A Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook

Title:      Tarzan and the City of Gold
Author:     Edgar Rice Burroughs
eBook No.:  0500241.txt
Edition:    1
Language:   English
Character set encoding:     Latin-1(ISO-8859-1)--8 bit
Date first posted:          February 2005
Date most recently updated: February 2005

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Title:      Tarzan and the City of Gold
Author:     Edgar Rice Burroughs



All names, characters, events in this story are entirely fictitious.



CONTENTS



1 SAVAGE QUARRY

2 THE WHITE PRISONER

3 CATS BY NIGHT

4 DOWN THE FLOOD

5 THE CITY OF GOLD

6 THE MAN WHO STEPPED ON A GOD

7 NEMONE

8 UPON THE FIELD OF THE LIONS

9 "DEATH! DEATH!"

10 IN THE PALACE OF THE QUEEN

11 THE LIONS OF CATHNE

12 THE MAN IN THE LION PIT

13 ASSASSIN IN THE NIGHT

14 THE GRAND HUNT

15 THE PLOT THAT FAILED

16 IN THE TEMPLE OF THOOS

17 THE SECRET OF THE TEMPLE

18 FLAMING XARATOR

19 THE QUEEN'S QUARRY



CHAPTER ONE SAVAGE QUARRY



Down out of Tigre and Amhara upon Gojam and Shoa and Kaffa come the rains
from June to September, carrying silt and prosperity from Abyssinia to
the eastern Sudan and to Egypt, bringing muddy trails and swollen rivers
and death and prosperity to Abyssinia.

Of these gifts of the rains, only the muddy trails and the swollen rivers
and death interested a little band of Shiflas that held out in the remote
fastnesses of the mountains of Kaffa. Hard men were these mounted
bandits, cruel criminals without even a vestige of culture such as
occasionally leavens the activities of rogues, lessening their
ruthlessness. Kaficho and Galla they were, the off scourings of their
tribes, outlaws, men with prices upon their heads.

It was not raining now, and the rainy season was drawing to a close, for
it was the middle of September. But there was still much water in the
rivers, and the ground was soft after a recent rain.

The Shijtas rode, seeking loot from wayfarer, caravan, or village; and as
they rode, the unshod hoofs of their horses left a plain spoor that one
might read upon the run.

A short distance ahead of them, in the direction toward which they were
riding, a hunting beast stalked its prey. The wind was blowing from it
toward the approaching horsemen, and for this reason their scent spoor
was not borne to its sensitive nostrils, nor did the soft ground give
forth any sound beneath the feet of their walking mounts.

Though the stalker did not resemble a beast of prey, such as the term
connotes to the mind of man, he was one nevertheless, for in his natural
haunts he filled his belly by the chase and by the chase alone. Neither
did he resemble the mental picture that one might hold of a typical
British lord, yet he was that, too-he was Tarzan of the Apes.

All beasts of prey find hunting poor during a rain, and Tarzan was no
exception to the rule. It had rained for two days, and as a result Tarzan
was hungry. A small buck was drinking in a stream fringed by bushes and
tall reeds, and Tarzan was worming his way upon his belly through short
grass to reach a position from which he might either charge or loose an
arrow or cast a spear. He was not aware that a group of horsemen had
reined in upon a gentle rise a short distance behind him where they sat
in silence regarding him intently.

Usha the wind, who carries scent, also carries sound. Today, Usha carried
both the scent and the sound of the Shiftas away from the keen nostrils
and ears of the ape-man.

The circumstances that brought Tarzan northward into Kaffa are not a part
of this story. Perhaps they were not urgent, for the Lord of the Jungle
loves to roam remote fastnesses still unspoiled by the devastating hand
of civilization, and needs but trifling incentive to do so.

At the moment, however, Tarzan's mind was not occupied by thoughts of
adventure. He did not know that it loomed threateningly behind him. His
concern and his interest were centred upon the buck which he intended
should satisfy the craving of his ravenous hunger. He crept cautiously
forward.

From behind, the white-robed Shiftas moved from the little rise where
they had been watching him in silence, moved down toward him with spear
and long-barrelled matchlock. They were puzzled. Never before had they
seen a white man like this one, but if curiosity was in their minds,
there was only murder in their hearts.

The buck raised his head occasionally to glance about him, wary,
suspicious. When he did so, Tarzan froze into immobility. Suddenly the
animal's gaze centred for an instant upon something in the direction of
the ape-man; then it wheeled and bounded away. Instantly Tarzan glanced
behind him, for he knew that it had not been he who had frightened his
quarry, but something beyond and behind him that the alert eyes of Wappi
had discovered. That quick glance revealed a half-dozen horsemen moving
slowly toward him, told him what they were, and explained their purpose.
Knowing that they were Shiftas, he knew that they came only to rob and
kill-knew that here were enemies more ruthless than Numa.

When they saw that he had discovered them, the horsemen broke into a
gallop and bore down upon him, waving their weapons and shouting. They
did not fire, evidently holding in contempt this primitively armed
victim, but seemed to purpose riding him down and trampling him beneath
the hoofs of their horses or impaling him upon their spears.

But Tarzan did not turn and run. He knew every possible avenue of escape
within the radius of his vision for every danger that might reasonably be
expected to confront him here, for it is the business of the creatures of
the wild to know these things if they are to survive, and so he knew that
there was no escape from mounted men by flight. But this knowledge threw
him into no panic. Could the requirements of self-preservation have been
best achieved by flight, he would have fled, but as they could not, he
adopted the alternative quite as a matter of course-he stood to fight,
ready to seize upon any fortuitous circumstance that might offer a chance
to escape.

Tall, magnificently proportioned, muscled more like Apollo than like
Hercules, garbed only in a lion skin, he presented a splendid figure of
primitive manhood that suggested more, perhaps, the demigod of the forest
than it did man. Across his back hung his quiver of arrows and a light,
short spear; the loose coils of his grass rope lay across one bronzed
shoulder. At his hip swung the hunting knife of his father, the knife
that had given the boy-Tarzan the first suggestion of his coming
supremacy over the other beasts of the jungle on that far-gone day when
his youthful hand drove it into the heart of Bolgani the gorilla. In his
left hand was his bow and between the fingers four extra arrows.

As Ara the lightning, so is Tarzan for swiftness. The instant that he had
discovered and recognized the menace creeping upon him from behind and
known that he had been seen by the horsemen, he had leaped to his feet,
and in the same instant strung his bow. Now, perhaps even before the
leading Shiftas realized the danger that confronted them, the bow was
bent, the shaft sped.

Short but powerful was the bow of the ape-man; short, that it might be
easily carried through the forest and the jungle; powerful, that it might
send its shafts through the toughest hide to a vital organ of its prey.
Such a bow was this that no ordinary man might bend it.

Straight through the heart of the leading Shifta drove the first arrow,
and as the fellow threw his arms above his head and lunged from his
saddle four more arrows sped with lightning-like rapidity from the bow of
the ape-man, and every arrow found a target. Another Shifta dropped to
ride no more, and three were wounded.

Only seconds had elapsed since Tarzan had discovered his danger, and
already the four remaining horsemen were upon him. The three who were
wounded were more interested in the feathered shafts protruding from
their bodies than in the quarry they had expected so easily to overcome,
but the fourth was whole, and he thundered down upon the ape-man with his
spear set for the great chest.

There could be no retreat for Tarzan; there could be no side-stepping to
avoid the thrust, for a step to either side would have carried him in
front of one of the other horsemen. He had but a single slender hope for
survival, and that hope, forlorn though it appeared, he seized upon with
the celerity, strength, and agility that make Tarzan Tarzan. Slipping his
bowstring about his neck after his final shot, he struck up the point of
the menacing weapon of his antagonist, and grasping the man's arm swung
himself to the horse's back behind the rider.

As steel-thewed fingers closed upon the Shifta's throat he voiced a
single piercing scream; then a knife drove home beneath his left shoulder
blade, and Tarzan hurled the body from the saddle. The terrified horse,
running free with flying reins, tore through the bushes and the reeds
into the river, while the remaining shqtas, disabled by their wounds,
were glad to abandon the chase upon the bank, though one of them,
retaining more vitality than his companions, did raise his matchlock and
send a parting shot after the escaping quarry.

The river was a narrow, sluggish stream but deep in the channel, and as
the horse plunged into it, Tarzan saw a commotion in the water a few
yards downstream and then the outline of a long sinuous body moving
swiftly toward them. It was Gimla the crocodile. The horse saw it too
and, becoming frantic, turned upstream in an effort to escape. Tarzan
climbed over the high cantle of the Abyssinian saddle and unslung his
spear in the rather futile hope of holding the reptile at bay until his
mount could reach the safety of the opposite bank toward which he was now
attempting to guide him.

Gimla is as swift as he is voracious. He was already at the horse's rump,
with opened jaws, when the Shifta at the river's edge fired wildly at the
ape-man. It was well for Tarzan that the wounded man had fired hurriedly,
for simultaneously with the report of the firearm, the crocodile dove,
and the frenzied lashing of the water about him evidenced the fact that
he had been mortally wounded.

A moment later the horse that Tarzan rode reached the opposite bank and
clambered to the safety of dry land. Now he was under control again, and
the ape-man wheeled him about and sent a parting arrow across the river
toward the angry, cursing bandits upon the opposite side, an arrow that
found its mark in the thigh of the already wounded man who had
unwittingly rescued Tarzan from a serious situation with the shot that
had been intended to kill him.

To the accompaniment of a few wild and scattered shots, Tarzan of the
Apes galloped toward a nearby forest into which he disappeared from the
sight of the angry Shiftas.



CHAPTER TWO THE WHITE PRISONER



Far to the south a lion rose from his kill and walked majestically to the
edge of a nearby river. He cast not so much as a single glance at the
circle of hyenas and jackals that had ringed him and his kill waiting for
him to depart and which had broken and retreated as he rose. Nor, when
the hyenas rushed in to tear at what he had left, did he appear even to
see them.

There were the pride and bearing of royalty in the mien of this mighty
beast, and to add to his impressiveness were his great size, his yellow,
almost golden, coat, and his great black mane. When he had drunk his
fill, he lifted his massive head and voiced a roar, as is the habit of
lions when they have fed and drunk, and the earth shook to his thunderous
voice, and a hush fell upon the jungle.

Now he should have sought his lair and slept, to go forth again at night
and kill, but he did not do so. He did not do at all what might have been
expected of a lion under similar circumstances. He raised his head and
sniffed the air, and then he put his nose to the ground and moved to and
fro like a hunting dog searching for a game scent. Finally he halted and
voiced a low roar; then, with head raised, he moved off along a trail
that led toward the north. The hvenas were glad to see him go; so were
the jackals, who wished that the haenas would go also. Ska the vulture,
circling above, wished that they would all leave.

At about the same time, many marches to the north, three angry, wounded
Shiftas viewed their dead comrades and cursed the fate that had led them
upon the trail of the strange white giant. Then they stripped the
clothing and weapons from their dead fellows and rode away, loudly vowing
vengeance should they ever again come upon the author of their
discomfiture and secretly hoping that they never would. They hoped that
they were done with him, but they were not.

Shortly after he had entered the forest, Tarzan swung to an overhanging
branch beneath which his mount was passing and let the animal go its way.
The ape-man was angry; the Shiftas had frightened away his dinner. That
they had sought to kill him annoyed him far less than the fact that they
had spoiled his hunting. Now he must commence his search for meat all
over again, but when he had filled his belly he would look into this
matter of Shiftas. Of this he was certain.

Tarzan hunted again until he had found flesh, nor was it long before he
had made his kill and eaten it.

Satisfied, he lay up for a while in the crotch of a tree, but not for
long. His active mind was considering the matter of the Shiftas. Here was
something that should be looked into. If the band were on the march, he
need not concern himself about them, but if they were permanently located
in this district, that was a different matter. Tarzan expected to be here
for some time, and it was well to know the nature, the number, and the
location of all enemies.

Returning to the dyer, Tarzan crossed it and took up the plain trail of
the Shifias. It led him up and down across some low hills and then down
into the narrow valley of the stream that he had crossed farther up. Here
the floor of the valley was forested, the river winding through the wood.
Into this wood the trail led.

It was almost dark now; the brief equatorial twilight was rapidly fading
into night. The nocturnal life of the forest and the hills was awakening,
and from down among the deepening shadows of the valley came the coughing
grunts of a hunting lion. Tarzan sniffed the warm air rising from the
valley toward the mountains; it carried with it the odours of a camp and
the scent spoor of man. He raised his head, and from his deep chest
rumbled a full-throated roar. Tarzan of the Apes was hunting, too.

In the gathering shadows he stood then, erect and silent, a lonely figure
standing in solitary grandeur upon that desolate hillside. Swiftly the
silent night enveloped him; his figure merged with the darkness that made
hill and valley, river and forest one. Not until then did Tarzan move;
then he stepped down on silent feet toward the forest. Now was every
sense alert, for now the great cats would be hunting. Often his sensitive
nostrils quivered as they searched the air. No slightest sound escaped
his keen ears.

As he advanced, the man scent became stronger, guiding his steps. Nearer
and nearer sounded the deep cough of the lion, but of Numa Tarzan had
little fear at present, knowing that the great cat, being upwind, could
not be aware of his presence. Doubtless Numa had heard the ape-man's
roar, but he could not know that its author was approaching him.

Tarzan had estimated the lion's distance down the valley and the distance
that lay between himself and the forest, and had guessed that he would
reach the trees before their paths crossed. He was not hunting for Numa
the lion, and with the natural caution of the wild beast, he would avoid
an encounter.

The mingled odours of a camp grew stronger in his nostrils, the scents
of horses and men and food and smoke.

To you or to me, alone in a savage wilderness, engulfed in darkness,
cognizant of the near approach of a hunting lion, these odours would have
been most welcome. Tarzan's reaction to them was that of the wild beast
that knows man only as an enemy-his muscles tensed as he smothered a low
growl.

As he reached the edge of the forest, Numa was but a short distance to
his right and approaching, so the ape-man took to the trees, through
which he swung silently to the camp of the Shiftas.

Below him he saw a band of some twenty men with their horses and
equipment. A rude boma of branches and brush had been erected about the
camp site as a partial protection against wild beasts, but more
dependence was evidently placed upon the fire which they kept burning in
the centre of the camp.

In a single quick glance the ape-man took in the details of the scene
below him, and then his eyes came to rest upon the only one that aroused
either interest or curiosity, a white man who lay securely bound a short
distance from the fire.

Ordinarily, Tarzan was no more concerned by the fate of a white man than
by that of a black man or any other created thing to which he was not
bound by ties of friendship. But in this instance there were two factors
that made the life of the captive a matter of interest to the Lord of the
Jungle. First, and probably predominant, was his desire to be further
avenged upon the Shiftas; the second was curiosity, for the white man
that lay bound below him was different from any that he had seen before.

His only garment appeared to be a habergeon made up of ivory discs that
partially overlay one another, unless certain ankle, wrist, neck, and
head ornaments might have been considered to possess such utilitarian
properties as to entitle them to a similar classification. Except for
these, his arms and legs were naked. His head rested upon the ground with
the face turned away from Tarzan so that the ape-man could not see his
features but only that his hair was heavy and black.

As he watched the camp, seeking for some suggestion as to how he might
most annoy or inconvenience the bandits, it occurred to Tarzan that a
just reprisal would consist in taking from them something that they
wanted, just as they had deprived him of the buck he had desired.
Evidently they wished the prisoner very much or they would not have gone
to the trouble of securing him so carefully, so this fact decided Tarzan
to steal the white man from them.

To accomplish his design, he decided to wait until the camp slept, and
settling himself comfortably in a crotch of the tree, he prepared to keep
his vigil with the tireless patience of the hunting beast he was. As he
watched, he saw several of the Shiftas attempt to communicate with their
prisoner, but it was evident that neither understood the other.

Tarzan was familiar with the language spoken by the Kafichos and Gallos,
and the questions that they put to their prisoner aroused his curiosity
still further. There was one question that they asked him in many
different ways, in several dialects, and in sign which the captive either
did not understand or pretended not to. Tarzan was inclined to believe
that the latter was true, for the sign language was such that it could
scarcely be misunderstood. They were asking him the way to a place where
there was much ivory and gold, but they got no information from him.

"The pig understands us well enough," growled one of the shtiftas; "he is
just pretending that he does not."

"If he won't tell us, what is the use of carrying him around with us and
feeding him?" demanded another. "We might as well kill him now."

"We will let him think it over tonight," replied one who was evidently
the leader, "and if he still refuses to speak in the morning, we will
kill him then."

This decision they attempted to transmit to the prisoner both by words
and signs, and then they squatted about the fire and discussed the
occurrences of the day and their plans for the future. The principal
topic of their conversation was the strange white giant who had slain
three of their number and had escaped upon one of their horses. After
this had been debated thoroughly and in detail for some time, and the
three survivors of the encounter had boasted severally of their deeds of
valour, they withdrew to the rude shelters they had constructed and left
the night to Tarzan, Numa, and a single sentry.

The silent watcher among the shadows of the tree waited on in patience
until the camp should be sunk in deepest slumber and, waiting, planned
the stroke that was to rob the Shiftas of their prey and satisfy his own
desire for revenge.

At last the ape-man felt that the time had come when he might translate
his plan into action; all but the sentry were wrapped in slumber, and
even he was dozing beside the fire. As noiselessly as the shadow of a
shadow, Tarzan descended from the tree, keeping well in the shadow cast
by the fire.

For a moment he stood in silence, listening. He heard the breathing of
Numa, in the darkness beyond the circle of firelight, and knew that the
king of beasts was near and watching. Then he looked from behind the
great bole of the tree and saw that the sentry's back was still turned
toward him. Silently he moved into the open; stealthily, on soundless
feet, he crept toward the unsuspecting bandit. He saw the matchlock
across the fellow's knees: and for it he had respect, as have all jungle
animals that have been hunted.

Closer and closer he came to his prey. At last he crouched directly
behind him. There must be no noise, no outcry. Tarzan waited. Beyond the
rim of fire waited Numa, expectant, for he saw that very gradually the
flames were diminishing. A bronzed hand shot quickly forward; fingers of
steel gripped the brown throat of the sentry almost at the instant that a
knife was driven from below his left shoulder blade into his heart. The
sentry was dead without knowing that death threatened him.

Tarzan withdrew the knife from the limp body and wiped the blade upon the
once white robe of his victim; then he moved softly toward the prisoner
who was lying in the open. For him, they had not bothered to build a
shelter. As he made his way toward the man, Tarzan passed close to two of
the shelters in which lay members of the band, but he made no noise that
might awaken them. When he approached the captive more closely, he saw in
the diminishing light of the fire that the man's eyes were open and that
he was regarding Tarzan with level, though questioning, gaze. The ape-man
put a finger to his lips to enjoin silence, and then he came and knelt
beside the man and cut the thongs that secured his wrists and ankles. He
helped him to his feet, for the thongs had been drawn tightly, and his
legs were numb.

For a moment he waited while the stranger tested his feet and moved them
rapidly in an effort to restore circulation; then he beckoned him to
follow, and all would have been well but for Numa the lion. At this
moment, either to voice his anger against the flames or to terrify the
horses into a stampede, he elected to voice a thunderous roar.

So close was the lion that the sudden shattering of the deep silence of
the night startled every sleeper to wakefulness. A dozen men seized their
matchlocks and leaped from their shelters. In the waning light of the
fire they saw no lion, but they saw their liberated captive, and they saw
Tarzan of the Apes standing beside him.

Among those who ran from the shelters was the least seriously wounded of
Tarzan's victims of the afternoon. Imstantly recognizing the bronzed
white giant, he shouted Iudlv to his companions, "It is he! It is the
white demon who killed our friends."

"Kill him!" screamed another.

Completly surrounding the two white men, the Shiftas Advanced upon them,
but they dared not fire because of The fear that they might wound one of
their own comrades.

Tarzan could not loose an arrow or cast a spear, for he had ler all his
weapons except his rope and his knife hidden in the tree above the camp.

One of the bandits, more courageous, probably because less intelligent
than his fellows, rushed to close quarters with musket clubbed. It was
his undoing. The man-beast crouched, growling, and, as the other was
almost upon him, charged. The musket butt, hurtling through the air to
strike him down, he dodged, and then seized the weapon and wrenched it
from the Shifta's grasp as though it had been a toy in a child's hands.

Tossing the matchlock at the feet of his companion, Tarzan laid hold upon
the rash Galla, spun him around, and held him as a shield against the
weapons of his fellows. But despite this reverse the other Shiftas gave
no indication of giving up.

Two of them rushed in behind the ape-man, for it was he they feared the
more; but they were to learn that their former prisoner might not be
considered lightly. He had picked up a musket and, grasping it close to
the muzzle, was using it as a club.

A quick backward glance assured Tarzan that his companion was proving
himself a worthy ally, but it was evident that they could not hope to
hold out long against the superior numbers pitted against them. Their
only hope, he believed, lay in making a sudden, concerted rush through
the thin line of foemen surrounding them, and he sought to convey his
plan to the man standing back to back with him. But though he spoke to
him in English and in several continental languages, the only reply he
received was in a language that he himself had never before heard.

What was he to do? They must go together, and both must understand the
purpose animating Tarzan. But how was that possible if they could not
ccmmunicate with one another? Tarzan turned and touched the other lightly
on the shoulder; then he jerked his thumb in the direction he intended
going and beckoned with a nod of his head.

Instantly the man nodded his understanding and wheeled about as Tarzan
started to charge. Using the man in his grasp as a flail, Tarzan sought
to mow down those standing between him and liberty, but there were many
of them, and presently they succeeded in dragging their comrade from the
clutches of the ape-man. Now it seemed that the situation of the two
whites was hopeless.

One fellow in particular was well-placed to fire without endangering any
of his fellows, and raising his match-lock to his shoulder he took
careful aim at Tarzan.



CHAPTER THREE CATS BY NIGHT

As the man raised his weapon to his shoulder to fire at Tarzan, a scream
of warning burst from the lips of one of his comrades, to be drowned by
the throaty roar of Numa the lion, as the swift rush of his charge
carried him over the boma into the midst of the camp.

The man who would have killed Tarzan cast a quick backward glance as the
warning cry apprised him of his danger. When he saw the lion, he cast
away his rifle in his excitement and terror, his terrified scream mingled
with the voice of Numa, and in his anxiety to escape the fangs of the
man-eater he rushed into the arms of the ape-man.

The lion, momentarily confused by the firelight and the swift movement of
the men, paused, crouching, as he looked to right and left. In that brief
instant Tarzan seized the fleeing Shifta, and lifted him into the face of
Numa; then he motioned to his companion to follow him, and, running
directly past the lion, leaped the boma at the very point that Numa had
leaped it. Close at his heels was the white captive of the Shiftas, and
before the bandits had recovered from the first shock and surprise of the
lion's unexpected charge, the two had disappeared in the shadows of the
night.

Just outside the camp Tarzan left his companion for a moment while he
swung into the tree where he had left his weapons and recovered them;
then he led the way out of the valley up into the hills. At his elbow
trotted the silent white man he had rescued from certain death at the
hands of the Kaflcho and Galla bandits.

During the brief encounter in the camp, Tarzan had noted with admiration
the strength, agility, and courage of the stranger who had aroused both
his interest and his curiosity. Here, seemingly, was a man moulded to the
dimensions of Tarzan's own standards, a quiet, resourceful, courageous
fighting man. Radiating that intangible aura which we call personality,
even in his silences he impressed the ape-man with a conviction that
loyalty and dependability were innate characteristics of the man; so
Tarzan, who ordinarily preferred to be alone, was not displeased to have
the companionship of this stranger.

The moon, almost full, had risen above the black mountain mass to the
east, shedding her soft light on hill and valley and forest, transforming
the scene once more into that of a new world which was different from the
world of daylight and from the world of moonless night, a world of
strange greys and silvery greens.

Up toward a fringe of forest that clothed the upper slopes of the
foothills and dipped down into canyon and ravine the two men moved as
noiselessly as the passing shadow of a cloud; yet to one hidden in the
dark recesses of the wood above, their approach was not unheralded, for
on the breath of Usha the wind it was borne ahead of them to the cunning
nostrils of the prince of hunters.

Sheeta the panther was hungry. For several days prey had been scarce and
elusive. Now, in his nostrils, the scent of the man-things grew stronger
as they drew nearer. Eagerly, Sheeta the panther awaited the coming of
the men.

Within the forest, Tarzan sought a tree where they might lie up for the
night. He found a branch that forked horizontally. With his hunting knife
he cut other branches and laid them across the two arms of the Y thus
formed. Over this rude platform he spread leaves, and then he lay down to
sleep, while from an adjacent tree upwind Sheeta watched him. Sheeta also
watched the other man-thing on the ground between the two trees. The
great cat did not move; he seemed scarcely to breathe.

Even Tarzan was unaware of his presence, yet the ape-man was restless. He
listened intently and sniffed the air, but detected nothing amiss. Below
him, his companion was making his bed upon the ground in preference to
risking the high-flung branches of the trees to which he was
unaccustomed. It was the man upon the ground that Sheeta watched.

At last, his bed of leaves and grasses arranged to suit him, Tarzan's
companion lay down. Sheeta waited. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the
sinuous muscles were drawing the hindquarters forward beneath the sleek
body in preparation for the spring. Sheeta edged forward on the great
limb upon which he crouched, but in doing so he caused the branch to move
slightly and the leaves at its end to rustle a little.

Tarzan heard, and his eyes, turning quickly, sought and found the
intruder. At the same instant Sheeta launched himself at the man lying on
his rude pallet on the ground below, and as Sheeta sprang so did Tarzan.

Tarzan voiced a roar that was intended both to warn his companion and to
distract the attention of Sheeta from his prey. The man upon the ground
leaped quckly to one side, prompted more by an instinctive reacdon than
by reason. The panther's body brushed him as it struck the ground, but
the beast's thoughts were now upon the thing that had voiced that
menacing roar rather than upon its intended prey.

Wheeling as he leaped aside, the man turned and saw the savage carnivore
just as Tarzan landed full upon the beast's back. He heard the mingled
growls of the two as they closed in battle, and his scalp stiffened as he
realized that the sounds coining from the lips of his companion were
quite as bestial as those issuing from the throat of the carnivore.

Tarzan sought a hold about the neck of the panther, while the great cat
instantly attempted to roll over on its back that it might rip the body
of its antagonist to shreds with the terrible talons that armed its hind
feet. But this strategy the ape-man had anticipated, and rolling beneath
Sheeta as Sheeta rolled, he locked his powerful legs beneath the belly of
the panther. Then the great cat leaped to its feet again and sought to
shake the man-thing from its back, and all the while a mighty arm was
tightening about its neck, closing off its wind.

Tarzan had succeeded in drawing his knife. Momentarily the blade flashed
before his eyes; then it was buried in the body of Sheeta. The cat,
screaming from pain and rage, redoubled its efforts to dislodge the
creature clinging to it in the embrace of death, but again the knife
fell. Now Sheeta stood trembling upon uncertain feet as once again the
knife was plunged deeply into his side; then, his great voice forever
stilled, he sank lifeless to the ground as the ape-man rolled from
beneath him and sprang to his feet.

The man whose life Tarzan had saved came forward and laid a hand upon the
shoulder of the ape-man, speaking a few words in a low voice but in the
tongue that Tarzan did not understand, though he guessed that it
expressed the gratitude that the manner of the man betokened.

Influenced by the attack of the panther and knowinz that Numa was abroad,
Tarzan, by signs, persuaded the man to come up into the tree. Here the
ape-man helped him construct a nest similar to his own. For the balance
of the night they slept in peace, and the sun was an hour old before
either stirred the following morning. Then the ape-man rose and stretched
himself.

Nearby, the other man sat up and looked about him. His eyes met Tarzan's,
and he smiled and nodded.

The wild beast in Tarzan looked into the brown eyes of the stranger and
was satisfied that here was one who must be trusted; the man in him
noted the headband that confined the black hair, saw the strangely
wrought ivory ornament in the centre of the forehead, the habergeon that
he was now donning, the ivory ornaments on wrists and ankles, and found
his curiosity piqued.

The ivory ornament in the centre of the headband was shaped like a
concave, curved trowel, the point of which projected above the top of the
man's head and curved forward. His wristlets and anklets were of long
flat strips of ivory laid close together and fastened around the limbs by
leather thongs that were laced through holes piercing the strips near
their tops and bottoms. His sandals were of heavy leather, apparently
elephant hide, and were supported by leather thongs fastened to the
bottoms of his anklets.

That all these trappings were solely for purposes of ornamentation Tarzan
did not believe. He saw that almost without exception they would serve as
a protection against a cutting weapon such as a sword or battle-axe.

But speculation concerning this matter was relegated to the background of
his thoughts by hunger and recollection of the remains of yesterday's
kill that he had hung high in a tree of the forest farther up the river.
He dropped lightly to the ground, motioning the young warrior to follow
him, and set off in the direction of his cache, keeping his keen senses
always on the alert for enemies.

Cleverly hidden by leafy branches, the meat was intact when Tarzan
reached it. He cut several strips and tossed them down to the warrior
waiting on the ground below; then he cut some for himself and crouching
in a crotch proceeded to eat it raw. His companion watched him for a
moment in surprise: then he made fire with a bit of steel and flint and
cooked his own portion.

As he ate, Tarzan's active mind was considering plans for the future. He
had come to Abyssinia for a specific purpose, thouzh the matter was not
of such immediate importance that it demanded instant attention. In fact,
in the philosophy that a lifetime of primitive environment had inspired,
time was not an important consideration.

The phenomenon of this ivory-armoured warrior aroused questions that
intrigued his interest to a far greater extent than did the problems that
had brought him thus far from his own stamping grounds, and he decided
that the latter should wait the solving of the riddle that his new-made
acquaintance presented.

Having no other means of communication than signs rendered an exchange of
ideas between the two difficult, but when they had finished their meal
and Tarzan had descended to the ground, he succeeded in asking his
companion in what direction he wished to go. The warrior pointed in a
north-easterly direction toward the high mountains, and, as plainly as he
could through the medium of signs, invited Tarzan to accompany him to his
country. This invitation Tarzan accepted and motioned the other to lead
the way.

For days that stretched to weeks the two men struck deeper and deeper
into the heart of a stupendous mountain system. Always mentally alert and
eager to learn, Tarzan took advantage of the opportunity to learn the
language of his companion, and he proved such an apt pupil that they were
soon able to make themselves understood by one another.

Among the first things that Tarzan learned was that his companion's name
was Valthor, while Valthor took the earliest opportunity to evince an
interest in the ape-man's weapons. As he was unarmed, Tarzan spent a day
in making a spear and bow and arrows for him. Thereafter, as Valthor
taught the Lord of the Jungle to speak his language, Tarzan instructed
the former in the use of the bow, the spear being already a familiar
weapon to the young warrior.

Thus the days and the weeks passed and the two seemed no nearer the
country of Valthor than when they had started from the vicinity of the
camp of the Shiftas. Tarzan found game of certain varieties plentiful in
the mountains. He hunted, and enjoyed the beauties of unspoiled nature,
practically oblivious of the passage of time.

But Valthor was less patient, and at last, late one day when they found
themselves at the head of a blind canyon where stupendous cliffs barred
further progress, he admitted defeat. "I am lost," he said simply.

"That," remarked Tarzan, "I could have told you many days ago."

Valthor looked at him in surprise. "How could you know that," he
demanded, "when you yourself do not know in what direction my country
lies?"

"I know," replied the ape-man, "because during the past week you have led
the way toward the four points of the compass, and today we are within
five miles of where we were a week ago. Across this ridge at our right,
not more than five miles away, is the little stream where I killed the
ibex, and the gnarled old tree in which we slept that night just seven
suns ago."

Valthor scratched his head in perplexity, and then he smiled. "I cannot
dispute you," he admitted. "Perhaps you are right, but what are we going
to do?"

"Do you know in what direction your country lies from the camp in which I
found you?" asked Tarzan.

"The valley of Thenar is due east of that point," replied Valthor; "of
that I am positive."

"Then we are directly southwest of it now, for we have travelled a
considerable distance toward the south since we entered the higher
mountains. If your country lies in these mountains, then it should not be
difficult to find it if we can keep moving always in a northeasterly
direction."

"This jumble of mountains with their twisting canyons and gorges confuses
me," Valthor admitted. "You see, in all my life before, I have never been
farther from Ihenar than the valley of Onthar, and beth these valleys are
urrounded by landmarks with which I am so familiar that I need no other
guides. It has never been necessary for me to consult the positions of
the sun, the moon, nor the stars before, and so they have been of no help
to me since we set out in search of Thenar. Do you believe that you could
hold a course toward the northeast in this maze of mountains? If you can,
then you had better lead the way rather than I."

"I can go toward the northeast," Tarzan assured him "but I cannot find
your country unless it lies in my path."

"If we reach a point within fifty or a hundred miles of it, from some
high eminence we shall see Xarator," explained Valthor, "and then I shall
know my way to Thenar, for Xarator is almost due west of Athne."

"What are Xarator and Athne?" demanded Tarzan.

"Xarator is a great peak, the centre of which is filled with fire and
molten rock. It lies at the north end of the valley of Onthar and belongs
to the men of Cathne, the city of gold. Athne, the city of ivory, is the
city from which I come. The men of Cathne, in the valley of Onthar, are
the enemies of my people."

"Tomorrow, then," said Tarzan, "we shall set out for the city of Athne in
the valley of Thenar."

As Tarzan and Valthor ate meat that they had cut from yesterday's kill
and carried with them, many weary miles to the south a black-maned lion
lashed his tail angrily and voiced a savage growl as he stood over the
body of a buffalo calf he had killed, and faced an angry bull pawing the
earth and bellowing a few yards away.

Rare is the beast that will face Gorgo the buffalo, when rage inflames
his red-rimmed eyes, but the great lion showed no intention of leaving
its prey even in the face of the bull's threatened charge. He stood his
ground. The roars of the lion and the bull mingled in a savage,
thunderous dissonance that shook the ground, stilling the voices of the
lesser people of the jungle.

Gorgo gored the earth, working himself into a frenzy of rage. Behind him,
bellowing, stood the mother of the slain calf. Perhaps she was urging her
lord and master to avenge the murder. The other members of the herd had
bolted into the thickest of the jungle, leaving these two to contest with
Numa his right to his kill, leaving vengeance to those powerful horns
backed by that massive neck.

With a celerity and agility that belied his great weight, the bull
charged. That two such huge beasts could move so quickly and so lightly
seemed incredible, as it seemed incredible that any creature could either
withstand or avoid the menace of those mighty horns. But the lion was
ready, and as the bull was almost upon him, he leaped to one side, reared
upon his hind feet, and with one massive, taloned paw struck the bull a
terrific blow on the side of its head that wheeled it half around and
sent it stumbling to its knees, half-stunned and bleeding, its great
jawbone crushed and splintered. And before Gorgo could regain his feet,
Numa leaped full upon his back, buried his teeth in the bulging muscles
of the great neck, and with one paw reached for the nose of the bellowing
bull, jerking the head back with a mighty surge that snapped the
vertebrae.

Instantly the lion was on his feet again, facing the cow, but she did not
charge. Instead, bellowing, she crashed away into the jungle, leaving the
king of beasts standing with his forefeet upon his latest kill.

That night Numa fed well, but when he had gorged himself he did not lie
up as a lion should, but continued toward the north along the mysterious
trail he had been following for many days.



CHAPTER FOUR DOWN THE FLOOD

The new day dawned cloudy and threatening. The season of rains was over,
but it appeared that a belated storm was gathering above the lofty peaks
through which Tarzan and Valthor were searching for the elusive valley of
Thenar.

All day they moved toward the northeast. Sometimes it rained a little,
and always it threatened to rain more. A great storm seemed always to be
gathering, yet it never broke during the long day. Tarzan made a kill
before noon, and they ate, but immediately afterward they started on
again.

It was late in the afternoon when they ascended out of a deep gorge and
stood upon a lofty plateau. In the near foreground were no mountains, but
at a distance lofty peaks were visible dimly through a light drizzle of
rain.

Suddenly Valthor voiced an exclamation of elation. "We have found it!" he
cried. "There is Xarator!"

Tarzan looked in the direction that the other pointed and saw a mighty,
flat-topped peak in the distance, directly above which low clouds were
reflecting a dull red light. "So that is Xarator!" he remarked. "And
Thenar is directly east of it?"

"Yes," replied Valthor, "which means that Onthar must be just below the
edge of this plateau, almost directly in front of us. Come!"

The two walked quickly over the level, grassy ground for a mile or two to
come at length to the edge of the plateau beyond which, and below them,
stretched a wide valley.

"We are almost at the southern end of Onthar," said Valthor. "There is
Cathne, the city of gold. It is a rich city, but its people are the
enemies of my people."

Through the rain, Tarzan saw a walled city between a forest and a river.
The houses were nearly all white, and there were many domes of dull
yellow. The river, which ran between them and the city, was spanned by a
bridge that was also a dull yellow colour in the twilight of the late
afternoon storm. Tarzan saw that the river extended the full length of
the valley, a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles, being fed by smaller
streams coming down out of the mountains. Also extending the length of
the valley was what appeared to be a well marked road.

Tarzan's eyes wandered back to the city of Cathne.

"Why do you call it the city of gold?" he asked.

"Do you not see the golden domes and the bridge of gold?" demanded
Valthor.

"Are they covered with gold paint?" inquired Tarzan.

"They are covered with solid gold," replied Valthor.

"The gold on some of the domes is an inch thick, and the bridge is built
of solid blocks of gold."

"Where do they find their gold?" Tarzan asked.

"Their mines lie in the hills directly south of the city," replied
Valthor.

"And where is your country, Thenar?" asked the ape-man.

"Just beyond the hills east of Onthar. Do you see where the river and the
road cut through the forest about five miles above the city? You can see
them entering the hills just beyond the forest."

"Yes," replied Tarzan, "I see."

"The road and the river run through the Pass of the Warriors into the
valley of Thenar: a little north-east of the centre of the valley lies
Athne the city of ivory. There, beyond the pass, is my country.

"How far are we from Athne?' inquired Tarzan.

"About twenty-five miles, possibly a little less," replied Valthor.

"We might as well start now, then," suggested the ape-man, "for in this
rain it will be more comfortable to be on the march than to lie up until
morning, and in your city we can find a dry place to sleep, I presume."

"Certainly," replied Valthor, "but it will not be safe to attempt to
cross Onthar by daylight. We should certainly be seen by the sentries on
the gates of Cathne, and, as these people are our enemies, the chances
are that we should never cross the valley without being either killed or
taken prisoners."

"Whatever you wish," agreed Tarzan with a shrug; "it is all the same to
me if we start now or wait until dark."

"It is not very comfortable here," remarked the Athnean. "The rain is
cold."

"I have been uncomfortable before," replied Tarzan; ''rains do not last
forever.''

"If we were in Athne we should be very comfortable," sighed Valthor. "In
my father's house there are fireplaces. Even now the flames are roaring
about great logs, and all is warmth and comfort."

"Above the clouds the sun is shining," replied Tarzan, "but we are not
above the clouds. We are here where the sun is not shining and there is
no fire, and we are cold." A faint smile touched his lips. "It does not
warm me to speak of fires or the sun."

"Nevertheless, I wish I were in Athne," insisted Valthor. "It is a
splendid city, and Thenar is a lovely valley. In Thenar we raise goats
and sheep and elephants. In Thenar there are no lions except those that
stray in from Onthar; those we kill. Our farmers raise vegetables and
fruits and hay; our artisans manufacture leather goods. They make cloth
from the hair of goats and the wool of sheep. Our carvers work in ivory
and wood.

"We trade a little with the outside world, paving for what we buy with
ivory and gold. Were it not for the Cathneans we should lead a happy,
peaceful life without a care.

"What do you buy from the outside world, and of whom do you buy it?"
asked Tarzan.

"We buy salt, of which we have none of our own", explained Valthor. "We
also buy steel for our weapons."

These things we buy from a band of Shiftas. With this same band we have
traded since before the memory of man. Shifta chiefs and kings of Athne
have come and gone, but our relations with this band have never altered.
I was searching for them when I became lost and was captured by another
band."

"Do you never trade with the people of Cathne?" asked the ape-man.

"Once each year there is a week's truce during which we trade with them
in peace. They give us gold and foodstuffs and hay in exchange for the
salt and the steel we buy from the Shiftas, and the cloth, leather, and
ivory that we produce.

"Besides mining gold, the Cathneans breed lions for war and sport, raise
fruits, vegetables, cereals, and hay, and work in gold and, to a lesser
extent, in ivory. Their gold and their hay are the products most valuable
to us, and of these we value the hay more, for without it we should have
to decrease our elephant herds."

"Why should two peoples so dependent upon one another fight?" asked
Tarzan.

Yalthor shrugged. "I do not know; perhaps it is just a custom. Yet,
though we talk much of wanting peace, we should miss the thrills and
excitement that peace does not hold." His eyes brightened. "The raids:"
he exclaimed. "There is a sport for men The Cathneans come with their
lions to hunt our goats, our sheep, our elephants, and us. When we wish
sport we go into Onthar after gold. No, I do not think that either we or
Cathneans would care for peace."

For some time the two talked. Valthor told of his life in Athne. And as
Valthor talked, the invisible sun sank ower into the west; heavy clouds,
dark and ominous, hid the peaks to the north, settling low over the upper
end of the valley. "I think we may start now," Valthor said.

"It will soon be dark."

Downward through a gully, the sides of which hid them from the city of
Cathne, the two men made their way towards the floor of the valley. From
the heavy storm clouds burst a flash of lightning followed by the roar of
thunder; upon the upper end of the valley the storm god loosed his wrath;
water fell in a deluge, wiping from their sight the hills beyond the
storm.

By the time they reached level ground the storm was upon them and the
gully they had descended a raging mountain torrent. The swift night had
fallen; utter darkness surrounded them, darkness frequently broken by
vivid flashes of lightning. The pealing of the constant thunder was
deafening. The rain engulfed them in solid sheets like the waves of the
ocean. It was, perhaps, the most terrific storm that either of these men
had ever seen.

They could not converse; only the lightning prevented their becoming
separated, as it alone permitted Valthor to keep his course across the
grassy floor of the valley in the direction of the city of gold, where
they would find the road that led to the Pass of the Warriors and on into
the valley of Thenar.

Presently they came within sight of the lights of the city, a few dim
lights framed by the casements of windows, and a moment later they were
on the road and were moving northward against the full fury of the storm.

For miles they pitted their muscles against the Herculean strength of the
storm god. The rage of the storm god seemed to rise against them, knowing
no bounds, as though he was furious that these two puny mortals should
pit their strength against his. Suddenly, as though in a last titanic
effort to overcome them, the lightning burst into a rrizh ty blaze that
illuminated the entire valley for seconds, the thunder crashed as it had
never crashed before, and a mass of water fell that crushed the two men
to earth.

As they staggered to their feet again, foot-deep water swirled about
their legs; they stood in a broad, racing torrent that rushed past them
towards the river. But in that last effort the storm god had spent his
force. The rain ceased; through a rift in the dark clouds the moon looked
down, perhaps in wonder, upon a drowned world, and Valthor led the way
again towards the Pass of the Warriors. The last of the rainy season was
over.

It is seven miles from the bridge of gold, that is the gateway to the
city of Cathne, to the ford where the road to Thenar crosses the river.
It required three hours for Valthor and Tarzan to cover the distance, but
at last they stood at the river's bank.

A boiling flood confronted them, tearing down a widened river towards the
city of Cathne. Valthor hesitated. "Ordinarily," he said to Tarzan, "the
water is little more than a foot deep. It must be three feet deep now.

"And it will soon be deeper," commented the ape-man.

"Only a small portion of the storm waters have had time to reach this
point from the hills and the upper valley. If we are going to cross
tonight, we shall have to do it now.

"Very well," replied Valthor, "but follow me; I know the ford."

As the Athnean stepped into the water, the clouds closed again beneath
the moon and plunged the world once more into darkness. As Tarzan
followed he could scarcely see his guide ahead of him, and since Valthor
knew the ford he moved more rapidly than the ape-man with the result that
presently Tarzan could not see him at all, but he felt his way towards
the opposite bank without thought of disaster.

The force of the stream was mighty, but mighty, too, are the thews of
Tarzan of the Apes. The water, which Valthor had thought to be three feet
in depth, was soon surging to the ape-man's waist, and then he missed the
ford and stepped into a hole. Instantly the current seized him and swept
him away; not even the giant muscles of Tarzan could cope with the might
of the flood.

The Lord of the Jungle fought the swirling waters in an effort to reach
the opposite shore, but in their embrace he was powerless.

Finding even his great strength powerless and weakening, Tarzan gave up
the struggle to reach the opposite bank and devoted his efforts to
keeping his nose above the surface of the angry flood. Even this was none
too easy an accomplishment, as the rushing waters had a trick of twisting
him about or turning him over. Often his head was submerged, and
sometimes he floated feet first and sometimes head first, but he tried to
rest his muscles as best he could against the time when some vagary of
the torrent might carry him within reach of the bank upon one side or the
other.

He knew that several miles below the city of Cathne the river entered a
narrow gorge, for that he had seen from the edge of the plateau from
which he had first viewed the valley of Onthar. Valthor had told him that
beyond the gorge it tumbled in a mighty falls a hundred feet to the
bottom of a rocky canyon. Should he not succeed in escaping the clutches
of the torrent before it carried him into the gorge his doom was sealed,
but Tarzan felt neither fear nor panic. His life had been in jeopardy
often during his savage existence, yet he still lived.

He wondered what had become of Valthor. Perhaps he, too, was being
hurtled along either above or helow him. But such was not the fact.
Valthor had reached the opposite bank in safety and waited there air
Tarzan. When the ape-man did not appear within a reasonable Time, the
Athnean shouted his name aloud, but though he received no answer he was
still not sure that Tarzan was not upon the opposite side of the river,
the loud roaring of which might have drowned the sound of the voice of
either.

Then Valthor decided to wait until daylight, rather than abandon his
friend in a country with which he was entirely unfamiliar.

Through the long night he waited and, with the coming of dawn, eagerly
scanned the opposite bank of the river, his slender hope for the safety
of his friend dying when daylight failed to reveal any sign of him. Then,
at last, he was convinced that Tarzan had been swept away to his death by
the raging flood, and, with a heavy heart, he turned away from the river
and resumed his interrupted journey towards the Pass of the Warriors and
the valley of Thenar.



CHAPTER FIVE THE CITY OF GOLD



As Tarzan battled for his life in the swirling waters of the swollen
river, he lost all sense of time; the seemingly interminable struggle
against death might have been enduring without beginning, might endure
without end, in so far as his numbed senses were concerned.

Turnings in the river cast him occasionally against one shore and then
the other. Always, then, his hands reached up in an attempt to grasp
something that might stay his mad rush towards the falls and death. At
last success crowned his efforts-his fingers closed upon the stem of a
heavy vine that trailed down the bank into the swirling waters, closed
and held.

Hand over hand the man dragged himself out of the water and onto the
bank, where he lay for several minutes; then he rose slowly to his feet,
shook himself like some great lion, and looked about him in the darkness,
trying to penetrate the impenetrable night. Faintly, as through
shrubbery, he thought that he saw a light shining dimly in the distance.
Where there was a light, there should be men. Tarzan moved cautiously
toward it to investigate.

But a few steps from the river Tarzan encountered a wall, and when he was
close to the wall he could no longer see the light. Reaching upward, he
discovered that the top of the wail was still above the tips of his
outstreched fingers--but walls which were made to keep one out also
invited one to climb them.

Stepping back a few paces. Tarzan ran toward the wall and sprang upward.
His extended fingers gripped the tip of the wall and clung there. Slowly
he drew himself up, threw a leg across the capstones, and looked to see
what might be seen upon the opposite side of the wall.

He did not see much--a square of dim light forty or fifty feet away--
that was all, and it did not satisfy his curiosity. Silently he lowered
himself to the ground upon the same side as the light and moved
cautiously forward. Beneath his bare feet he felt stone flagging, and
guessed that he was in a paved courtyard.

He had crossed about half the distance to the light when the retreating
storm flashed a farewell bolt from the distance. This distant lightning
but barely sufficed to relieve momentarily the darkness surrounding the
ape-man, revealing a low building, a lighted window, a deeply recessed
doorway in the shelter of which stood a man. It also revealed Tarzan to
the man in the doorway.

Instantly the silence was shattered by the brazen clatter of a gong. The
door swung open, and men bearing torches rushed out. Tarzan, impelled by
the natural caution of the beast, turned to run, but as he did so, he saw
other open doors upon his flanks, and armed men with torches were rushing
from these as well.

Realizing that flight was useless, Tarzan stood still with folded arms as
the men converged upon him from three directions.

The torches carried by some of the men showed Tarzan that he was in a
paved, quadrangular courtyard enclosed by buildings upon three sides and
the wall he had scaled upon the fourth. Their light also revealed the
fact that he was being surrounded by some fifty men armed with spears,
the points of which were directed toward him in a menacing circle.

"Who are you?" demanded one of the men as the cordon drew tightly about
him. The language in which the man spoke was the same as that which
Tarzan had learned from Valthor, the common language of the enemy cities
of Athne and Cathne.

"I am a stranger from a country far to the south," replied the ape-man.

"What are you doing inside the walls of the palace of Nemone?" The
speaker's voice was threatening, his tone accusatory.

"I was crossing the river far above here when the flood caught me and
swept me down; it was only by chance that I finally made a landing here."

The man who had been questioning him shrugged. "Well", he admitted, "it
is not for me to question you, anyway. Come! You will have a chance to
tell your story to an officer, but he will not believe it either."

They conducted Tarzan into a large, low-ceilinged room which was
furnished with rough benches and tables. Upon the walls hung weapons,
spears and swords. There were shields of elephant hide studded with gold
bosses. Upon the walls were mounted the heads of animals; there were the
heads of sheep and goats and lions and elephants.

Two men guarded Tarzan in one corner of the room, while another was
dispatched to notify a superior of the capture. The remainder loafed
about the room, talking, playing games, cleaning their weapons. The
prisoner took the opportunity to examine his captors.

They were well-set-up men, many of them not illfavoured, though for the
most part of ignorant and brutal appearance. Their helmets, habergeons,
wristlets, and anklets were of elephant hide heavily embossed with gold
studs. Long hair from the manes of lions fringed the tops of their
anklets and wristlets and was also used for ornamental purposes along the
crests of their helmets and upon some cf their shields and weapons. The
elephant hide that composed their habergeons was cut into discs, and the
habergeon fabricated in a manner similar to that one of ivory which
Valthor had worn. In the centre of each shield was a heavy brass of solid
gold. Upon the harnesses and weapons of these common soldiers was a
fortune in the precious metal.

While Tarzan, immobile, silent, surveyed the scene with eyes that seemed
scarcely to move yet missed no detail, two warriors entered the room, and
the instant that they crossed the threshold silence fell upon the men
congregated in the chamber. Tarzan knew by that these were officers,
though their trappings would have been sufficient evidence of their
superior stations in life.

At a word of command from one of the two, the common warriors fell back,
clearing one end of the room; then the two seated themselves at a table
and ordered Tarzan's guards to bring him forward. As the Lord of the
Jungle halted before them, both men surveyed him critically.

"Why are you in Onthar?" demanded one who was evidently the superior,
since he propounded all the questions during the interview.

Tarzan answered this and other questions as he had answered similar ones
at the time of his capture, but he sensed from the attitudes of the two
officers that neither was impressed with the truth of his statements.
They seemed to have a preconceived conviction concerning him that nothing
which he might say could alter.

"He does not look much like an Athnean," remarked the younger man.

"That proves nothing," snapped the other. "Naked men look like naked men.
He might pass for your own cousin were he garbed as you are garbed."

"Perhaps you are right, but why is he here? A man does not come alone from
Thenar to raid in Onthar. Unless--" he hesitated, "unless he was sent to
assassinate the queen!"

"I had thought of that," said the older man. "Because of what happened to
the last Athnean prisoners we took, the Athneans are very angry with the
queen. Yes, they might easily attempt to assassinate her."

Tarzan was almost amused as he Contemplated the ease with which these two
convinced themselves that what they wanted to believe true, was true. But
he realized that this form of one-sided trial might prove disastrous to
him if his fate were to be decided by such a tribunal, and so he was
prompted to speak.

"I have never been in Athne," he said quietly. "I am from a country far
to the south. An accident brought me here. I am not an enemy. I have not
come to kill your queen or any other. Until today I did not know that
your city existed." This was a long speech for Tarzan of the Apes. He was
almost positive that it would not influence his captors, yet there was a
chance that they might believe him.

Men are peculiar, and none knew this better than Tarzan, who, because he
had seen rather less of men than of beasts, had been inclined to study
those whom he had seen. Now he was studying the two men who were
questioning him. The elder he judged to be a man accustomed to the
exercise of great power-cunning, ruthless, cruel. Tarzan did not like
him. His was the instinctive appraisal of the wild beast.

The younger man was of an entirely different mould. He was intelligent
rather than cunning; his countenance bespoke a frank and open nature. The
ape-man judged that he was honest and courageous.

While he was certain that the younger man had little authority, compared
with that exercised by his superior, vet Tarzan thought best to address
him rather than the other. He thought that he might win an ally in the
younger man ad was sure that he could never influence the elder, unless
it was very much to the latter's interests to be influenced. And so, when
he spoke again, he spoke to the younger of the two officers.

"Are these men of Athne like me?" he asked.

For an instant the officer hesitated: then he said, quite frankly, "No,
they are not like you. You are unlike any man that I have seen".

"Are their weapons like my weapons?" continued the ape-man. "There are
mine over in the corner of the room; your men took them away from me.
Look at them."

Even the elder officer seemed interested. "Bring them here," he ordered
one of the warriors.

The man brought them and laid them on the table before the two officers;
the spear, the bow, the quiver of arrows, the grass rope, and the knife.
The two men picked them up one by one and examined them carefully. Both
seemed interested.

"Are they like the weapons of the Athneans?" demanded Tarzan.

"They are nothing like them," admitted the younger man. "What do you
suppose this thing is for, Tomos?" he asked his companion as he examined
Tarzan's bow.

"Let me take it," suggested Tarzan, "and I will show you how it is used."

The younger man handed the bow to the ape-man.

"Be careful, Gemnon," cautioned Tomos. "This may be a trick, a subterfuge
by which he hopes to get possession of a weapon with which to kill us."
"He cannot kill us with that thing," replied Gemnon.

"Let's see how he uses it. Go ahead. Let's see, what did you say your
name is?"

"Tarzan," replied the Lord of the Jungle, "Tarzan of the Apes."

"Well, go ahead, Tarzan, but see that you don't attempt to attack any of
us."

Tarzan stepped to the table and took an arrow from his quiver; then he
glanced about the room. On the wall at the far end a lion's head with
open mouth hung near the ceiling. With what appeared but a single swift
motion he fitted the arrow to the bow, drew the feathered shaft to his
shoulder, and released it.

Every eye in the room had been upon him, for the common warriors had been
interested spectators of what had been transpiring. Every eye saw the
shaft quivering now where it protruded from the centre of the lion's
mouth, and an involuntary exclamation broke from every throat, an
exclamation in which were mingled surprise and applause.

"Take the thing away from him, Gemnon," snapped Tomos. "It is not a safe
weapon in the hands of an enemy."

Tarzan tossed the bow to the table. "Do the Athneans use this weapon?" he
asked.

Gemnon shook his head. "We know no men who use such a weapon," he
replied.

"Then you must know that I am no Athnean," stated Tarzan, looking
squarely at Tomos.

"It makes no difference where you are from," snapped Tomos; "you are an
enemy".

The ape-man shrugged but remained silent. He had accomplished all that he
had hoped for. He was sure that he had convinced them both that he was
not an Athnean and had aroused the interest of the younger man.

Gemnon had leaned close to Tomos and was whispering in the latter's ear,
evidently urging some action upon him. Tarzan could not hear what he was
saying. The elder man listened impatiently; it was clear that he was not
in accord with the suggestions of his junior.

"No," he said when the other had finished. "I will not permit anything of
the sort. The life of the queen is too sacred to risk by permitting this
fellow any freedom. We shall lock him up for the night, and tomorrow
decide what shall he done with him." He turned to a warrior who seemed to
be an under-officer. "Take this fellow to the strong-house," he said "and
see that he does not escape." Then he rose and strode from the room,
followed by his younger companion.

When they had gone, the man in whose charge Tarzan had been left picked
up the bow examined it. "What do you call this thing?" he demanded.

"A bow," replied the ape-man.

"And these?"

"Arrows."

'Will they kill a man?"

"With them I have killed men and lions and buffaloes and elephants,"
replied Tarzan. "Would you like to learn how to use them?" Perhaps, he
thought, a little kindly feeling in the guardroom might be helpful to him
later on. Just at present he was not thinking of escape; these people and
the city of gold were far too interesting to leave until he had seen more
of them.

The man fingering the bow hesitated. Tarzan guessed that he wished to try
his hand with the weapon but feared to delay carrying out the order of
his officer.

"It will take but a moment," suggested Tarzan. "See, let me show you."

Half-reluctantly the man handed him the bow and Tarzan selected another
arrow.

"Hold them like this," he directed and placed the bow and arrow correctly
in the other's hands. "Tell your men to stand aside; you may not shoot
accurately at first. Aim at the lion's head, as I did. Now draw the
bow-string back as far as you can."

The man, of stocky, powerful build, tugged at the bow-string, but the bow
that Tarzan bent so easily he could scarcely bend at all. When he
released the arrow it flew but a few feet and dropped to the floor.
"What's wrong?" he demanded.

"It requires practice," the ape-man told him.

"There is a trick to it," insisted the under-officer. "Let me see you do
it again."

The other warriors, watching with manifest interest, whispered among
themselves or commented openly.

"It takes a strong man to bend that stick," said one.

Althides, the under-officer, watched intently while Tarzan strung the bow
again and bent it; he saw bow easily the stranger flexed the heavy wood,
and he marvelled. The other men looked on in open admiration, and this
time a shout of approval arose as Tarzan's second arrow crowded the first
in the mouth of the lion.

Althides scratched his head. "I shall have to lock you up now," he said,
"or old Tomos will have my head on the wall of his palace, but I shall
practise with this weapon until I learn to use it. Are you sure that
there is no trick in bending that thing you call a bow?"

"There is no trick to it," Tarzan assured him.

A guard accompanied Tarzan across the courtyard to another building where
he was placed in a room which, in the light of the torches borne by his
escort, he saw had another occupant. Then they left him, locking the
heavy door behind them.



CHAPTER SIX THE MAN WHO STEPPED ON A GOD

Now that the torches were gone the room was very dark, but Tarzan lost no
time in starting to investigate his prison. First he groped his way to
the door, which he found to be constructed of solid planking with a
small, square hole cut in it about the height of his eyes. There was no
sign of lock or latch upon the inside and no way of ascertaining how it
was secured from the outside.

Leaving the door, Tarzan moved slowly along the walls, feeling carefully
over the stone surface. He knew that the other occupant of the cell was
sitting on a bench in one corner at the far end. He could hear him
breathing. As he examined the room Tarzan approached closer and closer to
his fellow prisoner.

In the rear wall the ape-man discovered a window. It was small and
high-set. The night was so dark that he could not tell whether it opened
onto the outdoors or into another apartment of the building. As an avenue
of escape the window appeared quite useless, as it was much too small to
accommodate the body of a man.

As Tarzan was examining the window he was close to the corner where the
other man sat, and now he heard a movement there. He also noticed that
the fellow's breathing had increased in rapidity, as though he were
nervous or excited. At last a voice sounded through the darkness.

"What are you doing?" it demanded.

"Examining the cell," replied Tarzan.

"It will do you no good, if you are looking for a way to escape," said
the voice. "You won't get out of here until they take you out, no more
than I shall."

Tarzan made no reply. There seemed nothing to say, and Tarzan seldom
speaks, even when others might find much to say. He went on with his
examination of the room. Passing the other occupant, he felt along the
fourth and last wail, but his search revealed nothing to repay the
effort. He was in a small, rectangular cell of stone that was furnished
with a long bench at one end and had a door and a window letting into it.

Tarzan walked to the far end of the room and sat down upon the bench. He
was cold, wet, and hungry, but he was unafraid. He was thinking of all
that had transpired since night had fallen and left him to the mercy of
the storm; he wondered what the morrow held for him.

Presently the man in the corner of the cell addressed him. "Who are you?"
he asked. "When they brought you in I saw by the light of the torches
that you are neither a Cathnean nor an Athnean." The man's voice was
coarse, his tones gruff; he demanded rather than requested.

This did not please Tarzan, so he did not reply. "What's the matter?"
growled his fellow prisoner. "Are you dumb?" His voice was raised
angrily.

"Nor deaf," replied the ape-man. "You do not have to shout at me."

The other was silent for a short time; then he spoke in an altered tone.
"We may be locked in this hole together for a long time," he said. "We
might as well be friends."

"As you will," replied Tarzan, his involuntary shrug passing unoticed in
the darkness of the cell.

My name is Phobez,' said the man; "what is yours?"

"Tarzan" replied the ape-man.

"Are you either cathnean or Athnean?"

"Neither: I am from a country far to the south."

"You would be better off had you stayed there," offered Phobeg. "How do
you happen to be here in Cathne?"

"I was lost," explained the ape-man, who had no intention of telling the
entire truth and thus identifying himself as a friend of one of the
Cathneans' enemies. "I was caught in the flood and carried down the river
to your city. Here they captured me and accused me of coming to
assassinate your queen.

"So they think you came to assassinate Nemone! Well, whether you did come
for that purpose or not will make no difference."

"What do you mean?" demanded Tarzan.

"I mean that in any event you will be killed in one way or another,"
explained Phobeg, "whatever way will best amuse Nemone."

"Nemone is your queen?" inquired the ape-man indifferently.

"By the mane of Thoos, she is all that and more!" exclaimed Phobeg
fervently. "Such a queen there never has been in Onthar or Thenar before
nor ever will be again. By the teeth of the great one! She makes them all
stand around, the priests, the captains, and the councillors."

"But why should she have me destroyed who am only a stranger that became
lost?"

"We keep no white men prisoners, only blacks as slaves. Now, were you a
woman you would not be killed, unless, of course, you were too
good-looking."

"And what would happen to a too good-looking woman?" asked Tarzan.

"Enough, if Nemone saw her," replied Phobeg meaningly. "To be more
beautiful than the queen is equivalent to high treason in the estimation
of Nemone. Why, men hide their wives and daughters if they think that
they are too beautiful."

"What did you do to get here?" inquired the ape-man.

"I accidentally stepped on our god's tail," replied Phobeg gloomily.

The man's strange oaths had not gone unnoticed by Tarzan and now this
latest remarkable reference to diety astounded him. But contact with
strange peoples had taught him to learn certain things concerning them by
observation and experience rather than by direct questioning, matters of
religion being chief among these. Now he only commented, "And therefore
you are being punished."

"Not yet," replied Phobeg. "The form of my punishment has not yet been
decided. If Nemone has other amusements I may escape punishment, or I may
come through my trial successfully and be freed, but the chances are all
against me, for Nemone seldom has sufficient bloody amusement to sate
her.

"Of course, if she leaves the decision of my guilt or innocence to the
chances of an encounter with a single man, I shall doubtless be
successful in proving the latter, for I am very strong and there is no
better sword, or spear-man in Cathne. But I should have less chance
against a lion, while, faced by the eternal fires of frowning Xarator,
all men are guilty."

Although the man spoke the language Valthor had taught the ape-man and he
understood the words, the meaning of what he said was as Greek to Tarzan.
He could not quite grasp what the amusements of the queen had to do with
the administration of justice, even though the inferences to be derived
from Phobeg's remarks seemed apparent. The conclusion was too sinister to
be entertained by the noble mind of the Lord of the Jungle.

He was still considering the subject and wondering about the eternal
fires of frowning Xarator when sleep overcame his physical discomforts
and merged his speculations with his dreams. To the south, another jungle
beast crouched in the shelter of a rocky ledge while the storm that had
betrayed Tarzan to new enemies wasted its waning wrath and passed on into
the nothingness that is the sepulchre of storms. Then, as the new day
dawned bright and clear, he arose and stepped out into the sunlight, the
great lion that we have seen before, the great lion with the golden coat
and the black mane.

He sniffed the morning air and stretched, yawning. His sinuous tail
twitched nervously as he looked about over the vast domain that was his
because he was there, as every wilderness is the domain of the king of
beasts while his majesty is in residence.

From the slight elevation upon which he stood, his yellow-green eyes
surveyed a broad plain, tree-dotted. There was game there in plenty--
wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, koodoo, and hartebeest--and the king was
hungry, for the rain had prevented his making a kill the previous night.
He blinked his yellow-green eyes in the new sunlight and strode
majestically down toward the plain and his breakfast, as, many miles to
the north, a black slave accompanied by two warriors brought breakfast to
another lord of the jungle in a prison cell at Cathne.

At the sound of footsteps approaching his prison, Tarzan awoke and arose
from the cold stone floor where he had been sleeping. Phobeg sat upon the
edge of the wooden bench and watched the door.

"They bring us food or death," he said; "one never knows."

The ape-man made no reply. He stood there waiting until the door swung
open and the slave entered with the food in a rough earthen bowl, and
water in a glazed jug. He looked at the two warriors standing in the open
doorway and at the sunlit courtyard beyond them. Curiosity kept him
prisoner there quite as much as armed men or sturdy door, and now he only
looked beyond the two warriors who were eyeing him intently. They had not
been on duty the night before and had not seen him, but they had heard of
him. His feat with his strange weapon had been told them by their
fellows.

"So this is the wild man!" exclaimed one.

"You had better be careful, Phobeg," said the other. "I should hate to be
locked up in a cell with a wild man." Then, laughing at his joke, he
slammed the door after the slave had come out, and the three went away.

Phobeg was appraising Tarzan with a new eye; his nakedness took on a new
meaning in the light of that descriptive term, wild man. Phobeg noted the
great height of his cellmate, the expanse of his chest, and his narrow
hips, but he greatly under-estimated the strength of the symmetrical
muscles that flowed so smoothly beneath the bronzed hide. Then he glanced
at his own gnarled and knotted muscles and was satisfied.

"So you are a wild man!" he demanded. "How wild are you?"

Tarzan turned slowly toward the speaker. He thought that he recognized
thinly veiled sarcasm in the tone of Phobeg's voice. For the first time
he saw his companion in the light of day. He saw a man a few inches
shorter than himself but of mighty build, a man of great girth and
bulging muscles, a man who might outweigh the Lord of the Jungle by fifty
pounds. He noted his prominent jaw, his receding forehead, and his small
eyes. In silence Tarzan regarded Phobeg.

"Why don't you answer me?" angrily demanded the Cathnean.

"Do not be a fool," admonished Tarzan. "I recall that last night you said
that as we might be confined here for a long time we might as well be
friends. We cannot be friends by insulting one another. Food is here. Let
us eat."

Phobeg grunted and inserted one of his big paws into the pot the slave
had brought. As there was no knife or fork or spoon Tarzan, had no
alternative but to do likewise if he wished to eat; and so he, too, took
food from the pot with his fingers. The food was meat; it was tough and
stringy and under-cooked. Had it been raw, Tarzan had been better suited.

Phobeg chewed assiduously upon a mouthful of the meat until he had
reduced the fibres to a pulp that would pass down his throat. "An old
lion must have died yesterday." he remarked, "a very old lion."

"If we acquire the characteristics of the creatures we eat, as many men
believe," Tarzan replied, "we should soon die of old age on this diet."

"Yesterday I had a piece of goat's meat from Thenar," said Phobeg. "It
was strong and none too tender, but it was better than this. I am
accustomed to good food. In the temple the priests live as well as the
nobles do in the palace, and so the temple guard lives well on the
leavings of the priests. I was a member of the temple guard. I was the
strongest man on the guard. I am the strongest man in Cathne. When
raiders come from Thenar, or when I am taken there on raids, the nobles
marvel at my strength and bravery. I am afraid of nothing. With my bare
hands I have killed men. Did you ever see a man like me?"

"No," admitted the ape-man.

"Yes, it is well that we should be friends," continued Phobeg, "well for
you. Everyone wants to be friends with me, for they have learned that my
enemies get their necks twisted. I take them like this, by the head and
the neck," and with his great paws he went through a pantomime of seizing
and twisting. "Then, crack! their spines break. What do you think of
that?"

"I should think that your enemies would find that very uncomfortable,"
replied Tarzan.

"Uncomfortable!" ejaculated Phobeg. "Why, man, it kills them!"

"At least they can no longer hear," commented the Lord of the Jungle
dryly.

"Of course they cannot hear; they are dead. I do not see what that has to
do with it."

"That does not surprise me," Tarzan assured him.

"What does not surprise you?" demanded Phobeg.

"That they are dead, or that they cannot hear?"

"I am not easily surprised by anything" explained the ape-man.

Beneath his low forehead Pbobegs brows were knitted in thought. He
scratched his head. "What were we talking about?" he demanded.

"We were trying to decide which would be more terrible," explained Tarzan
patiently, "to have you for a friend or an enemy."

Phobeg looked at his companion for a long time. One could almost see the
laborious effort of thinking going on inside that thick skull. Then he
shook his head. "That is not what we were talking about at all," he
grumbled.

"Now I have forgotten. I never saw anyone as stupid as you. When they
called you a wild man they must have meant a crazy man. And I have got to
remain locked in here with you for no one knows how long".

"You can always get rid of me," said Tarzan quite seriously.

"How can I get rid of you?" demanded the Cathnean.

"You can twist my neck, like this." Tarzan mimicked the pantomime in
which Phobeg had explained how he rid himself of his enemies.

"I could do it," boasted Phobeg, "but then they would kill me. No, I
shall let you live."

"Thanks," said Tarzan.

"Or at least while we are locked up here together," added Phobeg.

Loss of liberty represented for Tarzan, as it does for all creatures
endowed with brains, the acme of misery, more to be avoided than physical
pain; yet, with stoic fortitude he accepted his fate without a murmur of
protest, and while his body was confined in four walls of stone, his
memories roved the jungle and the veldt and lived again the freedom and
the experience of the past.

He recalled the days of his childhood when fierce Kala, the she-ape that
had suckled him at her hairy breast in his infancy, had protected him
from the dangers of their savage life. He recalled her gentleness and her
patience with this backward child who must still be carried in her arms
long after the balus of her companion shes were able to scurry through
the trees seeking their own food and even able to protect themselves
against their enemies by flight if nothing more.

These were his first impressions of life, dating back perhaps to his
second year while he was still unable to swing through the trees or even
make much progress upon the ground. After that he had developed rapidly,
far more rapidly than a pampered child of civilization, for upon the
quick development of his cunning and his strength depended his life.

With a faint smile he recalled the rage of old Tublat, his foster father,
when Tarzan had deliberately undertaken to annoy him. Old "Broken-nose"
had always hated Tarzan because the helplessness of his long-drawn
infancy had prevented Kala from bearing other apes. Tublat had argued in
the meagre language of the apes that Tarzan was a weakling that would
never become strong enough or clever enough to be of value to the tribe.
He wanted Tarzan killed, and he tried to get old Kerchak, the king, to
decree his death; so when Tarzan grew old enough to understand, he hated
Tublat and sought to annoy him in every way that he could.

His memories of those days brought only smiles now, save only the great
tragedy of his life, the death of Kala. But that had occurred later, when
he was almost a grown man. She had been saved to him while he needed her
most and not taken away until after he was amply able to fend for himself
and meet the other denizens of the jungle upon an equal footing. But it
was not the protection of those creat arms and mighty fangs that he had
missed, that he still missed even today: he had missed the maternal live
of that savage heart, the only mother-love that he had ever known.

And now his thoughts turned naturally to other friends of the jungle of
whom Kala had been first and greatest. There were his many friends among
the great apes; there was Tantor the elephant; there was Jad-bai-ja the
Golden Lion; there was little Nkima. Poor little Nkima! Much to his
disgust and amid loud howls, Nkima had been left behind this time when
Tarzan set out upon his journey into the north country. The little monkey
had contracted a cold and the ape-man did not wish to expose him to the
closing rains of the rainy season.

Tarzan regretted a little that he had not brought Jad-bal-ja with him,
for though he could do very well for considerable periods without the
companionship of man, he often missed that of the wild beasts that were
his friends. Of course the Golden Lion was sometimes an embarrassing
companion when one was in contact with human beings, but he was a loyal
friend and good company, for only occasionally did he break the silence.

Tarzan recalled the day that he had captured the tiny cub. What a cub he
had been! All lion from the very first. Tarzan sighed as he thought of
the days that he and the Golden Lion had hunted and fought together.



CHAPTER SEVEN NEMONE

Tarzan had thought, when he went without objection into the prison cell
at Cathne, that the next morning he would be questioned and released, or
at least be taken from the cell. Once out of the cell again, Tarzan had
no intention of returning to it, the Lord of the Jungle being very
certain of his prowess.

But they had not let him out the next morning nor the next nor the next.
Perhaps he might have made a break for liberty when food was brought, but
each time he thought that the next day would bring his release, and
waited.

Phobeg had been imprisoned longer than had Tarzan, and the confinement
was making him moody. Sometimes he sat for hours staring at the floor; at
other times he would mumble to himself, carrying on long conversations
which were always bitter and that usually resulted in working him up into
a rage. Then he might seek to vent his spleen upon Tarzan. The fact that
Tarzan remained silent under such provocation increased Phobeg's ire, but
it also prevented an actual break between them, for it is still a fact,
however trite the saying, that it takes two to make a qarrel. Tarzan
would not quarrel; at least, not yet.

"Nemone won't get much entertainment out of you," growled Phobeg this
morning after one of his tirades had elicited no response from the
ape-man.

"Well, even so," replied Tarzan, "you should more than make up to her any
amusement value that I may lack."

"That I will!" exclaimed Phobeg. "If it is fighting she wants, she shall
see such fighting as she has never seen before when she matches Phobeg
with either man or beast. But you! Bah! She will have to pit you against
some half-grown child if she wishes to see any fight at all. You have no
courage; your veins are filled with water. If she is wise she will dump
you into Xarator. By Thoos's tail! I should like to see you there. I'll
bet my best habergeon they could hear you scream in Athne."

The ape-man was standing gazing at the little rectangle of sky that he
could see through the small barred opening in the door. He remained
silent after Phobeg had ceased speaking, totally ignoring him as though
he did not exist. Phobeg became furious. He rose from the bench upon
which he had been sitting.

"Coward!" he cried. "Why don't you answer me? By the yellow fangs of
Thoos! I've a mind to beat some manners into you, so that you will know
enough to answer when your betters speak." He took a step in the
direction of the ape-man.

Slowly Tarzan turned toward the angry man, his level gaze fixed upon the
other's eyes, and waited. He said nothing, but his attitude was an open
book that even the stupid Phobeg could read. And Phobeg hesitated.

Just what might have happened no man may know, for at that instant four
warriors came and swung the door of the cell open. "Come with us," said
one of them, "both of you."

Phobeg sullenly, Tarzan with the savage dignity of Numa, accompanied the
four warriors across the open courtyard and through a doorway that led
into a long corridor, at the end of which they were ushered into a large
room. Here, behind a table, sat seven warriors trapped in ivory and gold.
Among them Tarzan recognised the two who had questioned him the night of
his capture, old Tomos and the younger Gemnon.

"These are nobles," whispered Phobeg to Tarzan.

"That one at the centre of the table is old Tomos, the queen's
councillor. He would like to marry the queen, but I guess he is too old
to suit her. The one on his right is Erot. He used to be a common warrior
like me, but Nemone took a fancy to him, and now he is the queen's
favourite. She won't marry him though, for he is not of noble blood. The
young fellow on Tomos's left is Gemnon. He is from an old and noble
family. Warriors who have served him say he is a very decent sort."

As Phobeg gossiped, the two prisoners and their guard had been standing
just inside the doorway waiting to be summoned to advance, and Tarzan had
had an opportunity to note the architecture and furnishings of the room.
The ceiling was low and was supported by a series of engaged columns at
regular intervals about the four walls. Between the columns, along one
side of the room behind the table at which the nobles were seated, were
unglazed windows, and there were three doorways: that through which
Tarzan and Phobeg had been brought, which was directly opposite the
windows, and one at either side of the room.

The floor was of stone, composed of many pieces of different shapes and
sizes, but all so nicely fitted that joints were barely discernible. On
the floor were a few rugs either of the skins of lions or of a stiff and
heavy wool weave.

But now Tarzan's examination of the room was interrupted by the voice of
Tomos. "Bring the prisoners forward," he directed the under-officer who
was one of the four warriors escorting them.

When the two men had been halted upon the opposite side of the table from
the nobles, Tomos pointed at Tarzan's companion.

"Which is this one?" he demanded.

"He is called Phobeg" replied the under-officer.

"What is the charge against him".

"He profaned Thorns."

"Who brought the charge?"

"The high priest."

"It was an accident," Phobeg hastened to explain. "I meant no
disrespect."

"Silence!" snapped Tomos. Then he pointed at Tarzan.

"And this one?" he demanded. "Who is he?"

"This is the one who calls himself Tarzan," explained Gemnon. "You will
recall that you and I examined him the night he was captured."

"Yes, yes," said Tomos. "I recall. He carried some sort of strange
weapon."

"Is he the man of whom you told me," asked Erot, "the one who came from
Athne to assassinate the queen?" "This is the one," replied Tomos.

"He does not greatly resemble an Athneen," commented Erot.

"I am not," said Tarzan.

"Silence!" commanded Tomos.

"Why should I be silent?" demanded Tarzan. "There is none other to speak
for me than niyself; therefore I shall speak for myself. I am no enemy of
your people, nor are my people at war with yours. I demand my liberty!"

"He demands his liberty," mimicked Erot and laughed aloud as though it
was a good joke. "The slave demands his liberty!"

Tomos half rose from his seat, his face purple with rage. He banged the
table with his fist. He pointed a finger at Tarzan. "Speak when you are
spoken to, slave, and not otherwise."

"It is evident that he is a man from a far country," interjected Gemnon.
"It is not strange that he neither understands our customs nor recognizes
the great among us. Perhaps we should listen to him. If he is not an
Athnean and no enemy, why should we imprison him or punish him?"

"He came over the palace walls at night," retorted Tomos. "He could have
come for but one purpose, to kill our queen; therefore, he must die."

"He told us that the river washed him down to Cathne," persisted Gemnon.
"It was a very dark night and he did not know where he was when he
finally succeeded in crawling ashore; it was only chance that brought him
to the palace."

"A pretty story but not plausible," countered Erot.

"Why not plausible?" demanded Gemnon. "I think it quite plausible. We
know that no man could have swum the river in the flood that was raging
that night, and that this man could not have reached the spot at which he
climbed the wall except by swimming the river or crossing the bridge of
gold. We know that he did not cross the bridge, because the bridge was
well-guarded and no one crossed that night. Knowing therefore that he did
not cross the bridge and could not have swum the river, we know that the
only way he could have reached that particular spot upon the river's bank
was by being swept downstream from above. I believe his story, and I
believe that we should treat him as an honourable warrior from some
distant kingdom until we have better reasons than we now have for
believing otherwise."

"I should not care to be the one to defend a man who came here to kill the
queen," sneered Erot meaningly.

"Enough of this!" said Tomos curtly. "The man shall be judged fairly and
destroyed as Nemone thinks best."

As he ceased speaking, a door at one end of the room opened and a noble
resplendent in ivory and gold stepped into the chamber. Halting just
within the threshold, he faced the nobles at the table.

"The queen" he announced in a loud voice and then stepped aside.

All eves turned in the direction of the doorway and at the same time the
nobies rose to their feet and then knelt upon the floor, facing the
doorway through which the queen would enter. The warriors on zuail.
irruding those with Tarzan and Phobeg, did likewise. Phobeg following
their example. Everyone in the room knelt except the noble who had
announced the queen, or rather every Cathnean. Tarzan of the Apes did not
kneel.

"Down, jackal!" growled one of the guards in a whisper, and then amidst
deathly silence a woman stepped into view and paused, framed in the
carved casing of the doorway. Regal, she stood there glancing indolently
about the apartment; then her eyes met those of the ape-man and, for a
moment, held there on his. A slight frown of puzzlement contracted her
straight brows as she continued on into the room, approaching the table
and the kneeling men.

Behind her followed a half-dozen richly arrayed nobles, resplendent in
burnished gold and gleaming ivory, but as they crossed the chamber Tarzan
saw only the gorgeous figure of the queen. She was clothed more simply
than her escort, but she was far more beautiful than the crude Phobeg had
ever painted her.

A narrow diadem set with red stones encircled her brow, confining her
glossy black hair. Upon either side of her head, covering her ears, a
large golden disc depended from the diadem, while from its rear rose a
slender filament of gold that curved forward, supporting a large red
stone above the centre of her head. About her throat was a simple golden
band that held a brooch and pendant of ivory in the soft hollow of her
neck. Upon her upper arms were similar golden bands supporting
triangular, curved ornaments of ivory.

That she was marvelously beautiful by the standards of any land or any
time grew more apparent to the Lord of the Jungle as she came nearer to
him; yet her presence exhaled a subtle essence that left him wondering if
her beauty were the reflection of a nature all good or all evil, for her
mien and bearing suggested that there could be no compromise--Nemone,
the queen, was all one or all the other.

She kept her eyes upon him as she crossed the room slowly, and Tarzan did
not drop his own from hers.

The quizzical frown still furrowed Nemone's smooth brow as she reached
the end of the table where the nobles knelt. It was not an angry frown,
and there might have been in it much of interest and something of
amusement, for unusual things interested and amused Nemone, so rare were
they in the monotony of her life. It was certainly unusual to see one who
did not accord her the homage due a queen.

As she halted she turned her eyes upon the kneeling nobles. "Arise!" she
commanded, and in that single word the vibrant qualities of her rich,
deep voice sent a strange thrill through the ape-man. "Who is this that
does not kneel to Nemone?" she demanded.

As Tarzan had been standing behind the nobles as they had turned to face
Nemone when they knelt, only two of his guards had been aware of his
dereliction. Now as they arose and faced about, their countenances were
filled with horror and rage when they discovered that the strange captive
had so affronted their queen.

Tomos went purple again. He spluttered with rage. "He is an ignorant and
impudent savage, my queen," he said, "but as he is about to die, his
actions are of no consequence."

"Why is he about to die," demanded Nemone, "and how is he to die?"

"He is to die because he came here in the dead of night to assassinate
your majesty," explained Tomos; "the manner of his death rests, of
course, in the hands of our gracious queen."

Nernznes dark eves, veiled behind long lashes, appraised the ape-man.
lingering upon his bronzed skin and the rolling contours of his muscles,
then rising to the handsome race Ufltil her eves met his. "Why did you
not kneel?" she asked.

"Why should I kneel to you who they have said will have me killed?"
demanded Tarzan. "Why should I kneel to you who are not my queen? Why
should I, Tarzan of the Apes, who kneels to no one, kneel to you?"

"Silence!" cried Tomos. "Your impertinence knows no bounds. Do you not
realize, ignorant slave, low savage, that you are addressing Nemone, the
queen!"

Tarzan made no reply; he did not even look at Tomos; his eyes were fixed
upon Nemone. She fascinated him, but whether as a thing of beauty or a
thing of evil, he did not know.

Tomos turned to the under-officer in command of the escort that was
guarding Tarzan and Phobeg. "Take them away!" he snapped. "Take them back
to their cell until we are ready to destroy them."

"Wait," said Nemone. "I would know more of this man," and then she turned
to Tarzan. "So you came to kill me!" Her voice was smooth, almost
caressing. At the moment the woman reminded Tarzan of a cat that is
playing with its victim. "Perhaps they chose a good man for the purpose;
you look as though you might be equal to any feat of arms."

"Killing a woman is no feat of arms," replied Tarzan. "I do not kill
women. I did not come here to kill you." "Then why did you come to
Onthar?" inquired the queen in her silky voice.

"That I have already explained twice to that old man with the red face,"
replied Tarzan, nodding in the general direction of Tomos. "Ask him; I am
tired of explaining to people who have already decided to kill me."

Tomos trembled with rage and half drew his slender, dagger-like sword.

Nemone had flushed angrily at Tarzan's words, but she did not lose
control of herself. "Sheath your sword, Tomos," she commanded icily.
"Nemone is competent to decide when she is affronted and what steps to
take. The fellow is indeed impertinent, but it seems to me that if he
affronted anyone, it was Tomos he affronted and not Nemone. However, his
temerity shall not go unpunished. Who is this other?"

"He is a temple guard named Phobeg," explained Erot. "He profaned Thoos."

"It would amuse us," said Nemone, "to see these two men fight upon the
Field of the Lions. Let them fight without other weapons than those which
Thoos has given them. To the victor, freedom," she hesitated momentarily,
"freedom within limits. Take them away!"



CHAPTER EIGHT UPON THE FIELD OF THE LIONS



Tarzan and Phobeg were back in their little stone cell; the ape-man had
not escaped. He had had no opportunity to escape on the way back to his
prison, for the warriors who guarded him had redoubled their vigilance.

Phobeg was moody and thoughtful. The attitude of his fellow prisoner
during their examination by the nobles, his seeming indifference to the
majesty and power of Nemone, had tended to alter Phobeg's former estimate
of the ape-man's courage. He realized now that the fellow was either a
very brave man or a very great fool, and he hoped that he was the latter.

Phobeg was stupid, but past experience had taught him something of the
psychology of mortal combat. He knew that when a man went into battle
fearing his antagonist, he was already handicapped and partly defeated.
Now Phobeg did not fear Tarzan; he was too stupid and too ignorant to
anticipate fear.

Tarzan, on the other hand, was of an entirely different temperament, and
though he never knew fear it was for a very different reason. Being
intelligent and imaginative, he could visualize all the possibilities of
an impending encounter, but he could never know fear, because death held
no terrors for him. He had learned to suffer physical pain without the
usually attendant horrors of mental anguish.

"It will doubtless be tomorrow," said Phobeg grimly.

"What will be tomorrow?" inquired the ape-man.

"The combat in which I shall kill you," explained the cheerrful Phobeg.

"Oh, so you are going to kill me! Phobeg, I am surprised. I thought that
you were my friend." Tarzan's tone was serious, though a brighter man
than Phobeg might have discovered in it a note of banter. But Phobeg was
not bright at all, and he thought that Tarzan was already commencing to
throw himself upon his mercy.

"It will soon be over," Phobeg assured him. "I promise that I shall not
let you suffer long."

"I suppose that you will twist my neck like this," said Tarzan,
pretending to twist something with his two hands.

"M-m-m, perhaps," admitted Phobeg, "but I shall have to throw you about a
bit first. We must amuse Nemone, you know."

"Surely, by all means!" assented Tarzan. "But suppose you should not be
able to throw me about? Suppose that I should throw you about? Would that
amuse Nemone? Or perhaps it would amuse you!"

Phobeg laughed. "It amuses me very much just to think about it," he said,
"and I hope that it amuses you to think about it, for that is as near as
you will ever come to throwing Phobeg about. Have I not told you that I
am the strongest man in Cathne?"

"Oh, of course," admitted Tarzan. "I had forgotten that for the moment."

"You would do well to try to remember it," advised Phobeg, "or otherwise
our combat will not be interesting at all."

"And Nemone would not be amused! That would be sad. We should make it as
interesting and exciting as possible, and you must not conclude it too
soon."

"You are right about that," agreed Phobe. "The better it is the more
generous will Nemone feel toward me when it is over. She may even give me
a donation in addition to my liberty if we amuse her well".

"By the belly of Thoos!" he exclaimed, slapping his thigh. "We must make
a good fight of it and a long one. Now listen! How would this be At first
we shall pretend that you are defeating me; I shall let you throw me
about a bit. You see? Then I shall get the better of it for a while, and
then you. We shall take turns up to a certain point, and then, when I
give you the cue, you must pretend to be frightened, and run away from
me. I shall then chase you all over the arena, and that will give them a
good laugh. When I catch you at last (and you must let me catch you right
in front of Nemone), I shall then twist your neck and kill you, but I
will do it as painlessly as possible."

"You are very kind," said Tarzan grimly.

"Do you like the plan?" demanded Phobeg.

"It will certainly amuse them," agreed Tarzan, "if it works."

"If it works! Why should it not work? It will, if you do your part."

"But suppose I kill you?" inquired the Lord of the Jungle.

"There you go again!" exclaimed Phobeg. "I must say that you are a good
fellow after all, for you will have your little joke. And I can tell you
that there is no one who enjoys a little joke more than Phobeg."

"I hope that you are in the same mood tomorrow," remarked Tarzan.

When the next day dawned, the slave and the guard came with a large
breakfast for the two prisoners, the best meal that had been served them
since they had been imprisoned.

"Eat well," advised one of the warriors, "that you may have strength to
fight a good fight for the entertainment of the queen. For one of you it
is the last meal, so you had both better enjoy it to the full, since
there is no telling for which one of you it is the last."

"It is the last for him," said Phobeg, jerking a thumb in the direction
of Tarzan.

"It is thus that the betting goes," said the warrior, "but even so, one
cannot always be sure. The stranger is a large man, and he looks strong."

An hour later a large detachment of warriors came and took Tarzan and
Phobeg from the prison. They led them through the palace grounds and out
into an avenue bordered by old trees.

Here were throngs of people waiting to see the start of the pageant, and
companies of warriors standing at ease, leaning upon their spears. It was
an interesting sight to Tarzan who had been so long confined in the
gloomy prison.

Tarzan and Phobeg were escorted west along the avenue, and as they
passed, the crowd commented upon them.

At the end of the avenue Tarzan saw the great bridge of gold that spanned
the river. It was a splendid structure built entirely of the precious
metal. Two golden lions of heroic size flanked the approach from the
city, and as he was led across the bridge the ape-man saw two identical
lions guarding the western end.

Out upon the plain that is called the Field of the Lions a crowd of
spectators was filing toward a point about a mile from the city where
many people were congregated, and toward this assemblage the detachment
escorted the two gladiators. Here was a large, oval arena excavated to a
depth of twenty or thirty feet in the floor of the plain. Upon the
excavated earth piled symmetrically around the edges of the pit, and
terraced from the plain level to the top, were arranged slabs of stone to
serve as seats. At the east end of the arena was a wide ramp descending
into it. Spanning the ramp was a low arch surmounted by the loges of the
queen and high nobility.

As Tarzan passed beneath the arch and descended the ramp toward the arena
he saw that nearly half the seats were already taken. The people were
eating food that they had brought with them, and there was much laughter
and talking. Evidently it was a gala day.

The warriors conducted the two men to the far end of the arena where a
terrace had been cut part way up the sloping side of the arena, a wooden
ladder leaning against the wall giving access to it. Here, upon this
terrace, Tarzan and Phobeg were installed with a few warriors to serve as
guards.

Presently, from the direction of the city, Tarzan heard the music of
drums and trumpets.

"Here they come!" cried Phobeg.

"Who?" asked Tarzan.

"The queen and the lion men," replied his adversary.

"What are the lion men?" inquired Tarzan.

"They are the nobles," explained Phobeg. "Really only the hereditary
nobles are members of the clan of lions, but we usually speak of all
nobles as lion men. Erot is a noble because Nemone has created him one,
but he is not a lion man, as he was not born a noble."

Now the blaring of the trumpets and the beating of the drums burst with
increased volume upon their ears, and Tarzan saw that the musicians were
marching down the ramp into the arena at the far end of the great oval.

Behind the music marched a company of warriors, and from each spearhead
fluttered a coloured pennon. It was a stirring and colourful picture but
nothing to what followed.

A few yards to the rear of the warriors came a chariot of gold drawn by
four maned lions, where, half-reclining upon a couch draped with furs and
gaily coloured cloths, rode Nemone, the queen. Sixteen black slaves held
the lions in leash, and at either side of the chariot marched six nobles
resplendent in gold and ivory, while a huge black, marching behind, held
a great red parasol over the queen, squatting upon little seats above the
rear wheels of the chariot were two small blackamyors wffi thered fans
above her.

At sight of the chariot and its royal occupant the people in the stands
arose and then kneeled down in salute to their ruler, while wave after
wave of applause rolled round the amphitheatre as the pageant slowly
circled the arena.

Behind Nemone's chariot marched another company of warriors. These were
followed by a number of gorgeously decorated wooden chariots, each drawn
by two lions and driven by a noble, and following these marched a company
of nobles on foot, while a third company of warriors brought up the rear.

When the column had circled the arena, Nemone quit her chariot and
ascended to her loge above the ramp amid the continued cheering of the
populace, the chariots driven by the nobles lined up in the centre of the
arena, the royal guard formed across the entrance to the stadium, and the
nobles who had no part in the games went to their private loges.

There followed then in quick succession contests in dagger throwing and
in the throwing of spears, feats of strength and skill, and foot races.

When the minor sports were completed the chariot races began. Two drivers
raced in each event, the distance being always the same, one lap of the
arena, for lions cannot maintain high speed for great distances. After
each race the winner received a pennon from the queen, while the loser
drove up the ramp and out of the stadium amid the hoots of the
spectators. Then two more raced, and when the last pair had finished the
winners paired off for new events. Thus, by elimination, the contestants
were eventually reduced to two, winners in each event in which they had
contested. This, then, was the premiere racing event of the day.

The winner of this final race was acclaimed champion of the day and was
presented with a golden helmet by Nemone herself, and the crowd gave him
a mighty ovation as he drove proudly around the arena and disappeared up
the ramp beneath the arch of the queen, his golden helmet shining bravely
in the sun.

"Now," said Phobeg in a loud voice, "the people are going to see
something worth while. It is what they have been waiting for, and they
will not be disappointed. If you have a god, fellow, pray to him, for you
are about to die."

"Are you not going to permit me to run around the arena first while you
chase me?" demanded Tarzan.



CHAPTER NINE "DEATH! DEATH!"

A score of slaves were busily cleaning up the arena following the
departure of the lion-drawn chariots, the audience was standing and
stretching itself, nobles were wandering from loge to loge visiting their
friends. The sounds of many voices enveloped the stadium in one mighty
discord. The period was one of intermission between events.

Now a trumpet sounded, and the warriors guarding Tarzan and Phobeg
ordered them down into the arena and paraded them once around it that the
people might compare the gladiators and choose a favourite. As they
passed before the royal loge, Nemone leaned forward with half-closed eyes
surveying the tall stranger and the squat Cathnean.

The two men were posted in the arena a short distance from the royal
loge, and the captain of the stadium was giving them their instructions
which were extremely simple: they were to remain inside the arena and try
to kill one another with their bare hands, though the use of elbows,
knees, feet, or teeth was not barred. There were no other rules governing
the combat. The winner was to receive his freedom, though even this had
been qualified by Nemone.

"When the trumpet sounds you may attack," said the captain of the
stadium. "And may Thoos be with you."

Tarzan and Phobeg had been placed ten paces apart.

Now they stood waiting the signal. Phobeg swelled his chest and beat upon
it with his fists; he flexed his arms, swelling the great muscles of his
biceps until they stood out like great knotty balls; then he hopped
about, warming up his leg muscles. He was attracting all the attention,
and that pleased him excessively.

Tarzan stood quietly, his arms folded loosely across his chest, his
muscles relaxed. He appeared totally unconscious of the presence of the
noisy multitude or even of Phobeg, but he was not unconscious of anything
that was transpiring about him. His eyes and his ears were alert; it
would be Tarzan who would hear the first note of the trumpet's signal.
Tarzan was ready!

The trumpet pealed, and Tarzan's eyes swung back to Phobeg. A strange
silence fell upon the amphitheatre. The two men approached one another,
Phobeg strutting and confident, Tarzan with the easy, graceful stride of
a lion.

"Say your prayers, fellow!" shouted the temple guard. "I am going to kill
you, but first I shall play with you for the amusement of Nemone."

Phobeg came closer and reached for Tarzan. The ape-man let him seize him
by the shoulders; then Tarzan cupped his two hands and brought the heels
of them up suddenly and with great force beneath Phobeg's chin and at the
same time pushed the man from him. The great head snapped back, and the
fellow's huge bulk hurtled backward a dozen paces, where Phobeg sat down
heavily. A groan of surprise arose from the audience. Phobeg scrambled to
his feet. His face was contorted with rage; in an instant he had gone
berserk. With a roar, he charged the ape-man.

"No quarter!" he screamed. "I kill you now!"

"Don't you wish to throw me about a bit first?" asked Tarzan in a low
voice, as he lightky side stepped the other's mad charge. "No!" screamed
Phobeg, turning clumsily and charging again. "I kill! I kill!"

Tarzan Caught the outstretched hands and spread them wide; then a bronzed
arm, lightning-like, clamped about Phobeg's short neck. The ape-man
wheeled suddenly about, leaned forward, and hurled his antagonist over
his head. Phobeg fell heavily to the sandy gravel of the arena.

Nemone leaned from the royal loge, her eyes flashing, her bosom heaving.
Phobeg arose but this time more slowly, nor did he charge again, but
approached his antagonist warily. His tactics now were very different
from what they had been. He wanted to get close enough to Tarzan to get a
hold; that was all he desired, just a hold; then, he knew, he could crush
the man with his great strength.

Perhaps the ape-man sensed what was in the mind of his foe, perhaps it
was just chance that caused him to taunt Phobeg by holding his left wrist
out to the other. Whatever it was, Phobeg seized upon the opportunity
and, grasping Tarzan's wrist, sought to drag the ape-man into his
embrace. Tarzan stepped in quickly, struck Phobeg a terrific blow in the
face with his right fist, seized the wrist of the hand that held his,
and, again whirling quickly beneath his victim, threw him heavily once
more, using Phobeg's arm as a lever and his own shoulder as a fulcrum.

This time Phobeg had difficulty in arising at all. He came up slowly. The
ape-man was standing over him.

Suddenly Tarzan stooped and seized Phobeg, and, lifting him bodily, held
him above his head. "Shall I run now, Phobeg," he growled, "or are you
too tired to chase me?" Then he hurled the man to the ground again a
little nearer to the royal loge where Nemone sat, tense and thrilled.

Like a lion with its prey, the Lord of the Jungle followed the man who
had taunted him and would have killed him; twice again he picked him up
and hurled him closer to the end of the arena. Now the fickle crowd was
screaming to Tarzan to kill Phobeg-Phobeg, the strongest man in Cathne.

Again Tarzan seized his antagonist and held him above his head. Phobeg
struggled weakly, but he was quite helpless. Tarzan walked to the side of
the arena near the royal loge and hurled the great body up into the
audience.

"Take your strong man," he said; "Tarzan does not want him." Then he
walked away and stood before the ramp, waiting, as though he demanded his
freedom.

Amid shrieks and howls that called to Tarzan's mind only the foulest of
wild beasts, the loathsome hyena, the crowd hurled the unhappy Phobeg
back into the arena. "Kill him! Kill him!" they screamed.

Nemone leaned from her loge. "Kill him, Tarzan!" she cried.

"I shall not kill him," replied the ape-man.

Nemone arose in her loge. She was flushed and excited. "Tarzan!" she
cried, and when the ape-man glanced up at her, "Why do you not kill him?"

"Why should I kill him?" he demanded. "He cannot harm me, and I kill only
in self-defence or for food." Phobeg, bruised, battered, and helpless,
arose weakly to his feet and stood reeling drunkenly. He heard the voice
of the pitiless mob screaming for his death. He saw his antagonist
standing a few paces away in front of the ramp, paying no attention to
him, and dimly and as though from a great distance he had heard him
refuse to kill him. He had heard, but he did not comprehend.

"Kill him, fellow!" Erot cried. "It's the queen's command."

The ape-man glanced up at the queen's favourite.

"Tarzan kills only whom it pleases him to kill." He spoke in a low voice
that yet carried to the royal loge. "I shall not kill Phobeg."

"You fool," cried Erot, "do you not understand that it is the queen's
wish, that it is the queen's command, which no one may disobey and live,
that you kill the fellow?"

"If the queen wants him killled, why doesn't she send you down to do it?
She is your queen, not mine." There was neither awe nor respect in the voice
of the ape-man.

Erot looked horrified. He glanced at the queen. "Shall I order the guard
to destroy the impudent savage?" he asked.

Nemone shook her head. Her countenance remained inscrutable, but a
strange light burned in her eyes. "We give them both their lives," she
said. "Set Phobeg free, and bring the other to me in the palace."



CHAPTER TEN IN THE PALACE OF THE QUEEN

A detachment of common warriors commanded by an under-officer had
escorted Tarzan to the stadium, but he returned to the city in the
company of nobles.

Congratulating him upon his victory, praising his prowess, asking
innumerable questions, they followed him from the arena, and at the top
of the ramp another noble accosted him. It was Gemnon.

"The queen has commanded me to accompany you to the city and look after
you," he explained. "This evening I am to bring you to her in the palace,
but in the meantime you will want to bathe and rest, and I imagine that
you might welcome some decent food after the prison fare you have been
eating recently.

"I shall be glad of a bath and good food," replied Tarzan, "but why
should I rest? I have been doing nothing else for several days."

"But you have just come through a terrific battle for your life!"
exclaimed Gemnon. "You must be tired."

Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders. "Perhaps you had better look after
Phobeg instead," he replied. "It is he who needs rest; I am not tired."

Gemnon laughed. "Phobeg should consider himself lucky to be alive. If
anyone looks after him, it will be himself."

As they were walking toward the city now. The other nobles had joined
their own parties or had dropped behind, and Gemnon and Tarzan were
alone, if two may be said to be alone who are surrounded by a chattering
mob through which bodies of armed men and lion-drawn chariots are making
their slow way.

"You are popular now," commented Gemnon.

"A few minutes ago they were screaming at Phobeg to kill me," Tarzan
reminded him.

"I am really surprised that they are so friendly," remarked Gemnon. "You
cheated them of a death, the one thing they are all hoping to see when
they go to the stadium. It is for this they pay their lepta for
admission."

When they reached the city, Gemnon took Tarzan to his own quarters in the
palace. These consisted of a bedroom and bath in addition to a living
room that was shared with another officer. Here Tarzan found the usual
decorations of weapons and shields, in addition to pictures painted on
leather. He saw no books, nor any other printed matter; neither was there
any sign of writing materials in the rooms. He wanted to question Gemnon
on this subject, but he found that he had never learned any word for
writing or for a written language.

The bath interested the ape-man. The tub was a coffin-like affair made of
clay and baked. The plumbing fixtures were apparently all of solid gold.
While questioning Gemnon he learned that the water was brought from the
mountains east of the city through clay pipes of considerable size and
distributed by means of pressure tanks distributed throughout all of
urban Cathne. Gemnon summoned a slave to prepare the bath, and when
Tarzan had finished, a meal was awaiting him in the living room. While he
was eating, and Gemnon lounged near in conversation, another young noble
entered the apartment. He had a narrow face and rather unpleasant eyes,
nor was he overly cordial when Gemnon introduced him to Tarzan.

"Xerstle and I are quartered together," Gemnon explained.

"I have orders to move out," snapped Xerstle.

"Why is that?" asked Gemnon.

"To make room for your friend here," replied Xerstle sourly, and then he
went into his own room mumbling something about slaves and savages.

"He does not seem pleased," remarked Tarzan.

"But I am," replied Gemnon in a low voice. "Xerstle and I have not gotten
along well together. We have nothing in common. He is one of Erot's friends
and was elevated from nothing after Erot became Nemone's favourite. He is
the son of a foreman at the mines. If they had elevated his father he would
have been an acquisltion to the nobility, for he is a splendid man, but
Xerstle is a rat-like his friend, Erot."

"I have heard something of your nobility," said Tarzan. "I understand
that there are two classes of nobles, and that one class rather looks
upon the other with contempt even though a man of the lower class may
hold a higher title than many of those in the other class."

"We do not look upon them with contempt if they are worthy men," replied
Gemnon. "The old nobility, the lion men of Cathne, is hereditary; the
other is but temporary--for the lifetime of the man who has received it
as a special mark of favour from the throne. In one respect at least it
reflects greater glory on its possessor than does hereditary nobility, as
it is often the deserved reward of merit. I am a noble by accident of
birth; had I not been born a noble I might never have become one. I am a
lion man because my father was; I may own lions because, beyond the
memory of man, an ancient ancestor of mine led the king's lions to
battle."

"What did Erot do to win his patent of nobility?" continued the ape-man.

Gemnon grimaced. "Whatever services he has rendered have been tiersonal;
he has never served the state with distinction. If he owns any
distinction, it is that of being the prince of flatterers, the king of
sycophants."

"Your queen seems to intelligent a woman to be duped by flattery."

"No one is, always!"

"There are no flatterers among the beasts," said Tarzan.

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Gemnon.

"Erot is almost a beast."

"You malign the beasts. Did you ever see a lion that fawned upon another
creature to curry favour?"

Xerstle, entering from his room, interrupted their conversation. "I have
gathered my things together," he said; "I shall send a slave for them
presently." His manner was short and brusque. Gemnon merely nodded in
assent, and Xerstle departed.

"He does not seem pleased," commented the ape-man.

"May Xarator have him!" ejaculated Gemnon.

"Though he would serve a better purpose as food for my lions," he added
as an afterthought, "if they would eat him."

"You own lions?" inquired Tarzan.

"Certainly," replied Gemnon. "I am a lion man and must own lions. It is a
caste obligation. Each lion man must own lions of war to fight in the
service of the queen. I have five. In times of peace I use them for
hunting and racing. Only royalty and the lion m