The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tarzan the Terrible, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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Title: Tarzan the Terrible
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
Posting Date: November 19, 2008 [EBook #2020]
Release Date: January, 2000
[Last updated: July 28, 2012]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TARZAN THE TERRIBLE ***
Produced by Judy Boss.
Tarzan the Terrible
By
Edgar Rice Burroughs
CHAPTER
I The Pithecanthropus
II "To the Death!"
III Pan-at-lee
IV Tarzan-jad-guru
V In the Kor-ul-GRYF
VI The Tor-o-don
VII Jungle Craft
VIII A-lur
IX Blood-Stained Altars
X The Forbidden Garden
XI The Sentence of Death
XII The Giant Stranger
XIII The Masquerader
XIV The Temple of the Gryf
XV "The King Is Dead!"
XVI The Secret Way
XVII By Jad-bal-lul
XVIII The Lion Pit of Tu-lur
XIX Diana of the Jungle
XX Silently in the Night
XXI The Maniac
XXII A Journey on a Gryf
XXIII Taken Alive
XXIV The Messenger of Death
XXV Home
Glossary
1
The Pithecanthropus
Silent as the shadows through which he moved, the great beast slunk
through the midnight jungle, his yellow-green eyes round and staring,
his sinewy tail undulating behind him, his head lowered and flattened,
and every muscle vibrant to the thrill of the hunt. The jungle moon
dappled an occasional clearing which the great cat was always careful
to avoid. Though he moved through thick verdure across a carpet of
innumerable twigs, broken branches, and leaves, his passing gave forth
no sound that might have been apprehended by dull human ears.
Apparently less cautious was the hunted thing moving even as silently
as the lion a hundred paces ahead of the tawny carnivore, for instead
of skirting the moon-splashed natural clearings it passed directly
across them, and by the tortuous record of its spoor it might indeed be
guessed that it sought these avenues of least resistance, as well it
might, since, unlike its grim stalker, it walked erect upon two
feet--it walked upon two feet and was hairless except for a black
thatch upon its head; its arms were well shaped and muscular; its hands
powerful and slender with long tapering fingers and thumbs reaching
almost to the first joint of the index fingers. Its legs too were
shapely but its feet departed from the standards of all races of men,
except possibly a few of the lowest races, in that the great toes
protruded at right angles from the foot.
Pausing momentarily in the full light of the gorgeous African moon the
creature turned an attentive ear to the rear and then, his head lifted,
his features might readily have been discerned in the moonlight. They
were strong, clean cut, and regular--features that would have attracted
attention for their masculine beauty in any of the great capitals of
the world. But was this thing a man? It would have been hard for a
watcher in the trees to have decided as the lion's prey resumed its way
across the silver tapestry that Luna had laid upon the floor of the
dismal jungle, for from beneath the loin cloth of black fur that
girdled its thighs there depended a long hairless, white tail.
In one hand the creature carried a stout club, and suspended at its
left side from a shoulder belt was a short, sheathed knife, while a
cross belt supported a pouch at its right hip. Confining these straps
to the body and also apparently supporting the loin cloth was a broad
girdle which glittered in the moonlight as though encrusted with virgin
gold, and was clasped in the center of the belly with a huge buckle of
ornate design that scintillated as with precious stones.
Closer and closer crept Numa, the lion, to his intended victim, and
that the latter was not entirely unaware of his danger was evidenced by
the increasing frequency with which he turned his ear and his sharp
black eyes in the direction of the cat upon his trail. He did not
greatly increase his speed, a long swinging walk where the open places
permitted, but he loosened the knife in its scabbard and at all times
kept his club in readiness for instant action.
Forging at last through a narrow strip of dense jungle vegetation the
man-thing broke through into an almost treeless area of considerable
extent. For an instant he hesitated, glancing quickly behind him and
then up at the security of the branches of the great trees waving
overhead, but some greater urge than fear or caution influenced his
decision apparently, for he moved off again across the little plain
leaving the safety of the trees behind him. At greater or less
intervals leafy sanctuaries dotted the grassy expanse ahead of him and
the route he took, leading from one to another, indicated that he had
not entirely cast discretion to the winds. But after the second tree
had been left behind the distance to the next was considerable, and it
was then that Numa walked from the concealing cover of the jungle and,
seeing his quarry apparently helpless before him, raised his tail
stiffly erect and charged.
Two months--two long, weary months filled with hunger, with thirst,
with hardships, with disappointment, and, greater than all, with
gnawing pain--had passed since Tarzan of the Apes learned from the
diary of the dead German captain that his wife still lived. A brief
investigation in which he was enthusiastically aided by the
Intelligence Department of the British East African Expedition revealed
the fact that an attempt had been made to keep Lady Jane in hiding in
the interior, for reasons of which only the German High Command might
be cognizant.
In charge of Lieutenant Obergatz and a detachment of native German
troops she had been sent across the border into the Congo Free State.
Starting out alone in search of her, Tarzan had succeeded in finding
the village in which she had been incarcerated only to learn that she
had escaped months before, and that the German officer had disappeared
at the same time. From there on the stories of the chiefs and the
warriors whom he quizzed, were vague and often contradictory. Even the
direction that the fugitives had taken Tarzan could only guess at by
piecing together bits of fragmentary evidence gleaned from various
sources.
Sinister conjectures were forced upon him by various observations which
he made in the village. One was incontrovertible proof that these
people were man-eaters; the other, the presence in the village of
various articles of native German uniforms and equipment. At great risk
and in the face of surly objection on the part of the chief, the
ape-man made a careful inspection of every hut in the village from
which at least a little ray of hope resulted from the fact that he
found no article that might have belonged to his wife.
Leaving the village he had made his way toward the southwest, crossing,
after the most appalling hardships, a vast waterless steppe covered for
the most part with dense thorn, coming at last into a district that had
probably never been previously entered by any white man and which was
known only in the legends of the tribes whose country bordered it. Here
were precipitous mountains, well-watered plateaus, wide plains, and
vast swampy morasses, but neither the plains, nor the plateaus, nor the
mountains were accessible to him until after weeks of arduous effort he
succeeded in finding a spot where he might cross the morasses--a
hideous stretch infested by venomous snakes and other larger dangerous
reptiles. On several occasions he glimpsed at distances or by night
what might have been titanic reptilian monsters, but as there were
hippopotami, rhinoceri, and elephants in great numbers in and about the
marsh he was never positive that the forms he saw were not of these.
When at last he stood upon firm ground after crossing the morasses he
realized why it was that for perhaps countless ages this territory had
defied the courage and hardihood of the heroic races of the outer world
that had, after innumerable reverses and unbelievable suffering
penetrated to practically every other region, from pole to pole.
From the abundance and diversity of the game it might have appeared
that every known species of bird and beast and reptile had sought here
a refuge wherein they might take their last stand against the
encroaching multitudes of men that had steadily spread themselves over
the surface of the earth, wresting the hunting grounds from the lower
orders, from the moment that the first ape shed his hair and ceased to
walk upon his knuckles. Even the species with which Tarzan was
familiar showed here either the results of a divergent line of
evolution or an unaltered form that had been transmitted without
variation for countless ages.
Too, there were many hybrid strains, not the least interesting of which
to Tarzan was a yellow and black striped lion. Smaller than the species
with which Tarzan was familiar, but still a most formidable beast,
since it possessed in addition to sharp saber-like canines the
disposition of a devil. To Tarzan it presented evidence that tigers had
once roamed the jungles of Africa, possibly giant saber-tooths of
another epoch, and these apparently had crossed with lions with the
resultant terrors that he occasionally encountered at the present day.
The true lions of this new, Old World differed but little from those
with which he was familiar; in size and conformation they were almost
identical, but instead of shedding the leopard spots of cubhood, they
retained them through life as definitely marked as those of the leopard.
Two months of effort had revealed no slightest evidence that she he
sought had entered this beautiful yet forbidding land. His
investigation, however, of the cannibal village and his questioning of
other tribes in the neighborhood had convinced him that if Lady Jane
still lived it must be in this direction that he seek her, since by a
process of elimination he had reduced the direction of her flight to
only this possibility. How she had crossed the morass he could not
guess and yet something within seemed to urge upon him belief that she
had crossed it, and that if she still lived it was here that she must
be sought. But this unknown, untraversed wild was of vast extent; grim,
forbidding mountains blocked his way, torrents tumbling from rocky
fastnesses impeded his progress, and at every turn he was forced to
match wits and muscles with the great carnivora that he might procure
sustenance.
Time and again Tarzan and Numa stalked the same quarry and now one, now
the other bore off the prize. Seldom however did the ape-man go hungry
for the country was rich in game animals and birds and fish, in fruit
and the countless other forms of vegetable life upon which the
jungle-bred man may subsist.
Tarzan often wondered why in so rich a country he found no evidences of
man and had at last come to the conclusion that the parched,
thorn-covered steppe and the hideous morasses had formed a sufficient
barrier to protect this country effectively from the inroads of mankind.
After days of searching he had succeeded finally in discovering a pass
through the mountains and, coming down upon the opposite side, had
found himself in a country practically identical with that which he had
left. The hunting was good and at a water hole in the mouth of a canyon
where it debouched upon a tree-covered plain Bara, the deer, fell an
easy victim to the ape-man's cunning.
It was just at dusk. The voices of great four-footed hunters rose now
and again from various directions, and as the canyon afforded among its
trees no comfortable retreat the ape-man shouldered the carcass of the
deer and started downward onto the plain. At its opposite side rose
lofty trees--a great forest which suggested to his practiced eye a
mighty jungle. Toward this the ape-man bent his step, but when midway
of the plain he discovered standing alone such a tree as best suited
him for a night's abode, swung lightly to its branches and, presently,
a comfortable resting place.
Here he ate the flesh of Bara and when satisfied carried the balance of
the carcass to the opposite side of the tree where he deposited it far
above the ground in a secure place. Returning to his crotch he settled
himself for sleep and in another moment the roars of the lions and the
howlings of the lesser cats fell upon deaf ears.
The usual noises of the jungle composed rather than disturbed the
ape-man but an unusual sound, however imperceptible to the awakened ear
of civilized man, seldom failed to impinge upon the consciousness of
Tarzan, however deep his slumber, and so it was that when the moon was
high a sudden rush of feet across the grassy carpet in the vicinity of
his tree brought him to alert and ready activity. Tarzan does not
awaken as you and I with the weight of slumber still upon his eyes and
brain, for did the creatures of the wild awaken thus, their awakenings
would be few. As his eyes snapped open, clear and bright, so, clear
and bright upon the nerve centers of his brain, were registered the
various perceptions of all his senses.
Almost beneath him, racing toward his tree was what at first glance
appeared to be an almost naked white man, yet even at the first instant
of discovery the long, white tail projecting rearward did not escape
the ape-man. Behind the fleeing figure, escaping, came Numa, the lion,
in full charge. Voiceless the prey, voiceless the killer; as two
spirits in a dead world the two moved in silent swiftness toward the
culminating tragedy of this grim race.
Even as his eyes opened and took in the scene beneath him--even in that
brief instant of perception, followed reason, judgment, and decision,
so rapidly one upon the heels of the other that almost simultaneously
the ape-man was in mid-air, for he had seen a white-skinned creature
cast in a mold similar to his own, pursued by Tarzan's hereditary
enemy. So close was the lion to the fleeing man-thing that Tarzan had
no time carefully to choose the method of his attack. As a diver leaps
from the springboard headforemost into the waters beneath, so Tarzan of
the Apes dove straight for Numa, the lion; naked in his right hand the
blade of his father that so many times before had tasted the blood of
lions.
A raking talon caught Tarzan on the side, inflicting a long, deep wound
and then the ape-man was on Numa's back and the blade was sinking again
and again into the savage side. Nor was the man-thing either longer
fleeing, or idle. He too, creature of the wild, had sensed on the
instant the truth of the miracle of his saving, and turning in his
tracks, had leaped forward with raised bludgeon to Tarzan's assistance
and Numa's undoing. A single terrific blow upon the flattened skull of
the beast laid him insensible and then as Tarzan's knife found the wild
heart a few convulsive shudders and a sudden relaxation marked the
passing of the carnivore.
Leaping to his feet the ape-man placed his foot upon the carcass of his
kill and, raising his face to Goro, the moon, voiced the savage victory
cry that had so often awakened the echoes of his native jungle.
As the hideous scream burst from the ape-man's lips the man-thing
stepped quickly back as in sudden awe, but when Tarzan returned his
hunting knife to its sheath and turned toward him the other saw in the
quiet dignity of his demeanor no cause for apprehension.
For a moment the two stood appraising each other, and then the
man-thing spoke. Tarzan realized that the creature before him was
uttering articulate sounds which expressed in speech, though in a
language with which Tarzan was unfamiliar, the thoughts of a man
possessing to a greater or less extent the same powers of reason that
he possessed. In other words, that though the creature before him had
the tail and thumbs and great toes of a monkey, it was, in all other
respects, quite evidently a man.
The blood, which was now flowing down Tarzan's side, caught the
creature's attention. From the pocket-pouch at his side he took a small
bag and approaching Tarzan indicated by signs that he wished the
ape-man to lie down that he might treat the wound, whereupon, spreading
the edges of the cut apart, he sprinkled the raw flesh with powder from
the little bag. The pain of the wound was as nothing to the exquisite
torture of the remedy but, accustomed to physical suffering, the
ape-man withstood it stoically and in a few moments not only had the
bleeding ceased but the pain as well.
In reply to the soft and far from unpleasant modulations of the other's
voice, Tarzan spoke in various tribal dialects of the interior as well
as in the language of the great apes, but it was evident that the man
understood none of these. Seeing that they could not make each other
understood, the pithecanthropus advanced toward Tarzan and placing his
left hand over his own heart laid the palm of his right hand over the
heart of the ape-man. To the latter the action appeared as a form of
friendly greeting and, being versed in the ways of uncivilized races,
he responded in kind as he realized it was doubtless intended that he
should. His action seemed to satisfy and please his new-found
acquaintance, who immediately fell to talking again and finally, with
his head tipped back, sniffed the air in the direction of the tree
above them and then suddenly pointing toward the carcass of Bara, the
deer, he touched his stomach in a sign language which even the densest
might interpret. With a wave of his hand Tarzan invited his guest to
partake of the remains of his savage repast, and the other, leaping
nimbly as a little monkey to the lower branches of the tree, made his
way quickly to the flesh, assisted always by his long, strong sinuous
tail.
The pithecanthropus ate in silence, cutting small strips from the
deer's loin with his keen knife. From his crotch in the tree Tarzan
watched his companion, noting the preponderance of human attributes
which were doubtless accentuated by the paradoxical thumbs, great toes,
and tail.
He wondered if this creature was representative of some strange race or
if, what seemed more likely, but an atavism. Either supposition would
have seemed preposterous enough did he not have before him the evidence
of the creature's existence. There he was, however, a tailed man with
distinctly arboreal hands and feet. His trappings, gold encrusted and
jewel studded, could have been wrought only by skilled artisans; but
whether they were the work of this individual or of others like him, or
of an entirely different race, Tarzan could not, of course, determine.
His meal finished, the guest wiped his fingers and lips with leaves
broken from a nearby branch, looked up at Tarzan with a pleasant smile
that revealed a row of strong white teeth, the canines of which were no
longer than Tarzan's own, spoke a few words which Tarzan judged were a
polite expression of thanks and then sought a comfortable place in the
tree for the night.
The earth was shadowed in the darkness which precedes the dawn when
Tarzan was awakened by a violent shaking of the tree in which he had
found shelter. As he opened his eyes he saw that his companion was also
astir, and glancing around quickly to apprehend the cause of the
disturbance, the ape-man was astounded at the sight which met his eyes.
The dim shadow of a colossal form reared close beside the tree and he
saw that it was the scraping of the giant body against the branches
that had awakened him. That such a tremendous creature could have
approached so closely without disturbing him filled Tarzan with both
wonderment and chagrin. In the gloom the ape-man at first conceived the
intruder to be an elephant; yet, if so, one of greater proportions than
any he had ever before seen, but as the dim outlines became less
indistinct he saw on a line with his eyes and twenty feet above the
ground the dim silhouette of a grotesquely serrated back that gave the
impression of a creature whose each and every spinal vertebra grew a
thick, heavy horn. Only a portion of the back was visible to the
ape-man, the rest of the body being lost in the dense shadows beneath
the tree, from whence there now arose the sound of giant jaws
powerfully crunching flesh and bones. From the odors that rose to the
ape-man's sensitive nostrils he presently realized that beneath him was
some huge reptile feeding upon the carcass of the lion that had been
slain there earlier in the night.
As Tarzan's eyes, straining with curiosity, bored futilely into the
dark shadows he felt a light touch upon his shoulder, and, turning, saw
that his companion was attempting to attract his attention. The
creature, pressing a forefinger to his own lips as to enjoin silence,
attempted by pulling on Tarzan's arm to indicate that they should leave
at once.
Realizing that he was in a strange country, evidently infested by
creatures of titanic size, with the habits and powers of which he was
entirely unfamiliar, the ape-man permitted himself to be drawn away.
With the utmost caution the pithecanthropus descended the tree upon the
opposite side from the great nocturnal prowler, and, closely followed
by Tarzan, moved silently away through the night across the plain.
The ape-man was rather loath thus to relinquish an opportunity to
inspect a creature which he realized was probably entirely different
from anything in his past experience; yet he was wise enough to know
when discretion was the better part of valor and now, as in the past,
he yielded to that law which dominates the kindred of the wild,
preventing them from courting danger uselessly, whose lives are
sufficiently filled with danger in their ordinary routine of feeding
and mating.
As the rising sun dispelled the shadows of the night, Tarzan found
himself again upon the verge of a great forest into which his guide
plunged, taking nimbly to the branches of the trees through which he
made his way with the celerity of long habitude and hereditary
instinct, but though aided by a prehensile tail, fingers, and toes, the
man-thing moved through the forest with no greater ease or surety than
did the giant ape-man.
It was during this journey that Tarzan recalled the wound in his side
inflicted upon him the previous night by the raking talons of Numa, the
lion, and examining it was surprised to discover that not only was it
painless but along its edges were no indications of inflammation, the
results doubtless of the antiseptic powder his strange companion had
sprinkled upon it.
They had proceeded for a mile or two when Tarzan's companion came to
earth upon a grassy slope beneath a great tree whose branches overhung
a clear brook. Here they drank and Tarzan discovered the water to be
not only deliciously pure and fresh but of an icy temperature that
indicated its rapid descent from the lofty mountains of its origin.
Casting aside his loin cloth and weapons Tarzan entered the little pool
beneath the tree and after a moment emerged, greatly refreshed and
filled with a keen desire to breakfast. As he came out of the pool he
noticed his companion examining him with a puzzled expression upon his
face. Taking the ape-man by the shoulder he turned him around so that
Tarzan's back was toward him and then, touching the end of Tarzan's
spine with his forefinger, he curled his own tail up over his shoulder
and, wheeling the ape-man about again, pointed first at Tarzan and then
at his own caudal appendage, a look of puzzlement upon his face, the
while he jabbered excitedly in his strange tongue.
The ape-man realized that probably for the first time his companion had
discovered that he was tailless by nature rather than by accident, and
so he called attention to his own great toes and thumbs to further
impress upon the creature that they were of different species.
The fellow shook his head dubiously as though entirely unable to
comprehend why Tarzan should differ so from him but at last, apparently
giving the problem up with a shrug, he laid aside his own harness,
skin, and weapons and entered the pool.
His ablutions completed and his meager apparel redonned he seated
himself at the foot of the tree and motioning Tarzan to a place beside
him, opened the pouch that hung at his right side taking from it strips
of dried flesh and a couple of handfuls of thin-shelled nuts with which
Tarzan was unfamiliar. Seeing the other break them with his teeth and
eat the kernel, Tarzan followed the example thus set him, discovering
the meat to be rich and well flavored. The dried flesh also was far
from unpalatable, though it had evidently been jerked without salt, a
commodity which Tarzan imagined might be rather difficult to obtain in
this locality.
As they ate Tarzan's companion pointed to the nuts, the dried meat, and
various other nearby objects, in each instance repeating what Tarzan
readily discovered must be the names of these things in the creature's
native language. The ape-man could but smile at this evident desire
upon the part of his new-found acquaintance to impart to him
instructions that eventually might lead to an exchange of thoughts
between them. Having already mastered several languages and a multitude
of dialects the ape-man felt that he could readily assimilate another
even though this appeared one entirely unrelated to any with which he
was familiar.
So occupied were they with their breakfast and the lesson that neither
was aware of the beady eyes glittering down upon them from above; nor
was Tarzan cognizant of any impending danger until the instant that a
huge, hairy body leaped full upon his companion from the branches above
them.
2
"To the Death!"
In the moment of discovery Tarzan saw that the creature was almost a
counterpart of his companion in size and conformation, with the
exception that his body was entirely clothed with a coat of shaggy
black hair which almost concealed his features, while his harness and
weapons were similar to those of the creature he had attacked. Ere
Tarzan could prevent the creature had struck the ape-man's companion a
blow upon the head with his knotted club that felled him, unconscious,
to the earth; but before he could inflict further injury upon his
defenseless prey the ape-man had closed with him.
Instantly Tarzan realized that he was locked with a creature of almost
superhuman strength. The sinewy fingers of a powerful hand sought his
throat while the other lifted the bludgeon above his head. But if the
strength of the hairy attacker was great, great too was that of his
smooth-skinned antagonist. Swinging a single terrific blow with
clenched fist to the point of the other's chin, Tarzan momentarily
staggered his assailant and then his own fingers closed upon the shaggy
throat, as with the other hand he seized the wrist of the arm that
swung the club. With equal celerity he shot his right leg behind the
shaggy brute and throwing his weight forward hurled the thing over his
hip heavily to the ground, at the same time precipitating his own body
upon the other's chest.
With the shock of the impact the club fell from the brute's hand and
Tarzan's hold was wrenched from its throat. Instantly the two were
locked in a deathlike embrace. Though the creature bit at Tarzan the
latter was quickly aware that this was not a particularly formidable
method of offense or defense, since its canines were scarcely more
developed than his own. The thing that he had principally to guard
against was the sinuous tail which sought steadily to wrap itself about
his throat and against which experience had afforded him no defense.
Struggling and snarling the two rolled growling about the sward at the
foot of the tree, first one on top and then the other but each more
occupied at present in defending his throat from the other's choking
grasp than in aggressive, offensive tactics. But presently the ape-man
saw his opportunity and as they rolled about he forced the creature
closer and closer to the pool, upon the banks of which the battle was
progressing. At last they lay upon the very verge of the water and now
it remained for Tarzan to precipitate them both beneath the surface but
in such a way that he might remain on top.
At the same instant there came within range of Tarzan's vision, just
behind the prostrate form of his companion, the crouching, devil-faced
figure of the striped saber-tooth hybrid, eyeing him with snarling,
malevolent face.
Almost simultaneously Tarzan's shaggy antagonist discovered the
menacing figure of the great cat. Immediately he ceased his belligerent
activities against Tarzan and, jabbering and chattering to the ape-man,
he tried to disengage himself from Tarzan's hold but in such a way that
indicated that as far as he was concerned their battle was over.
Appreciating the danger to his unconscious companion and being anxious
to protect him from the saber-tooth the ape-man relinquished his hold
upon his adversary and together the two rose to their feet.
Drawing his knife Tarzan moved slowly toward the body of his companion,
expecting that his recent antagonist would grasp the opportunity for
escape. To his surprise, however, the beast, after regaining its club,
advanced at his side.
The great cat, flattened upon its belly, remained motionless except for
twitching tail and snarling lips where it lay perhaps fifty feet beyond
the body of the pithecanthropus. As Tarzan stepped over the body of the
latter he saw the eyelids quiver and open, and in his heart he felt a
strange sense of relief that the creature was not dead and a
realization that without his suspecting it there had arisen within his
savage bosom a bond of attachment for this strange new friend.
Tarzan continued to approach the saber-tooth, nor did the shaggy beast
at his right lag behind. Closer and closer they came until at a
distance of about twenty feet the hybrid charged. Its rush was directed
toward the shaggy manlike ape who halted in his tracks with upraised
bludgeon to meet the assault. Tarzan, on the contrary, leaped forward
and with a celerity second not even to that of the swift-moving cat, he
threw himself headlong upon him as might a Rugby tackler on an American
gridiron. His right arm circled the beast's neck in front of the right
shoulder, his left behind the left foreleg, and so great was the force
of the impact that the two rolled over and over several times upon the
ground, the cat screaming and clawing to liberate itself that it might
turn upon its attacker, the man clinging desperately to his hold.
Seemingly the attack was one of mad, senseless ferocity unguided by
either reason or skill. Nothing, however, could have been farther from
the truth than such an assumption since every muscle in the ape-man's
giant frame obeyed the dictates of the cunning mind that long
experience had trained to meet every exigency of such an encounter. The
long, powerful legs, though seemingly inextricably entangled with the
hind feet of the clawing cat, ever as by a miracle, escaped the raking
talons and yet at just the proper instant in the midst of all the
rolling and tossing they were where they should be to carry out the
ape-man's plan of offense. So that on the instant that the cat believed
it had won the mastery of its antagonist it was jerked suddenly upward
as the ape-man rose to his feet, holding the striped back close against
his body as he rose and forcing it backward until it could but claw the
air helplessly.
Instantly the shaggy black rushed in with drawn knife which it buried
in the beast's heart. For a few moments Tarzan retained his hold but
when the body had relaxed in final dissolution he pushed it from him
and the two who had formerly been locked in mortal combat stood facing
each other across the body of the common foe.
Tarzan waited, ready either for peace or war. Presently two shaggy
black hands were raised; the left was laid upon its own heart and the
right extended until the palm touched Tarzan's breast. It was the same
form of friendly salutation with which the pithecanthropus had sealed
his alliance with the ape-man and Tarzan, glad of every ally he could
win in this strange and savage world, quickly accepted the proffered
friendship.
At the conclusion of the brief ceremony Tarzan, glancing in the
direction of the hairless pithecanthropus, discovered that the latter
had recovered consciousness and was sitting erect watching them
intently. He now rose slowly and at the same time the shaggy black
turned in his direction and addressed him in what evidently was their
common language. The hairless one replied and the two approached each
other slowly. Tarzan watched interestedly the outcome of their meeting.
They halted a few paces apart, first one and then the other speaking
rapidly but without apparent excitement, each occasionally glancing or
nodding toward Tarzan, indicating that he was to some extent the
subject of their conversation.
Presently they advanced again until they met, whereupon was repeated
the brief ceremony of alliance which had previously marked the
cessation of hostilities between Tarzan and the black. They then
advanced toward the ape-man addressing him earnestly as though
endeavoring to convey to him some important information. Presently,
however, they gave it up as an unprofitable job and, resorting to sign
language, conveyed to Tarzan that they were proceeding upon their way
together and were urging him to accompany them.
As the direction they indicated was a route which Tarzan had not
previously traversed he was extremely willing to accede to their
request, as he had determined thoroughly to explore this unknown land
before definitely abandoning search for Lady Jane therein.
For several days their way led through the foothills parallel to the
lofty range towering above. Often were they menaced by the savage
denizens of this remote fastness, and occasionally Tarzan glimpsed
weird forms of gigantic proportions amidst the shadows of the nights.
On the third day they came upon a large natural cave in the face of a
low cliff at the foot of which tumbled one of the numerous mountain
brooks that watered the plain below and fed the morasses in the
lowlands at the country's edge. Here the three took up their temporary
abode where Tarzan's instruction in the language of his companions
progressed more rapidly than while on the march.
The cave gave evidence of having harbored other manlike forms in the
past. Remnants of a crude, rock fireplace remained and the walls and
ceiling were blackened with the smoke of many fires. Scratched in the
soot, and sometimes deeply into the rock beneath, were strange
hieroglyphics and the outlines of beasts and birds and reptiles, some
of the latter of weird form suggesting the extinct creatures of
Jurassic times. Some of the more recently made hieroglyphics Tarzan's
companions read with interest and commented upon, and then with the
points of their knives they too added to the possibly age-old record of
the blackened walls.
Tarzan's curiosity was aroused, but the only explanation at which he
could arrive was that he was looking upon possibly the world's most
primitive hotel register. At least it gave him a further insight into
the development of the strange creatures with which Fate had thrown
him. Here were men with the tails of monkeys, one of them as hair
covered as any fur-bearing brute of the lower orders, and yet it was
evident that they possessed not only a spoken, but a written language.
The former he was slowly mastering and at this new evidence of
unlooked-for civilization in creatures possessing so many of the
physical attributes of beasts, Tarzan's curiosity was still further
piqued and his desire quickly to master their tongue strengthened, with
the result that he fell to with even greater assiduity to the task he
had set himself. Already he knew the names of his companions and the
common names of the fauna and flora with which they had most often come
in contact.
Ta-den, he of the hairless, white skin, having assumed the role of
tutor, prosecuted his task with a singleness of purpose that was
reflected in his pupil's rapid mastery of Ta-den's mother tongue.
Om-at, the hairy black, also seemed to feel that there rested upon his
broad shoulders a portion of the burden of responsibility for Tarzan's
education, with the result that either one or the other of them was
almost constantly coaching the ape-man during his waking hours. The
result was only what might have been expected--a rapid assimilation of
the teachings to the end that before any of them realized it,
communication by word of mouth became an accomplished fact.
Tarzan explained to his companions the purpose of his mission but
neither could give him any slightest thread of hope to weave into the
fabric of his longing. Never had there been in their country a woman
such as he described, nor any tailless man other than himself that they
ever had seen.
"I have been gone from A-lur while Bu, the moon, has eaten seven
times," said Ta-den. "Many things may happen in seven times
twenty-eight days; but I doubt that your woman could have entered our
country across the terrible morasses which even you found an almost
insurmountable obstacle, and if she had, could she have survived the
perils that you already have encountered beside those of which you have
yet to learn? Not even our own women venture into the savage lands
beyond the cities."
"'A-lur,' Light-city, City of Light," mused Tarzan, translating the
word into his own tongue. "And where is A-lur?" he asked. "Is it your
city, Ta-den, and Om-at's?"
"It is mine," replied the hairless one; "but not Om-at's. The Waz-don
have no cities--they live in the trees of the forests and the caves of
the hills--is it not so, black man?" he concluded, turning toward the
hairy giant beside him.
"Yes," replied Om-at, "We Waz-don are free--only the Hodon imprison
themselves in cities. I would not be a white man!"
Tarzan smiled. Even here was the racial distinction between white man
and black man--Ho-don and Waz-don. Not even the fact that they appeared
to be equals in the matter of intelligence made any difference--one was
white and one was black, and it was easy to see that the white
considered himself superior to the other--one could see it in his quiet
smile.
"Where is A-lur?" Tarzan asked again. "You are returning to it?"
"It is beyond the mountains," replied Ta-den. "I do not return to
it--not yet. Not until Ko-tan is no more."
"Ko-tan?" queried Tarzan.
"Ko-tan is king," explained the pithecanthropus. "He rules this land. I
was one of his warriors. I lived in the palace of Ko-tan and there I
met O-lo-a, his daughter. We loved, Likestar-light, and I; but Ko-tan
would have none of me. He sent me away to fight with the men of the
village of Dak-at, who had refused to pay his tribute to the king,
thinking that I would be killed, for Dak-at is famous for his many fine
warriors. And I was not killed. Instead I returned victorious with the
tribute and with Dak-at himself my prisoner; but Ko-tan was not pleased
because he saw that O-lo-a loved me even more than before, her love
being strengthened and fortified by pride in my achievement.
"Powerful is my father, Ja-don, the Lion-man, chief of the largest
village outside of A-lur. Him Ko-tan hesitated to affront and so he
could not but praise me for my success, though he did it with half a
smile. But you do not understand! It is what we call a smile that moves
only the muscles of the face and affects not the light of the eyes--it
means hypocrisy and duplicity. I must be praised and rewarded. What
better than that he reward me with the hand of O-lo-a, his daughter?
But no, he saves O-lo-a for Bu-lot, son of Mo-sar, the chief whose
great-grandfather was king and who thinks that he should be king. Thus
would Ko-tan appease the wrath of Mo-sar and win the friendship of
those who think with Mo-sar that Mo-sar should be king.
"But what reward shall repay the faithful Ta-den? Greatly do we honor
our priests. Within the temples even the chiefs and the king himself
bow down to them. No greater honor could Ko-tan confer upon a
subject--who wished to be a priest, but I did not so wish. Priests
other than the high priest must become eunuchs for they may never marry.
"It was O-lo-a herself who brought word to me that her father had given
the commands that would set in motion the machinery of the temple. A
messenger was on his way in search of me to summon me to Ko-tan's
presence. To have refused the priesthood once it was offered me by the
king would have been to have affronted the temple and the gods--that
would have meant death; but if I did not appear before Ko-tan I would
not have to refuse anything. O-lo-a and I decided that I must not
appear. It was better to fly, carrying in my bosom a shred of hope,
than to remain and, with my priesthood, abandon hope forever.
"Beneath the shadows of the great trees that grow within the palace
grounds I pressed her to me for, perhaps, the last time and then, lest
by ill-fate I meet the messenger, I scaled the great wall that guards
the palace and passed through the darkened city. My name and rank
carried me beyond the city gate. Since then I have wandered far from
the haunts of the Ho-don but strong within me is the urge to return if
even but to look from without her walls upon the city that holds her
most dear to me and again to visit the village of my birth, to see
again my father and my mother."
"But the risk is too great?" asked Tarzan.
"It is great, but not too great," replied Ta-den. "I shall go."
"And I shall go with you, if I may," said the ape-man, "for I must see
this City of Light, this A-lur of yours, and search there for my lost
mate even though you believe that there is little chance that I find
her. And you, Om-at, do you come with us?"
"Why not?" asked the hairy one. "The lairs of my tribe lie in the crags
above A-lur and though Es-sat, our chief, drove me out I should like to
return again, for there is a she there upon whom I should be glad to
look once more and who would be glad to look upon me. Yes, I will go
with you. Es-sat feared that I might become chief and who knows but
that Es-sat was right. But Pan-at-lee! it is she I seek first even
before a chieftainship."
"We three, then, shall travel together," said Tarzan.
"And fight together," added Ta-den; "the three as one," and as he spoke
he drew his knife and held it above his head.
"The three as one," repeated Om-at, drawing his weapon and duplicating
Ta-den's act. "It is spoken!"
"The three as one!" cried Tarzan of the Apes. "To the death!" and his
blade flashed in the sunlight.
"Let us go, then," said Om-at; "my knife is dry and cries aloud for the
blood of Es-sat."
The trail over which Ta-den and Om-at led and which scarcely could be
dignified even by the name of trail was suited more to mountain sheep,
monkeys, or birds than to man; but the three that followed it were
trained to ways which no ordinary man might essay. Now, upon the lower
slopes, it led through dense forests where the ground was so matted
with fallen trees and over-rioting vines and brush that the way held
always to the swaying branches high above the tangle; again it skirted
yawning gorges whose slippery-faced rocks gave but momentary foothold
even to the bare feet that lightly touched them as the three leaped
chamois-like from one precarious foothold to the next. Dizzy and
terrifying was the way that Om-at chose across the summit as he led
them around the shoulder of a towering crag that rose a sheer two
thousand feet of perpendicular rock above a tumbling river. And when at
last they stood upon comparatively level ground again Om-at turned and
looked at them both intently and especially at Tarzan of the Apes.
"You will both do," he said. "You are fit companions for Om-at, the
Waz-don."
"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.
"I brought you this way," replied the black, "to learn if either lacked
the courage to follow where Om-at led. It is here that the young
warriors of Es-sat come to prove their courage. And yet, though we are
born and raised upon cliff sides, it is considered no disgrace to admit
that Pastar-ul-ved, the Father of Mountains, has defeated us, for of
those who try it only a few succeed--the bones of the others lie at the
feet of Pastar-ul-ved."
Ta-den laughed. "I would not care to come this way often," he said.
"No," replied Om-at; "but it has shortened our journey by at least a
full day. So much the sooner shall Tarzan look upon the Valley of
Jad-ben-Otho. Come!" and he led the way upward along the shoulder of
Pastar-ul-ved until there lay spread below them a scene of mystery and
of beauty--a green valley girt by towering cliffs of marble
whiteness--a green valley dotted by deep blue lakes and crossed by the
blue trail of a winding river. In the center a city of the whiteness of
the marble cliffs--a city which even at so great a distance evidenced a
strange, yet artistic architecture. Outside the city there were visible
about the valley isolated groups of buildings--sometimes one, again two
and three and four in a cluster--but always of the same glaring
whiteness, and always in some fantastic form.
About the valley the cliffs were occasionally cleft by deep gorges,
verdure filled, giving the appearance of green rivers rioting downward
toward a central sea of green.
"Jad Pele ul Jad-ben-Otho," murmured Tarzan in the tongue of the
pithecanthropi; "The Valley of the Great God--it is beautiful!"
"Here, in A-lur, lives Ko-tan, the king, ruler over all Pal-ul-don,"
said Ta-den.
"And here in these gorges live the Waz-don," exclaimed Om-at, "who do
not acknowledge that Ko-tan is the ruler over all the Land-of-man."
Ta-den smiled and shrugged. "We will not quarrel, you and I," he said
to Om-at, "over that which all the ages have not proved sufficient time
in which to reconcile the Ho-don and Waz-don; but let me whisper to you
a secret, Om-at. The Ho-don live together in greater or less peace
under one ruler so that when danger threatens them they face the enemy
with many warriors, for every fighting Ho-don of Pal-ul-don is there.
But you Waz-don, how is it with you? You have a dozen kings who fight
not only with the Ho-don but with one another. When one of your tribes
goes forth upon the fighting trail, even against the Ho-don, it must
leave behind sufficient warriors to protect its women and its children
from the neighbors upon either hand. When we want eunuchs for the
temples or servants for the fields or the homes we march forth in great
numbers upon one of your villages. You cannot even flee, for upon
either side of you are enemies and though you fight bravely we come
back with those who will presently be eunuchs in the temples and
servants in our fields and homes. So long as the Waz-don are thus
foolish the Ho-don will dominate and their king will be king of
Pal-ul-don."
"Perhaps you are right," admitted Om-at. "It is because our neighbors
are fools, each thinking that his tribe is the greatest and should rule
among the Waz-don. They will not admit that the warriors of my tribe
are the bravest and our shes the most beautiful."
Ta-den grinned. "Each of the others presents precisely the same
arguments that you present, Om-at," he said, "which, my friend, is the
strongest bulwark of defense possessed by the Ho-don."
"Come!" exclaimed Tarzan; "such discussions often lead to quarrels and
we three must have no quarrels. I, of course, am interested in learning
what I can of the political and economic conditions of your land; I
should like to know something of your religion; but not at the expense
of bitterness between my only friends in Pal-ul-don. Possibly, however,
you hold to the same god?"
"There indeed we do differ," cried Om-at, somewhat bitterly and with a
trace of excitement in his voice.
"Differ!" almost shouted Ta-den; "and why should we not differ? Who
could agree with the preposterous----"
"Stop!" cried Tarzan. "Now, indeed, have I stirred up a hornets' nest.
Let us speak no more of matters political or religious."
"That is wiser," agreed Om-at; "but I might mention, for your
information, that the one and only god has a long tail."
"It is sacrilege," cried Ta-den, laying his hand upon his knife;
"Jad-ben-Otho has no tail!"
"Stop!" shrieked Om-at, springing forward; but instantly Tarzan
interposed himself between them.
"Enough!" he snapped. "Let us be true to our oaths of friendship that
we may be honorable in the sight of God in whatever form we conceive
Him."
"You are right, Tailless One," said Ta-den. "Come, Om-at, let us look
after our friendship and ourselves, secure in the conviction that
Jad-ben-Otho is sufficiently powerful to look after himself."
"Done!" agreed Om-at, "but----"
"No 'buts,' Om-at," admonished Tarzan.
The shaggy black shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Shall we make our
way down toward the valley?" he asked. "The gorge below us is
uninhabited; that to the left contains the caves of my people. I would
see Pan-at-lee once more. Ta-den would visit his father in the valley
below and Tarzan seeks entrance to A-lur in search of the mate that
would be better dead than in the clutches of the Ho-don priests of
Jad-ben-Otho. How shall we proceed?"
"Let us remain together as long as possible," urged Ta-den. "You,
Om-at, must seek Pan-at-lee by night and by stealth, for three, even we
three, may not hope to overcome Es-sat and all his warriors. At any
time may we go to the village where my father is chief, for Ja-don
always will welcome the friends of his son. But for Tarzan to enter
A-lur is another matter, though there is a way and he has the courage
to put it to the test--listen, come close for Jad-ben-Otho has keen
ears and this he must not hear," and with his lips close to the ears of
his companions Ta-den, the Tall-tree, son of Ja-don, the Lion-man,
unfolded his daring plan.
And at the same moment, a hundred miles away, a lithe figure, naked but
for a loin cloth and weapons, moved silently across a thorn-covered,
waterless steppe, searching always along the ground before him with
keen eyes and sensitive nostrils.
3
Pan-at-lee
Night had fallen upon unchartered Pal-ul-don. A slender moon, low in
the west, bathed the white faces of the chalk cliffs presented to her,
in a mellow, unearthly glow. Black were the shadows in Kor-ul-JA,
Gorge-of-lions, where dwelt the tribe of the same name under Es-sat,
their chief. From an aperture near the summit of the lofty escarpment a
hairy figure emerged--the head and shoulders first--and fierce eyes
scanned the cliff side in every direction.
It was Es-sat, the chief. To right and left and below he looked as
though to assure himself that he was unobserved, but no other figure
moved upon the cliff face, nor did another hairy body protrude from any
of the numerous cave mouths from the high-flung abode of the chief to
the habitations of the more lowly members of the tribe nearer the
cliff's base. Then he moved outward upon the sheer face of the white
chalk wall. In the half-light of the baby moon it appeared that the
heavy, shaggy black figure moved across the face of the perpendicular
wall in some miraculous manner, but closer examination would have
revealed stout pegs, as large around as a man's wrist protruding from
holes in the cliff into which they were driven. Es-sat's four handlike
members and his long, sinuous tail permitted him to move with
consummate ease whither he chose--a gigantic rat upon a mighty wall. As
he progressed upon his way he avoided the cave mouths, passing either
above or below those that lay in his path.
The outward appearance of these caves was similar. An opening from
eight to as much as twenty feet long by eight high and four to six feet
deep was cut into the chalklike rock of the cliff, in the back of this
large opening, which formed what might be described as the front
veranda of the home, was an opening about three feet wide and six feet
high, evidently forming the doorway to the interior apartment or
apartments. On either side of this doorway were smaller openings which
it were easy to assume were windows through which light and air might
find their way to the inhabitants. Similar windows were also dotted
over the cliff face between the entrance porches, suggesting that the
entire face of the cliff was honeycombed with apartments. From many of
these smaller apertures small streams of water trickled down the
escarpment, and the walls above others was blackened as by smoke.
Where the water ran the wall was eroded to a depth of from a few inches
to as much as a foot, suggesting that some of the tiny streams had been
trickling downward to the green carpet of vegetation below for ages.
In this primeval setting the great pithecanthropus aroused no jarring
discord for he was as much a part of it as the trees that grew upon the
summit of the cliff or those that hid their feet among the dank ferns
in the bottom of the gorge.
Now he paused before an entrance-way and listened and then, noiselessly
as the moonlight upon the trickling waters, he merged with the shadows
of the outer porch. At the doorway leading into the interior he paused
again, listening, and then quietly pushing aside the heavy skin that
covered the aperture he passed within a large chamber hewn from the
living rock. From the far end, through another doorway, shone a light,
dimly. Toward this he crept with utmost stealth, his naked feet giving
forth no sound. The knotted club that had been hanging at his back
from a thong about his neck he now removed and carried in his left hand.
Beyond the second doorway was a corridor running parallel with the
cliff face. In this corridor were three more doorways, one at each end
and a third almost opposite that in which Es-sat stood. The light was
coming from an apartment at the end of the corridor at his left. A
sputtering flame rose and fell in a small stone receptacle that stood
upon a table or bench of the same material, a monolithic bench
fashioned at the time the room was excavated, rising massively from the
floor, of which it was a part.
In one corner of the room beyond the table had been left a dais of
stone about four feet wide and eight feet long. Upon this were piled a
foot or so of softly tanned pelts from which the fur had not been
removed. Upon the edge of this dais sat a young female Waz-don. In one
hand she held a thin piece of metal, apparently of hammered gold, with
serrated edges, and in the other a short, stiff brush. With these she
was occupied in going over her smooth, glossy coat which bore a
remarkable resemblance to plucked sealskin. Her loin cloth of yellow
and black striped JATO-skin lay on the couch beside her with the
circular breastplates of beaten gold, revealing the symmetrical lines
of her nude figure in all its beauty and harmony of contour, for even
though the creature was jet black and entirely covered with hair yet
she was undeniably beautiful.
That she was beautiful in the eyes of Es-sat, the chief, was evidenced
by the gloating expression upon his fierce countenance and the
increased rapidity of his breathing. Moving quickly forward he entered
the room and as he did so the young she looked up. Instantly her eyes
filled with terror and as quickly she seized the loin cloth and with a
few deft movements adjusted it about her. As she gathered up her
breastplates Es-sat rounded the table and moved quickly toward her.
"What do you want?" she whispered, though she knew full well.
"Pan-at-lee," he said, "your chief has come for you."
"It was for this that you sent away my father and my brothers to spy
upon the Kor-ul-lul? I will not have you. Leave the cave of my
ancestors!"
Es-sat smiled. It was the smile of a strong and wicked man who knows
his power--not a pleasant smile at all. "I will leave, Pan-at-lee," he
said; "but you shall go with me--to the cave of Es-sat, the chief, to
be the envied of the shes of Kor-ul-JA. Come!"
"Never!" cried Pan-at-lee. "I hate you. Sooner would I mate with a
Ho-don than with you, beater of women, murderer of babes."
A frightful scowl distorted the features of the chief. "She-JATO!" he
cried. "I will tame you! I will break you! Es-sat, the chief, takes
what he will and who dares question his right, or combat his least
purpose, will first serve that purpose and then be broken as I break
this," and he picked a stone platter from the table and broke it in his
powerful hands. "You might have been first and most favored in the cave
of the ancestors of Es-sat; but now shall you be last and least and
when I am done with you you shall belong to all of the men of Es-sat's
cave. Thus for those who spurn the love of their chief!"
He advanced quickly to seize her and as he laid a rough hand upon her
she struck him heavily upon the side of his head with her golden
breastplates. Without a sound Es-sat, the chief, sank to the floor of
the apartment. For a moment Pan-at-lee bent over him, her improvised
weapon raised to strike again should he show signs of returning
consciousness, her glossy breasts rising and falling with her quickened
breathing. Suddenly she stooped and removed Es-sat's knife with its
scabbard and shoulder belt. Slipping it over her own shoulder she
quickly adjusted her breastplates and keeping a watchful glance upon
the figure of the fallen chief, backed from the room.
In a niche in the outer room, just beside the doorway leading to the
balcony, were neatly piled a number of rounded pegs from eighteen to
twenty inches in length. Selecting five of these she made them into a
little bundle about which she twined the lower extremity of her sinuous
tail and thus carrying them made her way to the outer edge of the
balcony. Assuring herself that there was none about to see, or hinder
her, she took quickly to the pegs already set in the face of the cliff
and with the celerity of a monkey clambered swiftly aloft to the
highest row of pegs which she followed in the direction of the lower
end of the gorge for a matter of some hundred yards. Here, above her
head, were a series of small round holes placed one above another in
three parallel rows. Clinging only with her toes she removed two of the
pegs from the bundle carried in her tail and taking one in either hand
she inserted them in two opposite holes of the outer rows as far above
her as she could reach. Hanging by these new holds she now took one of
the three remaining pegs in each of her feet, leaving the fifth grasped
securely in her tail. Reaching above her with this member she inserted
the fifth peg in one of the holes of the center row and then,
alternately hanging by her tail, her feet, or her hands, she moved the
pegs upward to new holes, thus carrying her stairway with her as she
ascended.
At the summit of the cliff a gnarled tree exposed its time-worn roots
above the topmost holes forming the last step from the sheer face of
the precipice to level footing. This was the last avenue of escape for
members of the tribe hard pressed by enemies from below. There were
three such emergency exits from the village and it were death to use
them in other than an emergency. This Pan-at-lee well knew; but she
knew, too, that it were worse than death to remain where the angered
Es-sat might lay hands upon her.
When she had gained the summit, the girl moved quickly through the
darkness in the direction of the next gorge which cut the mountain-side
a mile beyond Kor-ul-JA. It was the Gorge-of-water, Kor-ul-lul, to
which her father and two brothers had been sent by Es-sat ostensibly to
spy upon the neighboring tribe. There was a chance, a slender chance,
that she might find them; if not there was the deserted Kor-ul-GRYF
several miles beyond, where she might hide indefinitely from man if she
could elude the frightful monster from which the gorge derived its name
and whose presence there had rendered its caves uninhabitable for
generations.
Pan-at-lee crept stealthily along the rim of the Kor-ul-lul. Just where
her father and brothers would watch she did not know. Sometimes their
spies remained upon the rim, sometimes they watched from the gorge's
bottom. Pan-at-lee was at a loss to know what to do or where to go. She
felt very small and helpless alone in the vast darkness of the night.
Strange noises fell upon her ears. They came from the lonely reaches of
the towering mountains above her, from far away in the invisible valley
and from the nearer foothills and once, in the distance, she heard what
she thought was the bellow of a bull GRYF. It came from the direction
of the Kor-ul-GRYF. She shuddered.
Presently there came to her keen ears another sound. Something
approached her along the rim of the gorge. It was coming from above.
She halted, listening. Perhaps it was her father, or a brother. It was
coming closer. She strained her eyes through the darkness. She did not
move--she scarcely breathed. And then, of a sudden, quite close it
seemed, there blazed through the black night two yellow-green spots of
fire.
Pan-at-lee was brave, but as always with the primitive, the darkness
held infinite terrors for her. Not alone the terrors of the known but
more frightful ones as well--those of the unknown. She had passed
through much this night and her nerves were keyed to the highest
pitch--raw, taut nerves, they were, ready to react in an exaggerated
form to the slightest shock.
But this was no slight shock. To hope for a father and a brother and to
see death instead glaring out of the darkness! Yes, Pan-at-lee was
brave, but she was not of iron. With a shriek that reverberated among
the hills she turned and fled along the rim of Kor-ul-lul and behind
her, swiftly, came the devil-eyed lion of the mountains of Pal-ul-don.
Pan-at-lee was lost. Death was inevitable. Of this there could be no
doubt, but to die beneath the rending fangs of the carnivore,
congenital terror of her kind--it was unthinkable. But there was an
alternative. The lion was almost upon her--another instant and he would
seize her. Pan-at-lee turned sharply to her left. Just a few steps she
took in the new direction before she disappeared over the rim of
Kor-ul-lul. The baffled lion, planting all four feet, barely stopped
upon the verge of the abyss. Glaring down into the black shadows
beneath he mounted an angry roar.
Through the darkness at the bottom of Kor-ul-JA, Om-at led the way
toward the caves of his people. Behind him came Tarzan and Ta-den.
Presently they halted beneath a great tree that grew close to the cliff.
"First," whispered Om-at, "I will go to the cave of Pan-at-lee. Then
will I seek the cave of my ancestors to have speech with my own blood.
It will not take long. Wait here--I shall return soon. Afterward shall
we go together to Ta-den's people."
He moved silently toward the foot of the cliff up which Tarzan could
presently see him ascending like a great fly on a wall. In the dim
light the ape-man could not see the pegs set in the face of the cliff.
Om-at moved warily. In the lower tier of caves there should be a
sentry. His knowledge of his people and their customs told him,
however, that in all probability the sentry was asleep. In this he was
not mistaken, yet he did not in any way abate his wariness. Smoothly
and swiftly he ascended toward the cave of Pan-at-lee while from below
Tarzan and Ta-den watched him.
"How does he do it?" asked Tarzan. "I can see no foothold upon that
vertical surface and yet he appears to be climbing with the utmost
ease."
Ta-den explained the stairway of pegs. "You could ascend easily," he
said, "although a tail would be of great assistance."
They watched until Om-at was about to enter the cave of Pan-at-lee
without seeing any indication that he had been observed and then,
simultaneously, both saw a head appear in the mouth of one of the lower
caves. It was quickly evident that its owner had discovered Om-at for
immediately he started upward in pursuit. Without a word Tarzan and
Ta-den sprang forward toward the foot of the cliff. The pithecanthropus
was the first to reach it and the ape-man saw him spring upward for a
handhold on the lowest peg above him. Now Tarzan saw other pegs roughly
paralleling each other in zigzag rows up the cliff face. He sprang and
caught one of these, pulled himself upward by one hand until he could
reach a second with his other hand; and when he had ascended far enough
to use his feet, discovered that he could make rapid progress. Ta-den
was outstripping him, however, for these precarious ladders were no
novelty to him and, further, he had an advantage in possessing a tail.
Nevertheless, the ape-man gave a good account of himself, being
presently urged to redoubled efforts by the fact that the Waz-don above
Ta-den glanced down and discovered his pursuers just before the Ho-don
overtook him. Instantly a wild cry shattered the silence of the
gorge--a cry that was immediately answered by hundreds of savage
throats as warrior after warrior emerged from the entrance to his cave.
The creature who had raised the alarm had now reached the recess before
Pan-at-lee's cave and here he halted and turned to give battle to
Ta-den. Unslinging his club which had hung down his back from a thong
about his neck he stood upon the level floor of the entrance-way
effectually blocking Ta-den's ascent. From all directions the warriors
of Kor-ul-JA were swarming toward the interlopers. Tarzan, who had
reached a point on the same level with Ta-den but a little to the
latter's left, saw that nothing short of a miracle could save them.
Just at the ape-man's left was the entrance to a cave that either was
deserted or whose occupants had not as yet been aroused, for the level
recess remained unoccupied. Resourceful was the alert mind of Tarzan of
the Apes and quick to respond were the trained muscles. In the time
that you or I might give to debating an action he would accomplish it
and now, though only seconds separated his nearest antagonist from him,
in the brief span of time at his disposal he had stepped into the
recess, unslung his long rope and leaning far out shot the sinuous
noose, with the precision of long habitude, toward the menacing figure
wielding its heavy club above Ta-den. There was a momentary pause of
the rope-hand as the noose sped toward its goal, a quick movement of
the right wrist that closed it upon its victim as it settled over his
head and then a surging tug as, seizing the rope in both hands, Tarzan
threw back upon it all the weight of his great frame.
Voicing a terrified shriek, the Waz-don lunged headforemost from the
recess above Ta-den. Tarzan braced himself for the coming shock when
the creature's body should have fallen the full length of the rope and
as it did there was a snap of the vertebrae that rose sickeningly in
the momentary silence that had followed the doomed man's departing
scream. Unshaken by the stress of the suddenly arrested weight at the
end of the rope, Tarzan quickly pulled the body to his side that he
might remove the noose from about its neck, for he could not afford to
lose so priceless a weapon.
During the several seconds that had elapsed since he cast the rope the
Waz-don warriors had remained inert as though paralyzed by wonder or by
terror. Now, again, one of them found his voice and his head and
straightway, shrieking invectives at the strange intruder, started
upward for the ape-man, urging his fellows to attack. This man was the
closest to Tarzan. But for him the ape-man could easily have reached
Ta-den's side as the latter was urging him to do. Tarzan raised the
body of the dead Waz-don above his head, held it poised there for a
moment as with face raised to the heavens he screamed forth the horrid
challenge of the bull apes of the tribe of Kerchak, and with all the
strength of his giant sinews he hurled the corpse heavily upon the
ascending warrior. So great was the force of the impact that not only
was the Waz-don torn from his hold but two of the pegs to which he
clung were broken short in their sockets.
As the two bodies, the living and the dead, hurtled downward toward the
foot of the cliff a great cry arose from the Waz-don. "Jad-guru-don!
Jad-guru-don!" they screamed, and then: "Kill him! Kill him!"
And now Tarzan stood in the recess beside Ta-den. "Jad-guru-don!"
repeated the latter, smiling--"The terrible man! Tarzan the Terrible!
They may kill you, but they will never forget you."
"They shall not ki--What have we here?" Tarzan's statement as to what
"they" should not do was interrupted by a sudden ejaculation as two
figures, locked in deathlike embrace, stumbled through the doorway of
the cave to the outer porch. One was Om-at, the other a creature of his
own kind but with a rough coat, the hairs of which seemed to grow
straight outward from the skin, stiffly, unlike Om-at's sleek covering.
The two were quite evidently well matched and equally evident was the
fact that each was bent upon murder. They fought almost in silence
except for an occasional low growl as one or the other acknowledged
thus some new hurt.
Tarzan, following a natural impulse to aid his ally, leaped forward to
enter the dispute only to be checked by a grunted admonition from
Om-at. "Back!" he said. "This fight is mine, alone."
The ape-man understood and stepped aside.
"It is a gund-bar," explained Ta-den, "a chief-battle. This fellow must
be Es-sat, the chief. If Om-at kills him without assistance Om-at may
become chief."
Tarzan smiled. It was the law of his own jungle--the law of the tribe
of Kerchak, the bull ape--the ancient law of primitive man that needed
but the refining influences of civilization to introduce the hired
dagger and the poison cup. Then his attention was drawn to the outer
edge of the vestibule. Above it appeared the shaggy face of one of
Es-sat's warriors. Tarzan sprang to intercept the man; but Ta-den was
there ahead of him. "Back!" cried the Ho-don to the newcomer. "It is
gund-bar." The fellow looked scrutinizingly at the two fighters, then
turned his face downward toward his fellows. "Back!" he cried, "it is
gund-bar between Es-sat and Om-at." Then he looked back at Ta-den and
Tarzan. "Who are you?" he asked.
"We are Om-at's friends," replied Ta-den.
The fellow nodded. "We will attend to you later," he said and
disappeared below the edge of the recess.
The battle upon the ledge continued with unabated ferocity, Tarzan and
Ta-den having difficulty in keeping out of the way of the contestants
who tore and beat at each other with hands and feet and lashing tails.
Es-sat was unarmed--Pan-at-lee had seen to that--but at Om-at's side
swung a sheathed knife which he made no effort to draw. That would have
been contrary to their savage and primitive code for the chief-battle
must be fought with nature's weapons.
Sometimes they separated for an instant only to rush upon each other
again with all the ferocity and nearly the strength of mad bulls.
Presently one of them tripped the other but in that viselike embrace
one could not fall alone--Es-sat dragged Om-at with him, toppling upon
the brink of the niche. Even Tarzan held his breath. There they surged
to and fro perilously for a moment and then the inevitable
happened--the two, locked in murderous embrace, rolled over the edge
and disappeared from the ape-man's view.
Tarzan voiced a suppressed sigh for he had liked Om-at and then, with
Ta-den, approached the edge and looked over. Far below, in the dim
light of the coming dawn, two inert forms should be lying stark in
death; but, to Tarzan's amazement, such was far from the sight that met
his eyes. Instead, there were the two figures still vibrant with life
and still battling only a few feet below him. Clinging always to the
pegs with two holds--a hand and a foot, or a foot and a tail, they
seemed as much at home upon the perpendicular wall as upon the level
surface of the vestibule; but now their tactics were slightly altered,
for each seemed particularly bent upon dislodging his antagonist from
his holds and precipitating him to certain death below. It was soon
evident that Om-at, younger and with greater powers of endurance than
Es-sat, was gaining an advantage. Now was the chief almost wholly on
the defensive. Holding him by the cross belt with one mighty hand Om-at
was forcing his foeman straight out from the cliff, and with the other
hand and one foot was rapidly breaking first one of Es-sat's holds and
then another, alternating his efforts, or rather punctuating them, with
vicious blows to the pit of his adversary's stomach. Rapidly was Es-sat
weakening and with the knowledge of impending death there came, as
there comes to every coward and bully under similar circumstances, a
crumbling of the veneer of bravado which had long masqueraded as
courage and with it crumbled his code of ethics. Now was Es-sat no
longer chief of Kor-ul-JA--instead he was a whimpering craven battling
for life. Clutching at Om-at, clutching at the nearest pegs he sought
any support that would save him from that awful fall, and as he strove
to push aside the hand of death, whose cold fingers he already felt
upon his heart, his tail sought Om-at's side and the handle of the
knife that hung there.
Tarzan saw and even as Es-sat drew the blade from its sheath he dropped
catlike to the pegs beside the battling men. Es-sat's tail had drawn
back for the cowardly fatal thrust. Now many others saw the perfidious
act and a great cry of rage and disgust arose from savage throats; but
as the blade sped toward its goal, the ape-man seized the hairy member
that wielded it, and at the same instant Om-at thrust the body of
Es-sat from him with such force that its weakened holds were broken and
it hurtled downward, a brief meteor of screaming fear, to death.
4
Tarzan-jad-guru
As Tarzan and Om-at clambered back to the vestibule of Pan-at-lee's
cave and took their stand beside Ta-den in readiness for whatever
eventuality might follow the death of Es-sat, the sun that topped the
eastern hills touched also the figure of a sleeper upon a distant,
thorn-covered steppe awakening him to another day of tireless tracking
along a faint and rapidly disappearing spoor.
For a time silence reigned in the Kor-ul-JA. The tribesmen waited,
looking now down upon the dead thing that had been their chief, now at
one another, and now at Om-at and the two who stood upon his either
side. Presently Om-at spoke. "I am Om-at," he cried. "Who will say that
Om-at is not gund of Kor-ul-JA?"
He waited for a taker of his challenge. One or two of the larger young
bucks fidgeted restlessly and eyed him; but there was no reply.
"Then Om-at is gund," he said with finality. "Now tell me, where are
Pan-at-lee, her father, and her brothers?"
An old warrior spoke. "Pan-at-lee should be in her cave. Who should
know that better than you who are there now? Her father and her
brothers were sent to watch Kor-ul-lul; but neither of these questions
arouse any tumult in our breasts. There is one that does: Can Om-at be
chief of Kor-ul-JA and yet stand at bay against his own people with a
Ho-don and that terrible man at his side--that terrible man who has no
tail? Hand the strangers over to your people to be slain as is the way
of the Waz-don and then may Om-at be gund."
Neither Tarzan nor Ta-den spoke then, they but stood watching Om-at and
waiting for his decision, the ghost of a smile upon the lips of the
ape-man. Ta-den, at least, knew that the old warrior had spoken the
truth--the Waz-don entertain no strangers and take no prisoners of an
alien race.
Then spoke Om-at. "Always there is change," he said. "Even the old
hills of Pal-ul-don appear never twice alike--the brilliant sun, a
passing cloud, the moon, a mist, the changing seasons, the sharp
clearness following a storm; these things bring each a new change in
our hills. From birth to death, day by day, there is constant change in
each of us. Change, then, is one of Jad-ben-Otho's laws.
"And now I, Om-at, your gund, bring another change. Strangers who are
brave men and good friends shall no longer be slain by the Waz-don of
Kor-ul-JA!"
There were growls and murmurings and a restless moving among the
warriors as each eyed the others to see who would take the initiative
against Om-at, the iconoclast.
"Cease your mutterings," admonished the new gund. "I am your chief. My
word is your law. You had no part in making me chief. Some of you
helped Es-sat to drive me from the cave of my ancestors; the rest of
you permitted it. I owe you nothing. Only these two, whom you would
have me kill, were loyal to me. I am gund and if there be any who
doubts it let him speak--he cannot die younger."
Tarzan was pleased. Here was a man after his own heart. He admired the
fearlessness of Om-at's challenge and he was a sufficiently good judge
of men to know that he had listened to no idle bluff--Om-at would back
up his words to the death, if necessary, and the chances were that he
would not be the one to die. Evidently the majority of the
Kor-ul-jaians entertained the same conviction.
"I will make you a good gund," said Om-at, seeing that no one appeared
inclined to dispute his rights. "Your wives and daughters will be
safe--they were not safe while Es-sat ruled. Go now to your crops and
your hunting. I leave to search for Pan-at-lee. Ab-on will be gund
while I am away--look to him for guidance and to me for an accounting
when I return--and may Jad-ben-Otho smile upon you."
He turned toward Tarzan and the Ho-don. "And you, my friends," he said,
"are free to go among my people; the cave of my ancestors is yours, do
what you will."
"I," said Tarzan, "will go with Om-at to search for Pan-at-lee."
"And I," said Ta-den.
Om-at smiled. "Good!" he exclaimed. "And when we have found her we
shall go together upon Tarzan's business and Ta-den's. Where first
shall we search?" He turned toward his warriors. "Who knows where she
may be?"
None knew other than that Pan-at-lee had gone to her cave with the
others the previous evening--there was no clew, no suggestion as to her
whereabouts.
"Show me where she sleeps," said Tarzan; "let me see something that
belongs to her--an article of her apparel--then, doubtless, I can help
you."
Two young warriors climbed closer to the ledge upon which Om-at stood.
They were In-sad and O-dan. It was the latter who spoke.
"Gund of Kor-ul-JA," he said, "we would go with you to search for
Pan-at-lee."
It was the first acknowledgment of Om-at's chieftainship and
immediately following it the tenseness that had prevailed seemed to
relax--the warriors spoke aloud instead of in whispers, and the women
appeared from the mouths of caves as with the passing of a sudden
storm. In-sad and O-dan had taken the lead and now all seemed glad to
follow. Some came to talk with Om-at and to look more closely at
Tarzan; others, heads of caves, gathered their hunters and discussed
the business of the day. The women and children prepared to descend to
the fields with the youths and the old men, whose duty it was to guard
them.
"O-dan and In-sad shall go with us," announced Om-at, "we shall not
need more. Tarzan, come with me and I shall show you where Pan-at-lee
sleeps, though why you should wish to know I cannot guess--she is not
there. I have looked for myself."
The two entered the cave where Om-at led the way to the apartment in
which Es-sat had surprised Pan-at-lee the previous night.
"All here are hers," said Om-at, "except the war club lying on the
floor--that was Es-sat's."
The ape-man moved silently about the apartment, the quivering of his
sensitive nostrils scarcely apparent to his companion who only wondered
what good purpose could be served here and chafed at the delay.
"Come!" said the ape-man, presently, and led the way toward the outer
recess.
Here their three companions were awaiting them. Tarzan passed to the
left side of the niche and examined the pegs that lay within reach. He
looked at them but it was not his eyes that were examining them. Keener
than his keen eyes was that marvelously trained sense of scent that had
first been developed in him during infancy under the tutorage of his
foster mother, Kala, the she-ape, and further sharpened in the grim
jungles by that master teacher--the instinct of self-preservation.
From the left side of the niche he turned to the right. Om-at was
becoming impatient.
"Let us be off," he said. "We must search for Pan-at-lee if we would
ever find her."
"Where shall we search?" asked Tarzan.
Om-at scratched his head. "Where?" he repeated. "Why all Pal-ul-don, if
necessary."
"A large job," said Tarzan. "Come," he added, "she went this way," and
he took to the pegs that led aloft toward the summit of the cliff. Here
he followed the scent easily since none had passed that way since
Pan-at-lee had fled. At the point at which she had left the permanent
pegs and resorted to those carried with her Tarzan came to an abrupt
halt. "She went this way to the summit," he called back to Om-at who
was directly behind him; "but there are no pegs here."
"I do not know how you know that she went this way," said Om-at; "but
we will get pegs. In-sad, return and fetch climbing pegs for five."
The young warrior was soon back and the pegs distributed. Om-at handed
five to Tarzan and explained their use. The ape-man returned one. "I
need but four," he said.
Om-at smiled. "What a wonderful creature you would be if you were not
deformed," he said, glancing with pride at his own strong tail.
"I admit that I am handicapped," replied Tarzan. "You others go ahead
and leave the pegs in place for me. I am afraid that otherwise it will
be slow work as I cannot hold the pegs in my toes as you do."
"All right," agreed Om-at; "Ta-den, In-sad, and I will go first, you
follow and O-dan bring up the rear and collect the pegs--we cannot
leave them here for our enemies."
"Can't your enemies bring their own pegs?" asked Tarzan.
"Yes; but it delays them and makes easier our defense and--they do not
know which of all the holes you see are deep enough for pegs--the
others are made to confuse our enemies and are too shallow to hold a
peg."
At the top of the cliff beside the gnarled tree Tarzan again took up
the trail. Here the scent was fully as strong as upon the pegs and the
ape-man moved rapidly across the ridge in the direction of the
Kor-ul-lul.
Presently he paused and turned toward Om-at. "Here she moved swiftly,
running at top speed, and, Om-at, she was pursued by a lion."
"You can read that in the grass?" asked O-dan as the others gathered
about the ape-man.
Tarzan nodded. "I do not think the lion got her," he added; "but that
we shall determine quickly. No, he did not get her--look!" and he
pointed toward the southwest, down the ridge.
Following the direction indicated by his finger, the others presently
detected a movement in some bushes a couple of hundred yards away.
"What is it?" asked Om-at. "It is she?" and he started toward the spot.
"Wait," advised Tarzan. "It is the lion which pursued her."
"You can see him?" asked Ta-den.
"No, I can smell him."
The others looked their astonishment and incredulity; but of the fact
that it was indeed a lion they were not left long in doubt. Presently
the bushes parted and the creature stepped out in full view, facing
them. It was a magnificent beast, large and beautifully maned, with the
brilliant leopard spots of its kind well marked and symmetrical. For a
moment it eyed them and then, still chafing at the loss of its prey
earlier in the morning, it charged.
The Pal-ul-donians unslung their clubs and stood waiting the onrushing
beast. Tarzan of the Apes drew his hunting knife and crouched in the
path of the fanged fury. It was almost upon him when it swerved to the
right and leaped for Om-at only to be sent to earth with a staggering
blow upon the head. Almost instantly it was up and though the men
rushed fearlessly in, it managed to sweep aside their weapons with its
mighty paws. A single blow wrenched O-dan's club from his hand and sent
it hurtling against Ta-den, knocking him from his feet. Taking
advantage of its opportunity the lion rose to throw itself upon O-dan
and at the same instant Tarzan flung himself upon its back. Strong,
white teeth buried themselves in the spotted neck, mighty arms
encircled the savage throat and the sinewy legs of the ape-man locked
themselves about the gaunt belly.
The others, powerless to aid, stood breathlessly about as the great
lion lunged hither and thither, clawing and biting fearfully and
futilely at the savage creature that had fastened itself upon him. Over
and over they rolled and now the onlookers saw a brown hand raised
above the lion's side--a brown hand grasping a keen blade. They saw it
fall and rise and fall again--each time with terrific force and in its
wake they saw a crimson stream trickling down JA's gorgeous coat.
Now from the lion's throat rose hideous screams of hate and rage and
pain as he redoubled his efforts to dislodge and punish his tormentor;
but always the tousled black head remained half buried in the dark
brown mane and the mighty arm rose and fell to plunge the knife again
and again into the dying beast.
The Pal-ul-donians stood in mute wonder and admiration. Brave men and
mighty hunters they were and as such the first to accord honor to a
mightier.
"And you would have had me slay him!" cried Om-at, glancing at In-sad
and O-dan.
"Jad-ben-Otho reward you that you did not," breathed In-sad.
And now the lion lunged suddenly to earth and with a few spasmodic
quiverings lay still. The ape-man rose and shook himself, even as might
JA, the leopard-coated lion of Pal-ul-don, had he been the one to
survive.
O-dan advanced quickly toward Tarzan. Placing a palm upon his own
breast and the other on Tarzan's, "Tarzan the Terrible," he said, "I
ask no greater honor than your friendship."
"And I no more than the friendship of Om-at's friends," replied the
ape-man simply, returning the other's salute.
"Do you think," asked Om-at, coming close to Tarzan and laying a hand
upon the other's shoulder, "that he got her?"
"No, my friend; it was a hungry lion that charged us."
"You seem to know much of lions," said In-sad.
"Had I a brother I could not know him better," replied Tarzan.
"Then where can she be?" continued Om-at.
"We can but follow while the spoor is fresh," answered the ape-man and
again taking up his interrupted tracking he led them down the ridge and
at a sharp turning of the trail to the left brought them to the verge
of the cliff that dropped into the Kor-ul-lul. For a moment Tarzan
examined the ground to the right and to the left, then he stood erect
and looking at Om-at pointed into the gorge.
For a moment the Waz-don gazed down into the green rift at the bottom
of which a tumultuous river tumbled downward along its rocky bed, then
he closed his eyes as to a sudden spasm of pain and turned away.
"You--mean--she jumped?" he asked.
"To escape the lion," replied Tarzan. "He was right behind her--look,
you can see where his four paws left their impress in the turf as he
checked his charge upon the very verge of the abyss."
"Is there any chance--" commenced Om-at, to be suddenly silenced by a
warning gesture from Tarzan.
"Down!" whispered the ape-man, "many men are coming. They are
running--from down the ridge." He flattened himself upon his belly in
the grass, the others following his example.
For some minutes they waited thus and then the others, too, heard the
sound of running feet and now a hoarse shout followed by many more.
"It is the war cry of the Kor-ul-lul," whispered Om-at--"the hunting
cry of men who hunt men. Presently shall we see them and if
Jad-ben-Otho is pleased with us they shall not too greatly outnumber
us."
"They are many," said Tarzan, "forty or fifty, I should say; but how
many are the pursued and how many the pursuers we cannot even guess,
except that the latter must greatly outnumber the former, else these
would not run so fast."
"Here they come," said Ta-den.
"It is An-un, father of Pan-at-lee, and his two sons," exclaimed O-dan.
"They will pass without seeing us if we do not hurry," he added looking
at Om-at, the chief, for a sign.
"Come!" cried the latter, springing to his feet and running rapidly to
intercept the three fugitives. The others followed him.
"Five friends!" shouted Om-at as An-un and his sons discovered them.
"Adenen yo!" echoed O-dan and In-sad.
The fugitives scarcely paused as these unexpected reinforcements joined
them but they eyed Ta-den and Tarzan with puzzled glances.
"The Kor-ul-lul are many," shouted An-un. "Would that we might pause
and fight; but first we must warn Es-sat and our people."
"Yes," said Om-at, "we must warn our people."
"Es-sat is dead," said In-sad.
"Who is chief?" asked one of An-un's sons.
"Om-at," replied O-dan.
"It is well," cried An-un. "Pan-at-lee said that you would come back
and slay Es-sat."
Now the enemy broke into sight behind them.
"Come!" cried Tarzan, "let us turn and charge them, raising a great
cry. They pursued but three and when they see eight charging upon them
they will think that many men have come to do battle. They will believe
that there are more even than they see and then one who is swift will
have time to reach the gorge and warn your people."
"It is well," said Om-at. "Id-an, you are swift--carry word to the
warriors of Kor-ul-JA that we fight the Kor-ul-lul upon the ridge and
that Ab-on shall send a hundred men."
Id-an, the son of An-un, sped swiftly toward the cliff-dwellings of the
Kor-ul-JA while the others charged the oncoming Kor-ul-lul, the war
cries of the two tribes rising and falling in a certain grim harmony.
The leaders of the Kor-ul-lul paused at sight of the reinforcements,
waiting apparently for those behind to catch up with them and,
possibly, also to learn how great a force confronted them. The leaders,
swifter runners than their fellows, perhaps, were far in advance while
the balance of their number had not yet emerged from the brush; and now
as Om-at and his companions fell upon them with a ferocity born of
necessity they fell back, so that when their companions at last came in
sight of them they appeared to be in full rout. The natural result was
that the others turned and fled.
Encouraged by this first success Om-at followed them into the brush,
his little company charging valiantly upon his either side, and loud
and terrifying were the savage yells with which they pursued the
fleeing enemy. The brush, while not growing so closely together as to
impede progress, was of such height as to hide the members of the party
from one another when they became separated by even a few yards. The
result was that Tarzan, always swift and always keen for battle, was
soon pursuing the enemy far in the lead of the others--a lack of
prudence which was to prove his undoing.
The warriors of Kor-ul-lul, doubtless as valorous as their foemen,
retreated only to a more strategic position in the brush, nor were they
long in guessing that the number of their pursuers was fewer than their
own. They made a stand then where the brush was densest--an ambush it
was, and into this ran Tarzan of the Apes. They tricked him neatly.
Yes, sad as is the narration of it, they tricked the wily jungle lord.
But then they were fighting on their own ground, every foot of which
they knew as you know your front parlor, and they were following their
own tactics, of which Tarzan knew nothing.
A single black warrior appeared to Tarzan a laggard in the rear of the
retreating enemy and thus retreating he lured Tarzan on. At last he
turned at bay confronting the ape-man with bludgeon and drawn knife and
as Tarzan charged him a score of burly Waz-don leaped from the
surrounding brush. Instantly, but too late, the giant Tarmangani
realized his peril. There flashed before him a vision of his lost mate
and a great and sickening regret surged through him with the
realization that if she still lived she might no longer hope, for
though she might never know of the passing of her lord the fact of it
must inevitably seal her doom.
And consequent to this thought there enveloped him a blind frenzy of
hatred for these creatures who dared thwart his purpose and menace the
welfare of his wife. With a savage growl he threw himself upon the
warrior before him twisting the heavy club from the creature's hand as
if he had been a little child, and with his left fist backed by the
weight and sinew of his giant frame, he crashed a shattering blow to
the center of the Waz-don's face--a blow that crushed the bones and
dropped the fellow in his tracks. Then he swung upon the others with
their fallen comrade's bludgeon striking to right and left mighty,
unmerciful blows that drove down their own weapons until that wielded
by the ape-man was splintered and shattered. On either hand they fell
before his cudgel; so rapid the delivery of his blows, so catlike his
recovery that in the first few moments of the battle he seemed
invulnerable to their attack; but it could not last--he was outnumbered
twenty to one and his undoing came from a thrown club. It struck him
upon the back of the head. For a moment he stood swaying and then like
a great pine beneath the woodsman's ax he crashed to earth.
Others of the Kor-ul-lul had rushed to engage the balance of Om-at's
party. They could be heard fighting at a short distance and it was
evident that the Kor-ul-JA were falling slowly back and as they fell
Om-at called to the missing one: "Tarzan the Terrible! Tarzan the
Terrible!"
"Jad-guru, indeed," repeated one of the Kor-ul-lul rising from where
Tarzan had dropped him. "Tarzan-jad-guru! He was worse than that."
5
In the Kor-ul-GRYF
As Tarzan fell among his enemies a man halted many miles away upon the
outer verge of the morass that encircles Pal-ul-don. Naked he was
except for a loin cloth and three belts of cartridges, two of which
passed over his shoulders, crossing upon his chest and back, while the
third encircled his waist. Slung to his back by its leathern
sling-strap was an Enfield, and he carried too a long knife, a bow and
a quiver of arrows. He had come far, through wild and savage lands,
menaced by fierce beasts and fiercer men, yet intact to the last
cartridge was the ammunition that had filled his belts the day that he
set out.
The bow and the arrows and the long knife had brought him thus far
safely, yet often in the face of great risks that could have been
minimized by a single shot from the well-kept rifle at his back. What
purpose might he have for conserving this precious ammunition? in
risking his life to bring the last bright shining missile to his
unknown goal? For what, for whom were these death-dealing bits of metal
preserved? In all the world only he knew.
When Pan-at-lee stepped over the edge of the cliff above Kor-ul-lul she
expected to be dashed to instant death upon the rocks below; but she
had chosen this in preference to the rending fangs of JA. Instead,
chance had ordained that she make the frightful plunge at a point where
the tumbling river swung close beneath the overhanging cliff to eddy
for a slow moment in a deep pool before plunging madly downward again
in a cataract of boiling foam, and water thundering against rocks.
Into this icy pool the girl shot, and down and down beneath the watery
surface until, half choked, yet fighting bravely, she battled her way
once more to air. Swimming strongly she made the opposite shore and
there dragged herself out upon the bank to lie panting and spent until
the approaching dawn warned her to seek concealment, for she was in the
country of her people's enemies.
Rising, she moved into the concealment of the rank vegetation that
grows so riotously in the well-watered kors[1] of Pal-ul-don.
Hidden amidst the plant life from the sight of any who might chance to
pass along the well-beaten trail that skirted the river Pan-at-lee
sought rest and food, the latter growing in abundance all about her in
the form of fruits and berries and succulent tubers which she scooped
from the earth with the knife of the dead Es-sat.
Ah! if she had but known that he was dead! What trials and risks and
terrors she might have been saved; but she thought that he still lived
and so she dared not return to Kor-ul-JA. At least not yet while his
rage was at white heat. Later, perhaps, her father and brothers
returned to their cave, she might risk it; but not now--not now. Nor
could she for long remain here in the neighborhood of the hostile
Kor-ul-lul and somewhere she must find safety from beasts before the
night set in.
As she sat upon the bole of a fallen tree seeking some solution of the
problem of existence that confronted her, there broke upon her ears
from up the gorge the voices of shouting men--a sound that she
recognized all too well. It was the war cry of the Kor-ul-lul. Closer
and closer it approached her hiding place. Then, through the veil of
foliage she caught glimpses of three figures fleeing along the trail,
and behind them the shouting of the pursuers rose louder and louder as
they neared her. Again she caught sight of the fugitives crossing the
river below the cataract and again they were lost to sight. And now the
pursuers came into view--shouting Kor-ul-lul warriors, fierce and
implacable. Forty, perhaps fifty of them. She waited breathless; but
they did not swerve from the trail and passed her, unguessing that an
enemy she lay hid within a few yards of them.
Once again she caught sight of the pursued--three Waz-don warriors
clambering the cliff face at a point where portions of the summit had
fallen away presenting a steep slope that might be ascended by such as
these. Suddenly her attention was riveted upon the three. Could it be?
O Jad-ben-Otho! had she but known a moment before. When they passed she
might have joined them, for they were her father and two brothers. Now
it was too late. With bated breath and tense muscles she watched the
race. Would they reach the summit? Would the Kor-ul-lul overhaul them?
They climbed well, but, oh, so slowly. Now one lost his footing in the
loose shale and slipped back! The Kor-ul-lul were ascending--one hurled
his club at the nearest fugitive. The Great God was pleased with the
brother of Pan-at-lee, for he caused the club to fall short of its
target, and to fall, rolling and bounding, back upon its owner carrying
him from his feet and precipitating him to the bottom of the gorge.
Standing now, her hands pressed tight above her golden breastplates,
Pan-at-lee watched the race for life. Now one, her older brother,
reached the summit and clinging there to something that she could not
see he lowered his body and his long tail to the father beneath him.
The latter, seizing this support, extended his own tail to the son
below--the one who had slipped back--and thus, upon a living ladder of
their own making, the three reached the summit and disappeared from
view before the Kor-ul-lul overtook them. But the latter did not
abandon the chase. On they went until they too had disappeared from
sight and only a faint shouting came down to Pan-at-lee to tell her
that the pursuit continued.
The girl knew that she must move on. At any moment now might come a
hunting party, combing the gorge for the smaller animals that fed or
bedded there.
Behind her were Es-sat and the returning party of Kor-ul-lul that had
pursued her kin; before her, across the next ridge, was the
Kor-ul-GRYF, the lair of the terrifying monsters that brought the chill
of fear to every inhabitant of Pal-ul-don; below her, in the valley,
was the country of the Ho-don, where she could look for only slavery,
or death; here were the Kor-ul-lul, the ancient enemies of her people
and everywhere were the wild beasts that eat the flesh of man.
For but a moment she debated and then turning her face toward the
southeast she set out across the gorge of water toward the
Kor-ul-GRYF--at least there were no men there. As it is now, so it was
in the beginning, back to the primitive progenitor of man which is
typified by Pan-at-lee and her kind today, of all the hunters that
woman fears, man is the most relentless, the most terrible. To the
dangers of man she preferred the dangers of the GRYF.
Moving cautiously she reached the foot of the cliff at the far side of
Kor-ul-lul and here, toward noon, she found a comparatively easy
ascent. Crossing the ridge she stood at last upon the brink of
Kor-ul-GRYF--the horror place of the folklore of her race. Dank and
mysterious grew the vegetation below; giant trees waved their plumed
tops almost level with the summit of the cliff; and over all brooded an
ominous silence.
Pan-at-lee lay upon her belly and stretching over the edge scanned the
cliff face below her. She could see caves there and the stone pegs
which the ancients had fashioned so laboriously by hand. She had heard
of these in the firelight tales of her childhood and of how the gryfs
had come from the morasses across the mountains and of how at last the
people had fled after many had been seized and devoured by the hideous
creatures, leaving their caves untenanted for no man living knew how
long. Some said that Jad-ben-Otho, who has lived forever, was still a
little boy. Pan-at-lee shuddered; but there were caves and in them she
would be safe even from the gryfs.
She found a place where the stone pegs reached to the very summit of
the cliff, left there no doubt in the final exodus of the tribe when
there was no longer need of safeguarding the deserted caves against
invasion. Pan-at-lee clambered slowly down toward the uppermost cave.
She found the recess in front of the doorway almost identical with
those of her own tribe. The floor of it, though, was littered with
twigs and old nests and the droppings of birds, until it was half
choked. She moved along to another recess and still another, but all
were alike in the accumulated filth. Evidently there was no need in
looking further. This one seemed large and commodious. With her knife
she fell to work cleaning away the debris by the simple expedient of
pushing it over the edge, and always her eyes turned constantly toward
the silent gorge where lurked the fearsome creatures of Pal-ul-don. And
other eyes there were, eyes she did not see, but that saw her and
watched her every move--fierce eyes, greedy eyes, cunning and cruel.
They watched her, and a red tongue licked flabby, pendulous lips. They
watched her, and a half-human brain laboriously evolved a brutish
design.
As in her own Kor-ul-JA, the natural springs in the cliff had been
developed by the long-dead builders of the caves so that fresh, pure
water trickled now, as it had for ages, within easy access to the cave
entrances. Her only difficulty would be in procuring food and for that
she must take the risk at least once in two days, for she was sure that
she could find fruits and tubers and perhaps small animals, birds, and
eggs near the foot of the cliff, the last two, possibly, in the caves
themselves. Thus might she live on here indefinitely. She felt now a
certain sense of security imparted doubtless by the impregnability of
her high-flung sanctuary that she knew to be safe from all the more
dangerous beasts, and this one from men, too, since it lay in the
abjured Kor-ul-GRYF.
Now she determined to inspect the interior of her new home. The sun
still in the south, lighted the interior of the first apartment. It was
similar to those of her experience--the same beasts and men were
depicted in the same crude fashion in the carvings on the
walls--evidently there had been little progress in the race of Waz-don
during the generations that had come and departed since Kor-ul-GRYF had
been abandoned by men. Of course Pan-at-lee thought no such thoughts,
for evolution and progress existed not for her, or her kind. Things
were as they had always been and would always be as they were.
That these strange creatures have existed thus for incalculable ages it
can scarce be doubted, so marked are the indications of antiquity about
their dwellings--deep furrows worn by naked feet in living rock; the
hollow in the jamb of a stone doorway where many arms have touched in
passing; the endless carvings that cover, ofttimes, the entire face of
a great cliff and all the walls and ceilings of every cave and each
carving wrought by a different hand, for each is the coat of arms, one
might say, of the adult male who traced it.
And so Pan-at-lee found this ancient cave homelike and familiar. There
was less litter within than she had found without and what there was
was mostly an accumulation of dust. Beside the doorway was the niche in
which wood and tinder were kept, but there remained nothing now other
than mere dust. She had however saved a little pile of twigs from the
debris on the porch. In a short time she had made a light by firing a
bundle of twigs and lighting others from this fire she explored some of
the inner rooms. Nor here did she find aught that was new or strange
nor any relic of the departed owners other than a few broken stone
dishes. She had been looking for something soft to sleep upon, but was
doomed to disappointment as the former owners had evidently made a
leisurely departure, carrying all their belongings with them. Below, in
the gorge were leaves and grasses and fragrant branches, but Pan-at-lee
felt no stomach for descending into that horrid abyss for the
gratification of mere creature comfort--only the necessity for food
would drive her there.
And so, as the shadows lengthened and night approached she prepared to
make as comfortable a bed as she could by gathering the dust of ages
into a little pile and spreading it between her soft body and the hard
floor--at best it was only better than nothing. But Pan-at-lee was very
tired. She had not slept since two nights before and in the interval
she had experienced many dangers and hardships. What wonder then that
despite the hard bed, she was asleep almost immediately she had
composed herself for rest.
She slept and the moon rose, casting its silver light upon the cliff's
white face and lessening the gloom of the dark forest and the dismal
gorge. In the distance a lion roared. There was a long silence. From
the upper reaches of the gorge came a deep bellow. There was a movement
in the trees at the cliff's foot. Again the bellow, low and ominous. It
was answered from below the deserted village. Something dropped from
the foliage of a tree directly below the cave in which Pan-at-lee
slept--it dropped to the ground among the dense shadows. Now it moved,
cautiously. It moved toward the foot of the cliff, taking form and
shape in the moonlight. It moved like the creature of a bad
dream--slowly, sluggishly. It might have been a huge sloth--it might
have been a man, with so grotesque a brush does the moon paint--master
cubist.
Slowly it moved up the face of the cliff--like a great grubworm it
moved, but now the moon-brush touched it again and it had hands and
feet and with them it clung to the stone pegs and raised itself
laboriously aloft toward the cave where Pan-at-lee slept. From the
lower reaches of the gorge came again the sound of bellowing, and it
was answered from above the village.
Tarzan of the Apes opened his eyes. He was conscious of a pain in his
head, and at first that was about all. A moment later grotesque
shadows, rising and falling, focused his arousing perceptions.
Presently he saw that he was in a cave. A dozen Waz-don warriors
squatted about, talking. A rude stone cresset containing burning oil
lighted the interior and as the flame rose and fell the exaggerated
shadows of the warriors danced upon the walls behind them.
"We brought him to you alive, Gund," he heard one of them saying,
"because never before was Ho-don like him seen. He has no tail--he was
born without one, for there is no scar to mark where a tail had been
cut off. The thumbs upon his hands and feet are unlike those of the
races of Pal-ul-don. He is more powerful than many men put together and
he attacks with the fearlessness of JA. We brought him alive, that you
might see him before he is slain."
The chief rose and approached the ape-man, who closed his eyes and
feigned unconsciousness. He felt hairy hands upon him as he was turned
over, none too gently. The gund examined him from head to foot, making
comments, especially upon the shape and size of his thumbs and great
toes.
"With these and with no tail," he said, "it cannot climb."
"No," agreed one of the warriors, "it would surely fall even from the
cliff pegs."
"I have never seen a thing like it," said the chief. "It is neither
Waz-don nor Ho-don. I wonder from whence it came and what it is called."
"The Kor-ul-JA shouted aloud, 'Tarzan-jad-guru!' and we thought that
they might be calling this one," said a warrior. "Shall we kill it now?"
"No," replied the chief, "we will wait until its life returns into its
head that I may question it. Remain here, In-tan, and watch it. When it
can again hear and speak call me."
He turned and departed from the cave, the others, except In-tan,
following him. As they moved past him and out of the chamber Tarzan
caught snatches of their conversation which indicated that the
Kor-ul-JA reinforcements had fallen upon their little party in great
numbers and driven them away. Evidently the swift feet of Id-an had
saved the day for the warriors of Om-at. The ape-man smiled, then he
partially opened an eye and cast it upon In-tan. The warrior stood at
the entrance to the cave looking out--his back was toward his prisoner.
Tarzan tested the bonds that secured his wrists. They seemed none too
stout and they had tied his hands in front of him! Evidence indeed that
the Waz-don took few prisoners--if any.
Cautiously he raised his wrists until he could examine the thongs that
confined them. A grim smile lighted his features. Instantly he was at
work upon the bonds with his strong teeth, but ever a wary eye was upon
In-tan, the warrior of Kor-ul-lul. The last knot had been loosened and
Tarzan's hands were free when In-tan turned to cast an appraising eye
upon his ward. He saw that the prisoner's position was changed--he no
longer lay upon his back as they had left him, but upon his side and
his hands were drawn up against his face. In-tan came closer and bent
down. The bonds seemed very loose upon the prisoner's wrists. He
extended his hand to examine them with his fingers and instantly the
two hands leaped from their bonds--one to seize his own wrist, the
other his throat. So unexpected the catlike attack that In-tan had not
even time to cry out before steel fingers silenced him. The creature
pulled him suddenly forward so that he lost his balance and rolled over
upon the prisoner and to the floor beyond to stop with Tarzan upon his
breast. In-tan struggled to release himself--struggled to draw his
knife; but Tarzan found it before him. The Waz-don's tail leaped to the
other's throat, encircling it--he too could choke; but his own knife,
in the hands of his antagonist, severed the beloved member close to its
root.
The Waz-don's struggles became weaker--a film was obscuring his vision.
He knew that he was dying and he was right. A moment later he was dead.
Tarzan rose to his feet and placed one foot upon the breast of his dead
foe. How the urge seized him to roar forth the victory cry of his kind!
But he dared not. He discovered that they had not removed his rope from
his shoulders and that they had replaced his knife in its sheath. It
had been in his hand when he was felled. Strange creatures! He did not
know that they held a superstitious fear of the weapons of a dead
enemy, believing that if buried without them he would forever haunt his
slayers in search of them and that when he found them he would kill the
man who killed him. Against the wall leaned his bow and quiver of
arrows.
Tarzan stepped toward the doorway of the cave and looked out. Night had
just fallen. He could hear voices from the nearer caves and there
floated to his nostrils the odor of cooking food. He looked down and
experienced a sensation of relief. The cave in which he had been held
was in the lowest tier--scarce thirty feet from the base of the cliff.
He was about to chance an immediate descent when there occurred to him
a thought that brought a grin to his savage lips--a thought that was
born of the name the Waz-don had given him--Tarzan-jad-guru--Tarzan the
Terrible--and a recollection of the days when he had delighted in
baiting the blacks of the distant jungle of his birth. He turned back
into the cave where lay the dead body of In-tan. With his knife he
severed the warrior's head and carrying it to the outer edge of the
recess tossed it to the ground below, then he dropped swiftly and
silently down the ladder of pegs in a way that would have surprised the
Kor-ul-lul who had been so sure that he could not climb.
At the bottom he picked up the head of In-tan and disappeared among the
shadows of the trees carrying the grisly trophy by its shock of shaggy
hair. Horrible? But you are judging a wild beast by the standards of
civilization. You may teach a lion tricks, but he is still a lion.
Tarzan looked well in a Tuxedo, but he was still a Tarmangani and
beneath his pleated shirt beat a wild and savage heart.
Nor was his madness lacking in method. He knew that the hearts of the
Kor-ul-lul would be filled with rage when they discovered the thing
that he had done and he knew too, that mixed with the rage would be a
leaven of fear and it was fear of him that had made Tarzan master of
many jungles--one does not win the respect of the killers with bonbons.
Below the village Tarzan returned to the foot of the cliff searching
for a point where he could make the ascent to the ridge and thus back
to the village of Om-at, the Kor-ul-JA. He came at last to a place
where the river ran so close to the rocky wall that he was forced to
swim it in search of a trail upon the opposite side and here it was
that his keen nostrils detected a familiar spoor. It was the scent of
Pan-at-lee at the spot where she had emerged from the pool and taken to
the safety of the jungle.
Immediately the ape-man's plans were changed. Pan-at-lee lived, or at
least she had lived after the leap from the cliff's summit. He had
started in search of her for Om-at, his friend, and for Om-at he would
continue upon the trail he had picked up thus fortuitously by accident.
It led him into the jungle and across the gorge and then to the point
at which Pan-at-lee had commenced the ascent of the opposite cliffs.
Here Tarzan abandoned the head of In-tan, tying it to the lower branch
of a tree, for he knew that it would handicap him in his ascent of the
steep escarpment. Apelike he ascended, following easily the scent
spoor of Pan-at-lee. Over the summit and across the ridge the trail
lay, plain as a printed page to the delicate senses of the jungle-bred
tracker.
Tarzan knew naught of the Kor-ul-GRYF. He had seen, dimly in the
shadows of the night, strange, monstrous forms and Ta-den and Om-at had
spoken of great creatures that all men feared; but always, everywhere,
by night and by day, there were dangers. From infancy death had
stalked, grim and terrible, at his heels. He knew little of any other
existence. To cope with danger was his life and he lived his life as
simply and as naturally as you live yours amidst the dangers of the
crowded city streets. The black man who goes abroad in the jungle by
night is afraid, for he has spent his life since infancy surrounded by
numbers of his own kind and safeguarded, especially at night, by such
crude means as lie within his powers. But Tarzan had lived as the lion
lives and the panther and the elephant and the ape--a true jungle
creature dependent solely upon his prowess and his wits, playing a lone
hand against creation. Therefore he was surprised at nothing and feared
nothing and so he walked through the strange night as undisturbed and
unapprehensive as the farmer to the cow lot in the darkness before the
dawn.
Once more Pan-at-lee's trail ended at the verge of a cliff; but this
time there was no indication that she had leaped over the edge and a
moment's search revealed to Tarzan the stone pegs upon which she had
made her descent. As he lay upon his belly leaning over the top of the
cliff examining the pegs his attention was suddenly attracted by
something at the foot of the cliff. He could not distinguish its
identity, but he saw that it moved and presently that it was ascending
slowly, apparently by means of pegs similar to those directly below
him. He watched it intently as it rose higher and higher until he was
able to distinguish its form more clearly, with the result that he
became convinced that it more nearly resembled some form of great ape
than a lower order. It had a tail, though, and in other respects it did
not seem a true ape.
Slowly it ascended to the upper tier of caves, into one of which it
disappeared. Then Tarzan took up again the trail of Pan-at-lee. He
followed it down the stone pegs to the nearest cave and then further
along the upper tier. The ape-man raised his eyebrows when he saw the
direction in which it led, and quickened his pace. He had almost
reached the third cave when the echoes of Kor-ul-GRYF were awakened by
a shrill scream of terror.
[1] I have used the Pal-ul-don word for gorge with the English plural,
which is not the correct native plural form. The latter, it seems to
me, is awkward for us and so I have generally ignored it throughout my
manuscript, permitting, for example, Kor-ul-JA to answer for both
singular and plural. However, for the benefit of those who may be
interested in such things I may say that the plurals are formed simply
for all words in the Pal-ul-don language by doubling the initial letter
of the word, as k'kor, gorges, pronounced as though written kakor, the
a having the sound of a in sofa. Lions, d' don.
6
The Tor-o-don
Pan-at-lee slept--the troubled sleep, of physical and nervous
exhaustion, filled with weird dreamings. She dreamed that she slept
beneath a great tree in the bottom of the Kor-ul-GRYF and that one of
the fearsome beasts was creeping upon her but she could not open her
eyes nor move. She tried to scream but no sound issued from her lips.
She felt the thing touch her throat, her breast, her arm, and there it
closed and seemed to be dragging her toward it. With a super-human
effort of will she opened her eyes. In the instant she knew that she
was dreaming and that quickly the hallucination of the dream would
fade--it had happened to her many times before. But it persisted. In
the dim light that filtered into the dark chamber she saw a form beside
her, she felt hairy fingers upon her and a hairy breast against which
she was being drawn. Jad-ben-Otho! this was no dream. And then she
screamed and tried to fight the thing from her; but her scream was
answered by a low growl and another hairy hand seized her by the hair
of the head. The beast rose now upon its hind legs and dragged her from
the cave to the moonlit recess without and at the same instant she saw
the figure of what she took to be a Ho-don rise above the outer edge of
the niche.
The beast that held her saw it too and growled ominously but it did not
relinquish its hold upon her hair. It crouched as though waiting an
attack, and it increased the volume and frequency of its growls until
the horrid sounds reverberated through the gorge, drowning even the
deep bellowings of the beasts below, whose mighty thunderings had
broken out anew with the sudden commotion from the high-flung cave. The
beast that held her crouched and the creature that faced it crouched
also, and growled--as hideously as the other. Pan-at-lee trembled. This
was no Ho-don and though she feared the Ho-don she feared this thing
more, with its catlike crouch and its beastly growls. She was
lost--that Pan-at-lee knew. The two things might fight for her, but
whichever won she was lost. Perhaps, during the battle, if it came to
that, she might find the opportunity to throw herself over into the
Kor-ul-GRYF.
The thing that held her she had recognized now as a Tor-o-don, but the
other thing she could not place, though in the moonlight she could see
it very distinctly. It had no tail. She could see its hands and its
feet, and they were not the hands and feet of the races of Pal-ul-don.
It was slowly closing upon the Tor-o-don and in one hand it held a
gleaming knife. Now it spoke and to Pan-at-lee's terror was added an
equal weight of consternation.
"When it leaves go of you," it said, "as it will presently to defend
itself, run quickly behind me, Pan-at-lee, and go to the cave nearest
the pegs you descended from the cliff top. Watch from there. If I am
defeated you will have time to escape this slow thing; if I am not I
will come to you there. I am Om-at's friend and yours."
The last words took the keen edge from Pan-at-lee's terror; but she did
not understand. How did this strange creature know her name? How did it
know that she had descended the pegs by a certain cave? It must, then,
have been here when she came. Pan-at-lee was puzzled.
"Who are you?" she asked, "and from whence do you come?"
"I am Tarzan," he replied, "and just now I came from Om-at, of
Kor-ul-JA, in search of you."
Om-at, gund of Kor-ul-JA! What wild talk was this? She would have
questioned him further, but now he was approaching the Tor-o-don and
the latter was screaming and growling so loudly as to drown the sound
of her voice. And then it did what the strange creature had said that
it would do--it released its hold upon her hair as it prepared to
charge. Charge it did and in those close quarters there was no room to
fence for openings. Instantly the two beasts locked in deadly embrace,
each seeking the other's throat. Pan-at-lee watched, taking no
advantage of the opportunity to escape which their preoccupation gave
her. She watched and waited, for into her savage little brain had come
the resolve to pin her faith to this strange creature who had unlocked
her heart with those four words--"I am Om-at's friend!" And so she
waited, with drawn knife, the opportunity to do her bit in the
vanquishing of the Tor-o-don. That the newcomer could do it unaided she
well knew to be beyond the realms of possibility, for she knew well the
prowess of the beastlike man with whom it fought. There were not many
of them in Pal-ul-don, but what few there were were a terror to the
women of the Waz-don and the Ho-don, for the old Tor-o-don bulls roamed
the mountains and the valleys of Pal-ul-don between rutting seasons and
woe betide the women who fell in their paths.
With his tail the Tor-o-don sought one of Tarzan's ankles, and finding
it, tripped him. The two fell heavily, but so agile was the ape-man and
so quick his powerful muscles that even in falling he twisted the beast
beneath him, so that Tarzan fell on top and now the tail that had
tripped him sought his throat as had the tail of In-tan, the
Kor-ul-lul. In the effort of turning his antagonist's body during the
fall Tarzan had had to relinquish his knife that he might seize the
shaggy body with both hands and now the weapon lay out of reach at the
very edge of the recess. Both hands were occupied for the moment in
fending off the clutching fingers that sought to seize him and drag his
throat within reach of his foe's formidable fangs and now the tail was
seeking its deadly hold with a formidable persistence that would not be
denied.
Pan-at-lee hovered about, breathless, her dagger ready, but there was
no opening that did not also endanger Tarzan, so constantly were the
two duelists changing their positions. Tarzan felt the tail slowly but
surely insinuating itself about his neck though he had drawn his head
down between the muscles of his shoulders in an effort to protect this
vulnerable part. The battle seemed to be going against him for the
giant beast against which he strove would have been a fair match in
weight and strength for Bolgani, the gorilla. And knowing this he
suddenly exerted a single super-human effort, thrust far apart the
giant hands and with the swiftness of a striking snake buried his fangs
in the jugular of the Tor-o-don. At the same instant the creature's
tail coiled about his own throat and then commenced a battle royal of
turning and twisting bodies as each sought to dislodge the fatal hold
of the other, but the acts of the ape-man were guided by a human brain
and thus it was that the rolling bodies rolled in the direction that
Tarzan wished--toward the edge of the recess.
The choking tail had shut the air from his lungs, he knew that his
gasping lips were parted and his tongue protruding; and now his brain
reeled and his sight grew dim; but not before he reached his goal and a
quick hand shot out to seize the knife that now lay within reach as the
two bodies tottered perilously upon the brink of the chasm.
With all his remaining strength the ape-man drove home the blade--once,
twice, thrice, and then all went black before him as he felt himself,
still in the clutches of the Tor-o-don, topple from the recess.
Fortunate it was for Tarzan that Pan-at-lee had not obeyed his
injunction to make good her escape while he engaged the Tor-o-don, for
it was to this fact that he owed his life. Close beside the struggling
forms during the brief moments of the terrific climax she had realized
every detail of the danger to Tarzan with which the emergency was
fraught and as she saw the two rolling over the outer edge of the niche
she seized the ape-man by an ankle at the same time throwing herself
prone upon the rocky floor. The muscles of the Tor-o-don relaxed in
death with the last thrust of Tarzan's knife and with its hold upon the
ape-man released it shot from sight into the gorge below.
It was with infinite difficulty that Pan-at-lee retained her hold upon
the ankle of her protector, but she did so and then, slowly, she sought
to drag the dead weight back to the safety of the niche. This, however,
was beyond her strength and she could but hold on tightly, hoping that
some plan would suggest itself before her powers of endurance failed.
She wondered if, after all, the creature was already dead, but that she
could not bring herself to believe--and if not dead how long it would
be before he regained consciousness. If he did not regain it soon he
never would regain it, that she knew, for she felt her fingers numbing
to the strain upon them and slipping, slowly, slowly, from their hold.
It was then that Tarzan regained consciousness. He could not know what
power upheld him, but he felt that whatever it was it was slowly
releasing its hold upon his ankle. Within easy reach of his hands were
two pegs and these he seized upon just as Pan-at-lee's fingers slipped
from their hold.
As it was he came near to being precipitated into the gorge--only his
great strength saved him. He was upright now and his feet found other
pegs. His first thought was of his foe. Where was he? Waiting above
there to finish him? Tarzan looked up just as the frightened face of
Pan-at-lee appeared over the threshold of the recess.
"You live?" she cried.
"Yes," replied Tarzan. "Where is the shaggy one?"
Pan-at-lee pointed downward. "There," she said, "dead."
"Good!" exclaimed the ape-man, clambering to her side. "You are
unharmed?" he asked.
"You came just in time," replied Pan-at-lee; "but who are you and how
did you know that I was here and what do you know of Om-at and where
did you come from and what did you mean by calling Om-at, gund?"
"Wait, wait," cried Tarzan; "one at a time. My, but you are all
alike--the shes of the tribe of Kerchak, the ladies of England, and
their sisters of Pal-ul-don. Have patience and I will try to tell you
all that you wish to know. Four of us set out with Om-at from Kor-ul-JA
to search for you. We were attacked by the Kor-ul-lul and separated. I
was taken prisoner, but escaped. Again I stumbled upon your trail and
followed it, reaching the summit of this cliff just as the hairy one
was climbing up after you. I was coming to investigate when I heard
your scream--the rest you know."
"But you called Om-at, gund of Kor-ul-JA," she insisted. "Es-sat is
gund."
"Es-sat is dead," explained the ape-man. "Om-at slew him and now Om-at
is gund. Om-at came back seeking you. He found Es-sat in your cave and
killed him."
"Yes," said the girl, "Es-sat came to my cave and I struck him down
with my golden breastplates and escaped."
"And a lion pursued you," continued Tarzan, "and you leaped from the
cliff into Kor-ul-lul, but why you were not killed is beyond me."
"Is there anything beyond you?" exclaimed Pan-at-lee. "How could you
know that a lion pursued me and that I leaped from the cliff and not
know that it was the pool of deep water below that saved me?"
"I would have known that, too, had not the Kor-ul-lul come then and
prevented me continuing upon your trail. But now I would ask you a
question--by what name do you call the thing with which I just fought?"
"It was a Tor-o-don," she replied. "I have seen but one before. They
are terrible creatures with the cunning of man and the ferocity of a
beast. Great indeed must be the warrior who slays one single-handed."
She gazed at him in open admiration.
"And now," said Tarzan, "you must sleep, for tomorrow we shall return
to Kor-ul-JA and Om-at, and I doubt that you have had much rest these
two nights."
Pan-at-lee, lulled by a feeling of security, slept peacefully into the
morning while Tarzan stretched himself upon the hard floor of the
recess just outside her cave.
The sun was high in the heavens when he awoke; for two hours it had
looked down upon another heroic figure miles away--the figure of a
godlike man fighting his way through the hideous morass that lies like
a filthy moat defending Pal-ul-don from the creatures of the outer
world. Now waist deep in the sucking ooze, now menaced by loathsome
reptiles, the man advanced only by virtue of Herculean efforts gaining
laboriously by inches along the devious way that he was forced to
choose in selecting the least precarious footing. Near the center of
the morass was open water--slimy, green-hued water. He reached it at
last after more than two hours of such effort as would have left an
ordinary man spent and dying in the sticky mud, yet he was less than
halfway across the marsh. Greasy with slime and mud was his smooth,
brown hide, and greasy with slime and mud was his beloved Enfield that
had shone so brightly in the first rays of the rising sun.
He paused a moment upon the edge of the open water and then throwing
himself forward struck out to swim across. He swam with long, easy,
powerful strokes calculated less for speed than for endurance, for his
was, primarily, a test of the latter, since beyond the open water was
another two hours or more of gruelling effort between it and solid
ground. He was, perhaps, halfway across and congratulating himself upon
the ease of the achievement of this portion of his task when there
arose from the depths directly in his path a hideous reptile, which,
with wide-distended jaws, bore down upon him, hissing shrilly.
Tarzan arose and stretched, expanded his great chest and drank in deep
draughts of the fresh morning air. His clear eyes scanned the wondrous
beauties of the landscape spread out before them. Directly below lay
Kor-ul-GRYF, a dense, somber green of gently moving tree tops. To
Tarzan it was neither grim, nor forbidding--it was jungle, beloved
jungle. To his right there spread a panorama of the lower reaches of
the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho, with its winding streams and its blue
lakes. Gleaming whitely in the sunlight were scattered groups of
dwellings--the feudal strongholds of the lesser chiefs of the Ho-don.
A-lur, the City of Light, he could not see as it was hidden by the
shoulder of the cliff in which the deserted village lay.
For a moment Tarzan gave himself over to that spiritual enjoyment of
beauty that only the man-mind may attain and then Nature asserted
herself and the belly of the beast called aloud that it was hungry.
Again Tarzan looked down at Kor-ul-GRYF. There was the jungle! Grew
there a jungle that would not feed Tarzan? The ape-man smiled and
commenced the descent to the gorge. Was there danger there? Of course.
Who knew it better than Tarzan? In all jungles lies death, for life and
death go hand in hand and where life teems death reaps his fullest
harvest. Never had Tarzan met a creature of the jungle with which he
could not cope--sometimes by virtue of brute strength alone, again by a
combination of brute strength and the cunning of the man-mind; but
Tarzan had never met a GRYF.
He had heard the bellowings in the gorge the night before after he had
lain down to sleep and he had meant to ask Pan-at-lee this morning what
manner of beast so disturbed the slumbers of its betters. He reached
the foot of the cliff and strode into the jungle and here he halted,
his keen eyes and ears watchful and alert, his sensitive nostrils
searching each shifting air current for the scent spoor of game. Again
he advanced deeper into the wood, his light step giving forth no sound,
his bow and arrows in readiness. A light morning breeze was blowing
from up the gorge and in this direction he bent his steps. Many odors
impinged upon his organs of scent. Some of these he classified without
effort, but others were strange--the odors of beasts and of birds, of
trees and shrubs and flowers with which he was unfamiliar. He sensed
faintly the reptilian odor that he had learned to connect with the
strange, nocturnal forms that had loomed dim and bulky on several
occasions since his introduction to Pal-ul-don.
And then, suddenly he caught plainly the strong, sweet odor of Bara,
the deer. Were the belly vocal, Tarzan's would have given a little cry
of joy, for it loved the flesh of Bara. The ape-man moved rapidly, but
cautiously forward. The prey was not far distant and as the hunter
approached it, he took silently to the trees and still in his nostrils
was the faint reptilian odor that spoke of a great creature which he
had never yet seen except as a denser shadow among the dense shadows of
the night; but the odor was of such a faintness as suggests to the
jungle bred the distance of absolute safety.
And now, moving noiselessly, Tarzan came within sight of Bara drinking
at a pool where the stream that waters Kor-ul-GRYF crosses an open
place in the jungle. The deer was too far from the nearest tree to risk
a charge, so the ape-man must depend upon the accuracy and force of his
first arrow, which must drop the deer in its tracks or forfeit both
deer and shaft. Far back came the right hand and the bow, that you or I
might not move, bent easily beneath the muscles of the forest god.
There was a singing twang and Bara, leaping high in air, collapsed upon
the ground, an arrow through his heart. Tarzan dropped to earth and ran
to his kill, lest the animal might even yet rise and escape; but Bara
was safely dead. As Tarzan stooped to lift it to his shoulder there
fell upon his ears a thunderous bellow that seemed almost at his right
elbow, and as his eyes shot in the direction of the sound, there broke
upon his vision such a creature as paleontologists have dreamed as
having possibly existed in the dimmest vistas of Earth's infancy--a
gigantic creature, vibrant with mad rage, that charged, bellowing, upon
him.
When Pan-at-lee awoke she looked out upon the niche in search of
Tarzan. He was not there. She sprang to her feet and rushed out,
looking down into Kor-ul-GRYF guessing that he had gone down in search
of food and there she caught a glimpse of him disappearing into the
forest. For an instant she was panic-stricken. She knew that he was a
stranger in Pal-ul-don and that, so, he might not realize the dangers
that lay in that gorge of terror. Why did she not call to him to
return? You or I might have done so, but no Pal-ul-don, for they know
the ways of the GRYF--they know the weak eyes and the keen ears, and
that at the sound of a human voice they come. To have called to Tarzan,
then, would but have been to invite disaster and so she did not call.
Instead, afraid though she was, she descended into the gorge for the
purpose of overhauling Tarzan and warning him in whispers of his
danger. It was a brave act, since it was performed in the face of
countless ages of inherited fear of the creatures that she might be
called upon to face. Men have been decorated for less.
Pan-at-lee, descended from a long line of hunters, assumed that Tarzan
would move up wind and in this direction she sought his tracks, which
she soon found well marked, since he had made no effort to conceal
them. She moved rapidly until she reached the point at which Tarzan had
taken to the trees. Of course she knew what had happened; since her own
people were semi-arboreal; but she could not track him through the
trees, having no such well-developed sense of scent as he.
She could but hope that he had continued on up wind and in this
direction she moved, her heart pounding in terror against her ribs, her
eyes glancing first in one direction and then another. She had reached
the edge of a clearing when two things happened--she caught sight of
Tarzan bending over a dead deer and at the same instant a deafening
roar sounded almost beside her. It terrified her beyond description,
but it brought no paralysis of fear. Instead it galvanized her into
instant action with the result that Pan-at-lee swarmed up the nearest
tree to the very loftiest branch that would sustain her weight. Then
she looked down.
The thing that Tarzan saw charging him when the warning bellow
attracted his surprised eyes loomed terrifically monstrous before
him--monstrous and awe-inspiring; but it did not terrify Tarzan, it
only angered him, for he saw that it was beyond even his powers to
combat and that meant that it might cause him to lose his kill, and
Tarzan was hungry. There was but a single alternative to remaining for
annihilation and that was flight--swift and immediate. And Tarzan fled,
but he carried the carcass of Bara, the deer, with him. He had not more
than a dozen paces start, but on the other hand the nearest tree was
almost as close. His greatest danger lay, he imagined, in the great,
towering height of the creature pursuing him, for even though he
reached the tree he would have to climb high in an incredibly short
time as, unless appearances were deceiving, the thing could reach up
and pluck him down from any branch under thirty feet above the ground,
and possibly from those up to fifty feet, if it reared up on its hind
legs.
But Tarzan was no sluggard and though the GRYF was incredibly fast
despite its great bulk, it was no match for Tarzan, and when it comes
to climbing, the little monkeys gaze with envy upon the feats of the
ape-man. And so it was that the bellowing GRYF came to a baffled stop
at the foot of the tree and even though he reared up and sought to
seize his prey among the branches, as Tarzan had guessed he might, he
failed in this also. And then, well out of reach, Tarzan came to a stop
and there, just above him, he saw Pan-at-lee sitting, wide-eyed and
trembling.
"How came you here?" he asked.
She told him. "You came to warn me!" he said. "It was very brave and
unselfish of you. I am chagrined that I should have been thus
surprised. The creature was up wind from me and yet I did not sense its
near presence until it charged. I cannot understand it."
"It is not strange," said Pan-at-lee. "That is one of the peculiarities
of the GRYF--it is said that man never knows of its presence until it
is upon him--so silently does it move despite its great size."
"But I should have smelled it," cried Tarzan, disgustedly.
"Smelled it!" ejaculated Pan-at-lee. "Smelled it?"
"Certainly. How do you suppose I found this deer so quickly? And I
sensed the GRYF, too, but faintly as at a great distance." Tarzan
suddenly ceased speaking and looked down at the bellowing creature
below them--his nostrils quivered as though searching for a scent.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. "I have it!"
"What?" asked Pan-at-lee.
"I was deceived because the creature gives off practically no odor,"
explained the ape-man. "What I smelled was the faint aroma that
doubtless permeates the entire jungle because of the long presence of
many of the creatures--it is the sort of odor that would remain for a
long time, faint as it is.
"Pan-at-lee, did you ever hear of a triceratops? No? Well this thing
that you call a GRYF is a triceratops and it has been extinct for
hundreds of thousands of years. I have seen its skeleton in the museum
in London and a figure of one restored. I always thought that the
scientists who did such work depended principally upon an overwrought
imagination, but I see that I was wrong. This living thing is not an
exact counterpart of the restoration that I saw; but it is so similar
as to be easily recognizable, and then, too, we must remember that
during the ages that have elapsed since the paleontologist's specimen
lived many changes might have been wrought by evolution in the living
line that has quite evidently persisted in Pal-ul-don."
"Triceratops, London, paleo--I don't know what you are talking about,"
cried Pan-at-lee.
Tarzan smiled and threw a piece of dead wood at the face of the angry
creature below them. Instantly the great bony hood over the neck was
erected and a mad bellow rolled upward from the gigantic body. Full
twenty feet at the shoulder the thing stood, a dirty slate-blue in
color except for its yellow face with the blue bands encircling the
eyes, the red hood with the yellow lining and the yellow belly. The
three parallel lines of bony protuberances down the back gave a further
touch of color to the body, those following the line of the spine being
red, while those on either side are yellow. The five- and three-toed
hoofs of the ancient horned dinosaurs had become talons in the GRYF,
but the three horns, two large ones above the eyes and a median horn on
the nose, had persisted through all the ages. Weird and terrible as was
its appearance Tarzan could not but admire the mighty creature looming
big below him, its seventy-five feet of length majestically typifying
those things which all his life the ape-man had admired--courage and
strength. In that massive tail alone was the strength of an elephant.
The wicked little eyes looked up at him and the horny beak opened to
disclose a full set of powerful teeth.
"Herbivorous!" murmured the ape-man. "Your ancestors may have been, but
not you," and then to Pan-at-lee: "Let us go now. At the cave we will
have deer meat and then--back to Kor-ul-JA and Om-at."
The girl shuddered. "Go?" she repeated. "We will never go from here."
"Why not?" asked Tarzan.
For answer she but pointed to the GRYF.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the man. "It cannot climb. We can reach the cliff
through the trees and be back in the cave before it knows what has
become of us."
"You do not know the GRYF," replied Pan-at-lee gloomily.
"Wherever we go it will follow and always it will be ready at the foot
of each tree when we would descend. It will never give us up."
"We can live in the trees for a long time if necessary," replied
Tarzan, "and sometime the thing will leave."
The girl shook her head. "Never," she said, "and then there are the
Tor-o-don. They will come and kill us and after eating a little will
throw the balance to the GRYF--the GRYF and Tor-o-don are friends,
because the Tor-o-don shares his food with the GRYF."
"You may be right," said Tarzan; "but even so I don't intend waiting
here for someone to come along and eat part of me and then feed the
balance to that beast below. If I don't get out of this place whole it
won't be my fault. Come along now and we'll make a try at it," and so
saying he moved off through the tree tops with Pan-at-lee close behind.
Below them, on the ground, moved the horned dinosaur and when they
reached the edge of the forest where there lay fifty yards of open
ground to cross to the foot of the cliff he was there with them, at the
bottom of the tree, waiting.
Tarzan looked ruefully down and scratched his head.
7
Jungle Craft
Presently he looked up and at Pan-at-lee. "Can you cross the gorge
through the trees very rapidly?" he questioned.
"Alone?" she asked.
"No," replied Tarzan.
"I can follow wherever you can lead," she said then.
"Across and back again?"
"Yes."
"Then come, and do exactly as I bid." He started back again through the
trees, swiftly, swinging monkey-like from limb to limb, following a
zigzag course that he tried to select with an eye for the difficulties
of the trail beneath. Where the underbrush was heaviest, where fallen
trees blocked the way, he led the footsteps of the creature below them;
but all to no avail. When they reached the opposite side of the gorge
the GRYF was with them.
"Back again," said Tarzan, and, turning, the two retraced their
high-flung way through the upper terraces of the ancient forest of
Kor-ul-GRYF. But the result was the same--no, not quite; it was worse,
for another GRYF had joined the first and now two waited beneath the
tree in which they stopped.
The cliff looming high above them with its innumerable cave mouths
seemed to beckon and to taunt them. It was so near, yet eternity yawned
between. The body of the Tor-o-don lay at the cliff's foot where it had
fallen. It was in plain view of the two in the tree. One of the gryfs
walked over and sniffed about it, but did not offer to devour it.
Tarzan had examined it casually as he had passed earlier in the
morning. He guessed that it represented either a very high order of ape
or a very low order of man--something akin to the Java man, perhaps; a
truer example of the pithecanthropi than either the Ho-don or the
Waz-don; possibly the precursor of them both. As his eyes wandered idly
over the scene below his active brain was working out the details of
the plan that he had made to permit Pan-at-lee's escape from the gorge.
His thoughts were interrupted by a strange cry from above them in the
gorge.
"Whee-oo! Whee-oo!" it sounded, coming closer.
The gryfs below raised their heads and looked in the direction of the
interruption. One of them made a low, rumbling sound in its throat. It
was not a bellow and it did not indicate anger. Immediately the
"Whee-oo!" responded. The gryfs repeated the rumbling and at intervals
the "Whee-oo!" was repeated, coming ever closer.
Tarzan looked at Pan-at-lee. "What is it?" he asked.
"I do not know," she replied. "Perhaps a strange bird, or another
horrid beast that dwells in this frightful place."
"Ah," exclaimed Tarzan; "there it is. Look!"
Pan-at-lee voiced a cry of despair. "A Tor-o-don!"
The creature, walking erect and carrying a stick in one hand, advanced
at a slow, lumbering gait. It walked directly toward the gryfs who
moved aside, as though afraid. Tarzan watched intently. The Tor-o-don
was now quite close to one of the triceratops. It swung its head and
snapped at him viciously. Instantly the Tor-o-don sprang in and
commenced to belabor the huge beast across the face with his stick. To
the ape-man's amazement the GRYF, that might have annihilated the
comparatively puny Tor-o-don instantly in any of a dozen ways, cringed
like a whipped cur.
"Whee-oo! Whee-oo!" shouted the Tor-o-don and the GRYF came slowly
toward him. A whack on the median horn brought it to a stop. Then the
Tor-o-don walked around behind it, clambered up its tail and seated
himself astraddle of the huge back. "Whee-oo!" he shouted and prodded
the beast with a sharp point of his stick. The GRYF commenced to move
off.
So rapt had Tarzan been in the scene below him that he had given no
thought to escape, for he realized that for him and Pan-at-lee time had
in these brief moments turned back countless ages to spread before
their eyes a page of the dim and distant past. They two had looked upon
the first man and his primitive beasts of burden.
And now the ridden GRYF halted and looked up at them, bellowing. It was
sufficient. The creature had warned its master of their presence.
Instantly the Tor-o-don urged the beast close beneath the tree which
held them, at the same time leaping to his feet upon the horny back.
Tarzan saw the bestial face, the great fangs, the mighty muscles. From
the loins of such had sprung the human race--and only from such could
it have sprung, for only such as this might have survived the horrid
dangers of the age that was theirs.
The Tor-o-don beat upon his breast and growled horribly--hideous,
uncouth, beastly. Tarzan rose to his full height upon a swaying
branch--straight and beautiful as a demigod--unspoiled by the taint of
civilization--a perfect specimen of what the human race might have been
had the laws of man not interfered with the laws of nature.
The Present fitted an arrow to his bow and drew the shaft far back. The
Past basing its claims upon brute strength sought to reach the other
and drag him down; but the loosed arrow sank deep into the savage heart
and the Past sank back into the oblivion that had claimed his kind.
"Tarzan-jad-guru!" murmured Pan-at-lee, unknowingly giving him out of
the fullness of her admiration the same title that the warriors of her
tribe had bestowed upon him.
The ape-man turned to her. "Pan-at-lee," he said, "these beasts may
keep us treed here indefinitely. I doubt if we can escape together, but
I have a plan. You remain here, hiding yourself in the foliage, while I
start back across the gorge in sight of them and yelling to attract
their attention. Unless they have more brains than I suspect they will
follow me. When they are gone you make for the cliff. Wait for me in
the cave not longer than today. If I do not come by tomorrow's sun you
will have to start back for Kor-ul-JA alone. Here is a joint of deer
meat for you." He had severed one of the deer's hind legs and this he
passed up to her.
"I cannot desert you," she said simply; "it is not the way of my people
to desert a friend and ally. Om-at would never forgive me."
"Tell Om-at that I commanded you to go," replied Tarzan.
"It is a command?" she asked.
"It is! Good-bye, Pan-at-lee. Hasten back to Om-at--you are a fitting
mate for the chief of Kor-ul-JA." He moved off slowly through the trees.
"Good-bye, Tarzan-jad-guru!" she called after him. "Fortunate are my
Om-at and his Pan-at-lee in owning such a friend."
Tarzan, shouting aloud, continued upon his way and the great gryfs,
lured by his voice, followed beneath. His ruse was evidently proving
successful and he was filled with elation as he led the bellowing
beasts farther and farther from Pan-at-lee. He hoped that she would
take advantage of the opportunity afforded her for escape, yet at the
same time he was filled with concern as to her ability to survive the
dangers which lay between Kor-ul-GRYF and Kor-ul-JA. There were lions
and Tor-o-dons and the unfriendly tribe of Kor-ul-lul to hinder her
progress, though the distance in itself to the cliffs of her people was
not great.
He realized her bravery and understood the resourcefulness that she
must share in common with all primitive people who, day by day, must
contend face to face with nature's law of the survival of the fittest,
unaided by any of the numerous artificial protections that civilization
has thrown around its brood of weaklings.
Several times during this crossing of the gorge Tarzan endeavored to
outwit his keen pursuers, but all to no avail. Double as he would he
could not throw them off his track and ever as he changed his course
they changed theirs to conform. Along the verge of the forest upon the
southeastern side of the gorge he sought some point at which the trees
touched some negotiable portion of the cliff, but though he traveled
far both up and down the gorge he discovered no such easy avenue of
escape. The ape-man finally commenced to entertain an idea of the
hopelessness of his case and to realize to the full why the Kor-ul-GRYF
had been religiously abjured by the races of Pal-ul-don for all these
many ages.
Night was falling and though since early morning he had sought
diligently a way out of this cul-de-sac he was no nearer to liberty
than at the moment the first bellowing GRYF had charged him as he
stooped over the carcass of his kill: but with the falling of night
came renewed hope for, in common with the great cats, Tarzan was, to a
greater or lesser extent, a nocturnal beast. It is true he could not
see by night as well as they, but that lack was largely recompensed for
by the keenness of his scent and the highly developed sensitiveness of
his other organs of perception. As the blind follow and interpret their
Braille characters with deft fingers, so Tarzan reads the book of the
jungle with feet and hands and eyes and ears and nose; each
contributing its share to the quick and accurate translation of the
text.
But again he was doomed to be thwarted by one vital weakness--he did
not know the GRYF, and before the night was over he wondered if the
things never slept, for wheresoever he moved they moved also, and
always they barred his road to liberty. Finally, just before dawn, he
relinquished his immediate effort and sought rest in a friendly tree
crotch in the safety of the middle terrace.
Once again was the sun high when Tarzan awoke, rested and refreshed.
Keen to the necessities of the moment he made no effort to locate his
jailers lest in the act he might apprise them of his movements. Instead
he sought cautiously and silently to melt away among the foliage of the
trees. His first move, however, was heralded by a deep bellow from
below.
Among the numerous refinements of civilization that Tarzan had failed
to acquire was that of profanity, and possibly it is to be regretted
since there are circumstances under which it is at least a relief to
pent emotion. And it may be that in effect Tarzan resorted to profanity
if there can be physical as well as vocal swearing, since immediately
the bellow announced that his hopes had been again frustrated, he
turned quickly and seeing the hideous face of the GRYF below him seized
a large fruit from a nearby branch and hurled it viciously at the
horned snout. The missile struck full between the creature's eyes,
resulting in a reaction that surprised the ape-man; it did not arouse
the beast to a show of revengeful rage as Tarzan had expected and
hoped; instead the creature gave a single vicious side snap at the
fruit as it bounded from his skull and then turned sulkily away,
walking off a few steps.
There was that in the act that recalled immediately to Tarzan's mind
similar action on the preceding day when the Tor-o-don had struck one
of the creatures across the face with his staff, and instantly there
sprung to the cunning and courageous brain a plan of escape from his
predicament that might have blanched the cheek of the most heroic.
The gambling instinct is not strong among creatures of the wild; the
chances of their daily life are sufficient stimuli for the beneficial
excitement of their nerve centers. It has remained for civilized man,
protected in a measure from the natural dangers of existence, to invent
artificial stimulants in the form of cards and dice and roulette
wheels. Yet when necessity bids there are no greater gamblers than the
savage denizens of the jungle, the forest, and the hills, for as
lightly as you roll the ivory cubes upon the green cloth they will
gamble with death--their own lives the stake.
And so Tarzan would gamble now, pitting the seemingly wild deductions
of his shrewd brain against all the proofs of the bestial ferocity of
his antagonists that his experience of them had adduced--against all
the age-old folklore and legend that had been handed down for countless
generations and passed on to him through the lips of Pan-at-lee.
Yet as he worked in preparation for the greatest play that man can make
in the game of life, he smiled; nor was there any indication of haste
or excitement or nervousness in his demeanor.
First he selected a long, straight branch about two inches in diameter
at its base. This he cut from the tree with his knife, removed the
smaller branches and twigs until he had fashioned a pole about ten feet
in length. This he sharpened at the smaller end. The staff finished to
his satisfaction he looked down upon the triceratops.
"Whee-oo!" he cried.
Instantly the beasts raised their heads and looked at him. From the
throat of one of them came faintly a low rumbling sound.
"Whee-oo!" repeated Tarzan and hurled the balance of the carcass of the
deer to them.
Instantly the gryfs fell upon it with much bellowing, one of them
attempting to seize it and keep it from the other: but finally the
second obtained a hold and an instant later it had been torn asunder
and greedily devoured. Once again they looked up at the ape-man and
this time they saw him descending to the ground.
One of them started toward him. Again Tarzan repeated the weird cry of
the Tor-o-don. The GRYF halted in his track, apparently puzzled, while
Tarzan slipped lightly to the earth and advanced toward the nearer
beast, his staff raised menacingly and the call of the first-man upon
his lips.
Would the cry be answered by the low rumbling of the beast of burden or
the horrid bellow of the man-eater? Upon the answer to this question
hung the fate of the ape-man.
Pan-at-lee was listening intently to the sounds of the departing gryfs
as Tarzan led them cunningly from her, and when she was sure that they
were far enough away to insure her safe retreat she dropped swiftly
from the branches to the ground and sped like a frightened deer across
the open space to the foot of the cliff, stepped over the body of the
Tor-o-don who had attacked her the night before and was soon climbing
rapidly up the ancient stone pegs of the deserted cliff village. In the
mouth of the cave near that which she had occupied she kindled a fire
and cooked the haunch of venison that Tarzan had left her, and from one
of the trickling streams that ran down the face of the escarpment she
obtained water to satisfy her thirst.
All day she waited, hearing in the distance, and sometimes close at
hand, the bellowing of the gryfs which pursued the strange creature
that had dropped so miraculously into her life. For him she felt the
same keen, almost fanatical loyalty that many another had experienced
for Tarzan of the Apes. Beast and human, he had held them to him with
bonds that were stronger than steel--those of them that were clean and
courageous, and the weak and the helpless; but never could Tarzan claim
among his admirers the coward, the ingrate or the scoundrel; from such,
both man and beast, he had won fear and hatred.
To Pan-at-lee he was all that was brave and noble and heroic and, too,
he was Om-at's friend--the friend of the man she loved. For any one of
these reasons Pan-at-lee would have died for Tarzan, for such is the
loyalty of the simple-minded children of nature. It has remained for
civilization to teach us to weigh the relative rewards of loyalty and
its antithesis. The loyalty of the primitive is spontaneous,
unreasoning, unselfish and such was the loyalty of Pan-at-lee for the
Tarmangani.
And so it was that she waited that day and night, hoping that he would
return that she might accompany him back to Om-at, for her experience
had taught her that in the face of danger two have a better chance than
one. But Tarzan-jad-guru had not come, and so upon the following
morning Pan-at-lee set out upon her return to Kor-ul-JA.
She knew the dangers and yet she faced them with the stolid
indifference of her race. When they directly confronted and menaced her
would be time enough to experience fear or excitement or confidence. In
the meantime it was unnecessary to waste nerve energy by anticipating
them. She moved therefore through her savage land with no greater show
of concern than might mark your sauntering to a corner drug-store for a
sundae. But this is your life and that is Pan-at-lee's and even now as
you read this Pan-at-lee may be sitting upon the edge of the recess of
Om-at's cave while the JA and JATO roar from the gorge below and from
the ridge above, and the Kor-ul-lul threaten upon the south and the
Ho-don from the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho far below, for Pan-at-lee still
lives and preens her silky coat of jet beneath the tropical moonlight
of Pal-ul-don.
But she was not to reach Kor-ul-JA this day, nor the next, nor for many
days after though the danger that threatened her was neither Waz-don
enemy nor savage beast.
She came without misadventure to the Kor-ul-lul and after descending
its rocky southern wall without catching the slightest glimpse of the
hereditary enemies of her people, she experienced a renewal of
confidence that was little short of practical assurance that she would
successfully terminate her venture and be restored once more to her own
people and the lover she had not seen for so many long and weary moons.
She was almost across the gorge now and moving with an extreme caution
abated no wit by her confidence, for wariness is an instinctive trait
of the primitive, something which cannot be laid aside even momentarily
if one would survive. And so she came to the trail that follows the
windings of Kor-ul-lul from its uppermost reaches down into the broad
and fertile Valley of Jad-ben-Otho.
And as she stepped into the trail there arose on either side of her
from out of the bushes that border the path, as though materialized
from thin air, a score of tall, white warriors of the Ho-don. Like a
frightened deer Pan-at-lee cast a single startled look at these
menacers of her freedom and leaped quickly toward the bushes in an
effort to escape; but the warriors were too close at hand. They closed
upon her from every side and then, drawing her knife she turned at bay,
metamorphosed by the fires of fear and hate from a startled deer to a
raging tiger-cat. They did not try to kill her, but only to subdue and
capture her; and so it was that more than a single Ho-don warrior felt
the keen edge of her blade in his flesh before they had succeeded in
overpowering her by numbers. And still she fought and scratched and bit
after they had taken the knife from her until it was necessary to tie
her hands and fasten a piece of wood between her teeth by means of
thongs passed behind her head.
At first she refused to walk when they started off in the direction of
the valley but after two of them had seized her by the hair and dragged
her for a number of yards she thought better of her original decision
and came along with them, though still as defiant as her bound wrists
and gagged mouth would permit.
Near the entrance to Kor-ul-lul they came upon another body of their
warriors with which were several Waz-don prisoners from the tribe of
Kor-ul-lul. It was a raiding party come up from a Ho-don city of the
valley after slaves. This Pan-at-lee knew for the occurrence was by no
means unusual. During her lifetime the tribe to which she belonged had
been sufficiently fortunate, or powerful, to withstand successfully the
majority of such raids made upon them, but yet Pan-at-lee had known of
friends and relatives who had been carried into slavery by the Ho-don
and she knew, too, another thing which gave her hope, as doubtless it
did to each of the other captives--that occasionally the prisoners
escaped from the cities of the hairless whites.
After they had joined the other party the entire band set forth into
the valley and presently, from the conversation of her captors,
Pan-at-lee knew that she was headed for A-lur, the City of Light; while
in the cave of his ancestors, Om-at, chief of the Kor-ul-JA, bemoaned
the loss of both his friend and she that was to have been his mate.
8
A-lur
As the hissing reptile bore down upon the stranger swimming in the open
water near the center of the morass on the frontier of Pal-ul-don it
seemed to the man that this indeed must be the futile termination of an
arduous and danger-filled journey. It seemed, too, equally futile to
pit his puny knife against this frightful creature. Had he been
attacked on land it is possible that he might as a last resort have
used his Enfield, though he had come thus far through all these weary,
danger-ridden miles without recourse to it, though again and again had
his life hung in the balance in the face of the savage denizens of
forest, jungle, and steppe. For whatever it may have been for which he
was preserving his precious ammunition he evidently held it more sacred
even than his life, for as yet he had not used a single round and now
the decision was not required of him, since it would have been
impossible for him to have unslung his Enfield, loaded and fired with
the necessary celerity while swimming.
Though his chance for survival seemed slender, and hope at its lowest
ebb, he was not minded therefore to give up without a struggle. Instead
he drew his blade and awaited the oncoming reptile. The creature was
like no living thing he ever before had seen although possibly it
resembled a crocodile in some respects more than it did anything with
which he was familiar.
As this frightful survivor of some extinct progenitor charged upon him
with distended jaws there came to the man quickly a full consciousness
of the futility of endeavoring to stay the mad rush or pierce the
armor-coated hide with his little knife. The thing was almost upon him
now and whatever form of defense he chose must be made quickly. There
seemed but a single alternative to instant death, and this he took at
almost the instant the great reptile towered directly above him.
With the celerity of a seal he dove headforemost beneath the oncoming
body and at the same instant, turning upon his back, he plunged his
blade into the soft, cold surface of the slimy belly as the momentum of
the hurtling reptile carried it swiftly over him; and then with
powerful strokes he swam on beneath the surface for a dozen yards
before he rose. A glance showed him the stricken monster plunging madly
in pain and rage upon the surface of the water behind him. That it was
writhing in its death agonies was evidenced by the fact that it made no
effort to pursue him, and so, to the accompaniment of the shrill
screaming of the dying monster, the man won at last to the farther edge
of the open water to take up once more the almost superhuman effort of
crossing the last stretch of clinging mud which separated him from the
solid ground of Pal-ul-don.
A good two hours it took him to drag his now weary body through the
clinging, stinking muck, but at last, mud covered and spent, he dragged
himself out upon the soft grasses of the bank. A hundred yards away a
stream, winding its way down from the distant mountains, emptied into
the morass, and, after a short rest, he made his way to this and
seeking a quiet pool, bathed himself and washed the mud and slime from
his weapons, accouterments, and loin cloth. Another hour was spent
beneath the rays of the hot sun in wiping, polishing, and oiling his
Enfield though the means at hand for drying it consisted principally of
dry grasses. It was afternoon before he had satisfied himself that his
precious weapon was safe from any harm by dirt, or dampness, and then
he arose and took up the search for the spoor he had followed to the
opposite side of the swamp.
Would he find again the trail that had led into the opposite side of
the morass, to be lost there, even to his trained senses? If he found
it not again upon this side of the almost impassable barrier he might
assume that his long journey had ended in failure. And so he sought up
and down the verge of the stagnant water for traces of an old spoor
that would have been invisible to your eyes or mine, even had we
followed directly in the tracks of its maker.
As Tarzan advanced upon the gryfs he imitated as closely as he could
recall them the methods and mannerisms of the Tor-o-don, but up to the
instant that he stood close beside one of the huge creatures he
realized that his fate still hung in the balance, for the thing gave
forth no sign, either menacing or otherwise. It only stood there,
watching him out of its cold, reptilian eyes and then Tarzan raised his
staff and with a menacing "Whee-oo!" struck the GRYF a vicious blow
across the face.
The creature made a sudden side snap in his direction, a snap that did
not reach him, and then turned sullenly away, precisely as it had when
the Tor-o-don commanded it. Walking around to its rear as he had seen
the shaggy first-man do, Tarzan ran up the broad tail and seated
himself upon the creature's back, and then again imitating the acts of
the Tor-o-don he prodded it with the sharpened point of his staff, and
thus goading it forward and guiding it with blows, first upon one side
and then upon the other, he started it down the gorge in the direction
of the valley.
At first it had been in his mind only to determine if he could
successfully assert any authority over the great monsters, realizing
that in this possibility lay his only hope of immediate escape from his
jailers. But once seated upon the back of his titanic mount the ape-man
experienced the sensation of a new thrill that recalled to him the day
in his boyhood that he had first clambered to the broad head of Tantor,
the elephant, and this, together with the sense of mastery that was
always meat and drink to the lord of the jungle, decided him to put his
newly acquired power to some utilitarian purpose.
Pan-at-lee he judged must either have already reached safety or met
with death. At least, no longer could he be of service to her, while
below Kor-ul-GRYF, in the soft green valley, lay A-lur, the City of
Light, which, since he had gazed upon it from the shoulder of
Pastar-ul-ved, had been his ambition and his goal.
Whether or not its gleaming walls held the secret of his lost mate he
could not even guess but if she lived at all within the precincts of
Pal-ul-don it must be among the Ho-don, since the hairy black men of
this forgotten world took no prisoners. And so to A-lur he would go,
and how more effectively than upon the back of this grim and terrible
creature that the races of Pal-ul-don held in such awe?
A little mountain stream tumbles down from Kor-ul-GRYF to be joined in
the foothills with that which empties the waters of Kor-ul-lul into the
valley, forming a small river which runs southwest, eventually entering
the valley's largest lake at the City of A-lur, through the center of
which the stream passes. An ancient trail, well marked by countless
generations of naked feet of man and beast, leads down toward A-lur
beside the river, and along this Tarzan guided the GRYF. Once clear of
the forest which ran below the mouth of the gorge, Tarzan caught
occasional glimpses of the city gleaming in the distance far below him.
The country through which he passed was resplendent with the riotous
beauties of tropical verdure. Thick, lush grasses grew waist high upon
either side of the trail and the way was broken now and again by
patches of open park-like forest, or perhaps a little patch of dense
jungle where the trees overarched the way and trailing creepers
depended in graceful loops from branch to branch.
At times the ape-man had difficulty in commanding obedience upon the
part of his unruly beast, but always in the end its fear of the
relatively puny goad urged it on to obedience. Late in the afternoon as
they approached the confluence of the stream they were skirting and
another which appeared to come from the direction of Kor-ul-JA the
ape-man, emerging from one of the jungle patches, discovered a
considerable party of Ho-don upon the opposite bank. Simultaneously
they saw him and the mighty creature he bestrode. For a moment they
stood in wide-eyed amazement and then, in answer to the command of
their leader, they turned and bolted for the shelter of the nearby wood.
The ape-man had but a brief glimpse of them but it was sufficient
indication that there were Waz-don with them, doubtless prisoners taken
in one of the raids upon the Waz-don villages of which Ta-den and Om-at
had told him.
At the sound of their voices the GRYF had bellowed terrifically and
started in pursuit even though a river intervened, but by dint of much
prodding and beating, Tarzan had succeeded in heading the animal back
into the path though thereafter for a long time it was sullen and more
intractable than ever.
As the sun dropped nearer the summit of the western hills Tarzan became
aware that his plan to enter A-lur upon the back of a GRYF was likely
doomed to failure, since the stubbornness of the great beast was
increasing momentarily, doubtless due to the fact that its huge belly
was crying out for food. The ape-man wondered if the Tor-o-dons had any
means of picketing their beasts for the night, but as he did not know
and as no plan suggested itself, he determined that he should have to
trust to the chance of finding it again in the morning.
There now arose in his mind a question as to what would be their
relationship when Tarzan had dismounted. Would it again revert to that
of hunter and quarry or would fear of the goad continue to hold its
supremacy over the natural instinct of the hunting flesh-eater? Tarzan
wondered but as he could not remain upon the GRYF forever, and as he
preferred dismounting and putting the matter to a final test while it
was still light, he decided to act at once.
How to stop the creature he did not know, as up to this time his sole
desire had been to urge it forward. By experimenting with his staff,
however, he found that he could bring it to a halt by reaching forward
and striking the thing upon its beaklike snout. Close by grew a number
of leafy trees, in any one of which the ape-man could have found
sanctuary, but it had occurred to him that should he immediately take
to the trees it might suggest to the mind of the GRYF that the creature
that had been commanding him all day feared him, with the result that
Tarzan would once again be held a prisoner by the triceratops.
And so, when the GRYF halted, Tarzan slid to the ground, struck the
creature a careless blow across the flank as though in dismissal and
walked indifferently away. From the throat of the beast came a low
rumbling sound and without even a glance at Tarzan it turned and
entered the river where it stood drinking for a long time.
Convinced that the GRYF no longer constituted a menace to him the
ape-man, spurred on himself by the gnawing of hunger, unslung his bow
and selecting a handful of arrows set forth cautiously in search of
food, evidence of the near presence of which was being borne up to him
by a breeze from down river.
Ten minutes later he had made his kill, again one of the Pal-ul-don
specimens of antelope, all species of which Tarzan had known since
childhood as Bara, the deer, since in the little primer that had been
the basis of his education the picture of a deer had been the nearest
approach to the likeness of the antelope, from the giant eland to the
smaller bushbuck of the hunting grounds of his youth.
Cutting off a haunch he cached it in a nearby tree, and throwing the
balance of the carcass across his shoulder trotted back toward the spot
at which he had left the GRYF. The great beast was just emerging from
the river when Tarzan, seeing it, issued the weird cry of the
Tor-o-don. The creature looked in the direction of the sound voicing at
the same time the low rumble with which it answered the call of its
master. Twice Tarzan repeated his cry before the beast moved slowly
toward him, and when it had come within a few paces he tossed the
carcass of the deer to it, upon which it fell with greedy jaws.
"If anything will keep it within call," mused the ape-man as he
returned to the tree in which he had cached his own portion of his
kill, "it is the knowledge that I will feed it." But as he finished his
repast and settled himself comfortably for the night high among the
swaying branches of his eyrie he had little confidence that he would
ride into A-lur the following day upon his prehistoric steed.
When Tarzan awoke early the following morning he dropped lightly to the
ground and made his way to the stream. Removing his weapons and loin
cloth he entered the cold waters of the little pool, and after his
refreshing bath returned to the tree to breakfast upon another portion
of Bara, the deer, adding to his repast some fruits and berries which
grew in abundance nearby.
His meal over he sought the ground again and raising his voice in the
weird cry that he had learned, he called aloud on the chance of
attracting the GRYF, but though he waited for some time and continued
calling there was no response, and he was finally forced to the
conclusion that he had seen the last of his great mount of the
preceding day.
And so he set his face toward A-lur, pinning his faith upon his
knowledge of the Ho-don tongue, his great strength and his native wit.
Refreshed by food and rest, the journey toward A-lur, made in the cool
of the morning along the bank of the joyous river, he found delightful
in the extreme. Differentiating him from his fellows of the savage
jungle were many characteristics other than those physical and mental.
Not the least of these were in a measure spiritual, and one that had
doubtless been as strong as another in influencing Tarzan's love of the
jungle had been his appreciation of the beauties of nature. The apes
cared more for a grubworm in a rotten log than for all the majestic
grandeur of the forest giants waving above them. The only beauties that
Numa acknowledged were those of his own person as he paraded them
before the admiring eyes of his mate, but in all the manifestations of
the creative power of nature of which Tarzan was cognizant he
appreciated the beauties.
As Tarzan neared the city his interest became centered upon the
architecture of the outlying buildings which were hewn from the
chalklike limestone of what had once been a group of low hills, similar
to the many grass-covered hillocks that dotted the valley in every
direction. Ta-den's explanation of the Ho-don methods of house
construction accounted for the ofttimes remarkable shapes and
proportions of the buildings which, during the ages that must have been
required for their construction, had been hewn from the limestone
hills, the exteriors chiseled to such architectural forms as appealed
to the eyes of the builders while at the same time following roughly
the original outlines of the hills in an evident desire to economize
both labor and space. The excavation of the apartments within had been
similarly governed by necessity.
As he came nearer Tarzan saw that the waste material from these
building operations had been utilized in the construction of outer
walls about each building or group of buildings resulting from a single
hillock, and later he was to learn that it had also been used for the
filling of inequalities between the hills and the forming of paved
streets throughout the city, the result, possibly, more of the adoption
of an easy method of disposing of the quantities of broken limestone
than by any real necessity for pavements.
There were people moving about within the city and upon the narrow
ledges and terraces that broke the lines of the buildings and which
seemed to be a peculiarity of Ho-don architecture, a concession, no
doubt, to some inherent instinct that might be traced back to their
early cliff-dwelling progenitors.
Tarzan was not surprised that at a short distance he aroused no
suspicion or curiosity in the minds of those who saw him, since, until
closer scrutiny was possible, there was little to distinguish him from
a native either in his general conformation or his color. He had, of
course, formulated a plan of action and, having decided, he did not
hesitate in the carrying out his plan.
With the same assurance that you might venture upon the main street of
a neighboring city Tarzan strode into the Ho-don city of A-lur. The
first person to detect his spuriousness was a little child playing in
the arched gateway of one of the walled buildings. "No tail! no tail!"
it shouted, throwing a stone at him, and then it suddenly grew dumb and
its eyes wide as it sensed that this creature was something other than
a mere Ho-don warrior who had lost his tail. With a gasp the child
turned and fled screaming into the courtyard of its home.
Tarzan continued on his way, fully realizing that the moment was
imminent when the fate of his plan would be decided. Nor had he long to
wait since at the next turning of the winding street he came face to
face with a Ho-don warrior. He saw the sudden surprise in the latter's
eyes, followed instantly by one of suspicion, but before the fellow
could speak Tarzan addressed him.
"I am a stranger from another land," he said; "I would speak with
Ko-tan, your king."
The fellow stepped back, laying his hand upon his knife. "There are no
strangers that come to the gates of A-lur," he said, "other than as
enemies or slaves."
"I come neither as a slave nor an enemy," replied Tarzan. "I come
directly from Jad-ben-Otho. Look!" and he held out his hands that the
Ho-don might see how greatly they differed from his own, and then
wheeled about that the other might see that he was tailless, for it was
upon this fact that his plan had been based, due to his recollection of
the quarrel between Ta-den and Om-at, in which the Waz-don had claimed
that Jad-ben-Otho had a long tail while the Ho-don had been equally
willing to fight for his faith in the taillessness of his god.
The warrior's eyes widened and an expression of awe crept into them,
though it was still tinged with suspicion. "Jad-ben-Otho!" he murmured,
and then, "It is true that you are neither Ho-don nor Waz-don, and it
is also true that Jad-ben-Otho has no tail. Come," he said, "I will
take you to Ko-tan, for this is a matter in which no common warrior may
interfere. Follow me," and still clutching the handle of his knife and
keeping a wary side glance upon the ape-man he led the way through
A-lur.
The city covered a large area. Sometimes there was a considerable
distance between groups of buildings, and again they were quite close
together. There were numerous imposing groups, evidently hewn from the
larger hills, often rising to a height of a hundred feet or more. As
they advanced they met numerous warriors and women, all of whom showed
great curiosity in the stranger, but there was no attempt to menace him
when it was found that he was being conducted to the palace of the king.
They came at last to a great pile that sprawled over a considerable
area, its western front facing upon a large blue lake and evidently
hewn from what had once been a natural cliff. This group of buildings
was surrounded by a wall of considerably greater height than any that
Tarzan had before seen. His guide led him to a gateway before which
waited a dozen or more warriors who had risen to their feet and formed
a barrier across the entrance-way as Tarzan and his party appeared
around the corner of the palace wall, for by this time he had
accumulated such a following of the curious as presented to the guards
the appearance of a formidable mob.
The guide's story told, Tarzan was conducted into the courtyard where
he was held while one of the warriors entered the palace, evidently
with the intention of notifying Ko-tan. Fifteen minutes later a large
warrior appeared, followed by several others, all of whom examined
Tarzan with every sign of curiosity as they approached.
The leader of the party halted before the ape-man. "Who are you?" he
asked, "and what do you want of Ko-tan, the king?"
"I am a friend," replied the ape-man, "and I have come from the country
of Jad-ben-Otho to visit Ko-tan of Pal-ul-don."
The warrior and his followers seemed impressed. Tarzan could see the
latter whispering among themselves.
"How come you here," asked the spokesman, "and what do you want of
Ko-tan?"
Tarzan drew himself to his full height. "Enough!" he cried. "Must the
messenger of Jad-ben-Otho be subjected to the treatment that might be
accorded to a wandering Waz-don? Take me to the king at once lest the
wrath of Jad-ben-Otho fall upon you."
There was some question in the mind of the ape-man as to how far he
might carry his unwarranted show of assurance, and he waited therefore
with amused interest the result of his demand. He did not, however,
have long to wait for almost immediately the attitude of his questioner
changed. He whitened, cast an apprehensive glance toward the eastern
sky and then extended his right palm toward Tarzan, placing his left
over his own heart in the sign of amity that was common among the
peoples of Pal-ul-don.
Tarzan stepped quickly back as though from a profaning hand, a feigned
expression of horror and disgust upon his face.
"Stop!" he cried, "who would dare touch the sacred person of the
messenger of Jad-ben-Otho? Only as a special mark of favor from
Jad-ben-Otho may even Ko-tan himself receive this honor from me.
Hasten! Already now have I waited too long! What manner of reception
the Ho-don of A-lur would extend to the son of my father!"
At first Tarzan had been inclined to adopt the role of Jad-ben-Otho
himself but it occurred to him that it might prove embarrassing and
considerable of a bore to be compelled constantly to portray the
character of a god, but with the growing success of his scheme it had
suddenly occurred to him that the authority of the son of Jad-ben-Otho
would be far greater than that of an ordinary messenger of a god, while
at the same time giving him some leeway in the matter of his acts and
demeanor, the ape-man reasoning that a young god would not be held so
strictly accountable in the matter of his dignity and bearing as an
older and greater god.
This time the effect of his words was immediately and painfully
noticeable upon all those near him. With one accord they shrank back,
the spokesman almost collapsing in evident terror. His apologies, when
finally the paralysis of his fear would permit him to voice them, were
so abject that the ape-man could scarce repress a smile of amused
contempt.
"Have mercy, O Dor-ul-Otho," he pleaded, "on poor old Dak-lot. Precede
me and I will show you to where Ko-tan, the king, awaits you,
trembling. Aside, snakes and vermin," he cried pushing his warriors to
right and left for the purpose of forming an avenue for Tarzan.
"Come!" cried the ape-man peremptorily, "lead the way, and let these
others follow."
The now thoroughly frightened Dak-lot did as he was bid, and Tarzan of
the Apes was ushered into the palace of Kotan, King of Pal-ul-don.
9
Blood-Stained Altars
The entrance through which he caught his first glimpse of the interior
was rather beautifully carved in geometric designs, and within the
walls were similarly treated, though as he proceeded from one apartment
to another he found also the figures of animals, birds, and men taking
their places among the more formal figures of the mural decorator's
art. Stone vessels were much in evidence as well as ornaments of gold
and the skins of many animals, but nowhere did he see an indication of
any woven fabric, indicating that in that respect at least the Ho-don
were still low in the scale of evolution, and yet the proportions and
symmetry of the corridors and apartments bespoke a degree of
civilization.
The way led through several apartments and long corridors, up at least
three flights of stone stairs and finally out upon a ledge upon the
western side of the building overlooking the blue lake. Along this
ledge, or arcade, his guide led him for a hundred yards, to stop at
last before a wide entrance-way leading into another apartment of the
palace.
Here Tarzan beheld a considerable concourse of warriors in an enormous
apartment, the domed ceiling of which was fully fifty feet above the
floor. Almost filling the chamber was a great pyramid ascending in
broad steps well up under the dome in which were a number of round
apertures which let in the light. The steps of the pyramid were
occupied by warriors to the very pinnacle, upon which sat a large,
imposing figure of a man whose golden trappings shone brightly in the
light of the afternoon sun, a shaft of which poured through one of the
tiny apertures of the dome.
"Ko-tan!" cried Dak-lot, addressing the resplendent figure at the
pinnacle of the pyramid. "Ko-tan and warriors of Pal-ul-don! Behold the
honor that Jad-ben-Otho has done you in sending as his messenger his
own son," and Dak-lot, stepping aside, indicated Tarzan with a dramatic
sweep of his hand.
Ko-tan rose to his feet and every warrior within sight craned his neck
to have a better view of the newcomer. Those upon the opposite side of
the pyramid crowded to the front as the words of the old warrior
reached them. Skeptical were the expressions on most of the faces; but
theirs was a skepticism marked with caution. No matter which way
fortune jumped they wished to be upon the right side of the fence. For
a moment all eyes were centered upon Tarzan and then gradually they
drifted to Ko-tan, for from his attitude would they receive the cue
that would determine theirs. But Ko-tan was evidently in the same
quandary as they--the very attitude of his body indicated it--it was
one of indecision and of doubt.
The ape-man stood erect, his arms folded upon his broad breast, an
expression of haughty disdain upon his handsome face; but to Dak-lot
there seemed to be indications also of growing anger. The situation was
becoming strained. Dak-lot fidgeted, casting apprehensive glances at
Tarzan and appealing ones at Ko-tan. The silence of the tomb wrapped
the great chamber of the throneroom of Pal-ul-don.
At last Ko-tan spoke. "Who says that he is Dor-ul-Otho?" he asked,
casting a terrible look at Dak-lot.
"He does!" almost shouted that terrified noble.
"And so it must be true?" queried Ko-tan.
Could it be that there was a trace of irony in the chief's tone? Otho
forbid! Dak-lot cast a side glance at Tarzan--a glance that he intended
should carry the assurance of his own faith; but that succeeded only in
impressing the ape-man with the other's pitiable terror.
"O Ko-tan!" pleaded Dak-lot, "your own eyes must convince you that
indeed he is the son of Otho. Behold his godlike figure, his hands, and
his feet, that are not as ours, and that he is entirely tailless as is
his mighty father."
Ko-tan appeared to be perceiving these facts for the first time and
there was an indication that his skepticism was faltering. At that
moment a young warrior who had pushed his way forward from the opposite
side of the pyramid to where he could obtain a good look at Tarzan
raised his voice.
"Ko-tan," he cried, "it must be even as Dak-lot says, for I am sure now
that I have seen Dor-ul-Otho before. Yesterday as we were returning
with the Kor-ul-lul prisoners we beheld him seated upon the back of a
great GRYF. We hid in the woods before he came too near, but I saw
enough to make sure that he who rode upon the great beast was none
other than the messenger who stands here now."
This evidence seemed to be quite enough to convince the majority of the
warriors that they indeed stood in the presence of deity--their faces
showed it only too plainly, and a sudden modesty that caused them to
shrink behind their neighbors. As their neighbors were attempting to do
the same thing, the result was a sudden melting away of those who stood
nearest the ape-man, until the steps of the pyramid directly before him
lay vacant to the very apex and to Ko-tan. The latter, possibly
influenced as much by the fearful attitude of his followers as by the
evidence adduced, now altered his tone and his manner in such a degree
as might comport with the requirements if the stranger was indeed the
Dor-ul-Otho while leaving his dignity a loophole of escape should it
appear that he had entertained an impostor.
"If indeed you are the Dor-ul-Otho," he said, addressing Tarzan, "you
will know that our doubts were but natural since we have received no
sign from Jad-ben-Otho that he intended honoring us so greatly, nor how
could we know, even, that the Great God had a son? If you are he, all
Pal-ul-don rejoices to honor you; if you are not he, swift and terrible
shall be the punishment of your temerity. I, Ko-tan, King of
Pal-ul-don, have spoken."
"And spoken well, as a king should speak," said Tarzan, breaking his
long silence, "who fears and honors the god of his people. It is well
that you insist that I indeed be the Dor-ul-Otho before you accord me
the homage that is my due. Jad-ben-Otho charged me specially to
ascertain if you were fit to rule his people. My first experience of
you indicates that Jad-ben-Otho chose well when he breathed the spirit
of a king into the babe at your mother's breast."
The effect of this statement, made so casually, was marked in the
expressions and excited whispers of the now awe-struck assemblage. At
last they knew how kings were made! It was decided by Jad-ben-Otho
while the candidate was still a suckling babe! Wonderful! A miracle!
and this divine creature in whose presence they stood knew all about
it. Doubtless he even discussed such matters with their god daily. If
there had been an atheist among them before, or an agnostic, there was
none now, for had they not looked with their own eyes upon the son of
god?
"It is well then," continued the ape-man, "that you should assure
yourself that I am no impostor. Come closer that you may see that I am
not as are men. Furthermore it is not meet that you stand upon a higher
level than the son of your god." There was a sudden scramble to reach
the floor of the throne-room, nor was Ko-tan far behind his warriors,
though he managed to maintain a certain majestic dignity as he
descended the broad stairs that countless naked feet had polished to a
gleaming smoothness through the ages. "And now," said Tarzan as the
king stood before him, "you can have no doubt that I am not of the same
race as you. Your priests have told you that Jad-ben-Otho is tailless.
Tailless, therefore, must be the race of gods that spring from his
loins. But enough of such proofs as these! You know the power of
Jad-ben-Otho; how his lightnings gleaming out of the sky carry death as
he wills it; how the rains come at his bidding, and the fruits and the
berries and the grains, the grasses, the trees and the flowers spring
to life at his divine direction; you have witnessed birth and death,
and those who honor their god honor him because he controls these
things. How would it fare then with an impostor who claimed to be the
son of this all-powerful god? This then is all the proof that you
require, for as he would strike you down should you deny me, so would
he strike down one who wrongfully claimed kinship with him."
This line of argument being unanswerable must needs be convincing.
There could be no questioning of this creature's statements without the
tacit admission of lack of faith in the omnipotence of Jad-ben-Otho.
Ko-tan was satisfied that he was entertaining deity, but as to just
what form his entertainment should take he was rather at a loss to
know. His conception of god had been rather a vague and hazy affair,
though in common with all primitive people his god was a personal one
as were his devils and demons. The pleasures of Jad-ben-Otho he had
assumed to be the excesses which he himself enjoyed, but devoid of any
unpleasant reaction. It therefore occurred to him that the Dor-ul-Otho
would be greatly entertained by eating--eating large quantities of
everything that Ko-tan liked best and that he had found most injurious;
and there was also a drink that the women of the Ho-don made by
allowing corn to soak in the juices of succulent fruits, to which they
had added certain other ingredients best known to themselves. Ko-tan
knew by experience that a single draught of this potent liquor would
bring happiness and surcease from worry, while several would cause even
a king to do things and enjoy things that he would never even think of
doing or enjoying while not under the magical influence of the potion,
but unfortunately the next morning brought suffering in direct ratio to
the joy of the preceding day. A god, Ko-tan reasoned, could experience
all the pleasure without the headache, but for the immediate present he
must think of the necessary dignities and honors to be accorded his
immortal guest.
No foot other than a king's had touched the surface of the apex of the
pyramid in the throneroom at A-lur during all the forgotten ages
through which the kings of Pal-ul-don had ruled from its high eminence.
So what higher honor could Ko-tan offer than to give place beside him
to the Dor-ul-Otho? And so he invited Tarzan to ascend the pyramid and
take his place upon the stone bench that topped it. As they reached the
step below the sacred pinnacle Ko-tan continued as though to mount to
his throne, but Tarzan laid a detaining hand upon his arm.
"None may sit upon a level with the gods," he admonished, stepping
confidently up and seating himself upon the throne. The abashed Ko-tan
showed his embarrassment, an embarrassment he feared to voice lest he
incur the wrath of the king of kings.
"But," added Tarzan, "a god may honor his faithful servant by inviting
him to a place at his side. Come, Ko-tan; thus would I honor you in the
name of Jad-ben-Otho."
The ape-man's policy had for its basis an attempt not only to arouse
the fearful respect of Ko-tan but to do it without making of him an
enemy at heart, for he did not know how strong a hold the religion of
the Ho-don had upon them, for since the time that he had prevented
Ta-den and Om-at from quarreling over a religious difference the
subject had been utterly taboo among them. He was therefore quick to
note the evident though wordless resentment of Ko-tan at the suggestion
that he entirely relinquish his throne to his guest. On the whole,
however, the effect had been satisfactory as he could see from the
renewed evidence of awe upon the faces of the warriors.
At Tarzan's direction the business of the court continued where it had
been interrupted by his advent. It consisted principally in the
settling of disputes between warriors. There was present one who stood
upon the step just below the throne and which Tarzan was to learn was
the place reserved for the higher chiefs of the allied tribes which
made up Ko-tan's kingdom. The one who attracted Tarzan's attention was
a stalwart warrior of powerful physique and massive, lion-like
features. He was addressing Ko-tan on a question that is as old as
government and that will continue in unabated importance until man
ceases to exist. It had to do with a boundary dispute with one of his
neighbors.
The matter itself held little or no interest for Tarzan, but he was
impressed by the appearance of the speaker and when Ko-tan addressed
him as Ja-don the ape-man's interest was permanently crystallized, for
Ja-don was the father of Ta-den. That the knowledge would benefit him
in any way seemed rather a remote possibility since he could not reveal
to Ja-don his friendly relations with his son without admitting the
falsity of his claims to godship.
When the affairs of the audience were concluded Ko-tan suggested that
the son of Jad-ben-Otho might wish to visit the temple in which were
performed the religious rites coincident to the worship of the Great
God. And so the ape-man was conducted by the king himself, followed by
the warriors of his court, through the corridors of the palace toward
the northern end of the group of buildings within the royal enclosure.
The temple itself was really a part of the palace and similar in
architecture. There were several ceremonial places of varying sizes,
the purposes of which Tarzan could only conjecture. Each had an altar
in the west end and another in the east and were oval in shape, their
longest diameter lying due east and west. Each was excavated from the
summit of a small hillock and all were without roofs. The western
altars invariably were a single block of stone the top of which was
hollowed into an oblong basin. Those at the eastern ends were similar
blocks of stone with flat tops and these latter, unlike those at the
opposite ends of the ovals were invariably stained or painted a reddish
brown, nor did Tarzan need to examine them closely to be assured of
what his keen nostrils already had told him--that the brown stains were
dried and drying human blood.
Below these temple courts were corridors and apartments reaching far
into the bowels of the hills, dim, gloomy passages that Tarzan glimpsed
as he was led from place to place on his tour of inspection of the
temple. A messenger had been dispatched by Ko-tan to announce the
coming visit of the son of Jad-ben-Otho with the result that they were
accompanied through the temple by a considerable procession of priests
whose distinguishing mark of profession seemed to consist in grotesque
headdresses; sometimes hideous faces carved from wood and entirely
concealing the countenances of their wearers, or again, the head of a
wild beast cunningly fitted over the head of a man. The high priest
alone wore no such head-dress. He was an old man with close-set,
cunning eyes and a cruel, thin-lipped mouth.
At first sight of him Tarzan realized that here lay the greatest danger
to his ruse, for he saw at a glance that the man was antagonistic
toward him and his pretensions, and he knew too that doubtless of all
the people of Pal-ul-don the high priest was most likely to harbor the
truest estimate of Jad-ben-Otho, and, therefore, would look with
suspicion on one who claimed to be the son of a fabulous god.
No matter what suspicion lurked within his crafty mind, Lu-don, the
high priest of A-lur, did not openly question Tarzan's right to the
title of Dor-ul-Otho, and it may be that he was restrained by the same
doubts which had originally restrained Ko-tan and his warriors--the
doubt that is at the bottom of the minds of all blasphemers even and
which is based upon the fear that after all there may be a god. So, for
the time being at least Lu-don played safe. Yet Tarzan knew as well as
though the man had spoken aloud his inmost thoughts that it was in the
heart of the high priest to tear the veil from his imposture.
At the entrance to the temple Ko-tan had relinquished the guidance of
the guest to Lu-don and now the latter led Tarzan through those
portions of the temple that he wished him to see. He showed him the
great room where the votive offerings were kept, gifts from the
barbaric chiefs of Pal-ul-don and from their followers. These things
ranged in value from presents of dried fruits to massive vessels of
beaten gold, so that in the great main storeroom and its connecting
chambers and corridors was an accumulation of wealth that amazed even
the eyes of the owner of the secret of the treasure vaults of Opar.
Moving to and fro throughout the temple were sleek black Waz-don
slaves, fruits of the Ho-don raids upon the villages of their less
civilized neighbors. As they passed the barred entrance to a dim
corridor, Tarzan saw within a great company of pithecanthropi of all
ages and of both sexes, Ho-don as well as Waz-don, the majority of them
squatted upon the stone floor in attitudes of utter dejection while
some paced back and forth, their features stamped with the despair of
utter hopelessness.
"And who are these who lie here thus unhappily?" he asked of Lu-don. It
was the first question that he had put to the high priest since
entering the temple, and instantly he regretted that he had asked it,
for Lu-don turned upon him a face upon which the expression of
suspicion was but thinly veiled.
"Who should know better than the son of Jad-ben-Otho?" he retorted.
"The questions of Dor-ul-Otho are not with impunity answered with other
questions," said the ape-man quietly, "and it may interest Lu-don, the
high priest, to know that the blood of a false priest upon the altar of
his temple is not displeasing in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho."
Lu-don paled as he answered Tarzan's question. "They are the offerings
whose blood must refresh the eastern altars as the sun returns to your
father at the day's end."
"And who told you," asked Tarzan, "that Jad-ben-Otho was pleased that
his people were slain upon his altars? What if you were mistaken?"
"Then countless thousands have died in vain," replied Lu-don.
Ko-tan and the surrounding warriors and priests were listening
attentively to the dialogue. Some of the poor victims behind the barred
gateway had heard and rising, pressed close to the barrier through
which one was conducted just before sunset each day, never to return.
"Liberate them!" cried Tarzan with a wave of his hand toward the
imprisoned victims of a cruel superstition, "for I can tell you in the
name of Jad-ben-Otho that you are mistaken."
10
The Forbidden Garden
Lu-don paled. "It is sacrilege," he cried; "for countless ages have the
priests of the Great God offered each night a life to the spirit of
Jad-ben-Otho as it returned below the western horizon to its master,
and never has the Great God given sign that he was displeased."
"Stop!" commanded Tarzan. "It is the blindness of the priesthood that
has failed to read the messages of their god. Your warriors die beneath
the knives and clubs of the Wazdon; your hunters are taken by JA and
JATO; no day goes by but witnesses the deaths of few or many in the
villages of the Ho-don, and one death each day of those that die are
the toll which Jad-ben-Otho has exacted for the lives you take upon the
eastern altar. What greater sign of his displeasure could you require,
O stupid priest?"
Lu-don was silent. There was raging within him a great conflict between
his fear that this indeed might be the son of god and his hope that it
was not, but at last his fear won and he bowed his head. "The son of
Jad-ben-Otho has spoken," he said, and turning to one of the lesser
priests: "Remove the bars and return these people from whence they
came."
He thus addressed did as he was bid and as the bars came down the
prisoners, now all fully aware of the miracle that had saved them,
crowded forward and throwing themselves upon their knees before Tarzan
raised their voices in thanksgiving.
Ko-tan was almost as staggered as the high priest by this ruthless
overturning of an age-old religious rite. "But what," he cried, "may we
do that will be pleasing in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho?" turning a look
of puzzled apprehension toward the ape-man.
"If you seek to please your god," he replied, "place upon your altars
such gifts of food and apparel as are most welcome in the city of your
people. These things will Jad-ben-Otho bless, when you may distribute
them among those of the city who need them most. With such things are
your storerooms filled as I have seen with mine own eyes, and other
gifts will be brought when the priests tell the people that in this way
they find favor before their god," and Tarzan turned and signified that
he would leave the temple.
As they were leaving the precincts devoted to the worship of their
deity, the ape-man noticed a small but rather ornate building that
stood entirely detached from the others as though it had been cut from
a little pinnacle of limestone which had stood out from its fellows. As
his interested glance passed over it he noticed that its door and
windows were barred.
"To what purpose is that building dedicated?" he asked of Lu-don. "Who
do you keep imprisoned there?"
"It is nothing," replied the high priest nervously, "there is no one
there. The place is vacant. Once it was used but not now for many
years," and he moved on toward the gateway which led back into the
palace. Here he and the priests halted while Tarzan with Ko-tan and his
warriors passed out from the sacred precincts of the temple grounds.
The one question which Tarzan would have asked he had feared to ask for
he knew that in the hearts of many lay a suspicion as to his
genuineness, but he determined that before he slept he would put the
question to Ko-tan, either directly or indirectly--as to whether there
was, or had been recently within the city of A-lur a female of the same
race as his.
As their evening meal was being served to them in the banquet hall of
Ko-tan's palace by a part of the army of black slaves upon whose
shoulders fell the burden of all the heavy and menial tasks of the
city, Tarzan noticed that there came to the eyes of one of the slaves
what was apparently an expression of startled recognition, as he looked
upon the ape-man for the first time in the banquet hall of Ko-tan. And
again later he saw the fellow whisper to another slave and nod his head
in his direction. The ape-man did not recall ever having seen this
Waz-don before and he was at a loss to account for an explanation of
the fellow's interest in him, and presently the incident was all but
forgotten.
Ko-tan was surprised and inwardly disgusted to discover that his godly
guest had no desire to gorge himself upon rich foods and that he would
not even so much as taste the villainous brew of the Ho-don. To Tarzan
the banquet was a dismal and tiresome affair, since so great was the
interest of the guests in gorging themselves with food and drink that
they had no time for conversation, the only vocal sounds being confined
to a continuous grunting which, together with their table manners
reminded Tarzan of a visit he had once made to the famous Berkshire
herd of His Grace, the Duke of Westminster at Woodhouse, Chester.
One by one the diners succumbed to the stupefying effects of the liquor
with the result that the grunting gave place to snores, so presently
Tarzan and the slaves were the only conscious creatures in the banquet
hall.
Rising, the ape-man turned to a tall black who stood behind him. "I
would sleep," he said, "show me to my apartment."
As the fellow conducted him from the chamber the slave who had shown
surprise earlier in the evening at sight of him, spoke again at length
to one of his fellows. The latter cast a half-frightened look in the
direction of the departing ape-man. "If you are right," he said, "they
should reward us with our liberty, but if you are wrong, O
Jad-ben-Otho, what will be our fate?"
"But I am not wrong!" cried the other.
"Then there is but one to tell this to, for I have heard that he looked
sour when this Dor-ul-Otho was brought to the temple and that while the
so-called son of Jad-ben-Otho was there he gave this one every cause to
fear and hate him. I mean Lu-don, the high priest."
"You know him?" asked the other slave.
"I have worked in the temple," replied his companion.
"Then go to him at once and tell him, but be sure to exact the promise
of our freedom for the proof."
And so a black Waz-don came to the temple gate and asked to see Lu-don,
the high priest, on a matter of great importance, and though the hour
was late Lu-don saw him, and when he had heard his story he promised
him and his friend not only their freedom but many gifts if they could
prove the correctness of their claims.
And as the slave talked with the high priest in the temple at A-lur the
figure of a man groped its way around the shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved and
the moonlight glistened from the shiny barrel of an Enfield that was
strapped to the naked back, and brass cartridges shed tiny rays of
reflected light from their polished cases where they hung in the
bandoliers across the broad brown shoulders and the lean waist.
Tarzan's guide conducted him to a chamber overlooking the blue lake
where he found a bed similar to that which he had seen in the villages
of the Waz-don, merely a raised dais of stone upon which was piled
great quantities of furry pelts. And so he lay down to sleep, the
question that he most wished to put still unasked and unanswered.
With the coming of a new day he was awake and wandering about the
palace and the palace grounds before there was sign of any of the
inmates of the palace other than slaves, or at least he saw no others
at first, though presently he stumbled upon an enclosure which lay
almost within the center of the palace grounds surrounded by a wall
that piqued the ape-man's curiosity, since he had determined to
investigate as fully as possible every part of the palace and its
environs.
This place, whatever it might be, was apparently without doors or
windows but that it was at least partially roofless was evidenced by
the sight of the waving branches of a tree which spread above the top
of the wall near him. Finding no other method of access, the ape-man
uncoiled his rope and throwing it over the branch of the tree where it
projected beyond the wall, was soon climbing with the ease of a monkey
to the summit.
There he found that the wall surrounded an enclosed garden in which
grew trees and shrubs and flowers in riotous profusion. Without
waiting to ascertain whether the garden was empty or contained Ho-don,
Waz-don, or wild beasts, Tarzan dropped lightly to the sward on the
inside and without further loss of time commenced a systematic
investigation of the enclosure.
His curiosity was aroused by the very evident fact that the place was
not for general use, even by those who had free access to other parts
of the palace grounds and so there was added to its natural beauties an
absence of mortals which rendered its exploration all the more alluring
to Tarzan since it suggested that in such a place might he hope to come
upon the object of his long and difficult search.
In the garden were tiny artificial streams and little pools of water,
flanked by flowering bushes, as though it all had been designed by the
cunning hand of some master gardener, so faithfully did it carry out
the beauties and contours of nature upon a miniature scale.
The interior surface of the wall was fashioned to represent the white
cliffs of Pal-ul-don, broken occasionally by small replicas of the
verdure-filled gorges of the original.
Filled with admiration and thoroughly enjoying each new surprise which
the scene offered, Tarzan moved slowly around the garden, and as always
he moved silently. Passing through a miniature forest he came presently
upon a tiny area of flowerstudded sward and at the same time beheld
before him the first Ho-don female he had seen since entering the
palace. A young and beautiful woman stood in the center of the little
open space, stroking the head of a bird which she held against her
golden breastplate with one hand. Her profile was presented to the
ape-man and he saw that by the standards of any land she would have
been accounted more than lovely.
Seated in the grass at her feet, with her back toward him, was a female
Waz-don slave. Seeing that she he sought was not there and apprehensive
that an alarm be raised were he discovered by the two women, Tarzan
moved back to hide himself in the foliage, but before he had succeeded
the Ho-don girl turned quickly toward him as though apprised of his
presence by that unnamed sense, the manifestations of which are more or
less familiar to us all.
At sight of him her eyes registered only her surprise though there was
no expression of terror reflected in them, nor did she scream or even
raise her well-modulated voice as she addressed him.
"Who are you," she asked, "who enters thus boldly the Forbidden Garden?"
At sound of her mistress' voice the slave maiden turned quickly, rising
to her feet. "Tarzan-jad-guru!" she exclaimed in tones of mingled
astonishment and relief.
"You know him?" cried her mistress turning toward the slave and
affording Tarzan an opportunity to raise a cautioning finger to his
lips lest Pan-at-lee further betray him, for it was Pan-at-lee indeed
who stood before him, no less a source of surprise to him than had his
presence been to her.
Thus questioned by her mistress and simultaneously admonished to
silence by Tarzan, Pan-at-lee was momentarily silenced and then
haltingly she groped for a way to extricate herself from her dilemma.
"I thought--" she faltered, "but no, I am mistaken--I thought that he
was one whom I had seen before near the Kor-ul-GRYF."
The Ho-don looked first at one and then at the other an expression of
doubt and questioning in her eyes. "But you have not answered me," she
continued presently; "who are you?"
"You have not heard then," asked Tarzan, "of the visitor who arrived at
your king's court yesterday?"
"You mean," she exclaimed, "that you are the Dor-ul-Otho?" And now the
erstwhile doubting eyes reflected naught but awe.
"I am he," replied Tarzan; "and you?"
"I am O-lo-a, daughter of Ko-tan, the king," she replied.
So this was O-lo-a, for love of whom Ta-den had chosen exile rather
than priesthood. Tarzan had approached more closely the dainty
barbarian princess. "Daughter of Ko-tan," he said, "Jad-ben-Otho is
pleased with you and as a mark of his favor he has preserved for you
through many dangers him whom you love."
"I do not understand," replied the girl but the flush that mounted to
her cheek belied her words. "Bu-lat is a guest in the palace of Ko-tan,
my father. I do not know that he has faced any danger. It is to Bu-lat
that I am betrothed."
"But it is not Bu-lat whom you love," said Tarzan.
Again the flush and the girl half turned her face away. "Have I then
displeased the Great God?" she asked.
"No," replied Tarzan; "as I told you he is well satisfied and for your
sake he has saved Ta-den for you."
"Jad-ben-Otho knows all," whispered the girl, "and his son shares his
great knowledge."
"No," Tarzan hastened to correct her lest a reputation for omniscience
might prove embarrassing. "I know only what Jad-ben-Otho wishes me to
know."
"But tell me," she said, "I shall be reunited with Ta-den? Surely the
son of god can read the future."
The ape-man was glad that he had left himself an avenue of escape. "I
know nothing of the future," he replied, "other than what Jad-ben-Otho
tells me. But I think you need have no fear for the future if you
remain faithful to Ta-den and Ta-den's friends."
"You have seen him?" asked O-lo-a. "Tell me, where is he?"
"Yes," replied Tarzan, "I have seen him. He was with Om-at, the gund of
Kor-ul-JA."
"A prisoner of the Waz-don?" interrupted the girl.
"Not a prisoner but an honored guest," replied the ape-man.
"Wait," he exclaimed, raising his face toward the heavens; "do not
speak. I am receiving a message from Jad-ben-Otho, my father."
The two women dropped to their knees, covering their faces with their
hands, stricken with awe at the thought of the awful nearness of the
Great God. Presently Tarzan touched O-lo-a on the shoulder.
"Rise," he said. "Jad-ben-Otho has spoken. He has told me that this
slave girl is from the tribe of Kor-ul-JA, where Ta-den is, and that
she is betrothed to Om-at, their chief. Her name is Pan-at-lee."
O-lo-a turned questioningly toward Pan-at-lee. The latter nodded, her
simple mind unable to determine whether or not she and her mistress
were the victims of a colossal hoax. "It is even as he says," she
whispered.
O-lo-a fell upon her knees and touched her forehead to Tarzan's feet.
"Great is the honor that Jad-ben-Otho has done his poor servant," she
cried. "Carry to him my poor thanks for the happiness that he has
brought to O-lo-a."
"It would please my father," said Tarzan, "if you were to cause
Pan-at-lee to be returned in safety to the village of her people."
"What cares Jad-ben-Otho for such as she?" asked O-lo-a, a slight trace
of hauteur in her tone.
"There is but one god," replied Tarzan, "and he is the god of the
Waz-don as well as of the Ho-don; of the birds and the beasts and the
flowers and of everything that grows upon the earth or beneath the
waters. If Pan-at-lee does right she is greater in the eyes of
Jad-ben-Otho than would be the daughter of Ko-tan should she do wrong."
It was evident that O-lo-a did not quite understand this interpretation
of divine favor, so contrary was it to the teachings of the priesthood
of her people. In one respect only did Tarzan's teachings coincide with
her belief--that there was but one god. For the rest she had always
been taught that he was solely the god of the Ho-don in every sense,
other than that other creatures were created by Jad-ben-Otho to serve
some useful purpose for the benefit of the Ho-don race. And now to be
told by the son of god that she stood no higher in divine esteem than
the black handmaiden at her side was indeed a shock to her pride, her
vanity, and her faith. But who could question the word of Dor-ul-Otho,
especially when she had with her own eyes seen him in actual communion
with god in heaven?
"The will of Jad-ben-Otho be done," said O-lo-a meekly, "if it lies
within my power. But it would be best, O Dor-ul-Otho, to communicate
your father's wish directly to the king."
"Then keep her with you," said Tarzan, "and see that no harm befalls
her."
O-lo-a looked ruefully at Pan-at-lee. "She was brought to me but
yesterday," she said, "and never have I had slave woman who pleased me
better. I shall hate to part with her."
"But there are others," said Tarzan.
"Yes," replied O-lo-a, "there are others, but there is only one
Pan-at-lee."
"Many slaves are brought to the city?" asked Tarzan.
"Yes," she replied.
"And many strangers come from other lands?" he asked.
She shook her head negatively. "Only the Ho-don from the other side of
the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho," she replied, "and they are not strangers."
"Am I then the first stranger to enter the gates of A-lur?" he asked.
"Can it be," she parried, "that the son of Jad-ben-Otho need question a
poor ignorant mortal like O-lo-a?"
"As I told you before," replied Tarzan, "Jad-ben-Otho alone is
all-knowing."
"Then if he wished you to know this thing," retorted O-lo-a quickly,
"you would know it."
Inwardly the ape-man smiled that this little heathen's astuteness
should beat him at his own game, yet in a measure her evasion of the
question might be an answer to it. "There have been other strangers
here then recently?" he persisted.
"I cannot tell you what I do not know," she replied. "Always is the
palace of Ko-tan filled with rumors, but how much fact and how much
fancy how may a woman of the palace know?"
"There has been such a rumor then?" he asked.
"It was only rumor that reached the Forbidden Garden," she replied.
"It described, perhaps, a woman of another race?" As he put the
question and awaited her answer he thought that his heart ceased to
beat, so grave to him was the issue at stake.
The girl hesitated before replying, and then. "No," she said, "I cannot
speak of this thing, for if it be of sufficient importance to elicit
the interest of the gods then indeed would I be subject to the wrath of
my father should I discuss it."
"In the name of Jad-ben-Otho I command you to speak," said Tarzan. "In
the name of Jad-ben-Otho in whose hands lies the fate of Ta-den!"
The girl paled. "Have mercy!" she cried, "and for the sake of Ta-den I
will tell you all that I know."
"Tell what?" demanded a stern voice from the shrubbery behind them. The
three turned to see the figure of Ko-tan emerging from the foliage. An
angry scowl distorted his kingly features but at sight of Tarzan it
gave place to an expression of surprise not unmixed with fear.
"Dor-ul-Otho!" he exclaimed, "I did not know that it was you," and
then, raising his head and squaring his shoulders he said, "but there
are places where even the son of the Great God may not walk and this,
the Forbidden Garden of Ko-tan, is one."
It was a challenge but despite the king's bold front there was a note
of apology in it, indicating that in his superstitious mind there
flourished the inherent fear of man for his Maker. "Come, Dor-ul-Otho,"
he continued, "I do not know all this foolish child has said to you but
whatever you would know Ko-tan, the king, will tell you. O-lo-a, go to
your quarters immediately," and he pointed with stern finger toward the
opposite end of the garden.
The princess, followed by Pan-at-lee, turned at once and left them.
"We will go this way," said Ko-tan and preceding, led Tarzan in another
direction. Close to that part of the wall which they approached Tarzan
perceived a grotto in the miniature cliff into the interior of which
Ko-tan led him, and down a rocky stairway to a gloomy corridor the
opposite end of which opened into the palace proper. Two armed warriors
stood at this entrance to the Forbidden Garden, evidencing how
jealously were the sacred precincts of the place guarded.
In silence Ko-tan led the way back to his own quarters in the palace. A
large chamber just outside the room toward which Ko-tan was leading his
guest was filled with chiefs and warriors awaiting the pleasure of
their ruler. As the two entered, an aisle was formed for them the
length of the chamber, down which they passed in silence.
Close to the farther door and half hidden by the warriors who stood
before him was Lu-don, the high priest. Tarzan glimpsed him but briefly
but in that short period he was aware of a cunning and malevolent
expression upon the cruel countenance that he was subconsciously aware
boded him no good, and then with Ko-tan he passed into the adjoining
room and the hangings dropped.
At the same moment the hideous headdress of an under priest appeared in
the entrance of the outer chamber. Its owner, pausing for a moment,
glanced quickly around the interior and then having located him whom he
sought moved rapidly in the direction of Lu-don. There was a whispered
conversation which was terminated by the high priest.
"Return immediately to the quarters of the princess," he said, "and see
that the slave is sent to me at the temple at once." The under priest
turned and departed upon his mission while Lu-don also left the
apartment and directed his footsteps toward the sacred enclosure over
which he ruled.
A half-hour later a warrior was ushered into the presence of Ko-tan.
"Lu-don, the high priest, desires the presence of Ko-tan, the king, in
the temple," he announced, "and it is his wish that he come alone."
Ko-tan nodded to indicate that he accepted the command which even the
king must obey. "I will return presently, Dor-ul-Otho," he said to
Tarzan, "and in the meantime my warriors and my slaves are yours to
command."
11
The Sentence of Death
But it was an hour before the king re-entered the apartment and in the
meantime the ape-man had occupied himself in examining the carvings
upon the walls and the numerous specimens of the handicraft of
Pal-ul-donian artisans which combined to impart an atmosphere of
richness and luxury to the apartment.
The limestone of the country, close-grained and of marble whiteness yet
worked with comparative ease with crude implements, had been wrought by
cunning craftsmen into bowls and urns and vases of considerable grace
and beauty. Into the carved designs of many of these virgin gold had
been hammered, presenting the effect of a rich and magnificent
cloisonne. A barbarian himself the art of barbarians had always
appealed to the ape-man to whom they represented a natural expression
of man's love of the beautiful to even a greater extent than the
studied and artificial efforts of civilization. Here was the real art
of old masters, the other the cheap imitation of the chromo.
It was while he was thus pleasurably engaged that Ko-tan returned. As
Tarzan, attracted by the movement of the hangings through which the
king entered, turned and faced him he was almost shocked by the
remarkable alteration of the king's appearance. His face was livid; his
hands trembled as with palsy, and his eyes were wide as with fright.
His appearance was one apparently of a combination of consuming anger
and withering fear. Tarzan looked at him questioningly.
"You have had bad news, Ko-tan?" he asked.
The king mumbled an unintelligible reply. Behind there thronged into
the apartment so great a number of warriors that they choked the
entrance-way. The king looked apprehensively to right and left. He cast
terrified glances at the ape-man and then raising his face and turning
his eyes upward he cried: "Jad-ben-Otho be my witness that I do not
this thing of my own accord." There was a moment's silence which was
again broken by Ko-tan. "Seize him," he cried to the warriors about
him, "for Lu-don, the high priest, swears that he is an impostor."
To have offered armed resistance to this great concourse of warriors in
the very heart of the palace of their king would have been worse than
fatal. Already Tarzan had come far by his wits and now that within a
few hours he had had his hopes and his suspicions partially verified by
the vague admissions of O-lo-a he was impressed with the necessity of
inviting no mortal risk that he could avoid.
"Stop!" he cried, raising his palm against them. "What is the meaning
of this?"
"Lu-don claims he has proof that you are not the son of Jad-ben-Otho,"
replied Ko-tan. "He demands that you be brought to the throneroom to
face your accusers. If you are what you claim to be none knows better
than you that you need have no fear in acquiescing to his demands, but
remember always that in such matters the high priest commands the king
and that I am only the bearer of these commands, not their author."
Tarzan saw that Ko-tan was not entirely convinced of his duplicity as
was evidenced by his palpable design to play safe.
"Let not your warriors seize me," he said to Ko-tan, "lest
Jad-ben-Otho, mistaking their intention, strike them dead." The effect
of his words was immediate upon the men in the front rank of those who
faced him, each seeming suddenly to acquire a new modesty that
compelled him to self-effacement behind those directly in his rear--a
modesty that became rapidly contagious.
The ape-man smiled. "Fear not," he said, "I will go willingly to the
audience chamber to face the blasphemers who accuse me."
Arrived at the great throneroom a new complication arose. Ko-tan would
not acknowledge the right of Lu-don to occupy the apex of the pyramid
and Lu-don would not consent to occupying an inferior position while
Tarzan, to remain consistent with his high claims, insisted that no one
should stand above him, but only to the ape-man was the humor of the
situation apparent.
To relieve the situation Ja-don suggested that all three of them occupy
the throne, but this suggestion was repudiated by Ko-tan who argued
that no mortal other than a king of Pal-ul-don had ever sat upon the
high eminence, and that furthermore there was not room for three there.
"But who," said Tarzan, "is my accuser and who is my judge?"
"Lu-don is your accuser," explained Ko-tan.
"And Lu-don is your judge," cried the high priest.
"I am to be judged by him who accuses me then," said Tarzan. "It were
better to dispense then with any formalities and ask Lu-don to sentence
me." His tone was ironical and his sneering face, looking straight into
that of the high priest, but caused the latter's hatred to rise to
still greater proportions.
It was evident that Ko-tan and his warriors saw the justice of Tarzan's
implied objection to this unfair method of dispensing justice. "Only
Ko-tan can judge in the throneroom of his palace," said Ja-don, "let
him hear Lu-don's charges and the testimony of his witnesses, and then
let Ko-tan's judgment be final."
Ko-tan, however, was not particularly enthusiastic over the prospect of
sitting in trial upon one who might after all very possibly be the son
of his god, and so he temporized, seeking for an avenue of escape. "It
is purely a religious matter," he said, "and it is traditional that the
kings of Pal-ul-don interfere not in questions of the church."
"Then let the trial be held in the temple," cried one of the chiefs,
for the warriors were as anxious as their king to be relieved of all
responsibility in the matter. This suggestion was more than
satisfactory to the high priest who inwardly condemned himself for not
having thought of it before.
"It is true," he said, "this man's sin is against the temple. Let him
be dragged thither then for trial."
"The son of Jad-ben-Otho will be dragged nowhere," cried Tarzan. "But
when this trial is over it is possible that the corpse of Lu-don, the
high priest, will be dragged from the temple of the god he would
desecrate. Think well, then, Lu-don before you commit this folly."
His words, intended to frighten the high priest from his position
failed utterly in consummating their purpose. Lu-don showed no terror
at the suggestion the ape-man's words implied.
"Here is one," thought Tarzan, "who, knowing more of his religion than
any of his fellows, realizes fully the falsity of my claims as he does
the falsity of the faith he preaches."
He realized, however, that his only hope lay in seeming indifference to
the charges. Ko-tan and the warriors were still under the spell of
their belief in him and upon this fact must he depend in the final act
of the drama that Lu-don was staging for his rescue from the jealous
priest whom he knew had already passed sentence upon him in his own
heart.
With a shrug he descended the steps of the pyramid. "It matters not to
Dor-ul-Otho," he said, "where Lu-don enrages his god, for Jad-ben-Otho
can reach as easily into the chambers of the temple as into the
throneroom of Ko-tan."
Immeasurably relieved by this easy solution of their problem the king
and the warriors thronged from the throneroom toward the temple
grounds, their faith in Tarzan increased by his apparent indifference
to the charges against him. Lu-don led them to the largest of the altar
courts.
Taking his place behind the western altar he motioned Ko-tan to a place
upon the platform at the left hand of the altar and directed Tarzan to
a similar place at the right.
As Tarzan ascended the platform his eyes narrowed angrily at the sight
which met them. The basin hollowed in the top of the altar was filled
with water in which floated the naked corpse of a new-born babe. "What
means this?" he cried angrily, turning upon Lu-don.
The latter smiled malevolently. "That you do not know," he replied, "is
but added evidence of the falsity of your claim. He who poses as the
son of god did not know that as the last rays of the setting sun flood
the eastern altar of the temple the lifeblood of an adult reddens the
white stone for the edification of Jad-ben-Otho, and that when the sun
rises again from the body of its maker it looks first upon this western
altar and rejoices in the death of a new-born babe each day, the ghost
of which accompanies it across the heavens by day as the ghost of the
adult returns with it to Jad-ben-Otho at night.
"Even the little children of the Ho-don know these things, while he who
claims to be the son of Jad-ben-Otho knows them not; and if this proof
be not enough, there is more. Come, Waz-don," he cried, pointing to a
tall slave who stood with a group of other blacks and priests on the
temple floor at the left of the altar.
The fellow came forward fearfully. "Tell us what you know of this
creature," cried Lu-don, pointing to Tarzan.
"I have seen him before," said the Waz-don. "I am of the tribe of
Kor-ul-lul, and one day recently a party of which I was one encountered
a few of the warriors of the Kor-ul-JA upon the ridge which separates
our villages. Among the enemy was this strange creature whom they
called Tarzan-jad-guru; and terrible indeed was he for he fought with
the strength of many men so that it required twenty of us to subdue
him. But he did not fight as a god fights, and when a club struck him
upon the head he sank unconscious as might an ordinary mortal.
"We carried him with us to our village as a prisoner but he escaped
after cutting off the head of the warrior we left to guard him and
carrying it down into the gorge and tying it to the branch of a tree
upon the opposite side."
"The word of a slave against that of a god!" cried Ja-don, who had
shown previously a friendly interest in the pseudo godling.
"It is only a step in the progress toward truth," interjected Lu-don.
"Possibly the evidence of the only princess of the house of Ko-tan will
have greater weight with the great chief from the north, though the
father of a son who fled the holy offer of the priesthood may not
receive with willing ears any testimony against another blasphemer."
Ja-don's hand leaped to his knife, but the warriors next him laid
detaining fingers upon his arms. "You are in the temple of
Jad-ben-Otho, Ja-don," they cautioned and the great chief was forced to
swallow Lu-don's affront though it left in his heart bitter hatred of
the high priest.
And now Ko-tan turned toward Lu-don. "What knoweth my daughter of this
matter?" he asked. "You would not bring a princess of my house to
testify thus publicly?"
"No," replied Lu-don, "not in person, but I have here one who will
testify for her." He beckoned to an under priest. "Fetch the slave of
the princess," he said.
His grotesque headdress adding a touch of the hideous to the scene, the
priest stepped forward dragging the reluctant Pan-at-lee by the wrist.
"The Princess O-lo-a was alone in the Forbidden Garden with but this
one slave," explained the priest, "when there suddenly appeared from
the foliage nearby this creature who claims to be the Dor-ul-Otho. When
the slave saw him the princess says that she cried aloud in startled
recognition and called the creature by name--Tarzan-jad-guru--the same
name that the slave from Kor-ul-lul gave him. This woman is not from
Kor-ul-lul but from Kor-ul-JA, the very tribe with which the Kor-ul-lul
says the creature was associating when he first saw him. And further
the princess said that when this woman, whose name is Pan-at-lee, was
brought to her yesterday she told a strange story of having been
rescued from a Tor-o-don in the Kor-ul-GRYF by a creature such as this,
whom she spoke of then as Tarzan-jad-guru; and of how the two were
pursued in the bottom of the gorge by two monster gryfs, and of how the
man led them away while Pan-at-lee escaped, only to be taken prisoner
in the Kor-ul-lul as she was seeking to return to her own tribe.
"Is it not plain now," cried Lu-don, "that this creature is no god. Did
he tell you that he was the son of god?" he almost shouted, turning
suddenly upon Pan-at-lee.
The girl shrank back terrified. "Answer me, slave!" cried the high
priest.
"He seemed more than mortal," parried Pan-at-lee.
"Did he tell you that he was the son of god? Answer my question,"
insisted Lu-don.
"No," she admitted in a low voice, casting an appealing look of
forgiveness at Tarzan who returned a smile of encouragement and
friendship.
"That is no proof that he is not the son of god," cried Ja-don. "Dost
think Jad-ben-Otho goes about crying 'I am god! I am god!' Hast ever
heard him Lu-don? No, you have not. Why should his son do that which
the father does not do?"
"Enough," cried Lu-don. "The evidence is clear. The creature is an
impostor and I, the head priest of Jad-ben-Otho in the city of A-lur,
do condemn him to die." There was a moment's silence during which
Lu-don evidently paused for the dramatic effect of his climax. "And if
I am wrong may Jad-ben-Otho pierce my heart with his lightnings as I
stand here before you all."
The lapping of the wavelets of the lake against the foot of the palace
wall was distinctly audible in the utter and almost breathless silence
which ensued. Lu-don stood with his face turned toward the heavens and
his arms outstretched in the attitude of one who bares his breast to
the dagger of an executioner. The warriors and the priests and the
slaves gathered in the sacred court awaited the consuming vengeance of
their god.
It was Tarzan who broke the silence. "Your god ignores you Lu-don," he
taunted, with a sneer that he meant to still further anger the high
priest, "he ignores you and I can prove it before the eyes of your
priests and your people."
"Prove it, blasphemer! How can you prove it?"
"You have called me a blasphemer," replied Tarzan, "you have proved to
your own satisfaction that I am an impostor, that I, an ordinary
mortal, have posed as the son of god. Demand then that Jad-ben-Otho
uphold his godship and the dignity of his priesthood by directing his
consuming fires through my own bosom."
Again there ensued a brief silence while the onlookers waited for
Lu-don to thus consummate the destruction of this presumptuous impostor.
"You dare not," taunted Tarzan, "for you know that I would be struck
dead no quicker than were you."
"You lie," cried Lu-don, "and I would do it had I not but just received
a message from Jad-ben-Otho directing that your fate be different."
A chorus of admiring and reverential "Ahs" arose from the priesthood.
Ko-tan and his warriors were in a state of mental confusion. Secretly
they hated and feared Lu-don, but so ingrained was their sense of
reverence for the office of the high priest that none dared raise a
voice against him.
None? Well, there was Ja-don, fearless old Lion-man of the north. "The
proposition was a fair one," he cried. "Invoke the lightnings of
Jad-ben-Otho upon this man if you would ever convince us of his guilt."
"Enough of this," snapped Lu-don. "Since when was Ja-don created high
priest? Seize the prisoner," he cried to the priests and warriors, "and
on the morrow he shall die in the manner that Jad-ben-Otho has willed."
There was no immediate movement on the part of any of the warriors to
obey the high priest's command, but the lesser priests on the other
hand, imbued with the courage of fanaticism leaped eagerly forward like
a flock of hideous harpies to seize upon their prey.
The game was up. That Tarzan knew. No longer could cunning and
diplomacy usurp the functions of the weapons of defense he best loved.
And so the first hideous priest who leaped to the platform was
confronted by no suave ambassador from heaven, but rather a grim and
ferocious beast whose temper savored more of hell.
The altar stood close to the western wall of the enclosure. There was
just room between the two for the high priest to stand during the
performance of the sacrificial ceremonies and only Lu-don stood there
now behind Tarzan, while before him were perhaps two hundred warriors
and priests.
The presumptuous one who would have had the glory of first laying
arresting hands upon the blasphemous impersonator rushed forward with
outstretched hand to seize the ape-man. Instead it was he who was
seized; seized by steel fingers that snapped him up as though he had
been a dummy of straw, grasped him by one leg and the harness at his
back and raised him with giant arms high above the altar. Close at his
heels were others ready to seize the ape-man and drag him down, and
beyond the altar was Lu-don with drawn knife advancing toward him.
There was no instant to waste, nor was it the way of the ape-man to
fritter away precious moments in the uncertainty of belated decision.
Before Lu-don or any other could guess what was in the mind of the
condemned, Tarzan with all the force of his great muscles dashed the
screaming hierophant in the face of the high priest, and, as though the
two actions were one, so quickly did he move, he had leaped to the top
of the altar and from there to a handhold upon the summit of the temple
wall. As he gained a footing there he turned and looked down upon those
beneath. For a moment he stood in silence and then he spoke.
"Who dare believe," he cried, "that Jad-ben-Otho would forsake his
son?" and then he dropped from their sight upon the other side.
There were two at least left within the enclosure whose hearts leaped
with involuntary elation at the success of the ape-man's maneuver, and
one of them smiled openly. This was Ja-don, and the other, Pan-at-lee.
The brains of the priest that Tarzan had thrown at the head of Lu-don
had been dashed out against the temple wall while the high priest
himself had escaped with only a few bruises, sustained in his fall to
the hard pavement. Quickly scrambling to his feet he looked around in
fear, in terror and finally in bewilderment, for he had not been a
witness to the ape-man's escape. "Seize him," he cried; "seize the
blasphemer," and he continued to look around in search of his victim
with such a ridiculous expression of bewilderment that more than a
single warrior was compelled to hide his smiles beneath his palm.
The priests were rushing around wildly, exhorting the warriors to
pursue the fugitive but these awaited now stolidly the command of their
king or high priest. Ko-tan, more or less secretly pleased by the
discomfiture of Lu-don, waited for that worthy to give the necessary
directions which he presently did when one of his acolytes excitedly
explained to him the manner of Tarzan's escape.
Instantly the necessary orders were issued and priests and warriors
sought the temple exit in pursuit of the ape-man. His departing words,
hurled at them from the summit of the temple wall, had had little
effect in impressing the majority that his claims had not been
disproven by Lu-don, but in the hearts of the warriors was admiration
for a brave man and in many the same unholy gratification that had
risen in that of their ruler at the discomfiture of Lu-don.
A careful search of the temple grounds revealed no trace of the quarry.
The secret recesses of the subterranean chambers, familiar only to the
priesthood, were examined by these while the warriors scattered through
the palace and the palace grounds without the temple. Swift runners
were dispatched to the city to arouse the people there that all might
be upon the lookout for Tarzan the Terrible. The story of his imposture
and of his escape, and the tales that the Waz-don slaves had brought
into the city concerning him were soon spread throughout A-lur, nor did
they lose aught in the spreading, so that before an hour had passed the
women and children were hiding behind barred doorways while the
warriors crept apprehensively through the streets expecting momentarily
to be pounced upon by a ferocious demon who, bare-handed, did
victorious battle with huge gryfs and whose lightest pastime consisted
in tearing strong men limb from limb.
12
The Giant Stranger
And while the warriors and the priests of A-lur searched the temple and
the palace and the city for the vanished ape-man there entered the head
of Kor-ul-JA down the precipitous trail from the mountains, a naked
stranger bearing an Enfield upon his back. Silently he moved downward
toward the bottom of the gorge and there where the ancient trail
unfolded more levelly before him he swung along with easy strides,
though always with the utmost alertness against possible dangers. A
gentle breeze came down from the mountains behind him so that only his
ears and his eyes were of value in detecting the presence of danger
ahead. Generally the trail followed along the banks of the winding
brooklet at the bottom of the gorge, but in some places where the
waters tumbled over a precipitous ledge the trail made a detour along
the side of the gorge, and again it wound in and out among rocky
outcroppings, and presently where it rounded sharply the projecting
shoulder of a cliff the stranger came suddenly face to face with one
who was ascending the gorge.
Separated by a hundred paces the two halted simultaneously. Before him
the stranger saw a tall white warrior, naked but for a loin cloth,
cross belts, and a girdle. The man was armed with a heavy, knotted club
and a short knife, the latter hanging in its sheath at his left hip
from the end of one of his cross belts, the opposite belt supporting a
leathern pouch at his right side. It was Ta-den hunting alone in the
gorge of his friend, the chief of Kor-ul-JA. He contemplated the
stranger with surprise but no wonder, since he recognized in him a
member of the race with which his experience of Tarzan the Terrible had
made him familiar and also, thanks to his friendship for the ape-man,
he looked upon the newcomer without hostility.
The latter was the first to make outward sign of his intentions,
raising his palm toward Ta-den in that gesture which has been a symbol
of peace from pole to pole since man ceased to walk upon his knuckles.
Simultaneously he advanced a few paces and halted.
Ta-den, assuming that one so like Tarzan the Terrible must be a
fellow-tribesman of his lost friend, was more than glad to accept this
overture of peace, the sign of which he returned in kind as he ascended
the trail to where the other stood. "Who are you?" he asked, but the
newcomer only shook his head to indicate that he did not understand.
By signs he tried to carry to the Ho-don the fact that he was following
a trail that had led him over a period of many days from some place
beyond the mountains and Ta-den was convinced that the newcomer sought
Tarzan-jad-guru. He wished, however, that he might discover whether as
friend or foe.
The stranger perceived the Ho-don's prehensile thumbs and great toes
and his long tail with an astonishment which he sought to conceal, but
greater than all was the sense of relief that the first inhabitant of
this strange country whom he had met had proven friendly, so greatly
would he have been handicapped by the necessity for forcing his way
through a hostile land.
Ta-den, who had been hunting for some of the smaller mammals, the meat
of which is especially relished by the Ho-don, forgot his intended
sport in the greater interest of his new discovery. He would take the
stranger to Om-at and possibly together the two would find some way of
discovering the true intentions of the newcomer. And so again through
signs he apprised the other that he would accompany him and together
they descended toward the cliffs of Om-at's people.
As they approached these they came upon the women and children working
under guard of the old men and the youths--gathering the wild fruits
and herbs which constitute a part of their diet, as well as tending the
small acres of growing crops which they cultivate. The fields lay in
small level patches that had been cleared of trees and brush. Their
farm implements consisted of metal-shod poles which bore a closer
resemblance to spears than to tools of peaceful agriculture.
Supplementing these were others with flattened blades that were neither
hoes nor spades, but instead possessed the appearance of an unhappy
attempt to combine the two implements in one.
At first sight of these people the stranger halted and unslung his bow
for these creatures were black as night, their bodies entirely covered
with hair. But Ta-den, interpreting the doubt in the other's mind,
reassured him with a gesture and a smile. The Waz-don, however,
gathered around excitedly jabbering questions in a language which the
stranger discovered his guide understood though it was entirely
unintelligible to the former. They made no attempt to molest him and he
was now sure that he had fallen among a peaceful and friendly people.
It was but a short distance now to the caves and when they reached
these Ta-den led the way aloft upon the wooden pegs, assured that this
creature whom he had discovered would have no more difficulty in
following him than had Tarzan the Terrible. Nor was he mistaken for
the other mounted with ease until presently the two stood within the
recess before the cave of Om-at, the chief.
The latter was not there and it was mid-afternoon before he returned,
but in the meantime many warriors came to look upon the visitor and in
each instance the latter was more thoroughly impressed with the
friendly and peaceable spirit of his hosts, little guessing that he was
being entertained by a ferocious and warlike tribe who never before the
coming of Ta-den and Tarzan had suffered a stranger among them.
At last Om-at returned and the guest sensed intuitively that he was in
the presence of a great man among these people, possibly a chief or
king, for not only did the attitude of the other black warriors
indicate this but it was written also in the mien and bearing of the
splendid creature who stood looking at him while Ta-den explained the
circumstances of their meeting. "And I believe, Om-at," concluded the
Ho-don, "that he seeks Tarzan the Terrible."
At the sound of that name, the first intelligible word that had fallen
upon the ears of the stranger since he had come among them, his face
lightened. "Tarzan!" he cried, "Tarzan of the Apes!" and by signs he
tried to tell them that it was he whom he sought.
They understood, and also they guessed from the expression of his face
that he sought Tarzan from motives of affection rather than the
reverse, but of this Om-at wished to make sure. He pointed to the
stranger's knife, and repeating Tarzan's name, seized Ta-den and
pretended to stab him, immediately turning questioningly toward the
stranger.
The latter shook his head vehemently and then first placing a hand
above his heart he raised his palm in the symbol of peace.
"He is a friend of Tarzan-jad-guru," exclaimed Ta-den.
"Either a friend or a great liar," replied Om-at.
"Tarzan," continued the stranger, "you know him? He lives? O God, if I
could only speak your language." And again reverting to sign language
he sought to ascertain where Tarzan was. He would pronounce the name
and point in different directions, in the cave, down into the gorge,
back toward the mountains, or out upon the valley below, and each time
he would raise his brows questioningly and voice the universal "eh?" of
interrogation which they could not fail to understand. But always Om-at
shook his head and spread his palms in a gesture which indicated that
while he understood the question he was ignorant as to the whereabouts
of the ape-man, and then the black chief attempted as best he might to
explain to the stranger what he knew of the whereabouts of Tarzan.
He called the newcomer Jar-don, which in the language of Pal-ul-don
means "stranger," and he pointed to the sun and said _as_. This he
repeated several times and then he held up one hand with the fingers
outspread and touching them one by one, including the thumb, repeated
the word adenen until the stranger understood that he meant five. Again
he pointed to the sun and describing an arc with his forefinger
starting at the eastern horizon and terminating at the western, he
repeated again the words as adenen. It was plain to the stranger that
the words meant that the sun had crossed the heavens five times. In
other words, five days had passed. Om-at then pointed to the cave where
they stood, pronouncing Tarzan's name and imitating a walking man with
the first and second fingers of his right hand upon the floor of the
recess, sought to show that Tarzan had walked out of the cave and
climbed upward on the pegs five days before, but this was as far as the
sign language would permit him to go.
This far the stranger followed him and, indicating that he understood
he pointed to himself and then indicating the pegs leading above
announced that he would follow Tarzan.
"Let us go with him," said Om-at, "for as yet we have not punished the
Kor-ul-lul for killing our friend and ally."
"Persuade him to wait until morning," said Ta-den, "that you may take
with you many warriors and make a great raid upon the Kor-ul-lul, and
this time, Om-at, do not kill your prisoners. Take as many as you can
alive and from some of them we may learn the fate of Tarzan-jad-guru."
"Great is the wisdom of the Ho-don," replied Om-at. "It shall be as you
say, and having made prisoners of all the Kor-ul-lul we shall make them
tell us what we wish to know. And then we shall march them to the rim
of Kor-ul-GRYF and push them over the edge of the cliff."
Ta-den smiled. He knew that they would not take prisoner all the
Kor-ul-lul warriors--that they would be fortunate if they took one and
it was also possible that they might even be driven back in defeat, but
he knew too that Om-at would not hesitate to carry out his threat if he
had the opportunity, so implacable was the hatred of these neighbors
for each other.
It was not difficult to explain Om-at's plan to the stranger or to win
his consent since he was aware, when the great black had made it plain
that they would be accompanied by many warriors, that their venture
would probably lead them into a hostile country and every safeguard
that he could employ he was glad to avail himself of, since the
furtherance of his quest was the paramount issue.
He slept that night upon a pile of furs in one of the compartments of
Om-at's ancestral cave, and early the next day following the morning
meal they sallied forth, a hundred savage warriors swarming up the face
of the sheer cliff and out upon the summit of the ridge, the main body
preceded by two warriors whose duties coincided with those of the point
of modern military maneuvers, safeguarding the column against the
danger of too sudden contact with the enemy.
Across the ridge they went and down into the Kor-ul-lul and there
almost immediately they came upon a lone and unarmed Waz-don who was
making his way fearfully up the gorge toward the village of his tribe.
Him they took prisoner which, strangely, only added to his terror since
from the moment that he had seen them and realized that escape was
impossible, he had expected to be slain immediately.
"Take him back to Kor-ul-JA," said Om-at, to one of his warriors, "and
hold him there unharmed until I return."
And so the puzzled Kor-ul-lul was led away while the savage company
moved stealthily from tree to tree in its closer advance upon the
village. Fortune smiled upon Om-at in that it gave him quickly what he
sought--a battle royal, for they had not yet come in sight of the caves
of the Kor-ul-lul when they encountered a considerable band of warriors
headed down the gorge upon some expedition.
Like shadows the Kor-ul-JA melted into the concealment of the foliage
upon either side of the trail. Ignorant of impending danger, safe in
the knowledge that they trod their own domain where each rock and stone
was as familiar as the features of their mates, the Kor-ul-lul walked
innocently into the ambush. Suddenly the quiet of that seeming peace
was shattered by a savage cry and a hurled club felled a Kor-ul-lul.
The cry was a signal for a savage chorus from a hundred Kor-ul-JA
throats with which were soon mingled the war cries of their enemies.
The air was filled with flying clubs and then as the two forces
mingled, the battle resolved itself into a number of individual
encounters as each warrior singled out a foe and closed upon him.
Knives gleamed and flashed in the mottling sunlight that filtered
through the foliage of the trees above. Sleek black coats were
streaked with crimson stains.
In the thick of the fight the smooth brown skin of the stranger mingled
with the black bodies of friend and foe. Only his keen eyes and his
quick wit had shown him how to differentiate between Kor-ul-lul and
Kor-ul-JA since with the single exception of apparel they were
identical, but at the first rush of the enemy he had noticed that their
loin cloths were not of the leopard-matted hides such as were worn by
his allies.
Om-at, after dispatching his first antagonist, glanced at Jar-don. "He
fights with the ferocity of JATO," mused the chief. "Powerful indeed
must be the tribe from which he and Tarzan-jad-guru come," and then his
whole attention was occupied by a new assailant.
The fighters surged to and fro through the forest until those who
survived were spent with exhaustion. All but the stranger who seemed
not to know the sense of fatigue. He fought on when each new antagonist
would have gladly quit, and when there were no more Kor-ul-lul who were
not engaged, he leaped upon those who stood pantingly facing the
exhausted Kor-ul-JA.
And always he carried upon his back the peculiar thing which Om-at had
thought was some manner of strange weapon but the purpose of which he
could not now account for in view of the fact that Jar-don never used
it, and that for the most part it seemed but a nuisance and needless
encumbrance since it banged and smashed against its owner as he leaped,
catlike, hither and thither in the course of his victorious duels. The
bow and arrows he had tossed aside at the beginning of the fight but
the Enfield he would not discard, for where he went he meant that it
should go until its mission had been fulfilled.
Presently the Kor-ul-JA, seemingly shamed by the example of Jar-don
closed once more with the enemy, but the latter, moved no doubt to
terror by the presence of the stranger, a tireless demon who appeared
invulnerable to their attacks, lost heart and sought to flee. And then
it was that at Om-at's command his warriors surrounded a half-dozen of
the most exhausted and made them prisoners.
It was a tired, bloody, and elated company that returned victorious to
the Kor-ul-JA. Twenty of their number were carried back and six of
these were dead men. It was the most glorious and successful raid that
the Kor-ul-JA had made upon the Kor-ul-lul in the memory of man, and it
marked Om-at as the greatest of chiefs, but that fierce warrior knew
that advantage had lain upon his side largely because of the presence
of his strange ally. Nor did he hesitate to give credit where credit
belonged, with the result that Jar-don and his exploits were upon the
tongue of every member of the tribe of Kor-ul-JA and great was the fame
of the race that could produce two such as he and Tarzan-jad-guru.
And in the gorge of Kor-ul-lul beyond the ridge the survivors spoke in
bated breath of this second demon that had joined forces with their
ancient enemy.
Returned to his cave Om-at caused the Kor-ul-lul prisoners to be
brought into his presence singly, and each he questioned as to the fate
of Tarzan. Without exception they told him the same story--that Tarzan
had been taken prisoner by them five days before but that he had slain
the warrior left to guard him and escaped, carrying the head of the
unfortunate sentry to the opposite side of Kor-ul-lul where he had left
it suspended by its hair from the branch of a tree. But what had become
of him after, they did not know; not one of them, until the last
prisoner was examined, he whom they had taken first--the unarmed
Kor-ul-lul making his way from the direction of the Valley of
Jad-ben-Otho toward the caves of his people.
This one, when he discovered the purpose of their questioning, bartered
with them for the lives and liberty of himself and his fellows. "I can
tell you much of this terrible man of whom you ask, Kor-ul-JA," he
said. "I saw him yesterday and I know where he is, and if you will
promise to let me and my fellows return in safety to the caves of our
ancestors I will tell you all, and truthfully, that which I know."
"You will tell us anyway," replied Om-at, "or we shall kill you."
"You will kill me anyway," retorted the prisoner, "unless you make me
this promise; so if I am to be killed the thing I know shall go with
me."
"He is right, Om-at," said Ta-den, "promise him that they shall have
their liberty."
"Very well," said Om-at. "Speak Kor-ul-lul, and when you have told me
all, you and your fellows may return unharmed to your tribe."
"It was thus," commenced the prisoner. "Three days since I was hunting
with a party of my fellows near the mouth of Kor-ul-lul not far from
where you captured me this morning, when we were surprised and set upon
by a large number of Ho-don who took us prisoners and carried us to
A-lur where a few were chosen to be slaves and the rest were cast into
a chamber beneath the temple where are held for sacrifice the victims
that are offered by the Ho-don to Jad-ben-Otho upon the sacrificial
altars of the temple at A-lur.
"It seemed then that indeed was my fate sealed and that lucky were
those who had been selected for slaves among the Ho-don, for they at
least might hope to escape--those in the chamber with me must be
without hope.
"But yesterday a strange thing happened. There came to the temple,
accompanied by all the priests and by the king and many of his
warriors, one whom all did great reverence, and when he came to the
barred gateway leading to the chamber in which we wretched ones awaited
our fate, I saw to my surprise that it was none other than that
terrible man who had so recently been a prisoner in the village of
Kor-ul-lul--he whom you call Tarzan-jad-guru but whom they addressed as
Dor-ul-Otho. And he looked upon us and questioned the high priest and
when he was told of the purpose for which we were imprisoned there he
grew angry and cried that it was not the will of Jad-ben-Otho that his
people be thus sacrificed, and he commanded the high priest to liberate
us, and this was done.
"The Ho-don prisoners were permitted to return to their homes and we
were led beyond the City of A-lur and set upon our way toward
Kor-ul-lul. There were three of us, but many are the dangers that lie
between A-lur and Kor-ul-lul and we were only three and unarmed.
Therefore none of us reached the village of our people and only one of
us lives. I have spoken."
"That is all you know concerning Tarzan-jad-guru?" asked Om-at.
"That is all I know," replied the prisoner, "other than that he whom
they call Lu-don, the high priest at A-lur, was very angry, and that
one of the two priests who guided us out of the city said to the other
that the stranger was not Dor-ul-Otho at all; that Lu-don had said so
and that he had also said that he would expose him and that he should
be punished with death for his presumption. That is all they said
within my hearing.
"And now, chief of Kor-ul-JA, let us depart."
Om-at nodded. "Go your way," he said, "and Ab-on, send warriors to
guard them until they are safely within the Kor-ul-lul.
"Jar-don," he said beckoning to the stranger, "come with me," and
rising he led the way toward the summit of the cliff, and when they
stood upon the ridge Om-at pointed down into the valley toward the City
of A-lur gleaming in the light of the western sun.
"There is Tarzan-jad-guru," he said, and Jar-don understood.
13
The Masquerader
As Tarzan dropped to the ground beyond the temple wall there was in his
mind no intention to escape from the City of A-lur until he had
satisfied himself that his mate was not a prisoner there, but how, in
this strange city in which every man's hand must be now against him, he
was to live and prosecute his search was far from clear to him.
There was only one place of which he knew that he might find even
temporary sanctuary and that was the Forbidden Garden of the king.
There was thick shrubbery in which a man might hide, and water and
fruits. A cunning jungle creature, if he could reach the spot
unsuspected, might remain concealed there for a considerable time, but
how he was to traverse the distance between the temple grounds and the
garden unseen was a question the seriousness of which he fully
appreciated.
"Mighty is Tarzan," he soliloquized, "in his native jungle, but in the
cities of man he is little better than they."
Depending upon his keen observation and sense of location he felt safe
in assuming that he could reach the palace grounds by means of the
subterranean corridors and chambers of the temple through which he had
been conducted the day before, nor any slightest detail of which had
escaped his keen eyes. That would be better, he reasoned, than crossing
the open grounds above where his pursuers would naturally immediately
follow him from the temple and quickly discover him.
And so a dozen paces from the temple wall he disappeared from sight of
any chance observer above, down one of the stone stairways that led to
the apartments beneath. The way that he had been conducted the previous
day had followed the windings and turnings of numerous corridors and
apartments, but Tarzan, sure of himself in such matters, retraced the
route accurately without hesitation.
He had little fear of immediate apprehension here since he believed
that all the priests of the temple had assembled in the court above to
witness his trial and his humiliation and his death, and with this idea
firmly implanted in his mind he rounded the turn of the corridor and
came face to face with an under priest, his grotesque headdress
concealing whatever emotion the sight of Tarzan may have aroused.
However, Tarzan had one advantage over the masked votary of
Jad-ben-Otho in that the moment he saw the priest he knew his intention
concerning him, and therefore was not compelled to delay action. And so
it was that before the priest could determine on any suitable line of
conduct in the premises a long, keen knife had been slipped into his
heart.
As the body lunged toward the floor Tarzan caught it and snatched the
headdress from its shoulders, for the first sight of the creature had
suggested to his ever-alert mind a bold scheme for deceiving his
enemies.
The headdress saved from such possible damage as it must have sustained
had it fallen to the floor with the body of its owner, Tarzan
relinquished his hold upon the corpse, set the headdress carefully upon
the floor and stooping down severed the tail of the Ho-don close to its
root. Near by at his right was a small chamber from which the priest
had evidently just emerged and into this Tarzan dragged the corpse, the
headdress, and the tail.
Quickly cutting a thin strip of hide from the loin cloth of the priest,
Tarzan tied it securely about the upper end of the severed member and
then tucking the tail under his loin cloth behind him, secured it in
place as best he could. Then he fitted the headdress over his shoulders
and stepped from the apartment, to all appearances a priest of the
temple of Jad-ben-Otho unless one examined too closely his thumbs and
his great toes.
He had noticed that among both the Ho-don and the Waz-don it was not at
all unusual that the end of the tail be carried in one hand, and so he
caught his own tail up thus lest the lifeless appearance of it dragging
along behind him should arouse suspicion.
Passing along the corridor and through the various chambers he emerged
at last into the palace grounds beyond the temple. The pursuit had not
yet reached this point though he was conscious of a commotion not far
behind him. He met now both warriors and slaves but none gave him more
than a passing glance, a priest being too common a sight about the
palace.
And so, passing the guards unchallenged, he came at last to the inner
entrance to the Forbidden Garden and there he paused and scanned
quickly that portion of the beautiful spot that lay before his eyes. To
his relief it seemed unoccupied and congratulating himself upon the
ease with which he had so far outwitted the high powers of A-lur he
moved rapidly to the opposite end of the enclosure. Here he found a
patch of flowering shrubbery that might safely have concealed a dozen
men.
Crawling well within he removed the uncomfortable headdress and sat
down to await whatever eventualities fate might have in store for him
the while he formulated plans for the future. The one night that he had
spent in A-lur had kept him up to a late hour, apprising him of the
fact that while there were few abroad in the temple grounds at night,
there were yet enough to make it possible for him to fare forth under
cover of his disguise without attracting the unpleasant attention of
the guards, and, too, he had noticed that the priesthood constituted a
privileged class that seemed to come and go at will and unchallenged
throughout the palace as well as the temple. Altogether then, he
decided, night furnished the most propitious hours for his
investigation--by day he could lie up in the shrubbery of the Forbidden
Garden, reasonably free from detection. From beyond the garden he heard
the voices of men calling to one another both far and near, and he
guessed that diligent was the search that was being prosecuted for him.
The idle moments afforded him an opportunity to evolve a more
satisfactory scheme for attaching his stolen caudal appendage. He
arranged it in such a way that it might be quickly assumed or
discarded, and this done he fell to examining the weird mask that had
so effectively hidden his features.
The thing had been very cunningly wrought from a single block of wood,
very probably a section of a tree, upon which the features had been
carved and afterward the interior hollowed out until only a
comparatively thin shell remained. Two-semicircular notches had been
rounded out from opposite sides of the lower edge. These fitted snugly
over his shoulders, aprons of wood extending downward a few inches upon
his chest and back. From these aprons hung long tassels or switches of
hair tapering from the outer edges toward the center which reached
below the bottom of his torso. It required but the most cursory
examination to indicate to the ape-man that these ornaments consisted
of human scalps, taken, doubtless, from the heads of the sacrifices
upon the eastern altars. The headdress itself had been carved to depict
in formal design a hideous face that suggested both man and GRYF. There
were the three white horns, the yellow face with the blue bands
encircling the eyes and the red hood which took the form of the
posterior and anterior aprons.
As Tarzan sat within the concealing foliage of the shrubbery meditating
upon the hideous priest-mask which he held in his hands he became aware
that he was not alone in the garden. He sensed another presence and
presently his trained ears detected the slow approach of naked feet
across the sward. At first he suspected that it might be one stealthily
searching the Forbidden Garden for him but a little later the figure
came within the limited area of his vision which was circumscribed by
stems and foliage and flowers. He saw then that it was the princess
O-lo-a and that she was alone and walking with bowed head as though in
meditation--sorrowful meditation for there were traces of tears upon
her lids.
Shortly after his ears warned him that others had entered the
garden--men they were and their footsteps proclaimed that they walked
neither slowly nor meditatively. They came directly toward the princess
and when Tarzan could see them he discovered that both were priests.
"O-lo-a, Princess of Pal-ul-don," said one, addressing her, "the
stranger who told us that he was the son of Jad-ben-Otho has but just
fled from the wrath of Lu-don, the high priest, who exposed him and all
his wicked blasphemy. The temple, and the palace, and the city are
being searched and we have been sent to search the Forbidden Garden,
since Ko-tan, the king, said that only this morning he found him here,
though how he passed the guards he could not guess."
"He is not here," said O-lo-a. "I have been in the garden for some time
and have seen nor heard no other than myself. However, search it if you
will."
"No," said the priest who had before spoken, "it is not necessary since
he could not have entered without your knowledge and the connivance of
the guards, and even had he, the priest who preceded us must have seen
him."
"What priest?" asked O-lo-a.
"One passed the guards shortly before us," explained the man.
"I did not see him," said O-lo-a.
"Doubtless he left by another exit," remarked the second priest.
"Yes, doubtless," acquiesced O-lo-a, "but it is strange that I did not
see him." The two priests made their obeisance and turned to depart.
"Stupid as Buto, the rhinoceros," soliloquized Tarzan, who considered
Buto a very stupid creature indeed. "It should be easy to outwit such
as these."
The priests had scarce departed when there came the sound of feet
running rapidly across the garden in the direction of the princess to
an accompaniment of rapid breathing as of one almost spent, either from
fatigue or excitement.
"Pan-at-lee," exclaimed O-lo-a, "what has happened? You look as
terrified as the doe for which you were named!"
"O Princess of Pal-ul-don," cried Pan-at-lee, "they would have killed
him in the temple. They would have killed the wondrous stranger who
claimed to be the Dor-ul-Otho."
"But he escaped," said O-lo-a. "You were there. Tell me about it."
"The head priest would have had him seized and slain, but when they
rushed upon him he hurled one in the face of Lu-don with the same ease
that you might cast your breastplates at me, and then he leaped upon
the altar and from there to the top of the temple wall and disappeared
below. They are searching for him, but, O Princess, I pray that they do
not find him."
"And why do you pray that?" asked O-lo-a. "Has not one who has so
blasphemed earned death?"
"Ah, but you do not know him," replied Pan-at-lee.
"And you do, then?" retorted O-lo-a quickly. "This morning you betrayed
yourself and then attempted to deceive me. The slaves of O-lo-a do not
such things with impunity. He is then the same Tarzan-jad-guru of whom
you told me? Speak woman and speak only the truth."
Pan-at-lee drew herself up very erect, her little chin held high, for
was not she too among her own people already as good as a princess?
"Pan-at-lee, the Kor-ul-JA does not lie," she said, "to protect
herself."
"Then tell me what you know of this Tarzan-jad-guru," insisted O-lo-a.
"I know that he is a wondrous man and very brave," said Pan-at-lee,
"and that he saved me from the Tor-o-don and the GRYF as I told you,
and that he is indeed the same who came into the garden this morning;
and even now I do not know that he is not the son of Jad-ben-Otho for
his courage and his strength are more than those of mortal man, as are
also his kindness and his honor: for when he might have harmed me he
protected me, and when he might have saved himself he thought only of
me. And all this he did because of his friendship for Om-at, who is
gund of Kor-ul-JA and with whom I should have mated had the Ho-don not
captured me."
"He was indeed a wonderful man to look upon," mused O-lo-a, "and he was
not as are other men, not alone in the conformation of his hands and
feet or the fact that he was tailless, but there was that about him
which made him seem different in ways more important than these."
"And," supplemented Pan-at-lee, her savage little heart loyal to the
man who had befriended her and hoping to win for him the consideration
of the princess even though it might not avail him; "and," she said,
"did he not know all about Ta-den and even his whereabouts. Tell me, O
Princess, could mortal know such things as these?"
"Perhaps he saw Ta-den," suggested O-lo-a.
"But how would he know that you loved Ta-den," parried Pan-at-lee. "I
tell you, my Princess, that if he is not a god he is at least more than
Ho-don or Waz-don. He followed me from the cave of Es-sat in Kor-ul-JA
across Kor-ul-lul and two wide ridges to the very cave in Kor-ul-GRYF
where I hid, though many hours had passed since I had come that way and
my bare feet left no impress upon the ground. What mortal man could do
such things as these? And where in all Pal-ul-don would virgin maid
find friend and protector in a strange male other than he?"
"Perhaps Lu-don may be mistaken--perhaps he is a god," said O-lo-a,
influenced by her slave's enthusiastic championing of the stranger.
"But whether god or man he is too wonderful to die," cried Pan-at-lee.
"Would that I might save him. If he lived he might even find a way to
give you your Ta-den, Princess."
"Ah, if he only could," sighed O-lo-a, "but alas it is too late for
tomorrow I am to be given to Bu-lot."
"He who came to your quarters yesterday with your father?" asked
Pan-at-lee.
"Yes; the one with the awful round face and the big belly," exclaimed
the Princess disgustedly. "He is so lazy he will neither hunt nor
fight. To eat and to drink is all that Bu-lot is fit for, and he thinks
of naught else except these things and his slave women. But come,
Pan-at-lee, gather for me some of these beautiful blossoms. I would
have them spread around my couch tonight that I may carry away with me
in the morning the memory of the fragrance that I love best and which I
know that I shall not find in the village of Mo-sar, the father of
Bu-lot. I will help you, Pan-at-lee, and we will gather armfuls of
them, for I love to gather them as I love nothing else--they were
Ta-den's favorite flowers."
The two approached the flowering shrubbery where Tarzan hid, but as the
blooms grew plentifully upon every bush the ape-man guessed there would
be no necessity for them to enter the patch far enough to discover him.
With little exclamations of pleasure as they found particularly large
or perfect blooms the two moved from place to place upon the outskirts
of Tarzan's retreat.
"Oh, look, Pan-at-lee," cried O-lo-a presently; "there is the king of
them all. Never did I see so wonderful a flower--No! I will get it
myself--it is so large and wonderful no other hand shall touch it," and
the princess wound in among the bushes toward the point where the great
flower bloomed upon a bush above the ape-man's head.
So sudden and unexpected her approach that there was no opportunity to
escape and Tarzan sat silently trusting that fate might be kind to him
and lead Ko-tan's daughter away before her eyes dropped from the
high-growing bloom to him. But as the girl cut the long stem with her
knife she looked down straight into the smiling face of Tarzan-jad-guru.
With a stifled scream she drew back and the ape-man rose and faced her.
"Have no fear, Princess," he assured her. "It is the friend of Ta-den
who salutes you," raising her fingers to his lips.
Pan-at-lee came now excitedly forward. "O Jad-ben-Otho, it is he!"
"And now that you have found me," queried Tarzan, "will you give me up
to Lu-don, the high priest?"
Pan-at-lee threw herself upon her knees at O-lo-a's feet. "Princess!
Princess!" she beseeched, "do not discover him to his enemies."
"But Ko-tan, my father," whispered O-lo-a fearfully, "if he knew of my
perfidy his rage would be beyond naming. Even though I am a princess
Lu-don might demand that I be sacrificed to appease the wrath of
Jad-ben-Otho, and between the two of them I should be lost."
"But they need never know," cried Pan-at-lee, "that you have seen him
unless you tell them yourself for as Jad-ben-Otho is my witness I will
never betray you."
"Oh, tell me, stranger," implored O-lo-a, "are you indeed a god?"
"Jad-ben-Otho is not more so," replied Tarzan truthfully.
"But why do you seek to escape then from the hands of mortals if you
are a god?" she asked.
"When gods mingle with mortals," replied Tarzan, "they are no less
vulnerable than mortals. Even Jad-ben-Otho, should he appear before you
in the flesh, might be slain."
"You have seen Ta-den and spoken with him?" she asked with apparent
irrelevancy.
"Yes, I have seen him and spoken with him," replied the ape-man. "For
the duration of a moon I was with him constantly."
"And--" she hesitated--"he--" she cast her eyes toward the ground and a
flush mantled her cheek--"he still loves me?" and Tarzan knew that she
had been won over.
"Yes," he said, "Ta-den speaks only of O-lo-a and he waits and hopes
for the day when he can claim her."
"But tomorrow they give me to Bu-lot," she said sadly.
"May it be always tomorrow," replied Tarzan, "for tomorrow never comes."
"Ah, but this unhappiness will come, and for all the tomorrows of my
life I must pine in misery for the Ta-den who will never be mine."
"But for Lu-don I might have helped you," said the ape-man. "And who
knows that I may not help you yet?"
"Ah, if you only could, Dor-ul-Otho," cried the girl, "and I know that
you would if it were possible for Pan-at-lee has told me how brave you
are, and at the same time how kind."
"Only Jad-ben-Otho knows what the future may bring," said Tarzan. "And
now you two go your way lest someone should discover you and become
suspicious."
"We will go," said O-lo-a, "but Pan-at-lee will return with food. I
hope that you escape and that Jad-ben-Otho is pleased with what I have
done." She turned and walked away and Pan-at-lee followed while the
ape-man again resumed his hiding.
At dusk Pan-at-lee came with food and having her alone Tarzan put the
question that he had been anxious to put since his conversation earlier
in the day with O-lo-a.
"Tell me," he said, "what you know of the rumors of which O-lo-a spoke
of the mysterious stranger which is supposed to be hidden in A-lur.
Have you too heard of this during the short time that you have been
here?"
"Yes," said Pan-at-lee, "I have heard it spoken of among the other
slaves. It is something of which all whisper among themselves but of
which none dares to speak aloud. They say that there is a strange she
hidden in the temple and that Lu-don wants her for a priestess and that
Ko-tan wants her for a wife and that neither as yet dares take her for
fear of the other."
"Do you know where she is hidden in the temple?" asked Tarzan.
"No," said Pan-at-lee. "How should I know? I do not even know that it
is more than a story and I but tell you that which I have heard others
say."
"There was only one," asked Tarzan, "whom they spoke of?"
"No, they speak of another who came with her but none seems to know
what became of this one."
Tarzan nodded. "Thank you Pan-at-lee," he said. "You may have helped me
more than either of us guess."
"I hope that I have helped you," said the girl as she turned back
toward the palace.
"And I hope so too," exclaimed Tarzan emphatically.
14
The Temple of the Gryf
When night had fallen Tarzan donned the mask and the dead tail of the
priest he had slain in the vaults beneath the temple. He judged that it
would not do to attempt again to pass the guard, especially so late at
night as it would be likely to arouse comment and suspicion, and so he
swung into the tree that overhung the garden wall and from its branches
dropped to the ground beyond.
Avoiding too grave risk of apprehension the ape-man passed through the
grounds to the court of the palace, approaching the temple from the
side opposite to that at which he had left it at the time of his
escape. He came thus it is true through a portion of the grounds with
which he was unfamiliar but he preferred this to the danger of
following the beaten track between the palace apartments and those of
the temple. Having a definite goal in mind and endowed as he was with
an almost miraculous sense of location he moved with great assurance
through the shadows of the temple yard.
Taking advantage of the denser shadows close to the walls and of what
shrubs and trees there were he came without mishap at last to the
ornate building concerning the purpose of which he had asked Lu-don
only to be put off with the assertion that it was forgotten--nothing
strange in itself but given possible importance by the apparent
hesitancy of the priest to discuss its use and the impression the
ape-man had gained at the time that Lu-don lied.
And now he stood at last alone before the structure which was three
stories in height and detached from all the other temple buildings. It
had a single barred entrance which was carved from the living rock in
representation of the head of a GRYF, whose wide-open mouth constituted
the doorway. The head, hood, and front paws of the creature were
depicted as though it lay crouching with its lower jaw on the ground
between its outspread paws. Small oval windows, which were likewise
barred, flanked the doorway.
Seeing that the coast was clear, Tarzan stepped into the darkened
entrance where he tried the bars only to discover that they were
ingeniously locked in place by some device with which he was unfamiliar
and that they also were probably too strong to be broken even if he
could have risked the noise which would have resulted. Nothing was
visible within the darkened interior and so, momentarily baffled, he
sought the windows. Here also the bars refused to yield up their
secret, but again Tarzan was not dismayed since he had counted upon
nothing different.
If the bars would not yield to his cunning they would yield to his
giant strength if there proved no other means of ingress, but first he
would assure himself that this latter was the case. Moving entirely
around the building he examined it carefully. There were other windows
but they were similarly barred. He stopped often to look and listen but
he saw no one and the sounds that he heard were too far away to cause
him any apprehension.
He glanced above him at the wall of the building. Like so many of the
other walls of the city, palace, and temple, it was ornately carved and
there were too the peculiar ledges that ran sometimes in a horizontal
plane and again were tilted at an angle, giving ofttimes an impression
of irregularity and even crookedness to the buildings. It was not a
difficult wall to climb, at least not difficult for the ape-man.
But he found the bulky and awkward headdress a considerable handicap
and so he laid it aside upon the ground at the foot of the wall. Nimbly
he ascended to find the windows of the second floor not only barred but
curtained within. He did not delay long at the second floor since he
had in mind an idea that he would find the easiest entrance through the
roof which he had noticed was roughly dome shaped like the throneroom
of Ko-tan. Here there were apertures. He had seen them from the ground,
and if the construction of the interior resembled even slightly that of
the throneroom, bars would not be necessary upon these apertures, since
no one could reach them from the floor of the room.
There was but a single question: would they be large enough to admit
the broad shoulders of the ape-man.
He paused again at the third floor, and here, in spite of the hangings,
he saw that the interior was lighted and simultaneously there came to
his nostrils from within a scent that stripped from him temporarily any
remnant of civilization that might have remained and left him a fierce
and terrible bull of the jungles of Kerchak. So sudden and complete was
the metamorphosis that there almost broke from the savage lips the
hideous challenge of his kind, but the cunning brute-mind saved him
this blunder.
And now he heard voices within--the voice of Lu-don he could have
sworn, demanding. And haughty and disdainful came the answering words
though utter hopelessness spoke in the tones of this other voice which
brought Tarzan to the pinnacle of frenzy.
The dome with its possible apertures was forgotten. Every consideration
of stealth and quiet was cast aside as the ape-man drew back his mighty
fist and struck a single terrific blow upon the bars of the small
window before him, a blow that sent the bars and the casing that held
them clattering to the floor of the apartment within.
Instantly Tarzan dove headforemost through the aperture carrying the
hangings of antelope hide with him to the floor below. Leaping to his
feet he tore the entangling pelt from about his head only to find
himself in utter darkness and in silence. He called aloud a name that
had not passed his lips for many weary months. "Jane, Jane," he cried,
"where are you?" But there was only silence in reply.
Again and again he called, groping with outstretched hands through the
Stygian blackness of the room, his nostrils assailed and his brain
tantalized by the delicate effluvia that had first assured him that his
mate had been within this very room. And he had heard her dear voice
combatting the base demands of the vile priest. Ah, if he had but acted
with greater caution! If he had but continued to move with quiet and
stealth he might even at this moment be holding her in his arms while
the body of Lu-don, beneath his foot, spoke eloquently of vengeance
achieved. But there was no time now for idle self-reproaches.
He stumbled blindly forward, groping for he knew not what till suddenly
the floor beneath him tilted and he shot downward into a darkness even
more utter than that above. He felt his body strike a smooth surface
and he realized that he was hurtling downward as through a polished
chute while from above there came the mocking tones of a taunting laugh
and the voice of Lu-don screamed after him: "Return to thy father, O
Dor-ul-Otho!"
The ape-man came to a sudden and painful stop upon a rocky floor.
Directly before him was an oval window crossed by many bars, and beyond
he saw the moonlight playing on the waters of the blue lake below.
Simultaneously he was conscious of a familiar odor in the air of the
chamber, which a quick glance revealed in the semidarkness as of
considerable proportion.
It was the faint, but unmistakable odor of the GRYF, and now Tarzan
stood silently listening. At first he detected no sounds other than
those of the city that came to him through the window overlooking the
lake; but presently, faintly, as though from a distance he heard the
shuffling of padded feet along a stone pavement, and as he listened he
was aware that the sound approached.
Nearer and nearer it came, and now even the breathing of the beast was
audible. Evidently attracted by the noise of his descent into its
cavernous retreat it was approaching to investigate. He could not see
it but he knew that it was not far distant, and then, deafeningly there
reverberated through those gloomy corridors the mad bellow of the GRYF.
Aware of the poor eyesight of the beast, and his own eyes now grown
accustomed to the darkness of the cavern, the ape-man sought to elude
the infuriated charge which he well knew no living creature could
withstand. Neither did he dare risk the chance of experimenting upon
this strange GRYF with the tactics of the Tor-o-don that he had found
so efficacious upon that other occasion when his life and liberty had
been the stakes for which he cast. In many respects the conditions were
dissimilar. Before, in broad daylight, he had been able to approach the
GRYF under normal conditions in its natural state, and the GRYF itself
was one that he had seen subjected to the authority of man, or at least
of a manlike creature; but here he was confronted by an imprisoned
beast in the full swing of a furious charge and he had every reason to
suspect that this GRYF might never have felt the restraining influence
of authority, confined as it was in this gloomy pit to serve likely but
the single purpose that Tarzan had already seen so graphically
portrayed in his own experience of the past few moments.
To elude the creature, then, upon the possibility of discovering some
loophole of escape from his predicament seemed to the ape-man the
wisest course to pursue. Too much was at stake to risk an encounter
that might be avoided--an encounter the outcome of which there was
every reason to apprehend would seal the fate of the mate that he had
just found, only to lose again so harrowingly. Yet high as his
disappointment and chagrin ran, hopeless as his present estate now
appeared, there tingled in the veins of the savage lord a warm glow of
thanksgiving and elation. She lived! After all these weary months of
hopelessness and fear he had found her. She lived!
To the opposite side of the chamber, silently as the wraith of a
disembodied soul, the swift jungle creature moved from the path of the
charging Titan that, guided solely in the semi-darkness by its keen
ears, bore down upon the spot toward which Tarzan's noisy entrance into
its lair had attracted it. Along the further wall the ape-man hurried.
Before him now appeared the black opening of the corridor from which
the beast had emerged into the larger chamber. Without hesitation
Tarzan plunged into it. Even here his eyes, long accustomed to darkness
that would have seemed total to you or to me, saw dimly the floor and
the walls within a radius of a few feet--enough at least to prevent him
plunging into any unguessed abyss, or dashing himself upon solid rock
at a sudden turning.
The corridor was both wide and lofty, which indeed it must be to
accommodate the colossal proportions of the creature whose habitat it
was, and so Tarzan encountered no difficulty in moving with reasonable
speed along its winding trail. He was aware as he proceeded that the
trend of the passage was downward, though not steeply, but it seemed
interminable and he wondered to what distant subterranean lair it might
lead. There was a feeling that perhaps after all he might better have
remained in the larger chamber and risked all on the chance of subduing
the GRYF where there was at least sufficient room and light to lend to
the experiment some slight chance of success. To be overtaken here in
the narrow confines of the black corridor where he was assured the GRYF
could not see him at all would spell almost certain death and now he
heard the thing approaching from behind. Its thunderous bellows fairly
shook the cliff from which the cavernous chambers were excavated. To
halt and meet this monstrous incarnation of fury with a futile whee-oo!
seemed to Tarzan the height of insanity and so he continued along the
corridor, increasing his pace as he realized that the GRYF was
overhauling him.
Presently the darkness lessened and at the final turning of the passage
he saw before him an area of moonlight. With renewed hope he sprang
rapidly forward and emerged from the mouth of the corridor to find
himself in a large circular enclosure the towering white walls of which
rose high upon every side--smooth perpendicular walls upon the sheer
face of which was no slightest foothold. To his left lay a pool of
water, one side of which lapped the foot of the wall at this point. It
was, doubtless, the wallow and the drinking pool of the GRYF.
And now the creature emerged from the corridor and Tarzan retreated to
the edge of the pool to make his last stand. There was no staff with
which to enforce the authority of his voice, but yet he made his stand
for there seemed naught else to do. Just beyond the entrance to the
corridor the GRYF paused, turning its weak eyes in all directions as
though searching for its prey. This then seemed the psychological
moment for his attempt and raising his voice in peremptory command the
ape-man voiced the weird whee-oo! of the Tor-o-don. Its effect upon the
GRYF was instantaneous and complete--with a terrific bellow it lowered
its three horns and dashed madly in the direction of the sound.
To right nor to left was any avenue of escape, for behind him lay the
placid waters of the pool, while down upon him from before thundered
annihilation. The mighty body seemed already to tower above him as the
ape-man turned and dove into the dark waters.
Dead in her breast lay hope. Battling for life during harrowing months
of imprisonment and danger and hardship it had fitfully flickered and
flamed only to sink after each renewal to smaller proportions than
before and now it had died out entirely leaving only cold, charred
embers that Jane Clayton knew would never again be rekindled. Hope was
dead as she faced Lu-don, the high priest, in her prison quarters in
the Temple of the Gryf at A-lur. Both time and hardship had failed to
leave their impress upon her physical beauty--the contours of her
perfect form, the glory of her radiant loveliness had defied them, yet
to these very attributes she owed the danger which now confronted her,
for Lu-don desired her. From the lesser priests she had been safe, but
from Lu-don, she was not safe, for Lu-don was not as they, since the
high priestship of Pal-ul-don may descend from father to son.
Ko-tan, the king, had wanted her and all that had so far saved her from
either was the fear of each for the other, but at last Lu-don had cast
aside discretion and had come in the silent watches of the night to
claim her. Haughtily had she repulsed him, seeking ever to gain time,
though what time might bring her of relief or renewed hope she could
not even remotely conjecture. A leer of lust and greed shone hungrily
upon his cruel countenance as he advanced across the room to seize her.
She did not shrink nor cower, but stood there very erect, her chin up,
her level gaze freighted with the loathing and contempt she felt for
him. He read her expression and while it angered him, it but increased
his desire for possession. Here indeed was a queen, perhaps a goddess;
fit mate for the high priest.
"You shall not!" she said as he would have touched her. "One of us
shall die before ever your purpose is accomplished."
He was close beside her now. His laugh grated upon her ears. "Love
does not kill," he replied mockingly.
He reached for her arm and at the same instant something clashed
against the bars of one of the windows, crashing them inward to the
floor, to be followed almost simultaneously by a human figure which
dove headforemost into the room, its head enveloped in the skin window
hangings which it carried with it in its impetuous entry.
Jane Clayton saw surprise and something of terror too leap to the
countenance of the high priest and then she saw him spring forward and
jerk upon a leather thong that depended from the ceiling of the
apartment. Instantly there dropped from above a cunningly contrived
partition that fell between them and the intruder, effectively barring
him from them and at the same time leaving him to grope upon its
opposite side in darkness, since the only cresset the room contained
was upon their side of the partition.
Faintly from beyond the wall Jane heard a voice calling, but whose it
was and what the words she could not distinguish. Then she saw Lu-don
jerk upon another thong and wait in evident expectancy of some
consequent happening. He did not have long to wait. She saw the thong
move suddenly as though jerked from above and then Lu-don smiled and
with another signal put in motion whatever machinery it was that raised
the partition again to its place in the ceiling.
Advancing into that portion of the room that the partition had shut off
from them, the high priest knelt upon the floor, and down tilting a
section of it, revealed the dark mouth of a shaft leading below.
Laughing loudly he shouted into the hole: "Return to thy father, O
Dor-ul-Otho!"
Making fast the catch that prevented the trapdoor from opening beneath
the feet of the unwary until such time as Lu-don chose the high priest
rose again to his feet.
"Now, Beautiful One!" he cried, and then, "Ja-don! what do you here?"
Jane Clayton turned to follow the direction of Lu-don's eyes and there
she saw framed in the entrance-way to the apartment the mighty figure
of a warrior, upon whose massive features sat an expression of stern
and uncompromising authority.
"I come from Ko-tan, the king," replied Ja-don, "to remove the
beautiful stranger to the Forbidden Garden."
"The king defies me, the high priest of Jad-ben-Otho?" cried Lu-don.
"It is the king's command--I have spoken," snapped Ja-don, in whose
manner was no sign of either fear or respect for the priest.
Lu-don well knew why the king had chosen this messenger whose heresy
was notorious, but whose power had as yet protected him from the
machinations of the priest. Lu-don cast a surreptitious glance at the
thongs hanging from the ceiling. Why not? If he could but maneuver to
entice Ja-don to the opposite side of the chamber!
"Come," he said in a conciliatory tone, "let us discuss the matter,"
and moved toward the spot where he would have Ja-don follow him.
"There is nothing to discuss," replied Ja-don, yet he followed the
priest, fearing treachery.
Jane watched them. In the face and figure of the warrior she found
reflected those admirable traits of courage and honor that the
profession of arms best develops. In the hypocritical priest there was
no redeeming quality. Of the two then she might best choose the
warrior. With him there was a chance--with Lu-don, none. Even the very
process of exchange from one prison to another might offer some
possibility of escape. She weighed all these things and decided, for
Lu-don's quick glance at the thongs had not gone unnoticed nor
uninterpreted by her.
"Warrior," she said, addressing Ja-don, "if you would live enter not
that portion of the room."
Lu-don cast an angry glance upon her. "Silence, slave!" he cried.
"And where lies the danger?" Ja-don asked of Jane, ignoring Lu-don.
The woman pointed to the thongs. "Look," she said, and before the high
priest could prevent she had seized that which controlled the partition
which shot downward separating Lu-don from the warrior and herself.
Ja-don looked inquiringly at her. "He would have tricked me neatly but
for you," he said; "kept me imprisoned there while he secreted you
elsewhere in the mazes of his temple."
"He would have done more than that," replied Jane, as she pulled upon
the other thong. "This releases the fastenings of a trapdoor in the
floor beyond the partition. When you stepped on that you would have
been precipitated into a pit beneath the temple. Lu-don has threatened
me with this fate often. I do not know that he speaks the truth, but he
says that a demon of the temple is imprisoned there--a huge GRYF."
"There is a GRYF within the temple," said Ja-don. "What with it and the
sacrifices, the priests keep us busy supplying them with prisoners,
though the victims are sometimes those for whom Lu-don has conceived
hatred among our own people. He has had his eyes upon me for a long
time. This would have been his chance but for you. Tell me, woman, why
you warned me. Are we not all equally your jailers and your enemies?"
"None could be more horrible than Lu-don," she replied; "and you have
the appearance of a brave and honorable warrior. I could not hope, for
hope has died and yet there is the possibility that among so many
fighting men, even though they be of another race than mine, there is
one who would accord honorable treatment to a stranger within his
gates--even though she be a woman."
Ja-don looked at her for a long minute. "Ko-tan would make you his
queen," he said. "That he told me himself and surely that were
honorable treatment from one who might make you a slave."
"Why, then, would he make me queen?" she asked.
Ja-don came closer as though in fear his words might be overheard. "He
believes, although he did not tell me so in fact, that you are of the
race of gods. And why not? Jad-ben-Otho is tailless, therefore it is
not strange that Ko-tan should suspect that only the gods are thus. His
queen is dead leaving only a single daughter. He craves a son and what
more desirable than that he should found a line of rulers for
Pal-ul-don descended from the gods?"
"But I am already wed," cried Jane. "I cannot wed another. I do not
want him or his throne."
"Ko-tan is king," replied Ja-don simply as though that explained and
simplified everything.
"You will not save me then?" she asked.
"If you were in Ja-lur," he replied, "I might protect you, even against
the king."
"What and where is Ja-lur?" she asked, grasping at any straw.
"It is the city where I rule," he answered. "I am chief there and of
all the valley beyond."
"Where is it?" she insisted, and "is it far?"
"No," he replied, smiling, "it is not far, but do not think of
that--you could never reach it. There are too many to pursue and
capture you. If you wish to know, however, it lies up the river that
empties into Jad-ben-lul whose waters kiss the walls of A-lur--up the
western fork it lies with water upon three sides. Impregnable city of
Pal-ul-don--alone of all the cities it has never been entered by a
foeman since it was built there while Jad-ben-Otho was a boy."
"And there I would be safe?" she asked.
"Perhaps," he replied.
Ah, dead Hope; upon what slender provocation would you seek to glow
again! She sighed and shook her head, realizing the inutility of
Hope--yet the tempting bait dangled before her mind's eye--Ja-lur!
"You are wise," commented Ja-don interpreting her sigh. "Come now, we
will go to the quarters of the princess beside the Forbidden Garden.
There you will remain with O-lo-a, the king's daughter. It will be
better than this prison you have occupied."
"And Ko-tan?" she asked, a shudder passing through her slender frame.
"There are ceremonies," explained Ja-don, "that may occupy several days
before you become queen, and one of them may be difficult of
arrangement." He laughed, then.
"What?" she asked.
"Only the high priest may perform the marriage ceremony for a king," he
explained.
"Delay!" she murmured; "blessed delay!" Tenacious indeed of life is
Hope even though it be reduced to cold and lifeless char--a veritable
phoenix.
15
"The King Is Dead!"
As they conversed Ja-don had led her down the stone stairway that leads
from the upper floors of the Temple of the Gryf to the chambers and the
corridors that honeycomb the rocky hills from which the temple and the
palace are hewn and now they passed from one to the other through a
doorway upon one side of which two priests stood guard and upon the
other two warriors. The former would have halted Ja-don when they saw
who it was that accompanied him for well known throughout the temple
was the quarrel between king and high priest for possession of this
beautiful stranger.
"Only by order of Lu-don may she pass," said one, placing himself
directly in front of Jane Clayton, barring her progress. Through the
hollow eyes of the hideous mask the woman could see those of the priest
beneath gleaming with the fires of fanaticism. Ja-don placed an arm
about her shoulders and laid his hand upon his knife.
"She passes by order of Ko-tan, the king," he said, "and by virtue of
the fact that Ja-don, the chief, is her guide. Stand aside!"
The two warriors upon the palace side pressed forward. "We are here,
gund of Ja-lur," said one, addressing Ja-don, "to receive and obey your
commands."
The second priest now interposed. "Let them pass," he admonished his
companion. "We have received no direct commands from Lu-don to the
contrary and it is a law of the temple and the palace that chiefs and
priests may come and go without interference."
"But I know Lu-don's wishes," insisted the other.
"He told you then that Ja-don must not pass with the stranger?"
"No--but--"
"Then let them pass, for they are three to two and will pass anyway--we
have done our best."
Grumbling, the priest stepped aside. "Lu-don will exact an accounting,"
he cried angrily.
Ja-don turned upon him. "And get it when and where he will," he snapped.
They came at last to the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a where, in the
main entrance-way, loitered a small guard of palace warriors and
several stalwart black eunuchs belonging to the princess, or her women.
To one of the latter Ja-don relinquished his charge.
"Take her to the princess," he commanded, "and see that she does not
escape."
Through a number of corridors and apartments lighted by stone cressets
the eunuch led Lady Greystoke halting at last before a doorway
concealed by hangings of JATO skin, where the guide beat with his staff
upon the wall beside the door.
"O-lo-a, Princess of Pal-ul-don," he called, "here is the stranger
woman, the prisoner from the temple."
"Bid her enter," Jane heard a sweet voice from within command.
The eunuch drew aside the hangings and Lady Greystoke stepped within.
Before her was a low-ceiled room of moderate size. In each of the four
corners a kneeling figure of stone seemed to be bearing its portion of
the weight of the ceiling upon its shoulders. These figures were
evidently intended to represent Waz-don slaves and were not without
bold artistic beauty. The ceiling itself was slightly arched to a
central dome which was pierced to admit light by day, and air. Upon one
side of the room were many windows, the other three walls being blank
except for a doorway in each. The princess lay upon a pile of furs
which were arranged over a low stone dais in one corner of the
apartment and was alone except for a single Waz-don slave girl who sat
upon the edge of the dais near her feet.
As Jane entered O-lo-a beckoned her to approach and when she stood
beside the couch the girl half rose upon an elbow and surveyed her
critically.
"How beautiful you are," she said simply.
Jane smiled, sadly; for she had found that beauty may be a curse.
"That is indeed a compliment," she replied quickly, "from one so
radiant as the Princess O-lo-a."
"Ah!" exclaimed the princess delightedly; "you speak my language! I was
told that you were of another race and from some far land of which we
of Pal-ul-don have never heard."
"Lu-don saw to it that the priests instructed me," explained Jane; "but
I am from a far country, Princess; one to which I long to return--and I
am very unhappy."
"But Ko-tan, my father, would make you his queen," cried the girl;
"that should make you very happy."
"But it does not," replied the prisoner; "I love another to whom I am
already wed. Ah, Princess, if you had known what it was to love and to
be forced into marriage with another you would sympathize with me."
The Princess O-lo-a was silent for a long moment. "I know," she said at
last, "and I am very sorry for you; but if the king's daughter cannot
save herself from such a fate who may save a slave woman? for such in
fact you are."
The drinking in the great banquet hall of the palace of Ko-tan, king of
Pal-ul-don had commenced earlier this night than was usual, for the
king was celebrating the morrow's betrothal of his only daughter to
Bu-lot, son of Mo-sar, the chief, whose great-grandfather had been king
of Pal-ul-don and who thought that he should be king, and Mo-sar was
drunk and so was Bu-lot, his son. For that matter nearly all of the
warriors, including the king himself, were drunk. In the heart of
Ko-tan was no love either for Mo-sar, or Bu-lot, nor did either of
these love the king. Ko-tan was giving his daughter to Bu-lot in the
hope that the alliance would prevent Mo-sar from insisting upon his
claims to the throne, for, next to Ja-don, Mo-sar was the most powerful
of the chiefs and while Ko-tan looked with fear upon Ja-don, too, he
had no fear that the old Lion-man would attempt to seize the throne,
though which way he would throw his influence and his warriors in the
event that Mo-sar declare war upon Ko-tan, the king could not guess.
Primitive people who are also warlike are seldom inclined toward either
tact or diplomacy even when sober; but drunk they know not the words,
if aroused. It was really Bu-lot who started it.
"This," he said, "I drink to O-lo-a," and he emptied his tankard at a
single gulp. "And this," seizing a full one from a neighbor, "to her
son and mine who will bring back the throne of Pal-ul-don to its
rightful owners!"
"The king is not yet dead!" cried Ko-tan, rising to his feet; "nor is
Bu-lot yet married to his daughter--and there is yet time to save
Pal-ul-don from the spawn of the rabbit breed."
The king's angry tone and his insulting reference to Bu-lot's
well-known cowardice brought a sudden, sobering silence upon the
roistering company. Every eye turned upon Bu-lot and Mo-sar, who sat
together directly opposite the king. The first was very drunk though
suddenly he seemed quite sober. He was so drunk that for an instant he
forgot to be a coward, since his reasoning powers were so effectually
paralyzed by the fumes of liquor that he could not intelligently weigh
the consequences of his acts. It is reasonably conceivable that a drunk
and angry rabbit might commit a rash deed. Upon no other hypothesis is
the thing that Bu-lot now did explicable. He rose suddenly from the
seat to which he had sunk after delivering his toast and seizing the
knife from the sheath of the warrior upon his right hurled it with
terrific force at Ko-tan. Skilled in the art of throwing both their
knives and their clubs are the warriors of Pal-ul-don and at this short
distance and coming as it did without warning there was no defense and
but one possible result--Ko-tan, the king, lunged forward across the
table, the blade buried in his heart.
A brief silence followed the assassin's cowardly act. White with
terror, now, Bu-lot fell slowly back toward the doorway at his rear,
when suddenly angry warriors leaped with drawn knives to prevent his
escape and to avenge their king. But Mo-sar now took his stand beside
his son.
"Ko-tan is dead!" he cried. "Mo-sar is king! Let the loyal warriors of
Pal-ul-don protect their ruler!"
Mo-sar commanded a goodly following and these quickly surrounded him
and Bu-lot, but there were many knives against them and now Ja-don
pressed forward through those who confronted the pretender.
"Take them both!" he shouted. "The warriors of Pal-ul-don will choose
their own king after the assassin of Ko-tan has paid the penalty of his
treachery."
Directed now by a leader whom they both respected and admired those who
had been loyal to Ko-tan rushed forward upon the faction that had
surrounded Mo-sar. Fierce and terrible was the fighting, devoid,
apparently, of all else than the ferocious lust to kill and while it
was at its height Mo-sar and Bu-lot slipped unnoticed from the banquet
hall.
To that part of the palace assigned to them during their visit to A-lur
they hastened. Here were their servants and the lesser warriors of
their party who had not been bidden to the feast of Ko-tan. These were
directed quickly to gather together their belongings for immediate
departure. When all was ready, and it did not take long, since the
warriors of Pal-ul-don require but little impedimenta on the march,
they moved toward the palace gate.
Suddenly Mo-sar approached his son. "The princess," he whispered. "We
must not leave the city without her--she is half the battle for the
throne."
Bu-lot, now entirely sober, demurred. He had had enough of fighting and
of risk. "Let us get out of A-lur quickly," he urged, "or we shall have
the whole city upon us. She would not come without a struggle and that
would delay us too long."
"There is plenty of time," insisted Mo-sar. "They are still fighting in
the pal-e-don-so. It will be long before they miss us and, with Ko-tan
dead, long before any will think to look to the safety of the princess.
Our time is now--it was made for us by Jad-ben-Otho. Come!"
Reluctantly Bu-lot followed his father, who first instructed the
warriors to await them just inside the gateway of the palace. Rapidly
the two approached the quarters of the princess. Within the
entrance-way only a handful of warriors were on guard. The eunuchs had
retired.
"There is fighting in the pal-e-don-so," Mo-sar announced in feigned
excitement as they entered the presence of the guards. "The king
desires you to come at once and has sent us to guard the apartments of
the princess. Make haste!" he commanded as the men hesitated.
The warriors knew him and that on the morrow the princess was to be
betrothed to Bu-lot, his son. If there was trouble what more natural
than that Mo-sar and Bu-lot should be intrusted with the safety of the
princess. And then, too, was not Mo-sar a powerful chief to whose
orders disobedience might prove a dangerous thing? They were but common
fighting men disciplined in the rough school of tribal warfare, but
they had learned to obey a superior and so they departed for the
banquet hall--the place-where-men-eat.
Barely waiting until they had disappeared Mo-sar crossed to the
hangings at the opposite end of the entrance-hall and followed by
Bu-lot made his way toward the sleeping apartment of O-lo-a and a
moment later, without warning, the two men burst in upon the three
occupants of the room. At sight of them O-lo-a sprang to her feet.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded angrily.
Mo-sar advanced and halted before her. Into his cunning mind had
entered a plan to trick her. If it succeeded it would prove easier than
taking her by force, and then his eyes fell upon Jane Clayton and he
almost gasped in astonishment and admiration, but he caught himself and
returned to the business of the moment.
"O-lo-a," he cried, "when you know the urgency of our mission you will
forgive us. We have sad news for you. There has been an uprising in the
palace and Ko-tan, the king, has been slain. The rebels are drunk with
liquor and now on their way here. We must get you out of A-lur at
once--there is not a moment to lose. Come, and quickly!"
"My father dead?" cried O-lo-a, and suddenly her eyes went wide. "Then
my place is here with my people," she cried. "If Ko-tan is dead I am
queen until the warriors choose a new ruler--that is the law of
Pal-ul-don. And if I am queen none can make me wed whom I do not wish
to wed--and Jad-ben-Otho knows I never wished to wed thy cowardly son.
Go!" She pointed a slim forefinger imperiously toward the doorway.
Mo-sar saw that neither trickery nor persuasion would avail now and
every precious minute counted. He looked again at the beautiful woman
who stood beside O-lo-a. He had never before seen her but he well knew
from palace gossip that she could be no other than the godlike stranger
whom Ko-tan had planned to make his queen.
"Bu-lot," he cried to his son, "take you your own woman and I will
take--mine!" and with that he sprang suddenly forward and seizing Jane
about the waist lifted her in his arms, so that before O-lo-a or
Pan-at-lee might even guess his purpose he had disappeared through the
hangings near the foot of the dais and was gone with the stranger woman
struggling and fighting in his grasp.
And then Bu-lot sought to seize O-lo-a, but O-lo-a had her
Pan-at-lee--fierce little tiger-girl of the savage
Kor-ul-JA--Pan-at-lee whose name belied her--and Bu-lot found that with
the two of them his hands were full. When he would have lifted O-lo-a
and borne her away Pan-at-lee seized him around the legs and strove to
drag him down. Viciously he kicked her, but she would not desist, and
finally, realizing that he might not only lose his princess but be so
delayed as to invite capture if he did not rid himself of this clawing,
scratching she-JATO, he hurled O-lo-a to the floor and seizing
Pan-at-lee by the hair drew his knife and--
The curtains behind him suddenly parted. In two swift bounds a lithe
figure crossed the room and before ever the knife of Bu-lot reached its
goal his wrist was seized from behind and a terrific blow crashing to
the base of his brain dropped him, lifeless, to the floor. Bu-lot,
coward, traitor, and assassin, died without knowing who struck him down.
As Tarzan of the Apes leaped into the pool in the GRYF pit of the
temple at A-lur one might have accounted for his act on the hypothesis
that it was the last blind urge of self-preservation to delay, even for
a moment, the inevitable tragedy in which each some day must play the
leading role upon his little stage; but no--those cool, gray eyes had
caught the sole possibility for escape that the surroundings and the
circumstances offered--a tiny, moonlit patch of water glimmering
through a small aperture in the cliff at the surface of the pool upon
its farther side. With swift, bold strokes he swam for speed alone
knowing that the water would in no way deter his pursuer. Nor did it.
Tarzan heard the great splash as the huge creature plunged into the
pool behind him; he heard the churning waters as it forged rapidly
onward in his wake. He was nearing the opening--would it be large
enough to permit the passage of his body? That portion of it which
showed above the surface of the water most certainly would not. His
life, then, depended upon how much of the aperture was submerged. And
now it was directly before him and the GRYF directly behind. There was
no alternative--there was no other hope. The ape-man threw all the
resources of his great strength into the last few strokes, extended his
hands before him as a cutwater, submerged to the water's level and shot
forward toward the hole.
Frothing with rage was the baffled Lu-don as he realized how neatly the
stranger she had turned his own tables upon him. He could of course
escape the Temple of the Gryf in which her quick wit had temporarily
imprisoned him; but during the delay, however brief, Ja-don would find
time to steal her from the temple and deliver her to Ko-tan. But he
would have her yet--that the high priest swore in the names of
Jad-ben-Otho and all the demons of his faith. He hated Ko-tan. Secretly
he had espoused the cause of Mo-sar, in whom he would have a willing
tool. Perhaps, then, this would give him the opportunity he had long
awaited--a pretext for inciting the revolt that would dethrone Ko-tan
and place Mo-sar in power--with Lu-don the real ruler of Pal-ul-don. He
licked his thin lips as he sought the window through which Tarzan had
entered and now Lu-don's only avenue of escape. Cautiously he made his
way across the floor, feeling before him with his hands, and when they
discovered that the trap was set for him an ugly snarl broke from the
priest's lips. "The she-devil!" he muttered; "but she shall pay, she
shall pay--ah, Jad-ben-Otho; how she shall pay for the trick she has
played upon Lu-don!"
He crawled through the window and climbed easily downward to the
ground. Should he pursue Ja-don and the woman, chancing an encounter
with the fierce chief, or bide his time until treachery and intrigue
should accomplish his design? He chose the latter solution, as might
have been expected of such as he.
Going to his quarters he summoned several of his priests--those who
were most in his confidence and who shared his ambitions for absolute
power of the temple over the palace--all men who hated Ko-tan.
"The time has come," he told them, "when the authority of the temple
must be placed definitely above that of the palace. Ko-tan must make
way for Mo-sar, for Ko-tan has defied your high priest. Go then,
Pan-sat, and summon Mo-sar secretly to the temple, and you others go to
the city and prepare the faithful warriors that they may be in
readiness when the time comes."
For another hour they discussed the details of the coup d'etat that was
to overthrow the government of Pal-ul-don. One knew a slave who, as
the signal sounded from the temple gong, would thrust a knife into the
heart of Ko-tan, for the price of liberty. Another held personal
knowledge of an officer of the palace that he could use to compel the
latter to admit a number of Lu-don's warriors to various parts of the
palace. With Mo-sar as the cat's paw, the plan seemed scarce possible
of failure and so they separated, going upon their immediate errands to
palace and to city.
As Pan-sat entered the palace grounds he was aware of a sudden
commotion in the direction of the pal-e-don-so and a few minutes later
Lu-don was surprised to see him return to the apartments of the high
priest, breathless and excited.
"What now, Pan-sat?" cried Lu-don. "Are you pursued by demons?"
"O master, our time has come and gone while we sat here planning.
Ko-tan is already dead and Mo-sar fled. His friends are fighting with
the warriors of the palace but they have no head, while Ja-don leads
the others. I could learn but little from frightened slaves who had
fled at the outburst of the quarrel. One told me that Bu-lot had slain
the king and that he had seen Mo-sar and the assassin hurrying from the
palace."
"Ja-don," muttered the high priest. "The fools will make him king if we
do not act and act quickly. Get into the city, Pan-sat--let your feet
fly and raise the cry that Ja-don has killed the king and is seeking to
wrest the throne from O-lo-a. Spread the word as you know best how to
spread it that Ja-don has threatened to destroy the priests and hurl
the altars of the temple into Jad-ben-lul. Rouse the warriors of the
city and urge them to attack at once. Lead them into the temple by the
secret way that only the priests know and from here we may spew them
out upon the palace before they learn the truth. Go, Pan-sat,
immediately--delay not an instant."
"But stay," he called as the under priest turned to leave the
apartment; "saw or heard you anything of the strange white woman that
Ja-don stole from the Temple of the Gryf where we have had her
imprisoned?"
"Only that Ja-don took her into the palace where he threatened the
priests with violence if they did not permit him to pass," replied
Pan-sat. "This they told me, but where within the palace she is hidden
I know not."
"Ko-tan ordered her to the Forbidden Garden," said Lu-don, "doubtless
we shall find her there. And now, Pan-sat, be upon your errand."
In a corridor by Lu-don's chamber a hideously masked priest leaned
close to the curtained aperture that led within. Were he listening he
must have heard all that passed between Pan-sat and the high priest,
and that he had listened was evidenced by his hasty withdrawal to the
shadows of a nearby passage as the lesser priest moved across the
chamber toward the doorway. Pan-sat went his way in ignorance of the
near presence that he almost brushed against as he hurried toward the
secret passage that leads from the temple of Jad-ben-Otho, far beneath
the palace, to the city beyond, nor did he sense the silent creature
following in his footsteps.
16
The Secret Way
It was a baffled GRYF that bellowed in angry rage as Tarzan's sleek
brown body cutting the moonlit waters shot through the aperture in the
wall of the GRYF pool and out into the lake beyond. The ape-man smiled
as he thought of the comparative ease with which he had defeated the
purpose of the high priest but his face clouded again at the ensuing
remembrance of the grave danger that threatened his mate. His sole
object now must be to return as quickly as he might to the chamber
where he had last seen her on the third floor of the Temple of the
Gryf, but how he was to find his way again into the temple grounds was
a question not easy of solution.
In the moonlight he could see the sheer cliff rising from the water for
a great distance along the shore--far beyond the precincts of the
temple and the palace--towering high above him, a seemingly impregnable
barrier against his return. Swimming close in, he skirted the wall
searching diligently for some foothold, however slight, upon its
smooth, forbidding surface. Above him and quite out of reach were
numerous apertures, but there were no means at hand by which he could
reach them. Presently, however, his hopes were raised by the sight of
an opening level with the surface of the water. It lay just ahead and a
few strokes brought him to it--cautious strokes that brought forth no
sound from the yielding waters. At the nearer side of the opening he
stopped and reconnoitered. There was no one in sight. Carefully he
raised his body to the threshold of the entrance-way, his smooth brown
hide glistening in the moonlight as it shed the water in tiny sparkling
rivulets.
Before him stretched a gloomy corridor, unlighted save for the faint
illumination of the diffused moonlight that penetrated it for but a
short distance from the opening. Moving as rapidly as reasonable
caution warranted, Tarzan followed the corridor into the bowels of the
cave. There was an abrupt turn and then a flight of steps at the top of
which lay another corridor running parallel with the face of the cliff.
This passage was dimly lighted by flickering cressets set in niches in
the walls at considerable distances apart. A quick survey showed the
ape-man numerous openings upon each side of the corridor and his quick
ears caught sounds that indicated that there were other beings not far
distant--priests, he concluded, in some of the apartments letting upon
the passageway.
To pass undetected through this hive of enemies appeared quite beyond
the range of possibility. He must again seek disguise and knowing from
experience how best to secure such he crept stealthily along the
corridor toward the nearest doorway. Like Numa, the lion, stalking a
wary prey he crept with quivering nostrils to the hangings that shut
off his view from the interior of the apartment beyond. A moment later
his head disappeared within; then his shoulders, and his lithe body,
and the hangings dropped quietly into place again. A moment later there
filtered to the vacant corridor without a brief, gasping gurgle and
again silence. A minute passed; a second, and a third, and then the
hangings were thrust aside and a grimly masked priest of the temple of
Jad-ben-Otho strode into the passageway.
With bold steps he moved along and was about to turn into a diverging
gallery when his attention was aroused by voices coming from a room
upon his left. Instantly the figure halted and crossing the corridor
stood with an ear close to the skins that concealed the occupants of
the room from him, and him from them. Presently he leaped back into
the concealing shadows of the diverging gallery and immediately
thereafter the hangings by which he had been listening parted and a
priest emerged to turn quickly down the main corridor. The eavesdropper
waited until the other had gained a little distance and then stepping
from his place of concealment followed silently behind.
The way led along the corridor which ran parallel with the face of the
cliff for some little distance and then Pan-sat, taking a cresset from
one of the wall niches, turned abruptly into a small apartment at his
left. The tracker followed cautiously in time to see the rays of the
flickering light dimly visible from an aperture in the floor before
him. Here he found a series of steps, similar to those used by the
Waz-don in scaling the cliff to their caves, leading to a lower level.
First satisfying himself that his guide was continuing upon his way
unsuspecting, the other descended after him and continued his stealthy
stalking. The passageway was now both narrow and low, giving but bare
headroom to a tall man, and it was broken often by flights of steps
leading always downward. The steps in each unit seldom numbered more
than six and sometimes there was only one or two but in the aggregate
the tracker imagined that they had descended between fifty and
seventy-five feet from the level of the upper corridor when the
passageway terminated in a small apartment at one side of which was a
little pile of rubble.
Setting his cresset upon the ground, Pan-sat commenced hurriedly to
toss the bits of broken stone aside, presently revealing a small
aperture at the base of the wall upon the opposite side of which there
appeared to be a further accumulation of rubble. This he also removed
until he had a hole of sufficient size to permit the passage of his
body, and leaving the cresset still burning upon the floor the priest
crawled through the opening he had made and disappeared from the sight
of the watcher hiding in the shadows of the narrow passageway behind
him.
No sooner, however, was he safely gone than the other followed, finding
himself, after passing through the hole, on a little ledge about
halfway between the surface of the lake and the top of the cliff above.
The ledge inclined steeply upward, ending at the rear of a building
which stood upon the edge of the cliff and which the second priest
entered just in time to see Pan-sat pass out into the city beyond.
As the latter turned a nearby corner the other emerged from the doorway
and quickly surveyed his surroundings. He was satisfied the priest who
had led him hither had served his purpose in so far as the tracker was
concerned. Above him, and perhaps a hundred yards away, the white walls
of the palace gleamed against the northern sky. The time that it had
taken him to acquire definite knowledge concerning the secret
passageway between the temple and the city he did not count as lost,
though he begrudged every instant that kept him from the prosecution of
his main objective. It had seemed to him, however, necessary to the
success of a bold plan that he had formulated upon overhearing the
conversation between Lu-don and Pan-sat as he stood without the
hangings of the apartment of the high priest.
Alone against a nation of suspicious and half-savage enemies he could
scarce hope for a successful outcome to the one great issue upon which
hung the life and happiness of the creature he loved best. For her sake
he must win allies and it was for this purpose that he had sacrificed
these precious moments, but now he lost no further time in seeking to
regain entrance to the palace grounds that he might search out whatever
new prison they had found in which to incarcerate his lost love.
He found no difficulty in passing the guards at the entrance to the
palace for, as he had guessed, his priestly disguise disarmed all
suspicion. As he approached the warriors he kept his hands behind him
and trusted to fate that the sickly light of the single torch which
stood beside the doorway would not reveal his un-Pal-ul-donian feet. As
a matter of fact so accustomed were they to the comings and goings of
the priesthood that they paid scant attention to him and he passed on
into the palace grounds without even a moment's delay.
His goal now was the Forbidden Garden and this he had little difficulty
in reaching though he elected to enter it over the wall rather than to
chance arousing any suspicion on the part of the guards at the inner
entrance, since he could imagine no reason why a priest should seek
entrance there thus late at night.
He found the garden deserted, nor any sign of her he sought. That she
had been brought hither he had learned from the conversation he had
overheard between Lu-don and Pan-sat, and he was sure that there had
been no time or opportunity for the high priest to remove her from the
palace grounds. The garden he knew to be devoted exclusively to the
uses of the princess and her women and it was only reasonable to assume
therefore that if Jane had been brought to the garden it could only
have been upon an order from Ko-tan. This being the case the natural
assumption would follow that he would find her in some other portion of
O-lo-a's quarters.
Just where these lay he could only conjecture, but it seemed reasonable
to believe that they must be adjacent to the garden, so once more he
scaled the wall and passing around its end directed his steps toward an
entrance-way which he judged must lead to that portion of the palace
nearest the Forbidden Garden.
To his surprise he found the place unguarded and then there fell upon
his ear from an interior apartment the sound of voices raised in anger
and excitement. Guided by the sound he quickly traversed several
corridors and chambers until he stood before the hangings which
separated him from the chamber from which issued the sounds of
altercation. Raising the skins slightly he looked within. There were
two women battling with a Ho-don warrior. One was the daughter of
Ko-tan and the other Pan-at-lee, the Kor-ul-JA.
At the moment that Tarzan lifted the hangings, the warrior threw O-lo-a
viciously to the ground and seizing Pan-at-lee by the hair drew his
knife and raised it above her head. Casting the encumbering headdress
of the dead priest from his shoulders the ape-man leaped across the
intervening space and seizing the brute from behind struck him a single
terrible blow.
As the man fell forward dead, the two women recognized Tarzan
simultaneously. Pan-at-lee fell upon her knees and would have bowed her
head upon his feet had he not, with an impatient gesture, commanded her
to rise. He had no time to listen to their protestations of gratitude
or answer the numerous questions which he knew would soon be flowing
from those two feminine tongues.
"Tell me," he cried, "where is the woman of my own race whom Ja-don
brought here from the temple?"
"She is but this moment gone," cried O-lo-a. "Mo-sar, the father of
this thing here," and she indicated the body of Bu-lot with a scornful
finger, "seized her and carried her away."
"Which way?" he cried. "Tell me quickly, in what direction he took her."
"That way," cried Pan-at-lee, pointing to the doorway through which
Mo-sar had passed. "They would have taken the princess and the stranger
woman to Tu-lur, Mo-sar's city by the Dark Lake."
"I go to find her," he said to Pan-at-lee, "she is my mate. And if I
survive I shall find means to liberate you too and return you to Om-at."
Before the girl could reply he had disappeared behind the hangings of
the door near the foot of the dais. The corridor through which he ran
was illy lighted and like nearly all its kind in the Ho-don city wound
in and out and up and down, but at last it terminated at a sudden turn
which brought him into a courtyard filled with warriors, a portion of
the palace guard that had just been summoned by one of the lesser
palace chiefs to join the warriors of Ko-tan in the battle that was
raging in the banquet hall.
At sight of Tarzan, who in his haste had forgotten to recover his
disguising headdress, a great shout arose. "Blasphemer!" "Defiler of
the temple!" burst hoarsely from savage throats, and mingling with
these were a few who cried, "Dor-ul-Otho!" evidencing the fact that
there were among them still some who clung to their belief in his
divinity.
To cross the courtyard armed only with a knife, in the face of this
great throng of savage fighting men seemed even to the giant ape-man a
thing impossible of achievement. He must use his wits now and quickly
too, for they were closing upon him. He might have turned and fled back
through the corridor but flight now even in the face of dire necessity
would but delay him in his pursuit of Mo-sar and his mate.
"Stop!" he cried, raising his palm against them. "I am the Dor-ul-Otho
and I come to you with a word from Ja-don, who it is my father's will
shall be your king now that Ko-tan is slain. Lu-don, the high priest,
has planned to seize the palace and destroy the loyal warriors that
Mo-sar may be made king--Mo-sar who will be the tool and creature of
Lu-don. Follow me. There is no time to lose if you would prevent the
traitors whom Lu-don has organized in the city from entering the palace
by a secret way and overpowering Ja-don and the faithful band within."
For a moment they hesitated. At last one spoke. "What guarantee have
we," he demanded, "that it is not you who would betray us and by
leading us now away from the fighting in the banquet hall cause those
who fight at Ja-don's side to be defeated?"
"My life will be your guarantee," replied Tarzan. "If you find that I
have not spoken the truth you are sufficient in numbers to execute
whatever penalty you choose. But come, there is not time to lose.
Already are the lesser priests gathering their warriors in the city
below," and without waiting for any further parley he strode directly
toward them in the direction of the gate upon the opposite side of the
courtyard which led toward the principal entrance to the palace ground.
Slower in wit than he, they were swept away by his greater initiative
and that compelling power which is inherent to all natural leaders. And
so they followed him, the giant ape-man with a dead tail dragging the
ground behind him--a demi-god where another would have been ridiculous.
Out into the city he led them and down toward the unpretentious
building that hid Lu-don's secret passageway from the city to the
temple, and as they rounded the last turn they saw before them a
gathering of warriors which was being rapidly augmented from all
directions as the traitors of A-lur mobilized at the call of the
priesthood.
"You spoke the truth, stranger," said the chief who marched at Tarzan's
side, "for there are the warriors with the priests among them, even as
you told us."
"And now," replied the ape-man, "that I have fulfilled my promise I
will go my way after Mo-sar, who has done me a great wrong. Tell
Ja-don that Jad-ben-Otho is upon his side, nor do you forget to tell
him also that it was the Dor-ul-Otho who thwarted Lu-don's plan to
seize the palace."
"I will not forget," replied the chief. "Go your way. We are enough to
overpower the traitors."
"Tell me," asked Tarzan, "how I may know this city of Tu-lur?"
"It lies upon the south shore of the second lake below A-lur," replied
the chief, "the lake that is called Jad-in-lul."
They were now approaching the band of traitors, who evidently thought
that this was another contingent of their own party since they made no
effort either toward defense or retreat. Suddenly the chief raised his
voice in a savage war cry that was immediately taken up by his
followers, and simultaneously, as though the cry were a command, the
entire party broke into a mad charge upon the surprised rebels.
Satisfied with the outcome of his suddenly conceived plan and sure that
it would work to the disadvantage of Lu-don, Tarzan turned into a side
street and pointed his steps toward the outskirts of the city in search
of the trail that led southward toward Tu-lur.
17
By Jad-bal-lul
As Mo-sar carried Jane Clayton from the palace of Ko-tan, the king, the
woman struggled incessantly to regain her freedom. He tried to compel
her to walk, but despite his threats and his abuse she would not
voluntarily take a single step in the direction in which he wished her
to go. Instead she threw herself to the ground each time he sought to
place her upon her feet, and so of necessity he was compelled to carry
her though at last he tied her hands and gagged her to save himself
from further lacerations, for the beauty and slenderness of the woman
belied her strength and courage. When he came at last to where his men
had gathered he was glad indeed to turn her over to a couple of
stalwart warriors, but these too were forced to carry her since
Mo-sar's fear of the vengeance of Ko-tan's retainers would brook no
delays.
And thus they came down out of the hills from which A-lur is carved, to
the meadows that skirt the lower end of Jad-ben-lul, with Jane Clayton
carried between two of Mo-sar's men. At the edge of the lake lay a
fleet of strong canoes, hollowed from the trunks of trees, their bows
and sterns carved in the semblance of grotesque beasts or birds and
vividly colored by some master in that primitive school of art, which
fortunately is not without its devotees today.
Into the stern of one of these canoes the warriors tossed their captive
at a sign from Mo-sar, who came and stood beside her as the warriors
were finding their places in the canoes and selecting their paddles.
"Come, Beautiful One," he said, "let us be friends and you shall not be
harmed. You will find Mo-sar a kind master if you do his bidding," and
thinking to make a good impression on her he removed the gag from her
mouth and the thongs from her wrists, knowing well that she could not
escape surrounded as she was by his warriors, and presently, when they
were out on the lake, she would be as safely imprisoned as though he
held her behind bars.
And so the fleet moved off to the accompaniment of the gentle splashing
of a hundred paddles, to follow the windings of the rivers and lakes
through which the waters of the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho empty into the
great morass to the south. The warriors, resting upon one knee, faced
the bow and in the last canoe Mo-sar tiring of his fruitless attempts
to win responses from his sullen captive, squatted in the bottom of the
canoe with his back toward her and resting his head upon the gunwale
sought sleep.
Thus they moved in silence between the verdure-clad banks of the little
river through which the waters of Jad-ben-lul emptied--now in the
moonlight, now in dense shadow where great trees overhung the stream,
and at last out upon the waters of another lake, the black shores of
which seemed far away under the weird influence of a moonlight night.
Jane Clayton sat alert in the stern of the last canoe. For months she
had been under constant surveillance, the prisoner first of one
ruthless race and now the prisoner of another. Since the long-gone day
that Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his band of native German troops had
treacherously wrought the Kaiser's work of rapine and destruction on
the Greystoke bungalow and carried her away to captivity she had not
drawn a free breath. That she had survived unharmed the countless
dangers through which she had passed she attributed solely to the
beneficence of a kind and watchful Providence.
At first she had been held on the orders of the German High Command
with a view of her ultimate value as a hostage and during these months
she had been subjected to neither hardship nor oppression, but when the
Germans had become hard pressed toward the close of their unsuccessful
campaign in East Africa it had been determined to take her further into
the interior and now there was an element of revenge in their motives,
since it must have been apparent that she could no longer be of any
possible military value.
Bitter indeed were the Germans against that half-savage mate of hers
who had cunningly annoyed and harassed them with a fiendishness of
persistence and ingenuity that had resulted in a noticeable loss in
morale in the sector he had chosen for his operations. They had to
charge against him the lives of certain officers that he had
deliberately taken with his own hands, and one entire section of trench
that had made possible a disastrous turning movement by the British.
Tarzan had out-generaled them at every point. He had met cunning with
cunning and cruelty with cruelties until they feared and loathed his
very name. The cunning trick that they had played upon him in
destroying his home, murdering his retainers, and covering the
abduction of his wife in such a way as to lead him to believe that she
had been killed, they had regretted a thousand times, for a
thousandfold had they paid the price for their senseless ruthlessness,
and now, unable to wreak their vengeance directly upon him, they had
conceived the idea of inflicting further suffering upon his mate.
In sending her into the interior to avoid the path of the victorious
British, they had chosen as her escort Lieutenant Erich Obergatz who
had been second in command of Schneider's company, and who alone of its
officers had escaped the consuming vengeance of the ape-man. For a long
time Obergatz had held her in a native village, the chief of which was
still under the domination of his fear of the ruthless German
oppressors. While here only hardships and discomforts assailed her,
Obergatz himself being held in leash by the orders of his distant
superior but as time went on the life in the village grew to be a
veritable hell of cruelties and oppressions practiced by the arrogant
Prussian upon the villagers and the members of his native command--for
time hung heavily upon the hands of the lieutenant and with idleness
combining with the personal discomforts he was compelled to endure, his
none too agreeable temper found an outlet first in petty interference
with the chiefs and later in the practice of absolute cruelties upon
them.
What the self-sufficient German could not see was plain to Jane
Clayton--that the sympathies of Obergatz' native soldiers lay with the
villagers and that all were so heartily sickened by his abuse that it
needed now but the slightest spark to detonate the mine of revenge and
hatred that the pig-headed Hun had been assiduously fabricating beneath
his own person.
And at last it came, but from an unexpected source in the form of a
German native deserter from the theater of war. Footsore, weary, and
spent, he dragged himself into the village late one afternoon, and
before Obergatz was even aware of his presence the whole village knew
that the power of Germany in Africa was at an end. It did not take long
for the lieutenant's native soldiers to realize that the authority that
held them in service no longer existed and that with it had gone the
power to pay them their miserable wage. Or at least, so they reasoned.
To them Obergatz no longer represented aught else than a powerless and
hated foreigner, and short indeed would have been his shrift had not a
native woman who had conceived a doglike affection for Jane Clayton
hurried to her with word of the murderous plan, for the fate of the
innocent white woman lay in the balance beside that of the guilty
Teuton.
"Already they are quarreling as to which one shall possess you," she
told Jane.
"When will they come for us?" asked Jane. "Did you hear them say?"
"Tonight," replied the woman, "for even now that he has none to fight
for him they still fear the white man. And so they will come at night
and kill him while he sleeps."
Jane thanked the woman and sent her away lest the suspicion of her
fellows be aroused against her when they discovered that the two whites
had learned of their intentions. The woman went at once to the hut
occupied by Obergatz. She had never gone there before and the German
looked up in surprise as he saw who his visitor was.
Briefly she told him what she had heard. At first he was inclined to
bluster arrogantly, with a great display of bravado but she silenced
him peremptorily.
"Such talk is useless," she said shortly. "You have brought upon
yourself the just hatred of these people. Regardless of the truth or
falsity of the report which has been brought to them, they believe in
it and there is nothing now between you and your Maker other than
flight. We shall both be dead before morning if we are unable to escape
from the village unseen. If you go to them now with your silly
protestations of authority you will be dead a little sooner, that is
all."
"You think it is as bad as that?" he said, a noticeable alteration in
his tone and manner.
"It is precisely as I have told you," she replied. "They will come
tonight and kill you while you sleep. Find me pistols and a rifle and
ammunition and we will pretend that we go into the jungle to hunt. That
you have done often. Perhaps it will arouse suspicion that I accompany
you but that we must chance. And be sure my dear Herr Lieutenant to
bluster and curse and abuse your servants unless they note a change in
your manner and realizing your fear know that you suspect their
intention. If all goes well then we can go out into the jungle to hunt
and we need not return.
"But first and now you must swear never to harm me, or otherwise it
would be better that I called the chief and turned you over to him and
then put a bullet into my own head, for unless you swear as I have
asked I were no better alone in the jungle with you than here at the
mercies of these degraded blacks."
"I swear," he replied solemnly, "in the names of my God and my Kaiser
that no harm shall befall you at my hands, Lady Greystoke."
"Very well," she said, "we will make this pact to assist each other to
return to civilization, but let it be understood that there is and
never can be any semblance even of respect for you upon my part. I am
drowning and you are the straw. Carry that always in your mind, German."
If Obergatz had held any doubt as to the sincerity of her word it would
have been wholly dissipated by the scathing contempt of her tone. And
so Obergatz, without further parley, got pistols and an extra rifle for
Jane, as well as bandoleers of cartridges. In his usual arrogant and
disagreeable manner he called his servants, telling them that he and
the white kali were going out into the brush to hunt. The beaters would
go north as far as the little hill and then circle back to the east and
in toward the village. The gun carriers he directed to take the extra
pieces and precede himself and Jane slowly toward the east, waiting for
them at the ford about half a mile distant. The blacks responded with
greater alacrity than usual and it was noticeable to both Jane and
Obergatz that they left the village whispering and laughing.
"The swine think it is a great joke," growled Obergatz, "that the
afternoon before I die I go out and hunt meat for them."
As soon as the gun bearers disappeared in the jungle beyond the village
the two Europeans followed along the same trail, nor was there any
attempt upon the part of Obergatz' native soldiers, or the warriors of
the chief to detain them, for they too doubtless were more than willing
that the whites should bring them in one more mess of meat before they
killed them.
A quarter of a mile from the village, Obergatz turned toward the south
from the trail that led to the ford and hurrying onward the two put as
great a distance as possible between them and the village before night
fell. They knew from the habits of their erstwhile hosts that there was
little danger of pursuit by night since the villagers held Numa, the
lion, in too great respect to venture needlessly beyond their stockade
during the hours that the king of beasts was prone to choose for
hunting.
And thus began a seemingly endless sequence of frightful days and
horror-laden nights as the two fought their way toward the south in the
face of almost inconceivable hardships, privations, and dangers. The
east coast was nearer but Obergatz positively refused to chance
throwing himself into the hands of the British by returning to the
territory which they now controlled, insisting instead upon attempting
to make his way through an unknown wilderness to South Africa where,
among the Boers, he was convinced he would find willing sympathizers
who would find some way to return him in safety to Germany, and the
woman was perforce compelled to accompany him.
And so they had crossed the great thorny, waterless steppe and come at
last to the edge of the morass before Pal-ul-don. They had reached this
point just before the rainy season when the waters of the morass were
at their lowest ebb. At this time a hard crust is baked upon the dried
surface of the marsh and there is only the open water at the center to
materially impede progress. It is a condition that exists perhaps not
more than a few weeks, or even days at the termination of long periods
of drought, and so the two crossed the otherwise almost impassable
barrier without realizing its latent terrors. Even the open water in
the center chanced to be deserted at the time by its frightful denizens
which the drought and the receding waters had driven southward toward
the mouth of Pal-ul-don's largest river which carries the waters out of
the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho.
Their wanderings carried them across the mountains and into the Valley
of Jad-ben-Otho at the source of one of the larger streams which bears
the mountain waters down into the valley to empty them into the main
river just below The Great Lake on whose northern shore lies A-lur. As
they had come down out of the mountains they had been surprised by a
party of Ho-don hunters. Obergatz had escaped while Jane had been
taken prisoner and brought to A-lur. She had neither seen nor heard
aught of the German since that time and she did not know whether he had
perished in this strange land, or succeeded in successfully eluding its
savage denizens and making his way at last into South Africa.
For her part, she had been incarcerated alternately in the palace and
the temple as either Ko-tan or Lu-don succeeded in wresting her
temporarily from the other by various strokes of cunning and intrigue.
And now at last she was in the power of a new captor, one whom she knew
from the gossip of the temple and the palace to be cruel and degraded.
And she was in the stern of the last canoe, and every enemy back was
toward her, while almost at her feet Mo-sar's loud snores gave ample
evidence of his unconsciousness to his immediate surroundings.
The dark shore loomed closer to the south as Jane Clayton, Lady
Greystoke, slid quietly over the stern of the canoe into the chill
waters of the lake. She scarcely moved other than to keep her nostrils
above the surface while the canoe was yet discernible in the last rays
of the declining moon. Then she struck out toward the southern shore.
Alone, unarmed, all but naked, in a country overrun by savage beasts
and hostile men, she yet felt for the first time in many months a
sensation of elation and relief. She was free! What if the next moment
brought death, she knew again, at least a brief instant of absolute
freedom. Her blood tingled to the almost forgotten sensation and it was
with difficulty that she restrained a glad triumphant cry as she
clambered from the quiet waters and stood upon the silent beach.
Before her loomed a forest, darkly, and from its depths came those
nameless sounds that are a part of the night life of the jungle--the
rustling of leaves in the wind, the rubbing together of contiguous
branches, the scurrying of a rodent, all magnified by the darkness to
sinister and awe-inspiring proportions; the hoot of an owl, the distant
scream of a great cat, the barking of wild dogs, attested the presence
of the myriad life she could not see--the savage life, the free life of
which she was now a part. And then there came to her, possibly for the
first time since the giant ape-man had come into her life, a fuller
realization of what the jungle meant to him, for though alone and
unprotected from its hideous dangers she yet felt its lure upon her and
an exaltation that she had not dared hope to feel again.
Ah, if that mighty mate of hers were but by her side! What utter joy
and bliss would be hers! She longed for no more than this. The parade
of cities, the comforts and luxuries of civilization held forth no
allure half as insistent as the glorious freedom of the jungle.
A lion moaned in the blackness to her right, eliciting delicious
thrills that crept along her spine. The hair at the back of her head
seemed to stand erect--yet she was unafraid. The muscles bequeathed her
by some primordial ancestor reacted instinctively to the presence of an
ancient enemy--that was all. The woman moved slowly and deliberately
toward the wood. Again the lion moaned; this time nearer. She sought a
low-hanging branch and finding it swung easily into the friendly
shelter of the tree. The long and perilous journey with Obergatz had
trained her muscles and her nerves to such unaccustomed habits. She
found a safe resting place such as Tarzan had taught her was best and
there she curled herself, thirty feet above the ground, for a night's
rest. She was cold and uncomfortable and yet she slept, for her heart
was warm with renewed hope and her tired brain had found temporary
surcease from worry.
She slept until the heat of the sun, high in the heavens, awakened her.
She was rested and now her body was well as her heart was warm. A
sensation of ease and comfort and happiness pervaded her being. She
rose upon her gently swaying couch and stretched luxuriously, her naked
limbs and lithe body mottled by the sunlight filtering through the
foliage above combined with the lazy gesture to impart to her
appearance something of the leopard. With careful eye she scrutinized
the ground below and with attentive ear she listened for any warning
sound that might suggest the near presence of enemies, either man or
beast. Satisfied at last that there was nothing close of which she
need have fear she clambered to the ground. She wished to bathe but the
lake was too exposed and just a bit too far from the safety of the
trees for her to risk it until she became more familiar with her
surroundings. She wandered aimlessly through the forest searching for
food which she found in abundance. She ate and rested, for she had no
objective as yet. Her freedom was too new to be spoiled by plannings
for the future. The haunts of civilized man seemed to her now as vague
and unattainable as the half-forgotten substance of a dream. If she
could but live on here in peace, waiting, waiting for--HIM. It was the
old hope revived. She knew that he would come some day, if he lived.
She had always known that, though recently she had believed that he
would come too late. If he lived! Yes, he would come if he lived, and
if he did not live she were as well off here as elsewhere, for then
nothing mattered, only to wait for the end as patiently as might be.
Her wanderings brought her to a crystal brook and there she drank and
bathed beneath an overhanging tree that offered her quick asylum in the
event of danger. It was a quiet and beautiful spot and she loved it
from the first. The bottom of the brook was paved with pretty stones
and bits of glassy obsidian. As she gathered a handful of the pebbles
and held them up to look at them she noticed that one of her fingers
was bleeding from a clean, straight cut. She fell to searching for the
cause and presently discovered it in one of the fragments of volcanic
glass which revealed an edge that was almost razor-like. Jane Clayton
was elated. Here, God-given to her hands, was the first beginning with
which she might eventually arrive at both weapons and tools--a cutting
edge. Everything was possible to him who possessed it--nothing without.
She sought until she had collected many of the precious bits of
stone--until the pouch that hung at her right side was almost filled.
Then she climbed into the great tree to examine them at leisure. There
were some that looked like knife blades, and some that could easily be
fashioned into spear heads, and many smaller ones that nature seemed to
have intended for the tips of savage arrows.
The spear she would essay first--that would be easiest. There was a
hollow in the bole of the tree in a great crotch high above the ground.
Here she cached all of her treasure except a single knifelike sliver.
With this she descended to the ground and searching out a slender
sapling that grew arrow-straight she hacked and sawed until she could
break it off without splitting the wood. It was just the right diameter
for the shaft of a spear--a hunting spear such as her beloved Waziri
had liked best. How often had she watched them fashioning them, and
they had taught her how to use them, too--them and the heavy war
spears--laughing and clapping their hands as her proficiency increased.
She knew the arborescent grasses that yielded the longest and toughest
fibers and these she sought and carried to her tree with the spear
shaft that was to be. Clambering to her crotch she bent to her work,
humming softly a little tune. She caught herself and smiled--it was the
first time in all these bitter months that song had passed her lips or
such a smile.
"I feel," she sighed, "I almost feel that John is near--my John--my
Tarzan!"
She cut the spear shaft to the proper length and removed the twigs and
branches and the bark, whittling and scraping at the nubs until the
surface was all smooth and straight. Then she split one end and
inserted a spear point, shaping the wood until it fitted perfectly.
This done she laid the shaft aside and fell to splitting the thick
grass stems and pounding and twisting them until she had separated and
partially cleaned the fibers. These she took down to the brook and
washed and brought back again and wound tightly around the cleft end of
the shaft, which she had notched to receive them, and the upper part of
the spear head which she had also notched slightly with a bit of stone.
It was a crude spear but the best that she could attain in so short a
time. Later, she promised herself, she should have others--many of
them--and they would be spears of which even the greatest of the Waziri
spear-men might be proud.
18
The Lion Pit of Tu-lur
Though Tarzan searched the outskirts of the city until nearly dawn he
discovered nowhere the spoor of his mate. The breeze coming down from
the mountains brought to his nostrils a diversity of scents but there
was not among them the slightest suggestion of her whom he sought. The
natural deduction was therefore that she had been taken in some other
direction. In his search he had many times crossed the fresh tracks of
many men leading toward the lake and these he concluded had probably
been made by Jane Clayton's abductors. It had only been to minimize the
chance of error by the process of elimination that he had carefully
reconnoitered every other avenue leading from A-lur toward the
southeast where lay Mo-sar's city of Tu-lur, and now he followed the
trail to the shores of Jad-ben-lul where the party had embarked upon
the quiet waters in their sturdy canoes.
He found many other craft of the same description moored along the
shore and one of these he commandeered for the purpose of pursuit. It
was daylight when he passed through the lake which lies next below
Jad-ben-lul and paddling strongly passed within sight of the very tree
in which his lost mate lay sleeping.
Had the gentle wind that caressed the bosom of the lake been blowing
from a southerly direction the giant ape-man and Jane Clayton would
have been reunited then, but an unkind fate had willed otherwise and
the opportunity passed with the passing of his canoe which presently
his powerful strokes carried out of sight into the stream at the lower
end of the lake.
Following the winding river which bore a considerable distance to the
north before doubling back to empty into the Jad-in-lul, the ape-man
missed a portage that would have saved him hours of paddling.
It was at the upper end of this portage where Mo-sar and his warriors
had debarked that the chief discovered the absence of his captive. As
Mo-sar had been asleep since shortly after their departure from A-lur,
and as none of the warriors recalled when she had last been seen, it
was impossible to conjecture with any degree of accuracy the place
where she had escaped. The consensus of opinion was, however, that it
had been in the narrow river connecting Jad-ben-lul with the lake next
below it, which is called Jad-bal-lul, which freely translated means
the lake of gold. Mo-sar had been very wroth and having himself been
the only one at fault he naturally sought with great diligence to fix
the blame upon another.
He would have returned in search of her had he not feared to meet a
pursuing company dispatched either by Ja-don or the high priest, both
of whom, he knew, had just grievances against him. He would not even
spare a boatload of his warriors from his own protection to return in
quest of the fugitive but hastened onward with as little delay as
possible across the portage and out upon the waters of Jad-in-lul.
The morning sun was just touching the white domes of Tu-lur when
Mo-sar's paddlers brought their canoes against the shore at the city's
edge. Safe once more behind his own walls and protected by many
warriors, the courage of the chief returned sufficiently at least to
permit him to dispatch three canoes in search of Jane Clayton, and also
to go as far as A-lur if possible to learn what had delayed Bu-lot,
whose failure to reach the canoes with the balance of the party at the
time of the flight from the northern city had in no way delayed
Mo-sar's departure, his own safety being of far greater moment than
that of his son.
As the three canoes reached the portage on their return journey the
warriors who were dragging them from the water were suddenly startled
by the appearance of two priests, carrying a light canoe in the
direction of Jad-in-lul. At first they thought them the advance guard
of a larger force of Lu-don's followers, although the correctness of
such a theory was belied by their knowledge that priests never accepted
the risks or perils of a warrior's vocation, nor even fought until
driven into a corner and forced to do so. Secretly the warriors of
Pal-ul-don held the emasculated priesthood in contempt and so instead
of immediately taking up the offensive as they would have had the two
men been warriors from A-lur instead of priests, they waited to
question them.
At sight of the warriors the priests made the sign of peace and upon
being asked if they were alone they answered in the affirmative.
The leader of Mo-sar's warriors permitted them to approach. "What do
you here," he asked, "in the country of Mo-sar, so far from your own
city?"
"We carry a message from Lu-don, the high priest, to Mo-sar," explained
one.
"Is it a message of peace or of war?" asked the warrior.
"It is an offer of peace," replied the priest.
"And Lu-don is sending no warriors behind you?" queried the fighting
man.
"We are alone," the priest assured him. "None in A-lur save Lu-don
knows that we have come upon this errand."
"Then go your way," said the warrior.
"Who is that?" asked one of the priests suddenly, pointing toward the
upper end of the lake at the point where the river from Jad-bal-lul
entered it.
All eyes turned in the direction that he had indicated to see a lone
warrior paddling rapidly into Jad-in-lul, the prow of his canoe
pointing toward Tu-lur. The warriors and the priests drew into the
concealment of the bushes on either side of the portage.
"It is the terrible man who called himself the Dor-ul-Otho," whispered
one of the priests. "I would know that figure among a great multitude
as far as I could see it."
"You are right, priest," cried one of the warriors who had seen Tarzan
the day that he had first entered Ko-tan's palace. "It is indeed he who
has been rightly called Tarzan-jad-guru."
"Hasten priests," cried the leader of the party. "You are two paddles
in a light canoe. Easily can you reach Tu-lur ahead of him and warn
Mo-sar of his coming, for he has but only entered the lake."
For a moment the priests demurred for they had no stomach for an
encounter with this terrible man, but the warrior insisted and even
went so far as to threaten them. Their canoe was taken from them and
pushed into the lake and they were all but lifted bodily from their
feet and put aboard it. Still protesting they were shoved out upon the
water where they were immediately in full view of the lone paddler
above them. Now there was no alternative. The city of Tu-lur offered
the only safety and bending to their paddles the two priests sent their
craft swiftly in the direction of the city.
The warriors withdrew again to the concealment of the foliage. If
Tarzan had seen them and should come hither to investigate there were
thirty of them against one and naturally they had no fear of the
outcome, but they did not consider it necessary to go out upon the lake
to meet him since they had been sent to look for the escaped prisoner
and not to intercept the strange warrior, the stories of whose ferocity
and prowess doubtless helped them to arrive at their decision to
provoke no uncalled-for quarrel with him.
If he had seen them he gave no sign, but continued paddling steadily
and strongly toward the city, nor did he increase his speed as the two
priests shot out in full view. The moment the priests' canoe touched
the shore by the city its occupants leaped out and hurried swiftly
toward the palace gate, casting affrighted glances behind them. They
sought immediate audience with Mo-sar, after warning the warriors on
guard that Tarzan was approaching.
They were conducted at once to the chief, whose court was a smaller
replica of that of the king of A-lur. "We come from Lu-don, the high
priest," explained the spokesman. "He wishes the friendship of Mo-sar,
who has always been his friend. Ja-don is gathering warriors to make
himself king. Throughout the villages of the Ho-don are thousands who
will obey the commands of Lu-don, the high priest. Only with Lu-don's
assistance can Mo-sar become king, and the message from Lu-don is that
if Mo-sar would retain the friendship of Lu-don he must return
immediately the woman he took from the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a."
At this juncture a warrior entered. His excitement was evident. "The
Dor-ul-Otho has come to Tu-lur and demands to see Mo-sar at once," he
said.
"The Dor-ul-Otho!" exclaimed Mo-sar.
"That is the message he sent," replied the warrior, "and indeed he is
not as are the people of Pal-ul-don. He is, we think, the same of whom
the warriors that returned from A-lur today told us and whom some call
Tarzan-jad-guru and some Dor-ul-Otho. But indeed only the son of god
would dare come thus alone to a strange city, so it must be that he
speaks the truth."
Mo-sar, his heart filled with terror and indecision, turned
questioningly toward the priests.
"Receive him graciously, Mo-sar," counseled he who had spoken before,
his advice prompted by the petty shrewdness of his defective brain
which, under the added influence of Lu-don's tutorage leaned always
toward duplicity. "Receive him graciously and when he is quite
convinced of your friendship he will be off his guard, and then you may
do with him as you will. But if possible, Mo-sar, and you would win the
undying gratitude of Lu-don, the high-priest, save him alive for my
master."
Mo-sar nodded understandingly and turning to the warrior commanded that
he conduct the visitor to him.
"We must not be seen by the creature," said one of the priests. "Give
us your answer to Lu-don, Mo-sar, and we will go our way."
"Tell Lu-don," replied the chief, "that the woman would have been lost
to him entirely had it not been for me. I sought to bring her to Tu-lur
that I might save her for him from the clutches of Ja-don, but during
the night she escaped. Tell Lu-don that I have sent thirty warriors to
search for her. It is strange you did not see them as you came."
"We did," replied the priests, "but they told us nothing of the purpose
of their journey."
"It is as I have told you," said Mo-sar, "and if they find her, assure
your master that she will be kept unharmed in Tu-lur for him. Also tell
him that I will send my warriors to join with his against Ja-don
whenever he sends word that he wants them. Now go, for Tarzan-jad-guru
will soon be here."
He signaled to a slave. "Lead the priests to the temple," he commanded,
"and ask the high priest of Tu-lur to see that they are fed and
permitted to return to A-lur when they will."
The two priests were conducted from the apartment by the slave through
a doorway other than that at which they had entered, and a moment later
Tarzan-jad-guru strode into the presence of Mo-sar, ahead of the
warrior whose duty it had been to conduct and announce him. The ape-man
made no sign of greeting or of peace but strode directly toward the
chief who, only by the exertion of his utmost powers of will, hid the
terror that was in his heart at sight of the giant figure and the
scowling face.
"I am the Dor-ul-Otho," said the ape-man in level tones that carried to
the mind of Mo-sar a suggestion of cold steel; "I am Dor-ul-Otho, and I
come to Tu-lur for the woman you stole from the apartments of O-lo-a,
the princess."
The very boldness of Tarzan's entry into this hostile city had had the
effect of giving him a great moral advantage over Mo-sar and the savage
warriors who stood upon either side of the chief. Truly it seemed to
them that no other than the son of Jad-ben-Otho would dare so heroic an
act. Would any mortal warrior act thus boldly, and alone enter the
presence of a powerful chief and, in the midst of a score of warriors,
arrogantly demand an accounting? No, it was beyond reason. Mo-sar was
faltering in his decision to betray the stranger by seeming
friendliness. He even paled to a sudden thought--Jad-ben-Otho knew
everything, even our inmost thoughts. Was it not therefore possible
that this creature, if after all it should prove true that he was the
Dor-ul-Otho, might even now be reading the wicked design that the
priests had implanted in the brain of Mo-sar and which he had
entertained so favorably? The chief squirmed and fidgeted upon the
bench of hewn rock that was his throne.
"Quick," snapped the ape-man, "Where is she?"
"She is not here," cried Mo-sar.
"You lie," replied Tarzan.
"As Jad-ben-Otho is my witness, she is not in Tu-lur," insisted the
chief. "You may search the palace and the temple and the entire city
but you will not find her, for she is not here."
"Where is she, then?" demanded the ape-man. "You took her from the
palace at A-lur. If she is not here, where is she? Tell me not that
harm has befallen her," and he took a sudden threatening step toward
Mo-sar, that sent the chief shrinking back in terror.
"Wait," he cried, "if you are indeed the Dor-ul-Otho you will know that
I speak the truth. I took her from the palace of Ko-tan to save her for
Lu-don, the high priest, lest with Ko-tan dead Ja-don seize her. But
during the night she escaped from me between here and A-lur, and I have
but just sent three canoes full-manned in search of her."
Something in the chief's tone and manner assured the ape-man that he
spoke in part the truth, and that once again he had braved incalculable
dangers and suffered loss of time futilely.
"What wanted the priests of Lu-don that preceded me here?" demanded
Tarzan chancing a shrewd guess that the two he had seen paddling so
frantically to avoid a meeting with him had indeed come from the high
priest at A-lur.
"They came upon an errand similar to yours," replied Mo-sar; "to demand
the return of the woman whom Lu-don thought I had stolen from him, thus
wronging me as deeply, O Dor-ul-Otho, as have you."
"I would question the priests," said Tarzan. "Bring them hither." His
peremptory and arrogant manner left Mo-sar in doubt as to whether to be
more incensed, or terrified, but ever as is the way with such as he, he
concluded that the first consideration was his own safety. If he could
transfer the attention and the wrath of this terrible man from himself
to Lu-don's priests it would more than satisfy him and if they should
conspire to harm him, then Mo-sar would be safe in the eyes of
Jad-ben-Otho if it finally developed that the stranger was in reality
the son of god. He felt uncomfortable in Tarzan's presence and this
fact rather accentuated his doubt, for thus indeed would mortal feel in
the presence of a god. Now he saw a way to escape, at least temporarily.
"I will fetch them myself, Dor-ul-Otho," he said, and turning, left the
apartment. His hurried steps brought him quickly to the temple, for the
palace grounds of Tu-lur, which also included the temple as in all of
the Ho-don cities, covered a much smaller area than those of the larger
city of A-lur. He found Lu-don's messengers with the high priest of his
own temple and quickly transmitted to them the commands of the ape-man.
"What do you intend to do with him?" asked one of the priests.
"I have no quarrel with him," replied Mo-sar. "He came in peace and he
may depart in peace, for who knows but that he is indeed the
Dor-ul-Otho?"
"We know that he is not," replied Lu-don's emissary. "We have every
proof that he is only mortal, a strange creature from another country.
Already has Lu-don offered his life to Jad-ben-Otho if he is wrong in
his belief that this creature is not the son of god. If the high priest
of A-lur, who is the highest priest of all the high priests of
Pal-ul-don is thus so sure that the creature is an impostor as to stake
his life upon his judgment then who are we to give credence to the
claims of this stranger? No, Mo-sar, you need not fear him. He is only
a warrior who may be overcome with the same weapons that subdue your
own fighting men. Were it not for Lu-don's command that he be taken
alive I would urge you to set your warriors upon him and slay him, but
the commands of Lu-don are the commands of Jad-ben-Otho himself, and
those we may not disobey."
But still the remnant of a doubt stirred within the cowardly breast of
Mo-sar, urging him to let another take the initiative against the
stranger.
"He is yours then," he replied, "to do with as you will. I have no
quarrel with him. What you may command shall be the command of Lu-don,
the high priest, and further than that I shall have nothing to do in
the matter."
The priests turned to him who guided the destinies of the temple at
Tu-lur. "Have you no plan?" they asked. "High indeed will he stand in
the counsels of Lu-don and in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho who finds the
means to capture this impostor alive."
"There is the lion pit," whispered the high priest. "It is now vacant
and what will hold JA and JATO will hold this stranger if he is not the
Dor-ul-Otho."
"It will hold him," said Mo-sar; "doubtless too it would hold a GRYF,
but first you would have to get the GRYF into it."
The priests pondered this bit of wisdom thoughtfully and then one of
those from A-lur spoke. "It should not be difficult," he said, "if we
use the wits that Jad-ben-Otho gave us instead of the worldly muscles
which were handed down to us from our fathers and our mothers and which
have not even the power possessed by those of the beasts that run about
on four feet."
"Lu-don matched his wits with the stranger and lost," suggested Mo-sar.
"But this is your own affair. Carry it out as you see best."
"At A-lur, Ko-tan made much of this Dor-ul-Otho and the priests
conducted him through the temple. It would arouse in his mind no
suspicion were you to do the same, and let the high priest of Tu-lur
invite him to the temple and gathering all the priests make a great
show of belief in his kinship to Jad-ben-Otho. And what more natural
then than that the high priest should wish to show him through the
temple as did Lu-don at A-lur when Ko-tan commanded it, and if by
chance he should be led through the lion pit it would be a simple
matter for those who bear the torches to extinguish them suddenly and
before the stranger was aware of what had happened, the stone gates
could be dropped, thus safely securing him."
"But there are windows in the pit that let in light," interposed the
high priest, "and even though the torches were extinguished he could
still see and might escape before the stone door could be lowered."
"Send one who will cover the windows tightly with hides," said the
priest from A-lur.
"The plan is a good one," said Mo-sar, seeing an opportunity for
entirely eliminating himself from any suspicion of complicity, "for it
will require the presence of no warriors, and thus with only priests
about him his mind will entertain no suspicion of harm."
They were interrupted at this point by a messenger from the palace who
brought word that the Dor-ul-Otho was becoming impatient and if the
priests from A-lur were not brought to him at once he would come
himself to the temple and get them. Mo-sar shook his head. He could not
conceive of such brazen courage in mortal breast and glad he was that
the plan evolved for Tarzan's undoing did not necessitate his active
participation.
And so, while Mo-sar left for a secret corner of the palace by a
roundabout way, three priests were dispatched to Tarzan and with
whining words that did not entirely deceive him, they acknowledged his
kinship to Jad-ben-Otho and begged him in the name of the high priest
to honor the temple with a visit, when the priests from A-lur would be
brought to him and would answer any questions that he put to them.
Confident that a continuation of his bravado would best serve his
purpose, and also that if suspicion against him should crystallize into
conviction on the part of Mo-sar and his followers that he would be no
worse off in the temple than in the palace, the ape-man haughtily
accepted the invitation of the high priest.
And so he came into the temple and was received in a manner befitting
his high claims. He questioned the two priests of A-lur from whom he
obtained only a repetition of the story that Mo-sar had told him, and
then the high priest invited him to inspect the temple.
They took him first to the altar court, of which there was only one in
Tu-lur. It was almost identical in every respect with those at A-lur.
There was a bloody altar at the east end and the drowning basin at the
west, and the grizzly fringes upon the headdresses of the priests
attested the fact that the eastern altar was an active force in the
rites of the temple. Through the chambers and corridors beneath they
led him, and finally, with torch bearers to light their steps, into a
damp and gloomy labyrinth at a low level and here in a large chamber,
the air of which was still heavy with the odor of lions, the crafty
priests of Tu-lur encompassed their shrewd design.
The torches were suddenly extinguished. There was a hurried confusion
of bare feet moving rapidly across the stone floor. There was a loud
crash as of a heavy weight of stone falling upon stone, and then
surrounding the ape-man naught but the darkness and the silence of the
tomb.
19
Diana of the Jungle
Jane had made her first kill and she was very proud of it. It was not a
very formidable animal--only a hare; but it marked an epoch in her
existence. Just as in the dim past the first hunter had shaped the
destinies of mankind so it seemed that this event might shape hers in
some new mold. No longer was she dependent upon the wild fruits and
vegetables for sustenance. Now she might command meat, the giver of the
strength and endurance she would require successfully to cope with the
necessities of her primitive existence.
The next step was fire. She might learn to eat raw flesh as had her
lord and master; but she shrank from that. The thought even was
repulsive. She had, however, a plan for fire. She had given the matter
thought, but had been too busy to put it into execution so long as fire
could be of no immediate use to her. Now it was different--she had
something to cook and her mouth watered for the flesh of her kill. She
would grill it above glowing embers. Jane hastened to her tree. Among
the treasures she had gathered in the bed of the stream were several
pieces of volcanic glass, clear as crystal. She sought until she had
found the one in mind, which was convex. Then she hurried to the ground
and gathered a little pile of powdered bark that was very dry, and some
dead leaves and grasses that had lain long in the hot sun. Near at hand
she arranged a supply of dead twigs and branches--small and large.
Vibrant with suppressed excitement she held the bit of glass above the
tinder, moving it slowly until she had focused the sun's rays upon a
tiny spot. She waited breathlessly. How slow it was! Were her high
hopes to be dashed in spite of all her clever planning? No! A thin
thread of smoke rose gracefully into the quiet air. Presently the
tinder glowed and broke suddenly into flame. Jane clasped her hands
beneath her chin with a little gurgling exclamation of delight. She had
achieved fire!
She piled on twigs and then larger branches and at last dragged a small
log to the flames and pushed an end of it into the fire which was
crackling merrily. It was the sweetest sound that she had heard for
many a month. But she could not wait for the mass of embers that would
be required to cook her hare. As quickly as might be she skinned and
cleaned her kill, burying the hide and entrails. That she had learned
from Tarzan. It served two purposes. One was the necessity for keeping
a sanitary camp and the other the obliteration of the scent that most
quickly attracts the man-eaters.
Then she ran a stick through the carcass and held it above the flames.
By turning it often she prevented burning and at the same time
permitted the meat to cook thoroughly all the way through. When it was
done she scampered high into the safety of her tree to enjoy her meal
in quiet and peace. Never, thought Lady Greystoke, had aught more
delicious passed her lips. She patted her spear affectionately. It had
brought her this toothsome dainty and with it a feeling of greater
confidence and safety than she had enjoyed since that frightful day
that she and Obergatz had spent their last cartridge. She would never
forget that day--it had seemed one hideous succession of frightful
beast after frightful beast. They had not been long in this strange
country, yet they thought that they were hardened to dangers, for daily
they had had encounters with ferocious creatures; but this day--she
shuddered when she thought of it. And with her last cartridge she had
killed a black and yellow striped lion-thing with great saber teeth
just as it was about to spring upon Obergatz who had futilely emptied
his rifle into it--the last shot--his final cartridge. For another day
they had carried the now useless rifles; but at last they had discarded
them and thrown away the cumbersome bandoleers, as well. How they had
managed to survive during the ensuing week she could never quite
understand, and then the Ho-don had come upon them and captured her.
Obergatz had escaped--she was living it all over again. Doubtless he
was dead unless he had been able to reach this side of the valley which
was quite evidently less overrun with savage beasts.
Jane's days were very full ones now, and the daylight hours seemed all
too short in which to accomplish the many things she had determined
upon, since she had concluded that this spot presented as ideal a place
as she could find to live until she could fashion the weapons she
considered necessary for the obtaining of meat and for self-defense.
She felt that she must have, in addition to a good spear, a knife, and
bow and arrows. Possibly when these had been achieved she might
seriously consider an attempt to fight her way to one of civilization's
nearest outposts. In the meantime it was necessary to construct some
sort of protective shelter in which she might feel a greater sense of
security by night, for she knew that there was a possibility that any
night she might receive a visit from a prowling panther, although she
had as yet seen none upon this side of the valley. Aside from this
danger she felt comparatively safe in her aerial retreat.
The cutting of the long poles for her home occupied all of the daylight
hours that were not engaged in the search for food. These poles she
carried high into her tree and with them constructed a flooring across
two stout branches binding the poles together and also to the branches
with fibers from the tough arboraceous grasses that grew in profusion
near the stream. Similarly she built walls and a roof, the latter
thatched with many layers of great leaves. The fashioning of the barred
windows and the door were matters of great importance and consuming
interest. The windows, there were two of them, were large and the bars
permanently fixed; but the door was small, the opening just large
enough to permit her to pass through easily on hands and knees, which
made it easier to barricade. She lost count of the days that the house
cost her; but time was a cheap commodity--she had more of it than of
anything else. It meant so little to her that she had not even any
desire to keep account of it. How long since she and Obergatz had fled
from the wrath of the Negro villagers she did not know and she could
only roughly guess at the seasons. She worked hard for two reasons; one
was to hasten the completion of her little place of refuge, and the
other a desire for such physical exhaustion at night that she would
sleep through those dreaded hours to a new day. As a matter of fact the
house was finished in less than a week--that is, it was made as safe as
it ever would be, though regardless of how long she might occupy it she
would keep on adding touches and refinements here and there.
Her daily life was filled with her house building and her hunting, to
which was added an occasional spice of excitement contributed by roving
lions. To the woodcraft that she had learned from Tarzan, that master
of the art, was added a considerable store of practical experience
derived from her own past adventures in the jungle and the long months
with Obergatz, nor was any day now lacking in some added store of
useful knowledge. To these facts was attributable her apparent immunity
from harm, since they told her when JA was approaching before he crept
close enough for a successful charge and, too, they kept her close to
those never-failing havens of retreat--the trees.
The nights, filled with their weird noises, were lonely and depressing.
Only her ability to sleep quickly and soundly made them endurable. The
first night that she spent in her completed house behind barred windows
and barricaded door was one of almost undiluted peace and happiness.
The night noises seemed far removed and impersonal and the soughing of
the wind in the trees was gently soothing. Before, it had carried a
mournful note and was sinister in that it might hide the approach of
some real danger. That night she slept indeed.
She went further afield now in search of food. So far nothing but
rodents had fallen to her spear--her ambition was an antelope, since
beside the flesh it would give her, and the gut for her bow, the hide
would prove invaluable during the colder weather that she knew would
accompany the rainy season. She had caught glimpses of these wary
animals and was sure that they always crossed the stream at a certain
spot above her camp. It was to this place that she went to hunt them.
With the stealth and cunning of a panther she crept through the forest,
circling about to get up wind from the ford, pausing often to look and
listen for aught that might menace her--herself the personification of
a hunted deer. Now she moved silently down upon the chosen spot. What
luck! A beautiful buck stood drinking in the stream. The woman wormed
her way closer. Now she lay upon her belly behind a small bush within
throwing distance of the quarry. She must rise to her full height and
throw her spear almost in the same instant and she must throw it with
great force and perfect accuracy. She thrilled with the excitement of
the minute, yet cool and steady were her swift muscles as she rose and
cast her missile. Scarce by the width of a finger did the point strike
from the spot at which it had been directed. The buck leaped high,
landed upon the bank of the stream, and fell dead. Jane Clayton sprang
quickly forward toward her kill.
"Bravo!" A man's voice spoke in English from the shrubbery upon the
opposite side of the stream. Jane Clayton halted in her
tracks--stunned, almost, by surprise. And then a strange, unkempt
figure of a man stepped into view. At first she did not recognize him,
but when she did, instinctively she stepped back.
"Lieutenant Obergatz!" she cried. "Can it be you?"
"It can. It is," replied the German. "I am a strange sight, no doubt;
but still it is I, Erich Obergatz. And you? You have changed too, is it
not?"
He was looking at her naked limbs and her golden breastplates, the loin
cloth of JATO-hide, the harness and ornaments that constitute the
apparel of a Ho-don woman--the things that Lu-don had dressed her in as
his passion for her grew. Not Ko-tan's daughter, even, had finer
trappings.
"But why are you here?" Jane insisted. "I had thought you safely among
civilized men by this time, if you still lived."
"Gott!" he exclaimed. "I do not know why I continue to live. I have
prayed to die and yet I cling to life. There is no hope. We are doomed
to remain in this horrible land until we die. The bog! The frightful
bog! I have searched its shores for a place to cross until I have
entirely circled the hideous country. Easily enough we entered; but the
rains have come since and now no living man could pass that slough of
slimy mud and hungry reptiles. Have I not tried it! And the beasts that
roam this accursed land. They hunt me by day and by night."
"But how have you escaped them?" she asked.
"I do not know," he replied gloomily. "I have fled and fled and fled. I
have remained hungry and thirsty in tree tops for days at a time. I
have fashioned weapons--clubs and spears--and I have learned to use
them. I have slain a lion with my club. So even will a cornered rat
fight. And we are no better than rats in this land of stupendous
dangers, you and I. But tell me about yourself. If it is surprising
that I live, how much more so that you still survive."
Briefly she told him and all the while she was wondering what she might
do to rid herself of him. She could not conceive of a prolonged
existence with him as her sole companion. Better, a thousand times
better, to be alone. Never had her hatred and contempt for him lessened
through the long weeks and months of their constant companionship, and
now that he could be of no service in returning her to civilization,
she shrank from the thought of seeing him daily. And, too, she feared
him. Never had she trusted him; but now there was a strange light in
his eye that had not been there when last she saw him. She could not
interpret it--all she knew was that it gave her a feeling of
apprehension--a nameless dread.
"You lived long then in the city of A-lur?" he said, speaking in the
language of Pal-ul-don.
"You have learned this tongue?" she asked. "How?"
"I fell in with a band of half-breeds," he replied, "members of a
proscribed race that dwells in the rock-bound gut through which the
principal river of the valley empties into the morass. They are called
Waz-ho-don and their village is partly made up of cave dwellings and
partly of houses carved from the soft rock at the foot of the cliff.
They are very ignorant and superstitious and when they first saw me and
realized that I had no tail and that my hands and feet were not like
theirs they were afraid of me. They thought that I was either god or
demon. Being in a position where I could neither escape them nor defend
myself, I made a bold front and succeeded in impressing them to such an
extent that they conducted me to their city, which they call Bu-lur,
and there they fed me and treated me with kindness. As I learned their
language I sought to impress them more and more with the idea that I
was a god, and I succeeded, too, until an old fellow who was something
of a priest among them, or medicine-man, became jealous of my growing
power. That was the beginning of the end and came near to being the end
in fact. He told them that if I was a god I would not bleed if a knife
was stuck into me--if I did bleed it would prove conclusively that I
was not a god. Without my knowledge he arranged to stage the ordeal
before the whole village upon a certain night--it was upon one of those
numerous occasions when they eat and drink to Jad-ben-Otho, their pagan
deity. Under the influence of their vile liquor they would be ripe for
any bloodthirsty scheme the medicine-man might evolve. One of the women
told me about the plan--not with any intent to warn me of danger, but
prompted merely by feminine curiosity as to whether or not I would
bleed if stuck with a dagger. She could not wait, it seemed, for the
orderly procedure of the ordeal--she wanted to know at once, and when I
caught her trying to slip a knife into my side and questioned her she
explained the whole thing with the utmost naivete. The warriors
already had commenced drinking--it would have been futile to make any
sort of appeal either to their intellects or their superstitions. There
was but one alternative to death and that was flight. I told the woman
that I was very much outraged and offended at this reflection upon my
godhood and that as a mark of my disfavor I should abandon them to
their fate.
"'I shall return to heaven at once!' I exclaimed.
"She wanted to hang around and see me go, but I told her that her eyes
would be blasted by the fire surrounding my departure and that she must
leave at once and not return to the spot for at least an hour. I also
impressed upon her the fact that should any other approach this part of
the village within that time not only they, but she as well, would
burst into flames and be consumed.
"She was very much impressed and lost no time in leaving, calling back
as she departed that if I were indeed gone in an hour she and all the
village would know that I was no less than Jad-ben-Otho himself, and so
they must think me, for I can assure you that I was gone in much less
than an hour, nor have I ventured close to the neighborhood of the city
of Bu-lur since," and he fell to laughing in harsh, cackling notes that
sent a shiver through the woman's frame.
As Obergatz talked Jane had recovered her spear from the carcass of the
antelope and commenced busying herself with the removal of the hide.
The man made no attempt to assist her, but stood by talking and
watching her, the while he continually ran his filthy fingers through
his matted hair and beard. His face and body were caked with dirt and
he was naked except for a torn greasy hide about his loins. His weapons
consisted of a club and knife of Waz-don pattern, that he had stolen
from the city of Bu-lur; but what more greatly concerned the woman than
his filth or his armament were his cackling laughter and the strange
expression in his eyes.
She went on with her work, however, removing those parts of the buck
she wanted, taking only as much meat as she might consume before it
spoiled, as she was not sufficiently a true jungle creature to relish
it beyond that stage, and then she straightened up and faced the man.
"Lieutenant Obergatz," she said, "by a chance of accident we have met
again. Certainly you would not have sought the meeting any more than I.
We have nothing in common other than those sentiments which may have
been engendered by my natural dislike and suspicion of you, one of the
authors of all the misery and sorrow that I have endured for endless
months. This little corner of the world is mine by right of discovery
and occupation. Go away and leave me to enjoy here what peace I may. It
is the least that you can do to amend the wrong that you have done me
and mine."
The man stared at her through his fishy eyes for a moment in silence,
then there broke from his lips a peal of mirthless, uncanny laughter.
"Go away! Leave you alone!" he cried. "I have found you. We are going
to be good friends. There is no one else in the world but us. No one
will ever know what we do or what becomes of us and now you ask me to
go away and live alone in this hellish solitude." Again he laughed,
though neither the muscles of his eyes or his mouth reflected any
mirth--it was just a hollow sound that imitated laughter.
"Remember your promise," she said.
"Promise! Promise! What are promises? They are made to be broken--we
taught the world that at Liege and Louvain. No, no! I will not go
away. I shall stay and protect you."
"I do not need your protection," she insisted. "You have already seen
that I can use a spear."
"Yes," he said; "but it would not be right to leave you here alone--you
are but a woman. No, no; I am an officer of the Kaiser and I cannot
abandon you."
Once more he laughed. "We could be very happy here together," he added.
The woman could not repress a shudder, nor, in fact, did she attempt to
hide her aversion.
"You do not like me?" he asked. "Ah, well; it is too sad. But some day
you will love me," and again the hideous laughter.
The woman had wrapped the pieces of the buck in the hide and this she
now raised and threw across her shoulder. In her other hand she held
her spear and faced the German.
"Go!" she commanded. "We have wasted enough words. This is my country
and I shall defend it. If I see you about again I shall kill you. Do
you understand?"
An expression of rage contorted Obergatz' features. He raised his club
and started toward her.
"Stop!" she commanded, throwing her spear-hand backward for a cast.
"You saw me kill this buck and you have said truthfully that no one
will ever know what we do here. Put these two facts together, German,
and draw your own conclusions before you take another step in my
direction."
The man halted and his club-hand dropped to his side. "Come," he begged
in what he intended as a conciliatory tone. "Let us be friends, Lady
Greystoke. We can be of great assistance to each other and I promise
not to harm you."
"Remember Liege and Louvain," she reminded him with a sneer. "I am
going now--be sure that you do not follow me. As far as you can walk in
a day from this spot in any direction you may consider the limits of my
domain. If ever again I see you within these limits I shall kill you."
There could be no question that she meant what she said and the man
seemed convinced for he but stood sullenly eyeing her as she backed
from sight beyond a turn in the game trail that crossed the ford where
they had met, and disappeared in the forest.
20
Silently in the Night
In A-lur the fortunes of the city had been tossed from hand to hand.
The party of Ko-tan's loyal warriors that Tarzan had led to the
rendezvous at the entrance to the secret passage below the palace gates
had met with disaster. Their first rush had been met with soft words
from the priests. They had been exhorted to defend the faith of their
fathers from blasphemers. Ja-don was painted to them as a defiler of
temples, and the wrath of Jad-ben-Otho was prophesied for those who
embraced his cause. The priests insisted that Lu-don's only wish was to
prevent the seizure of the throne by Ja-don until a new king could be
chosen according to the laws of the Ho-don.
The result was that many of the palace warriors joined their fellows of
the city, and when the priests saw that those whom they could influence
outnumbered those who remained loyal to the palace, they caused the
former to fall upon the latter with the result that many were killed
and only a handful succeeded in reaching the safety of the palace
gates, which they quickly barred.
The priests led their own forces through the secret passageway into the
temple, while some of the loyal ones sought out Ja-don and told him all
that had happened. The fight in the banquet hall had spread over a
considerable portion of the palace grounds and had at last resulted in
the temporary defeat of those who had opposed Ja-don. This force,
counseled by under priests sent for the purpose by Lu-don, had
withdrawn within the temple grounds so that now the issue was plainly
marked as between Ja-don on the one side and Lu-don on the other.
The former had been told of all that had occurred in the apartments of
O-lo-a to whose safety he had attended at the first opportunity and he
had also learned of Tarzan's part in leading his men to the gathering
of Lu-don's warriors.
These things had naturally increased the old warrior's former
inclinations of friendliness toward the ape-man, and now he regretted
that the other had departed from the city.
The testimony of O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee was such as to strengthen
whatever belief in the godliness of the stranger Ja-don and others of
the warriors had previously entertained, until presently there appeared
a strong tendency upon the part of this palace faction to make the
Dor-ul-otho an issue of their original quarrel with Lu-don. Whether
this occurred as the natural sequence to repeated narrations of the
ape-man's exploits, which lost nothing by repetition, in conjunction
with Lu-don's enmity toward him, or whether it was the shrewd design of
some wily old warrior such as Ja-don, who realized the value of adding
a religious cause to their temporal one, it were difficult to
determine; but the fact remained that Ja-don's followers developed
bitter hatred for the followers of Lu-don because of the high priest's
antagonism to Tarzan.
Unfortunately however Tarzan was not there to inspire the followers of
Ja-don with the holy zeal that might have quickly settled the dispute
in the old chieftain's favor. Instead, he was miles away and because
their repeated prayers for his presence were unanswered, the weaker
spirits among them commenced to suspect that their cause did not have
divine favor. There was also another and a potent cause for defection
from the ranks of Ja-don. It emanated from the city where the friends
and relatives of the palace warriors, who were largely also the friends
and relatives of Lu-don's forces, found the means, urged on by the
priesthood, to circulate throughout the palace pernicious propaganda
aimed at Ja-don's cause.
The result was that Lu-don's power increased while that of Ja-don
waned. Then followed a sortie from the temple which resulted in the
defeat of the palace forces, and though they were able to withdraw in
decent order withdraw they did, leaving the palace to Lu-don, who was
now virtually ruler of Pal-ul-don.
Ja-don, taking with him the princess, her women, and their slaves,
including Pan-at-lee, as well as the women and children of his faithful
followers, retreated not only from the palace but from the city of
A-lur as well and fell back upon his own city of Ja-lur. Here he
remained, recruiting his forces from the surrounding villages of the
north which, being far removed from the influence of the priesthood of
A-lur, were enthusiastic partisans in any cause that the old chieftain
espoused, since for years he had been revered as their friend and
protector.
And while these events were transpiring in the north, Tarzan-jad-guru
lay in the lion pit at Tu-lur while messengers passed back and forth
between Mo-sar and Lu-don as the two dickered for the throne of
Pal-ul-don. Mo-sar was cunning enough to guess that should an open
breach occur between himself and the high priest he might use his
prisoner to his own advantage, for he had heard whisperings among even
his own people that suggested that there were those who were more than
a trifle inclined to belief in the divinity of the stranger and that he
might indeed be the Dor-ul-Otho. Lu-don wanted Tarzan himself. He
wanted to sacrifice him upon the eastern altar with his own hands
before a multitude of people, since he was not without evidence that
his own standing and authority had been lessened by the claims of the
bold and heroic figure of the stranger.
The method that the high priest of Tu-lur had employed to trap Tarzan
had left the ape-man in possession of his weapons though there seemed
little likelihood of their being of any service to him. He also had his
pouch, in which were the various odds and ends which are the natural
accumulation of all receptacles from a gold meshbag to an attic. There
were bits of obsidian and choice feathers for arrows, some pieces of
flint and a couple of steel, an old knife, a heavy bone needle, and
strips of dried gut. Nothing very useful to you or me, perhaps; but
nothing useless to the savage life of the ape-man.
When Tarzan realized the trick that had been so neatly played upon him
he had awaited expectantly the coming of the lion, for though the scent
of JA was old he was sure that sooner or later they would let one of
the beasts in upon him. His first consideration was a thorough
exploration of his prison. He had noticed the hide-covered windows and
these he immediately uncovered, letting in the light, and revealing the
fact that though the chamber was far below the level of the temple
courts it was yet many feet above the base of the hill from which the
temple was hewn. The windows were so closely barred that he could not
see over the edge of the thick wall in which they were cut to determine
what lay close in below him. At a little distance were the blue waters
of Jad-in-lul and beyond, the verdure-clad farther shore, and beyond
that the mountains. It was a beautiful picture upon which he looked--a
picture of peace and harmony and quiet. Nor anywhere a slightest
suggestion of the savage men and beasts that claimed this lovely
landscape as their own. What a paradise! And some day civilized man
would come and--spoil it! Ruthless axes would raze that age-old wood;
black, sticky smoke would rise from ugly chimneys against that azure
sky; grimy little boats with wheels behind or upon either side would
churn the mud from the bottom of Jad-in-lul, turning its blue waters to
a dirty brown; hideous piers would project into the lake from squalid
buildings of corrugated iron, doubtless, for of such are the pioneer
cities of the world.
But would civilized man come? Tarzan hoped not. For countless
generations civilization had ramped about the globe; it had dispatched
its emissaries to the North Pole and the South; it had circled
Pal-ul-don once, perhaps many times, but it had never touched her. God
grant that it never would. Perhaps He was saving this little spot to be
always just as He had made it, for the scratching of the Ho-don and the
Waz-don upon His rocks had not altered the fair face of Nature.
Through the windows came sufficient light to reveal the whole interior
to Tarzan. The room was fairly large and there was a door at each
end--a large door for men and a smaller one for lions. Both were closed
with heavy masses of stone that had been lowered in grooves running to
the floor. The two windows were small and closely barred with the first
iron that Tarzan had seen in Pal-ul-don. The bars were let into holes
in the casing, and the whole so strongly and neatly contrived that
escape seemed impossible. Yet within a few minutes of his incarceration
Tarzan had commenced to undertake his escape. The old knife in his
pouch was brought into requisition and slowly the ape-man began to
scrape and chip away the stone from about the bars of one of the
windows. It was slow work but Tarzan had the patience of absolute
health.
Each day food and water were brought him and slipped quickly beneath
the smaller door which was raised just sufficiently to allow the stone
receptacles to pass in. The prisoner began to believe that he was being
preserved for something beside lions. However that was immaterial. If
they would but hold off for a few more days they might select what fate
they would--he would not be there when they arrived to announce it.
And then one day came Pan-sat, Lu-don's chief tool, to the city of
Tu-lur. He came ostensibly with a fair message for Mo-sar from the high
priest at A-lur. Lu-don had decided that Mo-sar should be king and he
invited Mo-sar to come at once to A-lur and then Pan-sat, having
delivered the message, asked that he might go to the temple of Tu-lur
and pray, and there he sought the high priest of Tu-lur to whom was the
true message that Lu-don had sent. The two were closeted alone in a
little chamber and Pan-sat whispered into the ear of the high priest.
"Mo-sar wishes to be king," he said, "and Lu-don wishes to be king.
Mo-sar wishes to retain the stranger who claims to be the Dor-ul-Otho
and Lu-don wishes to kill him, and now," he leaned even closer to the
ear of the high priest of Tu-lur, "if you would be high priest at A-lur
it is within your power."
Pan-sat ceased speaking and waited for the other's reply. The high
priest was visibly affected. To be high priest at A-lur! That was
almost as good as being king of all Pal-ul-don, for great were the
powers of him who conducted the sacrifices upon the altars of A-lur.
"How?" whispered the high priest. "How may I become high priest at
A-lur?"
Again Pan-sat leaned close: "By killing the one and bringing the other
to A-lur," replied he. Then he rose and departed knowing that the other
had swallowed the bait and could be depended upon to do whatever was
required to win him the great prize.
Nor was Pan-sat mistaken other than in one trivial consideration. This
high priest would indeed commit murder and treason to attain the high
office at A-lur; but he had misunderstood which of his victims was to
be killed and which to be delivered to Lu-don. Pan-sat, knowing himself
all the details of the plannings of Lu-don, had made the quite natural
error of assuming that the other was perfectly aware that only by
publicly sacrificing the false Dor-ul-Otho could the high priest at
A-lur bolster his waning power and that the assassination of Mo-sar,
the pretender, would remove from Lu-don's camp the only obstacle to his
combining the offices of high priest and king. The high priest at
Tu-lur thought that he had been commissioned to kill Tarzan and bring
Mo-sar to A-lur. He also thought that when he had done these things he
would be made high priest at A-lur; but he did not know that already
the priest had been selected who was to murder him within the hour that
he arrived at A-lur, nor did he know that a secret grave had been
prepared for him in the floor of a subterranean chamber in the very
temple he dreamed of controlling.
And so when he should have been arranging the assassination of his
chief he was leading a dozen heavily bribed warriors through the dark
corridors beneath the temple to slay Tarzan in the lion pit. Night had
fallen. A single torch guided the footsteps of the murderers as they
crept stealthily upon their evil way, for they knew that they were
doing the thing that their chief did not want done and their guilty
consciences warned them to stealth.
In the dark of his cell the ape-man worked at his seemingly endless
chipping and scraping. His keen ears detected the coming of footsteps
along the corridor without--footsteps that approached the larger door.
Always before had they come to the smaller door--the footsteps of a
single slave who brought his food. This time there were many more than
one and their coming at this time of night carried a sinister
suggestion. Tarzan continued to work at his scraping and chipping. He
heard them stop beyond the door. All was silence broken only by the
scrape, scrape, scrape of the ape-man's tireless blade.
Those without heard it and listening sought to explain it. They
whispered in low tones making their plans. Two would raise the door
quickly and the others would rush in and hurl their clubs at the
prisoner. They would take no chances, for the stories that had
circulated in A-lur had been brought to Tu-lur--stories of the great
strength and wonderful prowess of Tarzan-jad-guru that caused the sweat
to stand upon the brows of the warriors, though it was cool in the damp
corridor and they were twelve to one.
And then the high priest gave the signal--the door shot upward and ten
warriors leaped into the chamber with poised clubs. Three of the heavy
weapons flew across the room toward a darker shadow that lay in the
shadow of the opposite wall, then the flare of the torch in the
priest's hand lighted the interior and they saw that the thing at which
they had flung their clubs was a pile of skins torn from the windows
and that except for themselves the chamber was vacant.
One of them hastened to a window. All but a single bar was gone and to
this was tied one end of a braided rope fashioned from strips cut from
the leather window hangings.
To the ordinary dangers of Jane Clayton's existence was now added the
menace of Obergatz' knowledge of her whereabouts. The lion and the
panther had given her less cause for anxiety than did the return of the
unscrupulous Hun, whom she had always distrusted and feared, and whose
repulsiveness was now immeasurably augmented by his unkempt and filthy
appearance, his strange and mirthless laughter, and his unnatural
demeanor. She feared him now with a new fear as though he had suddenly
become the personification of some nameless horror. The wholesome,
outdoor life that she had been leading had strengthened and rebuilt her
nervous system yet it seemed to her as she thought of him that if this
man should ever touch her she should scream, and, possibly, even faint.
Again and again during the day following their unexpected meeting the
woman reproached herself for not having killed him as she would JA or
JATO or any other predatory beast that menaced her existence or her
safety. There was no attempt at self-justification for these sinister
reflections--they needed no justification. The standards by which the
acts of such as you or I may be judged could not apply to hers. We have
recourse to the protection of friends and relatives and the civil
soldiery that upholds the majesty of the law and which may be invoked
to protect the righteous weak against the unrighteous strong; but Jane
Clayton comprised within herself not only the righteous weak but all
the various agencies for the protection of the weak. To her, then,
Lieutenant Erich Obergatz presented no different problem than did JA,
the lion, other than that she considered the former the more dangerous
animal. And so she determined that should he ignore her warning there
would be no temporizing upon the occasion of their next meeting--the
same swift spear that would meet JA's advances would meet his.
That night her snug little nest perched high in the great tree seemed
less the sanctuary that it had before. What might resist the sanguinary
intentions of a prowling panther would prove no great barrier to man,
and influenced by this thought she slept less well than before. The
slightest noise that broke the monotonous hum of the nocturnal jungle
startled her into alert wakefulness to lie with straining ears in an
attempt to classify the origin of the disturbance, and once she was
awakened thus by a sound that seemed to come from something moving in
her own tree. She listened intently--scarce breathing. Yes, there it
was again. A scuffing of something soft against the hard bark of the
tree. The woman reached out in the darkness and grasped her spear. Now
she felt a slight sagging of one of the limbs that supported her
shelter as though the thing, whatever it was, was slowly raising its
weight to the branch. It came nearer. Now she thought that she could
detect its breathing. It was at the door. She could hear it fumbling
with the frail barrier. What could it be? It made no sound by which she
might identify it. She raised herself upon her hands and knees and
crept stealthily the little distance to the doorway, her spear clutched
tightly in her hand. Whatever the thing was, it was evidently
attempting to gain entrance without awakening her. It was just beyond
the pitiful little contraption of slender boughs that she had bound
together with grasses and called a door--only a few inches lay between
the thing and her. Rising to her knees she reached out with her left
hand and felt until she found a place where a crooked branch had left
an opening a couple of inches wide near the center of the barrier. Into
this she inserted the point of her spear. The thing must have heard her
move within for suddenly it abandoned its efforts for stealth and tore
angrily at the obstacle. At the same moment Jane thrust her spear
forward with all her strength. She felt it enter flesh. There was a
scream and a curse from without, followed by the crashing of a body
through limbs and foliage. Her spear was almost dragged from her grasp,
but she held to it until it broke free from the thing it had pierced.
It was Obergatz; the curse had told her that. From below came no
further sound. Had she, then, killed him? She prayed so--with all her
heart she prayed it. To be freed from the menace of this loathsome
creature were relief indeed. During all the balance of the night she
lay there awake, listening. Below her, she imagined, she could see the
dead man with his hideous face bathed in the cold light of the
moon--lying there upon his back staring up at her.
She prayed that JA might come and drag it away, but all during the
remainder of the night she heard never another sound above the drowsy
hum of the jungle. She was glad that he was dead, but she dreaded the
gruesome ordeal that awaited her on the morrow, for she must bury the
thing that had been Erich Obergatz and live on there above the shallow
grave of the man she had slain.
She reproached herself for her weakness, repeating over and over that
she had killed in self-defense, that her act was justified; but she was
still a woman of today, and strong upon her were the iron mandates of
the social order from which she had sprung, its interdictions and its
superstitions.
At last came the tardy dawn. Slowly the sun topped the distant
mountains beyond Jad-in-lul. And yet she hesitated to loosen the
fastenings of her door and look out upon the thing below. But it must
be done. She steeled herself and untied the rawhide thong that secured
the barrier. She looked down and only the grass and the flowers looked
up at her. She came from her shelter and examined the ground upon the
opposite side of the tree--there was no dead man there, nor anywhere as
far as she could see. Slowly she descended, keeping a wary eye and an
alert ear ready for the first intimation of danger.
At the foot of the tree was a pool of blood and a little trail of
crimson drops upon the grass, leading away parallel with the shore of
Jad-ben-lul. Then she had not slain him! She was vaguely aware of a
peculiar, double sensation of relief and regret. Now she would be
always in doubt. He might return; but at least she would not have to
live above his grave.
She thought some of following the bloody spoor on the chance that he
might have crawled away to die later, but she gave up the idea for fear
that she might find him dead nearby, or, worse yet badly wounded. What
then could she do? She could not finish him with her spear--no, she
knew that she could not do that, nor could she bring him back and nurse
him, nor could she leave him there to die of hunger or of thirst, or to
become the prey of some prowling beast. It were better then not to
search for him for fear that she might find him.
That day was one of nervous starting to every sudden sound. The day
before she would have said that her nerves were of iron; but not today.
She knew now the shock that she had suffered and that this was the
reaction. Tomorrow it might be different, but something told her that
never again would her little shelter and the patch of forest and jungle
that she called her own be the same. There would hang over them always
the menace of this man. No longer would she pass restful nights of
deep slumber. The peace of her little world was shattered forever.
That night she made her door doubly secure with additional thongs of
rawhide cut from the pelt of the buck she had slain the day that she
met Obergatz. She was very tired for she had lost much sleep the night
before; but for a long time she lay with wide-open eyes staring into
the darkness. What saw she there? Visions that brought tears to those
brave and beautiful eyes--visions of a rambling bungalow that had been
home to her and that was no more, destroyed by the same cruel force
that haunted her even now in this remote, uncharted corner of the
earth; visions of a strong man whose protecting arm would never press
her close again; visions of a tall, straight son who looked at her
adoringly out of brave, smiling eyes that were like his father's.
Always the vision of the crude simple bungalow rather than of the
stately halls that had been as much a part of her life as the other.
But he had loved the bungalow and the broad, free acres best and so she
had come to love them best, too.
At last she slept, the sleep of utter exhaustion. How long it lasted
she did not know; but suddenly she was wide awake and once again she
heard the scuffing of a body against the bark of her tree and again the
limb bent to a heavy weight. He had returned! She went cold, trembling
as with ague. Was it he, or, O God! had she killed him then and was
this--? She tried to drive the horrid thought from her mind, for this
way, she knew, lay madness.
And once again she crept to the door, for the thing was outside just as
it had been last night. Her hands trembled as she placed the point of
her weapon to the opening. She wondered if it would scream as it fell.
21
The Maniac
The last bar that would make the opening large enough to permit his
body to pass had been removed as Tarzan heard the warriors whispering
beyond the stone door of his prison. Long since had the rope of hide
been braided. To secure one end to the remaining bar that he had left
for this purpose was the work of but a moment, and while the warriors
whispered without, the brown body of the ape-man slipped through the
small aperture and disappeared below the sill.
Tarzan's escape from the cell left him still within the walled area
that comprised the palace and temple grounds and buildings. He had
reconnoitered as best he might from the window after he had removed
enough bars to permit him to pass his head through the opening, so that
he knew what lay immediately before him--a winding and usually deserted
alleyway leading in the direction of the outer gate that opened from
the palace grounds into the city.
The darkness would facilitate his escape. He might even pass out of the
palace and the city without detection. If he could elude the guard at
the palace gate the rest would be easy. He strode along confidently,
exhibiting no fear of detection, for he reasoned that thus would he
disarm suspicion. In the darkness he easily could pass for a Ho-don and
in truth, though he passed several after leaving the deserted alley, no
one accosted or detained him, and thus he came at last to the guard of
a half-dozen warriors before the palace gate. These he attempted to
pass in the same unconcerned fashion and he might have succeeded had it
not been for one who came running rapidly from the direction of the
temple shouting: "Let no one pass the gates! The prisoner has escaped
from the pal-ul-JA!"
Instantly a warrior barred his way and simultaneously the fellow
recognized him. "Xot tor!" he exclaimed: "Here he is now. Fall upon
him! Fall upon him! Back! Back before I kill you."
The others came forward. It cannot be said that they rushed forward. If
it was their wish to fall upon him there was a noticeable lack of
enthusiasm other than that which directed their efforts to persuade
someone else to fall upon him. His fame as a fighter had been too long
a topic of conversation for the good of the morale of Mo-sar's
warriors. It were safer to stand at a distance and hurl their clubs and
this they did, but the ape-man had learned something of the use of this
weapon since he had arrived in Pal-ul-don. And as he learned great had
grown his respect for this most primitive of arms. He had come to
realize that the black savages he had known had never appreciated the
possibilities of their knob sticks, nor had he, and he had discovered,
too, why the Pal-ul-donians had turned their ancient spears into
plowshares and pinned their faith to the heavy-ended club alone. In
deadly execution it was far more effective than a spear and it
answered, too, every purpose of a shield, combining the two in one and
thus reducing the burden of the warrior. Thrown as they throw it,
after the manner of the hammer-throwers of the Olympian games, an
ordinary shield would prove more a weakness than a strength while one
that would be strong enough to prove a protection would be too heavy to
carry. Only another club, deftly wielded to deflect the course of an
enemy missile, is in any way effective against these formidable weapons
and, too, the war club of Pal-ul-don can be thrown with accuracy a far
greater distance than any spear.
And now was put to the test that which Tarzan had learned from Om-at
and Ta-den. His eyes and his muscles trained by a lifetime of necessity
moved with the rapidity of light and his brain functioned with an
uncanny celerity that suggested nothing less than prescience, and these
things more than compensated for his lack of experience with the war
club he handled so dexterously. Weapon after weapon he warded off and
always he moved with a single idea in mind--to place himself within
reach of one of his antagonists. But they were wary for they feared
this strange creature to whom the superstitious fears of many of them
attributed the miraculous powers of deity. They managed to keep between
Tarzan and the gateway and all the time they bawled lustily for
reinforcements. Should these come before he had made his escape the
ape-man realized that the odds against him would be unsurmountable, and
so he redoubled his efforts to carry out his design.
Following their usual tactics two or three of the warriors were always
circling behind him collecting the thrown clubs when Tarzan's attention
was directed elsewhere. He himself retrieved several of them which he
hurled with such deadly effect as to dispose of two of his antagonists,
but now he heard the approach of hurrying warriors, the patter of their
bare feet upon the stone pavement and then the savage cries which were
to bolster the courage of their fellows and fill the enemy with fear.
There was no time to lose. Tarzan held a club in either hand and,
swinging one he hurled it at a warrior before him and as the man dodged
he rushed in and seized him, at the same time casting his second club
at another of his opponents. The Ho-don with whom he grappled reached
instantly for his knife but the ape-man grasped his wrist. There was a
sudden twist, the snapping of a bone and an agonized scream, then the
warrior was lifted bodily from his feet and held as a shield between
his fellows and the fugitive as the latter backed through the gateway.
Beside Tarzan stood the single torch that lighted the entrance to the
palace grounds. The warriors were advancing to the succor of their
fellow when the ape-man raised his captive high above his head and
flung him full in the face of the foremost attacker. The fellow went
down and two directly behind him sprawled headlong over their companion
as the ape-man seized the torch and cast it back into the palace
grounds to be extinguished as it struck the bodies of those who led the
charging reinforcements.
In the ensuing darkness Tarzan disappeared in the streets of Tu-lur
beyond the palace gate. For a time he was aware of sounds of pursuit
but the fact that they trailed away and died in the direction of
Jad-in-lul informed him that they were searching in the wrong
direction, for he had turned south out of Tu-lur purposely to throw
them off his track. Beyond the outskirts of the city he turned directly
toward the northwest, in which direction lay A-lur.
In his path he knew lay Jad-bal-lul, the shore of which he was
compelled to skirt, and there would be a river to cross at the lower
end of the great lake upon the shores of which lay A-lur. What other
obstacles lay in his way he did not know but he believed that he could
make better time on foot than by attempting to steal a canoe and force
his way up stream with a single paddle. It was his intention to put as
much distance as possible between himself and Tu-lur before he slept
for he was sure that Mo-sar would not lightly accept his loss, but that
with the coming of day, or possibly even before, he would dispatch
warriors in search of him.
A mile or two from the city he entered a forest and here at last he
felt such a measure of safety as he never knew in open spaces or in
cities. The forest and the jungle were his birthright. No creature that
went upon the ground upon four feet, or climbed among the trees, or
crawled upon its belly had any advantage over the ape-man in his native
heath. As myrrh and frankincense were the dank odors of rotting
vegetation in the nostrils of the great Tarmangani. He squared his
broad shoulders and lifting his head filled his lungs with the air that
he loved best. The heavy fragrance of tropical blooms, the commingled
odors of the myriad-scented life of the jungle went to his head with a
pleasurable intoxication far more potent than aught contained in the
oldest vintages of civilization.
He took to the trees now, not from necessity but from pure love of the
wild freedom that had been denied him so long. Though it was dark and
the forest strange yet he moved with a surety and ease that bespoke
more a strange uncanny sense than wondrous skill. He heard JA moaning
somewhere ahead and an owl hooted mournfully to the right of him--long
familiar sounds that imparted to him no sense of loneliness as they
might to you or to me, but on the contrary one of companionship for
they betokened the presence of his fellows of the jungle, and whether
friend or foe it was all the same to the ape-man.
He came at last to a little stream at a spot where the trees did not
meet above it so he was forced to descend to the ground and wade
through the water and upon the opposite shore he stopped as though
suddenly his godlike figure had been transmuted from flesh to marble.
Only his dilating nostrils bespoke his pulsing vitality. For a long
moment he stood there thus and then swiftly, but with a caution and
silence that were inherent in him he moved forward again, but now his
whole attitude bespoke a new urge. There was a definite and masterful
purpose in every movement of those steel muscles rolling softly beneath
the smooth brown hide. He moved now toward a certain goal that quite
evidently filled him with far greater enthusiasm than had the possible
event of his return to A-lur.
And so he came at last to the foot of a great tree and there he stopped
and looked up above him among the foliage where the dim outlines of a
roughly rectangular bulk loomed darkly. There was a choking sensation
in Tarzan's throat as he raised himself gently into the branches. It
was as though his heart were swelling either to a great happiness or a
great fear.
Before the rude shelter built among the branches he paused listening.
From within there came to his sensitive nostrils the same delicate
aroma that had arrested his eager attention at the little stream a mile
away. He crouched upon the branch close to the little door.
"Jane," he called, "heart of my heart, it is I."
The only answer from within was as the sudden indrawing of a breath
that was half gasp and half sigh, and the sound of a body falling to
the floor. Hurriedly Tarzan sought to release the thongs which held the
door but they were fastened from the inside, and at last, impatient
with further delay, he seized the frail barrier in one giant hand and
with a single effort tore it completely away. And then he entered to
find the seemingly lifeless body of his mate stretched upon the floor.
He gathered her in his arms; her heart beat; she still breathed, and
presently he realized that she had but swooned.
When Jane Clayton regained consciousness it was to find herself held
tightly in two strong arms, her head pillowed upon the broad shoulder
where so often before her fears had been soothed and her sorrows
comforted. At first she was not sure but that it was all a dream.
Timidly her hand stole to his cheek.
"John," she murmured, "tell me, is it really you?"
In reply he drew her more closely to him. "It is I," he replied. "But
there is something in my throat," he said haltingly, "that makes it
hard for me to speak."
She smiled and snuggled closer to him. "God has been good to us, Tarzan
of the Apes," she said.
For some time neither spoke. It was enough that they were reunited and
that each knew that the other was alive and safe. But at last they
found their voices and when the sun rose they were still talking, so
much had each to tell the other; so many questions there were to be
asked and answered.
"And Jack," she asked, "where is he?"
"I do not know," replied Tarzan. "The last I heard of him he was on the
Argonne Front."
"Ah, then our happiness is not quite complete," she said, a little note
of sadness creeping into her voice.
"No," he replied, "but the same is true in countless other English
homes today, and pride is learning to take the place of happiness in
these."
She shook her head, "I want my boy," she said.
"And I too," replied Tarzan, "and we may have him yet. He was safe and
unwounded the last word I had. And now," he said, "we must plan upon
our return. Would you like to rebuild the bungalow and gather together
the remnants of our Waziri or would you rather return to London?"
"Only to find Jack," she said. "I dream always of the bungalow and
never of the city, but John, we can only dream, for Obergatz told me
that he had circled this whole country and found no place where he
might cross the morass."
"I am not Obergatz," Tarzan reminded her, smiling. "We will rest today
and tomorrow we will set out toward the north. It is a savage country,
but we have crossed it once and we can cross it again."
And so, upon the following morning, the Tarmangani and his mate went
forth upon their journey across the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho, and ahead
of them were fierce men and savage beasts, and the lofty mountains of
Pal-ul-don; and beyond the mountains the reptiles and the morass, and
beyond that the arid, thorn-covered steppe, and other savage beasts and
men and weary, hostile miles of untracked wilderness between them and
the charred ruins of their home.
Lieutenant Erich Obergatz crawled through the grass upon all fours,
leaving a trail of blood behind him after Jane's spear had sent him
crashing to the ground beneath her tree. He made no sound after the one
piercing scream that had acknowledged the severity of his wound. He was
quiet because of a great fear that had crept into his warped brain that
the devil woman would pursue and slay him. And so he crawled away like
some filthy beast of prey, seeking a thicket where he might lie down
and hide.
He thought that he was going to die, but he did not, and with the
coming of the new day he discovered that his wound was superficial. The
rough obsidian-shod spear had entered the muscles of his side beneath
his right arm inflicting a painful, but not a fatal wound. With the
realization of this fact came a renewed desire to put as much distance
as possible between himself and Jane Clayton. And so he moved on, still
going upon all fours because of a persistent hallucination that in this
way he might escape observation. Yet though he fled his mind still
revolved muddily about a central desire--while he fled from her he
still planned to pursue her, and to his lust of possession was added a
desire for revenge. She should pay for the suffering she had inflicted
upon him. She should pay for rebuffing him, but for some reason which
he did not try to explain to himself he would crawl away and hide. He
would come back though. He would come back and when he had finished
with her, he would take that smooth throat in his two hands and crush
the life from her.
He kept repeating this over and over to himself and then he fell to
laughing out loud, the cackling, hideous laughter that had terrified
Jane. Presently he realized his knees were bleeding and that they hurt
him. He looked cautiously behind. No one was in sight. He listened. He
could hear no indications of pursuit and so he rose to his feet and
continued upon his way a sorry sight--covered with filth and blood, his
beard and hair tangled and matted and filled with burrs and dried mud
and unspeakable filth. He kept no track of time. He ate fruits and
berries and tubers that he dug from the earth with his fingers. He
followed the shore of the lake and the river that he might be near
water, and when JA roared or moaned he climbed a tree and hid there,
shivering.
And so after a time he came up the southern shore of Jad-ben-lul until
a wide river stopped his progress. Across the blue water a white city
glimmered in the sun. He looked at it for a long time, blinking his
eyes like an owl. Slowly a recollection forced itself through his
tangled brain. This was A-lur, the City of Light. The association of
ideas recalled Bu-lur and the Waz-ho-don. They had called him
Jad-ben-Otho. He commenced to laugh aloud and stood up very straight
and strode back and forth along the shore. "I am Jad-ben-Otho," he
cried, "I am the Great God. In A-lur is my temple and my high priests.
What is Jad-ben-Otho doing here alone in the jungle?"
He stepped out into the water and raising his voice shrieked loudly
across toward A-lur. "I am Jad-ben-Otho!" he screamed. "Come hither
slaves and take your god to his temple." But the distance was great and
they did not hear him and no one came, and the feeble mind was
distracted by other things--a bird flying in the air, a school of
minnows swimming around his feet. He lunged at them trying to catch
them, and falling upon his hands and knees he crawled through the water
grasping futilely at the elusive fish.
Presently it occurred to him that he was a sea lion and he forgot the
fish and lay down and tried to swim by wriggling his feet in the water
as though they were a tail. The hardships, the privations, the terrors,
and for the past few weeks the lack of proper nourishment had reduced
Erich Obergatz to little more than a gibbering idiot.
A water snake swam out upon the surface of the lake and the man pursued
it, crawling upon his hands and knees. The snake swam toward the shore
just within the mouth of the river where tall reeds grew thickly and
Obergatz followed, making grunting noises like a pig. He lost the snake
within the reeds but he came upon something else--a canoe hidden there
close to the bank. He examined it with cackling laughter. There were
two paddles within it which he took and threw out into the current of
the river. He watched them for a while and then he sat down beside the
canoe and commenced to splash his hands up and down upon the water. He
liked to hear the noise and see the little splashes of spray. He rubbed
his left forearm with his right palm and the dirt came off and left a
white spot that drew his attention. He rubbed again upon the now
thoroughly soaked blood and grime that covered his body. He was not
attempting to wash himself; he was merely amused by the strange
results. "I am turning white," he cried. His glance wandered from his
body now that the grime and blood were all removed and caught again the
white city shimmering beneath the hot sun.
"A-lur--City of Light!" he shrieked and that reminded him again of
Tu-lur and by the same process of associated ideas that had before
suggested it, he recalled that the Waz-ho-don had thought him
Jad-ben-Otho.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho!" he screamed and then his eyes fell again upon the
canoe. A new idea came and persisted. He looked down at himself,
examining his body, and seeing the filthy loin cloth, now water soaked
and more bedraggled than before, he tore it from him and flung it into
the lake. "Gods do not wear dirty rags," he said aloud. "They do not
wear anything but wreaths and garlands of flowers and I am a god--I am
Jad-ben-Otho--and I go in state to my sacred city of A-lur."
He ran his fingers through his matted hair and beard. The water had
softened the burrs but had not removed them. The man shook his head.
His hair and beard failed to harmonize with his other godly attributes.
He was commencing to think more clearly now, for the great idea had
taken hold of his scattered wits and concentrated them upon a single
purpose, but he was still a maniac. The only difference being that he
was now a maniac with a fixed intent. He went out on the shore and
gathered flowers and ferns and wove them in his beard and hair--blazing
blooms of different colors--green ferns that trailed about his ears or
rose bravely upward like the plumes in a lady's hat.
When he was satisfied that his appearance would impress the most casual
observer with his evident deity he returned to the canoe, pushed it
from shore and jumped in. The impetus carried it into the river's
current and the current bore it out upon the lake. The naked man stood
erect in the center of the little craft, his arms folded upon his
chest. He screamed aloud his message to the city: "I am Jad-ben-Otho!
Let the high priest and the under priests attend upon me!"
As the current of the river was dissipated by the waters of the lake
the wind caught him and his craft and carried them bravely forward.
Sometimes he drifted with his back toward A-lur and sometimes with his
face toward it, and at intervals he shrieked his message and his
commands. He was still in the middle of the lake when someone
discovered him from the palace wall, and as he drew nearer, a crowd of
warriors and women and children were congregated there watching him and
along the temple walls were many priests and among them Lu-don, the
high priest. When the boat had drifted close enough for them to
distinguish the bizarre figure standing in it and for them to catch the
meaning of his words Lu-don's cunning eyes narrowed. The high priest
had learned of the escape of Tarzan and he feared that should he join
Ja-don's forces, as seemed likely, he would attract many recruits who
might still believe in him, and the Dor-ul-Otho, even if a false one,
upon the side of the enemy might easily work havoc with Lu-don's plans.
The man was drifting close in. His canoe would soon be caught in the
current that ran close to shore here and carried toward the river that
emptied the waters of Jad-ben-lul into Jad-bal-lul. The under priests
were looking toward Lu-don for instructions.
"Fetch him hither!" he commanded. "If he is Jad-ben-Otho I shall know
him."
The priests hurried to the palace grounds and summoned warriors. "Go,
bring the stranger to Lu-don. If he is Jad-ben-Otho we shall know him."
And so Lieutenant Erich Obergatz was brought before the high priest at
A-lur. Lu-don looked closely at the naked man with the fantastic
headdress.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho," cried the German. "I came from heaven. Where is my
high priest?"
"I am the high priest," replied Lu-don.
Obergatz clapped his hands. "Have my feet bathed and food brought to
me," he commanded.
Lu-don's eyes narrowed to mere slits of crafty cunning. He bowed low
until his forehead touched the feet of the stranger. Before the eyes of
many priests, and warriors from the palace he did it.
"Ho, slaves," he cried, rising; "fetch water and food for the Great
God," and thus the high priest acknowledged before his people the
godhood of Lieutenant Erich Obergatz, nor was it long before the story
ran like wildfire through the palace and out into the city and beyond
that to the lesser villages all the way from A-lur to Tu-lur.
The real god had come--Jad-ben-Otho himself, and he had espoused the
cause of Lu-don, the high priest. Mo-sar lost no time in placing
himself at the disposal of Lu-don, nor did he mention aught about his
claims to the throne. It was Mo-sar's opinion that he might consider
himself fortunate were he allowed to remain in peaceful occupation of
his chieftainship at Tu-lur, nor was Mo-sar wrong in his deductions.
But Lu-don could still use him and so he let him live and sent word to
him to come to A-lur with all his warriors, for it was rumored that
Ja-don was raising a great army in the north and might soon march upon
the City of Light.
Obergatz thoroughly enjoyed being a god. Plenty of food and peace of
mind and rest partially brought back to him the reason that had been so
rapidly slipping from him; but in one respect he was madder than ever,
since now no power on earth would ever be able to convince him that he
was not a god. Slaves were put at his disposal and these he ordered
about in godly fashion. The same portion of his naturally cruel mind
met upon common ground the mind of Lu-don, so that the two seemed
always in accord. The high priest saw in the stranger a mighty force
wherewith to hold forever his power over all Pal-ul-don and thus the
future of Obergatz was assured so long as he cared to play god to
Lu-don's high priest.
A throne was erected in the main temple court before the eastern altar
where Jad-ben-Otho might sit in person and behold the sacrifices that
were offered up to him there each day at sunset. So much did the
cruel, half-crazed mind enjoy these spectacles that at times he even
insisted upon wielding the sacrificial knife himself and upon such
occasions the priests and the people fell upon their faces in awe of
the dread deity.
If Obergatz taught them not to love their god more he taught them to
fear him as they never had before, so that the name of Jad-ben-Otho was
whispered in the city and little children were frightened into
obedience by the mere mention of it. Lu-don, through his priests and
slaves, circulated the information that Jad-ben-Otho had commanded all
his faithful followers to flock to the standard of the high priest at
A-lur and that all others were cursed, especially Ja-don and the base
impostor who had posed as the Dor-ul-Otho. The curse was to take the
form of early death following terrible suffering, and Lu-don caused it
to be published abroad that the name of any warrior who complained of a
pain should be brought to him, for such might be deemed to be under
suspicion, since the first effects of the curse would result in slight
pains attacking the unholy. He counseled those who felt pains to look
carefully to their loyalty. The result was remarkable and
immediate--half a nation without a pain, and recruits pouring into
A-lur to offer their services to Lu-don while secretly hoping that the
little pains they had felt in arm or leg or belly would not recur in
aggravated form.
22
A Journey on a Gryf
Tarzan and Jane skirted the shore of Jad-bal-lul and crossed the river
at the head of the lake. They moved in leisurely fashion with an eye to
comfort and safety, for the ape-man, now that he had found his mate,
was determined to court no chance that might again separate them, or
delay or prevent their escape from Pal-ul-don. How they were to recross
the morass was a matter of little concern to him as yet--it would be
time enough to consider that matter when it became of more immediate
moment. Their hours were filled with the happiness and content of
reunion after long separation; they had much to talk of, for each had
passed through many trials and vicissitudes and strange adventures, and
no important hour might go unaccounted for since last they met.
It was Tarzan's intention to choose a way above A-lur and the scattered
Ho-don villages below it, passing about midway between them and the
mountains, thus avoiding, in so far as possible, both the Ho-don and
Waz-don, for in this area lay the neutral territory that was
uninhabited by either. Thus he would travel northwest until opposite
the Kor-ul-JA where he planned to stop to pay his respects to Om-at and
give the gund word of Pan-at-lee, and a plan Tarzan had for insuring
her safe return to her people. It was upon the third day of their
journey and they had almost reached the river that passes through A-lur
when Jane suddenly clutched Tarzan's arm and pointed ahead toward the
edge of a forest that they were approaching. Beneath the shadows of the
trees loomed a great bulk that the ape-man instantly recognized.
"What is it?" whispered Jane.
"A GRYF," replied the ape-man, "and we have met him in the worst place
that we could possibly have found. There is not a large tree within a
quarter of a mile, other than those among which he stands. Come, we
shall have to go back, Jane; I cannot risk it with you along. The best
we can do is to pray that he does not discover us."
"And if he does?"
"Then I shall have to risk it."
"Risk what?"
"The chance that I can subdue him as I subdued one of his fellows,"
replied Tarzan. "I told you--you recall?"
"Yes, but I did not picture so huge a creature. Why, John, he is as big
as a battleship."
The ape-man laughed. "Not quite, though I'll admit he looks quite as
formidable as one when he charges."
They were moving away slowly so as not to attract the attention of the
beast.
"I believe we're going to make it," whispered the woman, her voice
tense with suppressed excitement. A low rumble rolled like distant
thunder from the wood. Tarzan shook his head.
"'The big show is about to commence in the main tent,'" he quoted,
grinning. He caught the woman suddenly to his breast and kissed her.
"One can never tell, Jane," he said. "We'll do our best--that is all we
can do. Give me your spear, and--don't run. The only hope we have lies
in that little brain more than in us. If I can control it--well, let
us see."
The beast had emerged from the forest and was looking about through his
weak eyes, evidently in search of them. Tarzan raised his voice in the
weird notes of the Tor-o-don's cry, "Whee-oo! Whee-oo! Whee-oo!" For a
moment the great beast stood motionless, his attention riveted by the
call. The ape-man advanced straight toward him, Jane Clayton at his
elbow. "Whee-oo!" he cried again peremptorily. A low rumble rolled
from the GRYF's cavernous chest in answer to the call, and the beast
moved slowly toward them.
"Fine!" exclaimed Tarzan. "The odds are in our favor now. You can keep
your nerve?--but I do not need to ask."
"I know no fear when I am with Tarzan of the Apes," she replied softly,
and he felt the pressure of her soft fingers on his arm.
And thus the two approached the giant monster of a forgotten epoch
until they stood close in the shadow of a mighty shoulder. "Whee-oo!"
shouted Tarzan and struck the hideous snout with the shaft of the
spear. The vicious side snap that did not reach its mark--that
evidently was not intended to reach its mark--was the hoped-for answer.
"Come," said Tarzan, and taking Jane by the hand he led her around
behind the monster and up the broad tail to the great, horned back.
"Now will we ride in the state that our forebears knew, before which
the pomp of modern kings pales into cheap and tawdry insignificance.
How would you like to canter through Hyde Park on a mount like this?"
"I am afraid the Bobbies would be shocked by our riding habits, John,"
she cried, laughingly.
Tarzan guided the GRYF in the direction that they wished to go. Steep
embankments and rivers proved no slightest obstacle to the ponderous
creature.
"A prehistoric tank, this," Jane assured him, and laughing and talking
they continued on their way. Once they came unexpectedly upon a dozen
Ho-don warriors as the GRYF emerged suddenly into a small clearing. The
fellows were lying about in the shade of a single tree that grew alone.
When they saw the beast they leaped to their feet in consternation and
at their shouts the GRYF issued his hideous, challenging bellow and
charged them. The warriors fled in all directions while Tarzan
belabored the beast across the snout with his spear in an effort to
control him, and at last he succeeded, just as the GRYF was almost upon
one poor devil that it seemed to have singled out for its special prey.
With an angry grunt the GRYF stopped and the man, with a single
backward glance that showed a face white with terror, disappeared in
the jungle he had been seeking to reach.
The ape-man was elated. He had doubted that he could control the beast
should it take it into its head to charge a victim and had intended
abandoning it before they reached the Kor-ul-JA. Now he altered his
plans--they would ride to the very village of Om-at upon the GRYF, and
the Kor-ul-JA would have food for conversation for many generations to
come. Nor was it the theatric instinct of the ape-man alone that gave
favor to this plan. The element of Jane's safety entered into the
matter for he knew that she would be safe from man and beast alike so
long as she rode upon the back of Pal-ul-don's most formidable creature.
As they proceeded slowly in the direction of the Kor-ul-JA, for the
natural gait of the GRYF is far from rapid, a handful of terrified
warriors came panting into A-lur, spreading a weird story of the
Dor-ul-Otho, only none dared call him the Dor-ul-Otho aloud. Instead
they spoke of him as Tarzan-jad-guru and they told of meeting him
mounted upon a mighty GRYF beside the beautiful stranger woman whom
Ko-tan would have made queen of Pal-ul-don. This story was brought to
Lu-don who caused the warriors to be hailed to his presence, when he
questioned them closely until finally he was convinced that they spoke
the truth and when they had told him the direction in which the two
were traveling, Lu-don guessed that they were on their way to Ja-lur to
join Ja-don, a contingency that he felt must be prevented at any cost.
As was his wont in the stress of emergency, he called Pan-sat into
consultation and for long the two sat in close conference. When they
arose a plan had been developed. Pan-sat went immediately to his own
quarters where he removed the headdress and trappings of a priest to
don in their stead the harness and weapons of a warrior. Then he
returned to Lu-don.
"Good!" cried the latter, when he saw him. "Not even your
fellow-priests or the slaves that wait upon you daily would know you
now. Lose no time, Pan-sat, for all depends upon the speed with which
you strike and--remember! Kill the man if you can; but in any event
bring the woman to me here, alive. You understand?"
"Yes, master," replied the priest, and so it was that a lone warrior
set out from A-lur and made his way northwest in the direction of
Ja-lur.
The gorge next above Kor-ul-JA is uninhabited and here the wily Ja-don
had chosen to mobilize his army for its descent upon A-lur. Two
considerations influenced him--one being the fact that could he keep
his plans a secret from the enemy he would have the advantage of
delivering a surprise attack upon the forces of Lu-don from a direction
that they would not expect attack, and in the meantime he would be able
to keep his men from the gossip of the cities where strange tales were
already circulating relative to the coming of Jad-ben-Otho in person to
aid the high priest in his war against Ja-don. It took stout hearts and
loyal ones to ignore the implied threats of divine vengeance that these
tales suggested. Already there had been desertions and the cause of
Ja-don seemed tottering to destruction.
Such was the state of affairs when a sentry posted on the knoll in the
mouth of the gorge sent word that he had observed in the valley below
what appeared at a distance to be nothing less than two people mounted
upon the back of a GRYF. He said that he had caught glimpses of them,
as they passed open spaces, and they seemed to be traveling up the
river in the direction of the Kor-ul-JA.
At first Ja-don was inclined to doubt the veracity of his informant;
but, like all good generals, he could not permit even palpably false
information to go uninvestigated and so he determined to visit the
knoll himself and learn precisely what it was that the sentry had
observed through the distorting spectacles of fear. He had scarce taken
his place beside the man ere the fellow touched his arm and pointed.
"They are closer now," he whispered, "you can see them plainly." And
sure enough, not a quarter of a mile away Ja-don saw that which in his
long experience in Pal-ul-don he had never before seen--two humans
riding upon the broad back of a GRYF.
At first he could scarce credit even this testimony of his own eyes,
but soon he realized that the creatures below could be naught else than
they appeared, and then he recognized the man and rose to his feet with
a loud cry.
"It is he!" he shouted to those about him. "It is the Dor-ul-Otho
himself."
The GRYF and his riders heard the shout though not the words. The
former bellowed terrifically and started in the direction of the knoll,
and Ja-don, followed by a few of his more intrepid warriors, ran to
meet him. Tarzan, loath to enter an unnecessary quarrel, tried to turn
the animal, but as the beast was far from tractable it always took a
few minutes to force the will of its master upon it; and so the two
parties were quite close before the ape-man succeeded in stopping the
mad charge of his furious mount.
Ja-don and his warriors, however, had come to the realization that this
bellowing creature was bearing down upon them with evil intent and they
had assumed the better part of valor and taken to trees, accordingly.
It was beneath these trees that Tarzan finally stopped the GRYF. Ja-don
called down to him.
"We are friends," he cried. "I am Ja-don, Chief of Ja-lur. I and my
warriors lay our foreheads upon the feet of Dor-ul-Otho and pray that
he will aid us in our righteous fight with Lu-don, the high priest."
"You have not defeated him yet?" asked Tarzan. "Why I thought you would
be king of Pal-ul-don long before this."
"No," replied Ja-don. "The people fear the high priest and now that he
has in the temple one whom he claims to be Jad-ben-Otho many of my
warriors are afraid. If they but knew that the Dor-ul-Otho had returned
and that he had blessed the cause of Ja-don I am sure that victory
would be ours."
Tarzan thought for a long minute and then he spoke. "Ja-don," he said,
"was one of the few who believed in me and who wished to accord me fair
treatment. I have a debt to pay to Ja-don and an account to settle with
Lu-don, not alone on my own behalf, but principally upon that of my
mate. I will go with you Ja-don to mete to Lu-don the punishment he
deserves. Tell me, chief, how may the Dor-ul-Otho best serve his
father's people?"
"By coming with me to Ja-lur and the villages between," replied Ja-don
quickly, "that the people may see that it is indeed the Dor-ul-Otho and
that he smiles upon the cause of Ja-don."
"You think that they will believe in me more now than before?" asked
the ape-man.
"Who will dare doubt that he who rides upon the great GRYF is less than
a god?" returned the old chief.
"And if I go with you to the battle at A-lur," asked Tarzan, "can you
assure the safety of my mate while I am gone from her?"
"She shall remain in Ja-lur with the Princess O-lo-a and my own women,"
replied Ja-don. "There she will be safe for there I shall leave trusted
warriors to protect them. Say that you will come, O Dor-ul-Otho, and my
cup of happiness will be full, for even now Ta-den, my son, marches
toward A-lur with a force from the northwest and if we can attack, with
the Dor-ul-Otho at our head, from the northeast our arms should be
victorious."
"It shall be as you wish, Ja-don," replied the ape-man; "but first you
must have meat fetched for my GRYF."
"There are many carcasses in the camp above," replied Ja-don, "for my
men have little else to do than hunt."
"Good," exclaimed Tarzan. "Have them brought at once."
And when the meat was brought and laid at a distance the ape-man
slipped from the back of his fierce charger and fed him with his own
hand. "See that there is always plenty of flesh for him," he said to
Ja-don, for he guessed that his mastery might be short-lived should the
vicious beast become over-hungry.
It was morning before they could leave for Ja-lur, but Tarzan found the
GRYF lying where he had left him the night before beside the carcasses
of two antelope and a lion; but now there was nothing but the GRYF.
"The paleontologists say that he was herbivorous," said Tarzan as he
and Jane approached the beast.
The journey to Ja-lur was made through the scattered villages where
Ja-don hoped to arouse a keener enthusiasm for his cause. A party of
warriors preceded Tarzan that the people might properly be prepared,
not only for the sight of the GRYF but to receive the Dor-ul-Otho as
became his high station. The results were all that Ja-don could have
hoped and in no village through which they passed was there one who
doubted the deity of the ape-man.
As they approached Ja-lur a strange warrior joined them, one whom none
of Ja-don's following knew. He said he came from one of the villages to
the south and that he had been treated unfairly by one of Lu-don's
chiefs. For this reason he had deserted the cause of the high priest
and come north in the hope of finding a home in Ja-lur. As every
addition to his forces was welcome to the old chief he permitted the
stranger to accompany them, and so he came into Ja-lur with them.
There arose now the question as to what was to be done with the GRYF
while they remained in the city. It was with difficulty that Tarzan had
prevented the savage beast from attacking all who came near it when
they had first entered the camp of Ja-don in the uninhabited gorge next
to the Kor-ul-JA, but during the march to Ja-lur the creature had
seemed to become accustomed to the presence of the Ho-don. The latter,
however, gave him no cause for annoyance since they kept as far from
him as possible and when he passed through the streets of the city he
was viewed from the safety of lofty windows and roofs. However
tractable he appeared to have become there would have been no
enthusiastic seconding of a suggestion to turn him loose within the
city. It was finally suggested that he be turned into a walled
enclosure within the palace grounds and this was done, Tarzan driving
him in after Jane had dismounted. More meat was thrown to him and he
was left to his own devices, the awe-struck inhabitants of the palace
not even venturing to climb upon the walls to look at him.
Ja-don led Tarzan and Jane to the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a who,
the moment that she beheld the ape-man, threw herself to the ground and
touched her forehead to his feet. Pan-at-lee was there with her and she
too seemed happy to see Tarzan-jad-guru again. When they found that
Jane was his mate they looked with almost equal awe upon her, since
even the most skeptical of the warriors of Ja-don were now convinced
that they were entertaining a god and a goddess within the city of
Ja-lur, and that with the assistance of the power of these two, the
cause of Ja-don would soon be victorious and the old Lion-man set upon
the throne of Pal-ul-don.
From O-lo-a Tarzan learned that Ta-den had returned and that they were
to be united in marriage with the weird rites of their religion and in
accordance with the custom of their people as soon as Ta-den came home
from the battle that was to be fought at A-lur.
The recruits were now gathering at the city and it was decided that the
next day Ja-don and Tarzan would return to the main body in the hidden
camp and immediately under cover of night the attack should be made in
force upon Lu-don's forces at A-lur. Word of this was sent to Ta-den
where he awaited with his warriors upon the north side of Jad-ben-lul,
only a few miles from A-lur.
In the carrying out of these plans it was necessary to leave Jane
behind in Ja-don's palace at Ja-lur, but O-lo-a and her women were with
her and there were many warriors to guard them, so Tarzan bid his mate
good-bye with no feelings of apprehension as to her safety, and again
seated upon the GRYF made his way out of the city with Ja-don and his
warriors.
At the mouth of the gorge the ape-man abandoned his huge mount since it
had served its purpose and could be of no further value to him in their
attack upon A-lur, which was to be made just before dawn the following
day when, as he could not have been seen by the enemy, the effect of
his entry to the city upon the GRYF would have been totally lost. A
couple of sharp blows with the spear sent the big animal rumbling and
growling in the direction of the Kor-ul-GRYF nor was the ape-man sorry
to see it depart since he had never known at what instant its short
temper and insatiable appetite for flesh might turn it upon some of his
companions.
Immediately upon their arrival at the gorge the march on A-lur was
commenced.
23
Taken Alive
As night fell a warrior from the palace of Ja-lur slipped into the
temple grounds. He made his way to where the lesser priests were
quartered. His presence aroused no suspicion as it was not unusual for
warriors to have business within the temple. He came at last to a
chamber where several priests were congregated after the evening meal.
The rites and ceremonies of the sacrifice had been concluded and there
was nothing more of a religious nature to make call upon their time
until the rites at sunrise.
Now the warrior knew, as in fact nearly all Pal-ul-don knew, that there
was no strong bond between the temple and the palace at Ja-lur and that
Ja-don only suffered the presence of the priests and permitted their
cruel and abhorrent acts because of the fact that these things had been
the custom of the Ho-don of Pal-ul-don for countless ages, and rash
indeed must have been the man who would have attempted to interfere
with the priests or their ceremonies. That Ja-don never entered the
temple was well known, and that his high priest never entered the
palace, but the people came to the temple with their votive offerings
and the sacrifices were made night and morning as in every other temple
in Pal-ul-don.
The warriors knew these things, knew them better perhaps than a simple
warrior should have known them. And so it was here in the temple that
he looked for the aid that he sought in the carrying out of whatever
design he had.
As he entered the apartment where the priests were he greeted them
after the manner which was customary in Pal-ul-don, but at the same
time he made a sign with his finger that might have attracted little
attention or scarcely been noticed at all by one who knew not its
meaning. That there were those within the room who noticed it and
interpreted it was quickly apparent, through the fact that two of the
priests rose and came close to him as he stood just within the doorway
and each of them, as he came, returned the signal that the warrior had
made.
The three talked for but a moment and then the warrior turned and left
the apartment. A little later one of the priests who had talked with
him left also and shortly after that the other.
In the corridor they found the warrior waiting, and led him to a little
chamber which opened upon a smaller corridor just beyond where it
joined the larger. Here the three remained in whispered conversation
for some little time and then the warrior returned to the palace and
the two priests to their quarters.
The apartments of the women of the palace at Ja-lur are all upon the
same side of a long, straight corridor. Each has a single door leading
into the corridor and at the opposite end several windows overlooking a
garden. It was in one of these rooms that Jane slept alone. At each end
of the corridor was a sentinel, the main body of the guard being
stationed in a room near the outer entrance to the women's quarters.
The palace slept for they kept early hours there where Ja-don ruled.
The pal-e-don-so of the great chieftain of the north knew no such wild
orgies as had resounded through the palace of the king at A-lur. Ja-lur
was a quiet city by comparison with the capital, yet there was always a
guard kept at every entrance to the chambers of Ja-don and his
immediate family as well as at the gate leading into the temple and
that which opened upon the city.
These guards, however, were small, consisting usually of not more than
five or six warriors, one of whom remained awake while the others
slept. Such were the conditions then when two warriors presented
themselves, one at either end of the corridor, to the sentries who
watched over the safety of Jane Clayton and the Princess O-lo-a, and
each of the newcomers repeated to the sentinels the stereotyped words
which announced that they were relieved and these others sent to watch
in their stead. Never is a warrior loath to be relieved of sentry duty.
Where, under different circumstances he might ask numerous questions he
is now too well satisfied to escape the monotonies of that universally
hated duty. And so these two men accepted their relief without question
and hastened away to their pallets.
And then a third warrior entered the corridor and all of the newcomers
came together before the door of the ape-man's slumbering mate. And one
was the strange warrior who had met Ja-don and Tarzan outside the city
of Ja-lur as they had approached it the previous day; and he was the
same warrior who had entered the temple a short hour before, but the
faces of his fellows were unfamiliar, even to one another, since it is
seldom that a priest removes his hideous headdress in the presence even
of his associates.
Silently they lifted the hangings that hid the interior of the room
from the view of those who passed through the corridor, and stealthily
slunk within. Upon a pile of furs in a far corner lay the sleeping form
of Lady Greystoke. The bare feet of the intruders gave forth no sound
as they crossed the stone floor toward her. A ray of moonlight entering
through a window near her couch shone full upon her, revealing the
beautiful contours of an arm and shoulder in cameo-distinctness against
the dark furry pelt beneath which she slept, and the perfect profile
that was turned toward the skulking three.
But neither the beauty nor the helplessness of the sleeper aroused such
sentiments of passion or pity as might stir in the breasts of normal
men. To the three priests she was but a lump of clay, nor could they
conceive aught of that passion which had aroused men to intrigue and to
murder for possession of this beautiful American girl, and which even
now was influencing the destiny of undiscovered Pal-ul-don.
Upon the floor of the chamber were numerous pelts and as the leader of
the trio came close to the sleeping woman he stooped and gathered up
one of the smaller of these. Standing close to her head he held the rug
outspread above her face. "Now," he whispered and simultaneously he
threw the rug over the woman's head and his two fellows leaped upon
her, seizing her arms and pinioning her body while their leader stifled
her cries with the furry pelt. Quickly and silently they bound her
wrists and gagged her and during the brief time that their work
required there was no sound that might have been heard by occupants of
the adjoining apartments.
Jerking her roughly to her feet they forced her toward a window but she
refused to walk, throwing herself instead upon the floor. They were
very angry and would have resorted to cruelties to compel her obedience
but dared not, since the wrath of Lu-don might fall heavily upon
whoever mutilated his fair prize.
And so they were forced to lift and carry her bodily. Nor was the task
any sinecure since the captive kicked and struggled as best she might,
making their labor as arduous as possible. But finally they succeeded
in getting her through the window and into the garden beyond where one
of the two priests from the Ja-lur temple directed their steps toward a
small barred gateway in the south wall of the enclosure.
Immediately beyond this a flight of stone stairs led downward toward
the river and at the foot of the stairs were moored several canoes.
Pan-sat had indeed been fortunate in enlisting aid from those who knew
the temple and the palace so well, or otherwise he might never have
escaped from Ja-lur with his captive. Placing the woman in the bottom
of a light canoe Pan-sat entered it and took up the paddle. His
companions unfastened the moorings and shoved the little craft out into
the current of the stream. Their traitorous work completed they turned
and retraced their steps toward the temple, while Pan-sat, paddling
strongly with the current, moved rapidly down the river that would
carry him to the Jad-ben-lul and A-lur.
The moon had set and the eastern horizon still gave no hint of
approaching day as a long file of warriors wound stealthily through the
darkness into the city of A-lur. Their plans were all laid and there
seemed no likelihood of their miscarriage. A messenger had been
dispatched to Ta-den whose forces lay northwest of the city. Tarzan,
with a small contingent, was to enter the temple through the secret
passageway, the location of which he alone knew, while Ja-don, with the
greater proportion of the warriors, was to attack the palace gates.
The ape-man, leading his little band, moved stealthily through the
winding alleys of A-lur, arriving undetected at the building which hid
the entrance to the secret passageway. This spot being best protected
by the fact that its existence was unknown to others than the priests,
was unguarded. To facilitate the passage of his little company through
the narrow winding, uneven tunnel, Tarzan lighted a torch which had
been brought for the purpose and preceding his warriors led the way
toward the temple.
That he could accomplish much once he reached the inner chambers of the
temple with his little band of picked warriors the ape-man was
confident since an attack at this point would bring confusion and
consternation to the easily overpowered priests, and permit Tarzan to
attack the palace forces in the rear at the same time that Ja-don
engaged them at the palace gates, while Ta-den and his forces swarmed
the northern walls. Great value had been placed by Ja-don on the moral
effect of the Dor-ul-Otho's mysterious appearance in the heart of the
temple and he had urged Tarzan to take every advantage of the old
chieftain's belief that many of Lu-don's warriors still wavered in
their allegiance between the high priest and the Dor-ul-Otho, being
held to the former more by the fear which he engendered in the breasts
of all his followers than by any love or loyalty they might feel toward
him.
There is a Pal-ul-donian proverb setting forth a truth similar to that
contained in the old Scotch adage that "The best laid schemes o' mice
and men gang aft a-gley." Freely translated it might read, "He who
follows the right trail sometimes reaches the wrong destination," and
such apparently was the fate that lay in the footsteps of the great
chieftain of the north and his godlike ally.
Tarzan, more familiar with the windings of the corridors than his
fellows and having the advantage of the full light of the torch, which
at best was but a dim and flickering affair, was some distance ahead of
the others, and in his keen anxiety to close with the enemy he gave too
little thought to those who were to support him. Nor is this strange,
since from childhood the ape-man had been accustomed to fight the
battles of life single-handed so that it had become habitual for him to
depend solely upon his own cunning and prowess.
And so it was that he came into the upper corridor from which opened
the chambers of Lu-don and the lesser priests far in advance of his
warriors, and as he turned into this corridor with its dim cressets
flickering somberly, he saw another enter it from a corridor before
him--a warrior half carrying, half dragging the figure of a woman.
Instantly Tarzan recognized the gagged and fettered captive whom he had
thought safe in the palace of Ja-don at Ja-lur.
The warrior with the woman had seen Tarzan at the same instant that the
latter had discovered him. He heard the low beastlike growl that broke
from the ape-man's lips as he sprang forward to wrest his mate from her
captor and wreak upon him the vengeance that was in the Tarmangani's
savage heart. Across the corridor from Pan-sat was the entrance to a
smaller chamber. Into this he leaped carrying the woman with him.
Close behind came Tarzan of the Apes. He had cast aside his torch and
drawn the long knife that had been his father's. With the impetuosity
of a charging bull he rushed into the chamber in pursuit of Pan-sat to
find himself, when the hangings dropped behind him, in utter darkness.
Almost immediately there was a crash of stone on stone before him
followed a moment later by a similar crash behind. No other evidence
was necessary to announce to the ape-man that he was again a prisoner
in Lu-don's temple.
He stood perfectly still where he had halted at the first sound of the
descending stone door. Not again would he easily be precipitated to the
GRYF pit, or some similar danger, as had occurred when Lu-don had
trapped him in the Temple of the Gryf. As he stood there his eyes
slowly grew accustomed to the darkness and he became aware that a dim
light was entering the chamber through some opening, though it was
several minutes before he discovered its source. In the roof of the
chamber he finally discerned a small aperture, possibly three feet in
diameter and it was through this that what was really only a lesser
darkness rather than a light was penetrating its Stygian blackness of
the chamber in which he was imprisoned.
Since the doors had fallen he had heard no sound though his keen ears
were constantly strained in an effort to discover a clue to the
direction taken by the abductor of his mate. Presently he could discern
the outlines of his prison cell. It was a small room, not over fifteen
feet across. On hands and knees, with the utmost caution, he examined
the entire area of the floor. In the exact center, directly beneath the
opening in the roof, was a trap, but otherwise the floor was solid.
With this knowledge it was only necessary to avoid this spot in so far
as the floor was concerned. The walls next received his attention.
There were only two openings. One the doorway through which he had
entered, and upon the opposite side that through which the warrior had
borne Jane Clayton. These were both closed by the slabs of stone which
the fleeing warrior had released as he departed.
Lu-don, the high priest, licked his thin lips and rubbed his bony white
hands together in gratification as Pan-sat bore Jane Clayton into his
presence and laid her on the floor of the chamber before him.
"Good, Pan-sat!" he exclaimed. "You shall be well rewarded for this
service. Now, if we but had the false Dor-ul-Otho in our power all
Pal-ul-don would be at our feet."
"Master, I have him!" cried Pan-sat.
"What!" exclaimed Lu-don, "you have Tarzan-jad-guru? You have slain him
perhaps. Tell me, my wonderful Pan-sat, tell me quickly. My breast is
bursting with a desire to know."
"I have taken him alive, Lu-don, my master," replied Pan-sat. "He is in
the little chamber that the ancients built to trap those who were too
powerful to take alive in personal encounter."
"You have done well, Pan-sat, I--"
A frightened priest burst into the apartment. "Quick, master, quick,"
he cried, "the corridors are filled with the warriors of Ja-don."
"You are mad," cried the high priest. "My warriors hold the palace and
the temple."
"I speak the truth, master," replied the priest, "there are warriors in
the corridor approaching this very chamber, and they come from the
direction of the secret passage which leads hither from the city."
"It may be even as he says," exclaimed Pan-sat. "It was from that
direction that Tarzan-jad-guru was coming when I discovered and trapped
him. He was leading his warriors to the very holy of holies."
Lu-don ran quickly to the doorway and looked out into the corridor. At
a glance he saw that the fears of the frightened priest were well
founded. A dozen warriors were moving along the corridor toward him but
they seemed confused and far from sure of themselves. The high priest
guessed that deprived of the leadership of Tarzan they were little
better than lost in the unknown mazes of the subterranean precincts of
the temple.
Stepping back into the apartment he seized a leathern thong that
depended from the ceiling. He pulled upon it sharply and through the
temple boomed the deep tones of a metal gong. Five times the clanging
notes rang through the corridors, then he turned toward the two
priests. "Bring the woman and follow me," he directed.
Crossing the chamber he passed through a small doorway, the others
lifting Jane Clayton from the floor and following him. Through a
narrow corridor and up a flight of steps they went, turning to right
and left and doubling back through a maze of winding passageways which
terminated in a spiral staircase that gave forth at the surface of the
ground within the largest of the inner altar courts close beside the
eastern altar.
From all directions now, in the corridors below and the grounds above,
came the sound of hurrying footsteps. The five strokes of the great
gong had summoned the faithful to the defense of Lu-don in his private
chambers. The priests who knew the way led the less familiar warriors
to the spot and presently those who had accompanied Tarzan found
themselves not only leaderless but facing a vastly superior force. They
were brave men but under the circumstances they were helpless and so
they fell back the way they had come, and when they reached the narrow
confines of the smaller passageway their safety was assured since only
one foeman could attack them at a time. But their plans were frustrated
and possibly also their entire cause lost, so heavily had Ja-don banked
upon the success of their venture.
With the clanging of the temple gong Ja-don assumed that Tarzan and his
party had struck their initial blow and so he launched his attack upon
the palace gate. To the ears of Lu-don in the inner temple court came
the savage war cries that announced the beginning of the battle.
Leaving Pan-sat and the other priest to guard the woman he hastened
toward the palace personally to direct his force and as he passed
through the temple grounds he dispatched a messenger to learn the
outcome of the fight in the corridors below, and other messengers to
spread the news among his followers that the false Dor-ul-Otho was a
prisoner in the temple.
As the din of battle rose above A-lur, Lieutenant Erich Obergatz turned
upon his bed of soft hides and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked
about him. It was still dark without.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho," he cried, "who dares disturb my slumber?"
A slave squatting upon the floor at the foot of his couch shuddered and
touched her forehead to the floor. "It must be that the enemy have
come, O Jad-ben-Otho." She spoke soothingly for she had reason to know
the terrors of the mad frenzy into which trivial things sometimes threw
the Great God.
A priest burst suddenly through the hangings of the doorway and falling
upon his hands and knees rubbed his forehead against the stone
flagging. "O Jad-ben-Otho," he cried, "the warriors of Ja-don have
attacked the palace and the temple. Even now they are fighting in the
corridors near the quarters of Lu-don, and the high priest begs that
you come to the palace and encourage your faithful warriors by your
presence."
Obergatz sprang to his feet. "I am Jad-ben-Otho," he screamed. "With
lightning I will blast the blasphemers who dare attack the holy city of
A-lur."
For a moment he rushed aimlessly and madly about the room, while the
priest and the slave remained upon hands and knees with their foreheads
against the floor.
"Come," cried Obergatz, planting a vicious kick in the side of the
slave girl. "Come! Would you wait here all day while the forces of
darkness overwhelm the City of Light?"
Thoroughly frightened as were all those who were forced to serve the
Great God, the two arose and followed Obergatz towards the palace.
Above the shouting of the warriors rose constantly the cries of the
temple priests: "Jad-ben-Otho is here and the false Dor-ul-Otho is a
prisoner in the temple." The persistent cries reached even to the ears
of the enemy as it was intended that they should.
24
The Messenger of Death
The sun rose to see the forces of Ja-don still held at the palace gate.
The old warrior had seized the tall structure that stood just beyond
the palace and at the summit of this he kept a warrior stationed to
look toward the northern wall of the palace where Ta-den was to make
his attack; but as the minutes wore into hours no sign of the other
force appeared, and now in the full light of the new sun upon the roof
of one of the palace buildings appeared Lu-don, the high priest,
Mo-sar, the pretender, and the strange, naked figure of a man, into
whose long hair and beard were woven fresh ferns and flowers. Behind
them were banked a score of lesser priests who chanted in unison: "This
is Jad-ben-Otho. Lay down your arms and surrender." This they repeated
again and again, alternating it with the cry: "The false Dor-ul-Otho is
a prisoner."
In one of those lulls which are common in battles between forces armed
with weapons that require great physical effort in their use, a voice
suddenly arose from among the followers of Ja-don: "Show us the
Dor-ul-Otho. We do not believe you!"
"Wait," cried Lu-don. "If I do not produce him before the sun has moved
his own width, the gates of the palace shall be opened to you and my
warriors will lay down their arms."
He turned to one of his priests and issued brief instructions.
The ape-man paced the confines of his narrow cell. Bitterly he
reproached himself for the stupidity which had led him into this trap,
and yet was it stupidity? What else might he have done other than rush
to the succor of his mate? He wondered how they had stolen her from
Ja-lur, and then suddenly there flashed to his mind the features of the
warrior whom he had just seen with her. They were strangely familiar.
He racked his brain to recall where he had seen the man before and then
it came to him. He was the strange warrior who had joined Ja-don's
forces outside of Ja-lur the day that Tarzan had ridden upon the great
GRYF from the uninhabited gorge next to the Kor-ul-JA down to the
capital city of the chieftain of the north. But who could the man be?
Tarzan knew that never before that other day had he seen him.
Presently he heard the clanging of a gong from the corridor without and
very faintly the rush of feet, and shouts. He guessed that his warriors
had been discovered and a fight was in progress. He fretted and chafed
at the chance that had denied him participation in it.
Again and again he tried the doors of his prison and the trap in the
center of the floor, but none would give to his utmost endeavors. He
strained his eyes toward the aperture above but he could see nothing,
and then he continued his futile pacing to and fro like a caged lion
behind its bars.
The minutes dragged slowly into hours. Faintly sounds came to him as of
shouting men at a great distance. The battle was in progress. He
wondered if Ja-don would be victorious and should he be, would his
friends ever discover him in this hidden chamber in the bowels of the
hill? He doubted it.
And now as he looked again toward the aperture in the roof there
appeared to be something depending through its center. He came closer
and strained his eyes to see. Yes, there was something there. It
appeared to be a rope. Tarzan wondered if it had been there all the
time. It must have, he reasoned, since he had heard no sound from above
and it was so dark within the chamber that he might easily have
overlooked it.
He raised his hand toward it. The end of it was just within his reach.
He bore his weight upon it to see if it would hold him. Then he
released it and backed away, still watching it, as you have seen an
animal do after investigating some unfamiliar object, one of the little
traits that differentiated Tarzan from other men, accentuating his
similarity to the savage beasts of his native jungle. Again and again
he touched and tested the braided leather rope, and always he listened
for any warning sound from above.
He was very careful not to step upon the trap at any time and when
finally he bore all his weight upon the rope and took his feet from the
floor he spread them wide apart so that if he fell he would fall
astride the trap. The rope held him. There was no sound from above, nor
any from the trap below.
Slowly and cautiously he drew himself upward, hand over hand. Nearer
and nearer the roof he came. In a moment his eyes would be above the
level of the floor above. Already his extended arms projected into the
upper chamber and then something closed suddenly upon both his
forearms, pinioning them tightly and leaving him hanging in mid-air
unable to advance or retreat.
Immediately a light appeared in the room above him and presently he saw
the hideous mask of a priest peering down upon him. In the priest's
hands were leathern thongs and these he tied about Tarzan's wrists and
forearms until they were completely bound together from his elbows
almost to his fingers. Behind this priest Tarzan presently saw others
and soon several lay hold of him and pulled him up through the hole.
Almost instantly his eyes were above the level of the floor he
understood how they had trapped him. Two nooses had lain encircling the
aperture into the cell below. A priest had waited at the end of each of
these ropes and at opposite sides of the chamber. When he had climbed
to a sufficient height upon the rope that had dangled into his prison
below and his arms were well within the encircling snares the two
priests had pulled quickly upon their ropes and he had been made an
easy captive without any opportunity of defending himself or inflicting
injury upon his captors.
And now they bound his legs from his ankles to his knees and picking
him up carried him from the chamber. No word did they speak to him as
they bore him upward to the temple yard.
The din of battle had risen again as Ja-don had urged his forces to
renewed efforts. Ta-den had not arrived and the forces of the old
chieftain were revealing in their lessened efforts their increasing
demoralization, and then it was that the priests carried
Tarzan-jad-guru to the roof of the palace and exhibited him in the
sight of the warriors of both factions.
"Here is the false Dor-ul-Otho," screamed Lu-don.
Obergatz, his shattered mentality having never grasped fully the
meaning of much that was going on about him, cast a casual glance at
the bound and helpless prisoner, and as his eyes fell upon the noble
features of the ape-man, they went wide in astonishment and fright, and
his pasty countenance turned a sickly blue. Once before had he seen
Tarzan of the Apes, but many times had he dreamed that he had seen him
and always was the giant ape-man avenging the wrongs that had been
committed upon him and his by the ruthless hands of the three German
officers who had led their native troops in the ravishing of Tarzan's
peaceful home. Hauptmann Fritz Schneider had paid the penalty of his
needless cruelties; Unter-lieutenant von Goss, too, had paid; and now
Obergatz, the last of the three, stood face to face with the Nemesis
that had trailed him through his dreams for long, weary months. That he
was bound and helpless lessened not the German's terror--he seemed not
to realize that the man could not harm him. He but stood cringing and
jibbering and Lu-don saw and was filled with apprehension that others
might see and seeing realize that this bewhiskered idiot was no
god--that of the two Tarzan-jad-guru was the more godly figure. Already
the high priest noted that some of the palace warriors standing near
were whispering together and pointing. He stepped closer to Obergatz.
"You are Jad-ben-Otho," he whispered, "denounce him!"
The German shook himself. His mind cleared of all but his great terror
and the words of the high priest gave him the clue to safety.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho!" he screamed.
Tarzan looked him straight in the eye. "You are Lieutenant Obergatz of
the German Army," he said in excellent German. "You are the last of the
three I have sought so long and in your putrid heart you know that God
has not brought us together at last for nothing."
The mind of Lieutenant Obergatz was functioning clearly and rapidly at
last. He too saw the questioning looks upon the faces of some of those
around them. He saw the opposing warriors of both cities standing by
the gate inactive, every eye turned upon him, and the trussed figure of
the ape-man. He realized that indecision now meant ruin, and ruin,
death. He raised his voice in the sharp barking tones of a Prussian
officer, so unlike his former maniacal screaming as to quickly arouse
the attention of every ear and to cause an expression of puzzlement to
cross the crafty face of Lu-don.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho," snapped Obergatz. "This creature is no son of
mine. As a lesson to all blasphemers he shall die upon the altar at the
hand of the god he has profaned. Take him from my sight, and when the
sun stands at zenith let the faithful congregate in the temple court
and witness the wrath of this divine hand," and he held aloft his right
palm.
Those who had brought Tarzan took him away then as Obergatz had
directed, and the German turned once more to the warriors by the gate.
"Throw down your arms, warriors of Ja-don," he cried, "lest I call down
my lightnings to blast you where you stand. Those who do as I bid shall
be forgiven. Come! Throw down your arms."
The warriors of Ja-don moved uneasily, casting looks of appeal at their
leader and of apprehension toward the figures upon the palace roof.
Ja-don sprang forward among his men. "Let the cowards and knaves throw
down their arms and enter the palace," he cried, "but never will Ja-don
and the warriors of Ja-lur touch their foreheads to the feet of Lu-don
and his false god. Make your decision now," he cried to his followers.
A few threw down their arms and with sheepish looks passed through the
gateway into the palace, and with the example of these to bolster their
courage others joined in the desertion from the old chieftain of the
north, but staunch and true around him stood the majority of his
warriors and when the last weakling had left their ranks Ja-don voiced
the savage cry with which he led his followers to the attack, and once
again the battle raged about the palace gate.
At times Ja-don's forces pushed the defenders far into the palace
ground and then the wave of combat would recede and pass out into the
city again. And still Ta-den and the reinforcements did not come. It
was drawing close to noon. Lu-don had mustered every available man that
was not actually needed for the defense of the gate within the temple,
and these he sent, under the leadership of Pan-sat, out into the city
through the secret passageway and there they fell upon Ja-don's forces
from the rear while those at the gate hammered them in front.
Attacked on two sides by a vastly superior force the result was
inevitable and finally the last remnant of Ja-don's little army
capitulated and the old chief was taken a prisoner before Lu-don. "Take
him to the temple court," cried the high priest. "He shall witness the
death of his accomplice and perhaps Jad-ben-Otho shall pass a similar
sentence upon him as well."
The inner temple court was packed with humanity. At either end of the
western altar stood Tarzan and his mate, bound and helpless. The sounds
of battle had ceased and presently the ape-man saw Ja-don being led
into the inner court, his wrists bound tightly together before him.
Tarzan turned his eyes toward Jane and nodded in the direction of
Ja-don. "This looks like the end," he said quietly. "He was our last
and only hope."
"We have at least found each other, John," she replied, "and our last
days have been spent together. My only prayer now is that if they take
you they do not leave me."
Tarzan made no reply for in his heart was the same bitter thought that
her own contained--not the fear that they would kill him but the fear
that they would not kill her. The ape-man strained at his bonds but
they were too many and too strong. A priest near him saw and with a
jeering laugh struck the defenseless ape-man in the face.
"The brute!" cried Jane Clayton.
Tarzan smiled. "I have been struck thus before, Jane," he said, "and
always has the striker died."
"You still have hope?" she asked.
"I am still alive," he said as though that were sufficient answer. She
was a woman and she did not have the courage of this man who knew no
fear. In her heart of hearts she knew that he would die upon the altar
at high noon for he had told her, after he had been brought to the
inner court, of the sentence of death that Obergatz had pronounced upon
him, and she knew too that Tarzan knew that he would die, but that he
was too courageous to admit it even to himself.
As she looked upon him standing there so straight and wonderful and
brave among his savage captors her heart cried out against the cruelty
of the fate that had overtaken him. It seemed a gross and hideous wrong
that that wonderful creature, now so quick with exuberant life and
strength and purpose should be presently naught but a bleeding lump of
clay--and all so uselessly and wantonly. Gladly would she have offered
her life for his but she knew that it was a waste of words since their
captors would work upon them whatever it was their will to do--for him,
death; for her--she shuddered at the thought.
And now came Lu-don and the naked Obergatz, and the high priest led the
German to his place behind the altar, himself standing upon the other's
left. Lu-don whispered a word to Obergatz, at the same time nodding in
the direction of Ja-don. The Hun cast a scowling look upon the old
warrior.
"And after the false god," he cried, "the false prophet," and he
pointed an accusing finger at Ja-don. Then his eyes wandered to the
form of Jane Clayton.
"And the woman, too?" asked Lu-don.
"The case of the woman I will attend to later," replied Obergatz. "I
will talk with her tonight after she has had a chance to meditate upon
the consequences of arousing the wrath of Jad-ben-Otho."
He cast his eyes upward at the sun. "The time approaches," he said to
Lu-don. "Prepare the sacrifice."
Lu-don nodded to the priests who were gathered about Tarzan. They
seized the ape-man and lifted him bodily to the altar where they laid
him upon his back with his head at the south end of the monolith, but a
few feet from where Jane Clayton stood. Impulsively and before they
could restrain her the woman rushed forward and bending quickly kissed
her mate upon the forehead. "Good-bye, John," she whispered.
"Good-bye," he answered, smiling.
The priests seized her and dragged her away. Lu-don handed the
sacrificial knife to Obergatz. "I am the Great God," cried the German,
"thus falleth the divine wrath upon all my enemies!" He looked up at
the sun and then raised the knife high above his head.
"Thus die the blasphemers of God!" he screamed, and at the same instant
a sharp staccato note rang out above the silent, spell-bound multitude.
There was a screaming whistle in the air and Jad-ben-Otho crumpled
forward across the body of his intended victim. Again the same alarming
noise and Lu-don fell, a third and Mo-sar crumpled to the ground. And
now the warriors and the people, locating the direction of this new and
unknown sound turned toward the western end of the court.
Upon the summit of the temple wall they saw two figures--a Ho-don
warrior and beside him an almost naked creature of the race of
Tarzan-jad-guru, across his shoulders and about his hips were strange
broad belts studded with beautiful cylinders that glinted in the
mid-day sun, and in his hands a shining thing of wood and metal from
the end of which rose a thin wreath of blue-gray smoke.
And then the voice of the Ho-don warrior rang clear upon the ears of
the silent throng. "Thus speaks the true Jad-ben-Otho," he cried,
"through this his Messenger of Death. Cut the bonds of the prisoners.
Cut the bonds of the Dor-ul-Otho and of Ja-don, King of Pal-ul-don, and
of the woman who is the mate of the son of god."
Pan-sat, filled with the frenzy of fanaticism saw the power and the
glory of the regime he had served crumpled and gone. To one and only
one did he attribute the blame for the disaster that had but just
overwhelmed him. It was the creature who lay upon the sacrificial altar
who had brought Lu-don to his death and toppled the dreams of power
that day by day had been growing in the brain of the under priest.
The sacrificial knife lay upon the altar where it had fallen from the
dead fingers of Obergatz. Pan-sat crept closer and then with a sudden
lunge he reached forth to seize the handle of the blade, and even as
his clutching fingers were poised above it, the strange thing in the
hands of the strange creature upon the temple wall cried out its
crashing word of doom and Pan-sat the under priest, screaming, fell
back upon the dead body of his master.
"Seize all the priests," cried Ta-den to the warriors, "and let none
hesitate lest Jad-ben-Otho's messenger send forth still other bolts of
lightning."
The warriors and the people had now witnessed such an exhibition of
divine power as might have convinced an even less superstitious and
more enlightened people, and since many of them had but lately wavered
between the Jad-ben-Otho of Lu-don and the Dor-ul-Otho of Ja-don it was
not difficult for them to swing quickly back to the latter, especially
in view of the unanswerable argument in the hands of him whom Ta-den
had described as the Messenger of the Great God.
And so the warriors sprang forward now with alacrity and surrounded the
priests, and when they looked again at the western wall of the temple
court they saw pouring over it a great force of warriors. And the thing
that startled and appalled them was the fact that many of these were
black and hairy Waz-don.
At their head came the stranger with the shiny weapon and on his right
was Ta-den, the Ho-don, and on his left Om-at, the black gund of
Kor-ul-JA.
A warrior near the altar had seized the sacrificial knife and cut
Tarzan's bonds and also those of Ja-don and Jane Clayton, and now the
three stood together beside the altar and as the newcomers from the
western end of the temple court pushed their way toward them the eyes
of the woman went wide in mingled astonishment, incredulity, and hope.
And the stranger, slinging his weapon across his back by a leather
strap, rushed forward and took her in his arms.
"Jack!" she cried, sobbing on his shoulder. "Jack, my son!"
And Tarzan of the Apes came then and put his arms around them both, and
the King of Pal-ul-don and the warriors and the people kneeled in the
temple court and placed their foreheads to the ground before the altar
where the three stood.
25
Home
Within an hour of the fall of Lu-don and Mo-sar, the chiefs and
principal warriors of Pal-ul-don gathered in the great throneroom of
the palace at A-lur upon the steps of the lofty pyramid and placing
Ja-don at the apex proclaimed him king. Upon one side of the old
chieftain stood Tarzan of the Apes, and upon the other Korak, the
Killer, worthy son of the mighty ape-man.
And when the brief ceremony was over and the warriors with upraised
clubs had sworn fealty to their new ruler, Ja-don dispatched a trusted
company to fetch O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of his own
household from Ja-lur.
And then the warriors discussed the future of Pal-ul-don and the
question arose as to the administration of the temples and the fate of
the priests, who practically without exception had been disloyal to the
government of the king, seeking always only their own power and comfort
and aggrandizement. And then it was that Ja-don turned to Tarzan. "Let
the Dor-ul-Otho transmit to his people the wishes of his father," he
said.
"Your problem is a simple one," said the ape-man, "if you but wish to
do that which shall be pleasing in the eyes of God. Your priests, to
increase their power, have taught you that Jad-ben-Otho is a cruel god,
that his eyes love to dwell upon blood and upon suffering. But the
falsity of their teachings has been demonstrated to you today in the
utter defeat of the priesthood.
"Take then the temples from the men and give them instead to the women
that they may be administered in kindness and charity and love. Wash
the blood from your eastern altar and drain forever the water from the
western.
"Once I gave Lu-don the opportunity to do these things but he ignored
my commands, and again is the corridor of sacrifice filled with its
victims. Liberate these from every temple in Pal-ul-don. Bring
offerings of such gifts as your people like and place them upon the
altars of your god. And there he will bless them and the priestesses of
Jad-ben-Otho can distribute them among those who need them most."
As he ceased speaking a murmur of evident approval ran through the
throng. Long had they been weary of the avarice and cruelty of the
priests and now that authority had come from a high source with a
feasible plan for ridding themselves of the old religious order without
necessitating any change in the faith of the people they welcomed it.
"And the priests," cried one. "We shall put them to death upon their
own altars if it pleases the Dor-ul-Otho to give the word."
"No," cried Tarzan. "Let no more blood be spilled. Give them their
freedom and the right to take up such occupations as they choose."
That night a great feast was spread in the pal-e-don-so and for the
first time in the history of ancient Pal-ul-don black warriors sat in
peace and friendship with white. And a pact was sealed between Ja-don
and Om-at that would ever make his tribe and the Ho-don allies and
friends.
It was here that Tarzan learned the cause of Ta-den's failure to attack
at the stipulated time. A messenger had come from Ja-don carrying
instructions to delay the attack until noon, nor had they discovered
until almost too late that the messenger was a disguised priest of
Lu-don. And they had put him to death and scaled the walls and come to
the inner temple court with not a moment to spare.
The following day O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of Ja-don's
family arrived at the palace at A-lur and in the great throneroom
Ta-den and O-lo-a were wed, and Om-at and Pan-at-lee.
For a week Tarzan and Jane and Korak remained the guests of Ja-don, as
did Om-at and his black warriors. And then the ape-man announced that
he would depart from Pal-ul-don. Hazy in the minds of their hosts was
the location of heaven and equally so the means by which the gods
traveled between their celestial homes and the haunts of men and so no
questionings arose when it was found that the Dor-ul-Otho with his mate
and son would travel overland across the mountains and out of
Pal-ul-don toward the north.
They went by way of the Kor-ul-JA accompanied by the warriors of that
tribe and a great contingent of Ho-don warriors under Ta-den. The king
and many warriors and a multitude of people accompanied them beyond the
limits of A-lur and after they had bid them good-bye and Tarzan had
invoked the blessings of God upon them the three Europeans saw their
simple, loyal friends prostrate in the dust behind them until the
cavalcade had wound out of the city and disappeared among the trees of
the nearby forest.
They rested for a day among the Kor-ul-JA while Jane investigated the
ancient caves of these strange people and then they moved on, avoiding
the rugged shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved and winding down the opposite
slope toward the great morass. They moved in comfort and in safety,
surrounded by their escort of Ho-don and Waz-don.
In the minds of many there was doubtless a question as to how the three
would cross the great morass but least of all was Tarzan worried by the
problem. In the course of his life he had been confronted by many
obstacles only to learn that he who will may always pass. In his mind
lurked an easy solution of the passage but it was one which depended
wholly upon chance.
It was the morning of the last day that, as they were breaking camp to
take up the march, a deep bellow thundered from a nearby grove. The
ape-man smiled. The chance had come. Fittingly then would the
Dor-ul-Otho and his mate and their son depart from unmapped Pal-ul-don.
He still carried the spear that Jane had made, which he had prized so
highly because it was her handiwork that he had caused a search to be
made for it through the temple in A-lur after his release, and it had
been found and brought to him. He had told her laughingly that it
should have the place of honor above their hearth as the ancient
flintlock of her Puritan grandsire had held a similar place of honor
above the fireplace of Professor Porter, her father.
At the sound of the bellowing the Ho-don warriors, some of whom had
accompanied Tarzan from Ja-don's camp to Ja-lur, looked questioningly
at the ape-man while Om-at's Waz-don looked for trees, since the GRYF
was the one creature of Pal-ul-don which might not be safely
encountered even by a great multitude of warriors. Its tough, armored
hide was impregnable to their knife thrusts while their thrown clubs
rattled from it as futilely as if hurled at the rocky shoulder of
Pastar-ul-ved.
"Wait," said the ape-man, and with his spear in hand he advanced toward
the GRYF, voicing the weird cry of the Tor-o-don. The bellowing ceased
and turned to low rumblings and presently the huge beast appeared. What
followed was but a repetition of the ape-man's previous experience with
these huge and ferocious creatures.
And so it was that Jane and Korak and Tarzan rode through the morass
that hems Pal-ul-don, upon the back of a prehistoric triceratops while
the lesser reptiles of the swamp fled hissing in terror. Upon the
opposite shore they turned and called back their farewells to Ta-den
and Om-at and the brave warriors they had learned to admire and
respect. And then Tarzan urged their titanic mount onward toward the
north, abandoning him only when he was assured that the Waz-don and the
Ho-don had had time to reach a point of comparative safety among the
craggy ravines of the foothills.
Turning the beast's head again toward Pal-ul-don the three dismounted
and a sharp blow upon the thick hide sent the creature lumbering
majestically back in the direction of its native haunts. For a time
they stood looking back upon the land they had just quit--the land of
Tor-o-don and GRYF; of JA and JATO; of Waz-don and Ho-don; a primitive
land of terror and sudden death and peace and beauty; a land that they
all had learned to love.
And then they turned once more toward the north and with light hearts
and brave hearts took up their long journey toward the land that is
best of all--home.
Glossary
From conversations with Lord Greystoke and from his notes, there have
been gleaned a number of interesting items relative to the language and
customs of the inhabitants of Pal-ul-don that are not brought out in
the story. For the benefit of those who may care to delve into the
derivation of the proper names used in the text, and thus obtain some
slight insight into the language of the race, there is appended an
incomplete glossary taken from some of Lord Greystoke's notes.
A point of particular interest hinges upon the fact that the names of
all male hairless pithecanthropi begin with a consonant, have an even
number of syllables, and end with a consonant, while the names of the
females of the same species begin with a vowel, have an odd number of
syllables, and end with a vowel. On the contrary, the names of the male
hairy black pithecanthropi while having an even number of syllables
begin with a vowel and end with a consonant; while the females of this
species have an odd number of syllables in their names which begin
always with a consonant and end with a vowel.
A. Light.
ab. Boy.
Ab-on. Acting gund of Kor-ul-JA.
Ad. Three.
Adad. Six.
Adadad. Nine.
Adaden. Seven.
Aden. Four.
Adenaden. Eight.
Adenen. Five.
A-lur. City of light.
An. Spear.
An-un. Father of Pan-at-lee.
As. The sun.
At. Tail.
Bal. Gold or golden.
Bar. Battle.
Ben. Great.
Bu. Moon.
Bu-lot (moon face). Son of chief Mo-sar.
Bu-lur (moon city). The city of the Waz-ho-don.
Dak. Fat.
Dak-at (fat tail). Chief of a Ho-don village.
Dak-lot. One of Ko-tan's palace warriors.
Dan. Rock.
Den. Tree.
Don. Man.
Dor. Son.
Dor-ul-Otho
(son of god). Tarzan.
E. Where.
Ed. Seventy.
El. Grace or graceful.
En. One.
Enen. Two.
Es. Rough.
Es-sat (rough skin). Chief of Om-at's tribe of hairy blacks.
Et. Eighty.
Fur. Thirty.
Ged. Forty.
Go. Clear.
Gryf. "Triceratops. A genus of huge
herbivorous dinosaurs of the group
Ceratopsia. The skull had two large
horns above the eyes, a median
horn on the nose, a horny beak, and a
great bony hood or transverse crest over
the neck. Their toes, five in front and
three behind, were provided with hoofs,
and the tail was large and strong."
Webster's Dict. The GRYF of Pal-ul-don
is similar except that it is
omnivorous, has strong, powerfully
armed jaws and talons instead of hoofs.
Coloration: face yellow with blue bands
encircling the eyes; hood red on top,
yellow underneath; belly yellow; body a
dirty slate blue; legs same. Bony
protuberances yellow except along the
spine--these are red. Tail conforms with
body and belly. Horns, ivory.
Gund. Chief.
Guru. Terrible.
Het. Fifty.
Ho. White.
Ho-don. The hairless white men of Pal-ul-don.
Id. Silver.
Id-an. One of Pan-at-lee's two brothers.
In. Dark.
In-sad. Kor-ul-JA warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at,
and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee.
In-tan. Kor-ul-lul left to guard Tarzan
Ja. Lion.
Jad. The
Jad-bal-lul. The golden lake.
Jad-ben-lul. The big lake.
Jad-ben-Otho. The Great God.
Jad-guru-don. The terrible man.
Jad-in-lul. The dark lake.
Ja-don (the lion-man). Chief of a Ho-don village and father of Ta-den.
Jad Pele ul
Jad-ben-Otho. The valley of the Great God.
Ja-lur (lion city). Ja-don's capital.
Jar. Strange.
Jar-don. Name given Korak by Om-at.
Jato. Saber-tooth hybrid.
Ko. Mighty.
Kor. Gorge.
Kor-ul-GRYF. Gorge of the GRYF.
Kor-ul-JA. Name of Es-sat's gorge and tribe.
Kor-ul-lul. Name of another Waz-don gorge and tribe.
Ko-tan. King of the Ho-don.
Lav. Run or running.
Lee. Doe.
Lo. Star.
Lot. Face.
Lu. Fierce.
Lu-don (fierce man). High priest of A-lur.
Lul. Water.
Lur. City.
Ma. Child.
Mo. Short.
Mo-sar (short nose). Chief and pretender.
Mu. Strong.
No. Brook.
O. Like or similar.
Od. Ninety.
O-dan. Kor-ul-JA warrior accompanying Tarzan, Om-at,
and Ta-den in search of Pan-at-lee.
Og. Sixty.
O-lo-a
(like-star-light). Ko-tan's daughter
Om. Long.
Om-at (long tail). A black.
On. Ten.
Otho. God.
Pal. Place; land; country.
Pal-e-don-so
(place where men eat). Banquet hall.
Pal-ul-don
(land of man). Name of the country.
Pal-ul-JA. Place of lions.
Pan. Soft.
Pan-at-lee. Om-at's sweetheart.
Pan-sat (soft skin). A priest.
Pastar. Father.
Pastar-ul-ved. Father of Mountains.
Pele. Valley.
Ro. Flower.
Sad. Forest.
San. One hundred
Sar. Nose.
Sat. Skin.
So. Eat.
Sod. Eaten.
Sog. Eating.
Son. Ate.
Ta. Tall.
Ta-den (tall tree). A white.
Tan. Warrior.
Tarzan-jad-guru. Tarzan the Terrible.
To. Purple.
Ton. Twenty.
Tor. Beast.
Tor-o-don. Beastlike man.
Tu. Bright.
Tu-lur (bright city). Mo-sar's city.
Ul. Of.
Un. Eye.
Ut. Corn.
Ved. Mountain
Waz. Black.
Waz-don. The hairy black men of Pal-ul-don.
Waz-ho-don
(black white men). A mixed race
Xot. One thousand.
Yo. Friend.
Za. Girl.
End of Project Gutenberg's Tarzan the Terrible, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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