Night had fallen upon unchartered Pal-ul-don. A slender moon, low in
the west, bathed the white faces of the chalk cliffs presented to her,
in a mellow, unearthly glow. Black were the shadows in Kor-ul-JA,
Gorge-of-lions, where dwelt the tribe of the same name under Es-sat,
their chief. From an aperture near the summit of the lofty escarpment a
hairy figure emerged--the head and shoulders first--and fierce eyes
scanned the cliff side in every direction.
It was Es-sat, the chief. To right and left and below he looked as
though to assure himself that he was unobserved, but no other figure
moved upon the cliff face, nor did another hairy body protrude from any
of the numerous cave mouths from the high-flung abode of the chief to
the habitations of the more lowly members of the tribe nearer the
cliff's base. Then he moved outward upon the sheer face of the white
chalk wall. In the half-light of the baby moon it appeared that the
heavy, shaggy black figure moved across the face of the perpendicular
wall in some miraculous manner, but closer examination would have
revealed stout pegs, as large around as a man's wrist protruding from
holes in the cliff into which they were driven. Es-sat's four handlike
members and his long, sinuous tail permitted him to move with
consummate ease whither he chose--a gigantic rat upon a mighty wall. As
he progressed upon his way he avoided the cave mouths, passing either
above or below those that lay in his path.
The outward appearance of these caves was similar. An opening from
eight to as much as twenty feet long by eight high and four to six feet
deep was cut into the chalklike rock of the cliff, in the back of this
large opening, which formed what might be described as the front
veranda of the home, was an opening about three feet wide and six feet
high, evidently forming the doorway to the interior apartment or
apartments. On either side of this doorway were smaller openings which
it were easy to assume were windows through which light and air might
find their way to the inhabitants. Similar windows were also dotted
over the cliff face between the entrance porches, suggesting that the
entire face of the cliff was honeycombed with apartments. From many of
these smaller apertures small streams of water trickled down the
escarpment, and the walls above others was blackened as by smoke.
Where the water ran the wall was eroded to a depth of from a few inches
to as much as a foot, suggesting that some of the tiny streams had been
trickling downward to the green carpet of vegetation below for ages.
In this primeval setting the great pithecanthropus aroused no jarring
discord for he was as much a part of it as the trees that grew upon the
summit of the cliff or those that hid their feet among the dank ferns
in the bottom of the gorge.
Now he paused before an entrance-way and listened and then, noiselessly
as the moonlight upon the trickling waters, he merged with the shadows
of the outer porch. At the doorway leading into the interior he paused
again, listening, and then quietly pushing aside the heavy skin that
covered the aperture he passed within a large chamber hewn from the
living rock. From the far end, through another doorway, shone a light,
dimly. Toward this he crept with utmost stealth, his naked feet giving
forth no sound. The knotted club that had been hanging at his back
from a thong about his neck he now removed and carried in his left hand.
Beyond the second doorway was a corridor running parallel with the
cliff face. In this corridor were three more doorways, one at each end
and a third almost opposite that in which Es-sat stood. The light was
coming from an apartment at the end of the corridor at his left. A
sputtering flame rose and fell in a small stone receptacle that stood
upon a table or bench of the same material, a monolithic bench
fashioned at the time the room was excavated, rising massively from the
floor, of which it was a part.
In one corner of the room beyond the table had been left a dais of
stone about four feet wide and eight feet long. Upon this were piled a
foot or so of softly tanned pelts from which the fur had not been
removed. Upon the edge of this dais sat a young female Waz-don. In one
hand she held a thin piece of metal, apparently of hammered gold, with
serrated edges, and in the other a short, stiff brush. With these she
was occupied in going over her smooth, glossy coat which bore a
remarkable resemblance to plucked sealskin. Her loin cloth of yellow
and black striped JATO-skin lay on the couch beside her with the
circular breastplates of beaten gold, revealing the symmetrical lines
of her nude figure in all its beauty and harmony of contour, for even
though the creature was jet black and entirely covered with hair yet
she was undeniably beautiful.
That she was beautiful in the eyes of Es-sat, the chief, was evidenced
by the gloating expression upon his fierce countenance and the
increased rapidity of his breathing. Moving quickly forward he entered
the room and as he did so the young she looked up. Instantly her eyes
filled with terror and as quickly she seized the loin cloth and with a
few deft movements adjusted it about her. As she gathered up her
breastplates Es-sat rounded the table and moved quickly toward her.
"What do you want?" she whispered, though she knew full well.
"Pan-at-lee," he said, "your chief has come for you."
"It was for this that you sent away my father and my brothers to spy
upon the Kor-ul-lul? I will not have you. Leave the cave of my
ancestors!"
Es-sat smiled. It was the smile of a strong and wicked man who knows
his power--not a pleasant smile at all. "I will leave, Pan-at-lee," he
said; "but you shall go with me--to the cave of Es-sat, the chief, to
be the envied of the shes of Kor-ul-JA. Come!"
"Never!" cried Pan-at-lee. "I hate you. Sooner would I mate with a
Ho-don than with you, beater of women, murderer of babes."
A frightful scowl distorted the features of the chief. "She-JATO!" he
cried. "I will tame you! I will break you! Es-sat, the chief, takes
what he will and who dares question his right, or combat his least
purpose, will first serve that purpose and then be broken as I break
this," and he picked a stone platter from the table and broke it in his
powerful hands. "You might have been first and most favored in the cave
of the ancestors of Es-sat; but now shall you be last and least and
when I am done with you you shall belong to all of the men of Es-sat's
cave. Thus for those who spurn the love of their chief!"
He advanced quickly to seize her and as he laid a rough hand upon her
she struck him heavily upon the side of his head with her golden
breastplates. Without a sound Es-sat, the chief, sank to the floor of
the apartment. For a moment Pan-at-lee bent over him, her improvised
weapon raised to strike again should he show signs of returning
consciousness, her glossy breasts rising and falling with her quickened
breathing. Suddenly she stooped and removed Es-sat's knife with its
scabbard and shoulder belt. Slipping it over her own shoulder she
quickly adjusted her breastplates and keeping a watchful glance upon
the figure of the fallen chief, backed from the room.
In a niche in the outer room, just beside the doorway leading to the
balcony, were neatly piled a number of rounded pegs from eighteen to
twenty inches in length. Selecting five of these she made them into a
little bundle about which she twined the lower extremity of her sinuous
tail and thus carrying them made her way to the outer edge of the
balcony. Assuring herself that there was none about to see, or hinder
her, she took quickly to the pegs already set in the face of the cliff
and with the celerity of a monkey clambered swiftly aloft to the
highest row of pegs which she followed in the direction of the lower
end of the gorge for a matter of some hundred yards. Here, above her
head, were a series of small round holes placed one above another in
three parallel rows. Clinging only with her toes she removed two of the
pegs from the bundle carried in her tail and taking one in either hand
she inserted them in two opposite holes of the outer rows as far above
her as she could reach. Hanging by these new holds she now took one of
the three remaining pegs in each of her feet, leaving the fifth grasped
securely in her tail. Reaching above her with this member she inserted
the fifth peg in one of the holes of the center row and then,
alternately hanging by her tail, her feet, or her hands, she moved the
pegs upward to new holes, thus carrying her stairway with her as she
ascended.
At the summit of the cliff a gnarled tree exposed its time-worn roots
above the topmost holes forming the last step from the sheer face of
the precipice to level footing. This was the last avenue of escape for
members of the tribe hard pressed by enemies from below. There were
three such emergency exits from the village and it were death to use
them in other than an emergency. This Pan-at-lee well knew; but she
knew, too, that it were worse than death to remain where the angered
Es-sat might lay hands upon her.
When she had gained the summit, the girl moved quickly through the
darkness in the direction of the next gorge which cut the mountain-side
a mile beyond Kor-ul-JA. It was the Gorge-of-water, Kor-ul-lul, to
which her father and two brothers had been sent by Es-sat ostensibly to
spy upon the neighboring tribe. There was a chance, a slender chance,
that she might find them; if not there was the deserted Kor-ul-GRYF
several miles beyond, where she might hide indefinitely from man if she
could elude the frightful monster from which the gorge derived its name
and whose presence there had rendered its caves uninhabitable for
generations.
Pan-at-lee crept stealthily along the rim of the Kor-ul-lul. Just where
her father and brothers would watch she did not know. Sometimes their
spies remained upon the rim, sometimes they watched from the gorge's
bottom. Pan-at-lee was at a loss to know what to do or where to go. She
felt very small and helpless alone in the vast darkness of the night.
Strange noises fell upon her ears. They came from the lonely reaches of
the towering mountains above her, from far away in the invisible valley
and from the nearer foothills and once, in the distance, she heard what
she thought was the bellow of a bull GRYF. It came from the direction
of the Kor-ul-GRYF. She shuddered.
Presently there came to her keen ears another sound. Something
approached her along the rim of the gorge. It was coming from above.
She halted, listening. Perhaps it was her father, or a brother. It was
coming closer. She strained her eyes through the darkness. She did not
move--she scarcely breathed. And then, of a sudden, quite close it
seemed, there blazed through the black night two yellow-green spots of
fire.
Pan-at-lee was brave, but as always with the primitive, the darkness
held infinite terrors for her. Not alone the terrors of the known but
more frightful ones as well--those of the unknown. She had passed
through much this night and her nerves were keyed to the highest
pitch--raw, taut nerves, they were, ready to react in an exaggerated
form to the slightest shock.
But this was no slight shock. To hope for a father and a brother and to
see death instead glaring out of the darkness! Yes, Pan-at-lee was
brave, but she was not of iron. With a shriek that reverberated among
the hills she turned and fled along the rim of Kor-ul-lul and behind
her, swiftly, came the devil-eyed lion of the mountains of Pal-ul-don.
Pan-at-lee was lost. Death was inevitable. Of this there could be no
doubt, but to die beneath the rending fangs of the carnivore,
congenital terror of her kind--it was unthinkable. But there was an
alternative. The lion was almost upon her--another instant and he would
seize her. Pan-at-lee turned sharply to her left. Just a few steps she
took in the new direction before she disappeared over the rim of
Kor-ul-lul. The baffled lion, planting all four feet, barely stopped
upon the verge of the abyss. Glaring down into the black shadows
beneath he mounted an angry roar.
Through the darkness at the bottom of Kor-ul-JA, Om-at led the way
toward the caves of his people. Behind him came Tarzan and Ta-den.
Presently they halted beneath a great tree that grew close to the cliff.
"First," whispered Om-at, "I will go to the cave of Pan-at-lee. Then
will I seek the cave of my ancestors to have speech with my own blood.
It will not take long. Wait here--I shall return soon. Afterward shall
we go together to Ta-den's people."
He moved silently toward the foot of the cliff up which Tarzan could
presently see him ascending like a great fly on a wall. In the dim
light the ape-man could not see the pegs set in the face of the cliff.
Om-at moved warily. In the lower tier of caves there should be a
sentry. His knowledge of his people and their customs told him,
however, that in all probability the sentry was asleep. In this he was
not mistaken, yet he did not in any way abate his wariness. Smoothly
and swiftly he ascended toward the cave of Pan-at-lee while from below
Tarzan and Ta-den watched him.
"How does he do it?" asked Tarzan. "I can see no foothold upon that
vertical surface and yet he appears to be climbing with the utmost
ease."
Ta-den explained the stairway of pegs. "You could ascend easily," he
said, "although a tail would be of great assistance."
They watched until Om-at was about to enter the cave of Pan-at-lee
without seeing any indication that he had been observed and then,
simultaneously, both saw a head appear in the mouth of one of the lower
caves. It was quickly evident that its owner had discovered Om-at for
immediately he started upward in pursuit. Without a word Tarzan and
Ta-den sprang forward toward the foot of the cliff. The pithecanthropus
was the first to reach it and the ape-man saw him spring upward for a
handhold on the lowest peg above him. Now Tarzan saw other pegs roughly
paralleling each other in zigzag rows up the cliff face. He sprang and
caught one of these, pulled himself upward by one hand until he could
reach a second with his other hand; and when he had ascended far enough
to use his feet, discovered that he could make rapid progress. Ta-den
was outstripping him, however, for these precarious ladders were no
novelty to him and, further, he had an advantage in possessing a tail.
Nevertheless, the ape-man gave a good account of himself, being
presently urged to redoubled efforts by the fact that the Waz-don above
Ta-den glanced down and discovered his pursuers just before the Ho-don
overtook him. Instantly a wild cry shattered the silence of the
gorge--a cry that was immediately answered by hundreds of savage
throats as warrior after warrior emerged from the entrance to his cave.
The creature who had raised the alarm had now reached the recess before
Pan-at-lee's cave and here he halted and turned to give battle to
Ta-den. Unslinging his club which had hung down his back from a thong
about his neck he stood upon the level floor of the entrance-way
effectually blocking Ta-den's ascent. From all directions the warriors
of Kor-ul-JA were swarming toward the interlopers. Tarzan, who had
reached a point on the same level with Ta-den but a little to the
latter's left, saw that nothing short of a miracle could save them.
Just at the ape-man's left was the entrance to a cave that either was
deserted or whose occupants had not as yet been aroused, for the level
recess remained unoccupied. Resourceful was the alert mind of Tarzan of
the Apes and quick to respond were the trained muscles. In the time
that you or I might give to debating an action he would accomplish it
and now, though only seconds separated his nearest antagonist from him,
in the brief span of time at his disposal he had stepped into the
recess, unslung his long rope and leaning far out shot the sinuous
noose, with the precision of long habitude, toward the menacing figure
wielding its heavy club above Ta-den. There was a momentary pause of
the rope-hand as the noose sped toward its goal, a quick movement of
the right wrist that closed it upon its victim as it settled over his
head and then a surging tug as, seizing the rope in both hands, Tarzan
threw back upon it all the weight of his great frame.
Voicing a terrified shriek, the Waz-don lunged headforemost from the
recess above Ta-den. Tarzan braced himself for the coming shock when
the creature's body should have fallen the full length of the rope and
as it did there was a snap of the vertebrae that rose sickeningly in
the momentary silence that had followed the doomed man's departing
scream. Unshaken by the stress of the suddenly arrested weight at the
end of the rope, Tarzan quickly pulled the body to his side that he
might remove the noose from about its neck, for he could not afford to
lose so priceless a weapon.
During the several seconds that had elapsed since he cast the rope the
Waz-don warriors had remained inert as though paralyzed by wonder or by
terror. Now, again, one of them found his voice and his head and
straightway, shrieking invectives at the strange intruder, started
upward for the ape-man, urging his fellows to attack. This man was the
closest to Tarzan. But for him the ape-man could easily have reached
Ta-den's side as the latter was urging him to do. Tarzan raised the
body of the dead Waz-don above his head, held it poised there for a
moment as with face raised to the heavens he screamed forth the horrid
challenge of the bull apes of the tribe of Kerchak, and with all the
strength of his giant sinews he hurled the corpse heavily upon the
ascending warrior. So great was the force of the impact that not only
was the Waz-don torn from his hold but two of the pegs to which he
clung were broken short in their sockets.
As the two bodies, the living and the dead, hurtled downward toward the
foot of the cliff a great cry arose from the Waz-don. "Jad-guru-don!
Jad-guru-don!" they screamed, and then: "Kill him! Kill him!"
And now Tarzan stood in the recess beside Ta-den. "Jad-guru-don!"
repeated the latter, smiling--"The terrible man! Tarzan the Terrible!
They may kill you, but they will never forget you."
"They shall not ki--What have we here?" Tarzan's statement as to what
"they" should not do was interrupted by a sudden ejaculation as two
figures, locked in deathlike embrace, stumbled through the doorway of
the cave to the outer porch. One was Om-at, the other a creature of his
own kind but with a rough coat, the hairs of which seemed to grow
straight outward from the skin, stiffly, unlike Om-at's sleek covering.
The two were quite evidently well matched and equally evident was the
fact that each was bent upon murder. They fought almost in silence
except for an occasional low growl as one or the other acknowledged
thus some new hurt.
Tarzan, following a natural impulse to aid his ally, leaped forward to
enter the dispute only to be checked by a grunted admonition from
Om-at. "Back!" he said. "This fight is mine, alone."
The ape-man understood and stepped aside.
"It is a gund-bar," explained Ta-den, "a chief-battle. This fellow must
be Es-sat, the chief. If Om-at kills him without assistance Om-at may
become chief."
Tarzan smiled. It was the law of his own jungle--the law of the tribe
of Kerchak, the bull ape--the ancient law of primitive man that needed
but the refining influences of civilization to introduce the hired
dagger and the poison cup. Then his attention was drawn to the outer
edge of the vestibule. Above it appeared the shaggy face of one of
Es-sat's warriors. Tarzan sprang to intercept the man; but Ta-den was
there ahead of him. "Back!" cried the Ho-don to the newcomer. "It is
gund-bar." The fellow looked scrutinizingly at the two fighters, then
turned his face downward toward his fellows. "Back!" he cried, "it is
gund-bar between Es-sat and Om-at." Then he looked back at Ta-den and
Tarzan. "Who are you?" he asked.
"We are Om-at's friends," replied Ta-den.
The fellow nodded. "We will attend to you later," he said and
disappeared below the edge of the recess.
The battle upon the ledge continued with unabated ferocity, Tarzan and
Ta-den having difficulty in keeping out of the way of the contestants
who tore and beat at each other with hands and feet and lashing tails.
Es-sat was unarmed--Pan-at-lee had seen to that--but at Om-at's side
swung a sheathed knife which he made no effort to draw. That would have
been contrary to their savage and primitive code for the chief-battle
must be fought with nature's weapons.
Sometimes they separated for an instant only to rush upon each other
again with all the ferocity and nearly the strength of mad bulls.
Presently one of them tripped the other but in that viselike embrace
one could not fall alone--Es-sat dragged Om-at with him, toppling upon
the brink of the niche. Even Tarzan held his breath. There they surged
to and fro perilously for a moment and then the inevitable
happened--the two, locked in murderous embrace, rolled over the edge
and disappeared from the ape-man's view.
Tarzan voiced a suppressed sigh for he had liked Om-at and then, with
Ta-den, approached the edge and looked over. Far below, in the dim
light of the coming dawn, two inert forms should be lying stark in
death; but, to Tarzan's amazement, such was far from the sight that met
his eyes. Instead, there were the two figures still vibrant with life
and still battling only a few feet below him. Clinging always to the
pegs with two holds--a hand and a foot, or a foot and a tail, they
seemed as much at home upon the perpendicular wall as upon the level
surface of the vestibule; but now their tactics were slightly altered,
for each seemed particularly bent upon dislodging his antagonist from
his holds and precipitating him to certain death below. It was soon
evident that Om-at, younger and with greater powers of endurance than
Es-sat, was gaining an advantage. Now was the chief almost wholly on
the defensive. Holding him by the cross belt with one mighty hand Om-at
was forcing his foeman straight out from the cliff, and with the other
hand and one foot was rapidly breaking first one of Es-sat's holds and
then another, alternating his efforts, or rather punctuating them, with
vicious blows to the pit of his adversary's stomach. Rapidly was Es-sat
weakening and with the knowledge of impending death there came, as
there comes to every coward and bully under similar circumstances, a
crumbling of the veneer of bravado which had long masqueraded as
courage and with it crumbled his code of ethics. Now was Es-sat no
longer chief of Kor-ul-JA--instead he was a whimpering craven battling
for life. Clutching at Om-at, clutching at the nearest pegs he sought
any support that would save him from that awful fall, and as he strove
to push aside the hand of death, whose cold fingers he already felt
upon his heart, his tail sought Om-at's side and the handle of the
knife that hung there.
Tarzan saw and even as Es-sat drew the blade from its sheath he dropped
catlike to the pegs beside the battling men. Es-sat's tail had drawn
back for the cowardly fatal thrust. Now many others saw the perfidious
act and a great cry of rage and disgust arose from savage throats; but
as the blade sped toward its goal, the ape-man seized the hairy member
that wielded it, and at the same instant Om-at thrust the body of
Es-sat from him with such force that its weakened holds were broken and
it hurtled downward, a brief meteor of screaming fear, to death.
4