Latest / Tarzan and the Golden Lion / 07 - You Must Sacrafice Him
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter seven, you must sacrifice him warily. Kag and his
- 0:05Speaker 1: hundred frightful followers, armed with their bludgeons and knives, crept
- 0:08Speaker 1: stealthily down the face of the barrier into the valley below,
- 0:11Speaker 1: upon the trail of the white man and his black companions.
- 0:14Speaker 1: They made no haste, for they had noted from the
- 0:16Speaker 1: summit of Opar's outer wall at the party that they
- 0:18Speaker 1: were pursuing. Moved very slowly, though why they did not know,
- 0:22Speaker 1: for they had been at too great a distance to
- 0:24Speaker 1: see the burden that each of the blacks carried. Nor
- 0:27Speaker 1: was it Kaj's desire to overtake his quarry by daylight,
- 0:30Speaker 1: his plans contemplating a stealthy night attack, the suddenness of which,
- 0:33Speaker 1: together with the great number of his followers, might easily
- 0:36Speaker 1: confuse and overwhelm a sleeping camp. The spoor they followed
- 0:40Speaker 1: was well marked, there could be no mistaking it, and
- 0:42Speaker 1: they moved slowly down the now gentle declivity toward the
- 0:44Speaker 1: bottom of the valley. It was close to noon that
- 0:47Speaker 1: they were brought to a sudden halt by the discovery
- 0:50Speaker 1: of a thorn boma recently constructed in a small clearing
- 0:53Speaker 1: just ahead of them. From the center of the boma
- 0:55Speaker 1: arose the thin smoke of a dying fire. Here then
- 0:58Speaker 1: was the camp of the Ape man. Kadj drew his
- 1:00Speaker 1: followers into the concealment of the thick bushes that boarded
- 1:03Speaker 1: the trail, and from there he sent ahead a single
- 1:05Speaker 1: man to reconnoiter. It was but a few moments later
- 1:09Speaker 1: that the latter returned to say that the camp was deserted,
- 1:12Speaker 1: and once again Kaj moved forward with his men. Entering
- 1:14Speaker 1: the boma, they examined it in an effort to estimate
- 1:17Speaker 1: the size of the party that accompanied Tarzan. As they
- 1:19Speaker 1: were thus occupied, Kaj saw something lying half concealed by
- 1:22Speaker 1: bushes at the far end of the boma. Very rarely
- 1:25Speaker 1: he approached it, for there was that about it which
- 1:27Speaker 1: not only aroused his curiosity but prompted him to caution,
- 1:31Speaker 1: for it resembled indistinctly the figure of a man lying
- 1:33Speaker 1: huddled upon the ground with ready bludgeons. A dozen of
- 1:37Speaker 1: them approached the thing that had aroused Kaj's curiosity, and
- 1:40Speaker 1: when they had come close to it, they saw lying
- 1:42Speaker 1: before them the lifeless figure of Tarzan of the Apes.
- 1:45Speaker 1: The flaming God has reached forth to avenge his desecrated altar,
- 1:50Speaker 1: cried the High Priest, his eyes glowing with the maniacal
- 1:52Speaker 1: fires of fanaticism. But another priest, more practical, perhaps or
- 1:56Speaker 1: at least more cautious, kneeled beside the figure of the
- 1:58Speaker 1: ape Man and placed his ear against the latter's heart.
- 2:01Speaker 1: He is not dead, he whispered, Perhaps he only sleeps.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Seize him, then, quickly cried Kaj, and an instant later,
- 2:09Speaker 1: Tarzan's body was covered by the hairy forms of as
- 2:11Speaker 1: many of the frightful men as compile upon him. He
- 2:14Speaker 1: offered no resistance. He did not even open his eyes,
- 2:17Speaker 1: and presently his arms were securely bound behind him. Drag
- 2:20Speaker 1: him forth where the eye of the flaming God may
- 2:23Speaker 1: rest upon him, cried Kaj. They dragged Tarzan out into
- 2:26Speaker 1: the center of the Boma, into the full light of
- 2:28Speaker 1: the sun, and Kaj, the High Priest, drawing his knife
- 2:31Speaker 1: from his loin cloth, raised it above his head and
- 2:33Speaker 1: stood over the prostrate form of his intended victim. Kaja's
- 2:37Speaker 1: followers formed a rough circle about the ape Man, and
- 2:40Speaker 1: some of them pressed close behind their leader. They appeared uneasy,
- 2:43Speaker 1: looking alternately at Tarzan and their high Priest, and then
- 2:46Speaker 1: casting furtive glances at the sun riding high in the
- 2:48Speaker 1: cloud modeled sky. But whatever the thoughts that troubled their
- 2:52Speaker 1: half savage brains, there was only one who dared voice
- 2:54Speaker 1: his And he was the same priest who, upon the
- 2:57Speaker 1: preceding day, had questioned Kaj's proposal to slay the ape
- 3:00Speaker 1: man Coj. He said, now, who are you to offer
- 3:04Speaker 1: up a sacrifice to the flaming God. It is the
- 3:06Speaker 1: privilege alone of Law, our high Priestess and our Queen.
- 3:09Speaker 1: And indeed, will she be angry when she learns what
- 3:12Speaker 1: you have done. Silence, Deuce, cried Coag. I Coaj, am
- 3:17Speaker 1: the high priest of o par I Coaj, and the
- 3:20Speaker 1: mate of Law the Queen. My word too is law
- 3:23Speaker 1: in o par and you would remain a priest, and
- 3:26Speaker 1: you would remain alive. Keep silence. Your word is not law,
- 3:31Speaker 1: replied Duth angrily. And if you anger law the high Priestess,
- 3:35Speaker 1: or if you anger the flaming God, you will be
- 3:37Speaker 1: punished as another. If you make this sacrifice, both will
- 3:40Speaker 1: be angry enough, cried Coag. The flaming God has spoken
- 3:45Speaker 1: to me and has demanded that I offer up as
- 3:47Speaker 1: sacrifice this defiler of his temple. He knelt beside the
- 3:51Speaker 1: ape man and touched his breast above the heart with
- 3:53Speaker 1: the point of his sharp blade, and then he raised
- 3:55Speaker 1: the weapon high above him, preparatory to the fatal plunge
- 3:58Speaker 1: into a living heart. At that instant, a cloud passed
- 4:00Speaker 1: before the face of the sun, and a shadow rested
- 4:03Speaker 1: upon them. A murmur rose from the surrounding priests. Look
- 4:07Speaker 1: cried Duth, The Flaming God is angry. He has hidden
- 4:11Speaker 1: his face from the people of oph Kaj paused. He
- 4:15Speaker 1: cast a half defiant, half frightened look at the cloud
- 4:18Speaker 1: obscrewing the face of the sun. Then he rose slowly
- 4:20Speaker 1: to his feet, and extending his arms upward toward the
- 4:23Speaker 1: hidden god of day. He remained for a moment, silent,
- 4:26Speaker 1: in apparently attentive and listening attitude. Then suddenly he turned
- 4:30Speaker 1: upon his followers, priests of Opar. He cried, the Flaming
- 4:34Speaker 1: God has spoken to his high priest Kaj. He is
- 4:37Speaker 1: not angered. He but wishes to speak to me alone.
- 4:41Speaker 1: And he directs that you go away into the jungle
- 4:43Speaker 1: and wait until he has come and spoken to Kaj,
- 4:46Speaker 1: after which I shall call you to return go. For
- 4:50Speaker 1: the most part, they seemed to accept the word of
- 4:52Speaker 1: Kaj's law. But Duth and a few others, doubtless, prompted
- 4:55Speaker 1: by a certain skepticism, hesitated begone. Commanded Kaj so powerful
- 5:00Speaker 1: as the habit of obedience, that the doubters finally turned
- 5:03Speaker 1: away and melted into the jungle with the others. A
- 5:06Speaker 1: crafty smile lighted the cruel face of the high priest
- 5:08Speaker 1: as the last of them disappeared from sight, and then
- 5:11Speaker 1: he once again turned his attention to the ape man
- 5:14Speaker 1: that deep within his breast, however, lurked an inherent fear
- 5:17Speaker 1: of his deity, was evidenced by the fact that he
- 5:19Speaker 1: turned questioning glances toward the sky. He had determined to
- 5:22Speaker 1: slay the ape man while Duth and the others were absent.
- 5:24Speaker 1: Yet the fear of his God restrained his hand until
- 5:27Speaker 1: the light of his deity should shine forth upon him
- 5:30Speaker 1: once more and assure him that the thing he contemplated
- 5:32Speaker 1: might beat with favor. It was a large cloud that
- 5:35Speaker 1: overcast the sun, and while Codge waited, his nervousness increased.
- 5:39Speaker 1: Six times. He raised his knife for the fatal blow.
- 5:41Speaker 1: Yet in each instance his superstition prevented the consummation of
- 5:45Speaker 1: the act. Five ten, fifteen minutes passed, and still the
- 5:48Speaker 1: sun remained obscured. But now at least Codge could see
- 5:51Speaker 1: that it was nearing the edge of the cloud, and
- 5:53Speaker 1: once again he took his position, kneeling beside the ape
- 5:56Speaker 1: man with his blade, ready for the moment that the
- 5:58Speaker 1: sunlight should flood again for the last time the living Tarzan.
- 6:01Speaker 1: He saw it sweeping slowly across the boma toward him,
- 6:04Speaker 1: and as it came, a look of demonaical hatred shone
- 6:07Speaker 1: upon his close set, wicked eyes. Another instant, and the
- 6:10Speaker 1: flaming God would have set the seal of his approval
- 6:12Speaker 1: upon the sacrifice. Coag trembled in anticipation. He raised the
- 6:17Speaker 1: knife a trifle higher, his muscles tensed for the downward plunge,
- 6:21Speaker 1: and then the silence of the jungle was broken by
- 6:23Speaker 1: a woman's voice, raised almost to a scream. Kaj came
- 6:27Speaker 1: the single word, but with all the suddenness and all
- 6:29Speaker 1: the surprising effect of lightning from a clear sky, his
- 6:32Speaker 1: knife still poised on high, the high priest turned in
- 6:35Speaker 1: the direction of the interruption to see at the clearing's
- 6:37Speaker 1: edge the figure of Law the High Priestess, and behind
- 6:40Speaker 1: her douth and a score of the lesser priests. What
- 6:43Speaker 1: means this? Kaj demanded Law, angrily, approaching rapidly toward him
- 6:47Speaker 1: across the clearing Sullenly, the High Priest rose. The Flaming
- 6:51Speaker 1: God demanded the life of this unbeliever, he cried, Speaker
- 6:55Speaker 1: of lies, retorted Law, the Flaming God communicates with men
- 6:59Speaker 1: through the lips. If his High Priestess, only too often
- 7:02Speaker 1: already have you attempted to thwart the will of your queen, Know, then, Kaj,
- 7:06Speaker 1: that the power of life and death which your queen
- 7:08Speaker 1: holds is as potent over you as another. During the
- 7:11Speaker 1: long ages that Opar has endured, our legends tell us
- 7:15Speaker 1: that more than one high priest has been offered upon
- 7:17Speaker 1: the altar to the Flaming God. And yet it is
- 7:19Speaker 1: not unlikely that yet another may go the way of
- 7:22Speaker 1: the presumptuous curb. However, your vanity and your lust for power,
- 7:26Speaker 1: lest they prove your undoing. Cog sheathed his knife and
- 7:29Speaker 1: turned sullenly away, casting a venomous look at Duth, to
- 7:32Speaker 1: whom he evidently attributed his undoing. That he was temporarily
- 7:36Speaker 1: abashed by the presence of his queen was evident. But
- 7:39Speaker 1: to those who knew Kaj, there was little doubt that
- 7:41Speaker 1: he still harbored his intention to dispatch the ape Man,
- 7:44Speaker 1: and if the opportunity ever presented itself, that he would
- 7:47Speaker 1: do so. For Kaj had a strong following among the
- 7:49Speaker 1: people and priests of Opar, there were many who doubted
- 7:52Speaker 1: that Law would ever dare to incur the displeasure and
- 7:54Speaker 1: anger of so important a portion of her followers as
- 7:57Speaker 1: to cause the death or degradation of their High Priest,
- 8:00Speaker 1: who occupied his office by virtue of laws and customs
- 8:02Speaker 1: so old that their origin had been long lost in antiquity.
- 8:05Speaker 1: For years, she had found first one excuse and then
- 8:07Speaker 1: another to delay the ceremonies that would unite her in
- 8:10Speaker 1: marriage to the high Priest. She had further aroused the
- 8:13Speaker 1: antagonism of her people by palpable proofs of her infatuation
- 8:16Speaker 1: for the ape Man. And even though at last she
- 8:19Speaker 1: had been compelled to mate with Kaj, she had made
- 8:22Speaker 1: no effort whatsoever to conceal her hatred and loathing for
- 8:24Speaker 1: the man. How much further she could go with impunity
- 8:27Speaker 1: was a question that often troubled those whose position in
- 8:29Speaker 1: Opar depended upon her favor, and knowing all these conditions
- 8:34Speaker 1: as he did, it was not strange that Cog should
- 8:36Speaker 1: entertain treasonable thoughts towards his queen Leagud. With him in
- 8:39Speaker 1: his treachery was Ollah, a priestess who aspired to the
- 8:42Speaker 1: power and offices of law, And if law could be
- 8:45Speaker 1: done away with, then Kaj had the influence to see
- 8:48Speaker 1: that Oah became high priestess. He also had Oa's promise
- 8:52Speaker 1: to mate with him and permit him to rule as king.
- 8:54Speaker 1: But as yet both were bound by the superstitious fear
- 8:57Speaker 1: of their flaming deity, and because of this fact was
- 8:59Speaker 1: the life of law temporarily safe. It required, however, but
- 9:03Speaker 1: the slightest spark to ignite the flames of treason that
- 9:05Speaker 1: were smoldering about her. So far, she was well within
- 9:09Speaker 1: her rights and forbidding the sacrifice of Tarzan by the
- 9:11Speaker 1: high priest. But her fate, her very life, perhaps depended
- 9:15Speaker 1: upon her future treatment of the prisoner. Should she spare him,
- 9:18Speaker 1: should she evidence in any way a return of the
- 9:20Speaker 1: great love she had once almost publicly avowed for him.
- 9:23Speaker 1: It was likely that her doom would be sealed. It
- 9:26Speaker 1: was even questionable whether or not she might, with impunity,
- 9:28Speaker 1: spare his life and set him at liberty. Kaj and
- 9:31Speaker 1: the others watched her closely now as she crossed to
- 9:34Speaker 1: the side of Tarzan. Standing there silently for several moments,
- 9:37Speaker 1: she looked down upon him. He is already dead, she asked.
- 9:41Speaker 1: He was not dead when Kag sent us away, volunteered Duth.
- 9:45Speaker 1: If he is dead now, it is because Kag killed
- 9:47Speaker 1: him while we were away. I did not kill him,
- 9:50Speaker 1: said Kaj. That remains as law. Our queen has told
- 9:54Speaker 1: you for her to do. The eye of the Flaming
- 9:56Speaker 1: God looks down upon you, High Priestess of Opar, life
- 10:00Speaker 1: is at your hip. The sacrifice lies before you. Lie
- 10:03Speaker 1: ignored the man's words and turned toward Duth. If he
- 10:06Speaker 1: still lives, she said, construct a litter and bear him
- 10:09Speaker 1: back to Opar. Thus once more came Tarzan of the
- 10:13Speaker 1: Apes into the ancient colonial city of the Atlanteans. The
- 10:16Speaker 1: effects of the narcotic that Krasky had administered to him
- 10:19Speaker 1: did not wear off for many hours. It was night
- 10:22Speaker 1: when he opened his eyes, and for a moment he
- 10:23Speaker 1: was bewildered by the darkness and the silence that surrounded him.
- 10:26Speaker 1: All that he could sin at first was that he
- 10:29Speaker 1: lay upon a pile of furs, and that he was uninjured,
- 10:31Speaker 1: for he felt no pain. Slowly, there broke through the
- 10:34Speaker 1: fog of his drugged brain, recollection of the last moment
- 10:37Speaker 1: before unconsciousness had overcome him, and presently he realized the
- 10:40Speaker 1: trick that had been played upon him. For how long
- 10:42Speaker 1: he had been unconscious, and where he then was he
- 10:45Speaker 1: could not imagine. Slowly he arose to his feet, finding that,
- 10:48Speaker 1: except for a slight dizziness, he was quite himself. Cautiously
- 10:51Speaker 1: he felt around in the darkness, moving with care a
- 10:54Speaker 1: hand outstretched, and always feeling carefully with his feet for
- 10:57Speaker 1: a secure footing. Almost immediately a stone wall stopped his progress,
- 11:01Speaker 1: and this he followed around four sides of what he
- 11:03Speaker 1: soon realized was a small room in which there were
- 11:06Speaker 1: but two openings, a door upon each of the opposite sides.
- 11:10Speaker 1: Only his senses of touch and smell were of value
- 11:12Speaker 1: to him here. These told him at first that he
- 11:15Speaker 1: was imprisoned in a subterranean chamber. But as the effects
- 11:18Speaker 1: of the narcotic diminished, the keenness of the latter returned,
- 11:21Speaker 1: and with its return there was borne in upon Tarzan's
- 11:24Speaker 1: brain an insistent impression of familiarity in certain fragrant odors
- 11:27Speaker 1: that impinged upon his whole vactory organs, a haunting suggestion
- 11:31Speaker 1: that he had known them before under similar circumstances. Presently,
- 11:34Speaker 1: from above, through earth and masonry, came the shadow of
- 11:37Speaker 1: an uncanny screen. Just the faintest suggestion of it reached
- 11:40Speaker 1: the keen ears of the ape man, but it was
- 11:42Speaker 1: sufficient to flood his mind with vivid recollections, and by
- 11:45Speaker 1: association of ideas, to fix the identity of the familiar
- 11:49Speaker 1: odors about him. He knew at last that he was
- 11:51Speaker 1: in the dark pit beneath opar above him, in her
- 11:54Speaker 1: chamber in the Temple law, the high Priestess tossed upon
- 11:57Speaker 1: a sleepless couch. She knew all too well the temper
- 12:00Speaker 1: of her people and the treachery of the High Priest Kage.
- 12:03Speaker 1: She knew the religious fanaticism which prompted the oft time
- 12:06Speaker 1: maniacal actions of her bestial and ignorant followers, and she
- 12:10Speaker 1: guessed truly that Kage would inflame them against her should
- 12:13Speaker 1: she fail this time in sacrificing the ape Man to
- 12:15Speaker 1: the flaming God. And it was the effort to find
- 12:18Speaker 1: an escape from her dilemma that left her sleepless. For
- 12:21Speaker 1: it was not in the heart of law to sacrifice
- 12:22Speaker 1: Tarzan of the Apes, high priestess of a horrid cult,
- 12:26Speaker 1: though she was and queen of a race of half beasts.
- 12:29Speaker 1: Yet she was a woman too, a woman who had
- 12:31Speaker 1: loved but once, and given that love to the godlike
- 12:34Speaker 1: ape man, who was again within her power twice before
- 12:37Speaker 1: he escaped her sacrificial knife. In the final instance, love
- 12:41Speaker 1: had at last triumphed over jealousy and fanaticism and law.
- 12:44Speaker 1: The woman had realized that never again could she place
- 12:47Speaker 1: in jeopardy the life of the man she loved. However
- 12:49Speaker 1: hopeless she knew that love to be. Tonight, she was
- 12:52Speaker 1: faced with the problem that she almost felt beyond her
- 12:54Speaker 1: powers of solution. The fact that she was made with
- 12:57Speaker 1: kage removed the last vestige of hope that she had
- 12:59Speaker 1: ever had of becoming the wife of the ape Man.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Yet she was no less determined to save Tarzan if
- 13:04Speaker 1: it were possible. Twice had he saved her life, once
- 13:08Speaker 1: from the mad priest and once from tantor in must
- 13:11Speaker 1: then too, she had given her word that when Tarzan
- 13:14Speaker 1: came again to Opar, he came in friendship and would
- 13:16Speaker 1: be received in friendship. But the influence of Kaj was great,
- 13:20Speaker 1: and she knew that that influence had been directed unremittingly
- 13:23Speaker 1: against the ape man. She had seen it in the
- 13:26Speaker 1: attitude of her followers from the very moment that they
- 13:28Speaker 1: had placed Tarzan upon a litter to bear him back
- 13:30Speaker 1: to o tar She had seen it in the evil
- 13:32Speaker 1: glances that had been cast at her. Sooner or later
- 13:35Speaker 1: they would dare to announce her. All that they needed
- 13:37Speaker 1: was some slight new excuse that she knew they eagerly
- 13:40Speaker 1: awaited in her forthcoming attitude toward Tarzan. It was well
- 13:43Speaker 1: after midnight when there came to her one of the
- 13:45Speaker 1: priestesses who remained always upon guard outside her chamber door.
- 13:49Speaker 1: Douth would speak with you, whispered the handmaiden. It is late,
- 13:53Speaker 1: replied Vaal, and men are not permitted in this part
- 13:56Speaker 1: of the temple. How came he here? And why he
- 14:00Speaker 1: says that he comes in service of Law, who is
- 14:02Speaker 1: in great danger, replied the girl. Fetch him here, then,
- 14:06Speaker 1: said Law, And as you value your life, see that
- 14:09Speaker 1: you tell no one. I shall be as voices as
- 14:12Speaker 1: the stones of the altar, replied the girl as she
- 14:14Speaker 1: turned and left the chamber. A moment later she returned,
- 14:17Speaker 1: bringing Duth, who halted a few feet from the high
- 14:20Speaker 1: Priestess and saluted her law signal to the girl who
- 14:23Speaker 1: had brought him to depart. And then she turned questioningly
- 14:25Speaker 1: to the man. Speak douth, she commanded. We all know,
- 14:30Speaker 1: he said, of Law's love for the strange ape man.
- 14:33Speaker 1: And it is not for me, a lesser priest, to
- 14:35Speaker 1: question the thoughts or acts of my High Priestess. It
- 14:38Speaker 1: is only for me to serve as those would do
- 14:41Speaker 1: better to serve. Who now plot against you? What do
- 14:44Speaker 1: you mean, Duth, who plots against me? Even at this minute,
- 14:48Speaker 1: ar kadjan o Ah and several of the priests and
- 14:51Speaker 1: priestesses carrying out a plan for your undoing. They are
- 14:54Speaker 1: setting spies to watch you, knowing that you would liberate
- 14:57Speaker 1: the ape man, because there will come to you one
- 14:59Speaker 1: who will tell you that to permit him to escape
- 15:01Speaker 1: will be the easiest solution of your problem. This one
- 15:04Speaker 1: will be sent by Kaj and in those who watch
- 15:06Speaker 1: you will report to the people and to the priests.
- 15:08Speaker 1: They have seen you lead the sacrifice to liberty. But
- 15:11Speaker 1: even that will avail you nothing, for kaj and Oah
- 15:14Speaker 1: and the others have placed upon the trail from Opar
- 15:16Speaker 1: many men in hiding, who will fall upon the ape
- 15:18Speaker 1: man and slay him before the Flaming God has descended
- 15:21Speaker 1: twice into the western forest. In but one way only
- 15:24Speaker 1: may you save yourself, law of o Tar. And what
- 15:27Speaker 1: is that way? She asked? You must, with your own hands,
- 15:31Speaker 1: upon the altar of our temple, sacrifice the ape man
- 15:34Speaker 1: to the Flaming God. End of chapter