Tarzan and the Golden Lion

Tarzan and the Golden Lion was published in 1923 and brings the great ape-man back to the lost city of Opar. The golden lion of the title is Jad-bal-ja, a lion Tarzan has raised from a cub and trained as a personal companion. The novel splits into two main plotlines that eventually converge. The first involves Tarzan returning to Opar to claim more of the city’s gold for his depleted estate. The second involves a Spanish-American gold-hunter named Esteban Miranda, who looks identical to Tarzan and is convinced by a German criminal organization to impersonate the ape-man.

Miranda’s impersonation plot has surprisingly serious consequences for Jane and for the African residents of the plantation. The eventual confrontation between the real Tarzan and his double, with Jad-bal-ja deciding which one is which, is one of the more genuinely tense climaxes in the series. La of Opar appears again, complicated by her continuing attachment to Tarzan. The book is one of the strongest entries in the second half of the series.