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Chapter 17 · Tarzan and the Lost Empire

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  Chapter seventeen of Tarzan and the Lost Empire by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This LibriVox
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  recording is in the public domain. Tarzan and the Lost Empire, chapter seventeen.
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  As Tarzan looked toward the far end of the arena, he saw six
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  bull apes being herded through the gateway. They had heard the victory cry roll
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  thunderously from the arena a few minutes before, and they came now from their
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  cages, filled with excitement and ferocity. Already had they long been surly and
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  irritable from confinement and from the teasing and baiting to which they had been subjected
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  by the cruel sanguinarians before them, They saw a man thing, a hated
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  Tarmangani. He represented the creatures that had captured them and teased them and hurt
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  them. I a gaet, growled one of the bull apes. I kill,
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  I am tsuto Beldana, I kill kill. The Tarmangani barked goyad.
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  As the six lumbered forward, sometimes erect upon their hind feet, sometimes swinging
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  with gnarled knuckles to the ground. The crowd hooted and groaned down with caesar
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  death to Sublattus rose distinctly above the tumult. To a man, they were
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  upon their feet, but the glittering pikes held them in awe. As one
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  or two with more courage than brains, sought to reach the loge of Caesar,
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  but ended upon the pikes of the legionaries instead. Their bodies lying in
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  the aisles served as warning to the others. Soublodus turned and whispered to a
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  guest in the Imperial Loge. This should be a lesson to all who would
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  dare affront Caesar. He said, quite right, replied the other glory.
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  Caesar is indeed all powerful. But the fellow's lips were blue from terror as
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  he saw how great and menacing was the crowd, and how slim and few
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  looked the glittering pikes that stood between it and the Imperial Loge. As the
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  Apes approached, Zutho was in the lead. I am zu Tho, he
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  cried, I kill Look well, Zuho, before you kill your friend,
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  replied the ape man, I am Tarzan of the Apes. Zutho stopped,
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  bewildered. The others crowded about him. The Tarmangani spoke in the language of
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  the great Apes. Said Zutho, I know him, said Goyete. He
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  was king of the tribe when I was a young ape. It is indeed
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  white skin, said Gayat. Yes, said Tarzan, I am white skin.
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  We are all prisoners here together. These Tarbangani are my enemies and yours.
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  They wish us to fight, but we shall not. No, said
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  Zutho. We shall not fight against Tarzan. Good, said the ape man,
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  as they gathered close around him, sniffing that their noses might validate the
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  testimony of their eyes. What has happened, growled Subladas. Why do they
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  not attack him? He has cast a spell upon them, replied Caesar's guest.
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  The people looked on wonderingly. They heard the beasts and the man growling
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  at one another. How could they guess that they were speaking together in their
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  common language. They saw Tarzan turn and walk towards Caesar's loage, his bronze
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  skin brushing against the black coats of the savage beasts lumbering at his side.
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  The ape man and the apes halted below Imperial Caesar. Tarzan's eyes ran quickly
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  round the arena. The wall was lined with legionaries, so not even Tarzan
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  might pass these unscathed. He looked up at sebladis your plan has failed,
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  Caesar. These that you thought would tear me to pieces are my own people.
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  They will not harm me. If there are any others that you would
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  turn against me, let them come now, but be quick, for my
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  patience is growing short. And if I should say the word, these apes
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  will follow me into the Imperial loge and tear you to shreds. And that
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  is exactly what Tarzan would have done had he not known that, while he
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  doubtless could have killed Sabladus, his end would come quickly beneath the pikes of
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  the Legionaries. He was not sufficiently well versed in the ways of mobs to
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  know that in their present mood, the people would have swarmed to protect him,
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  and that the Legionaries, with few exceptions, would have joined forces with
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  them against the hated tyrant. What Tarzan wanted particularly was to effect the escape
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  of Cassius Hasta and Cecilius Metellus simultaneously with his own, so that he might
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  have the advantage of their assistance in his search for Eric van Harbin in the
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  Empire of the East. Therefore, when the prefect ordered him back to his
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  dungeon. He went, taking the apes with him to their cages. As
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  the arena gates closed behind him, he heard again above the roaring of a
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  populace, the insistent demand down with Seblattis. As the jailer opened the cell
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  door, Tarzan saw that its only occupant was Maximus Proclarus. Welcome, Tarzan,
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  cried the Roman. I had not thought to see you again. How
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  is it that you are neither dead nor free. It is the justice of
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  Caesar, replied Tarzan with a smile. But at least our friends are free,
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  for I see they are not here. Do not deceive yourself, Barbarian,
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  said the jailer. Your friends are chained safely in another cell. But
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  they won their freedom, exclaimed Tarzan, And so did you, returned the
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  jailer with a grin. But are you free? It is an outrage,
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  cried Proclarus. It cannot be done. The jailer shrugged. But it is
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  already done, he said, And why, demanded Proclarus. Think you that
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  a poor soldier has the confidence of Caesar, asked the jailer. But I
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  have heard the reason rumored sedition is in the air. Caesar fears you and
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  all your friends because the people favor you, and you favored Dionce Blendidis.
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  I see, said Proclarus, And so we are to remain here indefinitely.
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  I should scarcely say indefinitely, grinned the jailer as he closed the door and
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  locked it, leaving them alone. I did not like the look in his
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  eye nor the tone of his voice, said Proclarus, after the fellow was
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  out of hearing. The gods are unkind, But how can I expect else
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  from them when even my best friend fails me? You mean appiasyplosis, asked
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  Tarzan. Another replied Proclarus. If he had fetched the keys, we might
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  yet escape. Perhaps we shall, in any event, said Tarzan. I
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  should never give up hope until I were dead, and I have never been
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  dead. You do not know either the power or perfidy of Caesar, replied
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  the Roman. Nor does Caesar know Tarzan of the apes. Darkness had but
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  just enveloped the city, blotting out even the dim light of their dungeon cell.
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  When the two men perceived wavering light beams, lessening, the darkness of
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  the corridor without the light increased, and they knew that some one was approaching,
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  lighting his way with a flaring torch. Visitors to the dungeon beneath the
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  colosseum were few. In the daytime, guards and jaders passed occasionally, and
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  twice each day slaves came with food. But at night the silent approach of
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  a single torch might more surely augur ill than well. Proclarus and Tarzan dropped
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  the desultory conversation with which they had been wiling away the time, and waited
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  in silence for whoever might be coming. Perhaps the nighttime visitor was not for
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  them, but the egotism of misfortune naturally suggested that he was, and that
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  his intentions might be more sinister than friendly. But they had not long to
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  wait, and their suspicions precluded any possibility of surprise. When a man halted
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  before the barred gateway to their cell, as the visitor fitted the key to
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  the lock, Priclaarius recognized him through the bars Appius of Plosis, he cried,
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  you have come, tste cautioned to Plosis, and quickly opening the gate,
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  he stepped within and closed it silently behind him. With a quick glance,
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  he surveyed the cell and then extinguished his torch against the stone wall.
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  It is fortunate that you are alone, he said, speaking in whispers,
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  as he dropped to the floor close to the two men. You are trembling,
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  said Proclarius. What has happened? It is not what has happened,
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  but what is about to happen that alarms me, replied Toplosis. You have
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  probably wondered why I had not brought the keys. You have doubtless thought me
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  faithless. But the fact is that up to this instant it has been impossible,
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  although I have stood ready before to risk my life in the attempt,
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  even as I am now doing. But why should it be so difficult for
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  the commander of the Colosseum guard to visit the dungeon? I am no longer
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  the commander of the guards, replied Toplosis. Something must have aroused Caesar's suspicions,
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  for I was removed in the hour that I last left you. Whether
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  some one overheard and reported our plan, or whether it was merely my known
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  friendship for you that aroused his misgivings, I may only surmise. But the
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  fact remains that I have been kept on duty constantly at the or to Pretoria
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  since I was transferred there from the Colosseum. I have not even been permitted
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  to return to my home, the reason given being that Caesar expects an uprising
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  of the barbarians of the outer villages, which, as we all know,
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  is utterly ridiculous. I risked everything to leave my post only an hour ago,
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  and that because of a word of gossip that was passed to me by
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  a young officer who came to leave another at the gate. What said,
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  he demanded, Proclarus. He said that an officer of the palace guard had
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  told him that he had been ordered to come to your cell tonight and assassinate
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  both you and this white barbarian. I hastened to festivities, and together we
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  found the keys that I promised to bring you. But even as I slunk
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  through the shadows of the city's streets, endeavoring to reach the Colosseum, unobserved
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  or unrecognized, I feared that I might be too late, for Caesar's orders
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  are that you are to be dispatched at once. Here the keys. Proclarus,
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  if I may do more, command me, No, my friend replied,
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  Proclarus, you have already risked more than enough. Go at once return
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  to your post, lest Caesar, learn and destroy you. Farewell then,
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  and good luck, said Aplosis. If you would leave the city, remember
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  that Appias Aplosus commands the port of Pretoria. I shall not forget my friend,
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  replied Proclarus, but I shall not impose further rists upon your friendship.
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  Appia Suplosus turned to leave the cell, but he stopped suddenly at the gate.
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  It is too late, he whispered. Look, the faint gleams of
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  distant porch light were cutting the gloom of the corridor. They come, whispered
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  Proclarus, make haste. But instead, Appiasuplosus stepped quickly to one side of
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  the doorway, out of sight of the corridor beyond, and drew his Spanish
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  sword Rapidly. The tort swung down the corridor. The scraping of sandals on
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  stone could be distinctly heard, and the ape man knew that whoever came was
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  alone. A man wrapped in a long dark cloak, halted before the barred
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  door, and holding his torch above his head, peered within Maximus Proclarus.
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  He whispered, are you within? Yes, replied Proclarus. Good, exclaimed
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  the other. I was not sure that this was the right cell. What
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  is your errand demanded Proclarus. I come from Caesar, said the other.
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  He sends a note, a sharp one, inquired Proclarus, sharp and pointed,
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  laughed the officer. We are expecting you, you knew, demanded the
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  other. We guessed, for we know Caesar. Then make your peace with
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  your gods, said the officer, drawing his sword and pushing the door open,
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  For you are about to die. There was a cold smile upon his
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  lips as he stepped across the threshold. For Caesar knew his men and had
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  chosen well the proper type for this deed, a creature without conscience, whose
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  envy and jealousy Proclaius had aroused, and the smile was still upon his lips
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  as the sword of Appius Aplosis crashed through his helmet to his brain. As
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  the man plunged forward dead, the torch fell from his left hand and was
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  extinguished upon the floor. Now go, whispered Proclarus to Aplosis, and may
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  the gratitude of those who have saved prove a guard against disaster. It could
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  not have turned out better, whispered Aplosis. You have the keys, you
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  have his weapons, and now you have ample time to make your escape before
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  the truth is learned. Goodbye again, goodbye, and may the gods protect
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  you. As Aphlosis moved cautiously along the dark corridor, Maximus Proclaius fitted keys
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  to their manacles, and both men stood erect free at last from their hated
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  chains. No need to formulate plans. They had talked and talked of nothing
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  else for weeks, changing them only to meet altered conditions. Now their first
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  concern was to find Hasta and Metellus and the others upon whose loyalty they could
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  depend, and together round them as many of the other prisoners as might be
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  willing to follow them in the daring adventure they contemplated. Through the darkness of
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  the corridor, they crept from cell to cell, and in the few that
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  still held prisoners, they found none unwilling to pledge his loyalty to any cause
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  or to any leader that might offer freedom. Leukiti, Pingu, and Ogono
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  were among those they liberated. They had almost given up hope of finding the
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  others when they came upon Metellus and Hasta in a cell close to the entrance
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  to the arena. With them were a number of professional gladiators who should have
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  been liberated with the other victors at the end of the games, but who
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  were being kept because of some whim of Caesar that they could not understand,
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  and that only inflame them to anger against the Emperor. To a man,
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  they pledged themselves to follow wherever Tarzan might lead. Few of us will come
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  through alive, said the ape Man, when they had all gathered in the
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  large room that was reserved for the contestants before they were ushered into the arena.
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  But those who do will have been avenged upon Caesar for the wrongs that
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  he has done them. The others will be welcomed by the gas as heroes
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  worthy of every favor, added Proclarus. We do not care whether your cause
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  be right or wrong, or whether we live or die, said a gladiator.
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  So long as there is good fighting, there will be good fighting.
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  I can promise you that, said Tarzan. And plenty of it then laid
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  on, said the gladiator. But first I must liberate the rest of my
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  friends, said the ape Man. We have emptied every cell, said Proclarus.
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  There are no more. Oh, yes, my friend, said Tarzan,
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  there are still others. The great apes end of Chapter seventeen