:  "For an hour the girl and the man tried to find some means whereby they might circumvent the beast's ill directed guardianship, but all to no avail; Tantor stood his ground in grim determination to let no one approach Korak." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date
:  September 23, 1912
Event:  In a designed plan Jeanne/Mirem pretended to leave, and Tantor carried Jack/Korak deeper into the jungle. Jack/Korak heard Akut answering his calls.
Source:  "It was then that Korak heard the distant call of an ape." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  After a while, Tantor deposited Jack/Korak in a clearing and went to get water.
Source:  "He ordered Tantor to lay him down, and go and fetch him water in his trunk. ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Jeanne/Meriem rushed to free Jack/Korak, but Tantor attacked her.
Source:  "Meriem was almost at Korak's side when Tantor saw the long knife in her hand, and then he broke forth from the jungle, bellowing horribly, and charged down upon the frail girl." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan,


Date
:  September 23, 1912
Event:  At the last possible moment Tarzan dropped out of the trees to halt Tantor.
Source:  A strange figure had leaped from the tree the shade of which Meriem already had reached - leaped beyond the girl straight into the path of the charging elephant." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 23, 1912
Event:  Tarzan frees Jack/Korak, and the three have a family moment. Akut and the tribe arrive, and they have a second reunion moment.
Source:  "Tantor was looking toward the trees behind them, and as their eyes followed his gaze the head and shoulders of a great ape appeared amidst the foliage." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.
Chat:  It is here Jeanne/Meriem gives her heart to Jack/Korak. "You told me," she said, in a very small voice, "that my place was beside the man I loved," and she turned her eyes toward Korak all filled with the wonderful light that no other ever would." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 25, 1912
Event:  Two days later the three reached the Greystoke farm to find Baynes dead.
Source:  "Two days later the three dropped from the trees on the edge of the plain across which they could see the smoke rising from the bungalow and the cook house chimneys." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  September 25, 1912, through September 28, 1912              
Event:  The Greystoke's prepared for their return trip home to England.      
Source:  "but they only waited at the farm a few days before setting out upon their journey." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.            
Chat:  I used three days for a working date.


Date September 29, 1912, through October 6, 1912
Event:  The Greystokes leave their African farm and march to the nearest mission.
Source:  "It was several weary marches to the nearest mission," ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. October 6 is a working date and is not provided by ERB. The author describes several marches, so I used seven days as a conservative working date.


Date:  October 6, 1912    
Event:  Jack/Korak and Jeanne/Meriem get married.                              
Source:  When Baynes and Hanson make plans to steal Jeanne ERB reveals Tarzan's farm is a two-month quick march from the coast. "She'll have to come, and after it's all over she won't feel so bad about it - especially after livin' with you for two months while we're makin' the coast." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.  
Chat:  Malbihn, tells Baynes the coast is a two-month march from the Greystoke farm. Why march for two months when one can take a train? Because you are an outlaw committing kidnapping, murder, and other criminal acts. Otherwise, especially when traveling with women, you would take the train from Kisumu, on Lake Victoria, to Mombasa, Kenya's principal seaport. The Mombasa-to-Uganda railroad was completed to Kisumu by 1901 and completed to Uganda by 1906. 
    At this point, the Greystoke's were on their way to England. One can imagine how much luggage they would have between the four of them. ERB says the Greystoke farm is several marches to the nearest mission. ERB does not directly say so, but that mission was most likely located in Kisumu. Keep in mind that in 1912 Kenya there weren't but about 3,000 Europeans and most of those were settled around Mombasa. 
    One other thing to keep in mind is Kenya's climate. It has two rainy seasons. The long rains occur from March to June. The second rainy season is the short rains which occur from October to November. Common sense tells you Tarzan and Korak, with two women and luggage in normal conditions, are not going to walk for two months during the rainy season to the coast when they can ride in a train with full comforts. 


Date:  October 13, 1912  
Event:  The Greystoke's arrive at the coast.            
Source:  In my opinion, and not provided by ERB, the Greystokes' took the train in Kisumu and rode to Mombasa. This took approximately a week, which I will use as a conservative working date.


Date:  October 14, 1912  
Event:  Greystoke's sail for England.                        
Source:  "and after the marriage ceremony had been performed they kept on to the coast to take passage for England." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  October 25, 1912                                   
Event:  Greystoke's arrive in England.              
Source:  "The noise, and bustle and confusion of the English railway station frightened her." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                    
Chat:  In the early 20th century, steamship journeys from East Africa to Europe could take several weeks. A reasonable estimate for a steamship voyage from Mombasa to Dover in October 1912 would be around twenty to twenty-five days. Several factors could influence the actual travel time: To keep things conservative I used twenty-five days as a working date.
  • Ship Speed: Faster ships would naturally take less time.
  • Weather Conditions: Storms and adverse weather could significantly delay the journey.
  • Route Taken: The specific route chosen, including any stops for refueling or cargo, would affect the overall duration.
  • Canal Transit: If the ship transited the Sue Canal, this would add to the travel time.

Date:  October 25, 1912
Event:  Abdul Kamak, in Paris, contacted General Armand Jacot and reported Jeanne/Meriem being alive.                     
Source:  "A week since there came to me in Paris a swarthy Arab, who called himself Abdul Kamak." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                                
Chat:  Note that ERB describes at this point that Tarzan has more than one African estate. "The man's story led the Admiral to believe that the place where the white girl the Arab supposed to be my daughter, was held in captivity was not far from your African estates, and he advised that I come at once and call upon you -." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan. Note "estates" not "estate".


Date:  November 1, 1912                                    
Event:  Tarzan receives a note from D'Arnot delivered by General Armand Jacot.          Source:  "They had been home but a week when Lord Greystoke received a message from his friend of many years D'Arnot." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.                    
Chat:  General Jacot tells us D'Arnot has advanced from the rank of Captain to the rank of Admiral. "I have come to you," explained General Jacot, "because our dear Admiral tells me that there is no one in all the world who is more intimately acquainted with Central Africa then you." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan
    Jeanne discovers she is actually from royal lineage. "It was in the form of a letter of introduction brought by one General Armand Jacot. Lord Greystoke recalled the name, as who familiar with modern French history would not, for Jacot, was in reality the Prince de Cadrenet - that intense republican who refused to use, even by courtesy, a title, that had belonged to his family for four hundred years." ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.


Date:  November 1, 1912                                    
Event:  Meriem finds out her true name is Jeanne Jacot and that her father is General Armand Jacot, aka, Prince de Cadrenet.  
Source:  "I know you! I know you!" she cried. "Oh now I remember," and the old man folded her in his arms.' ERB-The Son Of Tarzan.










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 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 accepted 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, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium, published July 15, 2024.















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