THE DIAMOND HOARD
AS the primitive smoke bombs filled the throne room of the Tower of the
Emperors with their suffocating fumes, the Gomangani clustered about
Tarzan begging him to save them, for they, too, had seen the massed
Bolgani before every entrance and the great body of them that awaited in
the gardens and upon the terrace without.
“Wait a minute,” said Tarzan, “until the smoke is thick enough to hide
our movements from the Bolgani, and then we will rush the windows
overlooking the terrace, for they are nearer the east gate than any
other exit, and thus some of us will have a better chance for escape.”
“I have a better plan,” said the old man. “When the smoke conceals us,
follow me. There is one exit that is unguarded, probably because they do
not dream that we would use it. When I passed over the dais behind the
throne I took occasion to note that there were no Bolgani guarding it.”
“Where does it lead?” asked Tarzan.
“Into the basement of the Tower of Diamonds—the tower in which I
discovered you. That portion of the palace is nearest to the east gate,
and if we can reach it before they suspect our purpose there will be
little doubt that we can reach the forest at least.”
“Splendid!” ejaculated the ape-man. “It will not be long now before the
smoke hides us from the Bolgani.”
In fact it was so thick by this time that the occupants of the throne
room were finding difficulty in breathing. Many of them were coughing
and choking and the eyes of all were watering from the effects of the
acrid smoke. And yet they were not entirely hidden from the observation
of the watchers all about them.
“I don’t know how much more of this we can stand,” said Tarzan. “I have
about all I care for, now.”
“It _is_ thickening up a bit,” said the old man. “Just a moment more and
I think we can make it unseen.”
“I can stand it no longer,” cried La. “I am suffocating and I am
half-blinded.”
“Very well,” said the old man; “I doubt if they can see us now. It is
pretty thick. Come, follow me;” and he led the way up the steps of the
dais and through an aperture behind the thrones—a small opening hidden
by hangings. The old man went first, and then La, followed by Tarzan and
Jad-bal-ja, who had about reached the limit of his endurance and
patience, so that it had been with difficulty that Tarzan had restrained
him, and who now was voicing his anger in deep growls which might have
apprised the Bolgani of their avenue of escape. Behind Tarzan and the
lion crowded the coughing Gomangani; but because Jad-bal-ja was just in
front of them they did not crowd as closely upon the party ahead of them
as they probably would have done otherwise.
The aperture opened into a dark corridor which led down a flight of
rough steps to a lower level, and then straight through utter darkness
for the rather considerable distance which separated the Tower of
Diamonds from the Tower of the Emperors. So great was their relief at
escaping the dense smoke of the throne room that none of the party
minded the darkness of the corridor, but followed patiently the lead of
the old man who had explained that the first stairs down which they had
passed were the only obstacles to be encountered in the tunnel.
At the corridor’s end the old man halted before a heavy door, which
after considerable difficulty he managed to open.
“Wait a moment,” he said, “until I find a cresset and make a light.”
They heard him moving about beyond the doorway for a moment and then a
dim light flared, and presently the wick in a cresset flickered. In the
dim rays Tarzan saw before them a large rectangular chamber, the great
size of which was only partially suggested in the wavering light of the
cresset.
“Get them all in,” said the old man, “and close the door;” and when that
had been done he called to Tarzan. “Come!” he said. “Before we leave
this chamber I want to show you such a sight as no other human eyes have
ever rested upon.”
He led him to the far side of the chamber where, in the light of the
cresset, Tarzan saw tier after tier of shelves, upon which were stacked
small sacks made of skins. The old man set the cresset upon one of the
shelves and taking a sack opened it and spilled a portion of the
contents into the palm of his hand. “Diamonds,” he said. “Each of these
packages weighs five pounds and each contains diamonds. They have been
accumulating them for countless ages, for they mine far more than they
can use themselves. In their legends is the belief that some day the
Atlantians will return and they can sell the diamonds to them. And so
they continue to mine them and store them as though there was a constant
and ready market for them. Here, take one of the bags with you,” he
said. He handed one to Tarzan and another to La.
“I do not believe that we shall ever leave the valley alive, but we
might;” and he took a third bag for himself.
From the diamond vault the old man led them up a primitive ladder to the
floor above, and quickly to the main entrance of the Tower. Only two
heavy doors, bolted upon the inside, now lay between them and the
terrace, a short distance beyond which the east gate swung open. The old
man was about to open the doors when Tarzan stopped him.
“Wait a moment,” he said, “until the rest of the Gomangani come. It
takes them some time to ascend the ladder. When they are all here behind
us, swing the doors open, and you and La, with this ten or a dozen
Gomangani that are immediately around us, make a break for the gate. The
rest of us will bring up the rear and hold the Bolgani off in case they
attack us. Get ready,” he added a moment later, “I think they are all
up.”
Carefully Tarzan explained to the Gomangani the plan he had in mind, and
then, turning to the old man, he commanded “Now!” The bolt slipped, the
doors swung open, and simultaneously the entire party started at a run
toward the east gate.
The Bolgani, who were still massed about the throne room, were not aware
that their victims had eluded them until Tarzan, bringing up the rear
with Jad-bal-ja was passing through the east gate. Then the Bolgani
discovered him, and immediately set up a hue and cry that brought
several hundred of them on a mad run in pursuit.
“Here they come,” cried Tarzan to the others, “make a run of
it—straight down the valley toward Opar, La.”
“And you?” demanded the young woman.
“I shall remain a moment with the Gomangani, and attempt to punish these
fellows.”
La stopped in her tracks. “I shall not go a step without you, Tarzan of
the Apes,” she said. “Too great already are the risks you have taken for
me. No; I shall not go without you.”
The ape-man shrugged. “As you will,” he said. “Here they come.”
With great difficulty he rallied a portion of the Gomangani who, once
through the gate, seemed imbued but with a single purpose, and that to
put as much distance between the Palace of Diamonds and themselves as
possible. Perhaps fifty warriors rallied to his call, and with these he
stood in the gateway toward which several hundred Bolgani were now
charging.
The old man came and touched Tarzan on the arm. “You had better fly,” he
said. “The Gomangani will break and run at the first assault.”
“We will gain nothing by flying,” said Tarzan, “for we should only lose
what we have gained with the Gomangani, and then we should have the
whole valley about us like hornets.”
He had scarcely finished speaking when one of the Gomangani cried:
“Look! Look! They come;” and pointed along the trail into the forest.
“And just in time, too,” remarked Tarzan, as he saw the first of a swarm
of Gomangani pouring out of the forest toward the east gate. “Come!” he
cried to the advancing blacks, “the Bolgani are upon us. Come, and
avenge your wrongs!” Then he turned, and calling to the blacks around
him, leaped forward to meet the onrushing gorilla-men. Behind them wave
after wave of Gomangani rolled through the east gate of the Palace of
Diamonds, carrying everything before them to break at last like surf
upon the wavering wall of Bolgani that was being relentlessly hurled
back against the palace walls.
The shouting and the fighting and the blood worked Jad-bal-ja into such
a frenzy of excitement that Tarzan with difficulty restrained him from
springing upon friend and foe alike, with the result that it required so
much of the ape-man’s time to hold in leash his ferocious ally that he
was able to take but little part in the battle, yet he saw that it was
going his way, and that, but for the occurrence of some untoward event,
the complete defeat of the Bolgani was assured.
Nor were his deductions erroneous. So frantic were the Gomangani with
the blood-lust of revenge and so enthused by the first fruits of
victory, that they went fully as mad as Jad-bal-ja himself. They neither
gave nor asked quarter, and the fighting ended only when they could find
no more Bolgani to slay.
The fighting over, Tarzan, with La and the old man, returned to the
throne room, from which the fumes of the smoke bombs had now
disappeared. To them they summoned the head-man of each village, and
when they had assembled before the dais, above which stood the three
whites, with the great, black-maned lion Jad-bal-ja, Tarzan addressed
them.
“Gomangani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds,” he said, “you have
this night won your freedom from the tyrannical masters that have
oppressed you since far beyond the time the oldest of you may remember.
For so many countless ages have you been oppressed that there has never
developed among you a leader capable of ruling you wisely and justly.
Therefore you must select a ruler from another race than your own.”
“You! You!” cried voice after voice as the head-men clamored to make
Tarzan of the Apes their king.
“No,” cried the ape-man, holding up his hand for silence, “but there is
one here who has lived long among you, and who knows your habits and
your customs, your hopes and your needs better than any other. If he
will stay with you and rule you he will, I am sure, make you a good
king,” and Tarzan pointed to the old man.
The old man looked at Tarzan in bewilderment. “But I want to go away
from here,” he said; “I want to get back into the world of civilization,
from which I have been buried all these years.”
“You do not know what you are talking about,” replied the ape-man. “You
have been gone very long. You will find no friends left back there from
whence you came. You will find deceit, and hypocrisy, and greed, and
avarice, and cruelty. You will find that no one will be interested in
you and that you will be interested in no one there. I, Tarzan of the
Apes, have left my jungle and gone to the cities built by men, but
always I have been disgusted and been glad to return to my jungle—to
the noble beasts that are honest in their loves and in their hates—to
the freedom and genuineness of nature.
“If you return you will be disappointed, and you will realize that you
have thrown away an opportunity of accomplishing a work well worth your
while. These poor creatures need you. I cannot remain to guide them out
of darkness, but you may, and you may so mold them that they will be an
industrious, virtuous, and kindly people, not untrained, however, in the
arts of warfare, for when we have that which is good, there will always
be those who are envious and who, if they are more powerful than we,
will attempt to come and take what we have by force. Therefore, you must
train your people to protect their country and their rights, and to
protect them they must have the ability and the knowledge to fight
successfully, and the weapons wherewith to wage their wars.”
“You speak the truth, Tarzan of the Apes,” replied the old man. “There
is nothing for me in that other world, so, if the Gomangani wish me to
be their chief I will remain here.”
The head-men, when he questioned them, assured Tarzan that if they could
not have him for chief they would be very glad to have the old man, whom
they all knew, either by sight or reputation, as one who had never
perpetrated any cruelties upon the Gomangani.
The few surviving Bolgani who had taken refuge in various parts of the
palace were sought out and brought to the throne room. Here they were
given the option of remaining in the valley as slaves, or leaving the
country entirely. The Gomangani would have fallen upon them and slain
them, but that their new king would not permit.
“But where shall we go if we leave the Valley of the Palace of
Diamonds?” asked one of the Bolgani. “Beyond the city of Opar we know
not what exists, and in Opar may we find only enemies.”
Tarzan sat eyeing them quizzically, and in silence. For a long time he
did not speak, while several of the Gomangani head-men, and others of
the Bolgani, made suggestions for the future of the gorilla-men. Finally
the ape-man arose and nodded toward the Bolgani.
“There are about a hundred of you,” he said. “You are powerful creatures
and should be ferocious fighters. Beside me sits La, the High Priestess
and queen of Opar. A wicked priest, usurping her power, has driven her
from her throne, but tomorrow we march upon Opar with the bravest
Gomangani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds, and there we punish
Cadj, the High Priest, who has proven a traitor to his queen; and La,
once more, ascends the throne of Opar. But where the seeds of treason
have once been broadcast the plant may spring up at any time and where
least expected. It will be long, therefore, before La of Opar may have
full confidence in the loyalty of her people—a fact which offers you an
opportunity and a country. Accompany us, therefore, to Opar, and fight
with us to replace La upon her throne, and then, when the fighting is
over, remain there as La’s bodyguard to protect her, not only from
enemies without, but from enemies within.”
The Bolgani discussed the matter for several minutes, and then one of
them came to Tarzan. “We will do as you suggest,” he said.
“And you will be loyal to La?” asked the ape-man.
“A Bolgani is never a traitor,” replied the gorilla-man.
“Good!” exclaimed Tarzan, “and you, La, are you satisfied with this
arrangement?”
“I accept them in my service,” replied she.
Early the next morning Tarzan and La set out with three thousand
Gomangani and a hundred Bolgani to punish the traitorous Cadj. There was
little or no attempt at strategy or deception. They simply marched down
through the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds, descended the rocky ravine
into the valley of Opar, and made straight for the rear of the palace of
La.
A little gray monkey, sitting among the vines and creepers upon the top
of the temple walls, saw them coming. He cocked his head, first upon one
side and then upon the other, and became so interested and excited that
for a moment he forgot to scratch his belly—an occupation he had been
assiduously pursuing for some time. The closer the column approached the
more excited became Manu, the monkey, and when he realized vaguely the
great numbers of the Gomangani he was fairly beside himself, but the
last straw that sent him scampering madly back to the palace of Opar was
the sight of the Bolgani—the ogres of his little world.
Cadj was in the courtyard of the inner temple, where at sunrise he had
performed a sacrifice to the Flaming God. With Cadj were a number of the
lesser priests, and Oah and her priestesses. That there was dissension
among them was evident by the scowling faces fully as much as by the
words which Oah directed at Cadj.
“Once again have you gone too far, Cadj,” she cried bitterly. “Only may
the High Priestess of the Flaming God perform the act of sacrifice. Yet
again and again do you persist in defiling the sacred knife with your
unworthy hand.”
“Silence, woman,” growled the High Priest. “I am Cadj, King of Opar,
High Priest of the Flaming God. You are what you are only because of the
favor of Cadj. Try not my patience too far or you shall indeed know the
feel of the sacred knife.” There could be no mistaking the sinister
menace in his words. Several of those about him could ill conceal the
shocked surprise they felt at his sacrilegious attitude toward their
High Priestess. However little they thought of Oah, the fact remained
that she had been elevated to the highest place among them, and those
that believed that La was dead, as Cadj had taken great pains to lead
them all to believe, gave in full to Oah the reverence which her high
office entitled her to.
“Have a care, Cadj,” warned one of the older priests. “There is a limit
beyond which not even you may pass.”
“You dare threaten me?” cried Cadj, the maniacal fury of fanaticism
gleaming in his eyes. “You dare threaten _me_, Cadj, the High Priest of
the Flaming God?” And as he spoke he leaped toward the offending man,
the sacrificial knife raised menacingly above his head, and just at that
moment a little gray monkey came chattering and screaming through an
embrasure in the wall overlooking the court of the temple.
“The Bolgani! The Bolgani!” he shrieked. “They come! They come!”
Cadj stopped and wheeled toward Manu, the hand that held the knife
dropping at his side. “You saw them, Manu?” he asked. “You are speaking
the truth? If this is another of your tricks you will not live to play
another joke upon Cadj.”
“I speak the truth,” chattered the little monkey. “I saw them with my
own eyes.”
“How many of them are there?” asked Cadj. “And how near to Opar have
they come?”
“They are as many as the leaves upon the trees,” replied Manu, “and they
are already close to the temple wall—the Bolgani and the Gomangani,
they come as the grasses that grow in the ravines where it is cool and
damp.”
Cadj turned and raised his face toward the sun, and throwing back his
head gave voice to a long-drawn scream that ended in a piercing shriek.
Three times he voiced the hideous cry, and then with a command to the
others in the court to follow him he started at a brisk trot toward the
palace proper. As Cadj directed his steps toward the ancient avenue,
upon which the palace of Opar faced, there issued from every corridor
and doorway groups of the knurled and hairy men of Opar, armed with
their heavy bludgeons and their knives. Screaming and chattering in the
trees above them were a score or more of little gray monkeys.
“Not here,” they cried, “not here,” and pointed toward the south side of
the city.
Like an undisciplined mob the horde of priests and warriors reentered
the palace at Cadj’s heels, and retraced their steps toward the opposite
side of the edifice. Here they scrambled to the summit of the lofty wall
which guards the palace, just as Tarzan’s forces came to a halt outside.
“Rocks! Rocks!” screamed Cadj, and in answer to his commands the women
in the courtyard below commenced to gather the loose fragments of stone
that had crumbled from the wall and from the palace, and to toss them up
to the warriors above.
“Go away!” screamed Cadj to the army outside his gates. “Go away! I am
Cadj, High Priest of the Flaming God, and this is his temple. Defile not
the temple of the Flaming God or you shall know his wrath.”
Tarzan stepped forward a little ahead of the others, and raised his hand
for silence.
“La, your High Priestess and your queen, is here,” he cried to the
Oparians upon the wall. “Cadj is a traitor and an impostor. Open your
gates and receive your queen. Give up the traitors to justice, and no
harm will befall you; but refuse La entry to her city and we shall take
by force and with bloodshed that which belongs to La rightfully.”
As he ceased speaking La stepped to his side that all her people might
see her, and immediately there were scattering cries for La and a voice
or two raised against Cadj. Evidently realizing that it would not take
much to turn the scale against him, Cadj shrieked to his men to attack,
and simultaneously launched a stone at Tarzan. Only the wondrous agility
that he possessed saved the ape-man, and the missile passed by, and
striking a Gomangani over the heart, felled him. Instantly a shower of
missiles fell upon them, and then Tarzan called to his followers to
charge. Roaring and growling, the Bolgani and the Gomangani leaped
forward to the attack. Cat-like they ran up the rough wall in the face
of the menacing bludgeons above. Tarzan, who had chosen Cadj as his
objective, was among the first to reach the summit. A hairy, crooked
warrior struck at him with a bludgeon, and hanging to the summit of the
wall with one hand, Tarzan caught the weapon in the other and wrested it
from his assailant. At the same time he saw Cadj turn and disappear into
the courtyard beyond. Then Tarzan drew himself to the top where he was
immediately engaged by two other warriors of Opar. With the weapon he
had wrested from their fellow he knocked them to right and left, so
great an advantage his great height and strength gave him over them, and
then, remembering only that Cadj, who was the ringleader of the revolt
against La, must not be permitted to escape Tarzan leaped to the
pavement below just as the High Priest disappeared through an archway at
the opposite end of the courtyard.
Some priests and priestesses sought to impede his progress. Seizing one
of the former by the ankles he swung the body in circles about him,
clearing his own pathway as he ran for the opposite end of the
courtyard, and there he halted and wheeled and putting all the strength
of his great muscles into the effort, he swung the body of the priest
once more and hurled it back into the faces of his pursuers.
Without waiting to note the effect of his act he turned again and
continued in pursuit of Cadj. The fellow kept always just ahead of him,
because Cadj knew his way through the labyrinthian mazes of the palace
and temple and courtyards better than Tarzan. That the trail was leading
toward the inner courts of the temple Tarzan was convinced. There Cadj
would find easy ingress to the pits beneath the palace and a hiding
place from which it would be difficult to dislodge him, so numerous and
winding were the dark subterranean tunnels. And so Tarzan put forth
every effort to reach the sacrificial court in time to prevent Cadj from
gaining the comparative safety of the underground passages; but as he
finally leaped through the doorway into the court, a noose, cunningly
laid, closed about one of his ankles and he was hurled heavily to the
ground. Almost instantly a number of the crooked little men of Opar
leaped upon him, where he lay, half-stunned by the fall, and before he
had fully regained his faculties they had trussed him securely.
Only about half conscious, he felt them raise him from the ground and
carry him, and presently he was deposited upon a cold stone surface.
Then it was that full consciousness returned to him, and he realized
that he lay outstretched once more upon the sacrificial altar of the
inner court of the Temple of the Flaming God and above him stood Cadj,
the High Priest, his cruel face contorted in a grimace of hate and the
anticipation of revenge long deferred.
“At last!” gloated the creature of hate. “This time, Tarzan of the Apes,
you shall know the fury not of the Flaming God, but of Cadj, the man;
nor shall there be any wait nor any interference.”
He swung the sacrificial knife high above his head. Beyond the point of
the knife Tarzan of the Apes saw the summit of the courtyard wall, and
just surmounting it the head and shoulders of a mighty, black-maned
lion.
“Jad-bal-ja!” he cried. “Kill! Kill!”
Cadj hesitated, his knife poised on high. He saw the direction of the
ape-man’s eyes and followed them, and in that instant the golden lion
leaped to the pavement, and with two mighty bounds was upon the High
Priest of Opar. The knife clattered to the floor and the great jaws
closed upon the horrid face.
The lesser priests who had seized Tarzan, and who had remained to
witness his death at the hands of Cadj, had fled screaming from the
court the instant that the golden lion had leaped upon their master, and
now Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja and the corpse of Cadj were the sole occupants
of the sacrificial courtyard of the temple.
“Come, Jad-bal-ja,” commanded Tarzan; “let no one harm Tarzan of the
Apes.”
An hour later the victorious forces of La were overrunning the ancient
palace and temples of Opar. The priests and warriors who had not been
killed had quickly surrendered and acknowledged La as their queen and
High Priestess, and now at La’s command the city was being searched for
Tarzan and Cadj. It was thus that La, herself, leading a searching
party, entered the sacrificial courtyard.
The sight that met her eyes brought her to a sudden halt, for there,
bound upon the altar, lay Tarzan of the Apes, and standing above him,
his snarling face and gleaming eyes glaring directly at her was
Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion.
“Tarzan!” shrieked La, taking a step toward the altar. “Cadj has had his
way at last. God of my fathers have pity on me—Tarzan is dead.”
“No,” cried the ape-man; “far from dead. Come and release me. I am only
bound, but had it not been for Jad-bal-ja I had been dead beneath your
sacrificial knife.”
“Thank God,” cried La, and started to approach the altar, but paused
before the menacing attitude of the growling lion.
“Down!” cried Tarzan, “let her approach;” and Jad-bal-ja lay down beside
his master and stretched his whiskered chin across the ape-man’s breast.
La came then, and picking up the sacrificial knife, cut the bonds that
held the lord of the jungle captive, and then she saw beyond the altar
the corpse of Cadj.
“Your worst enemy is dead,” said Tarzan, “and for his death you may
thank Jad-bal-ja, as I thank him for my life. You should rule now in
peace and happiness and in friendship with the people of the Valley of
the Palace of Diamonds.”
That night Tarzan and the Bolgani and the head-men of the Gomangani, and
the priests and priestesses of Opar, sat in the great banquet hall of
the Palace of Opar, as the guests of La, the queen, and ate from the
golden platters of the ancient Atlantians—platters that had been
fashioned on a continent that exists today only in the legends of
antiquity. And the following morning Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja set forth
upon their return journey to the land of the Waziri and home.