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Learn more- Robert Wayne, a sturdy British missionary, stationed in South Africa, is cheered by the presence of his charming wife and baby daughter, Edith. The brother of Mrs. Wayne is living with them, and puts in his time enjoyably hunting big game, while one of his duties is to bring the mail into the interior where the missionary lives, from the nearest mail station. Wayne and his family live in a negro village where the natives are especially friendly to them and where their eminence as white people, give them a certain dignity and prestige which makes life more comfortable for them under the circumstances. In the mail, one day, a letter comes to Robert Wayne announcing that he has fallen heir to fifty thousand pounds as a legacy, and he at once determines to return to England with his family for the purpose of taking over his fortune. In the big covered veldt wagon, the party begins the trek toward civilization. One of the playmates of Edith has been a little negro boy, the son of the chief of the village. They have been great chums, so after the big wagon departs, he steals away from the village, and, by taking a short-cut through the jungle, is enabled to strike the party in camp. However, while on his way through the forest, he notes the approach of a large party of natives, and secreting himself in the hollow trunk of a tree, he overhears the plot to capture and destroy the party of whites. Before he reaches the camp, the treacherous chief of the hostile war party visits the camp and persuades the missionary to go to the assistance of a wounded native, this being a ruse on his part to deplete the fighting force at the wagon, and therefore make its capture more readily accomplished. After walking a short distance from camp, Wayne is struck down from behind by an assegi after which the chief rejoins his party, and they surround the wagon, wounding the defenders, killing the little negro boy and setting fire to the camp. The chief of the friendly tribe, whose son has run away to join the white party, goes in search of the boy with a large following of his villagers. They arrive at the wagon camp in time to rescue Mrs. Wayne and little Edith, together with Mrs. Wayne's brother, and take them in safety back to the village. Robert Wayne recovers consciousness after several hours and hurriedly makes his way back to the burned wagon. His mentality succumbs to the terrible catastrophe as he believes the entire party to have been destroyed. Insane with grief and horror, he staggers into the jungle and becomes a wild man, fearless and disregardful of the dangers of wild animals. Mrs. Wayne and Edith, accompanied by Mrs. Wayne's brother, are discovered seventeen years later in England living a quiet life, while their thoughts frequently turn to the husband and father whose life they believe was taken by the savage natives in South Africa, Robert Wayne becomes a hairy, powerful wild man, and his adventures with leopards, lions and other ferocious beasts of the jungle, furnish many of the most interesting features of this picture play. Capt. Jones, a British sportsman, and party meet the wild man of the jungle who protests against their killing his ferocious pets, his appearance occurring at a time when a photograph is being taken of a huge lion which has just been killed. When the picture is developed, it shows the wild man distinctly. Upon the return of the party to England, Capt. Jones meets Edith Wayne and shows her the photograph, which she recognizes as her father. A rescue party sets out from England on the following day to locate the missing Robert Wayne. Edith and her uncle go with the party. The wild man has wandered from his jungle camp and Edith, in her eagerness to aid in the search, rides off alone and is captured by a hostile band belonging to the village of Chief Boola. Within a few hours of this incident, Robert Wayne, the wild man, is also captured by another party from the same village. Chief Boola has established a business of catching and selling wild animals to English hunters, and having heard of the power possessed by the wild man of the jungle over the beasts of prey, determines to throw him into a huge pit where he keeps the wild animals, which he has on hand ready for sale, and enjoy the spectacle of seeing the wild man control them. Boola tells Edith that he will add her to his harem, but her horror and dismay are so marked, that he determines to throw her into the wild animal pit together with the "white man." Captain Jones, on his return to camp, discovers the absence of Edith and rides off hastily in search of her. He stumbles upon a large party of English hunters who are on their way to the village of Boola to buy wild animals. He is perishing from thirst and, upon being revived, accompanies the party. Upon nearing the village, they are met by a jealous wife from the harem of Boola, who, out of revenge and jealousy, tells the party the frightful fate assigned to the wild man of the jungle and the "white maiden." After a brisk encounter between the warriors of Boola and the members of the white party, they reach the village in time to witness the domination of the jungle beasts by Robert Wayne, who has recovered his mentality upon beholding Edith, whom he recognizes, and the final scene shows the intrepid Captain Jones clasping Edith in his arms, while the benevolent countenance of the once wild man of the jungle beams upon them with fatherly pride.
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