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Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar · Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar

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  Chapter one, Belgium and a rab Lieutenant Albert Werper had only the prestige of
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  the name he had dishonored to thank for his narrow escape from being cay shared.
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  At first, he had been humbly thankful too, that they had sent
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  him to this cod forsaken Congo post instead of court martialing him, as he
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  had so justly deserved. But now six months of the monotony, the fright,
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  isolation, and the loneliness had wrought a change. The young man brooded
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  continually over his fate. His days were filled with morbid self pity, which
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  eventually engendered in his weak and vacillating mind a hatred for those who had sent
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  him here, for the very men he had at first inwardly thanked for saving
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  him from the ignominy of degradation. He regretted the gay life of Brussels as
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  he never had regretted the sins which had snatched him from that gayest of capitals.
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  And as the days passed, he came to center his resentment upon the
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  representative in Congoland of the authority which had exiled him, his captain and immediate
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  superior. This officer was a cold taciturn man, inspiring little love in those
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  directly beneath him, yet respected and feared by the black soldiers of his little
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  command. Wherper was accustomed to sit for hours glaring at his superior. As
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  the two sat upon the veranda of their common quarters, smoking their evening cigarettes,
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  in a silence which neither seemed desirous of breaking. The senseless hatred of
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  the lieutenant grew at last into a form of mania. The Captain's natural taciturnity
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  he distorted into a studied attempt to insult him. Because of his past shortcomings,
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  he imagined that his superior held him in contempt, and so he chafed
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  and fumed inwardly, until one evening his madness became suddenly homicidal. He fingered
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  the butt of the revolver at his hip, his eyes narrowed and his brows
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  contracted. At last he spoke, you have inserted me for the last time,
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  he cried, springing to his feet. I am an officer and a
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  gentleman, and I shall put up with it no longer without any accounting from
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  you, you piague the captain, an expression of surprise upon his features turned
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  towards his junior. He had seen men before with the jungle madness upon them,
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  the madness of solitude and unrestrained brooding, and perhaps a touch of fever.
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  He rose and extended his hand to lay it upon the other's shoulder.
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  Quiet words of counsel were upon his lips, but they were never spoken.
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  Wherper construed his superior's action into an attempt to close with him. His revolver
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  was on a level with the captain's heart, and the latter had taken but
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  a step when Werper pulled the trigger without a moan. The man sank to
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  the rough planking of the verandah, and as he fell, the mists that
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  had clouded Werper's brain lifted, so that he saw himself and the deed that
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  he had done, in the same light that those who must judge him would
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  see them. He heard excited exclamations from the quarters of the soldiers, and
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  he heard men running in his direction. They would seize him, and if
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  they didn't kill him, they would take him down the congo to a point
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  where a properly ordered military tribunal would do so just as effectively, though in
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  a more regular manner. Wherper had no desire to die. Never before had
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  he so yearned for life as in this moment that he had so effectively forfeited
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  his right to live. The men were nearing him. What was he to
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  do? He glanced about, as though searching for the tangible form of a
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  legitimate excuse for his crime, but he could find only the body of the
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  man he had so causelessly shot down. In despair, he turned and fled
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  from the oncoming soldiery across the compound. He ran, his revolver, still
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  clutched tightly in his hand. At the gates, a sentry halted him.
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  Wherper did not pause to parley or to exert the influence of his commission.
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  He merely raised his weapon and shot down the innocent black. A moment later,
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  the fugitive had torn open the gates and vanished into the blackness of the
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  jungle, but not before he had transferred the rifle and ammunition belts of the
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  dead Sentry to his own person. All that night, Wherper fled farther and
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  farther into the heart of the wilderness. Now and again, the voice of
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  a lion brought him to a listening halt, But with cocked and ready rifle.
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  He pushed ahead again, more fearful of the human huntsman in his rear
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  than of the wild carnivora ahead. Dawn came at last, but still the
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  man plodded on. All sense of hunger and fatigue were lost in the terrors
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  of contemplated capture. He could think only of escape. He dared not pause
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  to rest or eat until there was no further danger from pursuit, and so
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  he staggered on until at last he fell and could rise no more. How
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  long he had fled, he did not know, or try to know when
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  he could flee no longer. The knowledge that he had reached his limit was
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  hidden from him in the unconsciousness of utter exhaustion. And thus it was that
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  Achmet Zek the Arab found him. Ocmet's followers were for running a spear through
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  the body of their hereditary enemy, but Achmet would have it otherwise. First
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  he would question the Belgian. It were easier to question a man first and
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  kill him afterward than kill him first and then question him. So he had
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  Lieutenant Albert Werper carried to his own tent, and there slaves administered wine and
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  food in small quantities, until at last the prisoner regained consciousness. As he
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  opened his eyes, he saw the faces of strange black men about him,
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  and just outside the tent the figure of an Arab. Nowhere was the uniform
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  of his soldiers to be seen. The Arab turned, and, seeing the
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  open eye of the prisoner upon him, entered the tent. I am achmet
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  Zek. He announced, who are you and what were you doing in my
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  country? Where are your soldiers? Achmech zek? Wherper's eyes went wide and
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  his heart sank. He was in the clutches of the most notorious of cutthroats,
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  a hater of all Europeans, especially those who wore the uniform of Belgium.
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  For years, the military forces of Belgian Congo had waged a fruitless war
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  upon this man and his followers, a war in which quarter had never been
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  asked nor expected by either side. But presently, in the very hatred of
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  the man for Belgians, Werper saw a faint ray of hope for himself.
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  He too was an outcast and an outlaw. So far, at least they
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  possessed a common interest, and Werper decided to play upon it for all that
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  it might yield. I have heard of you, he replied, and was
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  searching for you. My people have turned against me. I hate them.
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  Even now their soldiers are searching for me to kill me. I knew that
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  you would protect me from them, for you too hate them. In return,
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  I will take service with you. I am a trained soldier, I
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  can fight, and your enemies are my enemies. Acmet Zek eyed the European
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  in silence. In his mind he revolved many thoughts, chief among which was
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  that the unbeliever lied. Of course, there was the chance that he did
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  not lie, and if he told the truth, then his proposition was one
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  well worthy of consideration, since fighting men were never over plentiful, especially white
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  men with the training and knowledge of military matters that a European officer must possess.
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  Achmet Zek scowled, and Werper's heart sank. But Werper did not know
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  ocmet Zek, who was quite apt to scowl where another would smile, and
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  smile where another would scowl. And if you have lied to me, said
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  ocmec Zach, I will kill you at any time. What return other than
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  your life do you expect for your services? May keep only at first,
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  replied Werper. Later, if I am worth more, we can easily reach
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  an understanding. Werper's only desire at the moment was to preserve his life,
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  and so the agreement was reached, and Lieutenant Albert Werper became a member of
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  the ivory and slave raiding band of the notorious achmet Zek. For months,
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  the renegade Belgian rode with the savage raider. He fought with a savage abandon
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  and a vicious cruelty fully equal to that of his fellow desperadoes. Achmet Zek
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  watched his recruit with eagle eye and with a growing satisfaction, which finally found
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  expression in a greater confidence in the man, and resulted in an increased independence
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  of action for Werper. Acmechzach took the Belgian into his confidence to a great
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  extent, and at last unfolded to him a pet scheme which the Arab had
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  long fostered, but which he never had found an opportunity to effect. With
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  the aid of a European, however, the thing might be easily accomplished,
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  he sounded, Werper, you have heard of the man men call Tarzan,
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  he asked. Werper nodded, I have heard of him, but I do
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  not know him. But for him we might carry on our trading in safety
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  and with great profit, continued the Arab. For years, he has fought
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  us, driving us from the richest part of the country, harassing us,
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  and arming the natives that they may repair us when we come to trade.
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  He is very rich. If we could find some way to make him pay
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  us many pieces of gold, we should not only be avenged upon him,
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  but repaid for much that he has prevented us from winning from the natives under
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  his protection. Werper withdrew a cigarette from a jewel case, enlighted it ain't
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  you have a plan to make him pay? He asked. He has a
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  wife, replied Doc Maczac, whom men say is very beautiful. She would
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  bring a great price farther north. If we found it too difficult to collect
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  ransom money from this Tarzan. Wherper bent his head in thought. Oc Meczac
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  stood awaiting his reply. What good remained in Albert Wherper revolted at the thought
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  of selling a white woman into the slavery and degradation of a Moslem harem.
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  He looked up at Doc Meczac. He saw the Arab's eyes narrow, and
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  he guessed that the other had sensed his antagonism to the plan. What would
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  it mean to Wherper to refuse his life lay in the hands of this semi
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  barbarian, who esteemed the life of an unbeliever less highly than that of a
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  dog. Wherper loved life. What was this woman to him? Anyway?
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  She was a European, doubtless a member of organized society. He was an
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  hour cast. The hand of every white man was against him. She was
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  his natural enemy, and if he refused to lend himself to her undoing,
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  Ochmeczak would have him killed. You hesitate, murmured the Arab. I was
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  but weighing the chances of success, lied Werper. And my reward as a
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  European I can gain admittance to their home and table. You have no other
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  with you who could do so much. The reisk will be great. I
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  should be well paid, Ochmeczat. A smile of relief passed over the raider's
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  face. Will, said Werper, and Ochmeczac slapped his lieutenant upon the shoulder.
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  You should be well paid, and you shall now let us sit together
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  and plan how best the thing may be done. And the two men squatted
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  upon a soft rug beneath the faded silks of Ocmet's once gorgeous tent, and
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  talked together in low voices well into the night. Both were tall and bearded,
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  and the exposure to sun and wind had given an almost Arab hue to
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  the European's complexion. In every detail of dress, too, he copied the
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  fashions of his chief, so that outwardly he was as much an Arab as
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  the other. It was late when he arose and retired to his own tent.
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  The following day were per spent in overhauling his Belgian uniform, removing from
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  it every vestige of evidence that might indicate its military purposes. From a heterogeneous
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  collection of lute achmet Zek procured a pith helmet and a European saddle, and
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  from his black slaves and followers a party of porters, askeri and tent boys
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  to make up a modest safari for a big game hunter. At the head
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  of this party, Wherper set out from camp end of chapter one, chapter
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  two, on the road to Opar. It was two weeks later that John
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  Clayton, Lord Greystoke, riding in from a tour of inspection of his vast
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  African estate, glimpsed the head of a column of men crossing the plain that
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  lay between his bungalow and the forest to the north and west. He reined
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  in his horse and watched the little party as it emerged from a concealing swale.
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  His keen eyes caught the reflection of the sun upon the white helmet of
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  a mounted man, and with the conviction that a wandering European hunter was seeking
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  his hospitality, he wheeled his mount and rode slowly forward to meet the newcomer.
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  A half hour later he was mounting the steps leading to the veranda of
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  his bungalow and introducing M. Jeu faircour to Lady Greystoke. I was completely
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  lost. M. Fecour was explaining. My headman had never before been in
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  this part of the country, and the guides who were to have accompanied me
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  from the last village we passed knew even less of the country tree than we.
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  They finally deserted us two days. Since I am very fortunate, indeed
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  to have stumbled so providentially upon succor, I do not know what I should
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  have done had I not found you. It was decided that Fecul and his
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  party should remain several days or until they were thoroughly rested, when Lord Greystoke
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  would furnish guides to lead them safely back into country with which Fecool's headman was
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  supposedly familiar. In his guise of a French gentleman of leisure, Wor pro
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  found little difficulty in deceiving his host and in ingratiating himself with both Tarzan and
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  Jane Clayton. But the longer he remained, the less hopeful he became of
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  an easy accomplishment of his designs. Lady Greystoke never rode alone at any great
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  distance from the Bungalow, and the savage loyalty of the ferocious Waziri warriors who
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  formed a great part of Tarzan's followers, seemed to preclude the possibility of a
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  successful attempt at forcible abduction or of the bribery of the Wazirri themselves. A
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  week passed, and Wherper was no nearer the fulfillment of his plan, in
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  so far as he could judge, than upon the day of his arrival.
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  But at that very moment something occurred which gave him renewed hope and set his
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  mind upon an even greater reward than a woman's ransom. A runner had arrived
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  at the bungalow with the weekly mail, and Lord Greystoke had spent the afternoon
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  in his study, reading and answering letters. At dinner, he seemed distraught,
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  and early in the evening he excused himself and retired, Lady Greystoke following
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  him. Very soon after, wherper, sitting upon the veranda, could hear
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  their voices in earnest discussion, and having realized that something of unusual moment was
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  afoot he quietly rose from his chair, and, keeping well in the shadow
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  of the shrubbery growing profusely about the bungalow, made his silent way to a
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  point beneath the window of the room in which his host and hostess slept.
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  Here he listened, and not without result, for almost the first words he
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  overheard filled him with excitement. Lady Greystoke was speaking, as Werper came within
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  hearing, I always feared for the stability of the company, she was saying,
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  But it seems incredible that they should have failed for so enormous a sum,
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  unless there has been some dishonest manipulation. That is what I suspect replied
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  Tarzan. But whatever the cause, the fact remains that I have lost everything,
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  and there is nothing for it but to return to Opar and get more.
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  Oh, John, cried lady Greystoke, and Werper could feel the shudder
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  through her voice. Is there no other way? I cannot bear to think
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  of you returning to that frightful city. I would rather live in poverty always
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  than to have you risk the hideous dangers of Opar. You need have no
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  fear, replied Tarzan, laughing. I am pretty well able to take care
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  of myself, and were I not, the Waziri who will accompany me will
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  see that no harm befalls me. They ran away from Opar once and left
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  you to your fate, she reminded him. They will not do it again.
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  He answered, they were very much ashamed of themselves and were coming back
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  when I met them. But there must be some other way, insisted the
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  woman. There is no other way half so easy to obtain another fortune as
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  to go to the treasure vaults of Opar and bring it away. He replied,
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  I shall be very careful, Jane, and the chances are that the
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  inhabitants of Opar will never know that I have been there again, and despoiled
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  them of another portion of the treasure, the very existence of which they are
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  as ignorant of as they would be of its value. The finality in his
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  tone seemed to assure Lady Greystoke that further argument was futile, and so she
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  abandoned the subject. Werper remained listening for a short time, and then,
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  confident that he had overheard all that was necessary and fearing discovery, returned to
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  the veranda, where he smoked numerous cigarettes in rapid succession before retiring. The
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  following morning, at breakfast, Werper announced his intention of making an early departure
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  and asked Tarzan's permission to hunt big game in the Waziri country on his way
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  out, permission which Lord Greystoke readily granted. The Belgian consumed two days in
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  completing his preparations, but finally got away with his safari, accompanied by a
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  single Waziri guide whom Lord Greystoke had loaned him. The party made but a
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  single short march when Werper's simulated illness and announced his intention of remaining where he
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  was until he had fully recovered. As they had gone but a short distance
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  from the gray Stout bungalow. Werper dismissed the Waziri guide, telling the warrior
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  that he would send for him when he was able to proceed. The Waziri
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  gone, the Belgian summoned one of achmet Zek's trusted blacks to his tent and
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  despatched him to watch for the departure of Tarzan, to return immediately to advise
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  Werper of the event and the direction taken by the Englishman. The Belgian did
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  not have long to wait. For the following day, his emissary returned with
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  word that Tarzan and a party of fifty Waziri warriors had set out towards the
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  southeast. Early in the morning, Werper called his headman to him after writing
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  a long letter to achmet Zek. This letter he handed to the headman,
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  send a runner at once to achmet Zek with thiefs. He instructed the headman
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  remain here in camp, awaiting further instructions from him or from me. If
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  any come from the bungalow of the Englishmen, tell them that I am very
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  ill within my tint and can see no one. Now give me sieks porters
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  and Sixxsaeskari, the strongest and bravest of the Safari, and I will march
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  after the Englishman and discover where his gold is hidden. And so it was
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  that, as Tarzan stripped to the loincloth and armed, after the primitive fashion
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  he best loved, led his loyal Wazirri toward the dead city of Opar wherper
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  the renegade haunted his trail through the long hot days and camped close behind him
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  by night. And as they marched, okmet Zek rode with his entire following
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  southward toward the Graystoak Farm to Tarzan of the Apes. The expedition was in
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  the nature of a holiday outing. His civilization was, at best but an
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  outward veneer, which he gladly peeled off with his uncomfortable European whenever any reasonable
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  pretext presented itself. It was a woman's love which kept Tarzan even to the
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  semblance of civilization, a condition for which familiarity had bred contempt. He hated
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  the shams and the hypocrisies of it, and with the clear vision of an
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  unspoiled mind, he had penetrated to the rotten core of the heart of the
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  thing, the cowardly greed for peace and ease, and the safeguarding of property
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  rights. That the fine things of life, art, music, and literature
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  had thriven upon such enervating ideals, he strenuously denied, insisting rather that they
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  had endured in spite of civilization. Show me, the fat, opulent coward.
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  He was wont to say. Whoever originated a beautiful ideal in the clash
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  of arms in the battle for survival amid hunger and death and danger in the
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  face of God, as manifested in the display of nature's most terrific forces,
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  is borne all that is finest and best in the human heart and mind.
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  And so Tarzan always came back to nature in the spirit of a lover,
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  keeping a long deferred tryss. After a period behind prison walls. His waziri
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  at Merrill were more civilized than he. They cooked their meat before they ate
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  it, and they shunned many articles of food as unclean that Tarzan had eaten
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  with gusto all his life. And so insidious is the virus of hypocrisy that
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  even the stalwart ape man hesitated to give rain to his natural longings. Before
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  them, he ate burnt flesh when he would have preferred it raw and unspoiled,
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  and he brought down game with arrow or spear, when he would far
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  rather have leaped upon it from ambush and sunk his strong teeth in its jugular.
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  But at last the call of the milk of the savage mother that had
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  suckled him in infancy rose to an insistent demand. He craved the hot blood
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  of a fresh kill, and his muscles yearned to pit themselves against the savaged
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  jungle in the battle for existence that had been his sole birthright for the first
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  twenty years of his life. End of chapter two, Chapter three, the
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  call of the jungle. Moved by these vague yet all powerful urgings, the
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  ape man lay awake one night in the little thorn boma that protected in a
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  way his party from the depredations of the great Carnivora of the jungle. A
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  single warrior stood sleepy guard beside the fire that yellow eyes out of the darkness
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  beyond the camp made imperitive. The moans and the coughing of the big cats
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  mingled with the myriad noises of the lesser denizens of the jungle to fan the
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  savage flame in the breast of this savage English lord. He tossed upon his
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  bed of grasses sleepless for an hour, and then he rose, noiseless as
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  a wraith, and while the wazir's back was turned, vaulted the boma wall
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  in the face of the flaming eyes, swung silently into a great tree,
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  and was gone for a time. In sheer exuberance of animal spirit, he
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  raced swiftly through the middle terrace, swinging perilously across wide spans from one jungle
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  giant to the next. And then he clambered upward to the swaying lesser boughs
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  of the upper terrace, where the moon shone full upon him, and the
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  air was stirred by little breezes, and death lurt ready in each frail branch.
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  Here he paused and raised his face to gore o the moon. With
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  uplifted arm. He stood the cry of the bull ape quivering upon his lips.
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  Yet he remained silent, lest he arouse his faithful waziri, who were
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  all too familiar with the hideous challenge of their master. And then he went
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  on on more slowly and with greater stealth and caution, for now Tarzan of
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  the Apes was seeking a kill. Down to the ground, he came in
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  the utter blackness of the close set bowls and the overhanging verdure of the jungle.
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  He stooped from time to time and put his nose close to earth.
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  He sought and found a wide game trail, and at last his nostrils were
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  rewarded with the scent of the fresh spoor of Bara the deer. Tarzan's mouth
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  watered, and a low growl escaped. His patrician lips slept from him.
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  Was the last vestige of artificial caste. Once again, he was the primeval
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  hunter, the first man, the highest cast type of the human race.
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  Up wind, he followed the elusives spore with a sense of perception so transcending
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  that ordinary man as to be inconceivable to us. Through counter currents of the
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  heavy stench of meat eaters, he traced the trail of Bara. The sweet
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  and cloying stink of Horta the boar could not drown his quarry's scent, the
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  permeating mellow musk of the deer's foot presently the body scent of the deer told
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  Tarzan that his prey was close at hand. It sent him into the trees
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  again, into the lower terrace, where he could watch the ground below and
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  catch with ears and nose, the first intimation of actual contact with his query.
• 26:23
  Nor was it long before the ape man came upon Bara, standing alert
• 26:27
  at the edge of a moon bathed clearing. Noiselessly, Tarzan crept through the
• 26:33
  trees until he was directly over the deer. In the ape man's right hand
• 26:37
  was the long hunting knife of his father, and in his heart the blood
• 26:41
  lust of the carnivore. Just for an instant he poised above the unsuspecting Barra,
• 26:47
  and then he launched himself downward upon the sleek back. The impact of
• 26:52
  his weight carried the deer to its knees, and before the animal could regain
• 26:56
  its feet, the knife had found its heart. As Tarzan rose upon the
• 27:00
  body of his kill to scream forth his hideous victory cry into the face of
• 27:06
  the moon, the wind carried to his nostrils, something which froze him to
• 27:11
  statuesque immobility and silence. His savage eyes blazed into the direction from which the
• 27:17
  wind had borne down the warning to him, and a moment later, the
• 27:21
  grasses at one side of the clearing parted, and Numa, the lion,
• 27:25
  strode majestically into view. His yellow green eyes were fastened upon Tarzan as he
• 27:32
  halted just within the clearing, and glared enviously at the successful hunter, for
• 27:37
  Numa had had no luck this night. From the lips of the ape man
• 27:41
  broke a rumbling growl of warning. Numa answered, but he did not advance.
• 27:48
  Instead, he stood, waving his tail gently to and fro, and
• 27:52
  presently Tarzan squatted upon his kill and cut a generous portion from a hind quarter.
• 27:57
  Numa eyed him with growing resentment and rage, as between mouthfuls the ape
• 28:03
  man growled out his savage warnings. Now this particular lion had never before come
• 28:08
  in contact with Tarzan of the Apes, and he was much mystified. Here
• 28:14
  was the appearance in the scent of a man thing, and Numa had tasted
• 28:18
  of human flesh and learned that, though not the most palatable, it was
• 28:22
  certainly by far the easiest to secure. Yet there was that in the bestial
• 28:27
  growls of the strange creature, which reminded him of formidable antagonists and gave him
• 28:33
  pause, while his hunger and the odor of the hot flesh of Bara goaded
• 28:37
  him almost to madness. Always Tarzan watched him, guessing what was passing in
• 28:44
  the little brain of the carnivore, And well it was that he did watch
• 28:48
  him. For at last Numa could stand it no longer. His tail shot
• 28:52
  suddenly erect, and at the same instant, the wary ape man, knowing
• 28:56
  all too well what the signal portended, grasped the remainder of the deer's hind
• 29:00
  quarter between his teeth and leaped into a nearby tree as Numa charged him with
• 29:06
  all the speed and sufficient semblance of the weight of an express train. Tarzan's
• 29:11
  retreat was no indication that he felt fear. Jungle life is ordered along different
• 29:17
  lines than ours, and different standards prevail. Had Tarzan been famished, he
• 29:22
  would doubtless have stood his ground and met the lion's charge. He had done
• 29:26
  the thing before, upon more than one occasion, just as in the past
• 29:32
  he had charged lions himself. But to night he was far from famished,
• 29:37
  and in the hind quarter he had carried off with him was more raw fleshed
• 29:40
  than he could eat. Yet it was with no equanimity that he looked down
• 29:45
  upon Numa rending the flesh of Tarzan's kill. The presumption of this strange Numa
• 29:51
  must be punished and forthwith, Tarzan set out to make life miserable for the
• 29:56
  big cat. Close by were many trees bearing large charge hard fruits, and
• 30:00
  to one of these the ape man swung with the agility of a squirrel.
• 30:04
  Then commenced a bombardment, which brought forth earth shaking roars from Numa, one
• 30:11
  after another. As rapidly as he could gather and hurl them, Tarzan pelted
• 30:15
  the hard fruit down upon the lion. It was impossible for the tawny cat
• 30:21
  to eat under that hail of missiles. He could but roar and growl and
• 30:26
  dodge, and eventually he was driven away entirely from the carcass of Bara the
• 30:30
  deer. He went roaring and resentful, but in the very center of the
• 30:34
  clearing, his voice was suddenly hushed, and Tarzan saw the great head lore
• 30:40
  and flatten out, the body crouch, and the long tail quiver as the
• 30:45
  beast slunk cautiously toward the trees upon the opposite side. Immediately Tarzan was alert.
• 30:51
  He lifted his head and sniffed the slow jungle breeze. What was it
• 30:56
  that had attracted Numa's attention and taken him soft footed and silent? Away from
• 31:00
  the scene of his discomfiture. Just as the lion disappeared among the trees beyond
• 31:06
  the clearing, Tarzan caught upon the downcoming wind the explanation of his new interest.
• 31:11
  The scent spore of man was wafted strongly to the sensitive nostrils, caching
• 31:18
  the remainder of the deer's hind quarter in the crotch of a tree. The
• 31:22
  ape man wiped his greasy palms upon his naked thighs and swung off in pursuit
• 31:27
  of Numa. A broad, well beaten elephant path led into the forest from
• 31:32
  the clearing. Parallel to this slunk Numa, while above him Tarzan moved through
• 31:37
  the trees the shadow of a wraith. The Savage Cat and the Savage Man
• 31:42
  saw Numan's quarry almost simultaneously, though both had known before it came within the
• 31:48
  vision of their eyes that it was a black man. Their sensitive nostrils had
• 31:53
  told them this much, and tarzans had told him that the scent spore was
• 31:57
  that of a stranger, old and a male. For race and sex and
• 32:02
  age each has its own distinctive scent. It was an old man that made
• 32:07
  his way alone through the gloomy jungle, a wrinkled, dried up, little
• 32:13
  old man, hideously scarred and tattooed and strangely guarbed, with the skin of
• 32:17
  a hyena about his shoulders and the dried head mounted upon his gray pate.
• 32:23
  Tarzan recognized the ear marks of the witch doctor and awaited Numa's charge with a
• 32:30
  feeling of pleasurable anticipation, for the ape man had no love for witch doctors.
• 32:35
  But in the instant that Numa did charge, the white man suddenly recalled
• 32:39
  that the lion had stolen his kill a few minutes before, and that revenge
• 32:44
  is sweet. The first intimation the black man had that he was in danger
• 32:49
  was the crash of twigs as Numa charged through the bushes into the game trail,
• 32:53
  not twenty yards behind him. Then he turned to see a huge,
• 32:58
  black maned lion racing toward him, and even as he turned, Numa seized
• 33:02
  him. At the same instant, the ape Man dropped from an overhanging limb
• 33:07
  full upon the lion's back, and as he alighted, he plunged his knife
• 33:12
  into the tawny side behind the left shoulder, tangled the fingers of his right
• 33:16
  hand in the long mane buried his teeth in Numa's neck and wound his powerful
• 33:22
  legs about the beast torsail with a roar of pain and rage. Numa reared
• 33:28
  up and fell backward upon the ape man, but still the mighty man thing
• 33:32
  clung to his hold, and repeatedly the long knife plunged rapidly into his side.
• 33:38
  Over and over rolled Numa, the lion, clawing and biting at the
• 33:43
  air, roaring and growling horribly in savage attempt to reach the thing upon its
• 33:47
  back. More than once was Tarzan almost brushed from his hold. He was
• 33:52
  battered and bruised, and covered with blood from Numa and dirt from the trail.
• 33:58
  Yet not for an instant did he lessen the ferocity of his mad attack,
• 34:01
  nor his grim hold upon the back of his antagonist. To have loosened
• 34:07
  for an instant his grip there would have been to bring him within reach of
• 34:10
  those tearing talons or rending fangs, and have ended forever the grim career of
• 34:15
  this jungle bred English lord. Where he had fallen beneath the spring of the
• 34:22
  lion, the witch doctor lay torn and bleeding, unable to drag himself away
• 34:28
  and watch the terrific battle between these two lords of the jungle. His sunken
• 34:32
  eyes glittered, and his wrinkled lips moved over his toothless gums as he mumbled
• 34:38
  weird incantations to the demons of his cult. For a time he felt no
• 34:44
  doubt as to the outcome. The strange white man must certainly succumb to terrible
• 34:49
  Simba. Whoever heard of a lone man armed only with a knife slaying so
• 34:53
  mighty a beast? Yet presently the old black man's eyes went wider, and
• 34:59
  his commenced to have his doubts and misgivings. What wonderful sort of creature was
• 35:05
  this that battled with Simba and held his own despite the mighty muscles of the
• 35:09
  King of beasts? And slowly there dawned in those sunken eyes, gleaming so
• 35:15
  brightly from the scarred and wrinkled face, The light of a dawning recollection,
• 35:20
  groping backward into the past, reached the fingers of memory, until at last
• 35:24
  they seized upon a faint picture, faded and yellow with the passing years.
• 35:30
  It was the picture of a lithe, white skinned youth swinging through the trees
• 35:36
  in company with a band of huge apes, and the old eyes blinked,
• 35:40
  and a great fear came into them, the superstitious fear of one who believes
• 35:45
  in ghosts and spirits and demons. And came the time once more when the
• 35:51
  witch Doctor no longer doubted the outcome of the duel. Yet his first judgment
• 35:57
  was reversed, for now he knew that the Jungle God would slay Simba,
• 36:00
  and the old Black was even more terrified of his own impending fate at the
• 36:06
  hands of the victor than he had been by the shore and sudden death which
• 36:09
  the triumphant lion would have meted out to him. He saw the lion weaken
• 36:15
  from loss of blood. He saw the mighty limbs tremble and stagger, and
• 36:20
  at last he saw the beast sink down to rise no more, he saw
• 36:24
  the forest god or demon rise from the vanquished full, and, placing a
• 36:30
  foot upon the still quivering carcass, raise his face to the moon, and
• 36:35
  bay out a hideous cry that froze the ebbing blood in the veins of the
• 36:39
  witch Doctor. End of Chapter three, Chapter four Prophecy and Fulfillment. Then
• 36:49
  Tarzan turned his attention to the man he had not slain Numa to save the
• 36:53
  Negro. He had merely done it in revenge upon the lion. But now
• 37:00
  that he saw the old man lying helpless and dying before him, something akin
• 37:04
  to pity touched his savage heart. In his youth, he would have slain
• 37:08
  the witch Doctor without the slightest compunction. But civilization had had its softening effect
• 37:15
  upon him, even as it does upon the nations and races which it touches,
• 37:20
  though it had not yet gone far enough with Tarzan to render him either
• 37:23
  cowardly or effeminate. He saw an old man suffering and dying, and he
• 37:30
  stooped and felt of his wounds and staunched the flow of blood. Who are
• 37:35
  you, asked the old man in a trembling voice. I am Tarzan,
• 37:40
  Tarzan of the Apes, replied the ape man, and not without a greater
• 37:45
  touch of pride than he would have had he said, I am John Clayton,
• 37:50
  Lord Greystoke. The witch Doctor shook convulsively and closed his eyes. When
• 37:55
  he opened them again, there was in them a resignation to whatever horrible fate
• 38:00
  awaited him at the hands of this feared demon of the woods. Why do
• 38:05
  you not kill me? He asked, why should I kill you, inquired
• 38:09
  Tarzan. You have not harmed me, and anyway, you are already dying.
• 38:15
  Numa, the lion has killed you. You would not kill me.
• 38:20
  Surprise and incredulity were in the tones of the quavering old voice. I would
• 38:25
  save you if I could, replied Tarzan. But that cannot be done.
• 38:30
  Why did you think I would kill you? For a moment, the old
• 38:34
  man was silent when he spoke. It was evidently after some little effort to
• 38:38
  muster his courage. I knew you of old, he said, when you
• 38:45
  ranged the jungle in the country of Mabonga, the chief, I was already
• 38:50
  a witch doctor, when you slew Kulonga and the others, and when you
• 38:54
  robbed our huts and our poison pot. At first I did not remember you,
• 39:01
  but at last I did. The white skinned ape that lived with the
• 39:07
  hairy apes and made life miserable in the village of Mabanga, the Chief,
• 39:13
  the forest god, the Menongo Kiwati, for whom we set food outside our
• 39:19
  gates, and who came and ate it? Tell me before I die,
• 39:24
  are you man or devil? Tarzan laughed? I am a man, he
• 39:31
  said, The old fellow sighed and shook his head. You have tried to
• 39:37
  save me from Simba, he said. For that I shall reward you.
• 39:42
  I am a great witch doctor. Listen to me, white man. I
• 39:46
  see bad days ahead of you. It is writ in my own blood which
• 39:52
  I have smeared upon my palm. A god greater even than you, will
• 39:57
  rise up and strike you down. Turn back, Munango Kiwati, Turn back
• 40:04
  before it is too late. Danger lies ahead of you, and danger lurks
• 40:09
  behind. But greater is the danger before I see. He paused and drew
• 40:17
  a long and gasping breath. Then he crumpled into a little wrinkled heap and
• 40:22
  died. Tarzan wondered what else he had seen. It was very late when
• 40:29
  the ape man re entered the Boma and lay down among his black warriors.
• 40:34
  None had seen him go, and none saw him return. He thought about
• 40:38
  the warning of the old witch doctor before he fell asleep, and he thought
• 40:43
  of it again after he awoke. But he did not turn back, for
• 40:46
  he was unafraid. Though had he known what lay in store for one he
• 40:51
  loved most in all the world, he would have flown through the trees to
• 40:55
  her side and allowed the gold of Opar to remain forever hidden in its forgotten
• 41:00
  storehouse. Behind him, that morning, another white man pondered something he had
• 41:07
  heard during the night, and very nearly did he give up his project and
• 41:12
  turned back upon his trail. It was Wherper, the murderer, who,
• 41:16
  in the still of the night, had heard, far away upon the trail
• 41:20
  ahead of him, a sound that had filled his cowardly soul with terror,
• 41:24
  a sound such as he never before had heard in all his life, nor
• 41:29
  dreamed that such a frightful thing could emanate from the lungs of a god created
• 41:35
  creature. He had heard the victory cry of the bull Ape as Tarzan had
• 41:39
  screamed it forth into the face of Goro the Moon, and he had trembled
• 41:45
  then and hidden his face. And now, in the broad light of a
• 41:49
  new day, he trembled again as he recalled it, and would have turned
• 41:52
  back from the nameless danger the echo of that frightful sound seemed to portend,
• 41:59
  had he not stood an even greater fear of Akhmetzek his master. And so
• 42:06
  Tarzan of the Apes forged steadily ahead toward Opar's ruined ramparts, and behind him
• 42:12
  slunk Werper, Jackal like, and only God knew what lay in store for
• 42:16
  each. At the edge of the desolate valley, overlooking the golden domes and
• 42:22
  minarets of Vopar, Tarzan, halted by night, he would go alone to
• 42:29
  the Treasure Vault, reconnoitering, for he had determined that caution should mark his
• 42:34
  every move upon this expedition. With the coming of night, he set forth,
• 42:39
  and Wherper, who had scaled the cliffs alone behind the ape man's party
• 42:44
  and hidden through the day among the rough bowlders of the mountain top, slunk
• 42:49
  stealthily after him. The boulder strewn plain between the valley's edge and the mighty
• 42:54
  granite copy outside the city's walls, where lay the entrance to the passageway leading
• 43:00
  to the Treasure Vault, gave the Belgian ample cover. As he followed Tarzan
• 43:06
  toward Opar, he saw the giant ape man swing himself nimbly up the face
• 43:10
  of the great rock, Wherper clawing fearfully during the perilous ascent, sweating in
• 43:17
  terror, almost palsied by fear, but spurred on by avarice, following upward
• 43:24
  until at last he stood upon the summit of the rocky hill, Tarzan was
• 43:30
  nowhere in sight. For a time, Werper hid behind one of the lesser
• 43:34
  boulders that were scattered over the top of the hill, but seeing or hearing
• 43:38
  nothing of the Englishman, he crept from his place of concealment to undertake a
• 43:43
  systematic search of his surroundings, in the hope that he might discover the location
• 43:47
  of the treasure in ample time to make his escape before Tarzan returned. For
• 43:53
  it was the Belgian's desire merely to locate the gold, that after Tarzan had
• 43:59
  departed, he might come in safety with his followers and carry away as much
• 44:04
  as he could transport. He found the narrow cleft leading downward into the heart
• 44:08
  of the copy Along well worn granite steps. He advanced quite to the dark
• 44:15
  mouth of the tunnel, into which the runway disappeared. But here he halted,
• 44:20
  fearing to enter lest he meet Tarzan. Returning. The ape Man,
• 44:25
  far ahead of him, groped his way along the rocky passage until he came
• 44:30
  to the ancient wooden door. A moment later he stood within the treasure chamber,
• 44:36
  where ages since long dead hands had ranged the lofty rows of precious ingots
• 44:42
  for the rulers of that great continent which now lies submerged beneath the waters of
• 44:46
  the Atlantic. No sound broke the stillness of the subterranean vault. There was
• 44:52
  no evidence that another had discovered the forgotten wealth since last the ape man had
• 44:58
  visited its hid place. Satisfied, Tarzan turned and retraced his steps towards the
• 45:05
  summit of the copy. Wherper, from the concealment of a jutting granite shoulder,
• 45:10
  watched him pass up from the shadows of the stairway, and advanced toward
• 45:15
  the edge of the hill, which faced the rim of the valley, where
• 45:17
  the Waziri awaited the signal of their master. Then Wherper, slipping stealthily from
• 45:23
  his hiding place, dropped into the somber darkness of the entrance and disappeared.
• 45:30
  Tarzan, halting upon the copy's edge, raised his voice in the thunderous roar
• 45:36
  of a lion. Twice at regular intervals. He repeated the call, standing
• 45:42
  in attentive silence for several minutes after the echoes of the third call had died
• 45:46
  away, and then from far across the valley faintly came an answering roar.
• 45:52
  Once twice thrice Basuli, the Waziri chieftain, had heard and replied. Tarzan
• 46:00
  again made his way toward the treasure vault, knowing that in a few hours
• 46:05
  his blacks would be with him, ready to bear away another fortune in the
• 46:08
  strangely shaped golden ingots of Opar. In the meantime, he would carry as
• 46:14
  much of the precious metal to the summit of the copy as he could.
• 46:19
  Six trips he made in the five hours before Basuli reached the copy, and
• 46:23
  at the end of that time he had transported forty eight ingots to the edge
• 46:28
  of the Great Boulder, carrying upon each trip a load which might well have
• 46:32
  staggered two ordinary men. Yet his giant frame showed no evidence of fatigue as
• 46:38
  he helped to raise his Ebon warriors to the hilltop with the rope that had
• 46:43
  been brought for the purpose. Six times he had returned to the treasure chamber,
• 46:49
  and six times Wherper the Belgian had cowered in the black shadows at the
• 46:52
  far end of the long vault. Once again came the ape Man, and
• 46:58
  this time there came with him fifty fighting men, turning porters for the love
• 47:02
  of the only creature in the world who might command of their fierce and haughty
• 47:07
  natures such menial service. Fifty two mooringots passed out of the vaults, making
• 47:13
  the total of one hundred, which Tarzan intended taking away with him. As
• 47:19
  the last of the Waziri filed from the chamber, Tarzan turned back for a
• 47:22
  last glimpse of the fabulous wealth upon which his two inroads had made no appreciable
• 47:29
  impression, before he extinguished the single candle he had brought with him for the
• 47:35
  purpose, and the flickering light of which had cast the first alleviating rays into
• 47:39
  the impenetrable darkness of the buried chamber that it had known for the countless ages
• 47:45
  since it had Lain forgotten of man. Tarzan's mind reverted to that first occasion
• 47:50
  upon which he had entered the treasure vault, coming upon it by chance as
• 47:54
  he fled from the pits beneath the temple, where he had been hidden by
• 47:58
  Law, the hype priestas of the Sun worshipers. He recalled the scene within
• 48:04
  the temple when he had Lain stretched upon the sacrificial altar, while Law,
• 48:07
  with high raised dagger, stood above him, and the rows of priests and
• 48:13
  priestesses awaited, in the ecstatic hysteria of fanaticism, the first gush of their
• 48:19
  victim's warm blood, that they might fill their golden goblets and drink to the
• 48:23
  glory of their flaming god. The brutal and bloody interruption by Thaw the mad
• 48:30
  priest passed vividly before the ape man's recollect devies, the flight of the votaries,
• 48:36
  before the insane blood lust of the hideous creature, the brutal attack upon
• 48:40
  Law, and his own part of the grim tragedy. When he had battled
• 48:45
  with the infuriated oparian and left him dead at the feet of the priestess,
• 48:50
  he would have profaned. This and much more passed through Tarzan's memory. As
• 48:54
  he stood gazing at the long tears of dull yellow metal, he wondered if
• 49:00
  Law still ruled the temples of the ruined city, whose crumbling walls rose upon
• 49:05
  the very foundations about him. Had she finally been forced into a union with
• 49:09
  one of her grotesque priests. It seemed a hideous fate, indeed, for
• 49:15
  one so beautiful. With a shake of his head, Tarzan stepped to the
• 49:20
  flickering candle, extinguished its feeble rays and turned toward the exit. Behind him,
• 49:25
  the spy waited for him to be gone. He had learned the secret
• 49:30
  for which he had come, and now he could return at his leisure to
• 49:35
  his waiting followers, bring them to the treasure vault, and carry away all
• 49:38
  the gold that they could stagger under. The Waziri had reached the outer end
• 49:44
  of the tunnel and were winding upward toward the fresh air and the welcome starlight
• 49:49
  of the Coppy's summit before Tarzan shook off the detaining hand of Reverie and started
• 49:53
  slowly after them. Once again, and he thought for the last time,
• 50:00
  he closed the massive door of the treasure room. In the darkness behind him,
• 50:05
  Whirper rose and stretched his cramped muscles. He stretched forth a hand and
• 50:10
  lovingly caressed a golden ingot on the nearest tier. He raised it from its
• 50:15
  immemorial resting place, and weighedeth in his hands. He clutched it to his
• 50:21
  bosom. In an ecstasy of avarice, Tarzan dreamed of the happy homecoming which
• 50:27
  lay before him, of dear arms about his neck and a soft cheek pressed
• 50:31
  to his But there rose to dispel that dream, the memory of the old
• 50:37
  witch doctor and his warning. And then, in the span of a few
• 50:40
  brief seconds, the hopes of both these men were shattered. The one forgot
• 50:45
  even in his greed in the panic of terror. The other was plunged into
• 50:51
  total forgetfulness of the past by a jagged fragment of rock which gasped a deep
• 50:55
  cut upon his head. End of Chapter four, Chapter five, The Altar
• 51:04
  of the Flaming God. It was at the moment that Tarzan turned from the
• 51:08
  closed door to pursue his way to the outer world. The thing came without
• 51:14
  warning. One instant, all was quiet and stability. The next, and
• 51:19
  the world rocked. The tortured sides of the narrow passageway split and crumbled.
• 51:23
  Great blocks of granite dislodged from the ceiling tumbled into the narrow way, choking
• 51:29
  it, and the walls bent inward upon the wreckage. Beneath the blow of
• 51:34
  a fragment of the roof, Tarzan staggered back against the door to the treasure
• 51:38
  room. His weight pushed it open, and his body rolled inward upon the
• 51:43
  floor. In the great apartment where the treasure lay, less damage was wrought
• 51:47
  by the earthquake. A few ingots toppled from the higher tiers. A single
• 51:52
  piece of the rocky ceiling splintered off and crashed downward to the floor, and
• 51:58
  the walls cracked, though they did not collapse. There was but the single
• 52:02
  shock. No other followed to complete the damage undertaken by the first Wherper,
• 52:08
  thrown to his length by the suddenness and violence of the disturbance, staggered to
• 52:14
  his feet when he found himself unhurt. Groping his way toward the far end
• 52:17
  of the chamber, he sought the candle which Tarzan had left stuck in its
• 52:22
  own wax upon the protruding end of an ingot. By striking numerous matches,
• 52:28
  the Belgian at last found what he sought, And when a moment later this
• 52:31
  sickly rays relieved the Stygian darkness about him, he breathed the nervous sigh of
• 52:37
  relief, for the impenetrable gloom had accentuated the terrors of his situation. As
• 52:43
  they became accustomed to the light, the man turned his eyes toward the door.
• 52:47
  His one thought now was of escape from this frightful tomb, and as
• 52:52
  he did so, he saw the body of the naked giant lying stretched upon
• 52:55
  the floor just within the doorway. Wherperedrew back in sudden fear of detection,
• 53:01
  but a second glance convinced him that the Englishman was dead. From a great
• 53:07
  gash in the man's head, a pool of blood had collected upon the concrete
• 53:12
  floor. Quickly, the Belgian leaped over the prostrate form of his erstwhile host,
• 53:17
  and without a thought of succor for the man in whom for aught he
• 53:22
  knew life still remained, he bolted for the passageway and safety, but his
• 53:27
  renewed hopes were soon dashed. Just beyond the doorway, he found the passage
• 53:31
  completely clogged and choked by impenetrable masses of shattered rock. Once more, he
• 53:38
  turned and re entered the treasure vault. Taking the candle from its place,
• 53:44
  he commenced a systematic search of the apartment. Nor had he gone far before
• 53:47
  he discovered another door in the opposite end of the room, a door which
• 53:52
  gave, upon creaking hinges to the weight of his body. Beyond the door
• 53:57
  lay another narrow passageway. Along this Wherper made his way, ascending a flight
• 54:02
  of stone steps to another corridor twenty feet above the level of the first,
• 54:07
  the flickering candle lighted the way before him, and a moment later he was
• 54:12
  thankful for the possession of this crude and antiquated luminant, which a few hours
• 54:16
  before he might have looked upon with contempt, for it showed him just in
• 54:21
  time a yawning pit, apparently terminating the tunnel he was traversing. Before him
• 54:27
  was a circular shaft. He held the candle above it and peered downward below
• 54:32
  him, at a great distance, he saw the light reflected back from the
• 54:37
  surface of a pool of water. He had come upon a well. He
• 54:40
  raised the candle above his head and peered across the black void, and there
• 54:45
  upon the opposite side he saw the continuation of the tunnel. But how was
• 54:51
  he to span the gulf? As he stood there, measuring the distance to
• 54:54
  the opposite side, and wondering if he dared venture so great a leap,
• 55:00
  there broke suddenly, upon his startled ears, a piercing scream, which diminished
• 55:05
  gradually until it ended in a series of dismal moans. The voice seemed partly
• 55:10
  human, yet so hideous that it might well have emanated from the tortured throat
• 55:15
  of a lost soul. Writhing in the fires of hell. The Belgians shuddered
• 55:21
  and looked fearfully upward, for the scream had seemed to come from above him.
• 55:25
  As he looked, he saw an opening far overhead, and the patch
• 55:30
  of sky pinked with brilliant stars. His half formed intention to call for help
• 55:36
  was expunged by the terrifying cry. Where such a voice lived, no human
• 55:40
  creatures could dwell. He dared not reveal himself to whatever inhabitants dwelt in the
• 55:46
  place above him. He cursed himself for a fool that he had ever embarked
• 55:52
  upon such a mission. He wished himself safely back in the camp of achmet
• 55:57
  Zek, and would almost have embraced an opportunity to give himself up to the
• 56:01
  military authorities of the Congo, if by so doing he might be rescued from
• 56:07
  the frightful predicament in which he now was. He listened fearfully, but the
• 56:13
  cry was not repeated, and at last, spurred to desperate means, he
• 56:16
  gathered himself for the leap across the chasm, going back twenty paces. He
• 56:22
  took a running start, and at the edge of the wall, leaped upward
• 56:27
  and outward in an attempt to gain the opposite side in his hand. He
• 56:31
  clutched the sputtering candle, and as he took the leap, the rush of
• 56:36
  air extinguished it. In utter darkness, he flew through space, clutching outward
• 56:42
  for a hold should his feet miss the invisible ledge. He struck the edge
• 56:46
  of the door of the opposite terminus of the rocky tunnel with his knees slipped
• 56:51
  backward, clutched desperately for a moment, and at last hung half within and
• 56:55
  half without the opening. But he was safe for several minutes. He dared
• 57:00
  not move, but clung, weak and sweating where he lay. At last,
• 57:06
  cautiously he drew himself well within the tunnel, and again he lay at
• 57:09
  full length upon the floor, fighting to regain control of his shattered nerves.
• 57:15
  When his knees struck the edge of the tunnel, he had dropped the candle,
• 57:20
  presently hoping against hope that it had fallen upon the floor of the passageway
• 57:24
  rather than back into the depths of the well. He rose upon all fours
• 57:30
  and commenced a diligent search for the little tallow cylinder, which now seemed infinitely
• 57:35
  more precious to him than all the fabulous wealth of the hoarded ingots of Opar,
• 57:39
  and when at last he found it, he clasped it to him and
• 57:44
  sank back, sobbing and exhausted. For many minutes he lay trembling and broken,
• 57:50
  but finally he drew himself to a sitting posture, and, taking a
• 57:53
  match from his pocket, lighted the stump of the candle which remained to him.
• 57:59
  With the lock ight, he found it easier to regain control of his
• 58:02
  nerves, and presently he was again making his way along the tunnel in search
• 58:07
  of an avenue of escape. The horrid cry that had come down to him
• 58:13
  from above through the ancient well shaft still haunted him, so that he trembled
• 58:16
  in terror at even the sounds of his own cautious advance. He had gone
• 58:22
  forward but a short distance when, to his chagrin, a wall of mason
• 58:25
  rebarred his farther progress, closing the tunnel completely from top to bottom and from
• 58:31
  side to side. What could it mean? Wherper was an educated and intelligent
• 58:37
  man. His military training had taught him to use his mind for the purpose
• 58:42
  for which it was intended. A blind tunnel such as this was senseless.
• 58:47
  It must continue beyond the wall. Some one, at some time in the
• 58:52
  past, had had it blocked for an unknown purpose of his own. The
• 58:55
  man fell to examining the masonry by the light of his candle. To his
• 59:00
  delight, he discovered that the thin blocks of hewn stone of which it was
• 59:04
  constructed were fitted in loosely, without mortar or cement. He tugged upon one
• 59:09
  of them, and to his joy, found that it was easily removable.
• 59:15
  One after another, he pulled out the blocks until he had opened an aperture
• 59:19
  large enough to admit his body. Then he crawled through into a large,
• 59:22
  low chamber. Across this, another door barred his way, But this too
• 59:28
  gave before his efforts, for it was not barred. A long, dark
• 59:31
  corridor showed before him. But before he had followed it far, his candle
• 59:37
  burned down until it scorched his fingers. With an oath, he dropped it
• 59:40
  to the floor, where it sputtered for a moment, and went out.
• 59:45
  Now he was in total darkness, and again terror rode heavily astride his neck.
• 59:51
  What further pitfalls and dangers lay ahead he could not guess, but that
• 59:55
  he was as far as ever from liberty he was quite willing to believe so,
• 1:00:00
  depressing his utter absence of light to one in unfamiliar surroundings. Slowly he
• 1:00:07
  groped his way along, feeling with his hands upon the tunnel's walls and cautiously
• 1:00:12
  with his feet ahead of him upon the floor. Before he could take a
• 1:00:15
  single forward step. How long he crept on thus he could not guess,
• 1:00:21
  But at last, feeling that the tunnel's length was interminable, and exhausted by
• 1:00:25
  his efforts, by terror and loss of sleep, he determined to lie down
• 1:00:30
  and rest before proceeding farther. When he awoke, there was no change in
• 1:00:36
  the surrounding blackness. He might have slept a second or a day, he
• 1:00:40
  could not know, but that he had slept for some time was attested by
• 1:00:45
  the fact that he felt refreshed and hungry. Again, he commenced his groping
• 1:00:50
  advance, but this time he had gone but a short distance when he emerged
• 1:00:54
  into a room which was lighted through an opening in the ceiling, from which
• 1:00:59
  a flight of concrete steps led downward to the floor of the chamber above him.
• 1:01:04
  Through the aperture, Werper could see sunlight glancing from massive columns, which
• 1:01:08
  were twined about by clinging vines. He listened, but he heard no sound
• 1:01:15
  other than the sowing of the wind through leafy branches, the hoarse cries of
• 1:01:20
  birds, and the chattering of monkeys. Boldly he ascended the stairway to find
• 1:01:24
  himself in a circular court. Just before him stood a stone altar stained with
• 1:01:30
  rusty brown discolorations. At the time, Werper gave no thought to an explanation
• 1:01:36
  of these stains. Later, their origin became all too hideously apparent to him.
• 1:01:42
  Beside the opening in the floor just behind the altar through which he had
• 1:01:45
  entered the court from the subterranean chamber below, the Belgian discovered several doors leading
• 1:01:52
  from the enclosure. Upon the level of the floor above and circling the courtyard
• 1:01:58
  was a series of open baletskenes, monkeys scampered about the deserted ruins, and
• 1:02:04
  gaily plumaged birds flitted in and out among the columns and the galleries far above,
• 1:02:08
  but no sign of human presence was discernible. Wherperer felt relieved. He
• 1:02:15
  sighed as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He took
• 1:02:20
  a step toward one of the exits, and then he halted, wide eyed
• 1:02:23
  in astonishment and terror, for almost at the same instant, a dozen doors
• 1:02:29
  opened in the courtyard wall, and a horde of frightful men rushed in upon
• 1:02:34
  him. They were the priests of the flaming God of Opar, the same
• 1:02:37
  shaggy, knotted, hideous little men who had dragged Jane Clayton to the sacrificial
• 1:02:43
  altar at this very spot years before. Their long arms, their short and
• 1:02:49
  crooked legs, their close set, evil eyes, and their low, receding
• 1:02:52
  foreheads gave them a bestial appearance that sent a qualm of paralyzing fright through the
• 1:02:59
  shaken nerves of the Belgian. With a scream, he turned to flee back
• 1:03:02
  into the lesser terrors of the gloomy corridors and apartments from which he had just
• 1:03:07
  emerged, But the frightful men anticipated his intentions. They blocked the way.
• 1:03:14
  They seized him, and though he fell groveling upon his knees before them,
• 1:03:17
  begging for his life, they bound him and hurled him to the floor of
• 1:03:22
  the inner temple. The rest was but a repetition of what Tarzan and Jane
• 1:03:28
  Clayton had passed through the priestesses came, and with them Law the High Priestess.
• 1:03:34
  Wherper was raised and laid across the altar. Cold sweat exuded from his
• 1:03:38
  every pore. As Law raised the cruel sacrificial knife above him, the death
• 1:03:44
  chant fell upon his tortured ears. His staring eyes wandered to the golden goblets
• 1:03:50
  from which the hideous votaries would soon quench their inhuman thirst. In his own
• 1:03:54
  warm life blood, he wished that he might be granted the brief respite of
• 1:03:59
  an consciousness before the final plunge of the keen blade. And then there was
• 1:04:04
  a frightful roar that sounded almost in his ears. The High Priestess lowered her
• 1:04:10
  dagger. Her eyes went wide in horror. The priestesses her voteresses screamed and
• 1:04:15
  fled madly toward the exits. The priests roared out their rage and terror according
• 1:04:20
  to the temper of their courage. Wherper strained his neck about to catch a
• 1:04:26
  sight of the cause of their panic, and when at last he saw it,
• 1:04:30
  he too went cold in dread. For what his eyes beheld was the
• 1:04:33
  figure of a huge lion standing in the center of the temple, and already
• 1:04:40
  a single victim lay mangled beneath his cruel paws. Again, the Lord of
• 1:04:45
  the Wilderness roared, turning his baleful gaze upon the altar, law staggered forward,
• 1:04:50
  reeled, and fell across wherper in a swoon. End of chapter five,
• 1:04:58
  Chapter six, the Arab raid. After their first terror had subsided subsequent
• 1:05:04
  to the shock of the earthquake, Basuli and his warriors hastened back into the
• 1:05:11
  passageway in search of Tarzan and two of their own number, who were also
• 1:05:15
  missing. They found the way blocked by jammed and distorted rock. For two
• 1:05:20
  days they labored to tear away through to their imprisoned friends. But when after
• 1:05:27
  herculean efforts, they had unearthed but a few yards of the choked passage and
• 1:05:31
  discovered the mangled remains of one of their fellows, they were forced to the
• 1:05:36
  conclusion that Tarzan and the second Waziri also lay dead beneath the rock mass,
• 1:05:43
  farther in beyond human aid, and no longer susceptible of it. Again and
• 1:05:49
  again, as they labored, they called aloud the names of their master and
• 1:05:54
  their comrade, but no answering call rewarded their listening ears. At last,
• 1:06:00
  they gave up the search tearfully. They cast a last look at the shattered
• 1:06:04
  tomb of their master, shouldered the heavy burden of gold that would at least
• 1:06:10
  furnish comfort, if not happiness, to their bereaved and beloved mistress, and
• 1:06:15
  made their mournful way back across the desolate valley of Opar and downward through the
• 1:06:20
  forests beyond toward the distant Bungalow. And as they marched, what sorry fate
• 1:06:27
  was already drawing down upon that peaceful, happy home. From the north came
• 1:06:32
  Okmetzek, writing to the summons of his lieutenant's letter. With him came his
• 1:06:39
  horde of the renegade Arabs, outlawed marauders, these and equally degraded blacks garnered
• 1:06:45
  from the more debased and ignorant tribes of savage Cannibals, through whose countries the
• 1:06:50
  raider passed to and fro with perfect impunity. Bugambi, the eben Hercules,
• 1:06:57
  who had shared the dangers and vacissitu of his beloved Buana from Jungle Island almost
• 1:07:02
  to the head waters of the Oogambi, was the first to note the bold
• 1:07:06
  approach of the sinister caravan. He it was whom Tarzan had left in charge
• 1:07:13
  of the warriors who remained to guard Lady Greystoke. Nor could a braver or
• 1:07:17
  more loyal guardian have been found in any clime or upon any soil. A
• 1:07:24
  giant in stature, a savage, fearless warrior. The huge Black possessed also
• 1:07:29
  soul and judgment in proportion to his bulk and his ferocity. Not once since
• 1:07:34
  his master had departed had he been beyond sight or sound of the bungalow,
• 1:07:40
  except when Lady Greystoke chose to canter across the broad plain or relieve the monotony
• 1:07:45
  of her loneliness by a brief hunting excursion. On such occasions, Mugambi,
• 1:07:51
  mounted upon a wiry Arab had ridden close at her horses heels. The raiders
• 1:07:58
  were still a long way off when the warrior's keen eyes discovered them. For
• 1:08:02
  a time he stood scrutinizing the advancing party in silence. Then he turned and
• 1:08:09
  ran rapidly in the direction of the native huts, which lay a few hundred
• 1:08:13
  yards below the bungalow. Here he called out to the lulling warriors. He
• 1:08:17
  issued orders rapidly in compliance with them, The men seized upon their weapons and
• 1:08:23
  their shields. Some ran to call in the workers from the fields and to
• 1:08:27
  warn the tenders of the flocks and herds. The majority followed Mugambi back toward
• 1:08:31
  the bungalow. The dust of the raiders was still a long distance away.
• 1:08:36
  Mugambi could not know positively that it hid an enemy, but he had spent
• 1:08:42
  a lifetime of savage life in savage Africa, and he had seen parties before
• 1:08:46
  come thus unheralded. Sometimes they had come in peace, and sometimes they had
• 1:08:51
  come in war. One could never tell. It was well to be prepared.
• 1:08:58
  Mugambi did not like the haste with which the strangers advanced. The Greystoak
• 1:09:02
  bungalow was not well adapted for defense. No palisades surrounded it. For situated
• 1:09:10
  as it was in the heart of loyal Waziri, its master had anticipated no
• 1:09:15
  possibility of an attack in force by an enemy. Heavy wooden shutters there were
• 1:09:19
  to close the widden apertures against hostile arrows, and these Mugambi was engaged in
• 1:09:26
  louring. When Lady Greystok appeared upon the veranda, Why Mugambi, she exclaimed,
• 1:09:31
  What has happened. Why are you loring the shutters? Mugambi pointed out
• 1:09:36
  across the plain to where a white robed force of mounted men was now distinctly
• 1:09:42
  visible aerbs, He explained, they come for no good purpose in the absence
• 1:09:48
  of the great Warna. Beyond the neat lawn and the flowering shrubs, Jane
• 1:09:54
  Clayton saw the glistening bodies of her waziri. The sun glanced from the tips
• 1:10:00
  of their metal shod spears, picked out the gorgeous colors in the feathers of
• 1:10:03
  their war bonnets, and reflected the highlights from the glossy skins of their broad
• 1:10:09
  shoulders and high cheek bones. Jane Clayton surveyed them with unmixed feelings of pride
• 1:10:15
  and affection. What harm could befall her with such as these to protect her?
• 1:10:21
  The raiders had halted, Now a hundred yards out upon the plain,
• 1:10:26
  Mugambi had hastened down to join his warriors. He advanced a few yards before
• 1:10:31
  them, and, raising his voice, hailed the strangers. Achmet Zek sat
• 1:10:36
  straight in his saddle before his henchmen. A rab cried, Mugambi, what
• 1:10:42
  do you hear? We come in peace. Achmet Zek called back, then
• 1:10:47
  turn and go in peace, replied Mugambi. We do not want you here.
• 1:10:54
  There cambin no peace between Arab and Warshiri. Mugambi, although not born
• 1:11:00
  born in Waziri, had been adopted into the tribe, which now contained no
• 1:11:03
  member more jealous of its traditions and its prowess than he. Akmetzek drew to
• 1:11:12
  one side of his horde, speaking to his men in a low voice.
• 1:11:15
  A moment later, without warning, a ragged volley was poured into the ranks
• 1:11:20
  of the Waziri. A couple of warriors fell. The others were for charging
• 1:11:26
  the attackers. But Mugambi was a cautious as well as a brave leader.
• 1:11:30
  He knew the futility of charging mounted men armed with muskets. He withdrew his
• 1:11:38
  force behind the shrubbery of the garden. Some he dispatched to various other parts
• 1:11:42
  of the grounds surrounding the bungalow. Half a dozen he sent to the bungalow
• 1:11:46
  itself with instructions to keep their mistress within doors and to protect her with their
• 1:11:53
  lives, Adopting the tactics of the desert fighters from which he had sprung.
• 1:11:59
  Of Mezac led his followers at a gallop in a long, thin line,
• 1:12:03
  describing a great circle which drew closer and closer in toward the defenders. At
• 1:12:10
  that part of the circle closest to the Waziri, a constant fusellade of shots
• 1:12:15
  was poured into the bushes behind which the black warriors had concealed themselves. The
• 1:12:19
  latter, on their part, loosed their slim shafts at the nearest of the
• 1:12:24
  enemy. The Waziri, justly famed for their archery, found no cause to
• 1:12:30
  blush for their performance that day. Time and again some swarthy horsemen threw hands
• 1:12:35
  above his head and toppled from his saddle, pierced by a deadly arrow.
• 1:12:41
  But the contest was uneven. The Arabs outnumbered the Waziri. Their bullets penetrated
• 1:12:47
  the shrubbery and found marks that the Arab riflemen had not even seen. And
• 1:12:53
  then of Meczack circled inward a half mile above the bungalow, tore down a
• 1:12:58
  section of the fence, and led his marauders within the grounds. Across the
• 1:13:03
  fields they charged at a mad run. Not again did they pause to lower
• 1:13:09
  fences. Instead, they drove their wild mounts straight for them, clearing the
• 1:13:14
  obstacles as lightly as winged gulls. Mugambi saw them coming, and calling those
• 1:13:20
  of his warriors who remained ran for the bungalow and the last stand. Upon
• 1:13:27
  the veranda. Lady Greystoke stood rifle in hand. More than a single raider
• 1:13:31
  had accounted to her steady nerves and cool aim for his outlawry. More than
• 1:13:36
  a single pony raced riderless. In the wake of the charging horde. Mugambi
• 1:13:43
  pushed his mistress back into the greater security of the interior, and, with
• 1:13:47
  his depleted force, prepared to make a last stand against the foe. On
• 1:13:53
  came the Abrabs, shouting and waving their long guns above their heads. Past
• 1:13:59
  the veranda. They raced, pouring a deadly fire into the kneeling Waziri,
• 1:14:02
  who discharged their volley of arrows from behind their long oval shields, shields well
• 1:14:09
  adapted, perhaps to stop a hostile arrow or deflect a spear, but futile,
• 1:14:15
  quite before the leaden missiles of the riflemen from beneath the half raised shutters
• 1:14:19
  of the bungalow. Other bowmen did effective service in greater security, and after
• 1:14:26
  the first assault, Mugambi withdrew his entire force within the building. Again and
• 1:14:31
  again, the Arabs charged, at last, forming a stationary circle about the
• 1:14:36
  little fortress and outside the effective range of the defender's arrows. From their new
• 1:14:44
  position, they fired at will at the windows. One by one, the
• 1:14:47
  Waziri fell. Fewer and fewer were the arrows that replied to the guns of
• 1:14:53
  the raiders, and at last Achmetzek felt safe in ordering an assault, firing
• 1:14:59
  a as they ran. The bloodthirsty horde raced for the veranda. A dozen
• 1:15:03
  of them fell to the arrows of the defenders, but the majority reached the
• 1:15:08
  door. Heavy gunbats fell upon it. The crash of splintered wood mingled with
• 1:15:14
  the report of a rifle as Jane Clayton fired through the panels upon the relentless
• 1:15:18
  foal. Upon both sides of the door, men fell, but at last
• 1:15:24
  the frail barrier gave to the vicious assaults of the maddened attackers. It crumpled
• 1:15:29
  inward, and a dozen swarthy murderers leaped into the living room. At the
• 1:15:33
  far end stood Jane Clayton, surrounded by the remnant of her devoted guardians.
• 1:15:39
  The floor was covered by the bodies of those who already had given up their
• 1:15:44
  lives in her defense. In the forefront of her protectors stood the giant Mugambi.
• 1:15:48
  The Arabs raised their rifles to pour in the last volley that would effectually
• 1:15:54
  end all resistance, but Achmetzek roared out a warning order that stone made their
• 1:16:00
  trigger fingers fire gnaught upon the woman. He cried, who harms her?
• 1:16:05
  Dies? Take the woman alive. The Arabs rushed across the room. The
• 1:16:11
  Waziri met them with their heavy spears. Swords flashed, long barreled pistols roared
• 1:16:16
  out their sullen death dooms. Mugambi launched his spear at the nearest of the
• 1:16:21
  enemy with a force that drove the heavy shaft completely through the Arab's body.
• 1:16:27
  Then he seized a pistol from another, and, grasping it by the barrel,
• 1:16:30
  brained all who forced their way too near his mistress. Emulating his example,
• 1:16:36
  the few warriors who remained to him fought like demons, but one by
• 1:16:42
  one they fell, until only Mugambi remained to defend the life and honor of
• 1:16:46
  the ape man's mate. From across the room, Okmetzek watched the unequal struggle
• 1:16:51
  and urged on his minions. In his hands was a jeweled musket. Slowly
• 1:16:58
  he raised it to his shoulder, waiting until another move should place Mugambi at
• 1:17:02
  his mercy without endangering the lives of the woman or any of his own followers.
• 1:17:08
  At last, the moment came, and Okmetzek pulled the trigger without a
• 1:17:14
  sound. The brave Mugambi sank to the floor at the feet of Jane Clayton.
• 1:17:18
  An instant later, she was surrounded and disarmed. Without a word,
• 1:17:24
  They dragged her from the bungalow. A giant negro lifted her to the pommel
• 1:17:28
  of his saddle, and while the raider searched the bungalow and out houses for
• 1:17:32
  plunder, he rode with her beyond the gates and waited the coming of his
• 1:17:36
  master. Jane Clayton saw the raiders lead the horses from the corral and drive
• 1:17:43
  the herds in from the fields. She saw her home plundered of all that
• 1:17:47
  represented intrinsic worth in the eyes of the Arabs, and then she saw the
• 1:17:53
  torch applied and the flames lick up what remained. At last, when the
• 1:17:59
  raiders assembled after glutting their fury and their avarice, and rode away with her
• 1:18:03
  toward the north. She saw the smoke and the flames rising far into the
• 1:18:09
  heavens, until the winding of the trail into the thick forest hid the sad
• 1:18:14
  view from her eyes. As the flames ate their way into the living room,
• 1:18:19
  reaching out fort towns to lick up the bodies of the dead, one
• 1:18:24
  of that gruesome company, whose bloody welterings had long since been stilled, moved
• 1:18:30
  again. It was a huge black who rolled over upon his side and open,
• 1:18:34
  blood shot, suffering eyes. Mugambi, whom the Arabs had left for
• 1:18:40
  dead, still lived. The hot flames were almost upon him as he raised
• 1:18:45
  himself painfully upon his hands and knees and crawled slowly toward the doorway. Again
• 1:18:51
  and again he sank weakly to the floor, but each time he rose again
• 1:18:57
  and continued his pitiful way towards safety. After what seemed to him an interminable
• 1:19:02
  time, during which the flames had become a veritable fiery furnace at the far
• 1:19:08
  side of the room, the great Black managed to reach the veranda, roll
• 1:19:12
  down the steps, and crawl off into the cool safety of some nearby shrubbery.
• 1:19:17
  All night he lay there, alternately unconscious and painfully sentient, and in
• 1:19:24
  the latter state, watching with savage hatred the lurid flames which still rose from
• 1:19:29
  burning crib and haycock. A prowling lion roared close at hand, but the
• 1:19:34
  giant black was unafraid. There was place for but a single thought in his
• 1:19:39
  savage mind, revenge, revenge, revenge. End of chapter six, Chapter
• 1:19:48
  seven, the jewel room of Opar. For some time Tarzan lay where he
• 1:19:55
  had fallen, upon the floor of the treasure chamber, beneath the ruined walls
• 1:20:00
  of Opar. He lay as one dead, but he was not dead.
• 1:20:04
  At length, he stirred, his eyes opened upon the uttered darkness of the
• 1:20:10
  room. He raised his hand to his head and brought it away, sticky
• 1:20:14
  with clotted blood. He sniffed at his fingers as a wild beast might sniff
• 1:20:19
  at the life blood upon a wounded paw. Slowly he rose to a sitting
• 1:20:25
  posture, listening. No sound reached to the buried depths of his sepulcher.
• 1:20:30
  He staggered to his feet and groped his way about among the tears of ingots.
• 1:20:35
  What was he? Where was he? His head ached, But otherwise
• 1:20:40
  he felt no ill effects from the blow that had felled him. The accident
• 1:20:45
  he did not recall, nor did he recall aught of what had led up
• 1:20:48
  to it. He let his hands grow unfamiliarly over his limbs, his torso,
• 1:20:54
  and his head. He felt of the quiver at his back, the
• 1:20:58
  knife in his loin cloth. Something struggled for recognition within his brain. Ah,
• 1:21:03
  he had it. There was something missing. He crawled about upon the
• 1:21:08
  floor, feeling with his hands for the thing that instinct warned him was gone.
• 1:21:13
  At last he found it, the heavy war spere that in past years
• 1:21:16
  had formed so important a feature of his daily life, almost of his very
• 1:21:21
  existence. So inseparably had it been connected with his every action since the long
• 1:21:28
  gone day that he had rested his first spear from the body of a black
• 1:21:31
  victim of his savage training. Tarzan was sure that there was another and more
• 1:21:38
  lovely world than that which was confined to the darkness of the four stone walls
• 1:21:43
  surrounding him. He continued his search and at last found the doorway leading inward
• 1:21:48
  beneath the city and the temple. This he followed most incautiously, he came
• 1:21:54
  to the stone steps leading upward to the higher level. He ascended them and
• 1:21:59
  continued onward toward the well. Nothing spurred his hurt memory to a recollection of
• 1:22:04
  past familiarity with his surroundings. He blundered on through the darkness as though he
• 1:22:10
  were traversing an open plain under the brilliance of a noonday sun. And suddenly
• 1:22:15
  there happened bat which had to happen under the circumstances of his rash advance.
• 1:22:20
  He reached the brink of the well, stepped outward into space, lunged forward,
• 1:22:26
  and shot downward into the inky depths below. Still clutching his spear,
• 1:22:30
  he struck the water and sank beneath its surface, plumbing the depths. The
• 1:22:36
  fall had not injured him, and when he rose to the surface, he
• 1:22:41
  shook the water from his eyes and found that he could see Daylight was filtering
• 1:22:45
  into the well from the orifice. Far above his head. It illumined the
• 1:22:49
  inner walls. Faintly. Tarzan gazed about him. On the level with the
• 1:22:55
  surface of the water, he saw a large opening in the dark and slight
• 1:23:00
  amy wall. He swam to it and drew himself out upon the wet floor
• 1:23:03
  of a tunnel. Along this he passed. But now he went warily,
• 1:23:09
  for Tarzan of the Apes was learning the unexpected pit had taught him care in
• 1:23:14
  the traversing of dark passageways. He needed no second lesson. For a long
• 1:23:19
  distance the passage went straight as an arrow. The floor was slippery, as
• 1:23:25
  though at times the rising waters of the well overflowed and flooded it. This
• 1:23:30
  in itself retarded Tarzan's pace, for it was with difficulty that he kept his
• 1:23:34
  footing. The foot of a stairway ended the passage. Up this he made
• 1:23:40
  his way. It turned back and forth many times, leading at last into
• 1:23:45
  a small circular chamber, the gloom of which was relieved by a faint light,
• 1:23:49
  which found ingress through a tubular shaft several feet in diameter, which rose
• 1:23:55
  from the center of the room's ceiling upward to a distance of a hundred feet
• 1:24:00
  or more, where it terminated in a stone grating, through which Tarzan could
• 1:24:03
  see a blue and sunlit sky. Curiosity prompted the ape man to investigate his
• 1:24:11
  surroundings. Several metal bound, copper studded chests constituted the sole furniture of the
• 1:24:16
  round room. Tarzan let his hands run over these. He felt of the
• 1:24:21
  copper studs. He pulled upon the hinges, and at last, by chance
• 1:24:27
  he raised the cover of one. An exclamation of delight broke from his lips
• 1:24:32
  at the sight of the pretty contents. Gleaming and glistening in the subdued light
• 1:24:38
  of the chamber, lay a great tray full of brilliant stones. Tarzan,
• 1:24:43
  reverted to the primitive by his accident, had no conception of the fabulous value
• 1:24:48
  of his find. To him, they were but pretty pebbles. He plunged
• 1:24:54
  his hands into them and let the priceless gems filter through his fingers. Went
• 1:25:00
  to others of the chests, only to find still further stores of precious stones.
• 1:25:04
  Nearly all were cut, and from these he gathered a handful and filled
• 1:25:10
  the pouch which dangled at his side. The uncut stones he tossed back into
• 1:25:15
  the chests. Unwittingly, the ape man had stumbled upon the forgotten jewel room
• 1:25:20
  of Opar for Ages. It had lain buried beneath the temple of the Flaming
• 1:25:26
  God, midway of one of the many inky passages which the superstitious descendants of
• 1:25:31
  the ancient sun worshippers had either dared not or cared not to explore. Tiring
• 1:25:39
  at last of this diversion, Tarzan took up his way along the corridor,
• 1:25:43
  which led upward from the jewel room by a steep incline. Winding and twisting,
• 1:25:48
  but always tending upward. The tunnel led him nearer and nearer to the
• 1:25:53
  surface, ending finally in a low sealed room lighter than any that he had
• 1:26:00
  discovered. Above him, an opening in the ceiling at the upper end of
• 1:26:03
  a flight of concrete steps revealed a brilliant sunlit scene. Tarzan viewed the vine
• 1:26:11
  covered columns in mild wonderment. He puckered his brows in an attempt to recall
• 1:26:15
  some recollection of similar things. He was not sure of himself. There was
• 1:26:21
  a tantalizing suggestion always present in his mind that something was eluding him, that
• 1:26:28
  he should know many things which he did not know. His earnest cogitation was
• 1:26:33
  rudely interrupted by a thunderous roar from the opening above him. Following the roar
• 1:26:39
  came the cries and screams of men and women. Tarzan grasped his spear more
• 1:26:44
  firmly and ascended the steps. A strange sight met his eyes as he emerged
• 1:26:48
  from the semi darkness of the cellar to the brilliant light of the temple.
• 1:26:53
  The creatures he saw before him he recognized for what they were, men and
• 1:26:58
  women and a huge lion. The men and women were scuttling for the safety
• 1:27:02
  of the exits. The lion stood upon the body of one who had been
• 1:27:06
  less fortunate than the others. He was in the center of the temple,
• 1:27:11
  directly before Tarzan. A woman stood beside a block of stone. Upon the
• 1:27:15
  top of the stone lay stretched a man, and as the ape man watched
• 1:27:20
  the scene, he saw the lion glare terribly at the two who remained within
• 1:27:25
  the temple. Another thunderous roar broke from the savage throat. The woman screamed
• 1:27:30
  and swooned across the body of the man stretched prostrate upon the stone altar before
• 1:27:36
  her. The lion advanced a few steps and crouched the tip of his sinuous
• 1:27:42
  tail. Twitched nervously. He was upon the point of charging when his eyes
• 1:27:45
  were attracted toward the ape man. Wherper helpless upon the altar, saw the
• 1:27:50
  great carnivore preparing to leap upon him. He saw the sudden change in the
• 1:27:55
  beast's expression as his eyes wandered to something beyond the altar and out of the
• 1:28:00
  Belgian's view. He saw the formidable creature rise to a standing position. A
• 1:28:05
  figure darted past wherper. He saw a mighty arm upraised and a stout spear
• 1:28:11
  shoot forward toward the lion to bury itself in the broad chest. He saw
• 1:28:15
  the lion snapping and tearing at the weapon's shaft, and he saw wonder of
• 1:28:20
  wonders, the naked giant who had hurled the missile, charging upon the great
• 1:28:26
  beast, only a long knife, ready to meet those ferocious fangs and talons.
• 1:28:30
  The lion reared up to meet this new enemy. The beast was growling
• 1:28:34
  frightfully, and then upon the startled ears of the Belgian, broke a similar
• 1:28:40
  savage growl from the lips of the man. Rushing upon the beast. By
• 1:28:45
  a quick side step, Tarzan eluded the first swinging clutch of the lion's paws.
• 1:28:49
  Darting to the beast's side, he leaped upon the tawny back. His
• 1:28:54
  arms encircled the maned neck. His teeth sank deep into the brute's flesh roaring,
• 1:29:00
  leaping, rolling and struggling. The giant cat attempted to dislodge this savage
• 1:29:04
  enemy, and all the while, one great brown fist was driving a long
• 1:29:10
  keen blade repeatedly into the beast's side. During the battle, Law regained consciousness.
• 1:29:16
  Spell Bound, she stood above her victim, watching the spectacle. It
• 1:29:21
  seemed incredible that a human being could best the king of beasts in personal encounter,
• 1:29:28
  and yet before her very eyes there was taking place just such an improbability.
• 1:29:32
  At last, Tarzan's knife found the great heart, and with a final
• 1:29:38
  spasmodic struggle, the lion rolled over upon the marble floor dead. Leaping to
• 1:29:44
  his feet, the conqueror placed a foot upon the carcass of his kill,
• 1:29:48
  raised his face toward the heavens, and gave voice to so hideous a cry
• 1:29:54
  that both Law and Worker trembled as it reverberated through the temple. Then the
• 1:30:00
  ape man turned and Wherper recognized him as the man he had left for dead
• 1:30:05
  in the treasure room end of chapter seven, Chapter eight, the escape from
• 1:30:13
  Opar. Werper was astounded. Could this creature be the same dignified englishman who
• 1:30:18
  had entertained him so graciously in his luxurious African home. Could this wild beast
• 1:30:25
  with blazing eyes and bloody countenance be at the same time a man? Could
• 1:30:30
  the horrid victory cry he had but just heard have been formed in human throat?
• 1:30:34
  Tarzan was eyeing the man and the woman a puzzled expression in his eyes,
• 1:30:40
  but there was no faintest tinge of recognition. It was as though he
• 1:30:44
  had discovered some new species of living creature and was marveling at his find.
• 1:30:49
  Law was studying the ape man's features slowly. Her large eyes opened very wide.
• 1:30:56
  Tarzan, she exclaimed, and then, in the vernacular of the great
• 1:31:00
  apes, which constant association with the anthropoids had rendered the common language of the
• 1:31:05
  oparian, you have come back to me. Law has ignored the mandates of
• 1:31:10
  her religion, waiting, always waiting for Tarzan, for her Tarzan. She
• 1:31:15
  has taken no mate, for in all the world there was but one with
• 1:31:19
  whom Law would mate. And now you have come back. Tell me,
• 1:31:24
  o, Tarzan, that it is for me you have returned. Werper listened
• 1:31:29
  to the unintelligible jargon. He looked from Law to Tarzan. Would the latter
• 1:31:33
  understand this strange tongue. To the Belgian surprise, the Englishman answered in a
• 1:31:40
  language evidently identical to hers. Tarzan. He repeated, musingly, Tarzan,
• 1:31:46
  the name sounds familiar. It is your name. You are Tarzan, cried
• 1:31:51
  La, I am Tarzan. The ape man shrugged. Well, it is
• 1:31:57
  a good name. I know no other, so I will keep it.
• 1:32:01
  But I do not know you. I did not come hither for you.
• 1:32:05
  Why I came, I do not know at all. Neither do I know
• 1:32:10
  from whence I came? Can you tell me? Law shook her head.
• 1:32:15
  I never knew, she replied. Tarzan turned toward Wherper and put the same
• 1:32:19
  question to him, but in the language of the great Apes. The Belgians
• 1:32:24
  shook his head. I do not understand that language, he said in French.
• 1:32:29
  Without effort, and apparently without realizing that he made the change, Tarzan
• 1:32:33
  repeated his question in French. Werper suddenly came to a full realization of the
• 1:32:40
  magnitude of the injury of which Tarzan was a victim. The man had lost
• 1:32:45
  his memory. No longer could he recollect past events. The Belgian was upon
• 1:32:49
  the point of enlightening him when it suddenly occurred to him that by keeping Tarzan
• 1:32:56
  in ignorance for a time at least of his true identity, it might be
• 1:33:00
  possible to turn the ape man's misfortune to his own advantage. I cannot tell
• 1:33:05
  you from whence you came, he said, but this I can tell you.
• 1:33:10
  If we do not get out of this horrible place, we shall both
• 1:33:14
  be slain upon this bloody altar. The woman was about to plunge her knife
• 1:33:17
  into my heart when the lion interrupted the fiendish ritual. Come before they recover
• 1:33:23
  from their fright and reassemble, let us find a way out of their damnable
• 1:33:28
  temple. Tarzan turned again toward Law, Why, he asked, would you
• 1:33:32
  have killed this man? Are you hungry? The high priestess cried out in
• 1:33:36
  disgust. Did he attempt to kill you? Continued Tarzan. The woman shook
• 1:33:43
  her head. Then why should you have wished to kill him? Tarzan was
• 1:33:47
  determined to get to the bottom of the thing. Law raised her slender arm
• 1:33:51
  and pointed toward the sun. We were offering up his soul as a gift
• 1:33:57
  to the flaming God, she said. Tarzan looked puzzled. He was again
• 1:34:00
  an ape, and apes do not understand such matters as souls and flaming gods.
• 1:34:06
  Do you wish to die? He asked Wherper. The Belgian assured him,
• 1:34:12
  with tears in his eyes, that he did not wish to die.
• 1:34:15
  Very well, then you shall not, said Tarzan. Come we will go
• 1:34:20
  this She would kill you and keep me for herself. It is no place
• 1:34:26
  anyway for a mangany I should soon die shut up behind these stone walls.
• 1:34:31
  He turned toward Law. We are going now, he said. The woman
• 1:34:36
  rushed forward and seized the ape man's hands in hers. Do not leave me,
• 1:34:42
  she cried, Stay and you shall be high priest. La loves you
• 1:34:46
  all o. Tar shall be yours. Slaves shall wait upon you. Stay
• 1:34:51
  Tarzan of the apes, and let love reward you. The ape man pushed
• 1:34:57
  the kneeling woman aside. Tarzan does not desire you, he said, simply,
• 1:35:01
  and stepping to Werper's side, he cut the Belgian's bonds and motioned him
• 1:35:05
  to follow. Panting her face convulsed with rage, Law sprang to her feet.
• 1:35:12
  Stay you shall, she screamed, Law will have you. If she
• 1:35:15
  cannot have you alive, she will have you dead, And raising her face
• 1:35:20
  to the sun, she gave voice to the same hideous shriek that Werper had
• 1:35:25
  heard once before, and Tarzan many times. In answer to her cry,
• 1:35:30
  A babble of voices broke from the surrounding chambers and corridors. Come Guardian priests,
• 1:35:36
  she cried, the infidels have profaned the holiest of the holies. Come,
• 1:35:42
  strike terror to their hearts, defend Law and her altar, Wash clean
• 1:35:46
  the temple with the blood of the polluters. Tarzan understood, though Werper did
• 1:35:53
  not. The former glanced at the Belgian and saw that he was unarmed.
• 1:35:57
  Stepping quickly to Law's side, the ape man seized her in his strong arms,
• 1:36:01
  and though she fought with all the mad savagery of a demon, he
• 1:36:05
  soon disarmed her, handing her long sacrificial knight to Wherper. You will need
• 1:36:12
  this, he said, And then from each doorway a horde of the monstrous
• 1:36:15
  little men of Opar streamed into the temple. They were armed with bludgeons and
• 1:36:19
  knives, and fortified in their courage by fanatical hate and frenzy. Wherper was
• 1:36:26
  terrified. Tarzan stood eyeing the foe in proud disdain. Slowly he advanced toward
• 1:36:32
  the exit. He had chosen to utilize. In making his way from the
• 1:36:36
  temple, a burly priest barred his way. Behind the first was a score
• 1:36:42
  of others. Tarzan swung his heavy spear clublike down upon the skull of the
• 1:36:46
  priest. The fellow collapsed, his head crushed again, and again the weapon
• 1:36:53
  fell. As Tarzan made his way slowly toward the doorway, Wherper pressed close
• 1:36:58
  behind, casting backward glances toward the shrieking, dancing mob menacing their rear.
• 1:37:03
  He held the sacrificial knife, ready to strike whoever might come within its reach,
• 1:37:09
  but none came. For a time. He wondered that they should so
• 1:37:13
  bravely battle with the giant ape man, yet hesitate to rush upon him,
• 1:37:17
  who was relatively so weak. Had they done so, he knew that he
• 1:37:21
  must have fallen at their first charge. Tarzan had reached the doorway over the
• 1:37:27
  corpses of all that had stood to dispute his way before Werper guessed at the
• 1:37:31
  reason for his immunity. The priest feared the sacrificial knife willingly, would they
• 1:37:38
  face death and welcome it if it came while they defended their high priestess and
• 1:37:43
  her altar. But evidently there were deaths and deaths. Some strange superstition must
• 1:37:49
  surround that polyshed blade that no Oparian cared to chance a death thrust from it,
• 1:37:55
  yet gladly rushed to the slaughter of the ape Man's flaying spear. Once
• 1:38:00
  outside the temple court, Whipper communicated his discovery to Tarzan. The ape Man
• 1:38:06
  grinned and let Werper go before him, brandishing the jeweled and holy weapon like
• 1:38:13
  leaves before a gale. The Oparians scattered in all directions, and Tarzan and
• 1:38:18
  the Belgian found a clear passage through the corridors and chambers of the ancient temple.
• 1:38:25
  The Belgian's eyes went wide as they passed through the room of the seven
• 1:38:29
  Pillars of solid Gold. With ill concealed avarice, he looked upon the age
• 1:38:34
  old golden tablets set in the walls of nearly every room, and down the
• 1:38:40
  sides of many of the corridors. To the ape Man, all this wealth
• 1:38:44
  appeared to mean nothing. On the two went chance, leading them toward the
• 1:38:49
  broad avenue which lay between the stately piles of the half ruined edifices and the
• 1:38:55
  inner wall of the city. Great apes jabbered at them and menaced them,
• 1:39:00
  but Tarzan answered them after their own kind, giving back taunt for taunt,
• 1:39:04
  insult for insult, challenge for challenge. Wherper saw a hairy bull swing down
• 1:39:11
  from a broken column and advance, stiff legged and bristling, toward the naked
• 1:39:15
  giant. The yellow fangs were bared, Angry snarls and barkings rumbled threateningly through
• 1:39:23
  the thick and hanging lips. The Belgian watched his companion to his horror.
• 1:39:28
  He saw the man stoop until his clothes knuckles rested upon the ground, as
• 1:39:32
  did those of the anthropoid. He saw him circle, stiff legged about the
• 1:39:36
  circling ape. He heard the same beastial barkings and growlings issue from the human
• 1:39:43
  throat that were coming from the mouth of the brute. Had his eyes been
• 1:39:46
  closed, he could not have known but that two giant apes were bridling for
• 1:39:51
  combat. But there was no battle. It ended as the majority of such
• 1:39:57
  jungle encounters, and one the boasters loses his nerve and becomes suddenly interested in
• 1:40:03
  a blowing leaf, a beetle, or the lice upon his hairy stomach.
• 1:40:09
  In this instance, it was the anthropoid that retired in stiff dignity to inspect
• 1:40:14
  an unhappy caterpillar, which he presently devoured. For a moment, Tarzan seemed
• 1:40:18
  inclined to pursue the argument. He swaggered, truculently, stuck out his chest,
• 1:40:25
  roared, and advanced closer to the bull. It was with difficulty that
• 1:40:30
  Werper finally persuaded him to leave well enough alone and continue his way from the
• 1:40:34
  ancient city of the sun worshipers. The two searched for nearly an hour before
• 1:40:40
  they found the narrow exit through the inner wall. From there, the well
• 1:40:45
  worn trail led them beyond the outer fortification to the desolate valley of Opar.
• 1:40:50
  Tarzan had no idea in so far as Werper could discover as to where he
• 1:40:56
  was or whence he came. He wandered aimlessly about, searching for food,
• 1:41:00
  which he discovered beneath small rocks or hiding in the shade of the scant brush
• 1:41:05
  which dotted the ground. The Belgian was horrified by the hideous menu of his
• 1:41:11
  companion. Beetles, rodents, and caterpillars were devoured with seeming relish. Tarzan
• 1:41:16
  was indeed an ape again. At last, Wherper succeeded in leading his companion
• 1:41:23
  toward the distant hills which marked the northwestern boundary of the valley, and together
• 1:41:29
  the two set out in the direction of the Greystoke Bungalow. What purpose prompted
• 1:41:33
  the Belgian in leading the victim of his treachery and greed back toward his former
• 1:41:39
  home, it is difficult to guess, unless it was that without Tarzan there
• 1:41:45
  could be no ransom for Tarzan's wife. That night they camped in the valley
• 1:41:50
  beyond the hills, and as they sat before a little fire where cooked a
• 1:41:55
  wild pig that had fallen to one of Tarzan's arrows, the latter lost in
• 1:42:00
  speculation, he seemed continually to be trying to grasp some mental image which has
• 1:42:06
  constantly eluded him. At last he opened the leathern pouch which hung at his
• 1:42:12
  side. From it he poured into the palm of his hand a quantity of
• 1:42:16
  glittering gems. The firelight playing upon them conjured the multitude of scintillating rays.
• 1:42:24
  And as the wide eyes of the Belgian looked on in rapt fascination, the
• 1:42:28
  man's expression at lastic knowledged a tangible purpose in courting the society of the ape
• 1:42:33
  Man. End of Chapter eight, Chapter nine the theft of the jewels.
• 1:42:43
  For two days, Wherper sought for the party that had accompanied him from the
• 1:42:46
  camp to the barrier cliffs, but not until late in the afternoon of the
• 1:42:50
  second day did he find clue to its whereabouts, and then in such gruesome
• 1:42:57
  form that he was totally unnerved by the sight. In an open glade,
• 1:43:01
  he came upon the bodies of three of the blacks, terribly mutilated. Nor
• 1:43:06
  did it require considerable deductive power to explain their murder of the little party.
• 1:43:13
  Only these three had not been slaves. The others, evidently tempted to hope
• 1:43:17
  for freedom from their cruel Arab master, had taken advantage of their separation from
• 1:43:24
  the main camp to slay the three representatives of the hated power which held them
• 1:43:29
  in slavery, and vanish into the jungle. Cold sweat exuded from Werper's forehead
• 1:43:34
  as he contemplated the fate which chance had permitted him to escape, For had
• 1:43:40
  he been present when the conspiracy bore fruit, he too must have been of
• 1:43:44
  the garnered Tarzan showed not the slightest surprise or interest in the discovery. Inherent
• 1:43:50
  in him was a callous familiarity with violent death. The refinements of his recent
• 1:43:57
  civilization, expunged by the four of the sad calamity which had befallen him,
• 1:44:01
  left only the primitive sensibilities which his childhood's training had imprinted indelibly upon the fabric
• 1:44:09
  of his mind. The training of Kyla, the examples and precepts of Kerchak,
• 1:44:15
  of Tublat, and of Turkos, now formed the basis of his every
• 1:44:19
  thought and action. He retained a mechanical knowledge of French and English speech.
• 1:44:26
  Werper had spoken to him in French, and Tarzan had replied in the same
• 1:44:30
  tongue, without conscious realization that he had departed from the anthropoidal speech in which
• 1:44:36
  he had addressed law. Had Werper used English, the result would have been
• 1:44:41
  the same again. That night, as the two sat before their camp fire,
• 1:44:46
  Tarzan played with his shining bobbles. Werper asked him what they were and
• 1:44:51
  where he had found them. The ape man replied that they were gay colored
• 1:44:56
  stones with which he purposed fashioning a necklace, and that he had found them
• 1:45:00
  far beneath the sacrificial court of the Temple of the Flaming God. Wherper was
• 1:45:05
  relieved to find that Tarzan had no conception of the value of the gems.
• 1:45:11
  This would make it easier for the Belgian to obtain possession of them. Possibly
• 1:45:15
  the man would give them to him for the asking. Wherper reached out his
• 1:45:19
  hand toward the little pile that Tarzan had arranged upon a piece of flat wood
• 1:45:24
  before him. Let me see them, said the Belgian. Tarzan placed a
• 1:45:29
  large palm over his treasure. He bared his fighting fangs and growled. Werper
• 1:45:33
  withdrew his hand more quickly than he had advanced it. Tarzan resumed his playing
• 1:45:39
  with the gems and his conversation with Werper, as though nothing unusual had occurred.
• 1:45:44
  He had but exhibited the beast's jealous, protective instinct for a possession.
• 1:45:48
  When he killed, he shared the meat with Wherper. But had Werper,
• 1:45:51
  ever by accident, laid a hand upon Tarzan's share, he would have aroused
• 1:45:57
  the same savage and resentful warning. From that occurrence dated the beginning of a
• 1:46:01
  great fear in the breast of the Belgian for his savage companion. He had
• 1:46:06
  never understood the transformation that had been wrought in Tarzan by the blow upon his
• 1:46:12
  head, other than to attribute it to a form of amnesia. That Tarzan
• 1:46:16
  had once been, in truth a savage jungle beast, Wherper had not known,
• 1:46:21
  and so of course he could not guess that the man had reverted to
• 1:46:26
  the state in which his childhood and young manhood had been spent. Now Werper
• 1:46:30
  saw in the Englishman a dangerous maniac, whom the slightest untoward accident might turn
• 1:46:35
  upon him with rending fangs. Not for a moment did Werper attempt to delude
• 1:46:41
  himself into the belief that he could defend himself successfully against an attack by the
• 1:46:45
  ape man. His one hope lay in eluding him and making for the far
• 1:46:50
  distant camp of ocmech Zek as rapidly as he could, But armed only with
• 1:46:56
  the sacrificial knife, Werper shrank from attempting the journey through the jungle. Tarzan
• 1:47:01
  constituted a protection that was by no means despicable, even in the face of
• 1:47:06
  the larger carnivora, as Wherper had reason to acknowledge from the evidence he had
• 1:47:12
  witnessed in the Oparian temple two, Wherper had his covetous soul set upon the
• 1:47:17
  pouch of gems, and so he was torn between the various emotions of avarice
• 1:47:23
  and fear. But avarice it was that burned most strongly in his breast,
• 1:47:28
  to the end that he dared the dangers and suffered the terrors of constant association
• 1:47:32
  with him, he thought a madman. Rather than give up the hope of
• 1:47:35
  obtaining possession of the fortune which the contents of the little pouch represented, Achmetzek
• 1:47:43
  should know nothing of these These would be for Werper alone, and so soon
• 1:47:47
  as he could encompass his design, he would reach the coast and take passage
• 1:47:53
  for America, where he could conceal himself beneath the veil of a new identity
• 1:47:58
  and enjoy to some measure the fruits of his theft. He had it all
• 1:48:01
  planned out, did Lieutenant Albert Werper. Living in anticipation the luxurious life of
• 1:48:08
  the idle rich, he even found himself regretting that America was so provincial,
• 1:48:14
  and that nowhere in the New World was a city that might compare with his
• 1:48:17
  beloved Brussels. It was upon the third day of their progress from Opar that
• 1:48:24
  the keen ears of Tarzan caught the sound of men behind them. Werper heard
• 1:48:29
  nothing above the humming of the jungle insects, and the chattering life of the
• 1:48:32
  lesser monkeys and the birds. For a time, Tarzan stood in statuesque silence,
• 1:48:39
  listening, his sensitive nostrils dilating as he essayed each passing breeze. Then
• 1:48:45
  he withdrew Werper into the concealment of thick brush and waited presently along the game
• 1:48:51
  trail that Wherper and Tarzan had been following. There came inside, a sleek
• 1:48:57
  black warrior, alert and watchful. In single file behind him, there followed
• 1:49:01
  one after another, near fifty others, each burdened with two dull yellow ingots
• 1:49:08
  lashed upon his back. Wherper recognized the party immediately as that which had accompanied
• 1:49:14
  Tarzan on his journey to Opar. He glanced at the ape man, but
• 1:49:17
  in the savage, watchful eyes, he saw no recognition of Basuli and those
• 1:49:23
  other loyal Waziri. When all had passed, Tarzan rose and emerged from concealment.
• 1:49:30
  He looked down the trail in the direction the party had gone. Then
• 1:49:33
  he turned to Wherper. We will follow and slay them, he said,
• 1:49:38
  why, asked the Belgian. They are black, explained Tarzan. It was
• 1:49:43
  a black who killed Khela. They are the enemies of the Manganis. Wherper
• 1:49:47
  did not relish the idea of engaging in a battle with Basuli and his fierce
• 1:49:53
  fighting men. And again he had welcomed the sight of them returning toward the
• 1:49:57
  Graystoke Bungalow, for he had begun to have doubts as to his ability to
• 1:50:00
  retrace his steps to the Waziri country. Tarzan, he knew, had not
• 1:50:05
  the remotest idea of whither they were going. By keeping at a safe distance
• 1:50:10
  behind the leaden warriors, they would have no difficulty in following them home.
• 1:50:15
  Once at the bungalow were pernewed the way to the camp of Ocmaczek. There
• 1:50:20
  was still another reason why he did not wish to interfere with the Waziri.
• 1:50:25
  They were bearing the great burden of treasure in the direction he wished it born.
• 1:50:30
  The farther they took it, the less the distance that he and Acmaczek
• 1:50:33
  would have to transport it. He argued with the ape Man therefore, against
• 1:50:39
  the latter's desire to exterminate the Blacks, and at last he prevailed upon Tarzan
• 1:50:44
  to follow them in peace, saying that he was sure they would lead them
• 1:50:47
  out of the forest into a rich country teeming with game. It was many
• 1:50:53
  marches from Opar to the Waziri country, but at last came the hour when
• 1:50:58
  Tarzan and the Belgium, following the trail of the warriors, topped the last
• 1:51:02
  rise and saw before them the broad Wazeri Plain, the winding river, and
• 1:51:08
  the distant forests to the north and west. A mile or more ahead of
• 1:51:12
  them, the line of warriors was creeping like a giant caterpillar through the tall
• 1:51:16
  grasses of the plain. Beyond, grazing herds of zebra heart, a beast
• 1:51:21
  and topee dotted the level landscape, while closer to the river, a bull
• 1:51:27
  buffalo, his head and shoulders protruding from the reeds, watched the advancing blacks
• 1:51:31
  for a moment, only to turn at last and disappear into the safety of
• 1:51:36
  his dank and gloomy retreat. Tarzan looked out across the familiar vista with no
• 1:51:42
  faintest gleam of recognition in his eyes. He saw the game animals, and
• 1:51:46
  his mouth watered, but he did not look in the direction of his bungalow.
• 1:51:51
  Wherper, however, did a puzzled expression entered the Belgian's eyes. He
• 1:51:57
  shaded them with his palms and gazed long and earnest toward the spot where the
• 1:52:00
  bungalow had stood. He could not credit the testimony of his eyes. There
• 1:52:05
  was no bungalow, no barns, no outhouses, the corows, the haste
• 1:52:11
  acts all were gone. What could it mean? And then slowly there filtered
• 1:52:15
  into Werper's consciousness an explanation of the havoc that had been wrought in that peaceful
• 1:52:21
  valley since last his eyes had rested upon it. Achmet Zek had been there.
• 1:52:28
  Basuli and his warriors had noted the devastation the moment they had come in
• 1:52:31
  sight of the farm. Now they hastened on toward it, talking excitedly among
• 1:52:36
  themselves in animated speculation upon the cause and meaning of the catastrophe. When at
• 1:52:43
  last they crossed the trampled garden and stood before the charred ruins of their masters
• 1:52:47
  Bungalow, their greatest fears became convictions in the light of the evidence about them.
• 1:52:54
  Remnants of human dead, half devoured by prowling hyenas and others of the
• 1:53:00
  Niba which infested the region, lay rotting upon the ground, and among the
• 1:53:03
  corpses, remained sufficient remnants of their clothing and ornaments to make clear to Basuli
• 1:53:10
  the frightful story of the disaster that had befallen his master's house, the Arabs,
• 1:53:15
  he said, as his men clustered about him. The Wazirri gazed about
• 1:53:19
  in mute rage for several minutes. Everywhere they encountered only further evidence of the
• 1:53:26
  ruthlessness of the cruel enemy that had come during the Great Buana's absence and laid
• 1:53:30
  waste his property. What did they with, lady, asked one of the
• 1:53:34
  blacks. They had always called lady greystokee Bass. The women they would have
• 1:53:40
  taken with them, said Basuli, our women and his. A giant black
• 1:53:45
  raised his spear above his head and gave voice to a savage cry of rage
• 1:53:49
  and hate. The others followed his example. Vassouli silenced them with a gesture.
• 1:53:55
  This is no time for useless noises of the mouth, he said.
• 1:54:00
  The Great Bana has taught us that it is axe by which things are done,
• 1:54:03
  not words. Let us save our breath. We shall need it all
• 1:54:09
  to follow up the Arabs and slay them. If lady and our women live,
• 1:54:14
  the greater the need of haste, and warriors cannot travel fast upon empty
• 1:54:18
  lungs. From the shelter of the reeds along the river, Werper and Tarzan
• 1:54:24
  watched the Blacks. They saw them dig a trench with their knives and fingers.
• 1:54:29
  They saw them lay their yellow burdens in it, and scoop the overturned
• 1:54:32
  earth back over the tops of the ingots. Tarzan seemed little interested, after
• 1:54:38
  Werper had assured him that that which they buried was not good to eat.
• 1:54:42
  But Werper was intensely interested. He would have given much had he had his
• 1:54:46
  own followers with him, that he might take away the treasure as soon as
• 1:54:50
  the Blacks left, for he was sure that they would leave this scene of
• 1:54:55
  desolation and death as soon as possible. The treasure buried, the Blacks removed
• 1:55:00
  themselves a short distance up wind from the fetid corpses, where they made camp,
• 1:55:04
  that they might rest before setting out in pursuit of the Arabs. It
• 1:55:10
  was already dusk Wherper and Tarzan sat devouring some pieces of meat they had brought
• 1:55:15
  from their last camp. The Belgian was occupied with his plans for the immediate
• 1:55:19
  future. He was positive that the Wazir would pursue achmet Zek, for he
• 1:55:25
  knew enough of savage warfare and of the characteristics of the Arabs and their degraded
• 1:55:30
  followers to guess that they had carried the Waziri women off into slavery. This
• 1:55:35
  alone would assure immediate pursuit by so warlike a people as the Waziri. Werper
• 1:55:41
  felt that he should find the means and the opportunity to push on ahead,
• 1:55:45
  that he might warn achmet Zek of the coming of Busuli, and also of
• 1:55:48
  the location of the buried treasure. What the Arab would now do with Lady
• 1:55:54
  Greystoke in view of the mental affliction of her husband, Wreper neither knew nor
• 1:55:59
  cared. It was enough that the golden treasure buried upon the side of the
• 1:56:03
  burned bungalow was infinitely more valuable than any ransom that would have occurred even to
• 1:56:10
  the avaricious mind of the Arab, and if Werper could persuade the raider to
• 1:56:14
  share even a portion of it with him, he would be well satisfied.
• 1:56:18
  But by far the most important consideration to Wherper, at least, was the
• 1:56:24
  incalculably valuable treasure in the little leathern pouch at Tarzan's side. If he could
• 1:56:30
  but obtain possession of this he must he would. His eyes wandered to the
• 1:56:34
  object of his greed. They measured Tarzan's giant frame and rested upon the rounded
• 1:56:41
  muscles of his arms. It was hopeless. What could he Werper hope to
• 1:56:45
  accomplish other than his own death by an attempt to wrest the gems from their
• 1:56:49
  savage owner. Disconsolate, Wherper threw himself upon his side. His head was
• 1:56:56
  pillowed on one arm, the other rested across his face, in such a
• 1:57:00
  way that his eyes were hidden from the ape man, though one of them
• 1:57:04
  was fastened upon him from beneath the shadow of the Belgian's forearm. For a
• 1:57:10
  time he lay thus, glowering at Tarzan and originating schemes for plundering him of
• 1:57:15
  his treasure, schemes that were discarded as futile as rapidly as they were born.
• 1:57:21
  Tarzan presently let his own eyes rest upon Werper. The Belgians saw that
• 1:57:27
  he was being watched, and lay very still. After a few moments,
• 1:57:30
  he simulated the regular breathing of deep slumber. Tarzan had been thinking he had
• 1:57:36
  seen the Waziri bury their belongings. Werper had told him that they were hiding
• 1:57:42
  them lest someone find them and take them away. This seemed to Tarzan a
• 1:57:45
  splendid plan for safeguarding valuables. Since Wherper had evinced a desire to possess his
• 1:57:51
  glittering pebbles, Tarzan, with the suspicions of a savage, had guarded the
• 1:57:56
  baubles of whose worth he was entirely ignorant, as zealously, as though they
• 1:58:00
  spelled life or death to him. For a long time, the ape man
• 1:58:03
  sat watching his companion. At last, convinced that he slept, Tarzan withdrew
• 1:58:10
  his hunting knife and commenced to dig a hole in the ground before him.
• 1:58:15
  With the blade, he loosened up the earth, and with his hands he
• 1:58:17
  scooped it out until he had excavated a little cavity a few inches in diameter
• 1:58:23
  and five or six inches in depth. Into this he placed the pouch of
• 1:58:27
  jewels. Werper almost forgot to breathe, after the fashion of a sleeper.
• 1:58:30
  As he saw what the ape man was doing, he scarce repressed an ejaculation
• 1:58:35
  of satisfaction. Tarzan became suddenly rigid as His keen ears noted the secession of
• 1:58:43
  the regular inspirations and expirations of his companion. His narrowed eyes bored straight down
• 1:58:49
  upon the Belgian. Werper felt that he was lost. He must risk all
• 1:58:54
  on his ability to carry on the deception. He sighed, threw both arms
• 1:58:59
  outward, and turned over on his back, mumbling as though in the throes
• 1:59:03
  of a bad dream. A moment later he resumed the regular breathing. Now
• 1:59:09
  he could not watch Tarzan, but he was sure that the man sat for
• 1:59:13
  a long time looking at him. Then faintly Whiper heard the other's hands scraping
• 1:59:17
  dirt and later patting it down. He knew then that the jewels were buried.
• 1:59:24
  It was an hour before Wherper moved again. Then he rolled over,
• 1:59:28
  facing Tarzan and opened his eyes. The ape man slept. By reaching out
• 1:59:32
  his hand, Wherper could touch the spot where the pouch was buried. For
• 1:59:38
  a long time he lay watching and listening. He moved about, making more
• 1:59:43
  noise than necessary, Yet Tarzan did not awaken. He drew the sacrificial knife
• 1:59:47
  from his belt and plunged it into the ground. Tarzan did not move.
• 1:59:53
  Cautiously, the Belgian pushed the blade downward through the loose earth above the pouch.
• 1:59:59
  He felt the point touched the soft, tough fabric of the leather.
• 2:00:02
  Then he pried down upon the handle. Slowly, the little mound of loose
• 2:00:06
  earth rose and parted. An instant later, a corner of the pouch came
• 2:00:12
  into view. Wherper pulled it from its hiding place and tucked it in his
• 2:00:15
  shirt. Then he refilled the hole and pressed the dirt carefully down as it
• 2:00:20
  had been before. Greed had prompted him to enact the discovery of which,
• 2:00:27
  by his companion could lead only to the most frightful consequences. For Wherper,
• 2:00:31
  already he could almost feel those strong white fangs burying themselves in his neck.
• 2:00:36
  He shuddered. Far Out across the plain, a leopard screamed, and in
• 2:00:41
  the dense reeds behind him, some great beast moved on padded feet. Were
• 2:00:45
  per fared these prowlers of the night, But infinitely more he feared the just
• 2:00:51
  wrath of the human beast sleeping at his side. With utmost caution, the
• 2:00:57
  Belgian arose Tarzan did not move. Wherper took a few steps toward the plain,
• 2:01:02
  and the distant forest to the northwest. Then he paused and fingered the
• 2:01:09
  hilt of the long knife in his belt. He turned and looked down upon
• 2:01:13
  the sleeper. Why not, he mused, Then I should be safe.
• 2:01:18
  He returned and bent above the ape man. Clutched tightly in his hand was
• 2:01:24
  the sacrificial knife of the High Priestess of the Flaming God. End of chapter
• 2:01:30
  nine. Chapter ten, achmet Zek seized the jewels. Mugombi, weak and
• 2:01:38
  suffering, had dragged his painful way along the trail of the retreating raiders.
• 2:01:43
  He could move but slowly, resting often, but savage hatred and an equally
• 2:01:48
  savage desire for vengeance kept him to his task. As the days passed,
• 2:01:54
  his wounds healed and his strength returned, until at last his giant frame regained
• 2:02:00
  all of its former mighty powers. Now he went more rapidly, but the
• 2:02:04
  mounted Arabs had covered a great distance, while the wounded Black had been painfully
• 2:02:10
  crawling after them. They had reached their fortified camp, and there achmet Zek
• 2:02:15
  awaited the return of his lieutenant, Albert Werper. During the long rough journey,
• 2:02:20
  Jane Clayton had suffered more in anticipation of her impending fate than from the
• 2:02:27
  hardships of the road. Achmet Zek had not deigned to acquaint her with his
• 2:02:31
  intentions regarding her future. She prayed that she had been captured in the hope
• 2:02:36
  of ransom, for if such should prove the case, no great harm would
• 2:02:42
  befall her at the hands of the Arabs. But there was the chance,
• 2:02:45
  the horrid chance, that another fate awaited her. She had heard of many
• 2:02:49
  women, among whom were white women, who had been sold by outlaws such
• 2:02:55
  as achmet Zek into the slavery of black heroms, or take and farther north,
• 2:03:00
  into the almost equally hideous existence of some Turkish surlyo. Jane Clayton was
• 2:03:08
  of sterner stuff than that which bends in spineless terror before danger. Until hope
• 2:03:14
  proved futile, she would not give it up, nor did she entertain thoughts
• 2:03:17
  of self destruction, only as a final escape from dishonor. So long as
• 2:03:24
  Tarzan lived, there was every reason to expect succor. No man nor beast
• 2:03:29
  who roamed the savage continent could boast the cunning and the powers of her lord
• 2:03:32
  and master to her. He was little short of omnipotent in his native world,
• 2:03:39
  this world of savage beasts and savage men, Tarzan would come and she
• 2:03:45
  would be rescued and avenged. Of that, she was certain. She counted
• 2:03:50
  the days that must elapse before he would return from Opar and discover what had
• 2:03:56
  transpired during his absence. After that, it would be but a short time
• 2:04:00
  before he had surrounded the Arab stronghold and punished the motley crew of wrong doers
• 2:04:05
  who inhabited it, that he could find her. She had no slightest doubt.
• 2:04:12
  No spore, however faint, could elude the keen vigilance of his senses.
• 2:04:16
  To him, the trail of the raiders would be as plain as the
• 2:04:19
  printed page of an open book. To her. And while she hoped,
• 2:04:24
  there came through the dark jungle, another terrified by night and by day,
• 2:04:29
  came Albert Werper. A dozen times he had escaped the claws and fangs of
• 2:04:33
  the giant Carnivora only by what seemed a miracle to him. Armed with nothing
• 2:04:40
  more than the knife he had brought with him from Opar, he had made
• 2:04:43
  his way through as savage a country as yet exists upon the face of the
• 2:04:47
  globe. By night he had slept in trees. By day he had stumbled
• 2:04:53
  fearfully on, often taking refuge among the branches when sight or sound of some
• 2:04:58
  great cat warned him from danger. But at last he had come within sight
• 2:05:02
  of the palisade, behind which were his fierce companions. At almost the same
• 2:05:09
  time, Moogombi came out of the jungle before the walled village. As he
• 2:05:13
  stood in the shadow of a great tree, reconnoitering, he saw a man,
• 2:05:17
  ragged and disheveled, emerge from the jungle almost at his elbow. Instantly
• 2:05:23
  he recognized the newcomer as he who had been a guest of his master before
• 2:05:28
  the latter had departed for Opar. The Black was upon the point of hailing
• 2:05:32
  the Belgian when something stayed him. He saw the white man walking confidently across
• 2:05:38
  the clearing toward the village gate. No sane man thus approached a village in
• 2:05:44
  this part of Africa unless he was sure of a friendly welcome. Mugambi waited.
• 2:05:48
  His suspicions were aroused. He heard werper halloo, He saw the gate
• 2:05:54
  swing open, and he witnessed the surprised and friendly welcome that was accorded the
• 2:05:59
  earth t wild guest of Lord and Lady Greystoak. A light broke upon the
• 2:06:03
  understanding of Mugambi. This white man had been a traitor and a spy.
• 2:06:09
  It was to him they owed the raid during the absence of the Great Buana.
• 2:06:15
  To his hate for the Arabs, Mugombi added a still greater hate for
• 2:06:18
  the white spy. Within the village, Werper passed hurriedly toward the silken tent
• 2:06:25
  of achmet Zek. The Arab arose as his lieutenant entered. His face showed
• 2:06:30
  surprise as he viewed the tattered apparel of the Belgian fought Has happened? He
• 2:06:35
  asked. Werper narrated all save the little matter of the pouch of gems,
• 2:06:41
  which were now tightly strapped about his waist beneath his clothing. The Arab's eyes
• 2:06:46
  narrowed greedily as his henchmen described the treasure that the Waziri had buried beside the
• 2:06:51
  ruins of the Greystoak Bungalow. We'd be a simpler matter now to return and
• 2:06:59
  get eat, said Ocmetzak. First, we will await the coming of the
• 2:07:03
  rash Vaziri, and after we have slain them, we may take our time
• 2:07:09
  to the treasure. None will disturb it where it lies, for we shall
• 2:07:14
  leave none alive who knows of its existence. And the woman asked Werper,
• 2:07:20
  I ye shall sail here in the north, replied the raider. It is
• 2:07:25
  the only way. Now she should bring a good prize. The Belgian nodded.
• 2:07:30
  He was thinking rapidly. If he could persuade Acmetzak to send him in
• 2:07:35
  command of the party which took Lady Greystoke north, it would give him the
• 2:07:40
  opportunity he craved to make his escape from his chief. He would forego a
• 2:07:45
  share of the gold if he could but get away unscathed with the jewels.
• 2:07:50
  He knew acmen Zac well enough by this time to know that no member of
• 2:07:55
  his band ever was voluntarily released from the service of acmen Zek. Most of
• 2:08:01
  the few who deserted were recaptured more than once had Werper listened to their agonized
• 2:08:07
  screams as they were tortured before being put to death. The Belgian had no
• 2:08:11
  wish to take the slightest chance of recapture. Who will go north with the
• 2:08:16
  woman? He asked, while we are returning for the gold that the Waziri
• 2:08:22
  buried by the bungalow of the Englishman. Achmetzach thought for a moment the buried
• 2:08:28
  gold was of much greater value than the price of the woman would bring.
• 2:08:33
  It was necessary to rid himself of her as quickly as possible, and it
• 2:08:37
  was also well to obtain the gold with the least possible delay of all his
• 2:08:41
  followers. The Belgian was the most logical lieutenant to intrust with the command of
• 2:08:46
  one of his parties. An Arab, as familiar with the trails and tribes
• 2:08:52
  as achmet Zach himself, might collect the woman's price and make good his escape
• 2:08:56
  into the far North. Werper, on the other hand, could scarce make
• 2:09:01
  his escape alone through a country hostile to Europeans, while the Many would send
• 2:09:05
  with The Belgian could be carefully selected with a view to preventing Werper from persuading
• 2:09:11
  any considerable portion of his command to accompany him should he contemplate desertion of his
• 2:09:18
  chief. At last, the Arab spoke, it is not necessary that we
• 2:09:24
  both return for the gold. You shall go north with the woman, carrying
• 2:09:28
  a letter to a friend of mine who is always in touch with the best
• 2:09:33
  markets for such merchandise, while I return for the gold. We can meet
• 2:09:39
  again here when our business is concluded. Werper could scarce disguise the joy with
• 2:09:45
  which he received this welcome decision, and that he did entirely disguise it from
• 2:09:50
  the keen and suspicious eyes of Ochmeczek is open to question. However, the
• 2:09:56
  decision reached, the Arab and his lieutenant discussed the detail as of their forthcoming
• 2:10:01
  ventures for a short time further, when Wherper made his excuses and returned to
• 2:10:05
  his own tent for the comforts and luxury of a long desired bath and shave.
• 2:10:11
  Having bathed, the Belgian tied a small hand mirror to a cord sown
• 2:10:16
  to the rear wall of his tent, placed a rude chair beside an equally
• 2:10:20
  rude table that stood beside the glass, and proceeded to remove the rough stubble
• 2:10:26
  from his face. In the catalog of masculine pleasures, there is scarce one
• 2:10:31
  which imparts a feeling of greater comfort and refreshment than follows a clean shave.
• 2:10:37
  And, now, with weariness temporarily banished, Albert Werper sprawled in his rickety
• 2:10:43
  chair to enjoy a final cigarette before retiring, his thumbs tucked in his belt
• 2:10:50
  in lazy support of the weight of his arms touched the belt which held the
• 2:10:54
  jewel pouch about his waist. He tingled with excitement as he let his mind
• 2:10:58
  dwell upon the value of the treasure which, unknown to all save himself,
• 2:11:03
  lay hidden beneath his clothing. What would okmczek say if he knew Wherper grinned
• 2:11:11
  how the old rascal's eyes would pop? Could he but have a glimpse of
• 2:11:15
  those scintillating beauties. Wherper had never yet had an opportunity to feast his eyes
• 2:11:20
  for any great length of time upon them. He had not even counted them,
• 2:11:24
  only roughly had he guessed at their value. He unfastened the belt and
• 2:11:30
  drew the pouch from its hiding place. He was alone the balance of the
• 2:11:35
  camp. Save the sentries had retired, None would enter the Belgian's tent.
• 2:11:41
  He fingered the pouch, feeling out the shapes and sizes of the precious little
• 2:11:46
  nodules within. He hefted the bag, first in one palm, then in
• 2:11:50
  the other, and at last he wheeled his chair slowly around before the table,
• 2:11:56
  and in the rays of his small lamp let the glittering gems roll out
• 2:12:00
  upon the rough wood. The refulgent rays transformed the interior of the soiled and
• 2:12:05
  squalid canvas to the splendor of a palace. In the eyes of the dreaming
• 2:12:11
  man, he saw the gilded halls of pleasure that would open their portals to
• 2:12:16
  the possessor of the wealth which lay scattered upon this stained and dented table top.
• 2:12:20
  He dreamed of joys and luxuries and power which always had been beyond his
• 2:12:26
  grasp. And as he dreamed, his gaze lifted from the table, as
• 2:12:30
  the gaze of a dreamer will, to a far distant goal, above the
• 2:12:33
  mean horizon of terrestrial commonplaceness. Unseeing, his eyes rested upon the shaving mirror
• 2:12:41
  which still hung upon the tent wall above the table, but his sight was
• 2:12:46
  focussed far beyond, and then a reflection moved within the polyshed surface of the
• 2:12:50
  tiny glass. The man's eyes shot back out of space to the mirror's face,
• 2:12:56
  and in it he saw reflected the grim visage of achmet Zek, framed
• 2:13:01
  in the flaps of the tent doorway behind him. Werper stifled a gasp of
• 2:13:05
  dismay. With rare self possession, he let his gaze drop without appearing to
• 2:13:11
  have halted upon the mirror until it rested again upon the gems. Without haste,
• 2:13:16
  he replaced them in the pouch, tucked the latter into his shirt,
• 2:13:20
  selected a cigarette from his case, lighted it, and rose, yawning and
• 2:13:26
  stretching his arms above his head. He turned slowly toward the opposite end of
• 2:13:30
  the tent. The face of acmet Zek had disappeared from the opening to say
• 2:13:35
  that Albert Wherper was terrified would be putting it mildly. He realized that he
• 2:13:41
  not only had sacrificed his treasure, but his life as well. Ocmet Zek
• 2:13:46
  would never permit the wealth that he had discovered to slip through his fingers,
• 2:13:52
  nor would he forgive the duplicity of a lieutenant who had gained possession of such
• 2:13:56
  a treasure without offering to share it with his chief. Slowly, the Belgian
• 2:14:01
  prepared for bed. If he were being watched, he could not know,
• 2:14:05
  But if so, the watcher saw no indication of the nervous excitement which the
• 2:14:11
  Europeans strove to conceal. When ready for his blankets, the man crossed to
• 2:14:16
  the little table and extinguished the light. It was two hours later that the
• 2:14:22
  flaps at the front of the tent separated silently and gave entrance to a dark
• 2:14:26
  robed figure, which passed noiselessly from the darkness without to the darkness within.
• 2:14:31
  Cautiously, the prowler crossed the interior. In one hand was a long knife.
• 2:14:37
  He came at last to the pile of blankets spread upon several rugs close
• 2:14:43
  to one of the tent walls. Lightly, his fingers sought and found the
• 2:14:48
  bult beneath the blankets, the bult that should be Albert Wherper. They traced
• 2:14:52
  out the figure of a man, and then an arm shot upward, poised
• 2:14:56
  for an instant, and descended a Again and again it rose and fell,
• 2:15:01
  and each time the long blade of the knife buried itself in the thing beneath
• 2:15:07
  the blankets, But there was an initial lifelessness in the silent bulk that gave
• 2:15:11
  the assassin momentary wonder. Feverishly, he threw back the coverlets and searched with
• 2:15:16
  nervous hands for the pouch of jewels, which he expected to find concealed upon
• 2:15:22
  his victim's body. An instant later he rose, with a curse upon his
• 2:15:26
  lips. It was achmet Zek and he cursed because he had discovered beneath the
• 2:15:31
  blankets of his lieutenant only a pile of discarded clothing arranged in the form and
• 2:15:37
  semblance of a sleeping man. Albert Wherper had fled out into the village,
• 2:15:43
  ran the chief, calling in angry tones to the sleepy Arabs, who tumbled
• 2:15:48
  from their tents in answer to his voice. But though they searched the village
• 2:15:52
  again and again, they found no trace of the Belgian. Foaming with anger,
• 2:15:58
  achmet Zek called his fall to horse, and though the night was pitchy
• 2:16:03
  black, they set out to scour the adjoining forest for their querry. As
• 2:16:07
  they galloped from the open gates, Moogombi, hiding in a nearby bush,
• 2:16:13
  slept unseen within the palisade. A score of blacks crowded about the entrance to
• 2:16:18
  watch the searchers depart, and as the last of them passed out of the
• 2:16:22
  village, the blacks seized the portals and drew them too, and Mugambi lent
• 2:16:28
  a hand in the work, as though the best of his life had been
• 2:16:31
  spent among the raiders in the darkness, he passed unchallenged as one of their
• 2:16:37
  number, and as they returned from the gates to their respective tents and huts.
• 2:16:41
  Mugambi melted into the shadows and disappeared for an hour. He crept about
• 2:16:48
  in the rear of the various huts and tents in an effort to locate that
• 2:16:52
  in which his master's mate was imprisoned. One there was which he was reasonably
• 2:16:56
  assured contained her, for it was the old only hut before the door of
• 2:17:01
  which a sentry had been posted. Mugambi was crouching in the shadow of this
• 2:17:05
  structure, just around the corner from the unsuspecting guard, when another approached to
• 2:17:11
  relieve his comrade. The prisoner is safe within, asked the newcomer. She
• 2:17:16
  is, replied the other, For none has passed this doorway since I came.
• 2:17:22
  The new sentry squatted beside the door, while he whom he had relieved,
• 2:17:28
  made his way to his own hut. Mugambi slunk closer to the corner
• 2:17:31
  of the building. In one powerful hand he gripped a heavy knobstick. No
• 2:17:37
  sign of elation disturbed his phlegmatic calm, Yet inwardly he was aroused a joy
• 2:17:43
  by the proof he had just heard that lady really was within the sentry's back
• 2:17:48
  was toward the corner of the hut which hid the giant black. The fellow
• 2:17:52
  did not see the huge form which silently loomed behind him. The knobstick swung
• 2:17:58
  upward in a curve, and downward again. There was the sound of a
• 2:18:03
  dull thud, the crushing of heavy bone, and the sentry slumped into a
• 2:18:07
  silent, inanimate lump of clay. A moment later, Mugambi was searching the
• 2:18:13
  interior of the hut, at first slowly, calling lady in a low whisper,
• 2:18:18
  and finally with almost frantic haste, until the truth presently dawned upon him.
• 2:18:24
  The hut was empty. End of chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Tarzan
• 2:18:30
  becomes a beast again. For a moment, Werper had stood above the sleeping
• 2:18:35
  ape man, his murderous knife poised for the fatal thrust, but fear stayed
• 2:18:41
  his hand. What if the first blow should fail to drive the point to
• 2:18:46
  his victim's heart. Werper shuddered in contemplation of the disastrous consequences to himself.
• 2:18:52
  Awakened, and even with a few moments of life remaining, the giant could
• 2:18:58
  literally tear his assailant to peace. Should he choose, and the Belgian had
• 2:19:03
  no doubt but that Tarzan would so choose. Again. Came the soft sound
• 2:19:07
  of padded footsteps in the reeds. Closer this time, wherper abandoned his design
• 2:19:15
  before him, stretched the wide plain and escape. The jewels were in his
• 2:19:20
  possession. To remain longer was to risk death at the hands of Tarzan or
• 2:19:24
  the jaws of the hunter Creeping ever nearer. Turning, he slunk away through
• 2:19:30
  the night, toward the distant forest Tarzans slept on. Where were those uncanny
• 2:19:37
  guardian powers that had formerly rendered him immune from the dangers of surprise? Could
• 2:19:43
  this dull sleeper be the alert, sensitive Tarzan of old? Perhaps the blow
• 2:19:48
  upon his head had numbed his senses temporarily, Who may say? Closer crept
• 2:19:54
  the stealthy creature through the reeds. The rustling curtain of veget parted a few
• 2:20:01
  paces from where the sleeper lay, and the massive head of a lion appeared.
• 2:20:05
  The beasts surveyed the ape man intently for a moment. Then he crouched
• 2:20:09
  his hind feet drawn well beneath him, his tail lashing from side to side.
• 2:20:16
  It was the beating of the beast's tail against the reeds which awakened Tarzan.
• 2:20:20
  Jungle folk do not awaken slowly. Instantly, full consciousness and full command
• 2:20:26
  of their every faculty returns to them from the depth of profound slumber. Even
• 2:20:31
  as Tarzan opened his eyes, he was upon his feet, his spear grasped
• 2:20:37
  firmly in his hand, and ready for attack. Again, was he Tarzan
• 2:20:41
  of the apes, Sentient, vigilant ready. No two lions have identical characteristics,
• 2:20:48
  nor does the same lion invariably act similarly under like circumstances. Whether it
• 2:20:54
  was surprise, fear, or caution which prompted the lion crouching ready to spring
• 2:21:00
  upon the man is immaterial. The fact remains that he did not carry out
• 2:21:05
  his original design. He did not spring at the man at all, but
• 2:21:09
  instead wheeled and sprang back into the reeds. As Tarzan arose and confronted him,
• 2:21:16
  the ape man shrugged his broad shoulders and looked about for his companion,
• 2:21:20
  wherper was nowhere to be seen. At first, Tarzan suspected that the man
• 2:21:24
  had been seized and dragged off by another lion, but upon examination of the
• 2:21:30
  ground, he soon discovered that the Belgian had gone away alone out into the
• 2:21:33
  plain. For a moment, he was puzzled, but presently came to the
• 2:21:39
  conclusion that Wherper had been frightened by the approach of the lion and had sneaked
• 2:21:43
  off in terror. A sneer touched Tarzan's lips as he pondered the man's act,
• 2:21:50
  the desertion of a comrade in time of danger and without warning. Well,
• 2:21:56
  if that was the sort of creature Wherper was, Tarzan wished nothing more
• 2:21:58
  of him. He had gone, and for all the ape man cared he
• 2:22:03
  might remain away, Tarzan would not search for him. A hundred yards from
• 2:22:07
  where he stood grew a large tree alone upon the edge of the reedy jungle.
• 2:22:13
  Tarzan made his way to it, clambered into it, and, finding
• 2:22:16
  a comfortable crotch among its branches, reposed himself for uninterrupted sleep until morning.
• 2:22:24
  And when morning came, Tarzan slept on long after the sun had risen.
• 2:22:30
  His mind reverted to the primitive, was untroubled by any more serious obligations than
• 2:22:35
  those of providing sustenance and safeguarding his life. Therefore, there was nothing to
• 2:22:41
  awaken for until danger threatened, or the pangs of hunger assailed. It was
• 2:22:46
  the latter which he eventually aroused him. Opening his eyes, he stretched his
• 2:22:52
  giant thews, yawned, rose, and gazed about him through the leafy foliage
• 2:22:56
  of his retreat. Across the wasted meadowlands and fields of John Clayton, Lord
• 2:23:03
  Greystoak. Tarzan of the Apes, looked as a stranger upon the moving figures
• 2:23:07
  of Basuli and his braves as they prepared their morning meal and made ready to
• 2:23:13
  set out upon the expedition which Bassouli had planned. After discovering the havoc and
• 2:23:18
  disaster which had befallen the estate of his dead master, the ape man eyed
• 2:23:24
  the Blacks with curiosity. In the back of his brain loitered a fleeting sense
• 2:23:30
  of familiarity with all that he saw. Yet he could not connect any of
• 2:23:35
  the various forms of life, animate and inanimate, which had fallen within the
• 2:23:39
  range of his vision since he had emerged from the darkness of the pits of
• 2:23:43
  Opar, with any particular event of the past. Hazily, he recalled a
• 2:23:48
  grim and hideous form, hairy, ferocious. A vague tenderness dominated his savage
• 2:23:54
  sentiments as this phantom memory struggled for recognition. His mind had reverted to his
• 2:24:01
  childhood days. It was the figure of the giant she ape Kyla that he
• 2:24:07
  saw, but only half recognized. He saw two other grotesque manlike forms.
• 2:24:13
  They were of turcause too, blat Kerchak, and a smaller, less ferocious
• 2:24:18
  figure that was Nita, the little playmate of his boyhood. Slowly, very
• 2:24:24
  slowly, as these visions of the past animated his lethargic memory, he came
• 2:24:30
  to recognize them. They took definite shape and form, adjusting themselves nicely to
• 2:24:35
  the various incidents of his life with which they had been intimately connected. His
• 2:24:41
  boyhood. Among the apes spread itself in a slow panorama before him, and
• 2:24:46
  as it unfolded, it induced within him a mighty longing for the companionship of
• 2:24:52
  the shaggy, low browed brutes of his past. He watched the blacks catter
• 2:24:58
  their cook fire and depart, But though the face of each of them had
• 2:25:01
  but recently been as familiar to him as his own, they awakened within him
• 2:25:07
  no recollections whatsoever. When they had gone, he descended from the tree and
• 2:25:13
  sought food. Out upon the plain grazed numerous herds of wild ruminants toward a
• 2:25:18
  sleek, fat bunch of zebra. He wormed his stealthy way. No intricate
• 2:25:24
  process of reasoning caused him to circle widely until he was down When from his
• 2:25:28
  prey he acted instinctively. He took advantage of every form of cover as he
• 2:25:35
  crawled upon all fours and often flat upon his stomach, toward them. A
• 2:25:41
  plump young mare and a fat stallion grazed nearest to him as he neared the
• 2:25:45
  herd. Again, it was instinct which selected the former for his meat.
• 2:25:50
  A low bush grew but a few yards from the unsuspecting two. The ape
• 2:25:54
  man reached its shelter. He gathered his spear firmly in his grassp cautiously,
• 2:26:01
  he drew his feet beneath him. In a single swift move, he rose
• 2:26:05
  and cast his heavy weapon at the mare's side. Nor did he wait to
• 2:26:09
  note the effect of his assault, but leaped catlike after his spear, his
• 2:26:13
  hunting knife in his hand. For an instant the two animals stood motionless.
• 2:26:16
  The tearing of the cruel barb into her side brought a sudden scream of pain
• 2:26:22
  and fright from the mare, and then they both wheeled and broke for safety,
• 2:26:26
  But Tarzan of the Apes, for a distance of a few yards,
• 2:26:28
  could equal the speed of even these, and the first stride of the mare
• 2:26:33
  found her overhauled, with a savage beast at her shoulder. She turned,
• 2:26:37
  biting and kicking at her full Her mate hesitated for an instant as though about
• 2:26:43
  to rush to her assistance, but a backward glance revealed to him the flying
• 2:26:48
  heels of the balance of the herd, and with a snort and a shake
• 2:26:50
  of his head, he wheeled and dashed away, clinging with one hand to
• 2:26:56
  the short mane of his quarry. Tarzan struck again and again with his knife
• 2:27:00
  at the unprotected heart. The result had from the first been inevitable. The
• 2:27:05
  mare fought bravely but hopelessly, and presently sank to the earth, her heart
• 2:27:09
  pierced. The ape man placed a foot upon her carcass and raised his voice
• 2:27:15
  in the victory call of the Mangani. In the distance. Basuli halted as
• 2:27:20
  the faint notes of the hideous scream broke upon his ears the great apes.
• 2:27:24
  He said to his companion, it has been long since I have heard them
• 2:27:28
  in the country of the Wazirri. What could have brought them back. Tarzan
• 2:27:33
  grasped his kill and dragged it to the partial seclusion of the bush which had
• 2:27:39
  hidden his own near approach, and there he squatted upon it, cut a
• 2:27:43
  huge hunk of flesh from the loin, and proceeded to satisfy his hunger with
• 2:27:48
  the warm and dripping meat. Attracted by the shrill screams of the mare,
• 2:27:52
  a pair of hyenas slunk presently into view. They trotted to a point a
• 2:27:58
  few yards from the gorgoning ape man and halted. Tarzan looked up, bared
• 2:28:03
  his fighting fangs and growled. The hyenas returned the compliment and withdrew a couple
• 2:28:09
  of paces. They made no move to attack, but continued to sit at
• 2:28:13
  a respectful distance until Tarzan had concluded his meal. After the ape man had
• 2:28:18
  cut a few strips from the carcass to carry with him, he walked slowly
• 2:28:22
  off in the direction of the river to quench his thirst. His way lay
• 2:28:28
  directly toward the hyenas, nor did he alder his course because of them.
• 2:28:33
  With all the lordly majesty of Numa the Lion, he strode straight toward the
• 2:28:37
  growling beasts. For a moment they held their ground, bristling and defiant,
• 2:28:43
  but only for a moment, and then slunk away to one side while the
• 2:28:46
  indifferent ape man passed them on his lordly way. A moment later, they
• 2:28:52
  were tearing at the remains of the zebra. Back to the reeds went Tarzan
• 2:28:58
  and threw them toward the river. A herd of buffalo, startled by his
• 2:29:01
  approach, rose ready to charge or to fly. A great bull pawed the
• 2:29:07
  ground and bellowed as his bloodshot eyes discovered the intruder, but the ape man
• 2:29:13
  passed across their front, as though ignorant of their existence. The bulls bellowing
• 2:29:18
  lessened to a low rumbling. He turned and scraped a horde of flies from
• 2:29:22
  his side with his muzzle, cast a final glance at the ape man,
• 2:29:26
  and resumed his feeding. His numerous family either followed his example or stood gazing
• 2:29:33
  after Tarzan in mild eyed curiosity until the offosite reeds swallowed him from view.
• 2:29:41
  At the river, Tarzan drank his fill and bathed. During the heat of
• 2:29:45
  the day, he lay up under the shade of a tree near the ruins
• 2:29:48
  of his burned barns. His eyes wandered out across the plain toward the forest,
• 2:29:54
  and a longing for the pleasures of its mysterious depths possessed his thoughts for
• 2:29:58
  a consider time. With the next sun, he would cross the open and
• 2:30:03
  enter the forest. There was no hurry. There lay before him an endless
• 2:30:09
  vista of tomorrows, with not to fill them but the satisfying of the appetites
• 2:30:13
  and caprices of the moment. The ape man's mind was untroubled by regret for
• 2:30:18
  the past or aspiration for the future. He could lie at full length the
• 2:30:24
  longest swaying branch, stretching his giant limbs and luxuriating in the blessed peace of
• 2:30:30
  utter thoughtlessness, without an apprehension or a worry to sap his nervous energy and
• 2:30:35
  rob him of his peace of mind. Recalling only dimly any other existence,
• 2:30:41
  the ape man was happy. Lord Greystoak had ceased to exist. For several
• 2:30:48
  hours, Tarzan lulled upon his swaying leafy couch, until once again hunger and
• 2:30:54
  thirst suggested an excursion. Stretching lazily, he dropped to the ground and moved
• 2:31:00
  slowly toward the river. The game trail down which he walked had become by
• 2:31:05
  ages of use a deep, narrow trench, its walls topped on either side
• 2:31:09
  by impenetrable thicket and dense growing trees, closely interwoven with thick stemmed creepers and
• 2:31:18
  lesser vines, inextricably matted into two solid ramparts of vegetation. Tarzan had almost
• 2:31:24
  reached the point where the trail debounced upon the open river bottom when he saw
• 2:31:30
  a family of lions approaching along the path from the direction of the river.
• 2:31:35
  The ape man counted seven, a male and two lionesses, full grown,
• 2:31:39
  and four young lions as large and quite as formidable as their parents. Tarzan
• 2:31:46
  halted, growling, and the lions paused, the great male in the lead,
• 2:31:50
  bearing his fangs and rumbling forth a warning roar in his hand. The
• 2:31:56
  ape man held his heavy spear, but he had no intention of pit his
• 2:32:00
  puny weapon against seven lions. Yet he stood there, growling and roaring,
• 2:32:05
  and the lions did likewise. It was purely an exhibition of jungled bluff.
• 2:32:11
  Each was trying to frighten off the other. Neither wished to turn back and
• 2:32:15
  give way, nor did either at first desire to precipitate an encounter. The
• 2:32:20
  lions were fed sufficiently so as not to be goaded by pangs of hunger.
• 2:32:24
  And as for Tarzan, he seldom ate the meat of the carnivores. But
• 2:32:30
  a point of ethics was at stake, and neither side wished to back down.
• 2:32:35
  So they stood there, facing one another, making all sorts of hideous
• 2:32:39
  noises, the while they hurled jungle invective back and forth. How long this
• 2:32:43
  bloodless duel would have persisted, it is difficult to say, though eventually Tarzan
• 2:32:50
  would have been forced to yield to superior numbers. There came, however,
• 2:32:54
  an interruption which put an end to the deadlock, and it came from Tarzan's
• 2:33:00
  rear. He and the lions had been making so much noise that neither could
• 2:33:03
  hear anything above their concerted bedlam, And so it was that Tarzan did not
• 2:33:09
  hear the great bulk bearing down upon him from behind until an instant before it
• 2:33:13
  was upon him. And then he turned to see Buto the rhinoceros, his
• 2:33:18
  little pig eyes blazing, charging madly toward him, and already so close that
• 2:33:22
  escape seemed impossible. Yet so perfectly were mind and muscles coordinated in this unspoiled
• 2:33:30
  primitive man that almost simultaneously with the sense of perception of the threatened danger,
• 2:33:35
  he wheeled and hurled his spirit Butto's chest. It was a heavy spear shod
• 2:33:41
  with iron, and behind it were the giant muscles of the ape man.
• 2:33:45
  While coming to meet it was the enormous weight of Buto and the momentum of
• 2:33:50
  his rapid rush. All that happened in the instant that Tarzan turned to meet
• 2:33:54
  the charge of the irascible rhinoceros might take long to tell, and yet would
• 2:34:00
  tax the swiftest limbs to record. As his spear left his hand, the
• 2:34:03
  ape man was looking down upon the mighty horn lowed to toss him. So
• 2:34:09
  close was Buto to him. The spear entered the rhinoceros neck at its junction
• 2:34:13
  with the left shoulder, and passed almost entirely through the beast's body. And
• 2:34:18
  at the instant that he launched it, Tarzan leaped straight into the air,
• 2:34:22
  alighting upon Butto's back but escaping the mighty horn. Then Butto espied the lions
• 2:34:28
  and bore madly down upon them, while Tarzan of the apes leaped nimbly into
• 2:34:33
  the tangled creepers at one side of the trail. The first lion met Butto's
• 2:34:39
  charge and was tossed high over the back of the maddened brute, torn and
• 2:34:43
  dying. And then the six remaining lions were upon the rhinoceros, rending and
• 2:34:48
  tearing the while they were being gored or trampled. From the safety of his
• 2:34:52
  perch, Tarzan watched the royal battle with the keenest interest, For the more
• 2:34:58
  intelligent of the jungle folk are interested in such encounters. They are to them
• 2:35:03
  what the racetrack and the prize ring, the theater and the movies are to
• 2:35:07
  us. They see them often, but always they enjoy them, for no
• 2:35:11
  two are precisely alike. For a time it seemed to Tarzan that Buto the
• 2:35:16
  Rhinoceros would prove victor in the gory battle. Already had he accounted for four
• 2:35:22
  of the seven lions and badly wounded the three remaining. When in a momentary
• 2:35:26
  lull in the encounter, he sank limply to his knees and rolled over upon
• 2:35:31
  his side. Tarzan's spear had done its work. It was the man made
• 2:35:35
  weapon which killed the great beast that might easily have survived the assault of seven
• 2:35:41
  mighty lions, For Tarzan's spear had pierced the great lungs, and Buto,
• 2:35:46
  with victory almost in sight, succumbed to internal hemorrhage. Then Tarzan came down
• 2:35:52
  from his sanctuary, and as the wounded lions, growling, dragged themselves away,
• 2:35:58
  the ape men cut his spear from the body of Buttle, hacked off
• 2:36:01
  a stake, and vanished into the jungle. The episode was over. It
• 2:36:07
  had been all in the day's work, something which you and I might talk
• 2:36:11
  about for a lifetime. Tarzan dismissed from his mind the moment that the scene
• 2:36:16
  passed from his sight. End of chapter eleven. Chapter twelve, Law seeks
• 2:36:22
  vengeance. Swinging back through the jungle in a wide circle, the ape man
• 2:36:28
  came to the river at another point, drank and took to the trees again.
• 2:36:33
  And while he hunted, all oblivious of his past and careless of his
• 2:36:37
  future, there came through the dark jungles and the open park like places,
• 2:36:41
  and across the wide meadows where grazed the countless Herbivora of the mysterious continent,
• 2:36:48
  a weird and terrible caravan in search of him. There were fifty frightful men
• 2:36:52
  with hairy bodies and gnarled and crooked legs. They were armed with knives and
• 2:36:58
  great bludgeons, and at their head marched an almost naked woman beautiful beyond compare.
• 2:37:05
  It was law of Opar, High Priestess of the Flaming God, and
• 2:37:09
  fifty of her horrid priests, searching for the purloiner of the sacred sacrificial Knife.
• 2:37:16
  Never before had law passed beyond the crumbling outer walls of Opar, but
• 2:37:20
  never before had need been so insistent. The Sacred Knife was gone handed down
• 2:37:28
  through countless ages. It had come to her as a heritage and an insignia
• 2:37:31
  of her religious office and regal authority, from some long dead progenitor of lost
• 2:37:37
  and forgotten Atlantis. The loss of the Crown Jewels or the Great Seal of
• 2:37:43
  England could have brought no greater consternation to a British king than did the pilfering
• 2:37:48
  of the Sacred Knife bring to law the Oparian Queen and High Priestess of the
• 2:37:54
  degraded remnants of the oldest civilization upon Earth. When Atlantis, with all her
• 2:38:00
  mighty cities and her cultivated fields, and her great commerce in culture and riches,
• 2:38:05
  sank into the sea long ages, since she took with her all but
• 2:38:09
  a handful of her colonists working the vast gold mines of Central Africa. From
• 2:38:16
  these and their degraded slaves, and a later intermixture of the blood of the
• 2:38:20
  anthropoids sprung the gnarled men of Opar. But by some queer freak of fate,
• 2:38:26
  aided by natural selection, the old Atlantean strain had remained pure and undegraded
• 2:38:33
  in the females descended from a single princess of the Royal House of Atlantis,
• 2:38:37
  who had been in Opar at the time of the great catastrophe. Such was
• 2:38:41
  Law burning with white anger was the high priestess, her heart as seething molten
• 2:38:48
  mass of hatred for Tarzan of the Apes. The zeal of the religious fanatic
• 2:38:52
  whose altar has been desecrated was triply enhanced by the rage of a woman scorned.
• 2:38:58
  Twice had she thrown her heart at the feet of the godlike ape man,
• 2:39:03
  and twice had she been repulsed. Law knew that she was beautiful,
• 2:39:07
  and she was beautiful not by the standards of prehistoric Atlantis alone, but by
• 2:39:13
  those of modern times. Was Law physically a creature of perfection. Before Tarzan
• 2:39:18
  came that first time to Opar, Law had never seen a human male other
• 2:39:24
  than the grotesque and knotted men of her clam with one of these she must
• 2:39:28
  mate sooner or later, that the direct line of high priestesses might not be
• 2:39:33
  broken, unless fate should bring other men to Opar. Before Tarzan came upon
• 2:39:39
  his first visit, Law had had no thought that such men as he existed,
• 2:39:43
  for she knew only her hideous little priests and the bulls of the tribe
• 2:39:48
  of great anthropoids that had dwelt from time immemorial in and about Opar, until
• 2:39:54
  they had come to be looked upon almost as equals by the Oparians. Among
• 2:39:58
  the legends of Opar were tales of godlike men of the olden time, and
• 2:40:03
  of black men who had come more recently. But these latter had been enemies,
• 2:40:09
  who killed and robbed, And too, these legends always held forth the
• 2:40:13
  hope that some day that nameless continent from which their race had sprung would rise
• 2:40:18
  once more out of the sea, and with slaves, that the long Sweeps
• 2:40:22
  would send her carbon gold picked galleys forth to succor the long exiled colonists.
• 2:40:28
  The coming of Tarzan had aroused within Law's breast the wild hope that at last
• 2:40:33
  the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy was at hand. But more strongly still had
• 2:40:39
  it aroused the hot fires of love in a heart that never otherwise would have
• 2:40:43
  known the meaning of that all consuming passion. For such a wondrous creature as
• 2:40:48
  Law could never have felt love for any of the repulsive priests of Opar.
• 2:40:54
  Custom, duty, and religious zeal might have commanded the union, but there
• 2:40:58
  could have been no las love on Law's part. She had grown to young
• 2:41:03
  womanhood a cold and heartless creature, daughter of a thousand other, cold,
• 2:41:07
  heartless, beautiful women who had never known love. And so when love came
• 2:41:11
  to her, it liberated all the pent passions of a thousand generations, transforming
• 2:41:18
  Law into a pulsing, throbbing volcano of desire. And with desire thwarted,
• 2:41:22
  this great force of love and gentleness and sacrifice was transmuted by its own fires
• 2:41:30
  into one of hatred and revenge. It was in a state of mind,
• 2:41:35
  superinduced by these conditions, that Law led forth her jabbering company to retrieve the
• 2:41:41
  sacred emblem of her high office and wreak vengeance upon the author of her wrongs
• 2:41:46
  to Wherper, she gave little thought. The fact that the knife had been
• 2:41:50
  in his hand when it departed from Opar brought down no thoughts of vengeance upon
• 2:41:56
  his head. Of course, he should be slain when but his death would
• 2:42:01
  give Law no pleasure. She looked for that in the contemplated death agonies of
• 2:42:07
  Tarzan. He should be tortured. His should be a slow and frightful death.
• 2:42:11
  His punishment should be adequate to the immensity of his crime. He had
• 2:42:15
  wrested the sacred knife from Law. He had lain sacriligious hands upon the high
• 2:42:20
  priestess of the Flaming God. He had desecrated the altar and the temple.
• 2:42:24
  For these things he should die. But he had scorned the love of Law
• 2:42:28
  the woman, and for this he should die horribly, with great anguish.
• 2:42:33
  The march of Law and her Priests was not without its adventures. Unused were
• 2:42:39
  these to the ways of the jungle, since seldom did any venture forth from
• 2:42:43
  behind Opar's crumbling walls. Yet their very numbers protected them, and so they
• 2:42:50
  came without fatalities. Far along the trail of Tarzan and Wherper, three great
• 2:42:54
  apes accompanied them, and to these was delegated the business of tracking the quarry,
• 2:43:01
  a feat beyond the senses of the oparians. Law commanded. She arranged
• 2:43:05
  the order of march, She selected the camps, She set the hour for
• 2:43:11
  halting and the hour for resuming. And though she was inexperienced in such matters,
• 2:43:16
  her native intelligence was so far above that of the men or the apes,
• 2:43:20
  that she did better than they could have done. She was a hard
• 2:43:24
  taskmaster, too, for she looked down with loathing and contempt upon the misshapen
• 2:43:28
  creatures amongst which cruel fate had thrown her, and to some extent vented upon
• 2:43:33
  them her dissatisfaction and her thwarted love. She made them build her a strong
• 2:43:39
  protection and shelter each night, and keep a great fire burning before it from
• 2:43:43
  dusk to dawn. When she tired of walking, they were forced to carry
• 2:43:48
  her upon an improvised litter. Nor did one dare to question her authority or
• 2:43:52
  her right to such services. In fact, they did not question either.
• 2:43:58
  To them, she was a goddess, and each loved her, and each
• 2:44:01
  hoped that he would be chosen as her mate. So they slaved for her
• 2:44:07
  and bore the stinging lash of her displeasure and the habitually haughty disdain of her
• 2:44:11
  manner. Without a murmur. For many days they marched the apes, following
• 2:44:16
  the trail easily and going a little distance ahead of the body of the caravan,
• 2:44:22
  that they might warn the others of impending danger. It was during a
• 2:44:26
  noonday halt, while all were lying resting after a tiresome march, that one
• 2:44:31
  of the apes rose suddenly and sniffed the breeze in a low guttural. He
• 2:44:35
  cautioned the others to silence, and a moment later was swinging quietly upwind into
• 2:44:41
  the jungle. Law and the priests gathered silently together, the hideous little men,
• 2:44:46
  fingering their knives and bludgeons, and awaited the return of the shaggy anthropoid.
• 2:44:52
  Nor had they longed to wait before they saw him emerge from a leafy
• 2:44:56
  thicket and approached them. Straight to Law he came, and in the language
• 2:45:01
  of the great apes, which was also the language of decadent opar, he
• 2:45:05
  addressed her. The great Tarmangani lies asleep there, he said, pointing in
• 2:45:11
  the direction from which he had just come. Come, and we can kill
• 2:45:15
  him. Do not kill him. Commanded law in cold tomes, bring the
• 2:45:20
  great Tarmangani to me, alive and unhurt. The vengeance is laws, go,
• 2:45:26
  but make no sound, and she waved her hands to include all her
• 2:45:30
  followers. Cautiously, the weird party crept through the jungle in the wake of
• 2:45:33
  the great ape until at last he halted them with a raised hand and pointed
• 2:45:39
  upward, and a little ahead. There they saw the giant form of the
• 2:45:43
  ape man stretched along a low bough, and even in sleep, one hand
• 2:45:48
  grasped a stout limb, and one strong brown leg reached out and overlapped another.
• 2:45:54
  At ease lay Tarzan of the apes, sleeping heavily upon a full stomach,
• 2:45:58
  and dreaming of Numa, the l I, and Horta, the boar,
• 2:46:01
  and other creatures of the jungle. No intimation of danger assailed the dormant
• 2:46:05
  faculties of the ape Man. He saw no crouching hairy figures upon the ground
• 2:46:11
  beneath him, nor the three apes that swung quietly into the tree beside him.
• 2:46:15
  The first intimation of danger that came to Tarzan was the impact of three
• 2:46:20
  bodies, as the three apes leaped upon him and hurled him to the ground,
• 2:46:22
  where he alighted, half stunned, beneath their combined weight, and was
• 2:46:26
  immediately set upon by the fifty hairy men, or as many of them as
• 2:46:30
  good swarm upon his person. Instantly, the ape man became the center of
• 2:46:33
  a whirling, striking, biting, maelstrom of horror. He fought nobly,
• 2:46:37
  but the odds against him were too great. Slowly they overcame him, though
• 2:46:41
  there was scarce one of them that did not feel the weight of his mighty
• 2:46:45
  fist or the rending of his fangs. End of Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen.
• 2:46:52
  Condemned to torture and death, Law had followed her company, and when
• 2:46:58
  she saw them clawing and biting it Tarzan, she raised her voice and cautioned
• 2:47:01
  them not to kill him. She saw that he was weakening, and that
• 2:47:05
  soon the greater numbers would prevail over him. Nor had she longed to wait
• 2:47:09
  before the mighty jungle creature lay helpless and bound at her feet. Bring him
• 2:47:15
  to the place at which we stopped, she commanded, And they carried Tarzan
• 2:47:18
  back to the little clearing and threw him down beneath a tree. Build me
• 2:47:22
  a shelter, ordered Law, We shall stop here to night and tomorrow,
• 2:47:26
  in the face of the flaming God, Law will offer up the heart of
• 2:47:31
  this defiler of the temple? Where is the sacred knife? Who took it
• 2:47:35
  from him? But no one had seen it? And Eat was positive in
• 2:47:39
  his assurance that the sacrificial weapon had not been upon Tarzan's person when they captured
• 2:47:46
  him. The ape man looked upon the menacing creatures which surrounded him and snarled
• 2:47:50
  his defiance. He looked upon Law and smiled. In the face of death,
• 2:47:56
  he was unafraid. Where is the knife? Law asked him. I
• 2:48:00
  do not know, replied Tarzan. The man took it with him when he
• 2:48:05
  slipped away during the night. Since you are so desirous for its return,
• 2:48:09
  I would look for him and get it back for you. Did you not
• 2:48:13
  hold me prisoner? But now that I am to die, I cannot get
• 2:48:16
  it back. Of what good was your knife? Anyway? You can make
• 2:48:20
  another? Did you follow us all this way for nothing more than a knife?
• 2:48:26
  Let me go and find him, and I will bring it back to
• 2:48:28
  you. Law laughed a bitter laugh, for in her heart she knew that
• 2:48:33
  Tarzan's sin was greater than the purloining of the sacrificial knife of Opar. Yet
• 2:48:39
  as she looked at him, lying bound and helpless before her, tears rose
• 2:48:43
  to her eyes, so that she had to turn away to hide them.
• 2:48:46
  But she remained inflexible in her determination to make him pay in frightful suffering and
• 2:48:52
  in eventual death for daring to spurn the love of law. When the shelter
• 2:48:58
  was completed, law awe had Tarzan transferred to it. All night, I
• 2:49:03
  shall torture him, she muttered to her priest. And at the first streak
• 2:49:07
  of dawn, you may prepare the flaming altar upon which his heart shall be
• 2:49:11
  offered up to the Flaming God. Gather would well filled with pitch, Lay
• 2:49:16
  it in the form and size of the altar at Opar in the center of
• 2:49:20
  the clearing, that the Flaming God may look down upon our handiwork and be
• 2:49:24
  pleased. During the balance of the day, the priests of Opar were busy
• 2:49:30
  erecting an altar in the center of the clearing, And while they worked,
• 2:49:33
  they chanted weird hymns in the ancient tongue of that lost continent that lies at
• 2:49:39
  the bottom of the Atlantic. They knew not the meanings of the words they
• 2:49:43
  mouthed. They but repeated the ritual that had been handed down from preceptor to
• 2:49:48
  neophyte since that long gone day, when the ancestors of the piltdown man still
• 2:49:54
  swung by their tails in the humid jungles that are England now, and in
• 2:49:58
  the ship eltar of the hut, Law paced to and fro beside the stoic
• 2:50:03
  ape man. Resigned to his fate. Was Tarzan. No hope of succor
• 2:50:07
  gleamed through the dead black of the death sentence hanging over him. He knew
• 2:50:13
  that his giant muscles could not part the many strands that bound his wrists and
• 2:50:18
  ankles, for he had strained often, but ineffectually for relief. He had
• 2:50:22
  no hope of outside help, and only enemies surrounded him within the camp.
• 2:50:26
  And yet he smiled at Law as she paced nervously back and forth the length
• 2:50:33
  of the shelter. And Law she fingered her knife and looked down upon her
• 2:50:37
  captive. She glared and muttered, but she did not strike. To night,
• 2:50:43
  she thought, to night, when it is dark, I will torture
• 2:50:46
  him. She looked upon his perfect godlike figure, and upon his handsome,
• 2:50:50
  smiling face. And then she steeled her heart again by thoughts of her love,
• 2:50:54
  spurned by religious thoughts that damned the infidel, who had desecrated the Holy
• 2:51:00
  of holies, who had taken from the blood stained altar of Opar the offering
• 2:51:03
  to the Flaming God. And not once, but thrice three times had Tarzan
• 2:51:09
  cheated the God of her father's. At the thought, Law paused and knelt
• 2:51:13
  at his side. In her hand was a sharp knife. She placed its
• 2:51:18
  point against the ape man's side and pressed upon the hilt. But Tarzan only
• 2:51:22
  smiled and shrugged his shoulders. How beautiful he was. La bent low over
• 2:51:28
  him, looking into his eyes. How perfect was his figure. She compared
• 2:51:33
  it with those of the nurled and knotted men from whom she must choose a
• 2:51:37
  mate, and Law shuddered at the thought. Dusk came, and after dusk
• 2:51:43
  came night. A great fire blazed within the little thorn boma about the camp.
• 2:51:48
  The flames played upon the new altar erected in the center of the clearing,
• 2:51:52
  arousing in the mind of the high Priestess of the Flaming God a picture
• 2:51:56
  of the event of the coming dawn. She saw this giant and perfect form
• 2:52:01
  writhing amid the flames of the burning pyre. She saw those smiling lips burned
• 2:52:07
  and blackened, falling away from the strong white teeth. She saw the shock
• 2:52:11
  of black hair tussled upon Tarzan's well shaped head disappear in a spurt of flame.
• 2:52:18
  She saw these and many other frightful pictures as she stood with closed eyes
• 2:52:22
  and clenched fists above the object of her hate. Ah was it hate that
• 2:52:28
  law of Opar felt. The darkness of the jungle night had settled down upon
• 2:52:33
  the camp, relieved only by the fitful flarings of the fire that was kept
• 2:52:37
  up to warn off the man eaters. Tarzan lay quietly in his bonds.
• 2:52:43
  He suffered from thirst and from the cutting of the tight strands about his wrists
• 2:52:46
  and angles, but he made no complaint. A jungle beast was Tarzan.
• 2:52:52
  With the stoicism of the beast and the intelligence of man. He knew that
• 2:52:56
  his doom was sealed, that no supplications would avail to temper the severity of
• 2:53:01
  his end, And so he wasted no breath in pleadings, but waited patiently
• 2:53:07
  in the firm conviction that his sufferings could not endure forever. In the darkness,
• 2:53:13
  Law stooped above him. In her hand was a sharp knife, and
• 2:53:16
  in her mind the determination to initiate his torture without further delay. The knife
• 2:53:22
  was pressed against his side, and Law's face was close to his. When
• 2:53:26
  a sudden burst of flame from new branches thrown upon the fire without lighted up
• 2:53:31
  the interior of the shelter. Close beneath her lips, Law saw the perfect
• 2:53:37
  features of the forest God, and into her Woman's heart welled all the great
• 2:53:43
  love she had felt for Tarzan since first she had seen him, and all
• 2:53:46
  the accumulated passion of the years that she had dreamed of him. Dagger in
• 2:53:52
  hand, Law, the high Priestess, towered above the helpless creature that had
• 2:53:56
  dared to violate the sanctuary of her deity. There should be no torture,
• 2:54:01
  There should be instant death. No longer should the defiler of the temple pollute
• 2:54:05
  the sight of the Lord God Almighty. A single stroke of the heavy blade,
• 2:54:09
  and then the corpse to the flaming pyre without the knife, arms stiffened
• 2:54:13
  ready for the downward plunge, and then Law the woman collapsed weakly upon the
• 2:54:18
  body of the man she loved. She ran her hands in mute caress over
• 2:54:22
  his naked flesh. She covered his forehead, his eyes, his lips with
• 2:54:26
  hot kisses. She covered him with her body, as though to protect him
• 2:54:31
  from the hideous fate she had ordained for him, and in trembling, piteous
• 2:54:35
  tones, she begged him for his love. For hours, the frenzy of
• 2:54:39
  her passion possessed the burning hand maiden of the flaming God, until at last
• 2:54:45
  sleep overpowered her, and she lapsed into unconsciousness beside the man she had sworn
• 2:54:50
  to torture and to slay, and Tarzan, untroubled by thoughts of the future,
• 2:54:56
  slept peacefully in Law's embrace. At the first hint of dawn, the
• 2:55:01
  chanting of the priests of Opar brought Tarzan to wakefulness. Initiated in low and
• 2:55:07
  subdued tones, the sound soon rose in volume to the open diapusan of barbaric
• 2:55:13
  blood lust. Law stirred her perfect arm, pressed Tarzan closer to her.
• 2:55:18
  A smile parted her lips, and then she awoke, and slowly the smile
• 2:55:24
  faded, and her eyes went wide in horror, as the significance of the
• 2:55:28
  death chant impinged upon her understanding love me, Tarzan, she cried, love
• 2:55:33
  me, and you shall be saved. Tarzan's bonds hurt him. He was
• 2:55:37
  suffering the tortures of long restricted circulation. With an angry growl, he rolled
• 2:55:43
  over with his back toward Law. That was her answer. The High Priestess
• 2:55:48
  leaped to her feet. A hot flush of shame mantled her cheek, and
• 2:55:52
  then she went dead white, and stepped to the shelter's entrance. Come,
• 2:55:56
  priests of the flaming God, she cried, and make ready the sacrifice.
• 2:56:00
  The warped things advanced and entered the shelter. They laid hands upon Tarzan and
• 2:56:05
  bore him forth. And as they chanted, they kept time, with their
• 2:56:07
  crooked body swaying to and fro to the rhythm of their song of blood and
• 2:56:11
  death. Behind them came Law, swaying too, but not in unison with
• 2:56:18
  the chanted cadence. White and drawn was the face of the High Priestess,
• 2:56:22
  white and drawn with unrequited love and hideous terror of the moments to come.
• 2:56:26
  Yet stern in her resolve was Law. The infidel should die, the scorner
• 2:56:31
  of her love should pay the price. Upon the fiery altar. She saw
• 2:56:35
  them lay the perfect body. There upon the rough branches, she saw the
• 2:56:39
  High Priest, he to whom custom would unite her bent, crooked, gnarled,
• 2:56:43
  stunted, hideous advance with the flaming torch, and stand awaiting her command
• 2:56:48
  to apply it to the fagots surrounding the sacrificial pyre. His hairy, beastial
• 2:56:54
  face was distorted in a yellow, fanged grin of anticipatory enjoyment. His hands
• 2:56:58
  were cupped to receive the life blood of the victim, the red nectar that
• 2:57:03
  at opar would have filled the golden sacrificial goblets. Law approached with upraised knife,
• 2:57:09
  Her face turned toward the rising sun, and upon her lips a prayer
• 2:57:13
  to the burning deity of her people. The High Priest looked questioningly a toward
• 2:57:18
  her. The brand was burning close to his hand, and the fagots lay
• 2:57:20
  temptingly near. Tarzan closed his eyes and awaited the end. He knew that
• 2:57:26
  he would suffer, for he recalled the faint memories of past burns. He
• 2:57:30
  knew that he would suffer and die, but he did not flinch. Death
• 2:57:33
  is no great adventure to the jungle bread who walk hand in hand with the
• 2:57:39
  grim specter. By day and lie down at his side by night. Through
• 2:57:43
  all the years of their lives, it is doubtful that the ape man even
• 2:57:46
  speculated upon what came after death. As a matter of fact, as his
• 2:57:52
  end approached, his mind was occupied by thoughts of the pretty pebbles he had
• 2:57:56
  lost. Yet his every faculty still was opened to what passed around him.
• 2:58:01
  He felt Law lean over him, and he opened his eyes. He saw
• 2:58:05
  her white, drawn face, and he saw tears blinding her eyes. Tarzan,
• 2:58:11
  my Tarzan, she moaned, Tell me that you love me, that
• 2:58:15
  you will return to all par with me, and you shall live even in
• 2:58:18
  the face of the anger of my people. I will save you this last
• 2:58:22
  chance. I give you. What is your answer. At the last moment,
• 2:58:28
  the woman in Law had triumphed over the high priestess of a cruel cult.
• 2:58:33
  She saw upon the altar the only creature that ever had roused the fires
• 2:58:37
  of love within her virgin breast. She saw the beast faced fanatic who would
• 2:58:41
  one day be her mate unless she found another less repulsive, standing with the
• 2:58:46
  burning torch, ready to ignite the pyre. Yet, with all her mad
• 2:58:52
  passion for the ape Man, she would give the word to apply the flame.
• 2:58:54
  If Tarzan's final answer was unsatisfactory, With heaving bosom, she leaned close
• 2:59:01
  above him. Yes or no, she whispered through the jungle. Out of
• 2:59:07
  the distance, came faintly a sound that brought a sudden light of hope to
• 2:59:11
  Tarzan's eyes. He raised his voice in a weird scream that sent Law back
• 2:59:15
  from him a step or two. The impatient priest grumbled and switched the torch
• 2:59:18
  from one hand to the other, at the same time holding it closer to
• 2:59:22
  the tinder at the base of the pyre. Your answer, insisted Law,
• 2:59:26
  What is your answer to the love of Law? Of opar Closer came the
• 2:59:31
  sound that had attracted Tarzan's attention, and now the others heard it, the
• 2:59:35
  shrill trumpeting of an elephant. As Law looked wide eyed into Tarzan's face,
• 2:59:39
  there to read her fate for happiness or heart break, she saw an expression
• 2:59:45
  of concern shadow his features. Now for the first time, she guessed the
• 2:59:48
  meaning of Tarzan's shrill scream. He had summoned tent Or the elephant to his
• 2:59:52
  rescue. Law's brows contracted in a savage scowl. You refuse, Law,
• 2:59:58
  she cried, Then die The torch, she commanded, Turning toward the priest,
• 3:00:03
  Tarzan looked up into her face. Tantar is coming, he said.
• 3:00:07
  I thought that he would rescue me, But I know now from his voice
• 3:00:11
  that he will slay me and you and all that fall in his path,
• 3:00:15
  searching out with the cunning of Sheitah the panther, those who would hide from
• 3:00:18
  him. For Tantar is mad with the madness of love. Law knew only
• 3:00:24
  too well the insane ferocity of a bull elephant in must She knew that Tarzan
• 3:00:28
  had not exaggerated. She knew that the devil in the cunning, cruel brain
• 3:00:33
  of the great beast might send it hither and thither, hunting through the forest
• 3:00:37
  for those who escaped its first charge, or the beast might pass on without
• 3:00:41
  returning. No one might guess which. I cannot love you, Law,
• 3:00:46
  said Tarzan, in a low voice. I do not know why, for
• 3:00:50
  you are very beautiful. I could not go back and live in Opar,
• 3:00:56
  I who have the whole broad jungle for my range. No, I cannot
• 3:01:00
  love you, but I cannot see you die beneath the goring tusks of mad
• 3:01:05
  Tantor cut my bonds before it is too late. Already he is almost upon
• 3:01:09
  us. Cut them, and I may yet save you. A little spiral
• 3:01:13
  of curling smoke rose from one corner of the pyre. The flames licked upward,
• 3:01:18
  crackling. Lost stood there like a beautiful statue of despair, gazing at
• 3:01:22
  Tarzan and at the spreading flames. In a moment they would reach out and
• 3:01:26
  grasp him from the tangled forest. Came the sound of cracking limbs and crashing
• 3:01:31
  trunks. Tanter was coming down upon them, a huge juggernaut of the jungle.
• 3:01:37
  The priests were becoming uneasy. They cast apprehensive glances in the direction of
• 3:01:41
  the approaching elephant, and then back at Law Fly. She commanded them,
• 3:01:46
  and then she stooped and cut the bonds securing her prisoner's feet and hands.
• 3:01:52
  In an instant, Tarzan was upon the ground. The priests screened out their
• 3:01:54
  rage and disappointment. He, with the torch, took a menacing step toward
• 3:02:00
  Law and the ape man. Traitor. He shrieked at the woman, for
• 3:02:03
  this you shall die. Raising his bludgeon, he rushed upon the high priestess,
• 3:02:07
  but Tarzan was there before her, leaping into close quarters the ape man
• 3:02:11
  seized the upraised weapon and wrenched it from the hands of the frenzied fanatic.
• 3:02:16
  And then the priest closed upon him with tooth and nail. Seizing the stocky,
• 3:02:20
  stunted body in his mighty hands, Tarzan raised the creature high above his
• 3:02:24
  head, hurling him at his fellows, who were now gathered ready to bear
• 3:02:28
  down upon their Erstwhile captive Law stood proudly with ready knife behind the ape man.
• 3:02:33
  No faint sign of fear marked her perfect brow. Only haughty disdain for
• 3:02:37
  her priest, and admiration for the man she loved so hopelessly filled her thoughts.
• 3:02:43
  Suddenly, upon this scene burst the mad Bull, a huge tusker,
• 3:02:48
  his little eyes inflamed with insane rage. The priest stood for an instant,
• 3:02:52
  paralyzed with terror, but Tarzan turned, and, gathering Law in his arms,
• 3:02:56
  raced for the nearest tree. Tantar bore down upon him, trumpeting.
• 3:03:01
  Shrilly, Law clung with both white arms about the ape man's neck. She
• 3:03:05
  felt him leap into the air, and marveled at his strength and his ability.
• 3:03:09
  As burdened with her weight, he swung nimbly into the lower branches of
• 3:03:13
  a large tree and quickly bore her upward beyond reach of the sinuous trunk of
• 3:03:16
  the pacoderm. Momentarily battled here, the huge elephant wheeled and bore down upon
• 3:03:22
  the hapless priests, who had now scattered terror stricken in every direction. The
• 3:03:26
  nearest he gored and threw high among the branches of a tree. One he
• 3:03:31
  seized in the coils of his trunk and broke upon a huge bowl, dropping
• 3:03:35
  the mangled pulp to charge trumpeting. After another two he trampled beneath his huge
• 3:03:39
  feet, and by then the others had disappeared into the jungle. Now Tantor
• 3:03:43
  turned his attention once more to Tarzan, For one of the symptoms of madness
• 3:03:48
  is a revulsion of affection. Objects of sane love become the objects of insane
• 3:03:54
  hatred. Peculiar in the unwritten annals of the jungle was the proverbial love that
• 3:04:00
  had existed between the ape man and the tribe of Tantor. No elephant in
• 3:04:03
  all the jungle would harm the Tarmangani, the white ape, But with the
• 3:04:09
  madness of must upon him, the great bull sought to destroy his long time
• 3:04:13
  playfellow. Back to the tree where Law and Tarzan perchs came Tantor the elephant.
• 3:04:18
  He reared up with his fore feet against the ball, and reached high
• 3:04:20
  toward them with his long trunk. But Tarzan had foreseen this and clambered beyond
• 3:04:26
  the bull's longest reach. Failure but tended to further enrage the mad creature.
• 3:04:30
  He bellowed and trumpeted, and screamed until the earth shook to the mighty volume
• 3:04:35
  of his noise. He put his head against the tree and pushed, and
• 3:04:39
  the tree bent before his mighty strength, Yet still it held. The actions
• 3:04:43
  of Tarzan were peculiar in the extreme. Had Numa or Sabor, or Chita,
• 3:04:48
  or any other beast of the jungle been seeking to destroy him, the
• 3:04:52
  ape man would have danced about, hurling missiles and invectives at his assailant.
• 3:04:56
  He would have insulted and taunted them, reviling in the jungle be Willing's gait.
• 3:05:00
  He knew so well. But now he sat silent, out of Tanter's
• 3:05:03
  reach, and upon his handsome face was an expression of deep sorrow and pity.
• 3:05:07
  For of all the jungle folk, Tarzan loved Tanter the best. Could
• 3:05:11
  he have slain him, he would not have thought of doing so. His
• 3:05:16
  one idea was to escape, for he knew that with the passing of the
• 3:05:20
  must, Tanter would be sane again, and that once more he might stretch
• 3:05:24
  at full length upon that mighty back and make fullish speech into those great flapping
• 3:05:30
  ears. Finding that the tree would not fall to his pushing, Tanter was
• 3:05:35
  but enraged the more he looked up at the two perched high above him,
• 3:05:39
  his red rimmed eyes blazing with insane hatred. And then he wound his trunk
• 3:05:43
  about the bowl of the tree, spread his giant feet wide apart, and
• 3:05:48
  tugged to uproot the jungle giant. A huge creature was Tanter, an enormous
• 3:05:52
  bull, in the full prime of all his stupendous strength. Mightily he strove,
• 3:05:58
  until presently, to Tarzan's consternation, the great tree gave slowly at the
• 3:06:03
  roots. The ground rose in little mounds and ridges about the base of the
• 3:06:07
  bowl. The tree tilted. In another moment it would be uprooted and fall.
• 3:06:11
  The ape man whirled law to his back, and just as the tree
• 3:06:15
  inclined slowly in its first movement out of the perpendicular, before the sudden rush
• 3:06:18
  of its final collapse, he swung to the branches of a lesser neighbor.
• 3:06:22
  It was a long and perilous leap. Law closed her eyes and shuddered,
• 3:06:26
  But when she opened them again, she found herself safe and Tarzan whirling onward
• 3:06:31
  through the forest behind them. The uprooted tree crashed heavily to the ground,
• 3:06:37
  carrying with it the lesser trees in its path, and then Tantor, realizing
• 3:06:41
  that his prey had escaped him, set up once more his hideous trumpeting,
• 3:06:45
  and followed at a rapid charge upon their trail. End of Chapter thirteen,
• 3:06:52
  Chapter fourteen. A priestess, but yet a woman. At first, Law
• 3:06:56
  closed her eyes and clung to Tarzan in terror, though she made no outcry.
• 3:07:01
  But presently she gained sufficient courage to look about her, to look down
• 3:07:05
  at the ground beneath, and even to keep her eyes open during the wide,
• 3:07:09
  perilous swings from tree to tree. And then there came over her a
• 3:07:13
  sense of safety because of her confidence in the perfect physical creature in whose strength
• 3:07:18
  and nerve and agility her fate lay. Once she raised her eyes to the
• 3:07:24
  burning sun and murmured a prayer of thanks to her pagan god that she had
• 3:07:28
  not been permitted to destroy this godlike man, and her long lashes were wet
• 3:07:33
  with tears. A strange anomaly was Law of Opar, a creature of circumstance,
• 3:07:39
  torn by conflicting emotions. Now the cruel and bloodthirsty creature of a heartless
• 3:07:46
  god, and again a melting woman filled with compassion and tenderness, sometimes the
• 3:07:52
  incarnation of jealousy and revenge, and sometimes a sobbing maiden, generous and forgiving,
• 3:07:58
  at once averged and a wanton, but always a woman. Such was
• 3:08:03
  Law. She pressed her cheek close to Tarzan's shoulder. Slowly she turned her
• 3:08:07
  head until her hot lips were pressed against his flesh. She loved him and
• 3:08:13
  would gladly have died for him. Yet within an hour she had been ready
• 3:08:16
  to plunge a knife into his heart, and might again within the coming hour.
• 3:08:22
  A hapless priest seeking shelter in the jungle chanced to show himself to enrage
• 3:08:26
  Tantor. The great beast turned one side, bore down upon the crooked little
• 3:08:31
  man, snuffed him out, and then diverted from his course, blundered away
• 3:08:35
  towards the south. In a few minutes, even the noise of his trumpeting
• 3:08:39
  was lost in the distance. Tarzan dropped to the ground, and Loss slipped
• 3:08:45
  to her feet from his back. Call your people together, said Tarzan.
• 3:08:48
  They will kill me, replied Law. They will not kill you, contradicted
• 3:08:54
  the ape Man. No one will kill you. While Tarzan of the Apes
• 3:08:56
  is here. Call them and we will talk with them. Law raised her
• 3:09:01
  voice in a weird, flutelike call that carried far into the jungle. On
• 3:09:05
  every side, from near and far came answering shouts in the barking tones of
• 3:09:09
  the Oparian priest. We come, we come, again and again. Law
• 3:09:16
  repeated her summons until singly and in pairs the greater portion of her following approach
• 3:09:20
  and halted. A short distance away from the high Priestess and her savior.
• 3:09:24
  They came, with scowling brows and threatening mien. When all had come,
• 3:09:30
  Tarzan addressed them. Your Law is safe, said the ape Man. Had
• 3:09:35
  she slain me, she would now herself be dead and many more of you.
• 3:09:39
  But she spared me that I might save her. Go your way with
• 3:09:43
  her back to Opar, and Tarzan will go his way into the jungle.
• 3:09:46
  Let there be peace always between Tarzan and Law. What is your answer?
• 3:09:52
  The priest grumbled and shook their heads. They spoke together, and Law and
• 3:09:56
  Tarzan could see that they were not favored inclined toward the proposition. They did
• 3:10:01
  not wish to take Law back, and they did wish to complete the sacrifice
• 3:10:05
  of Tarzan to the flaming God. At last, the ape man became impatient.
• 3:10:11
  You will obey the commands of your queen, he said, and go
• 3:10:16
  back to Opar with her, or Tarzan of the Apes will call together the
• 3:10:20
  other creatures of the jungle and slay you all. Law saved me that I
• 3:10:24
  might save you and Her. I have served you better alive than I could
• 3:10:28
  have dead. If you are not all fools, you will let me go
• 3:10:33
  my way in peace, and you will return to Opar with Law. I
• 3:10:37
  know not where the sacred knife is, but you can fashion another. Had
• 3:10:41
  I not taken it from Law, you would have slain me. And now
• 3:10:45
  your God must be glad that I took it, since I have saved his
• 3:10:48
  priestess from love, mad Tantor will you go back to Opar with Law,
• 3:10:54
  promising that no harm shall befall her? The priests gathered together in a little
• 3:10:58
  nought, arguing and discussing they pounded upon their breast with their fists. They
• 3:11:03
  raised their hands and eyes to their fiery God. They growled and barked among
• 3:11:09
  themselves until it became evident to Tarzan that one of their number was preventing the
• 3:11:13
  acceptance of his proposal. This was the high priest, whose heart was filled
• 3:11:18
  with jealous rage because Law openly acknowledged her love for the stranger, when by
• 3:11:22
  the worldly customs of their cult, she should have belonged to him. Seemingly,
• 3:11:28
  there was to be no solution of the problem until another priest stepped forth
• 3:11:33
  and raising his hand, addressed Law Cage. The high priest, he announced,
• 3:11:37
  would sacrifice you both to the flaming God, but all of us except
• 3:11:41
  Cage would gladly return to Opar with our queen. You are many against one,
• 3:11:48
  spoke up Tarzan. Why should you not have your will go your way
• 3:11:52
  with lo to Opar, and if Cage interferes, slay him. The priests
• 3:11:56
  of Opar welcomed this suggestion with cries of approval. To them, it appeared
• 3:12:01
  nothing short of divine inspiration. The influence of ages of unquestioning obedience to high
• 3:12:07
  priests had made it seem impossible to them to question his authority. But when
• 3:12:13
  they realized that they could force him to their will, they were as happy
• 3:12:16
  as children with new toys. They rushed forward and seized Cage. They talked
• 3:12:22
  in loud menacing tones into his ear. They threatened him with bludgeon and knife,
• 3:12:26
  until at last he acquiesced in their demands, though sullenly. And then
• 3:12:31
  Tarzan stepped close before Cage Priest. He said, Law goes back toward temple
• 3:12:35
  under the protection of her priests and the threat of Tarzan of the apes,
• 3:12:41
  that whoever harms her shall die. Tarzan will go again to Opar before the
• 3:12:45
  next reigns. And if harm has befallen Law, woe betide Cage. The
• 3:12:50
  high priest, sullenly, Cage promised not to harm his queen. Protect her,
• 3:12:56
  cried Tarzan to the other Oparians. Protect her, so that when Tarzan
• 3:13:00
  comes again, he will find Law there to greet him. Law will be
• 3:13:03
  there to greet thee, exclaimed the high Priestess. And Law will wait,
• 3:13:07
  longing, always longing, until you come again. Oh tell me that you
• 3:13:11
  will come. Who knows? Asked the ape man, as he swung quickly
• 3:13:16
  into the trees and raced off toward the east. For a moment, Lah
• 3:13:20
  stood looking after him. Then her head drooped, a sigh escaped her lips,
• 3:13:26
  and like an old woman, she took up the march toward distant Opar.
• 3:13:31
  Through the trees raced Tarzan of the apes until the darkness of night had
• 3:13:35
  settled upon the jungle. Then he lay down and slept, with no thought
• 3:13:41
  beyond the morrow, and with even law but the shadow of a memory within
• 3:13:45
  his consciousness. But a few marches to the north, Lady Greystoke looked forward
• 3:13:50
  to the day when her mighty Lord and Master should discover the crime of achmet
• 3:13:54
  Zek and be speeding to rescue and avenge. And even as she pictured the
• 3:14:00
  coming of John Clayton, the object of her thoughts, squatted almost naked beside
• 3:14:05
  a fallen log, beneath which he was searching with grimy fingers for a chance
• 3:14:09
  beetle or a luscious grub. Two days elapsed following the theft of the jewels
• 3:14:16
  before Tarzan gave them a thought. Then, as they chanced to enter his
• 3:14:20
  mind, he conceived a desire to play with them again, and, having
• 3:14:24
  nothing better to do than satisfy the first whim which possessed him. He rose
• 3:14:28
  and started across the plain from the forest in which he had spent the preceding
• 3:14:33
  day. Though no mark showed where the gems had been buried, and though
• 3:14:37
  the spot resembled the balance of an unbroken stretch several miles in length, where
• 3:14:43
  the reeds terminated at the edge of the meadowland, yet the ape man moved
• 3:14:48
  with unerring precision directly to the place where he had hid his treasure. With
• 3:14:52
  his hunting knife, he upturned the loose earth beneath which the pouch should be.
• 3:14:56
  But though he excavated to a greater distance than the depth of the original
• 3:15:01
  hole, there was no sign of pouch or jewels. Tarzan's brow clouded as
• 3:15:07
  he discovered that he had been despoiled. Little or no reasoning was required to
• 3:15:11
  convince him of the identity of the guilty party, and with the same celerity
• 3:15:16
  that had marked his decision to unearth the jewels, he set out upon the
• 3:15:22
  trail of the thief. Though the spore was two days old and practically obliterated
• 3:15:26
  in many places, Tarzan followed it with comparative ese. A white man could
• 3:15:33
  not have followed it. Twenty paces twelve hours after it had been made.
• 3:15:37
  A black man would have lost it within the first mile. But Tarzan of
• 3:15:41
  the Apes had been forced in childhood to develop senses that an ordinary mortal scarce
• 3:15:46
  ever uses. We may note the garlic and whiskey on the breath of a
• 3:15:50
  fellow's strap hanger, or the cheap perfume emanating from the person of the wondrous
• 3:15:56
  lady sitting in front of us, and deplore the fact of our sensitive noses.
• 3:16:01
  But as a matter of fact, we cannot smell at all. Our
• 3:16:05
  old factory organs are practically atrophied, by comparison with the development of the scents
• 3:16:09
  among the beasts of the wild. Where a foot is placed and affluvium remains
• 3:16:16
  for a considerable time, it is beyond the range of our sensibilities. But
• 3:16:20
  to a creature of the lower orders, especially to the hunters and the hunted,
• 3:16:24
  as interesting and ofttimes more lucid than is the printed page to us.
• 3:16:30
  Nor was Tarzan depended alone upon his sense of smell, vision, and hearing.
• 3:16:35
  Had been brought to a marvelous state of development by the necessities of his
• 3:16:39
  early life, where survival itself depended almost daily upon the exercise of the keenest
• 3:16:45
  vigilance and the constant use of all his faculties. And so he followed the
• 3:16:50
  old trail of the Belgian through the forest and toward the north. But because
• 3:16:54
  of the age of the trail, he was constrained to afar from rapid progress.
• 3:17:00
  The man he followed was two days ahead of him when Tarzan took up
• 3:17:03
  the pursuit, and each day he gained upon the ape man. The latter,
• 3:17:07
  however, felt not the slightest doubt as to the outcome. Some day
• 3:17:13
  he would overhaul his query. He could bide his time in peace until that
• 3:17:18
  day dawned. Doggedly he followed the faint spore, pausing by day only to
• 3:17:22
  kill and eat, and at night only to sleep and refresh himself. Occasionally
• 3:17:28
  he passed parties of savage warriors, but these he gave a wide berth,
• 3:17:33
  for he was hunting with a purpose that was not to be distracted by the
• 3:17:37
  minor accidents of the trail. These parties were of the collecting hordes of the
• 3:17:41
  Waziri and their allies, which Bessouli had scattered his messenger's broadcast to summon.
• 3:17:48
  They were marching to a common rendezvous in preparation for an assault upon the stronghold
• 3:17:54
  of aucmet Zek. But to Tarzan they were enemies. He retained no conscious
• 3:17:58
  memory of any friendship for the black man. It was night when he halted
• 3:18:03
  outside the palisaded village of the Arab Raider. Perched in the branches of a
• 3:18:09
  great tree, he gazed down upon the life within the enclosure to this place.
• 3:18:13
  Had the spoor led him, his quarry must be within, But how
• 3:18:18
  was he to find him among so many huts. Tarzan, although cognizant of
• 3:18:22
  his mighty powers, realized also his limitations. He knew that he could not
• 3:18:28
  successively cope with great numbers in open battle. He must resort to the stealth
• 3:18:33
  and trickery of the wild beast if he were to succeed. Sitting in the
• 3:18:39
  safety of his tree, munching upon the leg bone of Horta, the boar,
• 3:18:43
  Tarzan waited a favorable opportunity to enter the village. For a while he
• 3:18:48
  gnawed at the bulging round ends of the large bone, splintering off small pieces
• 3:18:52
  between his strong jaws, and sucking at the delicious marril within. But all
• 3:18:58
  the time he cast repeat glances into the village he saw white robed figures and
• 3:19:03
  half naked blacks, but not once did he see one who resembled the steeler
• 3:19:07
  of the gems. Patiently, he waited until the streets were deserted by all
• 3:19:13
  save the sentries at the gates. Then he dropped lightly to the ground,
• 3:19:18
  circled to the opposite side of the village, and approached the palisade. At
• 3:19:22
  his side hung a long rawhide rope, a natural and more dependable evolution from
• 3:19:28
  the grass rope of his childhood. Loosening this, he spread the noose upon
• 3:19:33
  the ground behind him, and with a quick movement of his wrist, tossed
• 3:19:37
  the coils over one of the sharpened projections of the summit of the palisade.
• 3:19:41
  Drawing the noose taut, he tested the solidity of its hold. Satisfied,
• 3:19:46
  the ape man ran nimbly up the vertical wall, aided by the rope,
• 3:19:50
  which he clutched in both hands. Once at the top, it required but
• 3:19:54
  a moment to gather the dangling rope once more into its coils, make it
• 3:20:00
  last again at his waist, take a quick glance downward within the palisade,
• 3:20:03
  and assured that no one lurked directly beneath him dropped softly to the ground.
• 3:20:09
  Now he was within the village. Before him stretched a series of tents and
• 3:20:13
  native huts. The business of exploring each of them would be fraught with danger,
• 3:20:18
  But danger was only a natural factor of each day's life. It never
• 3:20:24
  appalled Tarzan. The chances appealed to him. The chances of life and death,
• 3:20:28
  with his prowess and his faculties, pittered against those of a worthy antagonist.
• 3:20:33
  It was not necessary that he enter each habitation through a door, a
• 3:20:37
  window, or an open chink. His nose told him whether or not his
• 3:20:41
  prey lay within. For some time he found one disappointment following upon the heels
• 3:20:48
  of another in quick succession. No spore of the Belgian was discernible. But
• 3:20:52
  at last he came to a tent where the smell of the thief was strong.
• 3:20:56
  Tarzan listened his ear close to the canvas at the rear, but no
• 3:21:00
  sound came from within. At last, he cut one of the pin ropes,
• 3:21:05
  raised the bottom of the canvass, and intruded his head. Within the
• 3:21:09
  interior, all was quiet and dark. Tarzan crawled cautiously within. The scent
• 3:21:15
  of the Belgian was strong, but it was not live scent. Even before
• 3:21:18
  he had examined the interior minutely, Tarzan knew that no one was within it.
• 3:21:24
  In one corner he found a pile of blankets and clothings scattered about,
• 3:21:28
  but no pouch of pretty pebbles. A careful examination of the balance of the
• 3:21:33
  tent revealed nothing more, at least nothing to indicate the presence of the jewels.
• 3:21:37
  But at the side where the blankets and clothing lay, the ape man
• 3:21:41
  discovered that the tent wall had been loosened at the bottom, and presently he
• 3:21:46
  sensed that the Belgian had recently passed out of the tent. By this avenue,
• 3:21:50
  Tarzan was not long in following the way that his prey had fled.
• 3:21:56
  The spoor led always in the shadow and at the rear of the huts and
• 3:21:58
  tents of the village. It was quite evident to Tarzan that the Belgian had
• 3:22:03
  gone alone and secretly upon his mission. Evidently he feared the inhabitants of the
• 3:22:09
  village, or at least his work had been of such a nature that he
• 3:22:13
  dared not risk detection. At the back of a native hut, the spoor
• 3:22:16
  led through a small hole recently cut in the brush wall and into the dark
• 3:22:22
  interior beyond. Fearlessly, Tarzan followed the trail on hands and knees. He
• 3:22:26
  crawled through the small aperture within the hut. His nostrils were assailed by many
• 3:22:31
  odors, but clear and distinct among them was one that half aroused a latent
• 3:22:37
  memory of the past. It was the faint and delicate odor of a woman.
• 3:22:41
  With the cognizance of it, there arose in the breast of the ape
• 3:22:45
  man a strange uneasiness, the result of an irresistible force which he was destined
• 3:22:50
  to become acquainted with anew the instinct which draws the male to his mate.
• 3:22:56
  In the same hut was the scent spoor of the Belgian too, And as
• 3:23:00
  both these assailed the nostrils of the ape man, mingling one with the other,
• 3:23:05
  a jealous rage leaped and burned within him. Though his memory held before
• 3:23:09
  the mirror of recollection no image of the she to which he had attached his
• 3:23:15
  desire. Like the tent he had investigated, the hut, too, was
• 3:23:18
  empty, and after satisfying himself that his stolen pouch was secreted nowhere within,
• 3:23:24
  he left as he had entered by the hole in the rear wall. Here
• 3:23:28
  he took up the spoor of the Belgian, followed it across the clearing,
• 3:23:33
  over the palisade, and out into the dark jungle beyond end of Chapter fourteen.
• 3:23:39
  Chapter fifteen, The Flight of Wherper. After Wherper had arranged the dummy
• 3:23:46
  in his bed and sneaked out into the darkness of the village beneath the rear
• 3:23:50
  wall of his tent, he had gone directly to the hut in which Jane
• 3:23:54
  Clayton was held captive. Before the doorway squatted a black sentry. Wherper approached
• 3:23:58
  him, boldly, spoke a few words in his ear, handed him a
• 3:24:03
  package of tobacco, and passed into the hut. The black grinned and winked
• 3:24:07
  as the European disappeared within the darkness of the interior. The Belgian, being
• 3:24:11
  one of Achmetzak's principal lieutenants, might naturally go where he wished, within or
• 3:24:16
  without the village, and so the sentry had not questioned his right to enter
• 3:24:20
  the hut with the white woman prisoner within. Werper called in French and in
• 3:24:26
  a low whisper, Lady Greystoke, it is I m fakour, where are
• 3:24:31
  you? But there was no response. Hastily the man felt around the interior,
• 3:24:35
  groping blindly through the darkness with outstretched hands. There was no one within.
• 3:24:41
  Werper's astonishment surpassed words. He was on the point of stepping without to
• 3:24:46
  question the sentry, when his eyes, becoming accustomed to the dark, discovered
• 3:24:50
  a blotch of lesser blackness near the base of the rear wall of the hut.
• 3:24:54
  Examination revealed the fact that the blotch was an opening cut in the wall.
• 3:24:58
  It was large enough to permit the passage of his body, and assured
• 3:25:03
  as he was that Lady Greystoke had passed out through the aperture in an attempt
• 3:25:07
  to escape the village. He lost no time in availing himself of the same
• 3:25:11
  avenue, but neither did he lose time in a fruitless search for Jane Clayton.
• 3:25:16
  His own life depended upon the chance of his eluding or outdistancing achmet Zek
• 3:25:22
  when that Worthy should have discovered that he had escaped his original plan. Had
• 3:25:26
  contemplated connivance in the escape of Lady Greystoke for two very good and sufficient reasons.
• 3:25:33
  The first was that by saving her he would win the gratitude of the
• 3:25:37
  English and thus lessen the chance of his extradition should his identity and his crime
• 3:25:41
  against his superior officer be charged against him. The second reason was based upon
• 3:25:48
  the fact that only one direction of escape was safely open to him. He
• 3:25:52
  could not travel to the west because of the Belgian possessions which lay between him
• 3:25:56
  and the Atlantic. The south was close to him by the feared presence of
• 3:26:01
  the savage ape Man he had robbed. To the north lay the friends and
• 3:26:05
  allies of achmet Zek. Only toward the east, through British East Africa lay
• 3:26:11
  reasonable assurance of freedom, accompanied by a titled englishwoman whom he had rescued from
• 3:26:16
  a frightful fate, and his identity vouched for by her as that of a
• 3:26:20
  Frenchman by the name of Fecoul. He had looked forward, and not without
• 3:26:26
  reason, to the active assistance of the British, from the moment that he
• 3:26:28
  came in contact with their first outpost. But now that Lady Greystoke had disappeared,
• 3:26:35
  though he still looked toward the East for hope, his chances were lessened
• 3:26:39
  and another subsidiary design completely dashed. From the moment that he had first laid
• 3:26:45
  eyes upon Jane Clayton, he had nursed within his breast a secret passion for
• 3:26:50
  the beautiful American wife of the English lord. And when achmet Zek's discovery of
• 3:26:54
  the jewels had necessitated flight, the Belgian had dreamed in his planning of a
• 3:27:00
  future in which he might convince Lady Greystoke that her husband was dead, and,
• 3:27:05
  by playing upon her gratitude, win her for himself. At that part
• 3:27:09
  of the village, farthest from the gates, Wherper discovered that two or three
• 3:27:13
  long poles taken from a nearby pile which had been collected for the construction of
• 3:27:18
  huts, had been leaned against the top of the palisade, forming a precarious,
• 3:27:24
  though not impossible, avenue of escape. Rightly, he inferred that thus
• 3:27:28
  had Lady Greystoke found the means to scale the wall, nor did he lose
• 3:27:33
  even a moment in following her lead. Once in the jungle, he struck
• 3:27:37
  out directly eastward. A few miles south of him, Jane Clayton lay panting
• 3:27:43
  among the branches of a tree in which she had taken refuge from a prowling
• 3:27:46
  and hungry lioness. Her escape from the village had been much easier than she
• 3:27:52
  had anticipated. The knife which she had used to cut her way through the
• 3:27:56
  brush wall of the hut to freedom, she had found sticking in the wall
• 3:27:58
  of her prison, doubtless left there by accident when a former tenant had vacated
• 3:28:03
  the premises. To cross the rear of the village, keeping always in the
• 3:28:07
  densest shadows, had required but a few moments, and the fortunate circumstance of
• 3:28:13
  the discovery of the hut poles lying so near the palisade had solved for her
• 3:28:18
  the problem of the passage of the high wall. For an hour, she
• 3:28:22
  had followed the old game trail towards the south, until there fell upon her
• 3:28:26
  trained Hearing the stealthy padding of a stalking beast behind her the nearest tree gave
• 3:28:31
  her instant sanctuary, for she was too wise in the ways of the jungle
• 3:28:37
  to chance her safety for a moment. After discovering that she was being hunted,
• 3:28:41
  wherper with better success, traveled slowly onward until dawn, when, to
• 3:28:46
  his chagrin he discovered a mounted a rab upon his trail. It was one
• 3:28:50
  of Achmetzek's minions, many of whom were scattered in all directions through the forest
• 3:28:56
  searching for the fugitive Belgium Kyaninge. Clayton's escape had not yet been discovered when
• 3:29:01
  achmet Zek and his searchers set forth to overhaul Wherper. The only man who
• 3:29:07
  had seen the Belgian after his departure from his tent was the Black Sentry before
• 3:29:13
  the doorway of Lady Greystoke's prison hut, and he had been silenced by the
• 3:29:16
  discovery of the dead body of the man who had relieved him, the sentry
• 3:29:20
  that Mugembi had dispatched. The bride taker naturally inferred that Werper had slain his
• 3:29:26
  fellow, and dared not admit that he had permitted him to enter the hut,
• 3:29:31
  Fearing as he did, the anger of achmet Zek saw his chance directed
• 3:29:35
  that he should be the one to discover the body of the sentry. When
• 3:29:39
  the first alarm had been given following achmet Zek's discovery that Werper had outwitted him,
• 3:29:45
  the crafty Black had dragged the dead body to the interior of a nearby
• 3:29:48
  tent, and himself resumed his station before the doorway of the hut, in
• 3:29:54
  which he still believed the woman to be with the discovery of the Arab close
• 3:29:58
  behind. Behind him, the Belgian hid in the foliage of a leafy bush.
• 3:30:03
  Here the trail ran straight for a considerable distance, and down the shady
• 3:30:07
  forest aisle. Beneath the overarching branches of the trees rode the white robed figure
• 3:30:13
  of the pursuer. Nearer and nearer he came. Werper crouched closer to the
• 3:30:18
  ground behind the leaves of his hiding place. Across the trail, a vine
• 3:30:22
  moved Wherper's eyes instantly centered upon the spot. There was no wind to stir
• 3:30:26
  the foliage in the depths of the jungle. Again, the vine moved.
• 3:30:31
  In the mind of the Belgian, only the presence of a sinister and malevolent
• 3:30:35
  force could account for the phenomenon. The man's eyes bored steadily into the screen
• 3:30:39
  of leaves upon the opposite side of the trail. Gradually a form took shape
• 3:30:43
  beyond them, a tawny form, grim and terrible, with yellow green eyes,
• 3:30:48
  glaring fearsomely across the narrow trail, straight into his Werper could have screamed
• 3:30:54
  in fright, but up the trail was coming the messenger of another death.
• 3:30:58
  Equally sure and no less terrible. He remained silent, almost paralyzed by fear.
• 3:31:05
  The Arab approached across the trail from Wharper. The lion crouched for the
• 3:31:09
  spring, when suddenly his attention was attracted toward the horseman. The Belgian saw
• 3:31:13
  the massive head turn in the direction of the raider. At his heart all
• 3:31:16
  but ceased its beating as he awaited the result of this interruption. At a
• 3:31:22
  walk, the horseman approached with the nervous animal. He rode, take fright
• 3:31:26
  at the odor of the carnivore, and bolting leave Werper still to the mercies
• 3:31:31
  of the King of beasts, but he seemed unmindful of the near presence of
• 3:31:33
  the great cat on he came, his neck arched, champing at the bit
• 3:31:39
  between his teeth. The Belgian turned his eyes again toward the lion. The
• 3:31:43
  beast's whole attention now seemed riveted upon the horsemen. They were abreast the lion
• 3:31:48
  now, and still the brute did not spring, could he be but waiting
• 3:31:50
  for them to pass before returning his attention to the original prey. Wherper shuddered
• 3:31:56
  and half rose. At the same instant, the lions sprang from his place
• 3:32:01
  of concealment full upon the mounted man. The horse, with a shrill neigh
• 3:32:05
  of terror, shrank sideways almost upon the Belgian. The lion dragged the helpless
• 3:32:09
  Arab from his saddle, and the horse leaped back into the trail and fled
• 3:32:13
  away toward the west. But he did not flee alone, as the frightened
• 3:32:18
  beast had pressed in upon him. Wherper had not been slow to note the
• 3:32:20
  quickly emptied saddle and the opportunity it presented. Scarcely had the lion dragged the
• 3:32:26
  Arab down from one side, than the Belgians, seizing the pommel of the
• 3:32:31
  saddle, and the horse's mane, leaped upon the horse's back from the other.
• 3:32:35
  A half hour later, a naked giant, swinging easily through the lower
• 3:32:39
  branches of the trees, paused, and, with raised head and dilating nostrils,
• 3:32:43
  sniffed the morning air. The smell of blood fell strong upon his senses,
• 3:32:48
  and mingled with it was the scent of numa the lion. The giant
• 3:32:52
  cocked his head upon one's hide and listened. From a short distance up the
• 3:32:58
  trail came the unmistakable noise of the greedy feeding of a lion, The crunching
• 3:33:03
  of bones, the gulping of great pieces, the contented growling all attested the
• 3:33:07
  nearness of the king at table. Tarzan approached the spot, still keeping to
• 3:33:13
  the branches of the trees. He made no effort to conceal his approach,
• 3:33:16
  and presently he had evidence that Numa had heard him from the ominous rumbling warning
• 3:33:22
  that broke from a thicket beside the trail. Halting upon a low branch just
• 3:33:26
  above the lion, Tarzan looked down upon the grisly scene. Could this unrecognizable
• 3:33:31
  thing be the man he had been trailing the ape man wondered. From time
• 3:33:35
  to time he had descended to the trail, and verified his judgment by the
• 3:33:39
  evidence of his scent, that the Belgian had followed this game trail toward the
• 3:33:43
  east. Now he proceeded beyond the lion and his feast. Again, descended
• 3:33:48
  and examined the ground with his nose. There was no sense, for here
• 3:33:54
  of the man he had been trailing. Tarzan returned to the tree. With
• 3:33:58
  keen eyes. He searched the ground about the mutilated corpse for a sign of
• 3:34:01
  the missing pouch of pretty pebbles, but not could he see of it.
• 3:34:05
  He scolded Numa and tried to drive the great beast away, but only angry
• 3:34:09
  growls rewarded his efforts. He tore small branches from a nearby limb and hurled
• 3:34:15
  them at his ancient enemy. Numa looked up with bared fangs, grinning hideously,
• 3:34:20
  but he did not rise from his kill. Then Tarzan fitted a narrow
• 3:34:24
  to his bow, and, drawing the slim shaft far back, let drive
• 3:34:28
  with all the force of the tough wood that only he could bend. As
• 3:34:31
  the arrow sank deeply into his side, Numa leaped to his feet with a
• 3:34:35
  roar of mingled rage and pain. He leaped futilely at the grinning ape man,
• 3:34:41
  tore at the protruding end of the shaft, and, then springing into
• 3:34:43
  the trail, paced back and forth beneath his tormentor. Again, Tarzan loosed
• 3:34:48
  a swift bolt. This time, the missile, aimed with care, lodged
• 3:34:52
  in the lion's spine. The great creature halted in its tracks and lured awkwardly
• 3:34:58
  forward upon its face. Paralyzed, Tarzan dropped to the trail, ran quickly
• 3:35:03
  to the b side, and drove his spear deep into the fierce heart,
• 3:35:05
  then, after recovering his arrows, turned his attention to the mutilated remains of
• 3:35:11
  the animal's prey in the nearby thicket. The face was gone. The Arab
• 3:35:16
  garments aroused no doubt as to the man's identity, since he had trailed him
• 3:35:20
  into the Arab camp and out again where he might easily have acquired the apparel.
• 3:35:26
  So shore was Tarzan that the body was that of he who had robbed
• 3:35:30
  him, that he made no effort to verify his deductions by scent among the
• 3:35:33
  conglomerate odors of the great carnivore and the fresh blood of the victim. He
• 3:35:37
  confined his attentions to a careful search for the pouch. But nowhere upon or
• 3:35:43
  about the corpse was any sign of the missing article or its contents. The
• 3:35:48
  ape man was disappointed, possibly not so much because of the loss of the
• 3:35:52
  colored pebbles as with Numa for robbing him of the pleasures of revenge. Wondering
• 3:35:58
  what could have become of his possessians, the ape man turned slowly back along
• 3:36:01
  the trail in the direction from which he had come. In his mind revolved
• 3:36:07
  the plan to enter and search the Arab camp after darkness had again fallen.
• 3:36:11
  Taking to the trees, he moved directly south in search of prey that he
• 3:36:16
  might satisfy his hunger before midday, and then lie up for the afternoon in
• 3:36:20
  some spot far from the camp, where he might sleep without fear of discovery
• 3:36:26
  until it came time to prosecute his design. Scarcely had he quitted the trail
• 3:36:31
  when a tall black warrior moving at a dogged trot, passed toward the east.
• 3:36:35
  It was Mugambi, searching for his mistress. He continued along the trail,
• 3:36:41
  halting to examine the body of the dead lion. An expression of puzzlement
• 3:36:45
  crossed his features as he bent to search for the wounds which had caused the
• 3:36:48
  death of the jungle lord. Tarzan had removed his arrows, but to Mugambi
• 3:36:52
  the proof of death was as strong, as though both the lighter missiles and
• 3:36:56
  the spear still protruded from the carts. The black looked furtively about him.
• 3:37:03
  The body was still warm, and from this fact he reasoned that the killer
• 3:37:07
  was close at hand, yet no sign of living man appeared. Mugambi shook
• 3:37:11
  his head and continued along the trail, but with redoubled caution. All day
• 3:37:16
  he traveled, stopping occasionally to call aloud the single word lead in the hope
• 3:37:22
  that at last she might hear and respond. But in the end his loyal
• 3:37:26
  devotion brought him to disaster. From the northeast. For several months, abdul
• 3:37:31
  Murak, in command of a detachment of Abyssinian soldiers, had been assiduously searching
• 3:37:37
  for the Arab raider achmet Zek, who six months previously had affronted the majesty
• 3:37:43
  of abdul Murak's emperor by conducting a slave raid within the boundaries of Menelek's domain.
• 3:37:48
  And now it happened that abdul Murak had halted for a short rest at
• 3:37:52
  noon upon this very day, and along the same trail that Wherper and Mugambi
• 3:37:58
  were following toward the east. It was shortly after the soldiers had dismounted that
• 3:38:03
  the Belgian, unaware of their presence, rode his tired mount almost into their
• 3:38:09
  midst before he had discovered them. Instantly, he was surrounded and a volley
• 3:38:13
  of questions hurled at him as he was pulled from his horse and led toward
• 3:38:18
  the presence of the commander. Falling back upon his European nationality, Werper assured
• 3:38:22
  abdul Mohrak that he was a Frenchman hunting in Africa, and that he had
• 3:38:28
  been attacked by strangers, his safari killed or scattered, and himself escaping only
• 3:38:33
  by a miracle from a chance remark of the Abscinian. Wherper discovered the purpose
• 3:38:37
  of the expedition, and when he realized that these men were the enemies of
• 3:38:43
  achmet Zek, he took heart and immediately blamed his predicament upon the Arab,
• 3:38:48
  lest, however, he might again fall into the hands of the Raider.
• 3:38:52
  He discouraged abdul Mohrak in the further prosecution of his pursuit, assuring the Absinian
• 3:38:58
  that achmet Zek commanded a large and dangerous force, and also that he was
• 3:39:03
  marching rapidly toward the south. Convinced that it would take a long time to
• 3:39:07
  overhaul the raider and that the chances of engagement made the outcome extremely questionable,
• 3:39:13
  Morak none too unwillingly abandoned his plan and gave the necessary orders for his command
• 3:39:20
  to pitch camp, where they were preparatory to taking up the return march toward
• 3:39:24
  Abscinia the following morning. It was late in the afternoon that the attention of
• 3:39:28
  the camp was attracted toward the west by the sound of a powerful voice calling
• 3:39:33
  a single word, repeated several times, Lady, Lady, Lady. True
• 3:39:41
  to their instincts of precaution, a number of Absinians, acting under orders from
• 3:39:46
  Abdul Mourak, advanced stealthily through the jungle toward the author of the call.
• 3:39:52
  A half hour later, they returned, dragging Mugambi among them. The first
• 3:39:56
  person the Big Black's eyes fell upon as he was hustled in the presence of
• 3:40:00
  the Absinian officer was m Jieur Fecour, the Frenchman who had been the guest
• 3:40:05
  of his master and whom he last had seen entering the village of achmet Zek
• 3:40:11
  under circumstances which pointed to his familiarity and friendship for the raiders. Between the
• 3:40:16
  disasters that had befallen his master and his master's house and the Frenchman, Mugambi
• 3:40:22
  saw a sinister relationship which kept him from recalling to Werper's attention the identity which
• 3:40:28
  the latter evidently failed to recognize, pleading that he was but a harmless hunter
• 3:40:33
  from a tribe farther south. Mugambi begged to be allowed to go upon his
• 3:40:37
  way, but Abdul mourak admiring the warrior's splendid physique, decided to take him
• 3:40:43
  back to Adis Abiba and present him to Meneleac. A few moments later,
• 3:40:48
  Mugambi and Wherper were marched away under guard, and the Belgian learned for the
• 3:40:54
  first time that he too was a prisoner rather than a guest in vain.
• 3:40:58
  He protested against such a treatment until a strapping soldier struck him across the mouth
• 3:41:03
  and threatened to shoot him if he did not desist. Mugambi took the matter
• 3:41:07
  less to heart, for he had not the slightest doubt but that during the
• 3:41:11
  course of the journey he would find ample opportunity to elude the vigilance of his
• 3:41:16
  guards and make good his escape. With this idea always uppermost in his mind,
• 3:41:22
  he courted the good opinion of the Obscinians, asked them many questions about
• 3:41:26
  their emperor and their country, and evinced a growing desire to reach their destination,
• 3:41:31
  that he might enjoy all the good things which they assured him. The
• 3:41:35
  city of Adis Abiba contained. Thus he disarmed their suspicions, and each day
• 3:41:41
  found a slight relaxation of their watchfulness over him. By taking advantage of the
• 3:41:46
  fact that he and Werper always were kept together. Mugambi sought to learn what
• 3:41:50
  the other knew of the whereabouts of Tarzan, or the authorship of the raid
• 3:41:54
  upon the Bungalow, as well as the fate of Lady Greystoke. But as
• 3:42:00
  he was confined to the accidents of conversation for this information, not daring to
• 3:42:03
  a quaint Wherper with his true identity, and as Wherper was equally anxious to
• 3:42:09
  conceal from the world his part in the destruction of his host's home and happiness,
• 3:42:13
  Mugambi learned nothing at least in this way. But there came a time
• 3:42:18
  when he learned a very surprising thing by accident. The party had camped early
• 3:42:22
  in the afternoon of a sultry day upon the banks of a clear and beautiful
• 3:42:26
  stream. The bottom of the river was gravelly. There was no indication of
• 3:42:31
  crocodiles, those menaces to promiscuous bathing in the rivers of certain portions of the
• 3:42:37
  dark continent, and so the obscenians took advantage of the opportunity to perform long
• 3:42:41
  deferred and much needed ablutions. As Wherper, who with Mugambi had been given
• 3:42:46
  permission to enter the water, removed his clothing. The black noted the care
• 3:42:52
  with which he unfastened something which circled his waist, and which he took off
• 3:42:56
  with his shirt, keeping the latter always around and concealing the object of his
• 3:43:01
  suspicious solicitude. It was this very carefulness which attracted the Black's attention to the
• 3:43:05
  thing, arousing a natural curiosity in the warrior's mind. And so it chanced
• 3:43:11
  that when the Belgian, in the nervousness of overcaution, fumbled the hidden article
• 3:43:16
  and dropped it, Mugambi saw it as it fell upon the ground, spilling
• 3:43:20
  a portion of its contents on the sward. Now Mugambi had been to London
• 3:43:24
  with his master. He was not the unsophisticated savage that his apparel proclaimed him.
• 3:43:30
  He had mingled with the cosmopolitan hordes of the greatest city in the world.
• 3:43:35
  He had visited museums and inspected shop windows, and besides, he was
• 3:43:39
  a shrewd and intelligent man. The instant that the jewels of opar rolled scintillating
• 3:43:46
  before his astonished eyes. He recognized them for what they were, but he
• 3:43:50
  recognized something else too that interested him far more deeply than the value of the
• 3:43:54
  stones. A thousand times he had seen the leathern pouch which dangled at his
• 3:44:00
  master's side, when Tarzan of the Apes had, in a spirit of play
• 3:44:03
  and adventure, elected to return for a few hours to the primitive manners and
• 3:44:07
  customs of his boyhood, and, surrounded by his naked warriors, hunt the
• 3:44:11
  lion and the leopard, the buffalo and the elephant, after the manner he
• 3:44:16
  loved best, Wherper saw that Mugambi had seen the pouch and the stones.
• 3:44:20
  Hastily he gathered up the precious gems and returned them to their container, while
• 3:44:24
  Mugambi, assuming an air of indifference, strolled down to the river for his
• 3:44:28
  bath. The following morning, Abdul Morak was enraged and sure grin to discover
• 3:44:35
  that this huge black prisoner had escaped during the night, while Wherper was terrified
• 3:44:39
  for the same reason until his trembling fingers discovered the pouch still in its place
• 3:44:45
  beneath his shirt. And within it the hard outlines of its contents. End
• 3:44:50
  of chapter fifteen. Chapter sixteen, Tarzan again leads the Mangani. Achmet Zek
• 3:44:58
  with two of his followers, had circled far to the south to intercept the
• 3:45:01
  flight of his deserting lieutenant Wherper. Others had spread out in various directions,
• 3:45:07
  so that a vast circle had been formed by them during the night, and
• 3:45:11
  now they were beating in toward the center. Achmet and the two with him
• 3:45:16
  halted for a short rest. Just before noon, they squatted beneath the trees
• 3:45:20
  upon the southern edge of a clearing. The chief of the raiders was in
• 3:45:24
  ill humor. To have been outwitted by an unbeliever was bad enough, but
• 3:45:28
  to have at the same time lost the jewels upon which he had set his
• 3:45:33
  avaricious heart was altogether too much. All a must indeed be angry with his
• 3:45:39
  servant. Well, he still had the woman. She would bring a fair
• 3:45:43
  price in the north, and there was too the buried treasure beside the ruins
• 3:45:46
  of the englishman's house. A slight noise in the jungle upon the opposite side
• 3:45:52
  of the clearing brought ocmet Zack to immediate and alert attention. He gathered his
• 3:45:56
  rifle in readiness for instant use, at the same time motioning his followers to
• 3:46:01
  silence and concealment. Crouching behind the bushes, the three waited, their eyes
• 3:46:07
  fastened upon the far side of the open space. Presently, the foliage parted
• 3:46:11
  and a woman's face appeared, glancing fearfully from side to side. A moment
• 3:46:18
  later, Evidently satisfied that no immediate danger lurked before her, she stepped out
• 3:46:22
  into the clearing in full view of the Arab acmet Zack caught his breath with
• 3:46:28
  a muttered exclamation of incredulity and an imprecation. The woman was the prisoner he
• 3:46:33
  had thought safely guarded at his camp. Apparently she was alone, but acmet
• 3:46:37
  Zack waited that he might make sure of it before seizing her. Slowly.
• 3:46:43
  Jane Clayton started across the clearing twice already since she had quitted the village of
• 3:46:48
  the Raiders. Had she barely escaped the fangs of Carnivora, and once she
• 3:46:52
  had almost stumbled into the path of one of the searchers. Though she was
• 3:46:56
  almost despairing of ever reaching safety, she still was determined to fight on until
• 3:47:01
  death or success terminated her endeavors. As the Arabs watched her from the safety
• 3:47:07
  of their concealment, and Akmetzek noted with satisfaction that she was walking directly into
• 3:47:11
  his clutches. Another pair of eyes looked down upon the entire scene from the
• 3:47:16
  foliage of an adjacent tree. Puzzled, troubled eyes they were, for all
• 3:47:20
  their gray and savage glint for their honor, was struggling with an intangible suggestion
• 3:47:26
  of the familiarity of the face and figure of the woman below him. A
• 3:47:31
  sudden crashing of the bushes at the point from which Jane Clayton had emerged into
• 3:47:35
  the clearing brought her to a sudden stop and attracted the attention of the Arabs
• 3:47:41
  and the watcher in the tree to the same point. The woman wheeled about
• 3:47:45
  to see what new danger minister from behind, and as she did so,
• 3:47:48
  a great anthropoid ape waddled into view. Behind him came another and another,
• 3:47:54
  But Lady Greystoke did not wait to learn how many more of the hideous creatures
• 3:47:58
  were so close upon her trail. With a smothered scream, she rushed toward
• 3:48:01
  the opposite jungle and as she reached the bushes. There, achmet Zek and
• 3:48:05
  his two henchmen rose up and seized her. At the same instant, a
• 3:48:09
  naked brown giant dropped from the branches of a tree at the right of the
• 3:48:13
  clearing. Turning toward the astonished apes, he gave voice to a short volley
• 3:48:16
  of low gutturals, and, without waiting to note the effect of his words
• 3:48:20
  upon them, wheeled and charged for the Arabs. Ocmet Zek was dragging Jane
• 3:48:26
  Clayton toward his tethered horse. His two men were hastily unfastening all three mounts.
• 3:48:31
  The woman, struggling to escape the Arab, turned and saw the ape
• 3:48:33
  man running toward her. A glad light of hope illuminated her face. John
• 3:48:39
  She cried, thank God that you have come in time. Behind Tarzan came
• 3:48:43
  the great Apes, wondering but obedient to his summons. The Arab saw that
• 3:48:48
  they would not have time to mount and make their escape before the beasts and
• 3:48:52
  the man were upon them. Ocmet Zek recognized the latter as the redoubtable enemy
• 3:48:56
  of such as he, and he saw, too, in the circumstance,
• 3:49:01
  an opportunity to rid himself forever of the menace of the ape man's presence.
• 3:49:05
  Calling to his men to follow his example, he raised his rifle and leveled
• 3:49:09
  it upon the charging giant. His followers, acting with no less alacrity than
• 3:49:13
  himself, fired almost simultaneously, and with the reports of the rifles, Tarzan
• 3:49:18
  of the Apes and two of his hairy henchmen pitched forward among the jungle grasses.
• 3:49:24
  The noise of the rifle shots brought the balance of the Apes to a
• 3:49:26
  wondering pause, and, taking advantage of their momentary distraction, ocmet Zek and
• 3:49:33
  his fellows leaped to their horses backs and galloped away with the now hopeless and
• 3:49:37
  grief stricken woman. Back to the village they rode, and once again Lady
• 3:49:41
  Greystoke found herself incarcerated in the filthy little hut from which he had thought to
• 3:49:46
  have escaped for good. But this time she was not only guarded by an
• 3:49:50
  additional sentry, but bound as well. Singly and in twos. The searchers
• 3:49:56
  who had ridden out with ocmet Zek upon the trail of the Belgian returned empty
• 3:50:01
  handed. With the report of each the raider's rage and chagrin increased until he
• 3:50:05
  was in such transport of ferocious anger that none dared approach him, threatening and
• 3:50:11
  cursing. Okmetzek paced up and down the floor of his silken tent, but
• 3:50:16
  his temper served him not. Wherper was gone, and with him the fortune
• 3:50:20
  in scintillating gems which had aroused the cupidity of his chief and placed the sentence
• 3:50:24
  of death upon the head of the lieutenant. With the escape of the Arabs,
• 3:50:30
  the great apes had turned their attention to their fallen comrades. One was
• 3:50:35
  dead, but another and the great white ape still breathed. The hairy monsters
• 3:50:39
  gathered about these two, grumbling and muttering after the fashion of their kind.
• 3:50:45
  Tarzan was the first to regain consciousness. Sitting up, he looked about him.
• 3:50:50
  Blood was flowing from a wound in his shoulder. The shock had thrown
• 3:50:54
  him down and dazed him, but he was far from dead. Rising slowly
• 3:50:58
  to his feet, he let his eyes wandered towards the spot where last he
• 3:51:01
  had seen the she who had aroused within his savage breast such strange emotions,
• 3:51:07
  Where is she? He asked the torment GANI took her away, replied one
• 3:51:11
  of the apes, Who are you who speak the language of the Mangani.
• 3:51:16
  I am Tarzan, replied the ape man. Might he hunter greatest of fighters?
• 3:51:22
  When I roar, the jungle is silent and trembles with terror. I
• 3:51:26
  am Tarzan of the Apes. I have been away, but now I have
• 3:51:31
  come back to my people. Yes, spoke up an old ape. He
• 3:51:35
  is Tarzan. I know him. It is well that he has come back.
• 3:51:39
  Now we shall have good hunting. The other apes came closer and sniffed
• 3:51:43
  at the ape man. Tarzan stood very still, his fangs half bared,
• 3:51:48
  and his muscles tense and ready for action. But there was none there to
• 3:51:52
  question his right to be with them, and presently the inspection satisfactorily concluded.
• 3:51:58
  The apes again returned there attention to the other survivor. He too was but
• 3:52:03
  slightly wounded, a bullet grazing his skull, having stunned him, so that
• 3:52:07
  when he regained consciousness he was apparently as fit as ever. The apes told
• 3:52:11
  Tarzan that they had been traveling toward the east when the sense boor of the
• 3:52:16
  she had attracted them, and they had stalked her. Now they wished to
• 3:52:20
  continue upon their interrupted march, but Tarzan preferred to follow the Arabs and take
• 3:52:24
  the woman from them. After a considerable argument, it was decided that they
• 3:52:30
  should first hunt toward the east for a few days, and then return and
• 3:52:33
  search for the Arabs. And as time as of little moment to the ape
• 3:52:37
  folk, tarzan acceded to their demands, he himself having reverted to a mental
• 3:52:43
  state but little superior to their own. Another circumstance which decided him to postpone
• 3:52:48
  pursuit of the Arabs was the painfulness of his wound. It would be better
• 3:52:54
  to wait until that had healed before he pitied himself again against the guns of
• 3:52:58
  the Tarman. And so, as Jane Clayton was pushed into her prison hut,
• 3:53:03
  and her hands and feet securely bound, her natural protector roamed off towards
• 3:53:09
  the east, in company with a score of hairy monsters with whom he rubbed
• 3:53:13
  shoulders as familiarly as a few months before he had mingled with his immaculate fellow
• 3:53:18
  members of one of London's most select and exclusive clubs. But all the time
• 3:53:24
  there lurked in the back of his injured brain a troublesome conviction that he had
• 3:53:30
  no business where he was, that he should be for some unaccountable reason,
• 3:53:33
  elsewhere and among another sort of creature. Also, there was the compelling urge
• 3:53:39
  to be upon the scent of the Arabs undertaking the rescue of the woman who
• 3:53:43
  had appealed so strongly to his savage sentiments, though the thought word which naturally
• 3:53:48
  occurred to him in the contemplation of the venture was capture rather than rescue.
• 3:53:54
  To him, she was as any other jungle she, and he had set
• 3:53:58
  his heart upon her as his mate for an instant. As he had approached
• 3:54:01
  closer to her in the clearing where the Arabs had seized her, the subtle
• 3:54:05
  aroma which had first aroused his desires in the hut that had imprisoned her,
• 3:54:09
  had fallen upon his nostrils and told him that he had found the creature for
• 3:54:15
  whom he had developed so sudden and inexplicable a passion. The matter of the
• 3:54:20
  pouch of jewels also occupied his thoughts to some extent, so that he found
• 3:54:24
  a double urge for his return to the camp of the raiders. He would
• 3:54:28
  obtain possession of both his pretty pebbles and the she. Then he would return
• 3:54:33
  to the great Apes with his new mate and his babbles, and leading his
• 3:54:37
  hairy companions into a far wilderness beyond the ken of man, live out his
• 3:54:41
  life hunting and battling among the lower orders, after the only manner which he
• 3:54:46
  now recollected. He spoke to his fellow Apes upon the matter in an attempt
• 3:54:50
  to persuade them to accompany him, but all except Taglat and Chulk refused.
• 3:54:56
  The latter was young and strong, endowed with a greater intelligence than his fellows,
• 3:55:01
  and therefore the possessor of better developed powers of imagination. To him,
• 3:55:05
  the expedition savored of adventure, and so appealed strongly with Taglat. There was
• 3:55:11
  another incentive, a secret and sinister incentive, which, had Tarzan of the
• 3:55:16
  Apes had knowledge of it, would have sent him at the other's throat in
• 3:55:20
  jealous rage. Taglat was no longer young, but he was still a formidable
• 3:55:24
  beast, mightily muscled, cruel, and because of his greater experience, crafty
• 3:55:30
  and cunning. Two he was of giant proportions, the very weight of his
• 3:55:35
  huge bulk serving oft times to discount in his favor the superior agility of a
• 3:55:39
  younger antagonist. He was of a morose and sullen disposition that marked him even
• 3:55:46
  among his frowning fellows where such characteristics are the rule rather than the exception,
• 3:55:50
  And though Tarzan did not guess it, he hated the ape man with a
• 3:55:54
  ferocity that he was able to hide only because the dominant spirit of the nobler
• 3:55:58
  creature had inspired within him a species of dread which was as powerful as it
• 3:56:05
  was inexplicable to him. These two then, were to be Tarzan's companions upon
• 3:56:09
  his return to the village of Achmetzek. As they set off, the balance
• 3:56:15
  of the tribe vouchsafed them but a parting stare, and then resumed the serious
• 3:56:18
  business of feeding. Tarzan found difficulty in keeping the minds of his fellows set
• 3:56:24
  upon the purpose of their adventure, for the mind of an ape lacks the
• 3:56:28
  power of long sustained concentration. To set out upon a long journey with a
• 3:56:33
  definite destination in view is one thing. To remember that purpose and keep it
• 3:56:37
  up er most in one's mind continually is quite another. There are so many
• 3:56:41
  things to distract one's attention along the way. Chalk was at first for rushing
• 3:56:48
  rapidly ahead, as though the village of the raiders lay but an hour's march
• 3:56:52
  before them, instead of several days, but within a few minutes a fallen
• 3:56:56
  tree attracted his attention with its suggestion of rich and succulent forage beneath, and
• 3:57:03
  when Tarzan, missing him, returned in search, he found Chulk squatting beside
• 3:57:07
  the rotting bowl from beneath which he was assiduously engaged in digging out the grubs
• 3:57:13
  and beetles, whose kind form a considerable portion of the diet of the apes.
• 3:57:18
  Unless Tarzan desired to fight, there was nothing to do but wait until
• 3:57:22
  Chulk had exhausted the storehouse, and this he did, only to discover that
• 3:57:26
  Taglat was now missing. After a considerable search, he found that worthy gentleman,
• 3:57:31
  contemplating the sufferings of an injured rodent he had pounced upon. He would
• 3:57:37
  sit in apparent indifference, gazing in another direction, while the crippled creature wriggled
• 3:57:41
  slowly and painfully away from him, And then, just as his victim felt
• 3:57:46
  assured of escape, he would reach out a giant palm and slam it down
• 3:57:50
  upon the fugitive. Again and again. He repeated this operation until tiring of
• 3:57:56
  the sport, he ended the sufferings of his plaything by devouring it such were
• 3:58:01
  the exasperating causes of delay which retarded Tarzan's return journey toward the village of okmet
• 3:58:07
  Zek. But the ape man was patient, for in his mind was a
• 3:58:11
  plan which necessitated the presence of Chalk and Taglat when he should have arrived at
• 3:58:16
  his destination. It was not always an easy thing to maintain in the vacillating
• 3:58:22
  minds of the anthropoids a sustained interest in their venture. Chulk was wearying of
• 3:58:26
  the continued marching and the infrequency and short duration of the rest. He would
• 3:58:33
  gladly have abandoned this search for adventure, had not Tarzan continually filled his mind
• 3:58:37
  with alluring pictures of the great stores of food which were to be found in
• 3:58:41
  the village of Tarmangani. Taglat nursed his secret purpose to better advantage than might
• 3:58:48
  have been expected of an ape Yet there were times when he too would have
• 3:58:52
  abandoned the adventure, had not Tarzan cajoled him on. It was mid afternoon
• 3:58:58
  of a sultry tropical day when the keen senses of the three warned them of
• 3:59:03
  the proximity of the Arab camp. Stealthily they approached, keeping to the dense
• 3:59:09
  tangle of growing things which made concealment easy to their uncanny jungle craft. First
• 3:59:15
  came the giant ape man, his smooth brown skin glistening with the sweat of
• 3:59:18
  exertion. In the close, hot confines of the jungle. Behind him crept
• 3:59:24
  chalk and taglat, grotesque and shaggy caricatures of their godlike leader. Silently,
• 3:59:30
  they made their way to the edge of the clearing which surrounded the palisade,
• 3:59:33
  and here they clambered into the lower branches of a large tree, overlooking the
• 3:59:37
  village occupied by the enemy, the better to spy upon his goings and comings.
• 3:59:43
  A horseman, white burnoosed, rode out through the gateway of the village.
• 3:59:48
  Tarzan whispering to chalk and taglat to remain where they were, swung monkeylike
• 3:59:52
  through the trees in the direction of the trail the Arab was riding from one
• 3:59:56
  jungle giant to the next. He sped with the the rapidity of a squirrel
• 4:00:01
  and the silence of a ghost. The Arab rode slowly onward, unconscious of
• 4:00:05
  the danger hovering in the trees behind him. The ape man made a slight
• 4:00:09
  detour and increased his speed until he had reached a point upon the trail in
• 4:00:15
  advance of the horseman. Here he halted upon a leafy bow which overhung the
• 4:00:20
  narrow jungle trail. On came the victim, humming a wild air of the
• 4:00:24
  great desert land of the north. Above him poised the savage brute that was
• 4:00:28
  to day bent upon the destruction of a human life, the same creature who
• 4:00:33
  a few months before had occupied his seat in the House of Lords at London,
• 4:00:37
  a respected and distinguished member of that august body. The Arab passed beneath
• 4:00:43
  the overhanging bow. There was a slight rustling of the leaves. Above.
• 4:00:46
  The horse snorted and plunged as a brown skinned creature dropped upon its rump.
• 4:00:52
  A pair of mighty arms encircled the Arab, and he was dragged from his
• 4:00:56
  saddle to the trail. Ten minutes later, the ape man, carrying the
• 4:01:00
  outer garments of an a rap, bundled beneath an arm, rejoined his companions.
• 4:01:05
  He exhibited his trophies to them, explaining in low gutturals the details of
• 4:01:09
  his exploit. Chulk and Taglat fingered the fabrics, smelled of them, and,
• 4:01:13
  placing them to their ears, tried to listen to them. Then Tarzan
• 4:01:18
  led them back through the jungle to the trail, where the three hid themselves
• 4:01:22
  and waited. Nor had they long to wait before two of Achmetzak's blacks,
• 4:01:26
  clothed in habiliments similar to their masters, came down the trail on foot,
• 4:01:31
  returning to the camp. One moment they were laughing and talking together, the
• 4:01:35
  next they lay stretched in death upon the trail, three mighty engines of destruction
• 4:01:39
  bending over them. Tarzan removed their outer garments as he had removed those of
• 4:01:45
  his first victim, and again retired with Chulk and Taglat to the greater seclusion
• 4:01:50
  of the tree they had first selected. Here the ape man arranged the garments
• 4:01:54
  upon his shaggy fellows and himself, until at a distance it might have appeared
• 4:01:58
  that three white rob de rabs squatted silently among the branches of the forest until
• 4:02:03
  dark. They remained where they were, for from his point of vantage,
• 4:02:07
  Tarzan could view the enclosure within the palisade. He marked the position of the
• 4:02:13
  hut in which he had first discovered the scent spoor of the she he sought.
• 4:02:16
  He saw the two sentries standing before its doorway, and he located the
• 4:02:20
  habitation of achmet Zek, where something told him he would most likely find the
• 4:02:26
  missing pouch and pebbles. Chalk and Taglat were at first greatly interested in their
• 4:02:31
  wonderful raiment. They fingered the fabric, smelled of it, and regarded each
• 4:02:35
  other intently with every mark of satisfaction and pride. Chalk, a humorist in
• 4:02:41
  his way, stretched forth a long and hairy arm, and, grasping the
• 4:02:45
  hood of Taglat's burnouse, pulled it down over the latter's eyes, extinguishing him.
• 4:02:50
  Snufferli like as it were. The older ape, pessimistic by nature,
• 4:02:54
  recognized no such thing as humor. Creatures, laid their paws upon him for
• 4:02:58
  but two things, to search for fleas and to attack. The pulling of
• 4:03:03
  the Tarmangani scented thing about his head and eyes could not be for the performance
• 4:03:07
  of the former act. Therefore it must be the latter he was attacked.
• 4:03:11
  Chulk had attacked him with a snarl. He was at the other's throat,
• 4:03:16
  not even waiting to lift the woolen veil which obscured his vision. Tarzan leaped
• 4:03:20
  upon the two, and, swaying and toppling upon their insecure perch, the
• 4:03:24
  three great beasts tussled and snapped at one another, until the ape man finally
• 4:03:28
  succeeded in separating the enraged anthropoids. An apology is unknown to these savage progenitors
• 4:03:35
  of man, and explanation a laborious and usually futile process. Tarzan bridged the
• 4:03:43
  dangerous gulf by distracting their attention from their altercation to a consideration of their plans
• 4:03:48
  for the immediate future. Accustomed to frequent arguments in which more hair than blood
• 4:03:54
  is wasted, the apes speedily forgets such trivial encounters, and presently Chalk and
• 4:03:58
  Taglet were again squatting in close proximity to each other and peaceful repose, awaiting
• 4:04:03
  the moment when the ape man should lead them into the village of the tarman
• 4:04:07
  Gany. It was long after darkness had fallen that Tarzan led his companions from
• 4:04:13
  their hiding place in the tree to the ground and around the palisade to the
• 4:04:18
  far side of the village. Gathering the skirts of his burnouse beneath one arm
• 4:04:22
  that his legs might have free action, the ape man took a short running
• 4:04:26
  start and scrambled to the top of the barrier, Fearing lest the ape should
• 4:04:31
  rend their garments to shreds. In a similar attempt, he had directed them
• 4:04:35
  to wait below for him, and himself Securely perched upon the summit of the
• 4:04:39
  palisade, he unslung his spear and lowered one end of it to chalk.
• 4:04:43
  The ape seized it, and while Tarzan held tightly to the upper end,
• 4:04:48
  the anthropoid climbed quickly up the shaft until with one paw he grasped the top
• 4:04:52
  of the wall to scramble. Then to Tarzan's side was the work of but
• 4:04:56
  an instant. In like manner, Taglat was con inducted to their sides,
• 4:05:01
  and a moment later the three dropped silently within the enclosure. Tarzan led them
• 4:05:05
  first to the rear of the hut in which Jane Clayton was confined, where,
• 4:05:09
  through the roughly repaired aperture in the wall, he sought with sensitive nostrils
• 4:05:15
  for proof that the she he had come for was within. Chalk and Taglat,
• 4:05:20
  their hairy faces pressed close to that of the patrician, sniffed with him.
• 4:05:24
  Each caught the scent spore of the woman within, and each reacted according
• 4:05:28
  to his temperament and his habits of thought. It left chulk indifferent the she
• 4:05:33
  was for Tarzan, all that he desired was to bury his snout in the
• 4:05:37
  food stuffs of the Tarmangany. He had come to eat his fill without labor.
• 4:05:41
  Tarzan had told him that that should be his reward, and he was
• 4:05:45
  satisfied. But Taglat's wicked, bloodshot eyes narrowed to the realization of the nearing
• 4:05:50
  fulfillment of his carefully nursed plan. It is true that sometimes during the several
• 4:05:56
  days that had elapsed since they had set out upon their exit pedition, it
• 4:06:00
  had been difficult for Taglat to hold his idea uppermost in his mind, and
• 4:06:05
  on several occasions he had completely forgotten it until Tarzan, by a chance word,
• 4:06:09
  had recalled it to him. But for an ape, Taglat had done
• 4:06:13
  well. Now he licked his chops, and he made a sickening sucking noise
• 4:06:18
  with his flabby lips as he drew in his breath. Satisfied that the she
• 4:06:22
  was where he had hoped to find her, Tarzan led his apes toward the
• 4:06:26
  tent of achmet zek A, passing a rab and two slaves saw them.
• 4:06:30
  But the night was dark, and the white bernouses hid the hairy limbs of
• 4:06:33
  the apes and the giant figure of their leader, so that the three,
• 4:06:37
  by squatting down as though in conversation, were passed by unsuspected to the rear
• 4:06:43
  of the tent. They made their way within achmet Zek conversed with several of
• 4:06:48
  his lieutenants without Tarzan listened. End of Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, The
• 4:06:56
  Deadly Peril of Jane Clayton, Lieutenant Albert Werper, terrified by contemplation of the
• 4:07:03
  fate which might await him at Adis Abiba, cast about for some scheme of
• 4:07:09
  escape. But after the Black Mugambi had eluded their vigilance, the Obscinians redoubled
• 4:07:15
  their precautions to prevent Werper, following the lead of the Negro. For some
• 4:07:18
  time, Wherper entertained the idea of bribing Abdul Morak with a portion of the
• 4:07:24
  contents of the pouch, but fearing that the man would demand all the gems
• 4:07:28
  as the price of liberty, the Belgian, influenced by avarice, sought another
• 4:07:33
  avenue from his dilemma. It was then that there dawned upon him the possibility
• 4:07:37
  of the success of a different course, which would still leave him in possession
• 4:07:41
  of the jewels, while at the same time satisfying the greed of the Obscinnian
• 4:07:46
  with the conviction that he had obtained all that Wherper had to offer. And
• 4:07:52
  so it was that a day or so after Mugambi had disappeared, Werper asked
• 4:07:56
  for an audience with abdul Morak as the Belgian ener. The presence of his
• 4:08:01
  captor, the scowl upon the features of the latter boded ill for any hope
• 4:08:05
  which Werper might entertain. Still, he fortified himself by recalling the common weakness
• 4:08:11
  of mankind, which permits the most inflexible of natures to bend to the consuming
• 4:08:16
  desire for wealth. Abdul Morac eyed him frowningly. What do you want now,
• 4:08:22
  he asked, My liberty, replied Werper. The Obscinian sneered, and
• 4:08:28
  you disturbed me. Thus to tell me what any fool might know, he
• 4:08:31
  said, I can pay for it, said Werper. Abdul Morac laughed loudly.
• 4:08:37
  Pay for it, he cried, thought, feath the rags that you
• 4:08:41
  have upon your back, or perhaps you are concealing beneath your coat a thousand
• 4:08:46
  pounds of ivory. Get out. You are a fool. Do not bother
• 4:08:50
  me again, or I shall have you weeped. But Werper persisted. His
• 4:08:54
  liberty and perhaps his life, depended upon his success. To me, he
• 4:09:01
  pleaded, if I can give you as much gold as ten men may carry,
• 4:09:05
  will you promise that I shall be conducted in safety to the nearest English
• 4:09:09
  commissioner. As much gold as ten men may carry, repeated Abdulmhrak, you
• 4:09:15
  are crazy. Well have you so much gold as that? I know where
• 4:09:20
  it is hid? Said Werper. Promise and I will lead you to it
• 4:09:24
  if ten loads is enough. Abdul Morak had ceased to laugh. He was
• 4:09:28
  eyeing the Belgian intently. The fellow seem sane enough. Yet ten loads of
• 4:09:33
  gold? It was preposterous, the obscenian thought in silence for a moment.
• 4:09:39
  Well, and if I promise, he said, how far is this gold?
• 4:09:45
  A long week's march to the south, replied Werper. And if we
• 4:09:48
  do not find it fair, you say at ease? Do you realize what
• 4:09:52
  your punishment will be? If it is not there, I will forfeit my
• 4:09:58
  life, replied the Belgian. I know it is there, for I saw
• 4:10:01
  it buried with my own eves and more, there are not only ten loads,
• 4:10:05
  but as many as fifty men may carry. It is all yours.
• 4:10:09
  If you will promise to see me safely delivered into the protection of the English,
• 4:10:13
  you will stake your life against the finding of the gold, asked Abdul
• 4:10:18
  Wherper assented with a nod. Very well, said the Obscinian. I promise,
• 4:10:24
  and even if there be but five loads, you shall have your freedom.
• 4:10:28
  But Untie the gold is in my possession, you will remain a prisoner.
• 4:10:33
  I am satisfied, said Werper. Tomorrow we start. Abdul Morak nodded,
• 4:10:39
  and the Belgian returned to his guards. The following day, the Obscinian
• 4:10:43
  soldiers were surprised to receive an order which turned their faces from the northeast to
• 4:10:48
  the south. And so it happened that, upon the very night that Tarzan
• 4:10:52
  and the two Apes entered the village of the Raiders, the Obsinians camped but
• 4:10:56
  a few miles to the east of the same spot. While Werper dreamed of
• 4:11:03
  freedom and the unmolested enjoyment of the fortune in his stolen pouch, and Abdul
• 4:11:07
  Morak lay awake in greedy contemplation of the fifty loads of gold, which lay
• 4:11:13
  but a few days farther to the south of him. Achmet Zek gave orders
• 4:11:16
  to his lieutenants that they should prepare a force of fighting men and carriers to
• 4:11:20
  proceed to the ruins of the Englishman Duar on the morrow and bring back the
• 4:11:26
  fabulous fortune which his renegade lieutenant had told him was buried there. And as
• 4:11:31
  he delivered his instructions to those within, a silent listener crouched without his tent,
• 4:11:37
  waiting for the time when he might enter in safety and prosecute his search
• 4:11:41
  for the missing pouch and the pretty pebbles that had caught his fancy. At
• 4:11:46
  last, the swarthy companions of achmet Zac quitted his tent, and the leader
• 4:11:52
  went with them to smoke a pipe with one of their number, leaving his
• 4:11:54
  own silk and habitation unguarded. Scarcely had they left the interior, when a
• 4:12:01
  knife blade was thrust through the fabric of the rear wall some six feet above
• 4:12:05
  the ground, and a swift downward stroke opened an entrance to those who waited
• 4:12:09
  beyond. Through the opening stepped the ape man, and close behind him came
• 4:12:15
  the huge chulk, But Taglat did not follow them. Instead, he turned
• 4:12:20
  and slunk through the darkness toward the hut, where the she who had arrested
• 4:12:24
  his brutish interest lay securely bound before the doorway. The sentry sat upon their
• 4:12:28
  haunches, conversing in monotones. Within the young woman lay upon a filthy,
• 4:12:35
  sleeping mat, resigned through utter hopelessness to whatever fate lay in store for her
• 4:12:41
  until the opportunity arrived which would permit her to free herself by the only means
• 4:12:45
  which now seemed even remotely possible, the hitherto detested act of self destruction.
• 4:12:52
  Creeping silently toward the sentries, a white, bernoused figure approached the shadows at
• 4:12:56
  one end of the hut. The meager intellect of the creature denied it the
• 4:13:01
  advantage it might have taken of its disguise, where it could have walked boldly
• 4:13:05
  to the very sides of the sentries. It chose rather to sneak upon them
• 4:13:09
  unseen from the rear. It came to the corner of the hut and peered
• 4:13:13
  around. The sentries were but a few paces away, But the ape did
• 4:13:18
  not dare expose himself even for an instant to those feared and hated Thunder sticks,
• 4:13:24
  which the Tarmangani knew so well how to use. If there were another
• 4:13:28
  and safer method of attack, Taglat wished that there was a tree nearby,
• 4:13:31
  from the overhanging branches of which he might spring upon his unsuspecting prey. But
• 4:13:37
  though there was no tree, the idea gave birth to a plan. The
• 4:13:41
  eaves of the hut were just above the heads of the sentries. From them
• 4:13:45
  he could leap upon the tarmangany unseen. A quick snap of those mighty jaws
• 4:13:50
  would dispose of one of them before the other realized that they were attacked,
• 4:13:54
  and the second would fall an easy prey to the strength, agility, and
• 4:13:58
  ferocity of a second quick charge. Taglat withdrew a few paces to the rear
• 4:14:03
  of the hut, gathered himself for the effort, ran quickly forward, and
• 4:14:07
  leaped high into the air. He struck the roof directly above the rear wall
• 4:14:11
  of the hut, and the structure, reinforced by the wall beneath. Held
• 4:14:16
  his enormous weight for an instant, then he moved forward a step. The
• 4:14:20
  roof sagged, the thatching parted, and the great anthropoid shot threw into the
• 4:14:24
  interior. The sentries Hearing the crashing of the roof, poles leaped to their
• 4:14:30
  feet and rushed into the hut. Jane Clayton tried to roll aside as the
• 4:14:33
  great form lit upon the floor, so close to her that one foot pinned
• 4:14:37
  her clothing to the ground. The ape, feeling the movement beside him,
• 4:14:41
  reached down and gathered the girl in the hollow of one mighty arm. The
• 4:14:45
  burnouse covered the hairy body, so that Jane Clayton believed that a human arm
• 4:14:50
  supported her, and from the extremity of hopelessness, a great hope sprang into
• 4:14:54
  her breast, that at last she was in the keeping of a rescuer.
• 4:14:58
  The two sentries were now within the hut, but hesitating because of doubt as
• 4:15:01
  to the nature of the cause of the disturbance. Their eyes, not yet
• 4:15:05
  accustomed to the darkness of the interior, told them nothing, nor did they
• 4:15:09
  hear any sound, for the ape stood silently awaiting their attack. Seeing that
• 4:15:15
  they stood without advancing, and realizing that handicapped as he was by the weight
• 4:15:20
  of the she, he could put up but a poor battle, taglat elected
• 4:15:24
  to risk a sudden break for liberty. Lowering his head, he charged straight
• 4:15:28
  for the two sentries who blocked the doorway. The impact of his mighty shoulders
• 4:15:33
  bowled them over upon their backs, and before they could scramble to their feet,
• 4:15:37
  the ape was gone, darting in the shadows of the huts towards the
• 4:15:41
  palisade at the far end of the village. The speed and strength of her
• 4:15:45
  rescuer filled Jane Clayton with wonder could it be that Tarzan had survived the bullet
• 4:15:50
  of the Arab? Who else in all the jungle could bear the weight of
• 4:15:54
  a grown woman as lightly as he who held her. She spoke his name,
• 4:15:58
  but there was no reson bonds. Still, she did not give up
• 4:16:02
  hope. At the palisade, the beast did not even hesitate. A single
• 4:16:06
  mighty leap carried it to the top, where it poised but for an instant
• 4:16:11
  before dropping to the ground upon the opposite side. Now the girl was almost
• 4:16:15
  positive that she was safe in the arms of her husband, And when the
• 4:16:18
  ape took to the trees and bore her swiftly into the jungle, as Tarzan
• 4:16:22
  had done at other times in the past, belief became conviction. In a
• 4:16:26
  little moonlit glade a mile or so from the camp, of the raiders.
• 4:16:30
  Her rescuer halted and dropped her to the ground. His roughness surprised her,
• 4:16:34
  but still she had no doubts. Again she called him by name, and
• 4:16:40
  at the same instant, the ape, fretting under the restraints of the unaccustomed
• 4:16:44
  garments of the Tarmangani, tore the bernouse from him, revealing to the eyes
• 4:16:48
  of the horror struck woman the hideous face and hairy form of a giant anthropoid.
• 4:16:53
  With a piteous wail of terror. Jane Clayton swooned, while from the
• 4:16:57
  concealment of a nearby by bush Numa the lion eyed the pair hungrily and licked
• 4:17:03
  his chops. Tarzan, entering the tent of achmet Zak, searched the interior
• 4:17:08
  thoroughly. He tore the bed to pieces and scattered the contents of box and
• 4:17:14
  bag about the floor. He investigated whatever his eyes discovered. Nor did those
• 4:17:18
  keen organs overlook a single article within the habitation of the raider chief. But
• 4:17:23
  no pouch or pretty pebbles rewarded his thoroughness, Satisfied at last that his belongings
• 4:17:30
  were not in the possession of acmet Zac unless they were on the person of
• 4:17:33
  the chief himself. Tarzan decided to secure the person of the she before further
• 4:17:38
  prosecuting his search for the pouch. Motioning for Cholt to follow him, he
• 4:17:44
  passed out of the tent by the same way that he had entered it,
• 4:17:48
  and, walking boldly through the village, made directly for the hut where Jane
• 4:17:52
  Clayton had been imprisoned. He noted with surprise the absence of Taglat, whom
• 4:17:56
  he had expected to find awaiting him outside the tent of acmet Zek, But
• 4:18:02
  accustomed as he was to the unreliability of apes, he gave no serious attention
• 4:18:07
  to the present defection of his surly companion. So long as Taglat did not
• 4:18:11
  cause interference with his plans, Tarzan was indifferent to his absence. As he
• 4:18:17
  approached the hut, the ape man noticed that a crowd had collected about the
• 4:18:21
  entrance. He could see that the men who composed it were much excited and
• 4:18:25
  fearing lest Choke's disguise should prove inadequate to the concealment of his true identity in
• 4:18:30
  the face of so many observers, he commanded the ape to betake himself to
• 4:18:34
  the far end of the village, and there await him. As Chalk waddled
• 4:18:38
  off, keeping to the shadows, Tarzan advanced boldly toward the excited group.
• 4:18:44
  Before the doorway of the hut. He mingled with the Blacks and the Arabs
• 4:18:48
  in an endeavor to learn the cause of the commotion, in his interest forgetting
• 4:18:52
  that he alone of the assemblage carried a spear, a bow and arrows,
• 4:18:56
  and thus might become an object of suspicious attention. Shouldering his way through the
• 4:19:00
  crowd, he approached the doorway, and had almost reached it when one of
• 4:19:03
  the Arabs laid a hand upon his shoulder, crying, who eats this,
• 4:19:08
  at the same time snatching back the hood from the ape man's face. Tarzan
• 4:19:12
  of the Apes, in all his savage life, had never been accustomed to
• 4:19:15
  pause in argument with an antagonist. The primitive instinct of self preservation acknowledges many
• 4:19:22
  arts and wilds, but argument is not one of them. Nor did he
• 4:19:26
  now waste precious time in an attempt to convince the raiders that he was not
• 4:19:30
  a wolf in sheep's clothing. Instead, he had his unmasker by the throat
• 4:19:34
  ere the man's words had scarce quitted his lips and hurling him from side to
• 4:19:40
  side, brushed away those who would have swarmed upon him. Using the Arab
• 4:19:44
  as a weapon, Tarzan forced his way quickly to the doorway, and a
• 4:19:48
  moment later was within the hut. A hasty examination revealed the fact that it
• 4:19:52
  was empty, and his sense of smell discovered too, the sense or of
• 4:19:56
  Taglat, the ape. Tarzan uttered a low, ominous growl. Those who
• 4:20:00
  were pressing forward at the doorway to seize him fell back as the savage notes
• 4:20:06
  of the bestial challenge smote upon their ears. They looked at one another in
• 4:20:11
  surprise and consternation. A man had entered the hat alone, and yet with
• 4:20:15
  their own ears they had heard the voice of a wild beast within. What
• 4:20:19
  could it mean? Had a lion or a leopard sought sanctuary in the interior?
• 4:20:23
  Unbeknown to the sentries, Tarzan's quick eyes discovered the opening in the roof
• 4:20:29
  through which Taglat had fallen. He guessed that the ape had either come or
• 4:20:33
  gone by way of the break, and while the Arabs hesitated without, he
• 4:20:37
  sprang catlike for the opening, grasped the top of the wall, and clambered
• 4:20:41
  out upon the roof, dropping instantly to the ground at the rear of the
• 4:20:45
  hut. When the Arabs finally mustered courage to enter the hut, after firing
• 4:20:49
  several volleys through the walls, they found the interior deserted. At the same
• 4:20:55
  time, Tarzan, at the far end of the village sought for Chalk,
• 4:20:57
  But the ape was nowhere to be found, robbed of his sea, deserted
• 4:21:03
  by his companions, and as much in ignorance as ever as to the whereabouts
• 4:21:07
  of his pouch and pebbles. It was an angry Tarzan who climbed the palisade
• 4:21:11
  and vanished into the darkness of the jungle. For the present, he must
• 4:21:15
  give up the search for his pouch, since it would be paramount to self
• 4:21:18
  destruction to enter the Arab camp now while all its inhabitants were aroused and upon
• 4:21:23
  the alert. In his escape from the village, the ape man had lost
• 4:21:27
  the spore of the fleeing Taglat, and now he circled widely through the forest
• 4:21:33
  in an endeavor to again pick it up. Chalk had remained at his post
• 4:21:37
  until the cries and shots of the Arabs had filled his simple soul with terror,
• 4:21:41
  For above all things, the ape folk feared the thunder sticks of the
• 4:21:45
  Tarmangani. Then he had clamored nimbly over the palisade, tearing his burnous in
• 4:21:51
  the effort, and fled into the depths of the jungle, grumbling and scolding
• 4:21:55
  as he went. Tarzan roaming the jungle in search of the trail of Taggert
• 4:22:00
  and the she traveled swiftly in a little moonlit glade. Ahead of him,
• 4:22:04
  the great ape was bending over the prostrate form of the woman Tarzan sought.
• 4:22:10
  The beast was tearing at the bonds that confined her ankles and wrists, pulling
• 4:22:14
  and gnawing upon the cords. The course the ape man was taking would carry
• 4:22:18
  him but a short distance to the right of them, and though he could
• 4:22:21
  not have seen them, the wind was bearing down from them to him,
• 4:22:25
  tearying their scent spore strongly toward him. A moment more, and Jane Clayton's
• 4:22:30
  safety might have been assured, even though Numa the Lion was already gathering himself
• 4:22:34
  in preparation for a charge. But fate, already all too cruel, now
• 4:22:40
  outdid herself. The wind veered suddenly for a few moments the scents bore that
• 4:22:45
  would have led the ape man to the girl's side, was wafted in the
• 4:22:48
  opposite direction. Tarzan passed within fifty yards of the tragedy that was being enacted
• 4:22:53
  in the glade, and the opportunity was gone beyond recall. End of Chapter
• 4:23:00
  seventeen. Chapter eighteen, The Fight for the Treasure. It was morning before
• 4:23:07
  Tarzan could bring himself to a realization of the possibility of failure of his quest,
• 4:23:14
  and even then he would only admit that success was but delayed. He
• 4:23:18
  would eat and sleep, and then set forth again. The jungle was wide,
• 4:23:23
  but wide too were the experience and cunning of Tarzan. Taglat might travel
• 4:23:27
  far, but Tarzan would find him in the end, though he had to
• 4:23:32
  search every tree in the mighty forest soliloquising. Thus, the ape man followed
• 4:23:37
  the spore of Beare the deer, the unfortunate, upon which he had decided
• 4:23:41
  to satisfy his hunger. For half an hour. The trail led the ape
• 4:23:45
  man toward the east along a well marked game path, when suddenly, to
• 4:23:49
  the stalker's astonishment, the querry broke into sight, racing madly back along the
• 4:23:55
  narrow way straight toward the hunter. Tarzan, who had been following along the
• 4:23:59
  trail, leaped so quickly to the concealing verdure at the side that the deer
• 4:24:03
  was still unaware of the presence of an enemy in this direction. And while
• 4:24:07
  the animal was still some distance away, the ape man swung into the lower
• 4:24:11
  branches of the tree which overhung the trail. There he crouched a savage beast
• 4:24:17
  of prey, awaiting the coming of its victim. What had frightened the deer
• 4:24:21
  into so frantic a retreat, Tarzan did not know Numa the lion, perhaps,
• 4:24:26
  or Sheeta the panther, But whatsoever it was mattered little to Tarzan of
• 4:24:30
  the apes. He was ready and willing to defend his kill against any other
• 4:24:34
  denizen of the jungle. If he were unable to do it by means of
• 4:24:38
  physical prowess, He had at his command another and a greater power, his
• 4:24:42
  shrewd intelligence. And so on came the running deer straight into the jaws of
• 4:24:48
  death. The ape man turned so that his back was toward the approaching animal.
• 4:24:53
  He poised with bent knees upon the gently swaying limb above the trail,
• 4:24:57
  timing with keen ears the nearing hoof beats of frightened Bara. In a moment,
• 4:25:03
  the victim flashed beneath the limb, and at the same instant the ape
• 4:25:07
  man above sprang out and down upon its back. The weight of the man's
• 4:25:11
  body carried the deer to the ground. It stumbled forward once in a futile
• 4:25:15
  effort to rise, and then mighty muscles dragged its head far back, gave
• 4:25:21
  the neck a vicious wrench, and Bara was dead. Quick had been the
• 4:25:25
  killing, and equally quick were the ape man's subsequent actions, For who might
• 4:25:30
  know what manner of killer pursued Bara, or how close at hand he might
• 4:25:33
  be. Scarce had the neck of the victim snapped, than the carcass was
• 4:25:37
  hanging over one of Tarzan's broad shoulders, And an instant later the ape man
• 4:25:41
  was perched once more among the lower branches of a tree above the trail,
• 4:25:45
  his keen, gray eyes scanning the pathway down which the deer had fled.
• 4:25:51
  Nor was it long before the cause of Bara's fright became evident to Tarzan,
• 4:25:55
  for presently came the unmistakable sounds of approaching horsemen, dragging his kill after him.
• 4:26:00
  The ape man ascended to the middle terrace and settling himself comfortably in the
• 4:26:06
  crotch of a tree, where he could still view the trail beneath, cut
• 4:26:08
  a juicy stake from the deer's loin, and, burying his strong white teeth
• 4:26:12
  in the hot flesh, proceeded to enjoy the fruits of his prowess and his
• 4:26:17
  cunning. Nor did he neglect a trail beneath while he satisfied his hunger.
• 4:26:22
  His sharp eyes saw the muzzle of the leading horse as it came into view
• 4:26:26
  around a bend in the tortuous trail, and one by one they scrutinized the
• 4:26:30
  riders as they passed beneath him in single file. Among them came one whom
• 4:26:36
  Tarzan recognized. But so schooled was the ape man in the control of his
• 4:26:41
  emotions that no slightest change of expression, much less any hysterical demonstration that might
• 4:26:47
  have revealed his presence, betrayed the fact of his inward excitement. Beneath him,
• 4:26:52
  as unconscious of his presence, as were the obscinians before and behind him,
• 4:26:56
  rode Albert Wherper, while the ape Man's scrutinized the Belgian for some sign
• 4:27:02
  of the pouch which he had stolen, as the Absinians rode towards the south.
• 4:27:07
  A giant figure hovered ever upon their trail, a huge, almost naked
• 4:27:11
  white man who carried the bloody carcass of a deer upon his shoulders. For
• 4:27:15
  Tarzan knew that he might not have another opportunity to hunt for some time if
• 4:27:19
  he were to follow the Belgian to endeavor to snatch him from the midst of
• 4:27:23
  the armed horsemen. Not even Tarzan would attempt other than in the last extremity,
• 4:27:29
  For the way of the wild is the way of caution and cunning,
• 4:27:33
  unless they be aroused to rashness by pain or anger. So the Obsinians and
• 4:27:37
  the Belgian marched southward, and Tarzan of the Apes swung silently after them through
• 4:27:42
  the swaying branches of the Middle Terrace. A two days march brought them to
• 4:27:48
  a level plain, beyond which lay mountains, a plain which Tarzan remembered,
• 4:27:52
  and which aroused within him vague half memories and strange longings. Out upon the
• 4:27:57
  plain, the horsemen rode, and had a safe distance behind them, crept
• 4:28:02
  the ape man, taking advantage of such cover as the ground afforded, beside
• 4:28:07
  a charred pile of timbers, the Abscinians halted, and Tarzans, sneaking close
• 4:28:12
  and concealing himself in nearby shrubbery, watched them in wonderment. He saw them
• 4:28:18
  digging up the earth, and he wondered if they had hidden meat there in
• 4:28:21
  the past, and now had come for it. Then he recalled how he
• 4:28:25
  had buried his pretty pebbles, and the suggestion that had caused him to do
• 4:28:29
  it. They were digging for the things the blacks had buried here. Presently
• 4:28:33
  he saw them uncover a dirty yellow object, and he witnessed the joy of
• 4:28:37
  Wherper and of abdul Moorak, as the grimy object was exposed of view.
• 4:28:42
  One by one they unearthed many similar pieces, all of the same uniform dirty
• 4:28:48
  yellow, until a pile of them lay upon the ground, a pile which
• 4:28:52
  abdul Moorak fondled and petted in an ecstasy of greed. Some thing stirred in
• 4:28:57
  the ape man's mind as he looked long upon the golden ingots. Where had
• 4:29:03
  he seen such before? What were they? Why did these Tarmangani covet them
• 4:29:07
  so greatly? To whom did they belong? He recalled the black men who
• 4:29:12
  had buried them. The things must be theirs. Wherper was stealing them,
• 4:29:17
  as he had stolen Tarzan's pouch of pebbles. The ape Man's eyes blazed in
• 4:29:22
  anger. He would like to find the black men and lead them against these
• 4:29:25
  thieves. He wondered where their village might be. As all these things ran
• 4:29:30
  through the active mind, a party of men moved out of the forest at
• 4:29:33
  the edge of the plain and advanced towards the ruins of the burned bungalow.
• 4:29:38
  Abdul Morak, always watchful, was the first to see them, but already
• 4:29:42
  they were half way across the open. He called to his men to mount
• 4:29:47
  and hold themselves in readiness, For in the heart of Africa, who may
• 4:29:51
  know whether a strange host be friend or foe. Wherper, swinging into his
• 4:29:56
  saddle, fastened his eyes upon the newcomers. Then white and trembling, he
• 4:30:00
  turned toward Abdul Moorak. It is achmet Zek and his raiders, he whispered,
• 4:30:04
  They are come for the gold. It must have been at about the
• 4:30:08
  same instant that achmet Zek discovered the pile of yellow ingots and realized the actuality
• 4:30:15
  of what he had already feared since first, his eyes had alighted upon the
• 4:30:18
  party beside the ruins of the englishman's bungalow. Someone had forestalled him, another
• 4:30:25
  had come for the treasure ahead of him. The Arab was crazed by rage.
• 4:30:30
  Recently everything had gone against him. He had lost the jewels, the
• 4:30:33
  Belgian, and for the second time he had lost the englishwoman. Now some
• 4:30:37
  one had come to rob him of this treasure, which he had thought as
• 4:30:41
  safe from disturbance here as though it never had been mined. He cared not
• 4:30:45
  whom the thieves might be. They would not give up the gold without a
• 4:30:48
  battle. Of that he was certain, And with a wild hoop and command
• 4:30:53
  to his followers, achmet Zek put spurs to his horse and dashed down upon
• 4:30:57
  the Absinians, and at after him, waving their long guns above their heads,
• 4:31:03
  yelling and cursing, came his motley horde of cutthroat followers. The men
• 4:31:07
  of abdul Morak met them with a volley, which emptied a few saddles,
• 4:31:11
  And then the raiders were among them, and soward pistol and musket, each
• 4:31:15
  was doing its most hideous and bloody work. Acmet Zek, spying whiper at
• 4:31:21
  the first charge, bore down upon the Belgian, and the latter, terrified
• 4:31:25
  by contemplation of the fate he deserved, turned his horse's head and dashed madly
• 4:31:30
  away in an effort to escape, shouting to a lieutenant to take command,
• 4:31:33
  and urging him, upon pain of death, to dispatch the Obscinnians and bring
• 4:31:37
  the gold back to his camp. Acmet Zek set off across the plain in
• 4:31:42
  pursuit of the Belgian, his wicked nature unable to forego the pleasures of revenge
• 4:31:48
  even at the risk of sacrificing the treasure. As the pursued and the pursuer
• 4:31:52
  raced madly toward the distant forest, the battle behind them raged with bloody savageness.
• 4:31:59
  No court was asked or given by either the ferocious Obscenians or the murderous
• 4:32:03
  cutthroats of achmet Zek. From the concealment of the shrubbery, Tarzan watched the
• 4:32:10
  sanguinary conflict, which so effectually surrounded him that he found no loophole through which
• 4:32:15
  he might escape to follow wherper and the Arab chief. The Obscinians were formed
• 4:32:19
  in a circle which included Tarzan's position, and around and into them galloped the
• 4:32:25
  yelling raiders now darting away, now charging in to deliver thrusts and cuts with
• 4:32:30
  their curved swords. Numerically, the men of achmet Zek were superior, and
• 4:32:36
  slowly but surely the soldiers of Menelek were being exterminated to Tarzan. The result
• 4:32:41
  was immaterial. He watched with but a single purpose to escape the ring of
• 4:32:45
  blood mad fighters and be away after the Belgian and his pouch. When he
• 4:32:51
  had first discovered Werper upon the trail where he had slain Bara, he had
• 4:32:55
  thought that his eyes must be playing him false, so certain had he been
• 4:32:59
  that the thief heif had been slain and devoured by Numa. But after following
• 4:33:03
  the detachment for two days, with his keen eyes always upon the Belgian,
• 4:33:07
  he no longer doubted the identity of the man, though he was put to
• 4:33:11
  it to explain the identity of the mutilated corpse he had supposed was the man
• 4:33:15
  he sought. As he crouched in hiding among the unkempt shrubbery, which so
• 4:33:21
  short a while since had been the delight and pride of the wife, he
• 4:33:23
  no longer recalled. An Arab and an Obsidian wheeled their mounts close to his
• 4:33:29
  position as they slashed at each other with their swords. Step by step,
• 4:33:33
  the Arab beat back his adversary until the latter's horse all but trod upon the
• 4:33:37
  ape Man, and then a vicious cut cloved the black warrior's skull, and
• 4:33:41
  the corpse toppled backward, almost upon Tarzan, as the Abscinian tumbled from his
• 4:33:48
  saddle. The possibility of escape, which was represented by the riderless horse,
• 4:33:52
  electrified the ape Man to instant action. Before the frightened beast could gather himself
• 4:33:57
  for flight, a naked giant was astride his back. A strong hand had
• 4:34:03
  grasped his bridle rein, and the surprised Arab discovered a new foe in the
• 4:34:07
  saddle of him whom he had slain. But this enemy wielded no sword,
• 4:34:11
  and his spear and bow remained upon his back. The Arab, recovered from
• 4:34:15
  his first surprise, dashed in with raised sword to annihilate this presumptuous stranger.
• 4:34:22
  He aimed a mighty blow at the ape Man's head, a blow which swung
• 4:34:26
  harmlessly through thin air as Tarzan ducked from its path, and then the Arab
• 4:34:30
  felt the other's horse brushing his leg a great arm shot out and encircled his
• 4:34:34
  waist, and before he could recover himself, he was dragged from his saddle,
• 4:34:40
  and, forming a shield for his antagonist, was borne at a mad
• 4:34:44
  run straight through the encircling ranks of his fellows. Just beyond them, he
• 4:34:48
  was tossed aside upon the ground, and the last he saw of his strange
• 4:34:52
  woeman, the latter was galloping off across the plain in the direction of the
• 4:34:56
  forest at its farther edge. For another hour the battle raged, nor did
• 4:35:02
  it cease until the last of the Obscinians lay dead upon the ground or had
• 4:35:07
  galloped off toward the north in flight. But a handful of men escaped among
• 4:35:11
  them Abdul Morak. The victorious raiders collected about the pile of golden ingots which
• 4:35:17
  the Obsinians had uncovered, and there awaited the return of their leader. Their
• 4:35:22
  exultation was slightly tempered by the glimpse they had had of the strange apparition of
• 4:35:27
  the naked white man galloping away upon the horse of one of their foemen,
• 4:35:32
  and carrying a companion, who was now among them, expatiating upon the superhuman
• 4:35:37
  strength of the ape man. None of them there but was familiar with the
• 4:35:41
  name and fame of Tarzan of the Apes, and the fact that they had
• 4:35:45
  recognized the white giant as the ferocious enemy of the wrong Doors of the Jungle
• 4:35:51
  added to their terror, for they had been assured that Tarzan was dead.
• 4:35:55
  Naturally superstitious, they fully believed that they had seen the disembodied spear garret of
• 4:36:00
  the dead man, and now they cast fearful glances about them in expectation of
• 4:36:04
  the ghost's early returned the scene of the ruin they had inflicted upon him during
• 4:36:08
  their recent raid upon his home, and discussed in affrighted whispers the probable nature
• 4:36:14
  of the vengeance which the spirit would inflict upon them should he return to find
• 4:36:18
  them in possession of his gold. As they conversed, their terror grew,
• 4:36:22
  while from the concealment of the reeds along the river below them, a small
• 4:36:26
  party of naked black warriors watched their every move from the heights beyond the river.
• 4:36:32
  These black men had heard the noise of the conflict, and creeping warily
• 4:36:36
  down to the stream, had forded it and advanced through the reeds until they
• 4:36:40
  were in a position to watch every move of the combatants for a half hour,
• 4:36:44
  the raiders awaited Acmgzac's return, their fear of the earlier return of the
• 4:36:48
  ghost of Tarzan constantly undermining their loyalty to and fear of their chief. Finally,
• 4:36:55
  one among them voiced the desires of all when he announced that he intended
• 4:36:59
  riding forth toward the forest in search of achmet Zek. Instantly every man of
• 4:37:03
  them sprang to his mount. The gold will be safe here, cried one.
• 4:37:08
  We have killed the abscinians and there are no others to carry it away.
• 4:37:12
  Let us ride in search of achmet Zek. And a moment later,
• 4:37:17
  amidst a cloud of dust, the raiders were galloping madly across the plain and
• 4:37:21
  out from the concealment of the reeds. Along the river crept a party of
• 4:37:25
  black warriors toward the spot where the golden ingots of Opar lay piled on the
• 4:37:30
  ground. Werper had still been in advance of achmet Zek when he reached the
• 4:37:34
  forest, but the latter, better mounted, was gaining upon him. Riding
• 4:37:38
  with the reckless courage of desperation. The Belgian urged his mount at greater speed,
• 4:37:44
  even within the narrow confines of the winding game trail, that the beast
• 4:37:48
  was following behind him. He could hear the voice of achmet Zek crying to
• 4:37:52
  him to halt, but Werper only dug the spurs deeper into the bleeding sides
• 4:37:56
  of his panting mount. Two hundred yar yards within the forest, A broken
• 4:38:00
  branch lay across the trail. It was a small thing that a horse might
• 4:38:04
  ordinarily take in his natural stride without noticing its presence, but Werper's horse was
• 4:38:11
  jaded, His feet were heavy with weariness, and as the branch caught between
• 4:38:15
  his front legs, he stumbled, was unable to recover himself, and went
• 4:38:18
  down, sprawling in the trail. Wherper, going over his head, rolled
• 4:38:22
  a few yards farther on, scrambled to his feet and ran back. Seizing
• 4:38:27
  the reins, he tugged to drag the beast to his feet, but the
• 4:38:30
  animal would not or could not rise, and as the Belgian cursed and struck
• 4:38:36
  at him, Achmetzek appeared in view. Instantly, the Belgians ceased his efforts,
• 4:38:41
  with the dying animal at his feet, and, seizing his rifle,
• 4:38:44
  dropped behind the horse and fired at the oncoming a rab. His bullet,
• 4:38:48
  going low, struck Acmetzek's horse in the breast, bringing him down a hundred
• 4:38:52
  yards from where Wherper lay preparing to fire a second shot. The Arab,
• 4:38:56
  who had gone down with his mount, was standing astride him, and seeing
• 4:39:00
  the Belgian strategic position behind his fallen horse, lost no time in taking up
• 4:39:06
  a similar one behind his own, and there the two lay alternately firing at
• 4:39:11
  and cursing each other, while from behind the Arab Tarzan of the apes approached
• 4:39:15
  to the edge of the forest. Here he heard the occasional shots of the
• 4:39:18
  duelists, and, choosing the safer and swifter avenue of the forest branches to
• 4:39:23
  the uncertain transportation afforded by a half broken obscenian pony, took to the trees,
• 4:39:30
  keeping to one side of the trail. The ape man came presently to
• 4:39:33
  a point where he could look down in comparative safety upon the fighters. First
• 4:39:37
  one and then the other, would partially raise himself above his breastwork of horse
• 4:39:41
  flesh, fire his weapon, and immediately drop flat behind his shelter, where
• 4:39:47
  he would reload and repeat the act. A moment later. Wherper had but
• 4:39:51
  little ammunition, having been hastily armed by Abdul Moorak from the body of one
• 4:39:56
  of the first of the Obscenians who had fallen in the fight about the pile
• 4:39:59
  of bingotts. And now he realized that soon he would have used his last
• 4:40:03
  bullet and be at the mercy of the Arab, a mercy with which he
• 4:40:07
  was well acquainted. Facing both death and despoilment of his treasure, the Belgian
• 4:40:12
  cast about for some plan of escape, and the only one that appealed to
• 4:40:17
  him as containing even a remote possibility of success hinged upon the chance of bribing
• 4:40:22
  achmet Zek. Wherper had fired all but a single cartridge, when during a
• 4:40:27
  lull in the fighting, he called aloud to his opponent achmet Zek. He
• 4:40:32
  cried, Allah alone knows which one of us may leave our bones to rot
• 4:40:37
  where he lies upon this trail to day. If we keep up our foolish
• 4:40:40
  battle, you wish the contents of the pouch I wear about my waist,
• 4:40:45
  and I wish my life and my liberty even more than I do the jewels.
• 4:40:48
  Let us each then take that which he most desires, and go our
• 4:40:52
  separate ways in peace. I will lay the pouch upon the carcass of my
• 4:40:56
  horse, where you may see it, and you, in turn and will
• 4:41:00
  lay your gun upon your horse with butt toward me. Then I will go
• 4:41:03
  away, leaving the pouch to you, and you will let me go in
• 4:41:07
  safety. I want only my life and my freedom. The Arab thought in
• 4:41:11
  silence for a moment. Then he spoke. His reply was influenced by the
• 4:41:17
  fact that he had expended his last shot. Go your vay, then he
• 4:41:22
  growled, leaving the pouch in plain sight behind you. See I lay my
• 4:41:26
  gun thus, with the butt towards you go. Wherper removed the pouch from
• 4:41:32
  about his waist. Sorrowfully and affectionately. He let his fingers press the hard
• 4:41:37
  outlines of the contents. Ah if he could extract a little handful of the
• 4:41:41
  precious stones. But Acmeczek was standing now, his eagle eyes commanding a plain
• 4:41:47
  view of the Belgian and his every act. Regretfully, wherperlaid the pouch its
• 4:41:52
  contents undisturbed, upon the body of his horse, rose and, taking a
• 4:41:56
  rifle with him, back slowly down the trail until a turn hid him from
• 4:42:00
  the view of the watchful Arab. Even then, ocmet Zak did not advance,
• 4:42:07
  fearful as he was of some such treachery as he himself might have been
• 4:42:11
  guilty of under like circumstances. Nor were his suspicions groundless, for the Belgian
• 4:42:17
  no sooner had he passed out of the range of the Arab's vision, halted
• 4:42:21
  behind the bowl of a tree, where he still commanded an unobstructed view of
• 4:42:25
  his dead horse and the pouch, and raising his rifle covered the spot where
• 4:42:29
  the other's body must appear when he came forward to seize the treasure. But
• 4:42:33
  ocmet Zek was no fool to expose himself to the blackened honor of a thief
• 4:42:37
  and a murderer. Taking his long gun with him, he left the trail,
• 4:42:41
  entering the rank and tangled vegetation which walled it, and crawling slowly forward
• 4:42:47
  on hands and knees, he paralleled the trail, but never for an instant
• 4:42:51
  was his body exposed to the rifle of the hidden assassin. Thus ocmet Zek
• 4:42:56
  advanced until he had come opposite the dead horse of his enemy. The pouch
• 4:43:00
  lay there in full view, while a short distance along the trail wherper waited
• 4:43:04
  in growing impatience and nervousness, wondering why the Arab did not come to claim
• 4:43:10
  his reward. Presently he saw the muzzle of a rifle appear suddenly and mysteriously
• 4:43:15
  a few inches above the pouch, and before he could realize the cunning trick
• 4:43:18
  that the Arab had played upon him, the sight of the weapon was adroitly
• 4:43:22
  hooked into the rawhide thong which formed the carrying strap of the pouch, and
• 4:43:26
  the latter was drawn quickly from his view into the dense foliage at the trail's
• 4:43:32
  side. Not for an instant had the raider exposed a square inch of his
• 4:43:36
  body, and Wherper dared not fire his one remaining shot unless every chance of
• 4:43:41
  a successful hit was in his favor. Chuckling to himself, achmet Zek withdrew
• 4:43:47
  a few paces farther into the jungle, for he was as positive that Wherper
• 4:43:51
  was waiting near by for a chance to pot him, as though his eyes
• 4:43:53
  had penetrated the jungle trees to the figure of the hiding Belgian. Fingering his
• 4:43:57
  rifle behind the bowl of the buttress. Giant, Wherper did not dare advance.
• 4:44:03
  His cupidity would not permit him to depart, and so he stood there,
• 4:44:07
  his rifle ready in his hands, his eyes watching the trail before him,
• 4:44:11
  with catlike intensity. But there was another who had seen the pouch and
• 4:44:17
  recognized it, who did advance, with ocmet Zek hovering above him, as
• 4:44:22
  silent and ashore, as death itself, and as the Arab, finding a
• 4:44:26
  little spot less overgrown with bushes than he had yet encountered, prepared to gloat
• 4:44:30
  his eyes upon the contents of the pouch. Tarzan paused directly above him,
• 4:44:36
  intent upon the same object. Wetting his thin lips with his tongue, ocmet
• 4:44:41
  Zek loosened the tie strings which closed the mouth of the pouch, and cupping
• 4:44:45
  one claw like hand, poured forth a portion of the contents into his palm.
• 4:44:51
  A single look, he took at the stones lying in his hand.
• 4:44:55
  His eyes narrowed, A curse broke from his lips, and he hurled the
• 4:44:59
  small objects upon the ground disdainfully. Quickly he emptied the balance of the contents
• 4:45:04
  until he had scanned each separate stone, And as he dumped them all upon
• 4:45:08
  the ground and stamped upon them, his rage grew until the muscles of his
• 4:45:12
  face worked in demon like fury, and his fingers clenched until his nails bit
• 4:45:18
  into the flesh. Above. Tarzan watched in wonderment. He had been curious
• 4:45:22
  to discover what all the pow wow about his pouch had meant. He wanted
• 4:45:27
  to see what the Arab would do after the other had gone away, leaving
• 4:45:30
  the pouch behind him, and having satisfied his curiosity, he would then have
• 4:45:36
  pounced upon Augmetzek and taken the pouch and his pretty pebbles away from him,
• 4:45:41
  for did they not belong to Tarzan. He saw the Arab now throw aside
• 4:45:45
  the empty pouch and, grasping his long gun by the barrel, clublike sneak
• 4:45:49
  stealthily through the jungle beside the trail along which Wherper had gone. As the
• 4:45:55
  man disappeared from his view, Tarzan dropped to the ground and commenced gathering up
• 4:46:00
  the spilled contents of the pouch, and the moment that he obtained his first
• 4:46:03
  near view of the scattered pebbles, he understood the rage of the Arab,
• 4:46:07
  for instead of the glittering and scintillating gems which had first caught and held the
• 4:46:12
  attention of the ape man, the pouch now contained but a collection of ordinary
• 4:46:18
  river pebbles. End of Chapter eighteen, Chapter nineteen, Jane Clayton and the
• 4:46:26
  beasts of the jungle. Mugambi, after his successful break for liberty had fallen
• 4:46:32
  upon hard times. His way had led him through a country with which he
• 4:46:36
  was unfamiliar, a jungle country in which he could find no water and but
• 4:46:41
  little food, so that after several days of wandering, he found himself so
• 4:46:45
  reduced in strength that he could barely drag himself along. It was with growing
• 4:46:49
  difficulty that he found the strength necessary to construct a shelter by night, wherein
• 4:46:55
  he might be reasonably safe from the large carnivora, And by day he still
• 4:47:00
  further exhausted his strength in digging for edible roots and searching for water. A
• 4:47:04
  few stagnant pools at considerable distances apart saved him from death by thirst, but
• 4:47:11
  his was a pitiable state when finally he stumbled by accident upon a large river
• 4:47:15
  in a country where fruit was abundant and small game, which he might bag
• 4:47:19
  by means of a combination of stealth, cunning, and a crude knobstick which
• 4:47:23
  he had fashioned from a fallen limb, Realizing that he still had a long
• 4:47:29
  march ahead of him before he could reach even the outskirts of the Waziri,
• 4:47:32
  country. Mugambi wisely decided to remain where he was until he had recuperated his
• 4:47:37
  strength and health. A few days rest would accomplish wonders for him, he
• 4:47:41
  knew, and he could ill afford to sacrifice his chances for a safe return
• 4:47:47
  by setting forth handicapped by weakness. And so it was that he constructed a
• 4:47:52
  substantial thorn boma and rigged a thatched shelter within it, where he might sleep
• 4:47:56
  by night in security, and from which which he sallied forth by day to
• 4:48:00
  hunt the flesh which alone could return to his giant theuse their normal prowess.
• 4:48:07
  One day, as he hunted, a pair of savage eyes discovered him from
• 4:48:11
  the concealment of the branches of a great tree beneath which the black warrior passed.
• 4:48:15
  Bloodshot wicked eyes, they were set in a fierce and hairy face.
• 4:48:19
  They watched Mugambi make his little kill of a small rodent, and they followed
• 4:48:23
  him as he returned to his hut, their owner moving quietly through the trees
• 4:48:29
  upon the trail of the negro. The creature was Chulk, and he looked
• 4:48:33
  down upon the unconscious man, more in curiosity than in hate. The wearing
• 4:48:37
  of the Arab burnous, which Tarzan had placed upon his person, had aroused
• 4:48:41
  in the mind of the anthropoid a desire for similar mimicry of the Tarmangani.
• 4:48:47
  The bernous, though, had obstructed his movements and proven such a nuisance that
• 4:48:52
  the ape had long since torn it from him and thrown it away. Now,
• 4:48:56
  however, he saw a Gomangani arrayed in less cumbersome upon a loincloth,
• 4:49:00
  a few copper ornaments, in a feather head dress. These were more in
• 4:49:04
  line with Chulk's desires than a flowing robe, which was constantly getting between one's
• 4:49:10
  legs and catching upon every limb and bush along the leafy trail. Chulk eyed
• 4:49:15
  the pouch which suspended over Mugambi's shoulders, swung beside his black hip. This
• 4:49:21
  took his fancy, for it was ornamented with feathers and a fringe. And
• 4:49:26
  so the ape hung about Mugambi's boma, waiting an opportunity to seize, either
• 4:49:30
  by stealth or might some object of the black's apparel. Nor was it long
• 4:49:34
  before the opportunity came. Feeling safe within his thorny enclosure, Mugambi was wont
• 4:49:41
  to stretch himself in the shade of his shelter during the heat of the day
• 4:49:45
  and sleep in peaceful security until the declining sun carried with it the enervating temperature
• 4:49:51
  of mid day. Watching from above, Chalk saw the Black warrior stretched thus
• 4:49:56
  in the unconsciousness of sleep one sultry afternoon, Creeping out upon an overhanging branch,
• 4:50:03
  the anthropoid dropped to the ground within the boma. He approached the sleeper
• 4:50:07
  upon padded feet, which gave forth no sound, and with an uncanny woodcraft
• 4:50:11
  that rustled, not a leaf or a grass blade. Pausing beside the man,
• 4:50:15
  the ape bent over and examined his belongings. Great as was the strength
• 4:50:19
  of chulk, there lay in the back of his little brain a something which
• 4:50:23
  deterred him from arousing the man to combat, a sense that is inherent in
• 4:50:29
  all the lower orders, a strange fear of man that rules even the most
• 4:50:33
  powerful of the jungle creatures. At times. To remove Mugambi's loin cloth without
• 4:50:37
  awakening him would be impossible, and the only detachable things were the knobstick and
• 4:50:44
  the pouch, which had fallen from the Black's shoulder as he rolled in sleep.
• 4:50:48
  Seizing these two articles as better than nothing at all, Chalk retreated with
• 4:50:52
  haste and every indication of nervous terror, to the safety of the tree from
• 4:50:56
  which he had dropped, and still haunted by that indefinable terror which the close
• 4:51:02
  proximity of man awakened in his breast, fled precipitately through the jungle, aroused
• 4:51:08
  by attack or supported by the presence of another of his kind. Chalk could
• 4:51:12
  have braved the presence of a score of human beings. But alone, Ah,
• 4:51:17
  that was a different matter. Alone and unenraged. It was some time
• 4:51:22
  after Mugambi awoke that he missed the pouch. Instantly he was all excitement.
• 4:51:27
  What could have become of it? It had been at his side when he
• 4:51:30
  lay down to sleep, of that he was certain, for had he not
• 4:51:33
  pushed it from beneath him when its bulging bulk pressing against his ribs caused him
• 4:51:38
  discomfort, Yes, it had been there when he lay down to sleep.
• 4:51:42
  How then had it vanished? Mugambis savage imagination was filled with visions of the
• 4:51:48
  spirits of departed friends and enemies. For only to the machinations of such as
• 4:51:52
  these could he attribute the disappearance of his pouch and knobstick in the first excitement
• 4:51:59
  of the discovery of their loss. But later and more careful investigation, such
• 4:52:03
  as his woodcraft made possible, revealed indisputable evidence of a more material explanation than
• 4:52:10
  his excited fancy and superstition had at first led him to accept. In the
• 4:52:15
  trampled turf beside him was the faint impress of huge manlike feet. Mugambi raised
• 4:52:21
  his brows as the truth dawned upon him. Hastily leaving the boma, he
• 4:52:26
  searched in all directions about the enclosure for some farther sign of the tell tale
• 4:52:30
  spore. He climbed trees and sought for evidence of the direction of the thief's
• 4:52:34
  flight, But the faint signs left by a wary ape who elected to travel
• 4:52:40
  through the trees eluded the woodcraft of Mugambi. Tarzan might have followed them,
• 4:52:45
  but no ordinary mortal could perceive them, or perceiving translate. The black,
• 4:52:49
  now strengthened and refreshed by his rest, felt ready to set out again for
• 4:52:55
  Waziri, and finding himself another knobstick, turned his back upon them in the
• 4:53:00
  river and plunged into the mazes of the jungle. As Taglat struggled with the
• 4:53:04
  bonds which secured the ankles and wrists of his captive, the great lion that
• 4:53:10
  eyed the two from behind a nearby clump of bushes, wormed closer to his
• 4:53:15
  intended prey. The ape's back was toward the lion, he did not see
• 4:53:18
  the broad head, fringed by its rough mane, protruding through the leafy wall.
• 4:53:23
  He could not know that the powerful hind paws were gathering close beneath the
• 4:53:29
  tawny belly, preparatory to a sudden spring, and his first intimation of impending
• 4:53:33
  danger was the thunderous and triumphant roar, which the charging lion could no longer
• 4:53:38
  suppress. Scarce pausing for a backward glance, Taglat abandoned the unconscious woman and
• 4:53:45
  fled in the opposite direction from the horrid sound, which had broken in so
• 4:53:48
  unexpected and terrifying a manner upon his startled ears. But the warning had come
• 4:53:53
  too late to save him, and the lion, in his second bound alighted
• 4:53:57
  full upon the broad shoulders of the ear anthropoid. As the great bull went
• 4:54:02
  down, there was awakened in him to the full, all the cunning,
• 4:54:04
  all the ferocity, all the physical prowess, which obey the mightiest of the
• 4:54:10
  fundamental laws of nature, the law of self preservation, And turning upon his
• 4:54:15
  back, he closed with the carnivore in a death struggle so fearless and abandoned
• 4:54:19
  that for a moment the Great Numa himself may have trembled for the outcome.
• 4:54:23
  Seizing the lion by the mane, Taglat buried his yellowed fangs deep in the
• 4:54:29
  monster's throat, Growling hideously through the muffled gag of blood and hair mixed with
• 4:54:34
  the ape's voice. The lion's roars of rage and pain reverberated through the jungle
• 4:54:40
  till the lesser creatures of the wild startled from their peaceful pursuits, scurried fearfully
• 4:54:45
  away, Rolling over and over upon the turf, the two battled with demoniac
• 4:54:49
  fury until the colossal cat, by doubling his hind paws far up beneath his
• 4:54:55
  belly, sank his talons deep into Taglat's chest. Then, ripping down onward
• 4:55:00
  with all his strength, Numa accomplished his design, and the disemboweled anthropoid with
• 4:55:06
  a last spasmodic struggle, relaxed in limp and bloody dissolution beneath his titanic adversary.
• 4:55:12
  Scrambling to his feet, Numa looked about quickly in all directions, as
• 4:55:17
  though seeking to detect the possible presence of other foes. But only the still
• 4:55:22
  and unconscious form of the girl lying a few paces from him met his gaze,
• 4:55:26
  and with an angry growl, he placed a forepaw upon the body of
• 4:55:30
  his kill, and raising his head, gave voice to his savage victory cry.
• 4:55:36
  For another moment he stood with fierce eyes roving to and fro about the
• 4:55:40
  clearing. At last they halted for a second time upon the girl. A
• 4:55:45
  low growl rumbled from the lion's throat. His lower jaw rose and fell,
• 4:55:49
  and the slaver drooled and dripped upon the dead face of taglat like two yellow
• 4:55:55
  green augers, wide and unblinking, the terrible eyes remained thick upon Jane Clayton.
• 4:56:00
  The erect and majestic pose of the great frame shrank suddenly into a sinister
• 4:56:07
  crouch, as slowly and gently as one who treads on eggs. The devil
• 4:56:11
  faced cat crept forward toward the girl beneficent fate maintained her in happy unconsciousness of
• 4:56:18
  the dread presence sneaking stealthily upon her. She did not know when the lion
• 4:56:22
  paused at her side. She did not hear the sniffing of his nostrils as
• 4:56:27
  he smelled about her. She did not feel the heat of the fetid breath
• 4:56:30
  upon her face, nor the dripping of the saliva from the frightful jaws half
• 4:56:36
  opened so close above her. Finally, the lion lifted a forepaw and turned
• 4:56:41
  the body of the girl half over. Then he stood again, eyeing her
• 4:56:44
  as though still undetermined whether life was extinct or not. Some noise or odor
• 4:56:49
  from the nearby jungle attracted his attention. For a moment, his eyes did
• 4:56:53
  not again return to Jane Clayton, and presently he left her, walked over
• 4:56:59
  to the remains of Taglat, and, crouching down upon his kill, with
• 4:57:03
  his back toward the girl, proceeded to devour the ape. It was upon
• 4:57:07
  this scene that Jane Clayton at last opened her eyes. Inured to danger,
• 4:57:11
  she maintained her self possession in the face of the startling surprise which her new
• 4:57:17
  found consciousness revealed to her. She neither cried out nor moved a muscle until
• 4:57:21
  she had taken in every detail of the scene which lay within the range of
• 4:57:25
  her vision. She saw that the lion had killed the ape, and that
• 4:57:29
  he was devouring his prey less than fifty feet from where she lay. But
• 4:57:33
  what could she do? Her hands and feet were bound. She must wait,
• 4:57:37
  then, in what patience she could command, until Numa had eaten and
• 4:57:41
  digested the ape, when without doubt he would return to feast upon her,
• 4:57:45
  unless in the meantime the dread Hyaenas should discover her, or some other of
• 4:57:51
  the numerous prowling carnivora of the jungle. As she lay tormented by these frightful
• 4:57:56
  thoughts, she suddenly became conscious that the bonds at her rifts and ankles no
• 4:58:00
  longer hurt her, and then of the fact that her hands were separated,
• 4:58:04
  one lying upon either side of her, instead of both being confined at her
• 4:58:08
  back. Wonderingly, she moved a hand. What miracle had been performed?
• 4:58:12
  It was not bound. Stealthily and noiselessly, she moved her other limbs,
• 4:58:18
  only to discover that she was free. She could not know how the thing
• 4:58:22
  had happened, that taglat, gnawing upon them for sinister purposes of his own,
• 4:58:27
  had cut them through, but an instant before Numa had frightened him from
• 4:58:32
  his victim. For a moment, Jane Clayton was overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving,
• 4:58:37
  But only for a moment. What good was her new found liberty in
• 4:58:41
  the face of the frightful beast crouching so close beside her. If she could
• 4:58:45
  have had this chance under different conditions, how happily she would have taken advantage
• 4:58:49
  of it. But now it was given to her when escape was practically impossible.
• 4:58:53
  The nearest tree was a hundred feet away, the lion less than fifty
• 4:58:59
  to rise, and attempt to reach the safety of those tantalizing branches would be
• 4:59:03
  but to invite instant destruction, for Numah would doubtless be too jealous of this
• 4:59:07
  future meal to permit it to escape with ease. And yet too, there
• 4:59:11
  was another possibility, a chance which hinged entirely upon the unknown temper of the
• 4:59:18
  great Beast. His belly already partially filled, he might watch with indifference the
• 4:59:22
  departure of the girl. Yet could she afford to chance so improbable a contingency?
• 4:59:27
  She doubted it. Upon the other hand, she was no more minded
• 4:59:32
  to allow this frail opportunity for life to entirely elude her without taking or attempting
• 4:59:37
  to take some advantage from it. She watched the lion narrowly, he could
• 4:59:41
  not see her without turning his head more than half way around. She would
• 4:59:45
  attempt a ruse. Silently, she rolled over in the direction of the nearest
• 4:59:49
  tree and away from the lion, until she lay again in the same position
• 4:59:55
  in which Numa had left her, but a few feet farther from him.
• 4:59:59
  Here she lay breathless watching the lion, but the beast gave no indication that
• 5:00:03
  he had heard aught to arouse his suspicions. Again, she rolled over,
• 5:00:07
  gaining a few more feet, and again she lay in rigid contemplation of the
• 5:00:11
  beast's back. During what seemed hours to her tense nerves. Jane Clayton continued
• 5:00:17
  these tactics, and still the lion fed on in apparent unconsciousness that his second
• 5:00:22
  prey was escaping him. Already, the girl was but a few paces from
• 5:00:26
  the tree. A moment more and she would be close enough to chance,
• 5:00:30
  springing to her feet, throwing caution aside, and making a sudden, bold
• 5:00:33
  dash for safety. She was half way over in her turn her face away
• 5:00:37
  from the lion when he suddenly turned his great head and fastened his eyes upon
• 5:00:41
  her. He saw her roll over upon her side, away from him,
• 5:00:45
  and then her eyes were turned again toward him, and the cold sweat broke
• 5:00:49
  from the girl's every pore as she realized that, with life almost within her
• 5:00:55
  grasp, death had found her out. For a long time, neither the
• 5:00:59
  girl nor the lion moved. The beast lay motionless, his head turned upon
• 5:01:03
  his shoulders and his glaring eyes fixed upon the rigid victim, now nearly fifty
• 5:01:07
  yards away. The girl stared back straight into those cruel orbs, daring not
• 5:01:11
  to move even a muscle. The strain upon her nerves was becoming so unbearable
• 5:01:17
  that she could scarcely restrain a growing desire to scream when Numa deliberately turned back
• 5:01:22
  to the business of feeding, but his back laid ears attested a sinister regard
• 5:01:27
  for the actions of the girl behind him. Realizing that she could not again
• 5:01:32
  turn without attracting his immediate and perhaps fatal attention, Jane Clayton resolved to risk
• 5:01:37
  all in one last attempt to reach the tree and clamor to the lower branches.
• 5:01:41
  Gathering herself stealthily for the effort, she leaped suddenly to her feet,
• 5:01:47
  but almost simultaneously, the lion sprang up, wheeled, and with wide distended
• 5:01:52
  jaws and terrific roars, charged swiftly down upon her. Those who have spent
• 5:01:56
  lifetimes hunting the big game of Africa will tell you that scarcely any other creature
• 5:02:02
  in the world attains the speed of a charging lion. For the short distance
• 5:02:06
  that the great cat can maintain it it resembles nothing more closely than the onrushing
• 5:02:11
  of a giant locomotive under full speed. And so though the distance that Jane
• 5:02:15
  Clayton must cover was relatively small, the terrific speed of the lion rendered her
• 5:02:21
  hopes of escape almost negligible. Yet fear can work wonders. And though the
• 5:02:26
  upward springing of the lion as he neared the tree into which she was scrambling
• 5:02:30
  brought his talons in contact with her boots, she eluded his raking grasp,
• 5:02:34
  and as he hurtled against the bowl of her sanctuary, the girl drew herself
• 5:02:38
  into the safety of the branches above his reach. For some time, the
• 5:02:42
  lion paced, growling and moaning, beneath the tree in which Jane Clayton crouched,
• 5:02:48
  Panting and trembling. The girl was a prey to the nervous reaction from
• 5:02:52
  the fright lord deal through which he had so recently passed, and in her
• 5:02:56
  overwrought state, it seemed that never again should she descend to the ground among
• 5:03:00
  the fearsome dangers which infested the broad stretch of jungle that she knew must lie
• 5:03:06
  between herself and the nearest village of her faithful Wazirri. It was almost dark
• 5:03:11
  before the lion finally quit the clearing, and, even had his place beside
• 5:03:15
  the remnants of the mangled ape not been immediately usurped by a pack of hyenas,
• 5:03:21
  Jane Clayton would scarcely have dared venture from her refuge in the face of
• 5:03:25
  impending night, and so she composed herself as best she could for the long
• 5:03:30
  and tiresome weight until daylight might offer some means of escape from the dread vicinity
• 5:03:36
  in which she had witnessed such terrifying adventures. Tired nature at last overcame even
• 5:03:41
  her fears, and she dropped into a deep slumber, cradled in a comparatively
• 5:03:45
  safe, though rather uncomfortable position against the bowl of the tree, and supported
• 5:03:51
  by two large branches which grew outward almost horizontally, but a few inches apart.
• 5:03:57
  The sun was high in the heavens when she at last awoke, and
• 5:04:00
  beneath her was no sign either of Numa or the hyenas. Only the clean
• 5:04:06
  picked bones of the ape scattered about the ground attested the fact of what had
• 5:04:10
  transpired in this seemingly peaceful spot. But a few hours before, both hunger
• 5:04:15
  and thirst assailed her. Now, and realizing that she must descend or die
• 5:04:21
  of starvation, she at last summoned courage to undertake the ordeal of continuing her
• 5:04:26
  journey through the jungle. Descending from the tree, she set out in a
• 5:04:30
  southerly direction toward the point where she believed the plains of Waziri lay. And
• 5:04:34
  though she knew that only ruin and desolation marked the spot where once her happy
• 5:04:40
  home had stood, she hoped that by coming to the broad plain, she
• 5:04:44
  might eventually reach one of the numerous Waziri villages that were scattered over the surrounding
• 5:04:48
  country, or chance upon a roving band of these indefatigable huntsmen. The day
• 5:04:53
  was half spent when there broke, unexpectedly upon her startled ears, the sound
• 5:04:59
  of a rifle not far ahead of her. As she paused to listen,
• 5:05:03
  this first shot was followed by another, and another and another. What could
• 5:05:07
  it mean? The first explanation which sprung to her mind attributed the firing to
• 5:05:12
  an encounter between the Arab raiders and a party of Waziri. But as she
• 5:05:17
  did not know upon which side victory might rest, or whether she were behind
• 5:05:22
  friend or foe, she dared not advance nearer on the chance of revealing herself
• 5:05:26
  to an enemy. After listening for several minutes, she became convinced that no
• 5:05:30
  more than two or three rifles were engaged in the fight, since nothing approximating
• 5:05:36
  the sound of a volley reached her ears. But still she hesitated to approach,
• 5:05:40
  and at last, determining to take no chance, she climbed into the
• 5:05:45
  concealing foliage of a tree beside the trail she had been following, and there
• 5:05:48
  fearfully awaited whatever might reveal itself. As the firing became less rapid, she
• 5:05:55
  caught the sound of men's voices though she could distinguish no words. And at
• 5:05:59
  last, as the reports of the guns ceased and she heard two men calling
• 5:06:03
  to each other in loud tones, then there was a long silence, which
• 5:06:07
  was finally broken by the stealthy padding of footfalls on the trail ahead of her,
• 5:06:11
  And in another moment a man appeared in view, backing toward her,
• 5:06:15
  a rifle ready in his hands, and his eyes directed in careful watchfulness along
• 5:06:19
  the way that he had come. Almost instantly, Jane Clayton recognized the man
• 5:06:25
  as m Jill Fecour, who so recently had been a guest in her home.
• 5:06:30
  She was upon the point of calling to him in glad relief when she
• 5:06:33
  saw him leap quickly to one side and hide himself in the thick verdure at
• 5:06:37
  the trail's side. It was evident that he was being followed by an enemy,
• 5:06:42
  and so Jane Clayton kept silent, lest she distract Pecour's attention or guide
• 5:06:48
  his foe to his hiding place. Scarcely had Fecool hidden himself than the figure
• 5:06:53
  of a white robed Arab crept silently along the trail in pursuit from her hiding
• 5:06:59
  place. Jane c Slayton could see both men plainly. She recognized acmet Zek
• 5:07:03
  as the leader of the band of Ruffians who had raided her home and made
• 5:07:07
  her a prisoner. And as she saw Fekould the supposed friend and ally raise
• 5:07:11
  his gun and take careful aim at the Arab, her heart stood still,
• 5:07:15
  and every power of her soul was directed upon a fervent prayer for the accuracy
• 5:07:21
  of his aim. Acmetzek paused in the middle of the trail. His keen
• 5:07:26
  eyes scanned every bush and tree within the radius of his vision. His tall
• 5:07:30
  figure presented a perfect target to the perfidious assassin. There was a sharp report,
• 5:07:34
  and a little puff of smoke arose from the bush that hid the Belgian
• 5:07:38
  as achmet Zek stumbled forward and pitched face down upon the trail. As Werper
• 5:07:44
  stepped back into the trail, he was startled by the sound of a glad
• 5:07:48
  cry from above him. And as he wheeled about to discover the author of
• 5:07:52
  this unexpected interruption, he saw Jane Clayton drop lightly from a nearby tree and
• 5:07:56
  rush forward with outstretched hands to congratulate him upon his victory. End of Chapter
• 5:08:03
  nineteen, Chapter twenty, Jane Clayton again a prisoner, though her clothes were
• 5:08:11
  torn and her hair disheveled. Albert Werper realized that he never before had looked
• 5:08:17
  upon such a vision of loveliness as that which lady Greystoke presented in the relief
• 5:08:22
  and joy which she felt in coming so unexpectedly upon a friend and rescuer,
• 5:08:26
  when hope had seemed so far away. If the Belgian had entertained any doubts
• 5:08:33
  as to the woman's knowledge of his part in the perfidious attack upon her home
• 5:08:37
  and herself, it was quickly dissipated by the genuine friendliness of her greeting.
• 5:08:42
  She told him quickly of all that had befallen her since he had departed from
• 5:08:47
  her home, and as she spoke of the death of her husband, her
• 5:08:49
  eyes were veiled by the tears which she could not repress. I am shocked,
• 5:08:55
  said Werper, in well simulated sympathy, but I am not surprised.
• 5:09:00
  That devil there, and he pointed toward the body of achmet Zek, has
• 5:09:03
  terrorized the entire country. Your Bassiri are either exterminated or have been driven out
• 5:09:10
  of their country. Far to the south, the men of achmet Zek occupy
• 5:09:15
  the plain about your former home. There is neither sanctuary nor escape in that
• 5:09:18
  direction. Our only hope lies in traveling northward as rapidly as we may,
• 5:09:25
  of coming to the camp of the Raiders before the knowledge of achmet Zek's death
• 5:09:29
  reaches those who were left there, and of obtaining through some ruse and escort
• 5:09:33
  toward the north. I think that the thing can be accomplished, for I
• 5:09:37
  was a guest of the Raiders before I knew the nature of the man,
• 5:09:41
  and those at the camp are not aware that I turned against him when I
• 5:09:45
  discovered his villainy. Come, we will make all possible haste to reach the
• 5:09:49
  camp before those who accompanied achmet Zek upon his last raid have found his body
• 5:09:55
  and carried the news of his death to the cutthroats who remained behind. It
• 5:10:00
  is our only hope, Lady Greystoke, and you must place your entire faith
• 5:10:04
  in me if I am to succeed. Wait for me here a moment while
• 5:10:08
  I take from the Arab's body the wallet that he stole from me. And
• 5:10:14
  Werper stepped quickly to the dead man's side, and, kneeling sought with quick
• 5:10:18
  fingers the pouch of jewels. To his consternation, there was no sign of
• 5:10:22
  them in the garments of Ocmetsak rising, he walked back along the trail,
• 5:10:27
  searching for some trace of the missing pouch or its contents, but he found
• 5:10:32
  nothing, even though he searched carefully the vicinity of his dead horse and for
• 5:10:37
  a few paces into the jungle on either side. Puzzled, disappointed, and
• 5:10:41
  angry, he at last returned to the girl. The wallet is gone,
• 5:10:45
  he explained crisply, and I dare not delay longer in search of it.
• 5:10:51
  We must reach the camp before the returning raiders. Unsuspicious of the man's true
• 5:10:56
  character, Jane Clayton saw nothing peculiar in his plans or in his specious explanation
• 5:11:02
  of his former friendship for the raider, and so she grasped with alacrity the
• 5:11:07
  seeming hope for safety which he proffered her, and turning about, she set
• 5:11:11
  out with Albert Werper toward the hostile camp in which she so lately had been
• 5:11:15
  a prisoner. It was late in the afternoon of the second day before they
• 5:11:19
  reached their destination, and as they paused upon the edge of the clearing,
• 5:11:23
  before the gates of the walled village were precautioned, the girl to exceed whatever
• 5:11:29
  he might suggest by his conversation with the raiders, I shall tell them.
• 5:11:33
  He said that I apprehended you after you escaped from the camp, that I
• 5:11:37
  took you to achmet Zek, and that as he was engaged in a stubborn
• 5:11:42
  battle with the Waziri, he directed me to return to camp with you,
• 5:11:45
  to obtain here a sufficient guard, and to ride north with you as rapidly
• 5:11:51
  as possible, and dispose of you at the most advantageous terms to a certain
• 5:11:56
  slave broker, whose name he gave me. Again, the girl was deceived
• 5:12:00
  by the apparent frankness of the Belgian. She realized that desperate situations required desperate
• 5:12:07
  handling, and though she trembled inwardly at the thought of again entering the vile
• 5:12:11
  and hideous village of the Raiders, she saw no better course than that which
• 5:12:15
  her companion had suggested. Calling aloud to those who tended the gates, Whipper,
• 5:12:19
  grasping Jane Clayton by the arm, walked boldly across the clearing. Those
• 5:12:25
  who opened the gates to him permitted their surprise to show clearly in their expressions
• 5:12:30
  that the discredited and hunted lieutenant should be thus returning fearlessly of his own volition,
• 5:12:36
  seemed to disarm them quite as effectually as his manner toward Lady Greystoke had
• 5:12:41
  deceived her. The sentries at the gate returned Werper's salutations and viewed with astonishment
• 5:12:47
  the prisoner whom he brought into the village with him. Immediately, the Belgian
• 5:12:52
  sought the Arab who had been left in charge of the camp during Akmetzak's absence,
• 5:12:56
  and again his boldness disarmed suspicion and won the acceptance of his false explanation
• 5:13:02
  of his return. The fact that he had brought back with him the woman
• 5:13:06
  prisoner who had escaped added strength to his claims, and Mohammed Bayd soon found
• 5:13:11
  himself fraternizing good naturedly with the very man whom he would have slain without compunction
• 5:13:18
  had he discovered him alone in the jungle. A half hour before, Jane
• 5:13:22
  Clayton was again confined to the prison hut she had formerly occupied. But as
• 5:13:27
  she realized that this was but a part of the deception which she and Fecul
• 5:13:32
  were playing upon the credulous raiders, it was with quite a different sensation that
• 5:13:37
  she again entered the vile and filth the interior from that which she had previously
• 5:13:41
  experienced when hope was so far away. Once more she was bound and sent
• 5:13:47
  replaced before the door of her prison. But before Werper left her, he
• 5:13:51
  whispered words of cheer into her ear. Then he left and made his way
• 5:13:56
  back to the tent of Mohammed Bayd. He had been wondering how long it
• 5:14:00
  would be before the raiders who had ridden out with achmet Zek would return with
• 5:14:03
  the murdered body of their chief, And the more he thought upon the matter,
• 5:14:07
  the greater his fears became. That without accomplices his plan would fail.
• 5:14:12
  What even if he got away from the camp in safety before any returned with
• 5:14:18
  the true story of his guilt, Of what value would this advantage be,
• 5:14:22
  other than to protract for a few days his mental torture and his life.
• 5:14:26
  These hard riders, familiar with every trail and by path, would get him
• 5:14:30
  long before he could hope to reach the coast. As these thoughts passed through
• 5:14:34
  his mind, he entered the tent where Mohammed Bayad sat cross legged upon a
• 5:14:40
  rug smoking. The Arab looked up as the European came into his presence.
• 5:14:45
  Greetings, O brother, he said, greetings, replied Werber. For a
• 5:14:49
  while neither spoke further. The Arab was the first to break the silence.
• 5:14:55
  And my master achmeczach Bazvel when you last saw, he asked, Never was
• 5:15:02
  he safer from the sins and dangers of mortality? Replied the Belgian. It
• 5:15:07
  is well, said Mohammed Bad, blowing a little puff of blue smoke straight
• 5:15:11
  out before him. Again, there was silence for several minutes. And if
• 5:15:15
  you were dead, asked the Belgian. Determined to lead up to the truth
• 5:15:18
  and attempt to bribe Mohammed Bad into his service, the Arab's eyes narrowed and
• 5:15:23
  he leaned forward, his gaze boring straight into the eyes of the Belgian.
• 5:15:29
  I have been thinking much, Werper, since you returned so unexpectedly to the
• 5:15:33
  camp of the man whom you had deceived and who sought you vith death in
• 5:15:38
  his heart. I have been with Ahmetzek for many years. His own mother
• 5:15:45
  never knew him so well as I. He never forgives much less would he
• 5:15:49
  again trust a man who had once betrayed him? That I know. I
• 5:15:56
  have thought much, as I said, and the result of my thinks King
• 5:16:00
  has assured me that Achmetzek is dead, for otherwise you would never have dare
• 5:16:06
  returned to his camp, unless you be either a braver man or a bager
• 5:16:11
  fool than I have imagined. And if the evidence of my judgment is not
• 5:16:17
  sufficient, I have but just now received from your own leaps even more confirmatory
• 5:16:23
  witness. For did you not say that achmet Zek was never more safe from
• 5:16:30
  the sins and dangers of mortality. Achmet Zek is dead, You need not
• 5:16:37
  deny it. I was not his mother or his mistress. So do not
• 5:16:41
  fear that my veiling shall disturb you. Tell me why you have come back
• 5:16:47
  here, Tell me what you want, and velper if you still possessed the
• 5:16:52
  jewels of which Achmetzak told me, there is no reason by you and I
• 5:16:57
  should not ride nor together and divide the ransom of the white woman and the
• 5:17:03
  contents of the pauchiu vae about your person, eh. The evil eyes narrowed,
• 5:17:08
  A vicious, thin lipped smile tortured the villainous face as Mohammed Bayd grinned
• 5:17:15
  knowingly into the face of the Belgian Werper was both relieved and disturbed by the
• 5:17:19
  Arab's attitude. The complacency with which he accepted the death of his chief lifted
• 5:17:26
  a considerable burden of apprehension from the shoulders of Akmetzek's assassin, But his demand
• 5:17:32
  for a share of the jewels boded ill for Werper. When Mohammed Bayd should
• 5:17:37
  have learned that the precious stones were no longer in the Belgian's possession, to
• 5:17:41
  acknowledge that he had lost the jewels might be to arouse the wrath or suspicion
• 5:17:45
  of the Arab to such an extent as would jeopardize his new found chances of
• 5:17:51
  escape. His one hope seemed then to lie in fostering Mohammed Bayd's belief that
• 5:17:56
  the jewels were still in his possession, and depend upon the actioncidents of the
• 5:18:00
  future to open an avenue of escape. Could he contrive to tent with the
• 5:18:04
  Arab upon the march north, he might find opportunity in plenty to remove this
• 5:18:10
  menace to his life and liberty. It was worth trying, And further,
• 5:18:15
  there seemed no other way out of his difficulty. Yes, he said,
• 5:18:18
  Ochmetzak is dead. He fell in battle with a company of Absinian cavalry that
• 5:18:23
  held me captive during the fighting. I escaped, but I doubt if any
• 5:18:29
  of Akmetzek's men live, and the gold they sought is in the possession of
• 5:18:33
  the Abscinians. Even now they are doubtless marching on these camps, for they
• 5:18:37
  were sent by Menelak to punish Achmetzek and his followers for a raid upon an
• 5:18:42
  obsidian village. There are many of them, and if we do not make
• 5:18:47
  haste to escape, we shall all suffer the same fate as Achmetzek. Mohammed
• 5:18:52
  Bayad listened in silence. How much of the unbeliever's story he might safely believe
• 5:18:59
  he did not know, but as it afforded him an excuse for deserting the
• 5:19:03
  village and making for the north, he was not inclined to cross question the
• 5:19:07
  Belgian too minutely. And if I ride north with you, he asked,
• 5:19:11
  hath the jewels and half the ransom of the woman shall be mine? Yes,
• 5:19:17
  replied Werper. Good, said Mohammed bed I go now to give the
• 5:19:22
  order for the breaking of camp early on the morrow, and he rose to
• 5:19:26
  leave the tent. Werperlated, detaining hand upon his arm. Wait, he
• 5:19:30
  said, let us determine how many shall accompany us. It is not well
• 5:19:34
  that we be burdened by the women and children, for then indeed we might
• 5:19:38
  be overtaken by the Absinians. It would be far better to select a small
• 5:19:44
  guard of your bravest men and leave word behind that we are riding west.
• 5:19:48
  Then when the Obsinians come, they will put upon the wrong trail, should
• 5:19:52
  they have it in their hearts to pursue us. And if they do not,
• 5:19:56
  they will at least ride north with less rapidity than as though they thought
• 5:20:00
  that we were ahead of them. The Salpenties less vised, and dal Werper
• 5:20:06
  said Mohammed Bad with a smile. Each shall be done as you say.
• 5:20:11
  Twenty men shall accompany us, and we shall ride vast van we leave the
• 5:20:15
  village. Good, cried the Belgian, and so it was arranged. Early
• 5:20:22
  the next morning, Jane Clayton, after an almost sleepless night, was aroused
• 5:20:26
  by the sound of voices outside her prison, and a moment later m Fecoul
• 5:20:32
  and two Arabs entered. The latter unbound her ankles and lifted her to her
• 5:20:36
  feet. Then her wrists were loosed. She was given a handful of dry
• 5:20:40
  bread and led out into the faint light of dawn. She looked questioningly at
• 5:20:45
  Fecool, and at a moment that the Arab's attention was attracted in another direction,
• 5:20:49
  the man leaned toward her and whispered that all was working out as he
• 5:20:53
  had planned. Thus assured, the young woman felt a renewal of the hope
• 5:20:57
  which the long and miserable night of bondage had almost exposed. Shortly after,
• 5:21:03
  she was lifted to the back of a horse and surrounded by a ramps,
• 5:21:07
  was escorted through the gateway of the village and off into the jungle toward the
• 5:21:11
  west. Half an hour later, the party turned north and northerly was their
• 5:21:15
  direction for the balance of the march. M Fecoul spoke with her but seldom,
• 5:21:22
  and she understood that in carrying out his deception, he must maintain the
• 5:21:26
  semblance of her captor rather than protect her, and so she suspected nothing,
• 5:21:30
  though she saw the friendly relations which seemed to exist between the European and the
• 5:21:36
  Arab leader of the band. If Worper succeeded in keeping himself from conversation with
• 5:21:41
  the young woman, he failed signally to expel her from his thoughts. A
• 5:21:45
  hundred times a day he found his eyes wandering in her direction, and feasting
• 5:21:51
  themselves upon her charms of face and figure. Each hour his infatuation for her
• 5:21:56
  grew, until his desire to possess her gained almost the proportions of madness.
• 5:22:02
  If either the girl or Mohammed Bayd could have guessed what passed in the mind
• 5:22:06
  of the man, which each thought a friend, and ally, the apparent
• 5:22:10
  harmony of the little company would have been rudely disturbed. Wherper had not succeeded
• 5:22:15
  in arranging to tent with Mohammed Bayd, and so he revolved many plans for
• 5:22:19
  the assassination of the Arab that would have been greatly simplified had he been permitted
• 5:22:25
  to share the other's nightly shelter. Upon the second day out, Mohammed Bayd
• 5:22:30
  reined his horse to the side of the animal on which the captive was mounted.
• 5:22:33
  It was apparently the first notice which the Arab had taken of the girl.
• 5:22:38
  But many times during these two days had his cunning eyes peered greedily from
• 5:22:44
  beneath the hood of his burnouse to gloat upon the beauties of the prisoner.
• 5:22:48
  Nor was this hidden infatuation of any recent origin. He had conceived it when
• 5:22:53
  first the wife of the Englishman had fallen into the hands of achmet Zek.
• 5:22:57
  But while that austere chieftain lived, Mohammed Bayd had not even dared hope for
• 5:23:02
  a realization of his imaginings. Now, though it was different, Only a
• 5:23:07
  despised dog of a Christian stood between himself and possession of the girl. How
• 5:23:12
  easy it would be to slay the unbeliever and taken to himself both the woman
• 5:23:17
  and the jewels. With the latter in his possession, the ransom which might
• 5:23:22
  be obtained for the captive would form no great inducement to her relinquishment in the
• 5:23:26
  face of the pleasures of sole ownership of her. Yes, he would kill
• 5:23:30
  wherper retain all the jewels, and keep the Englishwoman. He turned his eyes
• 5:23:37
  upon her as she rode along at his side. How beautiful she was.
• 5:23:41
  His fingers opened and closed, skinny brown talons itching to feel the soft flesh
• 5:23:47
  of the victim in their remorseless clutch. Do you know, he asked,
• 5:23:52
  leaning toward her, this man would take you. Jane Clayton nodded affirmatively,
• 5:23:56
  and are you willing to become the plaything of a black sultan? The girl
• 5:24:03
  drew herself up to her full height and turned her head away. But she
• 5:24:06
  did not reply. She feared lest her knowledge of the ruse that m.
• 5:24:11
  Fey Cold was playing upon the Arab might cause her to betray herself through an
• 5:24:15
  insufficient display of terror and aversion. You can escape these fate, continued the
• 5:24:22
  Arab. Mohammed Bayed veiled, save you, and he reached out a brown
• 5:24:26
  hand and seized the fingers of her right hand in a grasp so sudden and
• 5:24:32
  so fierce that this brutal passion was revealed as clearly in the act as though
• 5:24:36
  his lips had confessed it in words. Jane Clayton wrenched herself from his grasp.
• 5:24:41
  You beast, she cried, leave me, or I shall call him
• 5:24:45
  fe cour. Mohammed Bayed drew back with a scowl, his thin upper lip
• 5:24:49
  curled upward, revealing his smooth white teeth. M Fakeur, he jeered,
• 5:24:55
  there is no such person. The man's name is Verper. He's a liar,
• 5:25:00
  a thief, and a murderer. He killed his captain in the Congo
• 5:25:04
  country and fled to the protection of achmet Zek. He led achmet Zek to
• 5:25:10
  the plendor of your home. He followed your husband and planned to steal his
• 5:25:15
  gold from him. He has told me that you thinking your protector, and
• 5:25:19
  he has played upon this to being your confidence that it might be easier to
• 5:25:25
  carry you north and sell you into some black sultan's harem. Mohammed Bayd is
• 5:25:30
  your only hope. And with this assertion to provide the captive with food for
• 5:25:36
  thought, the Arab spurred forward toward the head of the column. Jane Clayton
• 5:25:41
  could not know how much of Mohammed Bayd's indictment might be true, or how
• 5:25:45
  much faulse, but at least it had the effect of dampening her hopes and
• 5:25:49
  causing her to review with suspicion every past act of the man upon whom she
• 5:25:55
  had been looking as her sole protector. In the midst of a world of
• 5:25:59
  enemies dangers on the march, a separate tent had been provided for the captive,
• 5:26:04
  and at night it was pitched between those of Mohammed Bayd and Werper.
• 5:26:08
  A sentry was posted at the front and another at the back. And with
• 5:26:12
  these precautions it had not been thought necessary to confine the prisoner to bonds.
• 5:26:18
  The evening following her interview with Mohammed Bayd. Jane Clayton sat for some time
• 5:26:23
  at the opening of her tent, watching the rough activities of the camp.
• 5:26:27
  She had eaten the meal that had been brought her by Mohammed Bayd's Negro slave,
• 5:26:33
  a meal of cassava cakes and a nondescript stew in which a new killed
• 5:26:37
  monkey, a couple of squirrels, and the remains of a zebra slain the
• 5:26:41
  previous day were impartially and unsavorily combined. But the one time Baltimore Bell had
• 5:26:48
  long since submerged in the stern battle for existence, an estheticism which formerly revolted
• 5:26:53
  at much slighter provocation. As the girl's eyes wandered across the trampled jungle,
• 5:27:00
  clearing already squalid from the presence of man, she no longer apprehended either the
• 5:27:04
  nearer objects of the foreground, the uncouth men laughing or quarreling among themselves,
• 5:27:11
  or the jungle beyond which circumscribed the extreme range of her material vision. Her
• 5:27:15
  gaze passed through all these unseeing to center itself upon a distant bungalow and scenes
• 5:27:22
  of happy security, which brought to her eyes tears of mingled joy and sorrow.
• 5:27:29
  She saw a tall, broad shouldered man riding in from distant fields.
• 5:27:33
  She saw herself waiting to greet him with an armful of fresh cut roses from
• 5:27:37
  the bushes which flanked the little rustic gait before her. All this was gone,
• 5:27:44
  vanished into the past, wiped out by the torches and bullets and hatred
• 5:27:48
  of these hideous and degenerate men. With a stifled sob and a little shudder,
• 5:27:53
  Jane Clayton turned back into her tent and sought the pile of unclean blankets
• 5:27:59
  which were her bed, throwing herself face downward upon them. She sobbed forth
• 5:28:03
  her misery until kindly sleep brought her at least temporary relief. And while she
• 5:28:10
  slept, a figure stole from the tent that stood to the right of hers.
• 5:28:15
  It approached the sentry before the doorway, and whispered a few words in
• 5:28:18
  the man's ear. The latter nodded and strode off through the darkness in the
• 5:28:22
  direction of his own blankets. The figure passed to the rear of Jane Clayton's
• 5:28:29
  tent and spoke again to the sentry there, And this man also left,
• 5:28:33
  following in the trail of the first. Then he who had sent them away,
• 5:28:37
  stole silently to the tent flap, and untying the fastenings, entered with
• 5:28:42
  the noiselessness of a disembodied spirit. End of Chapter twenty Chapter twenty one,
• 5:28:51
  the flight to the jungle. Sleepless upon his blankets, Albert Wherper let his
• 5:28:56
  evil mind dwell upon the charms of the woman in the nearby tent. He
• 5:29:02
  had noted Mohammed Bayd's sudden interest in the girl, and, judging the man
• 5:29:07
  by his own standards, had guessed at the basis of the Arab's sudden change
• 5:29:11
  of attitude towards the prisoner, And as he let his imaginings run riot,
• 5:29:15
  they aroused within him a bestial jealousy of Mohammed Bayd and a great fear that
• 5:29:22
  the other might encompass his base designs upon the defenseless girl. By a strange
• 5:29:26
  process of reasoning, Wherper, whose designs were identical with the Arabs, pictured
• 5:29:33
  himself as Jane Clayton's protector, and presently convinced himself that the attentions which might
• 5:29:38
  seem hideous to her, if proffered by Mohammed Bayd, would be welcomed from
• 5:29:44
  Albert Werper. Her husband was dead, and Werper fancied that he could replace
• 5:29:49
  in the girl's heart the position which had been vacated by the act of the
• 5:29:53
  grim Reaper. He could offer Jane Clayton marriage, a thing which Mohammed Bayd
• 5:29:59
  would not offer, and which the girl would spurn from him with as deep
• 5:30:03
  disgust as she would his unholy lust. It was not long before the Belgian
• 5:30:08
  had succeeded in convincing himself that the captive not only had every reason for having
• 5:30:14
  conceived sentiments of love for him, but that she had, by various feminine
• 5:30:18
  methods, acknowledged her new born affection. And then a sudden resolution possessed him.
• 5:30:25
  He threw the blankets from him and rose to his feet, pulling on
• 5:30:29
  his boots and buckling his cartridge belt and revolver about his hips. He stepped
• 5:30:33
  to the flap of his tent and looked out. There was no sentry before
• 5:30:37
  the entrance to the prisoner's tent. What could it mean? Fate was indeed
• 5:30:42
  playing into his hands. Stepping outside, he passed to the rear of the
• 5:30:48
  girl's tent. There was no sentry there either, and now boldly he walked
• 5:30:52
  to the entrance and stepped within. Dimly, the moonlight illumined the interior.
• 5:30:57
  Across the tent, a figure bent above the blankets of a bed. There
• 5:31:02
  was a whispered word, and another figure rose from the blankets to a sitting
• 5:31:07
  position. Slowly, Albert Werper's eyes were becoming accustomed to the half darkness of
• 5:31:11
  the tent. He saw that the figure leaning over the bed was that of
• 5:31:15
  a man, and he guessed at the truth of the nocturnal visitor's identity.
• 5:31:21
  A sullen, jealous rage enveloped him. He took a step in the direction
• 5:31:25
  of the two. He heard a frightened cry break from the girl's lips as
• 5:31:29
  she recognized the features of the man above her, and he saw Mohammed Bayd
• 5:31:33
  seize her by the throat and bare her back upon the blankets. Cheated passion
• 5:31:38
  cast a red blur before the eyes of the Belgian. No, the man
• 5:31:42
  should not have her. She was for him and him alone. He would
• 5:31:47
  not be robbed of his rights. Quickly he ran across the tent and threw
• 5:31:52
  himself upon the back of Mohammed Bayd. The latter, though surprised by this
• 5:31:56
  sudden and unexpected attack, was not one to give up without a battle.
• 5:32:00
  The Belgian's fingers were feeling for his throat, but the Arab tore them away,
• 5:32:06
  and rising wheeled upon his adversary. As they faced each other, were
• 5:32:10
  perstruck the Arab a heavy blow in the face, sending him staggering backward.
• 5:32:15
  If he had followed up his advantage, he would have had Mohammed Bad at
• 5:32:18
  his mercy in another moment, but instead he tugged at his revolver to draw
• 5:32:23
  it from its holster, and fate ordained that at that particular moment the weapon
• 5:32:29
  should stick in its leather scabbard. Before he could disengage it, Mohammed Bayd
• 5:32:34
  had recovered himself and was dashing upon him again. Were perstruck the other in
• 5:32:38
  the face, and the Arab returned the blow, Striking at each other and
• 5:32:44
  ceaselessly attempting to clinch. The two battled about the small interior of the tent,
• 5:32:48
  while the girl, wide eyed in terror and astonishment, watched the duel
• 5:32:53
  in frozen silence. Again and again, Werper struggled to draw his weapon.
• 5:32:59
  Mohammed Bad, anticipating no such opposition to his base desires, had come to
• 5:33:04
  the tent unarmed except for a long knife, which he now drew. As
• 5:33:08
  he stood panting during the first brief rest of the encounter. Dog of a
• 5:33:14
  Christian, he whispered, look upon this knife in the hands of Mohammed Bayd,
• 5:33:18
  Look veil and believer, for it is the last thing in life that
• 5:33:23
  you shall see or feel. We eat Mohammed Bayd. If ye'll cut out
• 5:33:29
  to your black heart. If you have a god, pray to him now.
• 5:33:33
  In a minute more you shall be dead. And with that he rushed
• 5:33:38
  viciously upon the Belgian, his knife raised high above his head. Wherper was
• 5:33:44
  still dragging futilely at his weapon. The Arab was almost upon him. In
• 5:33:48
  desperation, the European waited until Mohammed Bayed was all but against him. Then
• 5:33:53
  he threw himself to one side to the floor of the tent, leaving a
• 5:33:57
  leg extended in the path of the a rap. The trick succeeded. Mohammed
• 5:34:02
  bay had carried on by the momentum of his charge, stumbled over the projecting
• 5:34:07
  obstacle and crashed to the ground. Instantly he was up again and wheeling to
• 5:34:11
  renew the battle. But Werper was on foot ahead of him, and now
• 5:34:15
  his revolver, loosened from its holster, flashed in his hand. The a
• 5:34:19
  rab dove head first to grapple with him. There was a sharp report,
• 5:34:23
  a lurid gleam of flame in the darkness, and Mohammed Bay had rolled over
• 5:34:29
  and over upon the floor to come to a final rest beside the bed of
• 5:34:33
  the woman he had sought to dishonor Almost immediately following the report came the sound
• 5:34:38
  of excited voices in the camp without. Men were calling back and forth to
• 5:34:44
  one another, asking the meaning of the shot. Werper, could hear them
• 5:34:48
  running hither and thither investigating. Jane Clayton had risen to her feet as the
• 5:34:52
  Arab died, and now she came forward with outstretched hands toward Wherper. How
• 5:34:57
  can I ever think you, my friend, she asked, And to think
• 5:35:02
  that only to day I had almost believed the infamous story which this beast told
• 5:35:07
  me, of your perfidy and of your past. Forgive me mphe coule.
• 5:35:11
  I might have known that a white man and a gentleman could be nought else
• 5:35:15
  than the protector of a woman of his own race. Amid the dangers of
• 5:35:19
  this savage land, Werper's hands dropped limply at his sides. He stood looking
• 5:35:26
  at the girl, but he could find no words to reply to her.
• 5:35:30
  Her innocent arraignment of his true purposes was unanswerable. Outside, the Arabs were
• 5:35:36
  searching for the author of the disturbing shot. The two sentries who had been
• 5:35:41
  relieved and sent to their blankets by Mohammed Bayd, were the first to suggest
• 5:35:45
  going to the tent of the prisoner. It occurred to them that possibly the
• 5:35:49
  woman had successfully defended herself against their leader. Wherper heard the man approaching to
• 5:35:56
  be apprehended as the slayer of Mohammed bad would be equiver to a sentence of
• 5:36:00
  immediate death. The fierce and brutal raiders would tear to pieces a Christian who
• 5:36:06
  had dared spill the blood of their leader. He must find some excuse to
• 5:36:10
  delay the finding of Mohammed Bayd's dead body. Returning his revolver to its holster,
• 5:36:15
  he walked quickly to the entrance of the tent. Parting the flaps,
• 5:36:19
  he stepped out and confronted the men who were rapidly approaching. Somehow he found
• 5:36:25
  within him the necessary bravado to force a smile to his lips as he held
• 5:36:29
  up his hand to bar their farther progress. The woman resisted, he said,
• 5:36:33
  and Mohammed Bayd was forced to shoot her. She is not dead,
• 5:36:37
  only slightly wounded. You may go back to your blankets, Mohammed Bayd,
• 5:36:42
  and I will look after the prisoner. Then he turned and re entered the
• 5:36:45
  tent, and the raiders, satisfied by this explanation, gladly returned to their
• 5:36:51
  broken slumbers. As he again faced Jane Clayton were profound himself, animated by
• 5:36:57
  quite different intentions than those which had lured him from his blankets but a few
• 5:37:03
  minutes before the excitement of his encounter with Mohammed Bad, as well as the
• 5:37:07
  dangers which he now faced at the hands of the raiders. When morning must
• 5:37:11
  inevitably reveal the truth of what had occurred in the tent of the prisoner that
• 5:37:15
  night had naturally cooled the hot passion which had dominated him when he entered the
• 5:37:21
  tent, But another and stronger force was exerting itself in the girl's favor.
• 5:37:26
  However, low a man may sink, honor and chivalry as he ever possessed
• 5:37:30
  them, are never entirely eradicated. From his character, and although Albert Wherper
• 5:37:37
  had long since ceased to evidence the slightest claim to either the one or the
• 5:37:41
  other, the spontaneous acknowledgment of them which the girl's speech had presumed, had
• 5:37:47
  reawakened them both within him. For the first time he realized the almost hopeless
• 5:37:52
  and frightful position of the fair captive, and the depths of ignominy to which
• 5:37:56
  he had sunk that had made it possible for him, a well born,
• 5:37:59
  you European gentleman, to have entertained even for a moment, the part that
• 5:38:03
  he had taken in the ruin of her home, happiness and herself. Too
• 5:38:07
  much of baseness already lay at the threshold of his conscience for him ever to
• 5:38:12
  hope entirely to redeem himself. But in the first sudden burst of contrition,
• 5:38:18
  the man conceived an honest intention to undo, in so far as lay within
• 5:38:22
  his power, the evil that his criminal avarice had brought upon this sweet and
• 5:38:26
  unoffending woman. As he stood, apparently listening to the retreating footsteps, Jane
• 5:38:33
  Clayton approached him. What are we to do now? She asked? Morning
• 5:38:37
  will bring discovery of this, and she pointed to the still body of Mohammed
• 5:38:41
  Bayad. They will kill you when they find him. For a time,
• 5:38:45
  Wherper did not reply. Then he turned suddenly toward the woman. I have
• 5:38:49
  a plan, he cried. It will require nerve and courage on your part,
• 5:38:53
  but you have already shown that you possess both. Can you endure still
• 5:38:59
  more? I can endure anything, she replied, with a brave smile.
• 5:39:03
  That may offer us even a slight chance for escape. You must simulate death,
• 5:39:08
  he explained. While I carry you from the camp, I will explain
• 5:39:12
  to the sentries that Mohammed Bayad has ordered me to take your body into the
• 5:39:17
  jungle, this seemingly unnecessary act. I shall explain upon the grounds that Mohammed
• 5:39:22
  Bayad had conceived a violent passion for you, and that he so regretted the
• 5:39:26
  act by which he had become your slayer that he could not endure the silent
• 5:39:32
  reproach of your lifeless body. The girl held up her hand to stop a
• 5:39:37
  smile touched her lips. Are you quite mad, she asked? Do you
• 5:39:41
  imagine that the sentries will credit any such ridiculous tale. You do not know
• 5:39:47
  them, he replied, beneath their rofixed terriers. Despite their collost and criminal
• 5:39:52
  natures, there exists in each a well defined strain of romantic emotionalism. You
• 5:39:57
  will find it among the such as these throughout the world. It is romance
• 5:40:03
  which lures men to lead wild lives of outlawry and crime. The ruse will
• 5:40:08
  succeed. Never fear, Jane Clayton shrugged. We can but try it,
• 5:40:14
  and then what I shall hide you in the jungle, continued the Belgian,
• 5:40:19
  coming for you alone and with two horses in the morning. But how will
• 5:40:23
  you explain Mohammed Bayd's death? She asked. It will be discovered before ever
• 5:40:29
  you can escape the camp in the morning. I shall not explain it,
• 5:40:33
  replied Werper. Mohammed Bayd shall explain it himself. We must leave that to
• 5:40:38
  him. Are you ready for the venture? Yes? But wait, I
• 5:40:44
  must get you a weapon and ammunition, and Werper walked quickly from the tent.
• 5:40:49
  Very shortly he returned with an extra revolver and ammunition belt strapped about his
• 5:40:55
  waist. Are you ready, he asked? Quite ready, replied the girl.
• 5:41:00
  Then come and throw yourself limply across my left shoulder, and Werper knelt
• 5:41:06
  to receive her bear, he said, as he rose to his feet.
• 5:41:10
  Now let your arms and your legs and your head hang limply, remember that
• 5:41:15
  you are dead. A moment later, the man walked out into the camp,
• 5:41:18
  the body of the woman across his shoulder. A thorn boma had been
• 5:41:22
  thrown up about the camp to discourage the boulder of the hungry carnivora. A
• 5:41:27
  couple of sentries paced to and fro in the light of a fire, which
• 5:41:32
  they kept burning brightly. The nearer of these looked up in surprise as he
• 5:41:36
  saw Werper approaching. Who are you? He cried, What have you there?
• 5:41:41
  Wherper raised the hood of his burnous that the fellow might see his face.
• 5:41:45
  This is the body of the woman, he explained. Mohammed Bayad has
• 5:41:49
  asked me to take it into the jungle, for he cannot bear to look
• 5:41:53
  upon the face of her, whom he loved and whom necessity compelled him to
• 5:41:57
  slayers greatly. He is inconsolable. It was with difficulty that I prevented him
• 5:42:04
  taking his own life. Across the speaker's shoulder, limp and frightened, the
• 5:42:10
  girl waited for the Arab's reply. He would laugh at this preposterous story of
• 5:42:15
  that. She was sure in an instant he would unmask the deception that m.
• 5:42:19
  Fecurl was attempting to practice upon him, and they would both be lost.
• 5:42:25
  She tried to plan how best she might aid her would be rescuer in
• 5:42:29
  the fight which must most certainly follow. Within a moment or two, then
• 5:42:33
  she heard the voice of the Arab as he replied to m fecour, are
• 5:42:37
  you going alone? Or do you wish me to awaken some one to accompany
• 5:42:41
  you? He asked, and his tone denoted not the least surprised that Mohammed
• 5:42:47
  Bayd had suddenly discovered such remarkably sensitive characteristics. I shall go alone, replied
• 5:42:52
  Werper, and he passed on and out through the narrow opening in the boma
• 5:42:56
  by which the sentry stood. A moment later, he had entered among the
• 5:43:02
  bowls of the trees with his burden, and, when safely hidden from the
• 5:43:04
  sentry's view, lowered the girl to her feet with a low sh sh when
• 5:43:11
  she would have spoken, then he led her a little farther into the forest,
• 5:43:15
  halted beneath a large tree with spreading branches, buckled a cartridge belt,
• 5:43:19
  and revolver about her waist and assisted her to clamor into the lower branches.
• 5:43:26
  Tomorrow, he whispered, as soon as I can elude them, I will
• 5:43:30
  return for you. Be brave lady Greystoke, we may yet escape. Thank
• 5:43:36
  you, she replied in a low tone. You have been very kind and
• 5:43:40
  very brave. Wherper did not reply, and the darkness of the night hid
• 5:43:45
  the scarlet flush of shame which swept upward across his face. Quickly he turned
• 5:43:51
  and made his way back to camp. The sentry from his post saw him
• 5:43:55
  enter his own tent, but he did not see him crawl under the canvass
• 5:44:00
  the rear and snaked cautiously to the tent which the prisoner had occupied, where
• 5:44:04
  now lay the dead body of Mohammed Bayed. Raising the lower edge of the
• 5:44:08
  rear wall. Were percrept within and approached the corpse without an instant's hesitation.
• 5:44:15
  He seized the dead wrists and dragged the body upon its back to the point
• 5:44:19
  where he had just entered. On hands and knees. He backed out as
• 5:44:23
  he had come in, drawing the corpse after him. Once outside, the
• 5:44:27
  Belgian crept to the side of the tent and surveyed as much of the camp
• 5:44:32
  as lay within his vision no one was watching. Returning to the body,
• 5:44:37
  he lifted it to his shoulder, and, risking all on a quick sally,
• 5:44:41
  ran swiftly across the narrow opening which separated the prisoner's tent from that of
• 5:44:45
  the dead man. Behind the silken wall. He halted and lowered his burden
• 5:44:51
  to the ground, and there he remained motionless for several minutes, listening.
• 5:44:56
  Satisfied at last that no one had seen him, he stooped and raised the
• 5:45:00
  bottom of the tent wall, backed in and dragged the thing that had been
• 5:45:04
  Mohammed Bayd after him to the sleeping rugs of the dead raider. He drew
• 5:45:08
  the corpse. Then he fumbled about in the darkness until he had found Mohammed
• 5:45:14
  Bayd's revolver. With the weapon in his hand, he returned to the side
• 5:45:18
  of the dead man, kneeled beside the bedding, and inserted his right hand
• 5:45:22
  with the weapon beneath the rugs. Piled a number of thicknesses of the closely
• 5:45:26
  woven fabric over and about the revolver with his left hand. Then he pulled
• 5:45:32
  the trigger, and at the same time he coughed the muffled report could not
• 5:45:37
  have been heard above the sound of his cough by one directly outside the tent.
• 5:45:41
  Wherper was satisfied. A grim smile touched his lips as he withdrew the
• 5:45:47
  weapon from the rugs and placed it carefully in the right hand of the dead
• 5:45:51
  man, fixing three of the fingers around the grip and the index finger inside
• 5:45:56
  the trigger guard. A moment longer, he tarried, re arranged the disordered
• 5:46:00
  rugs, and then he left as he had entered, fastening down the rear
• 5:46:06
  wall of the tent as it had been before he had raised it. Going
• 5:46:10
  to the tent of the prisoner, he removed there also the evidence that some
• 5:46:14
  one might have come or gone beneath the rear wall. Then he returned to
• 5:46:18
  his own tent, entered fastened down the canvas, and crawled into his blankets.
• 5:46:23
  The following morning, he was awakened by the excited voice of Mohammed Bayd's
• 5:46:29
  slave calling to him at the entrance of his tent. Quick quick cried the
• 5:46:33
  black in a frightened tone, Come, Mohammed Bayud is dead in his tent,
• 5:46:37
  dead by his own hand. Wherper sat up quickly in his blankets.
• 5:46:42
  At the first alarm, a startled expression upon his countenance, but at the
• 5:46:47
  last words of the black, a sigh of relief escaped his lips, and
• 5:46:51
  a slight smile replaced the tents lines upon his face. A come, he
• 5:46:56
  called to the slave, and, drawing on his boot, rose and went
• 5:47:00
  out of his tent. Excited, Arabs and Blacks were running from all parts
• 5:47:03
  of the camp toward the silken tent of Mohammed Bayd. And when Werper entered,
• 5:47:08
  he found a number of the raiders crowded about the corpse, now cold
• 5:47:12
  and stiff, shouldering his way among them, the Belgian halted beside the dead
• 5:47:17
  body of the raider. He looked down in silence for a moment upon the
• 5:47:21
  still face. Then he wheeled upon the Arabs. Who has done this thing?
• 5:47:26
  He cried? His tone was both menacing and accusing. Who has murdered
• 5:47:30
  Mohammed Bayd? A sudden chorus of voices arose in tumultuous protest. Mohammed Bayd
• 5:47:37
  was not murdered, they cried, He died by his own hand. This
• 5:47:41
  and all are our witnesses. And they pointed to a revolver in the dead
• 5:47:45
  man's hand. For a time, Werper pretended to be skeptical, but at
• 5:47:51
  last permitted himself to be convinced that Mohammed Bayd had indeed killed himself in remorse
• 5:47:56
  for the death of the white woman he had all an known to his followers
• 5:48:00
  loved so devotedly. Wherper himself wrapped the blankets of the dead man about the
• 5:48:06
  corpse, taking care to fold inward the scorched and bullet torn fabric that had
• 5:48:11
  muffled the report of the weapon he had fired the night before. Then six
• 5:48:15
  husky blacks carried the body out into the clearing where the camp stood, and
• 5:48:19
  deposited it in a shallow grave. As the loose earth fell upon the silent
• 5:48:25
  form beneath the tell tale blankets, Albert Wherper heaved another sigh of relief.
• 5:48:30
  His plan had worked out even better than he had dared hope. With Achmetzak
• 5:48:36
  and Mohammed Bayd both dead, the raiders were without a leader, and after
• 5:48:41
  a brief conference, they decided to return into the north on visits to the
• 5:48:45
  various tribes to which they belonged. Wherper, after learning the direction they intended
• 5:48:51
  taking, announced that for his part, he was going east to the coast,
• 5:48:56
  and as they knew of nothing he possessed which any of them coveted,
• 5:48:59
  they signified their willingness that he should go his way. As they rode off,
• 5:49:03
  he sat his horse in the center of the clearing, watching them disappear
• 5:49:07
  one by one into the jungle, and thanked his God that he had at
• 5:49:12
  last escaped their villainous clutches. When he could no longer hear any sound of
• 5:49:18
  them, he turned to the right and rode into the forest, toward the
• 5:49:21
  tree where he had hidden Lady Greystoak, and, drawing rain beneath it,
• 5:49:25
  called up in a gay and hopeful voice, a pleasant good morning. There
• 5:49:30
  was no reply, and though his eyes searched the thick foliage above him,
• 5:49:34
  he could see no sign of the girl. Dismounting, he quickly climbed into
• 5:49:38
  the tree, where he could obtain a view of all its branches. The
• 5:49:42
  tree was empty. Jane Clayton had vanished during the silent watches of the jungle
• 5:49:48
  night. End of chapter twenty one. Chapter twenty two, Tarzan recovers his
• 5:49:56
  reason. As Tarzan let the pebbles from the recovered pouch run through his fingers,
• 5:50:03
  his thoughts returned to the pile of yellow ingots about which the Arabs and
• 5:50:07
  the Obscinians had waged their relentless battle. What was there in common between that
• 5:50:11
  pile of dirty metal and the beautiful, sparkling pebbles that had formerly been in
• 5:50:17
  his pouch? What was the metal from? Whence had it come? What
• 5:50:22
  was that tantalizing half conviction which seemed to demand the recognition of his memory that
• 5:50:26
  the yellow pile for which these men had fought and died had been intimately connected
• 5:50:32
  with his past, that it had been his What had been his past?
• 5:50:37
  He shook his head vaguely. The memory of his apies childhood passed slowly in
• 5:50:41
  review. Then came a strangely tangled mass of faces, figures, and events
• 5:50:48
  which seemed to have no relation to Tarzan of the Apes, and yet which
• 5:50:52
  were, even in their fragmentary form, familiar. Slowly and painfully, recollection
• 5:50:59
  was attempting to reassert itself. The hurt brain was mending, as the cause
• 5:51:03
  of its recent failure to function was being slowly absorbed or removed by the healing
• 5:51:10
  processes of perfect circulation. The people who now passed before his mind's eye for
• 5:51:15
  the first time in weeks wore familiar faces, but yet he could neither place
• 5:51:21
  them in the niches they had once filled in his past life, nor call
• 5:51:25
  them by name. One was a fair she, and it was her face
• 5:51:29
  which most often moved through the tangled recollections of his convalescing brain. Who was
• 5:51:34
  she? What had she been? To Tarzan? Of the apes? He
• 5:51:38
  seemed to see her about the very spot upon which the pile of gold had
• 5:51:42
  been unearthed by the obscinians, But the surroundings were vastly different from those which
• 5:51:48
  now obtained. There was a building, there were many buildings, and there
• 5:51:52
  were hedges, fences and flowers. Tarzan Puckerty's brow in puzzled study of the
• 5:52:00
  wonderful problem. For an instant he seemed to grasp the whole of a true
• 5:52:04
  explanation, And then, just as success was within his grasp, the picture
• 5:52:10
  faded into a jungle scene where a naked white youth danced in company with a
• 5:52:15
  band of hairy, primordial ape things. Tarzan shook his head and sighed,
• 5:52:22
  why was it that he could not recollect? At least he was sure that
• 5:52:26
  in some way the pile of gold, the place where it lay the subtle
• 5:52:30
  aroma of the elusive she he had been pursuing. The memory figure of the
• 5:52:34
  white woman and he himself were inextricably connected by the ties of a forgotten past.
• 5:52:42
  If the woman belonged there, what better place to search or await her
• 5:52:47
  than the very spot which his broken recollection seemed to assign to her. It
• 5:52:52
  was worth trying. Tarzan slipped the thong of the empty pouch over his shoulder
• 5:52:56
  and started off through the trees in the direct of the plain. At the
• 5:53:02
  outskirts of the forest, he met the Arabs, returning in search of Akmetzek
• 5:53:07
  hiding. He let them pass, and then resumed his way toward the charred
• 5:53:11
  ruins of the home he had been. Almost upon the point of recalling to
• 5:53:15
  his memory. His journey across the plain was interrupted by the discovery of a
• 5:53:18
  small herd of antelope in a little swale, where the cover and the wind
• 5:53:22
  were well combined to make stalking easy. A fat yearling rewarded a half hour
• 5:53:29
  of stealthy creeping and a sudden savage rush, and it was late in the
• 5:53:33
  afternoon when the Apemen settled himself upon his haunches beside his kill to enjoy the
• 5:53:38
  fruits of his skill, his cunning, and his prowess. His hunger satisfied.
• 5:53:45
  Thirst next claimed his attention. The river lured him by the shortest path
• 5:53:48
  toward its refreshing waters. And when he had drunk, night already had fallen,
• 5:53:53
  and he was some half mile or more down stream from the point where
• 5:53:57
  he had seen the pile of yellow ingots, and where he hoped to meet
• 5:54:02
  the memory woman, or find some clue to her whereabouts or her identity to
• 5:54:07
  the jungle. Bread Time is usually a matter of small moment and haste,
• 5:54:11
  except when engendered by terror, by rage, or by hunger, is distasteful
• 5:54:18
  to day was gone. Therefore tomorrow, of which there was an infinite procession,
• 5:54:23
  would answer admirably for Tarzan's further quest. And besides, the ape man
• 5:54:29
  was tired and would sleep. A tree afforded him the safety, seclusion,
• 5:54:33
  and comforts of a well appointed bed chamber, and to the chorus of the
• 5:54:37
  hunters and the hunted of the wild river bank, he soon dropped off into
• 5:54:41
  deep slumber. Morning, founding both hungry and thirsty again, and dropping from
• 5:54:48
  his tree, he made his way to the drinking place at the river's edge.
• 5:54:52
  There he found Numa the lion ahead of him. The big fellow was
• 5:54:56
  lapping the water greedily, and at the approach of tarzanal along the trail in
• 5:55:00
  his rear, he raised his head, and, turning his gaze backward across
• 5:55:04
  his maned shoulders, glared at the intruder. A low growl of warning rumbled
• 5:55:10
  from his throat, but Tarzan, guessing that the beast had but just quitted
• 5:55:14
  his kill and was well filled, merely made a slight detour and continued to
• 5:55:18
  the river, where he stopped a few yards above the tawny cat, and,
• 5:55:22
  dropping upon his hands and knees, plunged his face into the cool water.
• 5:55:27
  For a moment, the lion continued to eye the man. Then he
• 5:55:30
  resumed his drinking, and man and beast quenched their thirst side by side,
• 5:55:37
  each apparently oblivious of the other's presence. Numa was the first to finish,
• 5:55:41
  raising his head, he gazed across the river for a few minutes with that
• 5:55:45
  stony fixity of attention which is characteristic of his kind. But for the ruffling
• 5:55:52
  of his black mane to the touch of the passing breeze, he might have
• 5:55:56
  been wrought from gold and bronze, so motionless, so statue desk his pos
• 5:56:00
  A deep sigh from the cavernous lungs dispelled the illusion. The mighty had swung
• 5:56:06
  slowly around until the yellow eyes rested upon the man. The bristled lip curved
• 5:56:11
  upward, exposing yellow fangs. Another warning growl vibrated the heavy jowls, and
• 5:56:17
  the King of Beasts turned majestically about and paced slowly up the trail into the
• 5:56:22
  dense reeds. Tarzan of the apes drank on, but from the corners of
• 5:56:26
  his gray eyes he watched the great brutes every move until he had disappeared from
• 5:56:32
  view, and after his keen ears marked the movements of the carnivore. A
• 5:56:37
  plunge in the river was followed by a scant breakfast of eggs, which chance
• 5:56:41
  discovered to him, And then he set off up river toward the ruins of
• 5:56:45
  the bungalow, where the golden ingots had marked the center of yesterday's battle.
• 5:56:51
  And when he came upon the spot, great was his surprise and consternation,
• 5:56:56
  for the yellow metal had disappeared, the earth trampled by the feet of horses
• 5:57:00
  and men gave no clue. It was as though the ingots had evaporated into
• 5:57:04
  thin air. The ape man was at a loss to know where to turn
• 5:57:08
  or what next to do. There was no sign of any spore which might
• 5:57:14
  denote that the she had been here. The metal was gone, and if
• 5:57:18
  there was any connection between the she and the metal, it seemed useless to
• 5:57:22
  wait for her now that the latter had been removed elsewhere. Everything seemed to
• 5:57:27
  elude him, the pretty pebbles, the yellow metal, the she his memory.
• 5:57:33
  Tarzan was disgusted. He would go back into the jungle and look for
• 5:57:37
  chalk, And so he turned his steps once more toward the forest. He
• 5:57:42
  moved rapidly, swinging across the plain in a long, easy trot, and
• 5:57:48
  at the edge of the forest, taking to the trees with the agility and
• 5:57:52
  speed of a small monkey. His direction was aimless. He merely raced on
• 5:57:56
  and on through the jungle. The joy of unfettered action his principal urge,
• 5:58:02
  with the hope of stumbling upon some clue to chalk or the she a secondary
• 5:58:07
  incentive. For two days he roamed about, killing, eating, drinking,
• 5:58:11
  and sleeping wherever inclination and the means to indulge it occurred simultaneously. It was
• 5:58:18
  upon the morning of the third day that the scent spore of horse and man
• 5:58:22
  were wafted faintly to his nostrils. Instantly he altered his course to glide silently
• 5:58:27
  through the branches in the direction from which the scent came. It was not
• 5:58:33
  long before he came upon a solitary horseman riding toward the east. Instantly,
• 5:58:37
  his eyes confirmed what his nose had previously suspected. The rider was he who
• 5:58:42
  had stolen his pretty pebbles. The light of rage flared suddenly in the gray
• 5:58:48
  eyes as the ape man dropped lower among the branches until he moved almost directly
• 5:58:52
  above the unconscious whirper. There was a quick leap, and the Belgian felt
• 5:58:57
  a heavy body hurtle on to the rum of his terror stricken mount. The
• 5:59:02
  horse, snorting, leaped forward. Giant arms encircled the rider, and in
• 5:59:06
  the twinkling of an eye, he was dragged from his saddle to find himself
• 5:59:10
  lying in the narrow trail with a naked white giant kneeling upon his breast.
• 5:59:15
  Recognition came to Werper with the first glance at his captor's face, and a
• 5:59:19
  pallor of fear overspread his features. Strong fingers were at his throat, fingers
• 5:59:25
  of steel. He tried to cry out, to plead for his life,
• 5:59:29
  but the cruel fingers denied him speech, as they were as surely denying him
• 5:59:33
  life. The pretty pebbles, cried the man upon his breast, What did
• 5:59:37
  you with the pretty pebbles? With Tarzan's pretty pebbles? The fingers relaxed to
• 5:59:42
  permit a reply. For some time, Werper could only choke and cough.
• 5:59:48
  At last he regained the powers of speech. Hakmeta Zek, the Arab stole
• 5:59:52
  them from me, he cried. He made me give up the pouch and
• 5:59:56
  the pebbles. I saw all that, replied Tarzan. But the pebbles in
• 6:00:02
  the pouch were not the pebbles of Tarzan. They were only such pebbles as
• 6:00:06
  filled the bottoms of the rivers and the shelving banks beside them. Even the
• 6:00:11
  Arab would not have them, for he threw them away in anger when he
• 6:00:15
  had looked upon them. It is my pretty pebbles that I want. Where
• 6:00:18
  are they? I do not know, I do not know, cried Werper.
• 6:00:22
  I gave them to achmet Zek, or he would have killed me.
• 6:00:26
  A few minutes later he followed me along the trail to slay me, although
• 6:00:30
  he had promised to molest me no further, and I shot and killed him.
• 6:00:34
  But the pouch was not upon his person, And though I searched about
• 6:00:37
  the jungle for some time, I could not find it. I found it,
• 6:00:41
  I tell you, growled Tarzan. And I also found the pebbles which
• 6:00:45
  acmet Zek had thrown away in disgust. They were not Tarzan's pebbles. You
• 6:00:51
  have hidden them. Tell me where they are or I will kill you.
• 6:00:55
  And the brown fingers of the ape man closed a little tighter upon the throat
• 6:00:59
  of his victim. Werper struggled to free himself. My heavens, Lord Greystoke,
• 6:01:03
  he managed to scream, would you commit murder for a handful of stones?
• 6:01:08
  The fingers at his throat relaxed, A puzzled, far away expression softened
• 6:01:12
  the gray eyes. Lord Greystoak, repeated the ape man, Lord Greystoak.
• 6:01:18
  Who is Lord Greystoak? Whereof I heard that name before? Why man?
• 6:01:23
  You are Lord Greystoke, cried the Belgian. You were injured by a falling
• 6:01:29
  rock. When the earthquake shuttered the passage to the underground chamber to which you
• 6:01:33
  and your black Waziri had come to fetch golden Ingot's back to your bungalow.
• 6:01:37
  The blow shattered your memory. You are John Clayton, Lord Greystoak. Don't
• 6:01:44
  you remember John Clayton, Lord Greystoak, repeated Tarzan. Then for a moment
• 6:01:49
  he was silent. Presently his hand went falteringly to his forehead. An expression
• 6:01:55
  of wonderment filled his eyes. Of wonderment and sudden understand the forgotten name had
• 6:02:02
  reawakened the returning memory that had been struggling to reassert itself. The ape man
• 6:02:07
  relinquished his grasp upon the throat of the Belgian and leaped to his feet.
• 6:02:11
  By Jove, he cried, and then Jane. Suddenly he turned upon wherper
• 6:02:18
  my wife, He asked, what has become of her? The farm is
• 6:02:22
  in ruins. You know you have had something to do with all this.
• 6:02:26
  You followed me to Opar. You stole the jewels, which I thought,
• 6:02:30
  but pretty pebbles. You are a kruck. Do not try to tell me
• 6:02:34
  that you are not. He is worse than a cruk, said a quiet
• 6:02:38
  voice close behind him. Tarzan turned in astonishment to see a tall man in
• 6:02:44
  uniform. Standing in the trail A few paces from him. Back of the
• 6:02:47
  man were a number of black soldiers in the uniform of the Congo Free State.
• 6:02:52
  He is a miterer, monsieur, continued the officer. I have followed
• 6:02:56
  him for a long time to take him back to stand try for the keeling
• 6:03:00
  of his superior officer. Wherper was upon his feet, now gazing white and
• 6:03:06
  trembling at the fate which had overtaken him even in the vastness of the labyrinthine
• 6:03:11
  jungle. Instinctively, he turned to flee, but Tarzan of the apes reached
• 6:03:15
  out a strong hand and grasped him by the shoulder. Wait, said the
• 6:03:19
  ape man to his captive. This gentleman wishes you, and so do I.
• 6:03:23
  When I am through with you, he may have you tell me what
• 6:03:26
  has become of my wife. The Belgian officer eyed the almost naked white giant
• 6:03:32
  with curiosity. He noted the strange contrast of primitive weapons and apparel and the
• 6:03:37
  easy, fluent French which the man spoke. The former denoted the lowest,
• 6:03:42
  the latter the highest type of culture. He could not quite determine the social
• 6:03:48
  status of this strange creature, but he knew that he did not relish the
• 6:03:52
  easy assurance with which the fellow presumed to dictate when he might take possession of
• 6:03:57
  the prisoner. Pardon me, he said, stepping forward and placing his hand
• 6:04:02
  on Werper's other shoulder. But these gentlemen, is my prisoner. He must
• 6:04:06
  come with me when I am through with him, replied Tarzan quietly. The
• 6:04:11
  officer turned and beckoned to the soldiers standing in the trail behind him. A
• 6:04:15
  company of uniformed blacks stepped quickly forward and, pushing past, the three surrounded
• 6:04:19
  the ape man and his captive. Both the law and the power to enforce
• 6:04:23
  it are upon my side, announced the officer. Let us have no trouble.
• 6:04:27
  If you have a grievance against this man, you may return with me
• 6:04:32
  and enter your charge regularly before an authorisee tribunal. Your legal rights are not
• 6:04:37
  above suspicion, my friend, replied Tarzan, and your power to enforce your
• 6:04:41
  commands are only apparent, not real. You have presumed to enter British territory
• 6:04:48
  with an armed force. Where is your authority for this invasion? Where are
• 6:04:52
  the extradition papers which warrant the arrest of this man? And what assurance have
• 6:04:57
  you that I cannot bring an ho armed force about you that will prevent your
• 6:05:02
  return to the Congo free state. The Belgian lost his temper. I have
• 6:05:06
  no disposition to argue with a naked savage, he cried, Unless you wish
• 6:05:11
  to be hurt, you will not interfere with me. Take the prisoner.
• 6:05:15
  Sergeant Werper raised his lips close to Tarzan's ear. Keep me from them,
• 6:05:19
  and I can show you the very spot where I saw your wife last night,
• 6:05:23
  he whispered. She cannot be far from here at this very minute.
• 6:05:27
  The soldiers, following the signal from their sergeant, closed in to seize Wherper.
• 6:05:33
  Tarzan grabbed the Belgian about the waist, and burying him beneath his arm
• 6:05:37
  as he might have borne a sack of flower, leaped forward in an attempt
• 6:05:41
  to break through the cordon. His right fist caught the nearest soldier upon the
• 6:05:45
  jaw and sent him hurtling backward upon his fellows. Clubbed rifles were torn from
• 6:05:49
  the hands of those who barred his way and right, and let the black
• 6:05:53
  soldiers stumble aside in the face of the ape man's savage break for liberty.
• 6:05:59
  So completely did the blacks surround the two that they dared not fire for fear
• 6:06:03
  of hitting one of their own number. And Tarzan was already through them and
• 6:06:07
  upon the point of dodging into the concealing mazes of the jungle, when one
• 6:06:11
  who had sneaked upon him from behind, struck him a heavy blow upon the
• 6:06:15
  head with a rifle. In an instant the ape man was down, and
• 6:06:18
  a dozen Black soldiers were upon his back. When he regained consciousness, he
• 6:06:23
  found himself securely bound, as was Werper also. The Belgian officer's success,
• 6:06:30
  having crowned his efforts, was in good humor and inclined to chaff his prisoners
• 6:06:34
  about the ease with which they had been captured, but from Tarzan of the
• 6:06:37
  Apes he elicited no response. Werper, however, was voluble in his protests.
• 6:06:44
  He explained that Tarzan was an English lord, but the officer only laughed
• 6:06:48
  at the assertion and advised his prisoner to save his breath for his defense in
• 6:06:53
  court. As soon as Tarzan regained his senses and it was found that he
• 6:06:57
  was not seriously injured, the prisoners were hastened into line, and the return
• 6:07:03
  march toward the Congo free state boundary commenced. Toward evening, the column halted
• 6:07:07
  beside a stream, made camp, and prepared the evening meal. From the
• 6:07:12
  thick foliage of the nearby jungle. A pair of fierce eyes watched the activities
• 6:07:18
  of the uniform blacks with silent intensity and curiosity. From beneath beetling brows.
• 6:07:25
  The creature saw the boma constructed, the fires built, and the supper prepared.
• 6:07:30
  Tarzan and Wherper had been lying bound behind a small pile of knapsacks from
• 6:07:34
  the time that the company had halted, but with the preparation of the meal
• 6:07:38
  completed, their guard ordered them to rise and come forward to one of the
• 6:07:42
  fires, where their hands would be unfettered, that they might eat. As
• 6:07:47
  the giant ape man rose, a startled expression of recognition entered the eyes of
• 6:07:52
  the watcher in the jungle, and a low guttural broke from the savage lips.
• 6:07:56
  Instantly, Tarzan was alert, but the answering growl died upon his lips,
• 6:08:02
  suppressed by the fear that it might arouse the suspicions of the soldiers.
• 6:08:06
  Suddenly, an inspiration came to him. He turned toward Wherper. I am
• 6:08:11
  going to speak to you in a loud voice and in a tongue which you
• 6:08:15
  do not understand, appear to listen intently to what I say, and occasionally
• 6:08:19
  mumble something, as though replying in the same language. Our escape may hinge
• 6:08:25
  upon the success of your efforts. Wherper nodded in assent and understanding, and
• 6:08:30
  immediately there broke from the lips of his companion a strange jargon which might have
• 6:08:36
  been compared with equal propriety to the barking and growling of a dog and the
• 6:08:41
  chattering of monkeys. The nearer soldiers looked in surprise at the ape man.
• 6:08:45
  Some of them laughed, while others draw away in evident superstitious fear. The
• 6:08:52
  officer approached the prisoners while Tarzan was still jabbering, and halted behind them,
• 6:08:56
  listening in perplexed interest. When Werper mumbled some ridiculous jargon in reply, his
• 6:09:03
  curiosity broke bounds, and he stepped forward, demanding to know what language it
• 6:09:07
  was that they spoke. Tarzan had gaged the measure of the man's culture from
• 6:09:12
  the nature and quality of his conversation during the march, and he rested the
• 6:09:17
  success of his reply upon the estimate he had made Greek, he explained.
• 6:09:22
  Oh I thought it was Greek, replied the officer, But it has been
• 6:09:26
  so many years since I studied it that I was not sure. In future,
• 6:09:30
  however, I will thank you to speak in a language which I am
• 6:09:34
  more familiar with. Whereperturned his head to hide a grin, whispering to Tarzan,
• 6:09:38
  it was Greek to him, all right, and to me too.
• 6:09:42
  But one of the black soldiers mumbled, in a low voice to a companion,
• 6:09:47
  I have heard those sounds before. Once at night, when I was
• 6:09:51
  lost in the jungle, I heard the hairy men of the trees talking among
• 6:09:55
  themselves, and their words were like the words of this white man. I
• 6:10:00
  wish that we had not found him. He is not a man at all.
• 6:10:03
  He is a bad spirit, and we shall have bad luck if we
• 6:10:07
  do not let him go. And the fellow rolled his eyes fearfully toward the
• 6:10:11
  jungle. His companion laughed nervously and moved away to repeat the conversation with variations
• 6:10:18
  and exaggerations to others of the Black soldiery, so that it was not long
• 6:10:22
  before a frightful tale of black magic and sudden death was woven about the giant
• 6:10:27
  prisoner, and had gone the rounds of the camp, and deep in the
• 6:10:32
  gloomy jungle, amidst the darkening shadows of the falling night, a hairy manlike
• 6:10:37
  creature swung swiftly southward upon some secret mission of his own. End of Chapter
• 6:10:44
  twenty two. Chapter twenty three, A night of terror. To Jane Clayton,
• 6:10:51
  waiting in the tree where Whipper had placed her, it seemed that the
• 6:10:53
  long night would never end. Yet, and it did at last, and
• 6:10:59
  within an hour of the coming of dawn, her spirits leaped with renewed hope
• 6:11:03
  at sight of a solitary horseman approaching along the trail. The flowing bernous,
• 6:11:08
  with its loose hood, hid both the face and the figure of the rider,
• 6:11:12
  But that it was m Fecoul, the girl well knew, since he
• 6:11:15
  had been garbed as an Arab, and he alone might be expected to seek
• 6:11:19
  her hiding place. That which she saw relieved the strain of the long night
• 6:11:25
  vigil. But there was much that she did not see. She did not
• 6:11:29
  see the black face beneath the white hood, nor the file of Ebon horsemen
• 6:11:33
  beyond the trail's bend, riding slowly in the wake of their leader. These
• 6:11:37
  things she did not see at first, and so she leaned downward toward the
• 6:11:41
  approaching rider, a cry of welcome forming in her throat. At the first
• 6:11:45
  word, the man looked up, reining in in surprise, and as she
• 6:11:49
  saw the black face of Abdul Moorak, the obscinian, she shrank back in
• 6:11:55
  terror among the branches. But it was too late. The man had seen
• 6:11:59
  her, and now he called to her to descend. At first she refused,
• 6:12:03
  but when a dozen black cavalrymen drew up behind their leader, and that
• 6:12:07
  abdul Mohrak's command, one of them started to climb the tree after her,
• 6:12:11
  she realized that resistance was futile and came slowly down to stand upon the ground
• 6:12:17
  before this new captor and plead her cause in the name of justice and humanity.
• 6:12:22
  Angered by recent defeat and by the loss of the gold, the jewels,
• 6:12:26
  and his prisoners, abdul Morak was in no mood to be influenced by
• 6:12:30
  any appeal to those softer sentiments to which, as a matter of fact,
• 6:12:34
  he was almost a stranger. Even under the most favorable conditions. He looked
• 6:12:40
  for degradation and possible death in punishment for his failures and his misfortunes when he
• 6:12:45
  should have returned to his native land and made his report to Menelac. But
• 6:12:49
  an acceptable gift might temper the wrath of the Emperor, and surely this fair
• 6:12:55
  flower of another race should be gratefully received by the Black ruler. When Jane
• 6:13:00
  Clayton had concluded her appeal, abdul Morak replied briefly that he would promise her
• 6:13:06
  protection, but that he must take her to his emperor. The girl did
• 6:13:10
  not need ask him why, and once again hope died within her breast.
• 6:13:14
  Resignedly, she permitted herself to be lifted to a seat behind one of the
• 6:13:18
  troopers, and again under new masters, her journey was resumed toward what she
• 6:13:23
  now began to believe was her inevitable fate. Abdul Morak, bereft of his
• 6:13:29
  guides by the battle he had waged against the raiders, and himself unfamiliar with
• 6:13:33
  the country, had wandered far from the trail he should have followed, and
• 6:13:38
  as a result, had made but little progress toward the north since the beginning
• 6:13:42
  of his flight. To day, he was beating toward the west in the
• 6:13:45
  hope of coming upon a village where he might obtain guides. But night found
• 6:13:51
  him still as far from a realization of his hopes as had the rising sun.
• 6:13:56
  It was a dispirited company which went into camp waterless and hungry. In
• 6:14:00
  the dense jungle. Attracted by the horses, lions roared about the boma,
• 6:14:04
  and to their hideous din was added the shrill naze of the terror stricken beasts
• 6:14:10
  they hunted. There was little sleep for man or beast, and the sentries
• 6:14:15
  were doubled that there might be enough on duty, both to guard against the
• 6:14:18
  sudden charge of an over bold or over hungry lion, and to keep the
• 6:14:22
  fire blazing, which was an even more effectual barrier against them than the thorny
• 6:14:26
  boma. It was well past midnight, and as yet Jane Clayton, notwithstanding
• 6:14:33
  that she had passed a sleepless night the night before, had scarcely more than
• 6:14:37
  dozed. A sense of impending danger seemed to hang like a black pall over
• 6:14:41
  the camp. The veteran troopers of the Black Emperor were nervous and ill at
• 6:14:47
  ease. Abdul Morack left his blankets a dozen times to pace restlessly back and
• 6:14:52
  forth between the tethered horses and the crackling fire. The girl could see his
• 6:14:57
  great frame silhouette against the lurid glare of the flames, and she guessed from
• 6:15:03
  the quick, nervous movements of the man that he was afraid. The roaring
• 6:15:07
  of the lions rose in sudden fury, until the earth trembled to the hideous
• 6:15:12
  chorus. The horses shrilled their knaves of terror as they lay back upon their
• 6:15:17
  halter ropes in their mad endeavors to break loose. A trooper braver than his
• 6:15:22
  fellows leaped among the kicking, plunging, fear maddened beasts in a futile attempt
• 6:15:26
  to quiet them. A lion, large and fierce and courageous, leaped almost
• 6:15:30
  to the boma, full in the bright light from the fire. A sentry
• 6:15:34
  raised his piece and fired, and the little leaden pellet unstoppered the vials of
• 6:15:40
  hell upon the terror stricken camp. The shot plowed a deep and painful furrow
• 6:15:44
  in the lion's side, arousing all the beastial fury of the little brain,
• 6:15:48
  but abating not a whip. The power and vigor of the great body unwounded
• 6:15:52
  the boma, and the flames might have turn him back. But now the
• 6:15:56
  pain and the rage wiped caution from his mind, and with a loud and
• 6:16:00
  angry Roary topped the barrier with an easy leap, and was among the horses.
• 6:16:03
  What had been pandemonium before became now an indescribable tumult of hideous sound.
• 6:16:10
  The stricken horse upon which the lion leaped shrieked out its terror and its agony.
• 6:16:15
  Several about it broke their tethers and plunged madly about. The camp men
• 6:16:18
  leaped from their blankets, and with guns ready, ran toward the picket line,
• 6:16:22
  and then from the jungle beyond the boma, a dozen lions, emboldened
• 6:16:27
  by the example of their fellow, charged fearlessly upon the camp Singly, and
• 6:16:32
  in twos and threes, they leaped the boma, until the little enclosure was
• 6:16:36
  filled with cursing men and screaming horses, battling for their lives with the green
• 6:16:41
  eyed devils of the jungle. With the charge of the first lion, Jane
• 6:16:45
  Clayton had scrambled to her feet, and now she stood horror struck at the
• 6:16:48
  scene of savage slaughter that swirled and eddied about her. Once a bolting horse
• 6:16:53
  knocked her down, and a moment later a lion, leaping in pursuit of
• 6:16:56
  another terror stricken animal, brushed her sod so closely that she was again thrown
• 6:17:02
  from her feet. Amidst the cracking of the rifles and the growls of the
• 6:17:04
  carnivora rose the death screams of stricken men and horses as they were dragged down
• 6:17:10
  by the blood mad cats. The leaping carnivora and the plunging horses prevented any
• 6:17:15
  concerted action by the obscinians. It was every man for himself, and in
• 6:17:19
  the may lee, the defenseless woman was either forgotten or ignored by her black
• 6:17:25
  captors. A score of times was her life menaced by charging lions, by
• 6:17:29
  plunging horses, or by the wildly fired bullets of the frightened troopers. Yet
• 6:17:33
  there was no chance of escape for now. With the fiendish cunning of their
• 6:17:37
  kind, the tawny hunters commenced to circle about their prey, hemming them within
• 6:17:41
  a ring of mighty yellow fangs and sharp long talons. Again and again,
• 6:17:47
  an individual lion would dash suddenly among the frightened men and horses, and occasionally
• 6:17:52
  a horse goaded to frenzy by pain or terror, succeeded in racing safely through
• 6:17:57
  the circling lions, leaping the bone and escaping into the jungle. But for
• 6:18:02
  the man and the woman, no such escape was possible. A horse struck
• 6:18:07
  by a stray bullet, fell beside Jane Clayton. A lion leaped across the
• 6:18:11
  expiring beast, full upon the breast of a black trooper just beyond. The
• 6:18:15
  man clubbed his rifle and struck futally at the broad head. And then he
• 6:18:18
  was down, and the carnivor was standing above him. Shrieking out his terror.
• 6:18:22
  The soldier clawed with puny fingers at the shaggy breast in vain endeavor to
• 6:18:27
  push away the grinning jaws. The lion lowered his head, the gaping fangs
• 6:18:33
  closed with a single sickening crunch upon the fear distorted face, and turning,
• 6:18:37
  strode back across the body of the dead horse, dragging his limp and bloody
• 6:18:41
  burden with him. Wide eyed, the girl stood watching. She saw the
• 6:18:45
  carnivor step upon the corpse, stumblingly as the grizzly thing swung between its forepaws,
• 6:18:51
  and her eyes remained fixed in fascination, while the beast passed within a
• 6:18:56
  few paces off her. The interference of the body seemed to enrage the l
• 6:19:00
  He shook the inanimate clay venomously. He growled and roared hideously at the dead,
• 6:19:04
  insensate thing, And then he dropped it and raised his head to look
• 6:19:08
  about in search of some living victim upon which to wreak his ill temper.
• 6:19:12
  His yellow eyes fastened themselves balefully upon the figure of the girl. The bristling
• 6:19:18
  lips raised, disclosing the grinning fangs. A terrific roar broke from the savage
• 6:19:22
  throat, and the great beast crouched to spring upon this new and helpless victim.
• 6:19:30
  Quiet had fallen early upon the camp, where Tarzan and Whirper lay securely
• 6:19:33
  bound. Two nervous sentries paced their beats, their eyes rolling often toward the
• 6:19:40
  impenetrable shadows of the gloomy jungle. The others slept or tried to sleep,
• 6:19:45
  all but the ape man silently and powerfully. He strained at the bonds which
• 6:19:51
  fettered his wrists. The muscles knotted beneath the smooth brown skin of his arms
• 6:19:56
  and shoulders. The veins stood out upon his temples. From the force of
• 6:20:00
  his exertions, a strand parted, another, and another, and one hand
• 6:20:06
  was free. Then from the jungle came a low, guttural and the ape
• 6:20:10
  man became suddenly a silent, rigid statue with ears and nostrils, straining to
• 6:20:15
  span the black void where his eyesight could not reach. Again came the uncanny
• 6:20:22
  sound from the thick verdure beyond the camp. A sentry halted abruptly, straining
• 6:20:26
  his eyes into the gloom. The kinky wool upon his head stiffened and raised.
• 6:20:30
  He called to his comrade in a hoarse whisper. Did you hear it?
• 6:20:34
  He asked? The other came closer, trembling, hear what again?
• 6:20:40
  Was the weird sound repeated, followed almost immediately by a similar and answering sound
• 6:20:45
  from the camp. The sentries drew close together, watching the black spot from
• 6:20:49
  which the voice seemed to come. Trees overhung the boma at this point,
• 6:20:53
  which was upon the opposite side of the camp from them. They dared not
• 6:20:57
  approach. Their terror even pre vented them from arousing their fellows. They could
• 6:21:03
  only stand in frozen fear and watch for the fearsome apparition. They momentarily expected
• 6:21:07
  to see leap from the jungle, nor had they longed waight. A dim
• 6:21:12
  bulky form dropped lightly from the branches of a tree into the camp. At
• 6:21:17
  sight of it, one of the sentry's recovered command of his muscles and his
• 6:21:21
  voice, screaming loudly to awaken the sleeping camp. He leaped toward the flickering
• 6:21:25
  watchfire and threw a mass of brush upon it. The white officer and the
• 6:21:29
  black soldiers sprang from their blankets. Flames leaped high upon the rejuvenated fire,
• 6:21:34
  lighting the entire camp, and the awakened men shrank back in superstitious terror.
• 6:21:40
  From the sight that met their frightened and astonished vision. A dozen huge and
• 6:21:45
  hairy forms loomed large beneath the trees at the far side of the enclosure.
• 6:21:48
  The white giant, one hand freed, had struggled to his knees and was
• 6:21:53
  calling to the frightful nocturnal visitors in a hideous medley of bestial gutturals, barkings,
• 6:22:00
  and growlings. Wherper had managed to sit up. He too saw the
• 6:22:03
  savage faces of the approaching anthropoids, and scarcely knew whether to be relieved or
• 6:22:07
  terror. Stricken growling, the great apes leaped forward toward Tarzan and Wherper Chulk
• 6:22:12
  led them. The Belgian officer called to his men to fire upon the intruders,
• 6:22:17
  but the Negroes held back, filled as they were with superstitious terror of
• 6:22:22
  the hairy tree men, and with the conviction that the white giant, who
• 6:22:25
  could thus summon the beasts of the jungle to his aid, was more than
• 6:22:29
  human. Drawing his own weapon, the officer fired, and Tarzan, fearing
• 6:22:33
  the effect of the noise upon his really timid friends, called to them to
• 6:22:37
  hasten and fulfill his commands. A couple of the apes turned and fled at
• 6:22:41
  the sound of the firearm, but Chulk and a half dozen others waddled rapidly
• 6:22:45
  forward, and, following the man's directions, seized both him and Whiper and
• 6:22:49
  bore them off toward the jungle. By dint of threats, reproaches, and
• 6:22:55
  profanity, the Belgian officer succeeded in persuading his trembling command to fire bolly after
• 6:23:00
  the retreating apes. A ragged, straggling volley, it was, but at
• 6:23:04
  least one of its bullets found a mark for as the jungle closed about the
• 6:23:08
  hairy rescuers. Chulk, who bore Wherper across one broad shoulder, staggered and
• 6:23:14
  fell. In an instant he was up again, but the Belgian guessed from
• 6:23:18
  his unsteady gait that he was hard hit. He lagged far behind the others,
• 6:23:22
  and it was several minutes after they had halted at Tarzan's command before he
• 6:23:27
  came slowly up to them, reeling from side to side and at last falling
• 6:23:32
  again beneath the weight of his burden and the shock of his wound. As
• 6:23:36
  Chulk went down, he dropped Werper, so that the latter fell face downward,
• 6:23:41
  with the body of the ape lying half across him. In this position,
• 6:23:44
  the Belgian felt something resting against his hands, which were still bound at
• 6:23:48
  his back, something that was not a part of the hairy body of the
• 6:23:52
  ape. Mechanically, the man's fingers felt of the object resting almost in their
• 6:23:56
  grasp. It was a soft pouch filled with small, hard particles. Worker
• 6:24:02
  gasped in wonderment as recognition filtered through the incredulity of his mind. It was
• 6:24:07
  impossible, and yet it was true. Feverishly he strove to remove the pouch
• 6:24:14
  from the ape and transfer it to his own possession, but the restricted radius
• 6:24:18
  to which his bonds held his hands prevented this, though he did succeed in
• 6:24:22
  tucking the pouch with its precious contents, inside the waistband of his trousers.
• 6:24:26
  Tarzan, sitting at a short distance, was busy with the remaining knots of
• 6:24:32
  the cords which bound him. Presently, he flung aside the last of them
• 6:24:36
  and rose to his feet, approaching Werper, he knelt beside him for a
• 6:24:40
  moment. He examined the ape quite dead. He announced, it is too
• 6:24:44
  bad. He was a splendid creature, and then he returned to the work
• 6:24:48
  of liberating the Belgian. He freed his hands first, and then commenced upon
• 6:24:53
  the knots at his ankles. I can do the rest, said the Belgian.
• 6:24:57
  I have a small pocket knife, which they overlooked when they searched me,
• 6:25:02
  And in this way he succeeded in ridding himself of the ape man's attentions,
• 6:25:06
  that he might find and open his little knife and cut the thong which
• 6:25:10
  fastened the pouch about Choke's shoulder and transfer it from his waistband to the breast
• 6:25:15
  of his shirt. Then he rose and approached Tarzan once again, had Avarice
• 6:25:19
  claimed him? Forgotten were the good intentions which the confidence of Jane Clayton in
• 6:25:25
  his honor had awakened. What she had done the little pouch had undone how
• 6:25:30
  it had come upon the person of the great Ape. Wherper could not imagine
• 6:25:34
  unless it had been that the anthropoid had witnessed his fight with achmet Zek,
• 6:25:38
  seen the Arab with the pouch, and taken away from him. But that
• 6:25:42
  this pouch contained the jewels of Opar. Werper was positive, and that was
• 6:25:48
  all that interested him greatly. Now said the ape man, keep your promise
• 6:25:52
  to me, lead me to the spot where you last saw my wife.
• 6:25:56
  It was slow work, pushing through the jungle in the dead of night behind
• 6:26:00
  the slow moving Belgian. The ape man chafed at the delay, but the
• 6:26:04
  European could not swing through the trees, as could his more agile and muscular
• 6:26:10
  companions, and so the speed of all was limited to that of the slowest.
• 6:26:14
  The apes trailed out behind the two white men for a matter of a
• 6:26:18
  few miles, but presently their interests lagged. The foremost of them halted in
• 6:26:22
  a little glade, and the others stopped at his side. There they sat
• 6:26:26
  peering from beneath their shaggy brows at the figures of the two men forging steadily
• 6:26:30
  ahead, until the latter disappeared in the leafy trail beyond the clearing. Then
• 6:26:36
  an ape sought a comfortable couch beneath a tree, and one by one the
• 6:26:40
  others followed his example, so that Wherper and Tarzan continued their journey alone.
• 6:26:45
  Nor was the latter either surprised or concerned. The two had gone but a
• 6:26:51
  short distance beyond the glade where the apes had deserted them, when the roaring
• 6:26:56
  of distant lions fell upon their ears. The ape man paid noise attention to
• 6:27:00
  the familiar sounds until the crack of a rifle came faintly from the same direction,
• 6:27:04
  And when this was followed by the shrill neighing of horses and an almost
• 6:27:08
  continuous fuselt of shots intermingled with increased and savage roaring of the large troop of
• 6:27:15
  lions, he became immediately concerned. Someone is having trouble over there, he
• 6:27:19
  said, turning toward Werper, I'll have to go to them. They may
• 6:27:23
  be friends. Your wife might be among them, suggested the Belgium. For
• 6:27:27
  since he had again come into possession of the pouch, he had become fearful
• 6:27:32
  and suspicious of the ape Man, and in his mind had constantly revolved many
• 6:27:37
  plans for eluding this giant Englishman who was at once his savior and his captor.
• 6:27:42
  At the suggestion, Tarzan started as though struck with a whip. Oh,
• 6:27:47
  he cried, she might be. And the lions are attacking them.
• 6:27:51
  They are in the camp, I can tell from the screams of the horses.
• 6:27:55
  And there that was a cry of a man in his death agonies.
• 6:27:59
  Stay here, man, I will come back for you. I must go
• 6:28:03
  first to them. And swinging into a tree, the lithe figure swung rapidly
• 6:28:07
  off into the night, with the speed and silence of a disembodied spirit.
• 6:28:11
  For a moment, Werper stood where the ape Man had left him. Then
• 6:28:15
  a cunning smile crossed his lips. Stay here, he asked himself, Stay
• 6:28:19
  here and wait until you return to find and take these jewels from me.
• 6:28:25
  Not I, my friend, not I. And turning abruptly eastward, Albert
• 6:28:30
  Werper passed through the foliage of a hanging vine and out of the sight of
• 6:28:33
  his fellow man forever end of chapter twenty three Chapter twenty four home. As
• 6:28:42
  Tarzan of the Apes hurtled through the trees, the discordant sounds of the battle
• 6:28:47
  between the Obsinians and the lions smote more and more distinctly upon his sensitive ears,
• 6:28:52
  redoubling his assurance that the plight of the human element of the conflict was
• 6:28:56
  critical. Indeed, at last the glare of the camp fire shone plainly through
• 6:29:00
  the intervening trees, and a moment later, the giant figure of the ape
• 6:29:04
  Man paused upon an overhanging bough to look down upon the bloody scene of carnage
• 6:29:10
  below. His quick eye took in the whole scene with a single, comprehending
• 6:29:14
  glance, and stopped upon the figure of a woman standing facing a great lion
• 6:29:18
  across the carcass of a horse. The carnivore was crouching to spring. As
• 6:29:22
  Tarzan discovered the tragic tableau, Numa was almost beneath the branch upon which the
• 6:29:27
  ape Man stood, naked and unarmed. There was not even an instant's hesitation
• 6:29:33
  upon the part of the latter. It was as though he had not even
• 6:29:36
  paused in his swift progress through the trees, so lightning, like his survey
• 6:29:40
  and comprehension of the scene below him, so instantaneous, his consequent action so
• 6:29:45
  hopeless, had seemed her situation to her that Jane Clayton but stood in lethargic
• 6:29:51
  apathy, awaiting the impact of the huge body that would hurl her to the
• 6:29:55
  ground, awaiting the momentary agony that cruel talons and grizz fangs may inflict,
• 6:30:00
  before the coming of the merciful oblivion which would end her sorrow and her suffering.
• 6:30:06
  What used to attempt escape as well face the hideous end as to be
• 6:30:11
  dragged down from behind in futile flight. She did not even close her eyes
• 6:30:15
  to shut out the frightful aspect of that snarling face. And so it was
• 6:30:18
  that, as she saw the lion preparing to charge, she saw too a
• 6:30:22
  bronzed and mighty figure leap from an overhanging tree at the instant that Numa rose
• 6:30:27
  in his spring wide. When her eyes in wonder and incredulity as she beheld
• 6:30:33
  this seeming apparition risen from the dead, the lion was forgotten her own peril,
• 6:30:38
  everything save the wondrous miracle of this strange recrudescence. With parted lips,
• 6:30:45
  with palms tight pressed against her heaving bosom, the girl leaned forward, large
• 6:30:48
  eyed, enthralled by the vision of her dead mate. She saw the sinewy
• 6:30:53
  form leap to the shoulder of the lion, hurtling against the leaping beast like
• 6:30:57
  a huge animate be sattering ram. She saw the carnivore brushed aside as he
• 6:31:03
  was almost upon her, and in the instance she realized that no substanceless wraith
• 6:31:07
  could thus turn the charge of a maddened lion with brute force greater than the
• 6:31:11
  brutes Tarzan heard. Tarzan lived, a cry of unspeakable gladness broke from her
• 6:31:18
  lips, only to die in terror as she saw the utter defenselessness of her
• 6:31:22
  mate and realized that the lion had recovered himself and was turning upon Tarzan in
• 6:31:27
  mad lust for vengeance. At the ape man's feet lay the discarded rifle of
• 6:31:33
  the dead Obscinian, whose mutilated corpse sprawled where Numa had abandoned it. The
• 6:31:37
  quick glance, which had swept the ground for some weapon of defense, discovered
• 6:31:41
  it, and as the lion reared upon his hind legs to seize the rash
• 6:31:45
  man thing who had dared interpose its puny strength between Numa and his prey.
• 6:31:49
  The heavy stalk whirred through the air and splintered upon the broad forehead. Not
• 6:31:55
  as an ordinary mortal might strike a blow, did Tarzan of the Ape strike,
• 6:32:00
  but with the maddened frenzy of a wild beast, backed by the steel
• 6:32:03
  fuse which his wild arboreal boyhood had bequeathed him. When the blow ended,
• 6:32:08
  the splintered stock was driven through the splintered skull into the savage brain, and
• 6:32:14
  the heavy iron barrel was bent into a rude v. In the instant that
• 6:32:18
  the lion sank lifeless to the ground, Jane Clayton threw herself into the eager
• 6:32:23
  arms of her husband. For a brief instant he strained her dear form to
• 6:32:27
  his breast, and then a glance about him awakened the ape man to the
• 6:32:32
  dangers which still surrounded them. Upon every hand. The lions were still leaping
• 6:32:37
  upon new victims. Fear maddened horses still menaced them with their erratic bolting from
• 6:32:41
  one side of the enclosure to the other. Bullets from the guns of the
• 6:32:45
  defenders who remained alive, but added to the perils of their situation. To
• 6:32:49
  remain was to court death. Tarzan seized Jane Clayton and lifted her to a
• 6:32:55
  broad shoulder. The Blacks who had witnessed his advent, looked on in amazement
• 6:32:59
  as they saw the naked giant leap easily into the branches of the tree from
• 6:33:03
  whence he had dropped so uncannily upon the scene, and vanish as he had
• 6:33:07
  come, bearing away their prisoner with him. They were too well occupied in
• 6:33:11
  self defense to attempt to halt him, nor could they have done so other
• 6:33:15
  than by the wasting of a precious bullet, which might be needed the next
• 6:33:19
  instant to turn the charge of a savage foal, and so unmolested, Tarzan
• 6:33:25
  passed from the camp of the Abscinians, from which the din of conflict followed
• 6:33:29
  him deep into the jungle, until distance gradually obliterated it entirely. Back to
• 6:33:34
  the spot where he had left Werper went the ape man joy in his heart
• 6:33:38
  now where fear and sorrow had so recently reigned, and in his mind a
• 6:33:44
  determination to forgive the Belgian and aid him in making good his escape. But
• 6:33:48
  when he came to the place wherper was gone, and though Tarzan called aloud
• 6:33:53
  many times, he received no reply. Convinced that the man had purposely eluded
• 6:33:59
  him for reasons of his own, John Clayton felt that he was under no
• 6:34:03
  obligations to expose his wife to further danger and discomfort in the prosecution of a
• 6:34:08
  more thorough search for the missing Belgian. He has acknowledged his guilt by his
• 6:34:14
  flight, Jane, he said, We will let him go to lie in
• 6:34:17
  the bed that he has made for himself. Straight as homing pigeons, the
• 6:34:22
  two made their way toward the ruin and desolation that had once been the center
• 6:34:26
  of their happy lives, and which was soon to be restored by the willing
• 6:34:30
  black hands of laughing labors, made happy again by the return of the master
• 6:34:33
  and mistress, whom they had mourned as dead. Past the village of Acmetzek,
• 6:34:38
  their way led them, and there they found but the charred remains of
• 6:34:42
  the palisade and the native huts still smoking as mute evidence of the wrath and
• 6:34:48
  vengeance of a powerful enemy. The Waziri, commented Tarzan with a grim smile.
• 6:34:53
  God bless them, cried Jane Clayton. They cannot be far ahead of
• 6:34:57
  us, said Tarzan Basuli and the others. The gold is gone and the
• 6:35:03
  jewels of opar Jane. But we have each other and the Waziri, and
• 6:35:07
  we have love and loyalty and friendship. And what are gold and jewels to
• 6:35:12
  these? If only poor Mugambi lived, she replied, and those other brave
• 6:35:18
  fellows who sacrifice their lives in vain endeavor to protect me. In the silence
• 6:35:23
  of mingled joy and sorrow, they passed along through the familiar jungle, and
• 6:35:29
  as the afternoon was waning, there came faintly to the ears of the ape
• 6:35:33
  man, the murmuring cadence of distant voices. We are nearing the Waziri Jane,
• 6:35:38
  he said, I can hear them ahead of us. They are going
• 6:35:41
  into camp for the night, I imagine. A half hour later, the
• 6:35:45
  two came upon a horde of Eben warriors, which Basuli had collected for his
• 6:35:49
  war of vengeance. Upon the raiders. With them were the captured women of
• 6:35:53
  the tribe, whom they had found in the village of Akhmetzek, and tall
• 6:35:59
  even among the j cyant Waziri loomed a familiar black form at the side of
• 6:36:03
  Bassuli. It was Mugambi, whom Jane had thought dead amidst the charred ruins
• 6:36:08
  of the bungalow Ah. Such a reunion long into the night. The dancing
• 6:36:14
  and the singing and the laughter awoke the echoes of the somber Wood. Again
• 6:36:18
  and again were the stories of their various adventures retold again, and once again
• 6:36:23
  they fought their battles with savage beasts and savage man, And dawn was already
• 6:36:30
  breaking when Bassuli, for the fortieth time narrated how he and a handful of
• 6:36:34
  his warriors had watched the battle for the golden ingots which the obscenians of Abdulmorak
• 6:36:40
  had waged against the Arab raiders of achmet Zek, and how when the victors
• 6:36:45
  had ridden away, they had sneaked out of the river reeds and stolen away
• 6:36:48
  with the precious ingots to hide them where no robber eye ever could discover them.
• 6:36:53
  Pieced out from the fragments of their various experiences with the Belgian, the
• 6:36:59
  true concerning the malign activities of Albert Wherper became apparent. Only Lady Greystoke found
• 6:37:06
  aught to praise in the conduct of the man, and it was difficult even
• 6:37:10
  for her to reconcile his many heinous acts with this one evidence of chivalry and
• 6:37:15
  honor deep in the soul of every man, said Tarzan must lurk the germ
• 6:37:21
  of righteousness. It was your own virtue, Jane, rather even than your
• 6:37:26
  helplessness, which awakened for an instant the latent decency of this degraded man.
• 6:37:32
  In that one act he retrieved himself. And when he is called to face
• 6:37:36
  his maker, may it outweigh in the balance all the sins he has committed.
• 6:37:41
  And Jane Clayton breed the fervent a men. Months had passed, the
• 6:37:47
  labor of the Wazirri, and the gold of Opar had rebuilt and refurnished the
• 6:37:51
  wasted homestead of the Greystoaks. Once more, the simple life of the great
• 6:37:56
  African farm went on as it had before the coming of the Elgin and the
• 6:38:00
  Arab. Forgotten were the sorrows and dangers of yesterday. For the first time
• 6:38:06
  in months, Lord Greystoke felt that he might indulge in a holiday, and
• 6:38:10
  so a great hunt was organized that the faithful laborers might feast in celebration of
• 6:38:15
  the completion of their work in itself. The hunt was a success, and
• 6:38:19
  ten days after its inauguration, a well laden safari took up its return march
• 6:38:25
  toward the Waziri Plain. Lord and Lady Greystoke, with Basuli and Mugambi,
• 6:38:30
  rode together at the head of the column, laughing and talking together in that
• 6:38:33
  easy familiarity which common interests and mutual respect breed between honest and intelligent men of
• 6:38:41
  any races. Jane Clayton's horse shied suddenly at an object half hidden in the
• 6:38:47
  long grasses of an open space in the jungle. Tarzan's keen eyes sought quickly
• 6:38:52
  for an explanation of the animal's action. What have we here, he cried,
• 6:38:56
  swinging from his saddle, and a moment later the four were grouped about
• 6:39:00
  a human skull and a little litter of whitened human bones. Tarzan stooped and
• 6:39:06
  lifted a leathern pouch from the grisly relics of a man. The hard outlines
• 6:39:11
  of the contents brought an exclamation of surprise to his lips. The jewels of
• 6:39:15
  opar, he cried, holding the pouch aloft and pointing to the bones at
• 6:39:19
  his feet. All that remains of wherper the Belgian. Mugambi laughed. Look
• 6:39:26
  within Bana, he cried, and you will see what are the jewels of
• 6:39:30
  Opar. You will see what the Belgian gave his life for. And the
• 6:39:33
  Black laughed aloud. Why do you laugh, asked Tarzan, Because, replied
• 6:39:40
  Mugambi, I filled the Belgian's pouch with river gravel before I escaped the camp
• 6:39:45
  of the Abscinians, whose prisoners we were, I left the Belgian only worthless
• 6:39:51
  stones, while I brought away with me the jewels he had stolen from you.
• 6:39:55
  That they were afterwards stolen from me while I slept in the jungle is
• 6:40:00
  my shame and my disgrace. But at least the Belgian lost them. Open
• 6:40:04
  his pouch and you will see Tarzan untied the thong which held the mouth of
• 6:40:08
  the leathern bag closed and permitted the contents to trickle slowly forth into his open
• 6:40:14
  palm. Mugambi's eyes went wide at the sight, and the others uttered exclamations
• 6:40:19
  of surprise and incredulity. For from the rusty and weather worn pouch ran a
• 6:40:23
  stream of brilliant, scintillating gems. The jewels of Opar, cried Tarzan.
• 6:40:30
  But how did Werper come upon them again? None could answer, for both
• 6:40:34
  Chalk and Wherper were dead, and no other new. Poor devil, said
• 6:40:40
  the ape man, as he swung back into his saddle. Even in death
• 6:40:42
  he has made restitution. Let his sins lie with his bones. End of
• 6:40:48
  Chapter twenty four, end of Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs