"You have said that some one did it before--Wolsey I think you called
him."
"But Wolsey had a strong incentive."
"No stronger than the one you have," said the ape-man quietly, but he
jerked a little on the rope about God's neck and fingered the hilt of
his hunting knife.
"But how can I do it?" demanded the gorilla god. "Henry has many
soldiers. The people think that I am dead, and now they will be more
afraid of the king than ever."
"You have many faithful followers, haven't you?" inquired Tarzan.
"Yes."
"Then send this priest out to gather them. Tell them to meet outside
this cave with whatever weapons they can obtain."
The priest was looking in astonishment from his god to the stranger who
spoke to him with so little reverence and who held an end of the rope
tied about the god's neck. With horror, he had even seen the creature
jerk the rope.
"Go, Father Tobin," said the gorilla god, "and gather the faithful."
"And see that there is no treachery," snapped Tarzan. "I have your
god's promise to help me save that girl. You see this rope about his
neck? You see this knife at my side?"
The priest nodded.
"If you both do not do all within your power to help me your god dies."
There was no mistaking the sincerity of that statement.
"Go, Father Tobin," said the gorilla god.
"And hurry," added Tarzan.
"I go, My Lord," cried the priest; "but I hate to leave you in the
clutches of this creature."
"He will be safe enough if you do your part," Tarzan assured him.
The priest knelt again, crossed himself, and departed. As the door
closed after him, Tarzan turned to his companion. "How is it," he
asked, "that you have been able to transmit the power to speak and
perhaps to reason to these brutes, yet they have not taken on any of
the outward physical attributes of man?"
"That is due to no fault of mine," replied the gorilla god, "but rather
to an instinct of the beasts themselves more powerful than their newly
acquired reasoning faculties. Transmitting human germ cells from
generation to generation, as they now do, it is not strange that there
are often born to them children with the physical attributes of human
beings. But in spite of all that I can do these sorts have invariably
been destroyed at birth.
"In the few cases where they have been spared they have developed into
monsters that seem neither beast nor human--man-like creatures with
all the worst qualities of man and beast. Some of these have either
been driven out of the city or have escaped, and there is known to be a
tribe of them living in caves on the far side of the valley.
"I know of two instances where the mutants were absolutely perfect
in human form and figure but possessed the minds of gorillas; the
majority, however, have the appearance of grotesque hybrids.
"Of these two, one was a very beautiful girl when last I saw her but
with the temper of a savage lioness; the other was a young man with the
carriage and the countenance of an aristocrat and the sweet amiability
of a Jack the Ripper.
"And now, young man," continued the gorilla god, "when my followers
have gathered here, what do you purpose doing?"
"Led by us," replied Tarzan, "they will storm the palace of the king
and take the girl from him."