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08 - Mystery of the Past · Tarzan and the Golden Lion

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Mystery of the Past. Law had breakfasted the
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  Speaker 1: following morning and had sent Duth with food for Tarzan
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  Speaker 1: when they came to her a young priestess who was
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  Speaker 1: the sister of Ooah. Even before the girl had spoken,
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  Speaker 1: Law knew that she was an emissary from Codge, and
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  Speaker 1: that the treachery of which Duth had warned her was
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  Speaker 1: already under way. The girl was ill at ease and
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  Speaker 1: quite evidently frightened, for she was young and held in
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  Speaker 1: high revere the Queen, whom she had good reason to know,
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  Speaker 1: was all powerful, and who might even inflict death upon
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  Speaker 1: her if she so wished. Law, who had already determined
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  Speaker 1: upon a plan of action that she knew would be
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  Speaker 1: most embarrassing to Codge and his conspirators, waited in silence
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  Speaker 1: for the girl to speak, but it was some time
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  Speaker 1: before the girl could muster up her courage or find
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  Speaker 1: a proper opening. Instead, she spoke of many things that
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  Speaker 1: had no bearing whatsoever upon her subject, and Law. The
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  Speaker 1: high priestess was amused at her discomfiture. It is not
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  Speaker 1: often said Law that the sister of Oah comes to
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  Speaker 1: the apartments of her queen unless she is bidden I
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  Speaker 1: am glad to see that she at last realizes the
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  Speaker 1: service that she own to the High Priestess of the
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  Speaker 1: Flaming God. I come, said the girl at last, speaking
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  Speaker 1: almost as one who has learned a part, to tell
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  Speaker 1: you that I have overheard that which may be of
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  Speaker 1: interest to you, and that I am sure that you
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  Speaker 1: will be glad to hear. Yes, interrogated Law, raising her
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  Speaker 1: arch eyebrows. I overheard Kag speaking with the lesser priests,
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  Speaker 1: the girl continued, and I distinctly heard him say that
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  Speaker 1: he would be glad if the ape man escaped, as
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  Speaker 1: that would relieve you and Kage as well of much embarrassment.
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  Speaker 1: I thought that Law, the Queen would be glad to
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  Speaker 1: know this, for it is known by all of us
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  Speaker 1: that Law has promised friendship to the ape Man, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore does not wish to sacrifice him upon the altar
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  Speaker 1: of the Flaming God. My duty is plain to me,
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  Speaker 1: replied Law in a haughty voice, and I do not
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  Speaker 1: intend Kage nor any hand maiden to interpret it to me.
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  Speaker 1: I also know the prerogatives of a high priestess, and
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  Speaker 1: that the right of sacrifice is one of them. For
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  Speaker 1: this reason I prevented Kage from sacrificing the stranger. No
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  Speaker 1: other hand than mine may offer his heart's blood to
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  Speaker 1: the flaming God, and upon the third day he shall
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  Speaker 1: dive beneath my knife upon the altar of our temple.
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  Speaker 1: The effect of these words upon the girl were precisely
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  Speaker 1: what Law had anticipated. She saw disappointment and chagrin written
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  Speaker 1: upon the face of Tadje's messenger, who now had no
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  Speaker 1: answer for her instructions. Had not foreseen this attitude upon
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  Speaker 1: the part of Law. Presently, the girl found some lame
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  Speaker 1: pretext upon which to withdraw, and when she had left
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  Speaker 1: the presence of the High Priestess, Law could scarcely restrain
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  Speaker 1: a smile. She had no intention of sacrificing Tarzan. But this,
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  Speaker 1: of course the sister of Oa did not know. So
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  Speaker 1: she returned to Kaj and repeated, as nearly as she
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  Speaker 1: could recall it, all that Law had said to her.
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  Speaker 1: The High Priest was much chagrined, for his plan had
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  Speaker 1: been now not so much to encompass the destruction of
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan as to lead Law into the commission of an
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  Speaker 1: act that would bring upon her the wrath of the
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  Speaker 1: priests and people of Opar. Who properly instigated would demand
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  Speaker 1: her life in expiation. Oah, who was present when her
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  Speaker 1: sister returned, bit her lips, for great was her disappointment.
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  Speaker 1: Never before had she seen so close at hand the
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  Speaker 1: long for possibility of because coming high priestess. For several
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  Speaker 1: minutes she paced to and fro in deep thought, and
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  Speaker 1: then suddenly she halted before kaje Lah loves this ape man,
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  Speaker 1: she said, and even though she may sacrifice him, it
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  Speaker 1: is only because of her fear of her people she
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  Speaker 1: loves him, still loves him better Kach, than she has
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  Speaker 1: ever loved you. The ape man knows it and trusts her.
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  Speaker 1: And because he knows it, there is a way. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: Kach to O'ah. We will send one to the ape
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  Speaker 1: man who shall tell him that she comes from law,
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  Speaker 1: and that Law has instructed her to lead him out
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  Speaker 1: of Opar and set him free. This one shall lead
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  Speaker 1: him into our ambush, and when he is killed, we
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  Speaker 1: shall go many of us before Law and accuse her
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  Speaker 1: of treachery. The one who led the ape man from
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  Speaker 1: Opar shall say that law ordered her to do it,
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  Speaker 1: and the priests and the people will be very angry.
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  Speaker 1: And then you shall demand the life of law. It
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  Speaker 1: will be very easy, and we shall be rid of
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  Speaker 1: both of them. Good, replied Kaj. We shall do this thing,
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  Speaker 1: and down upon the morrow, and before the flaming God
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  Speaker 1: goes to his rest at night, he shall look upon
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  Speaker 1: a new high priestess in Opar. That night, Tarzan was
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  Speaker 1: aroused from his sleep by a sound at one of
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  Speaker 1: the doors of his prison cell. He heard the bolt
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  Speaker 1: slipped back, and the door creaked slowly open upon its
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  Speaker 1: ancient hinges. In the inky darkness, he could discern no presence,
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  Speaker 1: but he heard the stealthy movement of standaled feet upon
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  Speaker 1: the concrete floor, and then, out of the darkness, his
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  Speaker 1: name was whispered in a woman's voice. I am here,
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  Speaker 1: he replied, Who are you and what do you want
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  Speaker 1: of Tarzan of the Apes? Your life is in danger,
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  Speaker 1: replied the voice. Come follow me, Who sent you? Demanded
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  Speaker 1: the ape man, his sensitive nostrils searching for a clue
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  Speaker 1: to the identity of the nocturnal visitor. But so heavily
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  Speaker 1: was the air laden with the pungent odor of some
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  Speaker 1: heavy perfume with which the body of the woman seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have been anointed, that there was no distinguishing clue
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  Speaker 1: by which he might judge as to whether she was
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  Speaker 1: one of the priestesses he had known upon the occasion
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  Speaker 1: of his former visits to Opar, or an entire stranger
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  Speaker 1: to him. Lah sent me, she said, to lead you
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  Speaker 1: from the pits of Opar to the freedom of the
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  Speaker 1: outside world. Beyond the city's walls. Groping in the darkness,
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  Speaker 1: she finally found him. Here are your weapons, she said,
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  Speaker 1: handing them to him, And then she took his hand,
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  Speaker 1: turned and led him from the dungeon through a long,
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  Speaker 1: winding and equally black corridor, down flights of age old
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  Speaker 1: concrete steps, through passages and corridors, opening and closing door
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  Speaker 1: after door that creaked and groaned upon rusty hinges. How
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  Speaker 1: far they traveled thus and in what direction, Tarzan could
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  Speaker 1: not guess. He had gleaned enough from Duth when the
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  Speaker 1: latter had brought him his food to believe that in
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  Speaker 1: law he had a friend who would aid him, for
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  Speaker 1: Duth had told him that she had saved him from
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  Speaker 1: Kaj when the latter had discovered him unconscious in the
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  Speaker 1: deserted Boma of the Europeans who had drugged and left him.
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  Speaker 1: And so the woman, having said that she came from Law,
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  Speaker 1: Tarzan followed her willingly. He could not but recall Jane's
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  Speaker 1: prophecy of the evils that he might expect to befall
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  Speaker 1: him should he persist in undertaking this third trip to Opar,
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  Speaker 1: and wondered if, after all his wife was right that
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  Speaker 1: he should never again escape from the toils of the
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  Speaker 1: fanatical priests of the flaming God. He had, not, of course,
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  Speaker 1: expected to enter Opar, but there seemed to hang over
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  Speaker 1: the accursed city a guardian demon that threatened the life
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  Speaker 1: of whosoever dared approached the forbidden spot or arrest from
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  Speaker 1: the forgotten treasure vaults a portion of their great hoard.
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  Speaker 1: For more than an hour, his guide led him through
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  Speaker 1: the stygian darkness of underground passages until ascending a flight
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  Speaker 1: of steps, they emerged into the center of a clump
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  Speaker 1: of bushes, through which the pale light of the moon
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  Speaker 1: was barely discernible. The fresh air, however, told him that
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  Speaker 1: they had reached the surface of the ground. And now
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  Speaker 1: the woman, who had not spoken the words since she
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  Speaker 1: had led him from his cell, continued on in silence,
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  Speaker 1: following a devious trail that wound hither and thither in
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  Speaker 1: an erratic fashion, through a heavy forest choked with undergrowth,
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  Speaker 1: and always upward. From the location of the stars and moon,
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  Speaker 1: and from the upward trend of the trail, Tarzan knew
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  Speaker 1: that he was being led into the mountains that lie
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  Speaker 1: behind Opar, a place he had never thought of visiting,
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  Speaker 1: since the country appeared rough and uninviting and not likely
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  Speaker 1: to harbor gains such as Tarzan cared most to hunt.
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  Speaker 1: He was already surprised by the nature of the vegetation,
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  Speaker 1: for he had thought the hills barren except for stunted
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  Speaker 1: trees and scraggy bushes. As they continued upon their way,
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  Speaker 1: climbing ever upward, the moon rose higher in the heavens,
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  Speaker 1: until its soft light revealed more clearly to the keen
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  Speaker 1: eyes of the ape man the topography of the country
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  Speaker 1: they were traversing. And then it was that he saw
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  Speaker 1: they were ascending a narrow, thickly wooded gorge, and he
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  Speaker 1: understood why the heavy vegetation had been invisible from the
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  Speaker 1: plain before o tar himself naturally uncommunicative, the woman's silence
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  Speaker 1: made no particular impression upon Tarzan. Had he had anything
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  Speaker 1: to say, he should have said it, And likewise he
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  Speaker 1: assumed that there was no necessity for her speaking unless
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  Speaker 1: there was some good reason for speaking, For those who
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  Speaker 1: travel far and fast have no breath to waste upon conversation.
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  Speaker 1: The eastern stars were fading at the first hint of
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  Speaker 1: coming dawn when the two scrambled up a precipitous bank
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  Speaker 1: that formed the upper end of the ravine and came
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  Speaker 1: out upon comparatively level ground. As they advanced, the sky lightened,
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  Speaker 1: and presently the woman halted at the edge of the declivity.
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  Speaker 1: And as the day broke, Tarzan saw below him a
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  Speaker 1: wooded basin in the heart of the mountain, and showing
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  Speaker 1: through the trees, at what appeared to be some two
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  Speaker 1: or three miles distant, the outlines of a building that
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  Speaker 1: glistened and sparkled and scintillated in the light of the
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  Speaker 1: new sun. Then he turned and looked at his companion
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  Speaker 1: in surprising consternation were rid upon his face, for standing
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  Speaker 1: before him was law, the high Priestess of Opar. You,
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  Speaker 1: he exclaimed. Now, indeed, will Kaj have the excuse that
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  Speaker 1: Duth said he sought to put you out of the way.
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  Speaker 1: He will never have the opportunity to put me out
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  Speaker 1: of the way, replied law, For I shall never return
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  Speaker 1: to Opar. Never return to Opar, he exclaimed. Then where
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  Speaker 1: are you going? Where can you go? I am going
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  Speaker 1: with you, she replied. I do not ask that you
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  Speaker 1: love me. I only asked that you take me away
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  Speaker 1: from Opar and from the enemies who would slay me.
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  Speaker 1: There is no other way. Manu the Monkey overheard them plotting,
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  Speaker 1: and he came to me and told me all that
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  Speaker 1: they would do. Whether I said you or sacrificed you,
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  Speaker 1: it had all been the same with me. They were
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  Speaker 1: determined to do away with me. That Oah might be
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  Speaker 1: high priestess and Kaj king of Opar, But I should
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  Speaker 1: not have sacrificed you, Tarzan, under any circumstances. And this
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  Speaker 1: then seemed the only way in which we might both
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  Speaker 1: be saved. We could not go to the north or
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  Speaker 1: to the west, across the plains of Opar, for there
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  Speaker 1: Kaj placed warriors in ambush to waylay you, and though
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  Speaker 1: you be Tarzan and a mighty fighter, they would overwhelm
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  Speaker 1: you by their very numbers and slay you. But where
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  Speaker 1: are you leading me? Asked Tarzan, I have chosen the
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  Speaker 1: lesser of two evils. In this direction lies an unknown country,
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  Speaker 1: filled for us Oparians with legends of grim creatures and
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  Speaker 1: strange people. Never has an Oparian ventured here and returned
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  Speaker 1: again to Opar. But if there lives in all the
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  Speaker 1: world a creature who can win through this unknown valley,
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  Speaker 1: it be you, Tarzan of the Apes. But if you
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  Speaker 1: know nothing of this country or its inhabitants, demanded Tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: how is it that you know so well the trail
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  Speaker 1: that leads to it? We know well the trail to
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  Speaker 1: the summit, but that is as far as I have
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  Speaker 1: ever been before. The Great Apes and the Lions use
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  Speaker 1: this trail when they come down into Opar. The lions,
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  Speaker 1: of course, cannot tell us where it leads, and the
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  Speaker 1: Great Apes will not, for usually we are at war
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  Speaker 1: with them. Along this trail. They come down into Opar
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  Speaker 1: to steal our people, and upon this trail we await
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  Speaker 1: to capture them, for often we offer a great ape
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  Speaker 1: and sacrifice to the Flaming God. Or rather that was
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  Speaker 1: our former custom. But for many years they have been
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  Speaker 1: too wary for us, us the toll being upon the
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  Speaker 1: other side, though we do not know for what purpose
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  Speaker 1: they steal our people, unless it be that they eat them.
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  Speaker 1: They are a very powerful race, standing higher than Bolgani
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  Speaker 1: the gorilla, and infinitely more cunning. For as there is
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  Speaker 1: ape blood in our veins, so is there human blood
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  Speaker 1: in the veins of these great apes that dwell in
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  Speaker 1: the valley above o Par. Why is it law that
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  Speaker 1: we must pass through this valley in order to escape
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  Speaker 1: from Opar? There must be some other way. There is
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  Speaker 1: no other way, Tarzan of the Apes, she replied. The
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  Speaker 1: avenues across the valley are guarded by Kaja's people. Our
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  Speaker 1: only chance of escape lies in this direction, and I
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  Speaker 1: have brought you along the only trail that pierces the
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  Speaker 1: precipitous cliffs that guard Opar upon the south. Across or
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  Speaker 1: around this valley, we must go in an attempt to
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  Speaker 1: find an avenue across the mountain and down upon the
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  Speaker 1: other side. The ape man stood gazing down into the
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  Speaker 1: wooded basin below them, his mind occupied with the problems
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  Speaker 1: of the moment. Had he been alone, he would not
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  Speaker 1: have come this way, for he was sufficiently confident of
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  Speaker 1: his own prowess to believe that he might easily have
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  Speaker 1: crossed the valley of Opar in comparative safety, regardless of
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  Speaker 1: costious plans to the contrary. But he was not alone.
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  Speaker 1: He had now to think of law, and he realized
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  Speaker 1: that in her efforts to save him, she had placed
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  Speaker 1: him under a moral obligation which he might not disregard.
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  Speaker 1: To skirt the basin, keeping as far as possible from
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  Speaker 1: the building, which he could see in the distance, seemed
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  Speaker 1: the wisest course to pursue, since, of course, his sole
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  Speaker 1: purpose was to find a way across the mountain and
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  Speaker 1: out of this inhospitable country. But the glimpses he caught
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  Speaker 1: of the edifice, half concealed as it was, amid the
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  Speaker 1: foliage of great trees, piqued his curiosity to such an
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  Speaker 1: extent that he felt an almost irresistible urge to investigate.
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  Speaker 1: He did not believe that the basin was inhabited by
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  Speaker 1: other than wild beasts, and he attributed the building which
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: he saw to the handiwork of an extinct or departed people,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: where the contemporaneous with the ancient Atlanteans who had built Opar,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: or perhaps built by the original Oparians themselves, but now
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  Speaker 1: forgotten by their descendants. The glimpses which he caught of
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  Speaker 1: the building suggested such size and magnificence as might belong
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  Speaker 1: to a palace. The ape man knew no fear. Though
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: he possessed, to a reasonable extent the caution which is
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  Speaker 1: inherent in all wild beasts, he would not have hesitated
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  Speaker 1: to pit his coming and his prowess against the lower orders,
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  Speaker 1: however ferocious they might be, for unlike man, they could
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: not band together to his undoing. But should men elect
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: to hunt him in numbers, he knew that a real
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: danger would confront him, and that in the face of
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  Speaker 1: their combined strength and intelligence, his own might not avail him.
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  Speaker 1: There was little likelihood. However, he reasoned that the basin
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  Speaker 1: was inhabited by human beings. Doubtless, closer investigation of the
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  Speaker 1: building he saw would reveal that it was but a
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  Speaker 1: deserted ruin, and that the most formidable foes he would
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: encounter would be the great apes and alliance of neither
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  Speaker 1: of these. Had he any fear with the former, it
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: was even reasonable to imagine that he might establish amicable relations.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Believing as he did that he must look for egress
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  Speaker 1: from the basin upon its opposite side, it was only
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  Speaker 1: natural that he should wish to choose the most direct
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: route across the basin. Therefore, his inclinations to explore the
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: valley were seconded by considerations of speed and expediency. Come,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: he said to Law, and started down the declivity, which
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: led into the basin in the direction of the building
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: ahead of them. You are not going that way, she
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: cried in astonishment. Why not, he said, It is the
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  Speaker 1: shortest way across the valley, and in so far as
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: I can judge, our trail over the mountain is more
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: likely to lie in that direction than elsewhere. But I
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  Speaker 1: am afraid, she said. The flaming God alone knows what
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: hideous dangers lurk in the depths of that forest below us.
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  Speaker 1: Only Numa and Mangani, he said, of these we need
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  Speaker 1: have no fear. You fear nothing, she said. But I
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  Speaker 1: am only a woman. We can dive at once, replied Tarzan,
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  Speaker 1: and that once we must die to be always fearing.
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  Speaker 1: Then would not avert it and would make life miserable.
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  Speaker 1: We shall go the short way, then, and perhaps we
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  Speaker 1: shall see enough to make the risk well worth While
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: they followed a well worn trail downward among the brush,
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  Speaker 1: the trees increasing in both sides and number as they
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  Speaker 1: approached the floor of the basin, until at last they
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: were walking beneath the foliage of a great forest. What
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: wind there was was at their back, and the ape man,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: though he moved in a swinging walk, was constantly on
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  Speaker 1: the alert. Upon the hard earth of the trail, there
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: were few signs to indicate the nature of the animals
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  Speaker 1: that had passed to and fro, but here and there
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the spoor of a lion was in evidence. Several times
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: Tarzan stopped and listened. Often he raised his head, and
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  Speaker 1: his sensitive nostrils dilated as he sought for whatever the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: surrounding air might hold for him. I think there are
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: men in this valley, he said, presently. For some time
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: I have been almost positive that we are being watched.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: But whoever is stalking us is clever beyond words, For
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: it is only the barest suggestion of another presence that
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I consent. Law looked about apprehensively and drew close to
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  Speaker 1: his side. I see no one, she said, in a
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  Speaker 1: low voice, Nor I, he replied, Nor can I catch
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  Speaker 1: any well defined sense. For yet I am positive that
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: some one is following us, someone or something that trails
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: by scent, and is clever enough to keep its scent
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  Speaker 1: from us. It is more than likely that whatever it is,
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  Speaker 1: it is passing through the trees at a sufficient height
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  Speaker 1: to keep its scent spore always above us. The air
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: is right for that, and even if he were up
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  Speaker 1: when from us, we might not catch his scent at all.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Wait here, I will make sure. And he swung lightly
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: into the branches of a nearby tree and swarmed upward
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: with the agility of Manu the monkey. A moment later
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: he descended to the girl's side. I was right, he said.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: There is some one or something not far off. But
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: whether it is man or Mangani, I cannot say, for
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the odor is a strange one to me, suggesting neither
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: yet both. But do complay at that game? Come? And
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: he swung the girl to his shoulder, and a moment
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: later had carried her high into the trees. Unless he
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: is close enough to watch us, which I doubt, he said,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: our score will be carried over his head, and it
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: will be some time before he can pick it up again,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: unless he is wise enough to rise to a higher level.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Law marveled at the strength of the ape man as
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: he carried her easily from tree to tree, and at
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the speed with which he traversed the swaying leafy trail
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: for half an hour. He continued onward, and then quite
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: suddenly he stopped, poised high upon a swaying bough. Look,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: he said, pointing ahead and below them. Looking in the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: direction that he indicated, the girl saw through the leafy
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: foliage a small, heavily stockaded compound, in which were some
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: dozen huts that immediately riveted her surprised attention. Nor no
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: less was the ape man's curiosity peaked by what he
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: glimpsed vaguely through the foliage. Huts they evidently were, but
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: they seemed to be moving to and fro in the air,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: some moving gently backward and forward, while others jumped up
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and down in more or less violent agitation. Tarzan swung
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: to a nearer tree and descended to a sturdy branch,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: to which he lowered law from his shoulder. Then he
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: crept forward stealthily, the girl following, for she was, in
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: common with other oparians, slightly arboreal. Presently they reached a
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: point where they could see plainly the village below them,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: and immediately the seeming mystery of the dancing huts was explained.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: They were of the bee hive type common to many
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: African tribes, and were about seven feet in diameter by
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: six or seven in height, But instead of resting on
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the ground, each hut was suspended by a heavy hawserlike
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: grass rope to a branch of one of the several
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: giant trees that grew within the stockade. From the center
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: of the bottom of each hut trailed another lighter rope
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: from his position above them, Tarzan saw no openings in
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: any of the huts large enough to admit the body
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: of a man, though there were several openings four or
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: five inches in diameter in the sides of each hut
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: about three feet above the floor upon the ground. Inside
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the compound were several of the inhabitants of the village,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: if the little collection of swinging houses could be dignified
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: by such a name. Nor were the people any less
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: strange to Tarzan than their peculiar domiciles. That there were
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: negroes was evident, but of a type entirely unfamiliar to
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the ape man. All were naked and without any ornamentation
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: whatsoever other than a few daubs of color placed apparently
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: at random upon their bodies. They were tall, and very
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: muscular appearing, though their legs seemed much too short and
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: their arms too long for perfect symmetry, while their faces
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: were almost bestealing contour, their jaws being exaggeratedly prognathous, while
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: above their beetling brows there was no forehead, the skull
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: running back in almost a horizontal plane to a point.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: As Tarzan stood looking at them, he saw another descend
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: one of the ropes that dangled from the bottom of
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a hut, and immediately understood the purpose of the ropes
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: and the location of the entrances to the dwellings. The
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: creatures squatting about upon their haunches were engaged in feeding.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Several had bones, from which they were tearing the uncooked
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: flesh with their great teeth, while others ate fruit and tubers.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: There were individuals of both sexes and of various ages
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: from childhood to maturity, but there was none that seemed
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: very old. They were practically hairless, except for scraggy, reddish
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: brown locks upon their heads. They spoke, but seldom, and
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: then in tones which resembled the growling of beasts. Nor
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: once while Tarzan watched them did he see one laugh
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: or even smile, Which of all their traits rendered them
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: most unlike the average native of Africa. Though Tarzan's eyes
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: searched the compound carefully, he saw no indication of cooking
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: utensils or of any fire. Upon the ground. About them
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: lay their weapons, short javelin like spears and a sort
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: of battle axe with a sharpened metal blade. Tarzan and
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: the ahe was glad that he had come this way,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: for it had permitted him to see such a type
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: of native as he had not dreamed existed, a type
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: so low that it bordered closely upon the brute. Even
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the Wazdans and Hoddans of Polyuodot were far advanced in
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: the scale of evolution compared to these. As he looked
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: at them, he could not but wonder that they were
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: sufficiently intelligent to manufacture the weapons they possessed, which he
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: could see, even at a distance, where a fine workmanship
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and design. Their huts, too, seemed well in geniously made,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: while the stockade which surrounded the little compound was tall, strong,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and well built, evidently for the purpose of safeguarding them
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: against the lines which infested the basin. As Tarzan in
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Law watched these people, they became presently aware of the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: approach of some creature from their left, and a moment
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: later they saw a man similar to those of the compounds,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: swinging from a tree that overhung the stockade and drop within.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: The others acknowledged his coming with scarce more than indifferent glances.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: He came forward and, squatting among them, appeared to be
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: telling them of something, and though Tarzan could not hear
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: his words, he judged from his gestures and the sign
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: language which he used to supplement his meager speech, that
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: he was telling his fellows of the strange creatures he
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: had seen in the forest a short time before, and
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the ape man immediately judged that this was the same
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: whom he had been aware was following them, and whom
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: he had successfully put off the scent. The narration evidently
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: excited them, for some of them arose, and, leaping up
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: and down with bent knees, slapped their arms against their
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: sides grotesquely. The expressions upon their faces scarcely changed, however,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: and after a moment each squatted down again as he
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: had been before. It was while were thus engaged that
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: there echoed through the forest a loud scream that awakened
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: in the mind of the ape man many savage memories. Bulgani,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: he whispered to law. It is one of the great apes,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: she said, and shuddered. Presently they saw him swinging down
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the jungle trail toward the compound, a huge gorilla, but
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: such a gorilla as Tarzan of the Apes had never
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: looked on before, of almost gigantic stature. The creature was
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: walking erect, with the stride of a man, not ever
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: once touching his knuckles to the ground. His head and
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: face were almost those of a gorilla, And yet there
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: was a difference, as Tarzan could note as the creature
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: came nearer, it was Bulgani with the soul and brain
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: of a man. Nor was this all that rendered the
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: creature startling and unique. Stranger perhaps than aught else was
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the fact that he wore ornaments, and such ornaments gold
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and diamonds sparkled against its shaggy coat. Above its elbows
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: were numerous omelets, and there were anklets upon its legs,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: while from a girdle about its middle, there depended before
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: and behind a long, narrow strip that almost touched the ground,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: and which seemed to be entirely constructed of golden spangles
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: set with small diamonds. Never before had John Clayton, Lord Greystoke,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: seen such a display of barbaric finery, nor even amidst
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the jewels of Opar, such a wealth of priceless stones.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Immediately after the hideous scream first broken the comparative silence
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: of the forest, Tarzan had noticed its effects upon the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: inmates of the compound. Instantly they had arisen to their feet.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: The women and children scurried behind the bows of the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: trees or clambered up the ropes into their swinging cages,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: while some of the men advanced to what Tarzan now
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: saw was the gait of the compound. Outside this gate,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the gerilla halted and again raised his voice, but this
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: time in speech rather than his hideous scream. End of
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: chapter