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. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. 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 also authorizes 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 on July 15, 2024.

1895 June The Return Of Tarzan

Date: June 1, 1895, through June 7, 1895

Event: The Oparians capture and lead Jane to Opar.

Source: "For many days they traveled through the dense forest." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "In a day and a night he covered the same distance that the fifty frightful men had taken the better part of a week to traverse." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan

Joe Kubert

Date: morning June 1, 1895 
Event: Monsuire Thuran's (Nickolas Rokoff) fever becomes worse. William Cecil Clayton goes hunting. Jane is captured by the men of Opar.
Source: "The next day Thuran was worse." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "The Englishman had extracted the heavy spear from the body of the lion, so that when he went into the forest to hunt that morning he had a feeling of much greater security than at any time since they had been cast upon the savage shore." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Frank Frazetta

Date: afternoon June 1, 1895
Event: The tribe of Kerchak comes to the amphitheater and discovers Tarzan.
Source: "On the afternoon of the third day he returned early." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Again, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, informs us Tarzan has been gone from the jungle for two years. "There were no greetings such as would have taken place among men after a separation of two years." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

The Return Of Tarzan

Date: June 1, 1895

Event: William Cecil Clayton returns from hunting and finds Jane gone. The Englishman searched for the missing girl until dark.
Source: "until dark the Englishman searched the nearby jungle for a trace of the missing one for a sign of the trail of her abductor." ERB: The Return Of Tarzan.

Joe Kubert

Date: June 1, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton is treed by a lion and forced to spend the night alone in the jungle.
Source: This put an end to his search for the balance of the afternoon, as the lion paced back and forth beneath him until dark. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Joe Kubert

Date: morning June 2, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton returns to camp.
Source: "The next morning he returned to the beach, relinquishing the last hope of succoring Jane Porter." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date: June 2, 1895, through June 9, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton hunted and tended Monsieur Thran (Nickolas Rockoff)
Source: "During the week that followed, Monsieur Thuran rapidly regained his strength, lying in the shelter while Clayton hunted food for both." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date: June 7, 1895
Event: The Oparians and Jane arrive at Opar.
Source: "Late afternoon she saw the ruined walls of a mighty city looming before them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Joe Jusko

Date: June 7, 1895, through June 14, 1895
Event: Jane is held captive in Opar.
Source: "For a week she saw only some of the women whose duty it was to bring her food and water." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Christopher Schenck

Date: June 9, 1895, through June 14, 1895
Event: William Cecil Clayton was tossed with delirium but Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff)  would not care for him.
Source: "For days he lay tossing in delirium and suffering, but not once did the Russian come near him." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: "For days," is not enough information to provide an exact date for this event. Therefore, any non-Edgar Rice Burroughs provided date is merely speculation. My theory is since Rokoff's fever lasted a week that is approximately how long Clayton's would last. Since the description says "For days" that means less than a week. I used five days in the belief the described events are occurring rapidly back-to-back.

Thomas Yeates

Date: June 15, 1895
Event: A returning Mangani tells Tarzan about Jane's capture.
Source: "Half a moon since." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: The moon's cycle is twenty-nine and one-half days. Approximately two weeks.

John Buscima

Date: June 15, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rockoff) abandons William Cecil Clayton. The Russian finds the Greystoke cabin.
Source: "That same day he came to a little cabin by the beach." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: "That same day," is not enough information to provide an exact date for this event. Therefore, any non-Edgar Rice Burroughs provided date is merely speculation. My theory is that these undatable events are happening in back-to-back time sequences with little time passage occurring between each. 

Joe Kubert

Date: June 15, 1895, through June 16, 1895
Event: Day and night Tarzan raced to Opar
Source: "Day and night Tarzan of the Apes raced through the primeval forest toward the ruined city in which he was positive the woman he loved lay either a prisoner or dead." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Edgar Rice Burroughs does not offer an exact date for this event. Anyone that knows Tarzan, however, knows he would have left immediately in search of Jane no matter what time of the day or night it was. In fact, the ape-man "traveling day and night" show his urgency.

N.C. Wyeth

Date: nearly noon June 16, 1895

Event: Tarzan reaches Opar.
Source: "In a day and a night he covered the same distance that the fifty frightful men had taken the better part of a week to traverse, for Tarzan of the Apes traveled along the middle terrace high above the tangled obstacles that impede progress upon the ground." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "It was nearly noon when he reached the great boulder at the top of which terminated the secret passage to the pits beneath the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

The Return Of Tarzan

Date: June 16, 1895, through June 19, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) remains at the Greystoke cabin for a few days.
Source: But he did not know, and so he remained a few days to enjoy the security and comparative comforts of the cabin." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: These dates are not provided by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author. Many dates actually work and all are acceptable as long as they do not disagree with Burroughs' description. As (working dates only} I used three days for Rokoff's stay at the Greystoke cabin.

The Return Of Tarzan

Date: late in the afternoon of June 16, 1895
Event: Tarzan rescues Jane and she regains consciousness.
Source: "Late in the afternoon Jane Porter regained consciousness." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.  "It cannot be that such happiness can be true after all the hideous things that I have passed through these awful months since the Lady Alice went down." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Here Jane tells us months (which is two or more) have passed since the Lady Alice sunk. This 1872 timeline shows a passage of four months since that event, so it agrees with Jane's provided information.

Thomas Yeates

Date: the night of June 16, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane sleep in the jungle.
Source: "That night Tarzan built a snug little bower high among the swaying branches of a giant tree, and there the tired girl slept, while in a crotch beneath her the ape-man curled, ready, even in sleep, to protect her." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Zedenek Burian

 

Date: June 17, 1895

Event: Tarzan and Jane set out for the coast.
Source: "It took them many days to make the long journey to the coast." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.
Chat: Other passages indicate a better part of a week. We know Tarzan and Jane did not linger on their journey. "Had it not been for their anxiety to reach and secure Clayton they would have drawn out the sweet pleasure of that wonderful journey indefinitely." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Thomas Yeates

Date: June 19, 1895
Event: Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) leaves the Greystoke cabin and travels north. Lord Tennington realizes he loves Hazel Strong. Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rockoff) finds the Porter party.
Source: "Then he took his northward journey once more." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "and to think all this time we have been separated by but a few miles - scarcely a day's march." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Chat: Although this passage again gives nothing for establishing an exact date, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, finally offers a dating clue. "He started lamely a couple of times, cleared his throat, became red in the face, and finally ended by remarking that he hoped the cabins would be finished before the rainy season commenced." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

     This passage clearly informs us that the rainy season has not yet set in, but is quickly approaching.  The rainy season in Portuguese Angola is September through April. From this info, we can conclude the described undatable events occurred sometime between June 12, 1895, through early August 1895.

Frank Frazetta

Date: June 22, 1895
Event: Tarzan and Jane run into the Waziri.
Source: "On the last day before they reached the coast Tarzan caught the scent of men ahead of them - the scent of black men." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "For weeks they had been searching for him, they told him." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. 

Thomas Yeates

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. 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 also authorizes 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 on July 15, 2024.

1895 May The Return Of Tarzan

Date: May 26, 1895

Event: Tarzan and the Waziri reach the land of the Waziri.                                    

Source: "But they bore their burdens uncomplainingly, and at the end of thirty days entered their own country." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. 

Don Newton

Date: morning May 29, 1895

Event: Tarzan led the Waziri and the stolen gold to a sight very close to the Mangani's dum-dum sight.

Source: "Here, instead of continuing on toward the northwest and their village, Tarzan guided them almost directly west, until on the mourning of the thirty-third day he bade them break camp and return to their own village, leaving the gold where they had stacked it the previous night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Artist Unknown

Date: May 30, 1895

Event. Tarzan sent the Waziri home. The ape-man then buried the gold at the Mangani's dum-dum sight.

Source: "Leaving the gold where they had stacked it the previous night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Jeff Jones

Date: May 30, 1895

Event: Tarzan spends the night at the amphitheater.

Source: "That night he slept within the amphitheater," ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Hal Foster

Date: May 31, 1895

Event: Tarzan returns to his cabin by the sea.

Source: "and early the next morning set out to revisit his cabin before returning to the Waziri." ERB- The Return Of Tarzan. "Finding things as he had left them, he went forth into the jungle to hunt."  ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Don Marquez

Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan spears a lion from hiding and saves William Cecil Clayton and Jane Porter's life.  Monsieur Thuran (Nickolas Rokoff) has the fever.
Source: "Nearly two months of this existence had passed when the first great calamity befell them.  ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan, without showing himself, heads toward the Waziri village. Jane tells William Cecil Clayton she could never marry him.
Source: "For several long moments Jane Porter and William Cecil Clayton stood silently looking at the dead body of the beast whose prey they had narrowly escaped becoming." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date: May 31, 1895
Event: Tarzan changes his mind about going to the village and instead spends a second night at the amphitheater of the Mangani.
Source: same day as William Cecil Clayton's rescue. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan. "That night he slept again in the amphitheater of the apes." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Esad Ribic

Event: For several days Tarzan hunted and slept at the amphitheater.

Date: May 31, 1895, through June 15, 1895

Source: "That night he slept again in the amphitheater of the apes, and for several days he hunted from there, returning at night." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Simon Bisley

.ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. 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 also authorizes 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 on July 15, 2024.

1895 April The Return Of Tarzan

Date:  April 21, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri reach the mountains where Opar lay.
Source:  "For days they marched up one river, across a low divide; down another river; up a third, until at the end of the twenty-fifth day they camped upon a mountainside, from the summit of which they hoped to catch their first view of the marvelous city of treasure." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Richard Hescox

Date:  early morning April 22, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri scaled the cliffs that surround Opar.
Source:  "Early the next morning they were climbing the almost perpendicular crags which formed the last,  but greatest, natural barrier between them and their destination." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  nearly noon April 22, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri reach the top of the cliffs and view Opar from a distance.
Source:  "It was nearly noon before Tarzan, who headed the thin line of climbing warriors, scrambled over the top of the last cliff and stood upon the little flat table-land of the mountaintop." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Autio Book

Date:  April 22, 1895
Event:  After an hour's rest Tarzan and the Waziri advance upon Opar.
Source:  "For an hour the little expedition rested upon the mountaintop, and then Tarzan led them down into the valley below." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

C. Edmund Monroe

Date:  still light April 22, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri reach the outer wall of Opar.
Source:  "Once in the valley their progress was rapid. so that it was still light when they halted before the towering walls of the ancient city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  night April 22, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri camp outside the city and hear weird sounds.
Source:  "That night they camped outside the city." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  morning April 23, 1895
Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri enter Opar:
Source:  "In the morning the effects of it were still visible in the fearful, sidelong glances that the Waziri continually cast at the massive and forbidding structure which loomed above them." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  noon April 23, 1895
Event:  Tarzan is captured by the Oparians.
Source:  "For a moment every eye was bent upon the noonday sun, and then in unison the people in the galleries and those in the court below took up the refrain of a low, weird chant." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Joe Kubert

Date:  shortly after noon April 24, 1895
Event:  Tarzan kills Tha and saves La.  She hides the ape-man until dark.
Source:  "I will return after it is dark." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Don Marquez

Date:  night April 24, 1895
Event:  La returns for Tarzan while fifty males go into the jungle after his trail.
Source:  "It was quite dark before La, the high priestess, returned to the Chamber of the Dead with food and drink for Tarzan." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Nicholas Elias

Date:  night April 24, 1895
Event:  La leads Tarzan to another chamber and explains she will return for him the following night,  Instead the ape-man escapes.
Source:  "You will be safe here until tomorrow night," she said. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

John Totleben

Date:  night April 24, 1895
Event:  Tarzan discovers a secret passage out of Opar.
Source:  "A mile away lay the ruined city of Opar, its domes and turrets bathed in the soft light of the equatorial moon." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  night April 24, 1895

Event:  Tarzan finds the treasure chamber of Opar.

Source:  Carefully feeling about, he found himself within a large chamber, along the walls of which, and down the length of the floor, were piled many tiers of metal ingots of an odd though uniform shape. To his groping hands they felt not like double-headed bootjacks. The ingots were quite heavy, and but for the enormous number of them he would have been positive that they were gold; but the thought of the fabulous wealth these thousands of pounds of metal would have represented were they in reality gold, almost convinced him that they must be of some baser metal. ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

John Buscema

Date:  sunrise April 25, 1895

Event:  Tarzan reunites with the Waziri. The ape-man discovers the Oparians looking for him. They unknowingly passed by and continued towards the coast.

Source:  "The sun was just rising as he gained the summit of the flat mountain at the valley's western boundary." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan,

Russ Manning

Date:  dusk April 25, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri return to Opar.

Source:  "When Tarzan had related his adventures and told them of the yellow metal he had found, not one demurred when he outlined a plan to return by night and bring away what they could carry of the vast treasure; and so it was that as dusk fell across the desolate valley of Opar fifty ebon warriors trailed at a smart trot over the dry and dusty ground toward the giant boulder that loomed before the city."  ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  midnight April 25, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri robbed the treasure from Opar and exited.

Source:  "By midnight the entire party stood once more at the foot of the bowlder." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Russ Manning

Date:  mid-forenoon April 26, 1895

Event:  Tarzan and the Waziri reach the summit of the cliffs.

Source:  "but with their heavy loads it was mid-forenoon ere they reached the summit of the cliffs."  ERB-The Return Of Tarzan.

Joe Kubert

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Over the past forty-five years, Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines. 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 also authorizes 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 on July 15, 2024.