Though Tarzan searched the outskirts of the city until nearly dawn he
discovered nowhere the spoor of his mate. The breeze coming down from
the mountains brought to his nostrils a diversity of scents but there
was not among them the slightest suggestion of her whom he sought. The
natural deduction was therefore that she had been taken in some other
direction. In his search he had many times crossed the fresh tracks of
many men leading toward the lake and these he concluded had probably
been made by Jane Clayton's abductors. It had only been to minimize the
chance of error by the process of elimination that he had carefully
reconnoitered every other avenue leading from A-lur toward the
southeast where lay Mo-sar's city of Tu-lur, and now he followed the
trail to the shores of Jad-ben-lul where the party had embarked upon
the quiet waters in their sturdy canoes.
He found many other craft of the same description moored along the
shore and one of these he commandeered for the purpose of pursuit. It
was daylight when he passed through the lake which lies next below
Jad-ben-lul and paddling strongly passed within sight of the very tree
in which his lost mate lay sleeping.
Had the gentle wind that caressed the bosom of the lake been blowing
from a southerly direction the giant ape-man and Jane Clayton would
have been reunited then, but an unkind fate had willed otherwise and
the opportunity passed with the passing of his canoe which presently
his powerful strokes carried out of sight into the stream at the lower
end of the lake.
Following the winding river which bore a considerable distance to the
north before doubling back to empty into the Jad-in-lul, the ape-man
missed a portage that would have saved him hours of paddling.
It was at the upper end of this portage where Mo-sar and his warriors
had debarked that the chief discovered the absence of his captive. As
Mo-sar had been asleep since shortly after their departure from A-lur,
and as none of the warriors recalled when she had last been seen, it
was impossible to conjecture with any degree of accuracy the place
where she had escaped. The consensus of opinion was, however, that it
had been in the narrow river connecting Jad-ben-lul with the lake next
below it, which is called Jad-bal-lul, which freely translated means
the lake of gold. Mo-sar had been very wroth and having himself been
the only one at fault he naturally sought with great diligence to fix
the blame upon another.
He would have returned in search of her had he not feared to meet a
pursuing company dispatched either by Ja-don or the high priest, both
of whom, he knew, had just grievances against him. He would not even
spare a boatload of his warriors from his own protection to return in
quest of the fugitive but hastened onward with as little delay as
possible across the portage and out upon the waters of Jad-in-lul.
The morning sun was just touching the white domes of Tu-lur when
Mo-sar's paddlers brought their canoes against the shore at the city's
edge. Safe once more behind his own walls and protected by many
warriors, the courage of the chief returned sufficiently at least to
permit him to dispatch three canoes in search of Jane Clayton, and also
to go as far as A-lur if possible to learn what had delayed Bu-lot,
whose failure to reach the canoes with the balance of the party at the
time of the flight from the northern city had in no way delayed
Mo-sar's departure, his own safety being of far greater moment than
that of his son.
As the three canoes reached the portage on their return journey the
warriors who were dragging them from the water were suddenly startled
by the appearance of two priests, carrying a light canoe in the
direction of Jad-in-lul. At first they thought them the advance guard
of a larger force of Lu-don's followers, although the correctness of
such a theory was belied by their knowledge that priests never accepted
the risks or perils of a warrior's vocation, nor even fought until
driven into a corner and forced to do so. Secretly the warriors of
Pal-ul-don held the emasculated priesthood in contempt and so instead
of immediately taking up the offensive as they would have had the two
men been warriors from A-lur instead of priests, they waited to
question them.
At sight of the warriors the priests made the sign of peace and upon
being asked if they were alone they answered in the affirmative.
The leader of Mo-sar's warriors permitted them to approach. "What do
you here," he asked, "in the country of Mo-sar, so far from your own
city?"
"We carry a message from Lu-don, the high priest, to Mo-sar," explained
one.
"Is it a message of peace or of war?" asked the warrior.
"It is an offer of peace," replied the priest.
"And Lu-don is sending no warriors behind you?" queried the fighting
man.
"We are alone," the priest assured him. "None in A-lur save Lu-don
knows that we have come upon this errand."
"Then go your way," said the warrior.
"Who is that?" asked one of the priests suddenly, pointing toward the
upper end of the lake at the point where the river from Jad-bal-lul
entered it.
All eyes turned in the direction that he had indicated to see a lone
warrior paddling rapidly into Jad-in-lul, the prow of his canoe
pointing toward Tu-lur. The warriors and the priests drew into the
concealment of the bushes on either side of the portage.
"It is the terrible man who called himself the Dor-ul-Otho," whispered
one of the priests. "I would know that figure among a great multitude
as far as I could see it."
"You are right, priest," cried one of the warriors who had seen Tarzan
the day that he had first entered Ko-tan's palace. "It is indeed he who
has been rightly called Tarzan-jad-guru."
"Hasten priests," cried the leader of the party. "You are two paddles
in a light canoe. Easily can you reach Tu-lur ahead of him and warn
Mo-sar of his coming, for he has but only entered the lake."
For a moment the priests demurred for they had no stomach for an
encounter with this terrible man, but the warrior insisted and even
went so far as to threaten them. Their canoe was taken from them and
pushed into the lake and they were all but lifted bodily from their
feet and put aboard it. Still protesting they were shoved out upon the
water where they were immediately in full view of the lone paddler
above them. Now there was no alternative. The city of Tu-lur offered
the only safety and bending to their paddles the two priests sent their
craft swiftly in the direction of the city.
The warriors withdrew again to the concealment of the foliage. If
Tarzan had seen them and should come hither to investigate there were
thirty of them against one and naturally they had no fear of the
outcome, but they did not consider it necessary to go out upon the lake
to meet him since they had been sent to look for the escaped prisoner
and not to intercept the strange warrior, the stories of whose ferocity
and prowess doubtless helped them to arrive at their decision to
provoke no uncalled-for quarrel with him.
If he had seen them he gave no sign, but continued paddling steadily
and strongly toward the city, nor did he increase his speed as the two
priests shot out in full view. The moment the priests' canoe touched
the shore by the city its occupants leaped out and hurried swiftly
toward the palace gate, casting affrighted glances behind them. They
sought immediate audience with Mo-sar, after warning the warriors on
guard that Tarzan was approaching.
They were conducted at once to the chief, whose court was a smaller
replica of that of the king of A-lur. "We come from Lu-don, the high
priest," explained the spokesman. "He wishes the friendship of Mo-sar,
who has always been his friend. Ja-don is gathering warriors to make
himself king. Throughout the villages of the Ho-don are thousands who
will obey the commands of Lu-don, the high priest. Only with Lu-don's
assistance can Mo-sar become king, and the message from Lu-don is that
if Mo-sar would retain the friendship of Lu-don he must return
immediately the woman he took from the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a."
At this juncture a warrior entered. His excitement was evident. "The
Dor-ul-Otho has come to Tu-lur and demands to see Mo-sar at once," he
said.
"The Dor-ul-Otho!" exclaimed Mo-sar.
"That is the message he sent," replied the warrior, "and indeed he is
not as are the people of Pal-ul-don. He is, we think, the same of whom
the warriors that returned from A-lur today told us and whom some call
Tarzan-jad-guru and some Dor-ul-Otho. But indeed only the son of god
would dare come thus alone to a strange city, so it must be that he
speaks the truth."
Mo-sar, his heart filled with terror and indecision, turned
questioningly toward the priests.
"Receive him graciously, Mo-sar," counseled he who had spoken before,
his advice prompted by the petty shrewdness of his defective brain
which, under the added influence of Lu-don's tutorage leaned always
toward duplicity. "Receive him graciously and when he is quite
convinced of your friendship he will be off his guard, and then you may
do with him as you will. But if possible, Mo-sar, and you would win the
undying gratitude of Lu-don, the high-priest, save him alive for my
master."
Mo-sar nodded understandingly and turning to the warrior commanded that
he conduct the visitor to him.
"We must not be seen by the creature," said one of the priests. "Give
us your answer to Lu-don, Mo-sar, and we will go our way."
"Tell Lu-don," replied the chief, "that the woman would have been lost
to him entirely had it not been for me. I sought to bring her to Tu-lur
that I might save her for him from the clutches of Ja-don, but during
the night she escaped. Tell Lu-don that I have sent thirty warriors to
search for her. It is strange you did not see them as you came."
"We did," replied the priests, "but they told us nothing of the purpose
of their journey."
"It is as I have told you," said Mo-sar, "and if they find her, assure
your master that she will be kept unharmed in Tu-lur for him. Also tell
him that I will send my warriors to join with his against Ja-don
whenever he sends word that he wants them. Now go, for Tarzan-jad-guru
will soon be here."
He signaled to a slave. "Lead the priests to the temple," he commanded,
"and ask the high priest of Tu-lur to see that they are fed and
permitted to return to A-lur when they will."
The two priests were conducted from the apartment by the slave through
a doorway other than that at which they had entered, and a moment later
Tarzan-jad-guru strode into the presence of Mo-sar, ahead of the
warrior whose duty it had been to conduct and announce him. The ape-man
made no sign of greeting or of peace but strode directly toward the
chief who, only by the exertion of his utmost powers of will, hid the
terror that was in his heart at sight of the giant figure and the
scowling face.
"I am the Dor-ul-Otho," said the ape-man in level tones that carried to
the mind of Mo-sar a suggestion of cold steel; "I am Dor-ul-Otho, and I
come to Tu-lur for the woman you stole from the apartments of O-lo-a,
the princess."
The very boldness of Tarzan's entry into this hostile city had had the
effect of giving him a great moral advantage over Mo-sar and the savage
warriors who stood upon either side of the chief. Truly it seemed to
them that no other than the son of Jad-ben-Otho would dare so heroic an
act. Would any mortal warrior act thus boldly, and alone enter the
presence of a powerful chief and, in the midst of a score of warriors,
arrogantly demand an accounting? No, it was beyond reason. Mo-sar was
faltering in his decision to betray the stranger by seeming
friendliness. He even paled to a sudden thought--Jad-ben-Otho knew
everything, even our inmost thoughts. Was it not therefore possible
that this creature, if after all it should prove true that he was the
Dor-ul-Otho, might even now be reading the wicked design that the
priests had implanted in the brain of Mo-sar and which he had
entertained so favorably? The chief squirmed and fidgeted upon the
bench of hewn rock that was his throne.
"Quick," snapped the ape-man, "Where is she?"
"She is not here," cried Mo-sar.
"You lie," replied Tarzan.
"As Jad-ben-Otho is my witness, she is not in Tu-lur," insisted the
chief. "You may search the palace and the temple and the entire city
but you will not find her, for she is not here."
"Where is she, then?" demanded the ape-man. "You took her from the
palace at A-lur. If she is not here, where is she? Tell me not that
harm has befallen her," and he took a sudden threatening step toward
Mo-sar, that sent the chief shrinking back in terror.
"Wait," he cried, "if you are indeed the Dor-ul-Otho you will know that
I speak the truth. I took her from the palace of Ko-tan to save her for
Lu-don, the high priest, lest with Ko-tan dead Ja-don seize her. But
during the night she escaped from me between here and A-lur, and I have
but just sent three canoes full-manned in search of her."
Something in the chief's tone and manner assured the ape-man that he
spoke in part the truth, and that once again he had braved incalculable
dangers and suffered loss of time futilely.
"What wanted the priests of Lu-don that preceded me here?" demanded
Tarzan chancing a shrewd guess that the two he had seen paddling so
frantically to avoid a meeting with him had indeed come from the high
priest at A-lur.
"They came upon an errand similar to yours," replied Mo-sar; "to demand
the return of the woman whom Lu-don thought I had stolen from him, thus
wronging me as deeply, O Dor-ul-Otho, as have you."
"I would question the priests," said Tarzan. "Bring them hither." His
peremptory and arrogant manner left Mo-sar in doubt as to whether to be
more incensed, or terrified, but ever as is the way with such as he, he
concluded that the first consideration was his own safety. If he could
transfer the attention and the wrath of this terrible man from himself
to Lu-don's priests it would more than satisfy him and if they should
conspire to harm him, then Mo-sar would be safe in the eyes of
Jad-ben-Otho if it finally developed that the stranger was in reality
the son of god. He felt uncomfortable in Tarzan's presence and this
fact rather accentuated his doubt, for thus indeed would mortal feel in
the presence of a god. Now he saw a way to escape, at least temporarily.
"I will fetch them myself, Dor-ul-Otho," he said, and turning, left the
apartment. His hurried steps brought him quickly to the temple, for the
palace grounds of Tu-lur, which also included the temple as in all of
the Ho-don cities, covered a much smaller area than those of the larger
city of A-lur. He found Lu-don's messengers with the high priest of his
own temple and quickly transmitted to them the commands of the ape-man.
"What do you intend to do with him?" asked one of the priests.
"I have no quarrel with him," replied Mo-sar. "He came in peace and he
may depart in peace, for who knows but that he is indeed the
Dor-ul-Otho?"
"We know that he is not," replied Lu-don's emissary. "We have every
proof that he is only mortal, a strange creature from another country.
Already has Lu-don offered his life to Jad-ben-Otho if he is wrong in
his belief that this creature is not the son of god. If the high priest
of A-lur, who is the highest priest of all the high priests of
Pal-ul-don is thus so sure that the creature is an impostor as to stake
his life upon his judgment then who are we to give credence to the
claims of this stranger? No, Mo-sar, you need not fear him. He is only
a warrior who may be overcome with the same weapons that subdue your
own fighting men. Were it not for Lu-don's command that he be taken
alive I would urge you to set your warriors upon him and slay him, but
the commands of Lu-don are the commands of Jad-ben-Otho himself, and
those we may not disobey."
But still the remnant of a doubt stirred within the cowardly breast of
Mo-sar, urging him to let another take the initiative against the
stranger.
"He is yours then," he replied, "to do with as you will. I have no
quarrel with him. What you may command shall be the command of Lu-don,
the high priest, and further than that I shall have nothing to do in
the matter."
The priests turned to him who guided the destinies of the temple at
Tu-lur. "Have you no plan?" they asked. "High indeed will he stand in
the counsels of Lu-don and in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho who finds the
means to capture this impostor alive."
"There is the lion pit," whispered the high priest. "It is now vacant
and what will hold JA and JATO will hold this stranger if he is not the
Dor-ul-Otho."
"It will hold him," said Mo-sar; "doubtless too it would hold a GRYF,
but first you would have to get the GRYF into it."
The priests pondered this bit of wisdom thoughtfully and then one of
those from A-lur spoke. "It should not be difficult," he said, "if we
use the wits that Jad-ben-Otho gave us instead of the worldly muscles
which were handed down to us from our fathers and our mothers and which
have not even the power possessed by those of the beasts that run about
on four feet."
"Lu-don matched his wits with the stranger and lost," suggested Mo-sar.
"But this is your own affair. Carry it out as you see best."
"At A-lur, Ko-tan made much of this Dor-ul-Otho and the priests
conducted him through the temple. It would arouse in his mind no
suspicion were you to do the same, and let the high priest of Tu-lur
invite him to the temple and gathering all the priests make a great
show of belief in his kinship to Jad-ben-Otho. And what more natural
then than that the high priest should wish to show him through the
temple as did Lu-don at A-lur when Ko-tan commanded it, and if by
chance he should be led through the lion pit it would be a simple
matter for those who bear the torches to extinguish them suddenly and
before the stranger was aware of what had happened, the stone gates
could be dropped, thus safely securing him."
"But there are windows in the pit that let in light," interposed the
high priest, "and even though the torches were extinguished he could
still see and might escape before the stone door could be lowered."
"Send one who will cover the windows tightly with hides," said the
priest from A-lur.
"The plan is a good one," said Mo-sar, seeing an opportunity for
entirely eliminating himself from any suspicion of complicity, "for it
will require the presence of no warriors, and thus with only priests
about him his mind will entertain no suspicion of harm."
They were interrupted at this point by a messenger from the palace who
brought word that the Dor-ul-Otho was becoming impatient and if the
priests from A-lur were not brought to him at once he would come
himself to the temple and get them. Mo-sar shook his head. He could not
conceive of such brazen courage in mortal breast and glad he was that
the plan evolved for Tarzan's undoing did not necessitate his active
participation.
And so, while Mo-sar left for a secret corner of the palace by a
roundabout way, three priests were dispatched to Tarzan and with
whining words that did not entirely deceive him, they acknowledged his
kinship to Jad-ben-Otho and begged him in the name of the high priest
to honor the temple with a visit, when the priests from A-lur would be
brought to him and would answer any questions that he put to them.
Confident that a continuation of his bravado would best serve his
purpose, and also that if suspicion against him should crystallize into
conviction on the part of Mo-sar and his followers that he would be no
worse off in the temple than in the palace, the ape-man haughtily
accepted the invitation of the high priest.
And so he came into the temple and was received in a manner befitting
his high claims. He questioned the two priests of A-lur from whom he
obtained only a repetition of the story that Mo-sar had told him, and
then the high priest invited him to inspect the temple.
They took him first to the altar court, of which there was only one in
Tu-lur. It was almost identical in every respect with those at A-lur.
There was a bloody altar at the east end and the drowning basin at the
west, and the grizzly fringes upon the headdresses of the priests
attested the fact that the eastern altar was an active force in the
rites of the temple. Through the chambers and corridors beneath they
led him, and finally, with torch bearers to light their steps, into a
damp and gloomy labyrinth at a low level and here in a large chamber,
the air of which was still heavy with the odor of lions, the crafty
priests of Tu-lur encompassed their shrewd design.
The torches were suddenly extinguished. There was a hurried confusion
of bare feet moving rapidly across the stone floor. There was a loud
crash as of a heavy weight of stone falling upon stone, and then
surrounding the ape-man naught but the darkness and the silence of the
tomb.
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