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Silently in the Night
In A-lur the fortunes of the city had been tossed from hand to hand.The party of Ko-tan's loyal warriors that Tarzan had led to therendezvous at the entrance to the secret passage below the palace gateshad met with disaster. Their first rush had been met with soft wordsfrom the priests. They had been exhorted to defend the faith of theirfathers from blasphemers. Ja-don was painted to them as a defiler oftemples, and the wrath of Jad-ben-Otho was prophesied for those whoembraced his cause. The priests insisted that Lu-don's only wish was toprevent the seizure of the throne by Ja-don until a new king could bechosen according to the laws of the Ho-don.
The result was that many of the palace warriors joined their fellows ofthe city, and when the priests saw that those whom they could influenceoutnumbered those who remained loyal to the palace, they caused theformer to fall upon the latter with the result that many were killedand only a handful succeeded in reaching the safety of the palacegates, which they quickly barred.
The priests led their own forces through the secret passageway into thetemple, while some of the loyal ones sought out Ja-don and told him allthat had happened. The fight in the banquet hall had spread over aconsiderable portion of the palace grounds and had at last resulted inthe temporary defeat of those who had opposed Ja-don. This force,counseled by under priests sent for the purpose by Lu-don, hadwithdrawn within the temple grounds so that now the issue was plainlymarked as between Ja-don on the one side and Lu-don on the other.
The former had been told of all that had occurred in the apartments ofO-lo-a to whose safety he had attended at the first opportunity and hehad also learned of Tarzan's part in leading his men to the gatheringof Lu-don's warriors.
These things had naturally increased the old warrior's formerinclinations of friendliness toward the ape-man, and now he regrettedthat the other had departed from the city.
The testimony of O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee was such as to strengthenwhatever belief in the godliness of the stranger Ja-don and others ofthe warriors had previously entertained, until presently there appeareda strong tendency upon the part of this palace faction to make theDor-ul-otho an issue of their original quarrel with Lu-don. Whetherthis occurred as the natural sequence to repeated narrations of theape-man's exploits, which lost nothing by repetition, in conjunctionwith Lu-don's enmity toward him, or whether it was the shrewd design ofsome wily old warrior such as Ja-don, who realized the value of addinga religious cause to their temporal one, it were difficult todetermine; but the fact remained that Ja-don's followers developedbitter hatred for the followers of Lu-don because of the high priest'santagonism to Tarzan.
Unfortunately however Tarzan was not there to inspire the followers ofJa-don with the holy zeal that might have quickly settled the disputein the old chieftain's favor. Instead, he was miles away and becausetheir repeated prayers for his presence were unanswered, the weakerspirits among them commenced to suspect that their cause did not havedivine favor. There was also another and a potent cause for defectionfrom the ranks of Ja-don. It emanated from the city where the friendsand relatives of the palace warriors, who were largely also the friendsand relatives of Lu-don's forces, found the means, urged on by thepriesthood, to circulate throughout the palace pernicious propagandaaimed at Ja-don's cause.
The result was that Lu-don's power increased while that of Ja-donwaned. Then followed a sortie from the temple which resulted in thedefeat of the palace forces, and though they were able to withdraw indecent order withdraw they did, leaving the palace to Lu-don, who wasnow virtually ruler of Pal-ul-don.
Ja-don, taking with him the princess, her women, and their slaves,including Pan-at-lee, as well as the women and children of his faithfulfollowers, retreated not only from the palace but from the city ofA-lur as well and fell back upon his own city of Ja-lur. Here heremained, recruiting his forces from the surrounding villages of thenorth which, being far removed from the influence of the priesthood ofA-lur, were enthusiastic partisans in any cause that the old chieftainespoused, since for years he had been revered as their friend andprotector.
And while these events were transpiring in the north, Tarzan-jad-gurulay in the lion pit at Tu-lur while messengers passed back and forthbetween Mo-sar and Lu-don as the two dickered for the throne ofPal-ul-don. Mo-sar was cunning enough to guess that should an openbreach occur between himself and the high priest he might use hisprisoner to his own advantage, for he had heard whisperings among evenhis own people that suggested that there were those who were more thana trifle inclined to belief in the divinity of the stranger and that hemight indeed be the Dor-ul-Otho. Lu-don wanted Tarzan himself. Hewanted to sacrifice him upon the eastern altar with his own handsbefore a multitude of people, since he was not without evidence thathis own standing and authority had been lessened by the claims of thebold and heroic figure of the stranger.
The method that the high priest of Tu-lur had employed to trap Tarzanhad left the ape-man in possession of his weapons though there seemedlittle likelihood of their being of any service to him. He also had hispouch, in which were the various odds and ends which are the naturalaccumulation of all receptacles from a gold meshbag to an attic. Therewere bits of obsidian and choice feathers for arrows, some pieces offlint and a couple of steel, an old knife, a heavy bone needle, andstrips of dried gut. Nothing very useful to you or me, perhaps; butnothing useless to the savage life of the ape-man.
When Tarzan realized the trick that had been so neatly played upon himhe had awaited expectantly the coming of the lion, for though the scentof JA was old he was sure that sooner or later they would let one ofthe beasts in upon him. His first consideration was a thoroughexploration of his prison. He had noticed the hide-covered windows andthese he immediately uncovered, letting in the light, and revealing thefact that though the chamber was far below the level of the templecourts it was yet many feet above the base of the hill from which thetemple was hewn. The windows were so closely barred that he could notsee over the edge of the thick wall in which they were cut to determinewhat lay close in below him. At a little distance were the blue watersof Jad-in-lul and beyond, the verdure-clad farther shore, and beyondthat the mountains. It was a beautiful picture upon which he looked--apicture of peace and harmony and quiet. Nor anywhere a slightestsuggestion of the savage men and beasts that claimed this lovelylandscape as their own. What a paradise! And some day civilized manwould come and--spoil it! Ruthless axes would raze that age-old wood;black, sticky smoke would rise from ugly chimneys against that azuresky; grimy little boats with wheels behind or upon either side wouldchurn the mud from the bottom of Jad-in-lul, turning its blue waters toa dirty brown; hideous piers would project into the lake from squalidbuildings of corrugated iron, doubtless, for of such are the pioneercities of the world.
But would civilized man come? Tarzan hoped not. For countlessgenerations civilization had ramped about the globe; it had dispatchedits emissaries to the North Pole and the South; it had circledPal-ul-don once, perhaps many times, but it had never touched her. Godgrant that it never would. Perhaps He was saving this little spot to bealways just as He had made it, for the scratching of the Ho-don and theWaz-don upon His rocks had not altered the fair face of Nature.
Through the windows came sufficient light to reveal the whole interiorto Tarzan. The room was fairly large and there was a door at eachend--a large door for men and a smaller one for lions. Both were closedwith heavy masses of stone that had been lowered in grooves running tothe floor. The two windows were small and closely barred with the firstiron that Tarzan had seen in Pal-ul-don. The bars were let into holesin the casing, and the whole so strongly and neatly contrived thatescape seemed impossible. Yet within a few minutes of his incarcerationTarzan had commenced to undertake his escape. The old knife in hispouch was brought into requisition and slowly the ape-man began toscrape and chip away the stone from about the bars of one of thewindows. It was slow work but Tarzan had the patience of absolutehealth.
Each da
y food and water were brought him and slipped quickly beneaththe smaller door which was raised just sufficiently to allow the stonereceptacles to pass in. The prisoner began to believe that he was beingpreserved for something beside lions. However that was immaterial. Ifthey would but hold off for a few more days they might select what fatethey would--he would not be there when they arrived to announce it.
And then one day came Pan-sat, Lu-don's chief tool, to the city ofTu-lur. He came ostensibly with a fair message for Mo-sar from the highpriest at A-lur. Lu-don had decided that Mo-sar should be king and heinvited Mo-sar to come at once to A-lur and then Pan-sat, havingdelivered the message, asked that he might go to the temple of Tu-lurand pray, and there he sought the high priest of Tu-lur to whom was thetrue message that Lu-don had sent. The two were closeted alone in alittle chamber and Pan-sat whispered into the ear of the high priest.
"Mo-sar wishes to be king," he said, "and Lu-don wishes to be king.Mo-sar wishes to retain the stranger who claims to be the Dor-ul-Othoand Lu-don wishes to kill him, and now," he leaned even closer to theear of the high priest of Tu-lur, "if you would be high priest at A-lurit is within your power."
Pan-sat ceased speaking and waited for the other's reply. The highpriest was visibly affected. To be high priest at A-lur! That wasalmost as good as being king of all Pal-ul-don, for great were thepowers of him who conducted the sacrifices upon the altars of A-lur.
"How?" whispered the high priest. "How may I become high priest atA-lur?"
Again Pan-sat leaned close: "By killing the one and bringing the otherto A-lur," replied he. Then he rose and departed knowing that the otherhad swallowed the bait and could be depended upon to do whatever wasrequired to win him the great prize.
Nor was Pan-sat mistaken other than in one trivial consideration. Thishigh priest would indeed commit murder and treason to attain the highoffice at A-lur; but he had misunderstood which of his victims was tobe killed and which to be delivered to Lu-don. Pan-sat, knowing himselfall the details of the plannings of Lu-don, had made the quite naturalerror of assuming that the other was perfectly aware that only bypublicly sacrificing the false Dor-ul-Otho could the high priest atA-lur bolster his waning power and that the assassination of Mo-sar,the pretender, would remove from Lu-don's camp the only obstacle to hiscombining the offices of high priest and king. The high priest atTu-lur thought that he had been commissioned to kill Tarzan and bringMo-sar to A-lur. He also thought that when he had done these things hewould be made high priest at A-lur; but he did not know that alreadythe priest had been selected who was to murder him within the hour thathe arrived at A-lur, nor did he know that a secret grave had beenprepared for him in the floor of a subterranean chamber in the verytemple he dreamed of controlling.
And so when he should have been arranging the assassination of hischief he was leading a dozen heavily bribed warriors through the darkcorridors beneath the temple to slay Tarzan in the lion pit. Night hadfallen. A single torch guided the footsteps of the murderers as theycrept stealthily upon their evil way, for they knew that they weredoing the thing that their chief did not want done and their guiltyconsciences warned them to stealth.
In the dark of his cell the ape-man worked at his seemingly endlesschipping and scraping. His keen ears detected the coming of footstepsalong the corridor without--footsteps that approached the larger door.Always before had they come to the smaller door--the footsteps of asingle slave who brought his food. This time there were many more thanone and their coming at this time of night carried a sinistersuggestion. Tarzan continued to work at his scraping and chipping. Heheard them stop beyond the door. All was silence broken only by thescrape, scrape, scrape of the ape-man's tireless blade.
Those without heard it and listening sought to explain it. Theywhispered in low tones making their plans. Two would raise the doorquickly and the others would rush in and hurl their clubs at theprisoner. They would take no chances, for the stories that hadcirculated in A-lur had been brought to Tu-lur--stories of the greatstrength and wonderful prowess of Tarzan-jad-guru that caused the sweatto stand upon the brows of the warriors, though it was cool in the dampcorridor and they were twelve to one.
And then the high priest gave the signal--the door shot upward and tenwarriors leaped into the chamber with poised clubs. Three of the heavyweapons flew across the room toward a darker shadow that lay in theshadow of the opposite wall, then the flare of the torch in thepriest's hand lighted the interior and they saw that the thing at whichthey had flung their clubs was a pile of skins torn from the windowsand that except for themselves the chamber was vacant.
One of them hastened to a window. All but a single bar was gone and tothis was tied one end of a braided rope fashioned from strips cut fromthe leather window hangings.
To the ordinary dangers of Jane Clayton's existence was now added themenace of Obergatz' knowledge of her whereabouts. The lion and thepanther had given her less cause for anxiety than did the return of theunscrupulous Hun, whom she had always distrusted and feared, and whoserepulsiveness was now immeasurably augmented by his unkempt and filthyappearance, his strange and mirthless laughter, and his unnaturaldemeanor. She feared him now with a new fear as though he had suddenlybecome the personification of some nameless horror. The wholesome,outdoor life that she had been leading had strengthened and rebuilt hernervous system yet it seemed to her as she thought of him that if thisman should ever touch her she should scream, and, possibly, even faint.Again and again during the day following their unexpected meeting thewoman reproached herself for not having killed him as she would JA orJATO or any other predatory beast that menaced her existence or hersafety. There was no attempt at self-justification for these sinisterreflections--they needed no justification. The standards by which theacts of such as you or I may be judged could not apply to hers. We haverecourse to the protection of friends and relatives and the civilsoldiery that upholds the majesty of the law and which may be invokedto protect the righteous weak against the unrighteous strong; but JaneClayton comprised within herself not only the righteous weak but allthe various agencies for the protection of the weak. To her, then,Lieutenant Erich Obergatz presented no different problem than did JA,the lion, other than that she considered the former the more dangerousanimal. And so she determined that should he ignore her warning therewould be no temporizing upon the occasion of their next meeting--thesame swift spear that would meet JA's advances would meet his.
That night her snug little nest perched high in the great tree seemedless the sanctuary that it had before. What might resist the sanguinaryintentions of a prowling panther would prove no great barrier to man,and influenced by this thought she slept less well than before. Theslightest noise that broke the monotonous hum of the nocturnal junglestartled her into alert wakefulness to lie with straining ears in anattempt to classify the origin of the disturbance, and once she wasawakened thus by a sound that seemed to come from something moving inher own tree. She listened intently--scarce breathing. Yes, there itwas again. A scuffing of something soft against the hard bark of thetree. The woman reached out in the darkness and grasped her spear. Nowshe felt a slight sagging of one of the limbs that supported hershelter as though the thing, whatever it was, was slowly raising itsweight to the branch. It came nearer. Now she thought that she coulddetect its breathing. It was at the door. She could hear it fumblingwith the frail barrier. What could it be? It made no sound by which shemight identify it. She raised herself upon her hands and knees andcrept stealthily the little distance to the doorway, her spear clutchedtightly in her hand. Whatever the thing was, it was evidentlyattempting to gain entrance without awakening her. It was just beyondthe pitiful little contraption of slender boughs that she had boundtogether with grasses and called a door--only a few inches lay betweenthe thing and her. Rising to her knees she reached out with her lefthand and felt until she found a place where a crooked branch had leftan opening a couple of inches wide near the center of the barrier. Intothis she inserted the point of her spear. Th
e thing must have heard hermove within for suddenly it abandoned its efforts for stealth and toreangrily at the obstacle. At the same moment Jane thrust her spearforward with all her strength. She felt it enter flesh. There was ascream and a curse from without, followed by the crashing of a bodythrough limbs and foliage. Her spear was almost dragged from her grasp,but she held to it until it broke free from the thing it had pierced.
It was Obergatz; the curse had told her that. From below came nofurther sound. Had she, then, killed him? She prayed so--with all herheart she prayed it. To be freed from the menace of this loathsomecreature were relief indeed. During all the balance of the night shelay there awake, listening. Below her, she imagined, she could see thedead man with his hideous face bathed in the cold light of themoon--lying there upon his back staring up at her.
She prayed that JA might come and drag it away, but all during theremainder of the night she heard never another sound above the drowsyhum of the jungle. She was glad that he was dead, but she dreaded thegruesome ordeal that awaited her on the morrow, for she must bury thething that had been Erich Obergatz and live on there above the shallowgrave of the man she had slain.
She reproached herself for her weakness, repeating over and over thatshe had killed in self-defense, that her act was justified; but she wasstill a woman of today, and strong upon her were the iron mandates ofthe social order from which she had sprung, its interdictions and itssuperstitions.
At last came the tardy dawn. Slowly the sun topped the distantmountains beyond Jad-in-lul. And yet she hesitated to loosen thefastenings of her door and look out upon the thing below. But it mustbe done. She steeled herself and untied the rawhide thong that securedthe barrier. She looked down and only the grass and the flowers lookedup at her. She came from her shelter and examined the ground upon theopposite side of the tree--there was no dead man there, nor anywhere asfar as she could see. Slowly she descended, keeping a wary eye and analert ear ready for the first intimation of danger.
At the foot of the tree was a pool of blood and a little trail ofcrimson drops upon the grass, leading away parallel with the shore ofJad-ben-lul. Then she had not slain him! She was vaguely aware of apeculiar, double sensation of relief and regret. Now she would bealways in doubt. He might return; but at least she would not have tolive above his grave.
She thought some of following the bloody spoor on the chance that hemight have crawled away to die later, but she gave up the idea for fearthat she might find him dead nearby, or, worse yet badly wounded. Whatthen could she do? She could not finish him with her spear--no, sheknew that she could not do that, nor could she bring him back and nursehim, nor could she leave him there to die of hunger or of thirst, or tobecome the prey of some prowling beast. It were better then not tosearch for him for fear that she might find him.
That day was one of nervous starting to every sudden sound. The daybefore she would have said that her nerves were of iron; but not today.She knew now the shock that she had suffered and that this was thereaction. Tomorrow it might be different, but something told her thatnever again would her little shelter and the patch of forest and junglethat she called her own be the same. There would hang over them alwaysthe menace of this man. No longer would she pass restful nights ofdeep slumber. The peace of her little world was shattered forever.
That night she made her door doubly secure with additional thongs ofrawhide cut from the pelt of the buck she had slain the day that shemet Obergatz. She was very tired for she had lost much sleep the nightbefore; but for a long time she lay with wide-open eyes staring intothe darkness. What saw she there? Visions that brought tears to thosebrave and beautiful eyes--visions of a rambling bungalow that had beenhome to her and that was no more, destroyed by the same cruel forcethat haunted her even now in this remote, uncharted corner of theearth; visions of a strong man whose protecting arm would never pressher close again; visions of a tall, straight son who looked at heradoringly out of brave, smiling eyes that were like his father's.Always the vision of the crude simple bungalow rather than of thestately halls that had been as much a part of her life as the other.But he had loved the bungalow and the broad, free acres best and so shehad come to love them best, too.
At last she slept, the sleep of utter exhaustion. How long it lastedshe did not know; but suddenly she was wide awake and once again sheheard the scuffing of a body against the bark of her tree and again thelimb bent to a heavy weight. He had returned! She went cold, tremblingas with ague. Was it he, or, O God! had she killed him then and wasthis--? She tried to drive the horrid thought from her mind, for thisway, she knew, lay madness.
And once again she crept to the door, for the thing was outside just asit had been last night. Her hands trembled as she placed the point ofher weapon to the opening. She wondered if it would scream as it fell.
Tarzan the Terrible Page 20