Prologue
The Reverend Sangamon Morton, an American Methodist missionary to the Belgian Congo, hears a native woman scream.  He thinks they have been attacked by The Wakandas.  He gets his rifle and runs with his wife, Mary, and daughter, Ruth, into the compound.  The alarm is only for two white men:  Jefferson Scott Jr., an American big-game hunter, and his companion, Robert Gordon.  Scott becomes Ruth's husband. Morton entrusts Gordon with stock certificates.  He is to take them back to American to be held by Jefferson's father.  A year later, Ruth and Jefferson have a daughter, Virginia. The Wakandas attack and Morton, Mary, and Jefferson are killed.

Ruth is relieved by the Belgian Lieutenant De Boes and goes back to Virginia with her daughter Virginia.  The elder Scott takes care of his daughter-in-law and grandchild for 19 years.  The "stocks" prove to be but a single sheet of paper.  He puts it in a wall cupboard instead of his safe.

Chapter 1
Old Jefferson Scott dies.  Virginia meets Scott Taylor, old Scott's nephew.  He is a dissipated college man who has come looking for a legacy.  Judge Sperry tells him his is not in the will and to go back to N.Y.  Since the will cannot be found Taylor stands to inherit half the estate even though Virginia is meant to have it all. Taylor gets drunk and proposes to Virginia, who pushes him to the floor.  Taylor is miffed and demands the whole estate as there is no will and he claims that Virginia's birth is illegitimate.  Mrs. Scott, Ruth, writes to Gordon, who witnessed the marriage, but he has died two years ago.  A Mrs. Clayton and Charlotte come to visit.  (This Mrs. Clayton may or may not be related to John Clayton, Lord Greystoke.)

Chapter 2
Dick Gordon of New York is the son of the deceased Robert.  He is rich and indolent and wonders what to do with his life.  He is attended by an elderly, long-suffering man servant, Murphy. Dick gets Ruth's letter.  Thinking the marriage certificate might still be in the ruins of the mission, upon an impulse, he books passage to Mombasa to go and look for it.   Taylor intercepts Dick's reply to Ruth and decides to follow him to Africa, planning murder with two friends, Jim Kelley and Bill  Gootch. Blanche Kelley is present and knows about their nefarious plans. They all sail on the same ship.  Taylor makes Gordon's acquaintance and finds out that he is heading to Albert Edward Nyanza.  Gootch and Kelley cheat Gordon at cards so they loose any advantage they once had.

Chapter 3
Ruth and Virginia discover Taylor's perfidy, and Virginia goes to N.Y. to warn Dick Gordon.  She meets Blanche and learns that Dick is in mortal danger. Virginia follows them to Africa, writing of her plans to her mother the day she leaves.  When she gets to Mombasa, she is a month behind Gordon's safari and a week behind Taylor's.  When her own safari tries to mutiny, she shoots the leader and becomes her own headman.

Chapter 4
Dick finds a manila envelope at the old mission and heads back to the coast.  Meanwhile, three American crooks are waiting for him to pass through a native village on his way back. A woman is taken by a man eating lion from the village where the crooks are waiting.  The white men kill a lioness, and the natives capture her mate in a pit. Virginia arrives at the same village and is tied up by the villains. they go out and get drunk on native beer, and she fears what they will do to her when they get back to the hut.

Chapter 5
Dick Gordon's safari comes upon the lion in the pit before the natives find him.  He decides to free the beast, and is attacked by the lion in the process.  However, for some reason the lion does not harm him even when Dick is at his mercy.  (The lion knows which white men are guilty of killing his mate.) The smart lion goes to the native village in search of the real killers. A drunken Taylor returns to the hut and kisses Virginia, his cousin.  He then cuts her ropes, and she gets his pistol -- but she is grabbed from behind as she backs out of the hut.

Chapter 6
Virginia is captured again by Kelley and Gootch.  She struggles to no avail.  They decide to rape her then kill her, but just as they pin her to the ground the lion arrives on the scene.  Gootch is killed, but Virginia and the other two men escape through the back wall of the hut. They run separate ways. Virginia runs into the jungle, and escapes some night prowling beasts by climbing a tree.  In the morning she climbs down and heads west.  She is followed by a hyena, and when she climbs a tree again she is met by a great snake.

Chapter 7
aylor and Kelley bury what is left of Gootch and follow Virginia. Gordon hears Virginia's scream and arrives in time to shoot the hyena. She explains why she has come to Africa -- to warn him about Taylor. Taylor comes upon Dick and Virginia, and before he can shoot them, Virginia grabs Dick's pistol and wounds him in the forearm.  Taylor and Kelley get away, but plan to get even in America. Gordon and Virginia tell a party of big game hunters about the lion, and they plan to capture him.

Chapter 8
Dick Gordon is in love with Virginia.  She likes him, but they do not speak of these things.  While they wait on the coast for their steamer to arrive, the big game hunters bring in the lion in a cage.  The lion remembers Gordon and growls a friendly  greeting. Dick and Virginia sail to America and Taylor and Kelley follow on the next ship.  Dick continues to make friends with the lion during the voyage. The lion becomes "Ben, King of Beasts, the Man-Eating Lion" in a traveling American circus.

Chapter 9
When Dick and Virginia arrive in the USA, Virginia goes home with her mother.  Dick goes on a fishing trip to Canada with a school buddy.  Virginia wonders about the manila envelope (undelivered and unopened as yet!) so she write to Dick about it. Kelley intercepts her letter and realizes she still does not have the marriage certificate. When Gordon gets back from his vacation, he decides to deliver the envelope in person.  Virginia and her mother are gone for the evening, so when Dick arrives in Scottsville, Virginia he stays overnight at their home, The Oaks (spending his time listening to the Negro servants playing banjos and singing.) There is a train wreck nearby.  Taylor and Kelley wait for Gordon to go to bed so they can sneak in a shoot him. Virginia and her mother call on the telephone saying that they are returning that evening but have been delayed by a train wreck.  A servant, Jackson, is sent to pick them up in their automobile.  The villains enter the house leaving the French doors open. Ben, King of Beasts, is aboard the train that was wrecked, and now he is free.  He walks to Virginia's home and picks up the scent of his old friend, Gordon.  He goes into the house and picks up the scent of his enemies:  Kelly and Taylor.  Ben kills Kelley and chases Taylor upstairs to Gordon's room.

Chapter 10
A servant, Washington Scott, goes to investigate and escapes Ben by leaping into a closet.  (He breaks a hole in the floor in his hurry.)  Taylor shoots at Gordon and misses.  When his gun jams, they struggle and Gordon is knocked unconscious.  Even as Ben claws his way through the door to Gordon's room, Taylor finds the envelope and escapes through the window. Gordon comes to and discovers the envelope is missing.  He gets an old muzzle loader and follows Taylor. Jackson's car breaks down as he is bringing Virginia and her mother home.  Ben catches up with Taylor and kills him in the headlights of the stalled car.  Ben walks over to Virginia, and her mother faints.

Chapter 11
Gordon follows Taylor (and Ben).  When he arrives at the car he tells Virginia to get in and drive away.  Gordon raises his rifle, then hoping it is Ben he throws the gun away and runs toward the lion.  Gordon recognizes "his" lion just as three men run up with guns.  Gordon places himself between the men and the lion and cries, "Don't Shoot!" Gordon buys Ben saying he will send him to the N.Y. zoo.  They lead Ben back to the house on a rope and tie him to a tree. The envelope reveals valuable stock certificates but no marriage certificate. The will and the marriage certificate are finally found in a hole in the cupboard where Washington hid from Ben. Virginia and Gordon go outside and kiss above the fierce and loyal head of Ben, King of Beasts.

In some ways, The Man Eater might be seen in the category of ERB's girl books.  This is a story of social and financial misunderstanding bearing upon the legitimacy of the birth of the heroine, Virginia.  It is a little mystery puzzle that hinges on a missing document, a marriage certificate, which is necessary to prove Virginia's right to inherit a rather large fortune.

It is another demonstration of the great adventure-romance writer's thoughts about plotting a story around money and social position.  Although the readers of ERB might prefer his more exciting leaps into a blood and guts adventure, this rather crabbed and slow-starting tale exhibits ERB's interest in the intricacies of legal matters.  For example:  it is easy to see the social and financial problems of Jane Porter in Tarzan of the Apes as a subplot to Tarzan's more adventurous story, however, Burroughs hinges this famous novel on a legal matter of baby Tarzan's fingerprints on a diary.  The legalities of family fortunes and positions in society were issues close to Burroughs' heart, and these mundane concerns are often crucial to the plots of his stories.

The typical Burroughsian hero and heroine held a high social position, even though it was often hidden from the character at the beginning of the story.  John Clayton was a member of the House of Lords.  John Carter became a Warlord of Mars.  David Innes became the Emperor of Pellucidar.  In fact, Burroughs often claimed that he wrote for money (and the high social position money could provide ) rather than for art itself.  Even though this may make him seem a money-grubbing capitalist rather than a romantic artist, the attitude was part of the society in which he lived.  American heroes were successful capitalists, entrepreneurs, or inventors, and Burroughs became one of the best of them.

Mark Twain lost his shirt following one ill-chosen enterprise after another. Jack London sunk most of his fortune on an ill-fated ship, the Snark, and his Wolf House that burned down before he could move in to it.  Burroughs too extended himself beyond his means in his Tarzana estate and country club, but writers of the time desperately wanted to reach a place in high society.

Wealth and its increase or decrease is an issue that can be followed throughout ERB's career in his personal life and in the lives of his characters.  Tarzan loses a fortune and has to go back to Opar for more jewels and gold.  This is more than a fairy tale theme.  It is the fundamental driving force of the American dream.

John Carter was known as "The Virginian."  It is an obvious reference to one of ERB's favorite novels by Owen Wister.  In an article written in 1922 for the Los Angeles Times he stated, "I believe The Virginian to be one of the greatest American novels ever written . . . I venture that a hundred years from now it will constitute his sole link to Fame."

The state of Virginia was dear to ERB.  The Coleman branch of his family, on Mary Evaline's side, had been active in the Continental Army and in various Virginia regiments.  Porges reports that  Ed was impressed by the military exploits of his ancestors, and he was proud of his father's record as a major in the Union Army during the Civil War. (Porges, 773).  Soldiers of famous Virginia Regiments were in his imagination and in his blood.

In her "Memoirs of a War Bride" Mary Evaline Burroughs (ERB's grandmother) recounts visiting Richmond and the residence of Jefferson Davis where she "picked-up" a large heavily-fringed "tidy" as a souvenir.  I wonder who has this little item today?

In any event, ERB was fond of Virginia and creates a great character in Virginia Scott of Virginia in his The Man-Eater.  She is a plucky lass who does not faint like her mother does at the sight of a man-eating lion.  By 1915, ERB already knew how to create a heroine with depth of character to match his heroic gentlemen.

I didn't have a copy of The Man-Eater back in 1995 when I wrote "The Soul of the Lion," my large Jungian study of the meaning of lions in the Tarzan mythos.  When I finally read it this week, I was very excited about the kiss between Virginia and Gordon over the head of the golden lion, Ben, King of Beasts.  This symbolic lion-related kiss at the end of the story is the precursor of much that is to come in the Tarzan Series, specifically with Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion, and it provides another example of a theme that ERB developed over the years to symbolically link many of his heroes, heroines, and beasts.

The lion remained an enemy of Tarzan throughout the series with several remarkable exceptions.  He had to work hard to arrive at the point Gordon reaches apparently without effort in this little story.

The type of man-lion friendship may be seen in Aesop's tale of Androcles and the Lion.  A man removes a thorn from the lion's paw and thus gains a life-long friend.  Gordon rescues his lion from a pit and out of gratitude it refrains from eating him.  Of course, this is not the realistic behavior a a confirmed man-eater, nor is it even a believable story about lion behavior in general.

A wild lion would most likely be indifferent to a human act of kindness.  It would not even be aware that it had escaped from the pit with any human aid whatsoever.  A log appeared, and it got out of the pit -- end of story.

Ben in fact acts more like a dog rather than a lion.  He is the one who recognizes the debt rather than the man, who stays more or less in the dark as to the lion's motivation for his behavior.  Burroughs plays with Ben in the same way that Jack London played with the psychology of the wild wolf-dog, White Fang.  In each case the animal is given powers of reasoning beyond the normal behavior of his species.  It is the knowing animal that links his fate to that of a specific man.

Tarzan had to 'tame" the lion of the gulch in Untamed by mastering it with fear, and he raised Jad-bal-ja from cubhood.  Ben is the one who drives the relationship in this story -- a beast who becomes the friend of a man.

Tarzan enters a similar relationship with Sheeta in "Beasts" when he rescues him from a fallen tree.  There is the same sense of gratitude that drives the unlikely friendship between man and beast.

Jad-bal-ja is the great lion-dog of the Tarzan series who is taught to fetch and carry, to lie motionless in hiding upon voice command, to move from point to point as Tarzan indicated, and to "Heel."  Despite his wild nature, he always obeyed Tarzan like a perfect hunting dog.  Ben follows this same pattern on his own volition, which makes him a remarkable precursor to Jad-bal-ja.

While I was writing this article, my eyes traveled a moment across the titles of my library and I was surprised to see the name Ben leap out at me in Ben-Hur, the title of the famous novel by Lew Wallace.  I don't know that the same thing happened to ERB when he was searching for a name for his Man-Eater, but it is not impossible.  Ben is not exactly the name one might choose for a fierce jungle beast unless it held some other connotation in ERB's mind.

Burroughs perhaps states his views on Fate the best in the Prologue of Tarzan Triumphant.  " . . . that master artist, Fate . . . weaves the design that is never finished. . . . . . Fate is patient.  She waits a hundred or a thousand years to bring together two strands of thread whose union is essential to the fabrication of her tapestry, to the composition of the design that was without beginning and is without end."

What we see as an often overused device of coincidence in ERB's writing might actually have been his personal sense of Fate.  Ben is captured and brought to America.  His train is wrecked at the very spot he must arrive at to complete his mission of Justice -- revenge upon the killers of his mate.  Ben's story is a love story too -- one that was cruelly ended by the murder of his beloved.  Justice demanded retribution.  I wonder how many of the so-called coincidences in ERB's writing is a matter of Fate acting in the service of Justice?  Is it possible that what we see as a literary weakness in his writing is precisely his method of seeing the world as Fate that eventually leads to a Just ending.

Perhaps I am extending too far, but many of ERB's stories seem to demonstrate this "vengeance of the Furies."  In Greek drama the task of the Erinnyes, or Furies, is to punish crime.  No matter where the guilty party goes, he is found, as Orestes discovered in the great trilogy the Oresteia of Aeschylus.

There is a great power in this avenging lion who shows up on the doorstep of the civilized world in The Man Eater.  In chapter 9 when Ben escapes from the train there is a moment when the beast pauses "as though minded to remain and wreak vengeance on the human race," but he leaves to follow the spoor of the guilty ones.  In a scene that almost takes your breath away he enters the house where a flood of moonlight pours through the open doorway falling upon the lion, revealing him in all his majesty of savage strength and alertness.  The fury actually claws through the bedroom door to consummate his mission.  Taylor's final moments are spotlighted in the glare of the car's headlights like a spotlight in a play.  The final scenes are played out in the darkness and the moonlight in another heart-stopping moment when Gordon actually runs toward the lion flooded by the dramatic rays of the watching moon.  He sees the jagged scar on the forearm of the lion at the last minute and knows that everything will be well.