As Tarzan dropped to the ground beyond the temple wall there was in his
mind no intention to escape from the City of A-lur until he had
satisfied himself that his mate was not a prisoner there, but how, in
this strange city in which every man's hand must be now against him, he
was to live and prosecute his search was far from clear to him.
There was only one place of which he knew that he might find even
temporary sanctuary and that was the Forbidden Garden of the king.
There was thick shrubbery in which a man might hide, and water and
fruits. A cunning jungle creature, if he could reach the spot
unsuspected, might remain concealed there for a considerable time, but
how he was to traverse the distance between the temple grounds and the
garden unseen was a question the seriousness of which he fully
appreciated.
"Mighty is Tarzan," he soliloquized, "in his native jungle, but in the
cities of man he is little better than they."
Depending upon his keen observation and sense of location he felt safe
in assuming that he could reach the palace grounds by means of the
subterranean corridors and chambers of the temple through which he had
been conducted the day before, nor any slightest detail of which had
escaped his keen eyes. That would be better, he reasoned, than crossing
the open grounds above where his pursuers would naturally immediately
follow him from the temple and quickly discover him.
And so a dozen paces from the temple wall he disappeared from sight of
any chance observer above, down one of the stone stairways that led to
the apartments beneath. The way that he had been conducted the previous
day had followed the windings and turnings of numerous corridors and
apartments, but Tarzan, sure of himself in such matters, retraced the
route accurately without hesitation.
He had little fear of immediate apprehension here since he believed
that all the priests of the temple had assembled in the court above to
witness his trial and his humiliation and his death, and with this idea
firmly implanted in his mind he rounded the turn of the corridor and
came face to face with an under priest, his grotesque headdress
concealing whatever emotion the sight of Tarzan may have aroused.
However, Tarzan had one advantage over the masked votary of
Jad-ben-Otho in that the moment he saw the priest he knew his intention
concerning him, and therefore was not compelled to delay action. And so
it was that before the priest could determine on any suitable line of
conduct in the premises a long, keen knife had been slipped into his
heart.
As the body lunged toward the floor Tarzan caught it and snatched the
headdress from its shoulders, for the first sight of the creature had
suggested to his ever-alert mind a bold scheme for deceiving his
enemies.
The headdress saved from such possible damage as it must have sustained
had it fallen to the floor with the body of its owner, Tarzan
relinquished his hold upon the corpse, set the headdress carefully upon
the floor and stooping down severed the tail of the Ho-don close to its
root. Near by at his right was a small chamber from which the priest
had evidently just emerged and into this Tarzan dragged the corpse, the
headdress, and the tail.
Quickly cutting a thin strip of hide from the loin cloth of the priest,
Tarzan tied it securely about the upper end of the severed member and
then tucking the tail under his loin cloth behind him, secured it in
place as best he could. Then he fitted the headdress over his shoulders
and stepped from the apartment, to all appearances a priest of the
temple of Jad-ben-Otho unless one examined too closely his thumbs and
his great toes.
He had noticed that among both the Ho-don and the Waz-don it was not at
all unusual that the end of the tail be carried in one hand, and so he
caught his own tail up thus lest the lifeless appearance of it dragging
along behind him should arouse suspicion.
Passing along the corridor and through the various chambers he emerged
at last into the palace grounds beyond the temple. The pursuit had not
yet reached this point though he was conscious of a commotion not far
behind him. He met now both warriors and slaves but none gave him more
than a passing glance, a priest being too common a sight about the
palace.
And so, passing the guards unchallenged, he came at last to the inner
entrance to the Forbidden Garden and there he paused and scanned
quickly that portion of the beautiful spot that lay before his eyes. To
his relief it seemed unoccupied and congratulating himself upon the
ease with which he had so far outwitted the high powers of A-lur he
moved rapidly to the opposite end of the enclosure. Here he found a
patch of flowering shrubbery that might safely have concealed a dozen
men.
Crawling well within he removed the uncomfortable headdress and sat
down to await whatever eventualities fate might have in store for him
the while he formulated plans for the future. The one night that he had
spent in A-lur had kept him up to a late hour, apprising him of the
fact that while there were few abroad in the temple grounds at night,
there were yet enough to make it possible for him to fare forth under
cover of his disguise without attracting the unpleasant attention of
the guards, and, too, he had noticed that the priesthood constituted a
privileged class that seemed to come and go at will and unchallenged
throughout the palace as well as the temple. Altogether then, he
decided, night furnished the most propitious hours for his
investigation--by day he could lie up in the shrubbery of the Forbidden
Garden, reasonably free from detection. From beyond the garden he heard
the voices of men calling to one another both far and near, and he
guessed that diligent was the search that was being prosecuted for him.
The idle moments afforded him an opportunity to evolve a more
satisfactory scheme for attaching his stolen caudal appendage. He
arranged it in such a way that it might be quickly assumed or
discarded, and this done he fell to examining the weird mask that had
so effectively hidden his features.
The thing had been very cunningly wrought from a single block of wood,
very probably a section of a tree, upon which the features had been
carved and afterward the interior hollowed out until only a
comparatively thin shell remained. Two-semicircular notches had been
rounded out from opposite sides of the lower edge. These fitted snugly
over his shoulders, aprons of wood extending downward a few inches upon
his chest and back. From these aprons hung long tassels or switches of
hair tapering from the outer edges toward the center which reached
below the bottom of his torso. It required but the most cursory
examination to indicate to the ape-man that these ornaments consisted
of human scalps, taken, doubtless, from the heads of the sacrifices
upon the eastern altars. The headdress itself had been carved to depict
in formal design a hideous face that suggested both man and GRYF. There
were the three white horns, the yellow face with the blue bands
encircling the eyes and the red hood which took the form of the
posterior and anterior aprons.
As Tarzan sat within the concealing foliage of the shrubbery meditating
upon the hideous priest-mask which he held in his hands he became aware
that he was not alone in the garden. He sensed another presence and
presently his trained ears detected the slow approach of naked feet
across the sward. At first he suspected that it might be one stealthily
searching the Forbidden Garden for him but a little later the figure
came within the limited area of his vision which was circumscribed by
stems and foliage and flowers. He saw then that it was the princess
O-lo-a and that she was alone and walking with bowed head as though in
meditation--sorrowful meditation for there were traces of tears upon
her lids.
Shortly after his ears warned him that others had entered the
garden--men they were and their footsteps proclaimed that they walked
neither slowly nor meditatively. They came directly toward the princess
and when Tarzan could see them he discovered that both were priests.
"O-lo-a, Princess of Pal-ul-don," said one, addressing her, "the
stranger who told us that he was the son of Jad-ben-Otho has but just
fled from the wrath of Lu-don, the high priest, who exposed him and all
his wicked blasphemy. The temple, and the palace, and the city are
being searched and we have been sent to search the Forbidden Garden,
since Ko-tan, the king, said that only this morning he found him here,
though how he passed the guards he could not guess."
"He is not here," said O-lo-a. "I have been in the garden for some time
and have seen nor heard no other than myself. However, search it if you
will."
"No," said the priest who had before spoken, "it is not necessary since
he could not have entered without your knowledge and the connivance of
the guards, and even had he, the priest who preceded us must have seen
him."
"What priest?" asked O-lo-a.
"One passed the guards shortly before us," explained the man.
"I did not see him," said O-lo-a.
"Doubtless he left by another exit," remarked the second priest.
"Yes, doubtless," acquiesced O-lo-a, "but it is strange that I did not
see him." The two priests made their obeisance and turned to depart.
"Stupid as Buto, the rhinoceros," soliloquized Tarzan, who considered
Buto a very stupid creature indeed. "It should be easy to outwit such
as these."
The priests had scarce departed when there came the sound of feet
running rapidly across the garden in the direction of the princess to
an accompaniment of rapid breathing as of one almost spent, either from
fatigue or excitement.
"Pan-at-lee," exclaimed O-lo-a, "what has happened? You look as
terrified as the doe for which you were named!"
"O Princess of Pal-ul-don," cried Pan-at-lee, "they would have killed
him in the temple. They would have killed the wondrous stranger who
claimed to be the Dor-ul-Otho."
"But he escaped," said O-lo-a. "You were there. Tell me about it."
"The head priest would have had him seized and slain, but when they
rushed upon him he hurled one in the face of Lu-don with the same ease
that you might cast your breastplates at me, and then he leaped upon
the altar and from there to the top of the temple wall and disappeared
below. They are searching for him, but, O Princess, I pray that they do
not find him."
"And why do you pray that?" asked O-lo-a. "Has not one who has so
blasphemed earned death?"
"Ah, but you do not know him," replied Pan-at-lee.
"And you do, then?" retorted O-lo-a quickly. "This morning you betrayed
yourself and then attempted to deceive me. The slaves of O-lo-a do not
such things with impunity. He is then the same Tarzan-jad-guru of whom
you told me? Speak woman and speak only the truth."
Pan-at-lee drew herself up very erect, her little chin held high, for
was not she too among her own people already as good as a princess?
"Pan-at-lee, the Kor-ul-JA does not lie," she said, "to protect
herself."
"Then tell me what you know of this Tarzan-jad-guru," insisted O-lo-a.
"I know that he is a wondrous man and very brave," said Pan-at-lee,
"and that he saved me from the Tor-o-don and the GRYF as I told you,
and that he is indeed the same who came into the garden this morning;
and even now I do not know that he is not the son of Jad-ben-Otho for
his courage and his strength are more than those of mortal man, as are
also his kindness and his honor: for when he might have harmed me he
protected me, and when he might have saved himself he thought only of
me. And all this he did because of his friendship for Om-at, who is
gund of Kor-ul-JA and with whom I should have mated had the Ho-don not
captured me."
"He was indeed a wonderful man to look upon," mused O-lo-a, "and he was
not as are other men, not alone in the conformation of his hands and
feet or the fact that he was tailless, but there was that about him
which made him seem different in ways more important than these."
"And," supplemented Pan-at-lee, her savage little heart loyal to the
man who had befriended her and hoping to win for him the consideration
of the princess even though it might not avail him; "and," she said,
"did he not know all about Ta-den and even his whereabouts. Tell me, O
Princess, could mortal know such things as these?"
"Perhaps he saw Ta-den," suggested O-lo-a.
"But how would he know that you loved Ta-den," parried Pan-at-lee. "I
tell you, my Princess, that if he is not a god he is at least more than
Ho-don or Waz-don. He followed me from the cave of Es-sat in Kor-ul-JA
across Kor-ul-lul and two wide ridges to the very cave in Kor-ul-GRYF
where I hid, though many hours had passed since I had come that way and
my bare feet left no impress upon the ground. What mortal man could do
such things as these? And where in all Pal-ul-don would virgin maid
find friend and protector in a strange male other than he?"
"Perhaps Lu-don may be mistaken--perhaps he is a god," said O-lo-a,
influenced by her slave's enthusiastic championing of the stranger.
"But whether god or man he is too wonderful to die," cried Pan-at-lee.
"Would that I might save him. If he lived he might even find a way to
give you your Ta-den, Princess."
"Ah, if he only could," sighed O-lo-a, "but alas it is too late for
tomorrow I am to be given to Bu-lot."
"He who came to your quarters yesterday with your father?" asked
Pan-at-lee.
"Yes; the one with the awful round face and the big belly," exclaimed
the Princess disgustedly. "He is so lazy he will neither hunt nor
fight. To eat and to drink is all that Bu-lot is fit for, and he thinks
of naught else except these things and his slave women. But come,
Pan-at-lee, gather for me some of these beautiful blossoms. I would
have them spread around my couch tonight that I may carry away with me
in the morning the memory of the fragrance that I love best and which I
know that I shall not find in the village of Mo-sar, the father of
Bu-lot. I will help you, Pan-at-lee, and we will gather armfuls of
them, for I love to gather them as I love nothing else--they were
Ta-den's favorite flowers."
The two approached the flowering shrubbery where Tarzan hid, but as the
blooms grew plentifully upon every bush the ape-man guessed there would
be no necessity for them to enter the patch far enough to discover him.
With little exclamations of pleasure as they found particularly large
or perfect blooms the two moved from place to place upon the outskirts
of Tarzan's retreat.
"Oh, look, Pan-at-lee," cried O-lo-a presently; "there is the king of
them all. Never did I see so wonderful a flower--No! I will get it
myself--it is so large and wonderful no other hand shall touch it," and
the princess wound in among the bushes toward the point where the great
flower bloomed upon a bush above the ape-man's head.
So sudden and unexpected her approach that there was no opportunity to
escape and Tarzan sat silently trusting that fate might be kind to him
and lead Ko-tan's daughter away before her eyes dropped from the
high-growing bloom to him. But as the girl cut the long stem with her
knife she looked down straight into the smiling face of Tarzan-jad-guru.
With a stifled scream she drew back and the ape-man rose and faced her.
"Have no fear, Princess," he assured her. "It is the friend of Ta-den
who salutes you," raising her fingers to his lips.