Standing upon the edge of the great Gyor plains surrounded by armed
creatures, who had but just demonstrated their ability to destroy
one of the most powerful and ferocious creatures that evolution has
ever succeeded in producing, Tarzan of the Apes was yet loath to lay
down his weapons as he had been instructed and surrender, without
resistance, to an unknown fate.
"What do you intend to do with us?" he demanded of the Horib who had
ordered him to lay down his weapons.
"We shall take you to our village where you will be well fed," replied
the creature. "You cannot escape us; no one escapes the Horibs."
The ape-man hesitated. The Red Flower of Zoram moved closer to his
side. "Let us go with them," she whispered. "We cannot escape them now;
there are too many of them. Possibly if we go with them we shall find
an opportunity later."
Tarzan nodded and then he turned to the Horib. "We are ready," he said.
Mounted upon the necks of Gorobors, each in front of a Horib warrior,
they were carried across a corner of the Gyor Cors to the same gloomy
forest through which Jason and Thoar had been taken, though they
entered it from a different direction.
Rising at the east end of the Mountains of the Thipdars, a river flows
in a southeasterly direction entering upon its course the gloomy forest
of the Horibs, through which it runs down to the Rela Am, or River
of Darkness. It was near the confluence of these two rivers that the
Korsars had been attacked by the Horibs and it was along the upper
reaches of the same river that Tarzan and Jana were being conducted
down stream toward the village of the lizard-men.
The lake of the Horibs lies at a considerable distance from the eastern
end of the Mountains of the Thipdars, perhaps five hundred miles, and
where there is no time and distances are measured by food and sleep it
makes little difference whether places are separated by five miles or
five hundred. One man might travel a thousand miles without mishap,
while another, in attempting to go one mile, might be killed, in which
event the one mile would be much further than the thousand miles, for,
in fact, it would have proved an interminable distance to him who had
essayed it in this instance.
As Tarzan and Jana rode through the dismal forest, hundreds of miles
away Jason Gridley drew himself to a sitting position in such utter
darkness that he could almost feel it. "God!" he exclaimed.
"Who spoke?" asked a voice out of the darkness, and Jason recognized
the voice as Thoar's.
"It is I, Jason," replied Gridley.
"Where are we?" demanded another voice. It was Lajo.
"It is dark. I wish they had killed us," said a fourth voice.
"Don't worry," said a fifth, "we shall be killed soon enough."
"We are all here," said Jason. "I thought we were all done for when I
saw them drag you into the water one by one."
"Where are we?" demanded one of the Korsars. "What sort of hole is this
into which they have put us?"
"In the world from which I come," said Jason, "there are huge reptiles,
called crocodiles, who build such nests or retreats in the banks of
rivers, just above the water line, but the only entrance leads down
below the waters of the river. It is such a hole as that into which we
have been dragged."
"Why can't we swim out again?" asked Thoar.
"Perhaps we could," replied Jason, "but they would see us and bring us
back again."
"Are we going to lie here in the mud and wait to be slaughtered?"
demanded Lajo.
"No," said Jason; "but let us work out a reasonable plan of escape. It
will gain us nothing to act rashly."
For some time the men sat in silence, which was finally broken by the
American. "Do you think we are alone here?" he asked in a low tone. "I
have listened carefully, but I have heard no sound other than our own
breathing."
"Nor I," said Thoar.
"Come closer then," said Jason, and the five men groped through the
darkness and arranged themselves in a circle, where they squatted
leaning forward till their heads touched. "I have a plan," continued
Jason. "When they were bringing us here I noticed that the forest grew
close to the lake at this point. If we can make a tunnel into the
forest, we may be able to escape."
"Which way is the forest?" asked Lajo.
"That is something that we can only guess at," replied Jason. "We
may guess wrong, but we must take the chance. But I think that it is
reasonable to assume that the direction of the forest is directly
opposite the entrance through which we were carried into this hole."
"Let us start digging at once," exclaimed one of the Korsars.
"Wait until I locate the entrance," said Thoar.
He crawled away upon his hands and knees, groping through the darkness
and the mud. Presently he announced that he had found the opening, and
from the direction of his voice the others knew where to start digging.
All were filled with enthusiasm, for success seemed almost within the
range of possibility, but now they were confronted with the problem of
the disposal of the dirt which they excavated from their tunnel. Jason
instructed Lajo to remain at the point where they intended excavating
and then had the others crawl in different directions in an effort to
estimate the size of the chamber in which they were confined. Each man
was to crawl in a straight line in the direction assigned him and count
the number of times that his knees touched the ground before he came to
the end of the cavern.
By this means they discovered that the cave was long and narrow and, if
they were correct in the directions they had assumed, it ran parallel
to the lake shore. For twenty feet it extended in one direction and for
over fifty in the other.
It was finally decided that they should distribute the earth equally
over the floor of the chamber for a while and then carry it to the
further end, piling it against the further wall uniformly so as not
to attract unnecessary attention in the event that any of the Horibs
visited them.
Digging with their fingers was slow and laborious work, but they kept
steadily at it, taking turns about. The man at work would push the
dirt behind him and the others would gather it up and distribute it,
so that at no time was there a fresh pile of earth upon the ground to
attract attention should a Horib come. Horibs did come; they brought
food, but the men could hear the splash of their bodies in the water
as they dove into the lake to reach the tunnel leading to the cave and
being thus warned they grouped themselves in front of the entrance to
their tunnel effectually hiding it from view. The Horibs who came into
the chamber at no time gave any suggestion of suspicion that all was
not right. While it was apparent that they could see in the dark it
was also quite evident that they could not discern things clearly and
thus the greatest fear that their plot might be discovered was at least
partially removed.
After considerable effort they had succeeded in excavating a tunnel
some three feet in diameter and about ten feet long when Jason, who
was excavating at the time, unearthed a large shell, which greatly
facilitated the process of excavation. From then on their advance was
more rapid, yet it seemed to them all that it was an endless job; nor
was there any telling at what moment the Horibs would come to take them
for the feast.
It was Jason's wish to get well within the forest before turning their
course upward toward the surface, but to be certain of this he knew
that they must first encounter roots of trees and pass beyond them,
which might necessitate a detour and delay; yet to come up prematurely
would be to nullify all that they had accomplished so far and to put a
definite end to all hope of escape.
And while the five men dug beneath the ground in the dark hole that was
stretching slowly out beneath the dismal forest of the Horibs a great
ship rode majestically high in air above the northern slopes of the
Mountains of the Thipdars.
"They never passed this way," said Zuppner. "Nothing short of a
mountain goat could cross this range."
"I quite agree with you, sir," said Hines. "We might as well search in
some other direction now."
"God!" exclaimed Zuppner, "if I only knew in what direction to search."
Hines shook his head. "One direction is as good as another, sir," he
said.
"I suppose so," said Zuppner, and, obeying his light touch upon the
helm, the nose of the great dirigible swung to port. Following an
easterly course she paralleled the Mountains of the Thipdars and sailed
out over the Gyor Cors. A slight turn of the wheel would have carried
her to the southeast, across the dismal forest through whose gloomy
corridors Tarzan and Jana were being borne to a horrible fate. But
Captain Zuppner did not know and so the O-220 continued on toward the
east, while the Lord of the Jungle and The Red Flower of Zoram rode
silently toward their doom.
From almost the moment that they had entered the forest Tarzan had
known that he might escape. It would have been the work of but an
instant to have leaped from the back of the Gorobor upon which he was
riding to one of the lower branches of the forest, some of which barely
grazed their heads as they passed beneath, and once in the trees he
knew that no Horib nor any Gorobor could catch him, but he could not
desert Jana; nor could he acquaint her with his plans for they were
never sufficiently close together for him to whisper to her unheard by
the Horibs. But even had he been able to lay the whole thing before
her, he doubted her ability to reach the safety of the trees before the
Horibs recaptured her.
If he could but get near enough to take hold of her, he was confident
that he could effect a safe escape for both of them and so he rode on
in silence, hoping against hope that the opportunity he so desired
would eventually develop.
They had reached the upper end of the lake and were skirting its
western shore and, from remarks dropped by the Horibs in their
conversations, which were far from numerous, the ape-man guessed that
they were almost at their destination, and still escape seemed as
remote as ever.
Chafing with impatience Tarzan was on the point of making a sudden
break for liberty, trusting that the unexpectedness of his act would
confuse the lizard-men for just the few seconds that would be necessary
for him to throw Jana to his shoulder and swing to the lower terrace
that beckoned invitingly from above.
The nerves and muscles of Tarzan of the Apes are trained to absolute
obedience to his will; they are never surprised into any revelation
of emotion, nor are they often permitted to reveal what is passing in
the mind of the ape-man when he is in the presence of strangers or
enemies, but now, for once, they were almost shocked into revealing
the astonishment that filled him as a vagrant breeze carried to his
nostrils a scent spoor that he had never thought to know again.
The Horibs were moving almost directly up wind so that Tarzan knew that
the authors of the familiar odors that he had sensed were somewhere
ahead of them. He thought quickly now, but not without weighing
carefully the plan that had leaped to his mind the instant that
that familiar scent spoor had impinged upon his nostrils. His major
consideration was for the safety of the girl, but in order to rescue
her he must protect himself. He felt that it would be impossible for
them both to escape simultaneously, but there was another way now--a
way which seemed to offer excellent possibilities for success. Behind
him, upon the Gorobor, and so close that their bodies touched, sat a
huge Horib. In one hand he carried a lance, but the other hand was
free. Tarzan must move so quickly that the fellow could not touch him
with his free hand before he was out of reach. To do this would require
agility of an almost superhuman nature, but there are few creatures
who can compare in this respect with the ape-man. Low above them swung
the branches of the dismal forest; Tarzan waited, watching for the
opportunity he sought. Presently he saw it--a sturdy branch with ample
head room above it--a doorway in the ceiling of somber foliage. He
leaned forward, his hands resting lightly upon the neck of the Gorobor.
They were almost beneath the branch he had selected when he sprang
lightly to his feet and almost in the same movement sprang upward into
the tree. So quickly had he accomplished the feat that he was gone
before the Horib that had been guarding him realized it. When he did
it was too late--the prisoner had gone. With others, who had seen the
escape, he raised a cry of warning to those ahead, but neither by sight
nor sound could they locate the fugitive, for Tarzan travelled through
the upper terrace and all the foliage beneath hid him from the eyes of
his enemies.
Jana, who had been riding a little in the rear of Tarzan, saw his
escape and her heart sank for in the presence of the Horibs The Red
Flower of Zoram had come as near to experiencing fear as she ever
had in her life. She had derived a certain sense of comfort from the
presence of Tarzan and now that he was gone she felt very much alone.
She did not blame him for escaping when he had the opportunity, but she
was sure in her own heart that Jason would not thus have deserted her.
Following the scent spoor that was his only guide, Tarzan of the Apes
moved rapidly through the trees. At first he climbed high to the
upper terraces and here he found a new world--a world of sunlight and
luxuriant foliage, peopled by strange birds of gorgeous plumage which
darted swiftly hither and thither. There were flying reptiles, too,
and great gaudy moths. Snakes coiled upon many a branch and because
they were of varieties unknown to him, he did not know whether they
constituted a real menace or not. It was at once a beautiful and a
repulsive world, but the feature of it which attracted him most was
its silence, for its denizens seemed to be voiceless. The presence of
the snakes and the dense foliage rendered it an unsatisfactory world
for one who wished to travel swiftly and so the ape-man dropped to a
lower level, and here he found the forest more open and the scent spoor
clearer in his nostrils.
Not once had he doubted the origin of that scent, although it seemed
preposterously unbelievable that he should discover it here in this
gloomy wood in vast Pellucidar.
He was moving very rapidly for he wished, if possible, to reach his
destination ahead of the Horibs. He hoped that his escape might delay
the lizard-men and this was, in fact, the case, for they had halted
immediately while a number of them had climbed into the trees searching
for Tarzan. There was little in their almost expressionless faces to
denote their anger, but the sickly bluish cast which overspread their
scales denoted their mounting rage at the ease with which this gilak
prisoner had escaped them, and when, finally, thwarted in their search,
they resumed their interrupted march, they were in a particularly ugly
mood.
Far ahead of them now Tarzan of the Apes dropped to the lower terraces.
Strong in his nostrils was the scent spoor he had been following,
telling him in a language more dependable than words that he had but
little further to go to find those he sought, and a moment later he
dropped down into one of the gloomy aisles of the forest, dropping as
from heaven into the astonished view of ten stalwart warriors.
For an instant they stood looking at him in wide-eyed amazement and
then they ran forward and threw themselves upon their knees about him,
kissing his hands as they shed tears of happiness. "Oh, Bwana, Bwana,"
they cried; "it is indeed you! Mulungu has been good to his children;
he has given their Big Bwana back to them alive."
"And now I have work for you, my children," said Tarzan; "the snake
people are coming and with them is a girl whom they have captured.
I thank God that you are armed with rifles and I hope that you have
plenty of ammunition."
"We have saved it, Bwana, using our spears and our arrows whenever we
could."
"Good," said Tarzan; "we shall need it now. How far are we from the
ship?"
"I do not know," said Muviro.
"You do not know?" repeated Tarzan.
"No, Bwana, we are lost. We have been lost for a long while," replied
the chief of the Waziri.
"What were you doing away from the ship alone?" demanded Tarzan.
"We were sent out with Gridley and Von Horst to search for you, Bwana."
"Where are they?" asked Tarzan.
"A long time ago, I do not know how long, we became separated from
Gridley and never saw him again. At that time it was savage beasts that
separated us, but how Von Horst became separated from us we do not
know. We had found a cave and had gone into it to sleep; when we awoke
Von Horst was gone; we never saw him again."
"They are coming!" warned Tarzan.
"I hear them, Bwana," replied Muviro.
"Have you seen them--the snake people?" asked Tarzan.
"No, Bwana, we have seen no people for a long time; only
beasts--terrible beasts."
"You are going to see some terrible men now," Tarzan warned them; "but
do not be frightened by their appearance. Your bullets will bring them
down."
"When, Bwana, have you seen a Waziri frightened?" asked Muviro proudly.
The ape-man smiled. "One of you let me take his rifle," he said, "and
then spread out through the forest. I do not know exactly where they
will pass, but the moment that any of you makes contact with them
commence shooting and shoot to kill, remembering, however, that the
girl rides in front of one of them. Be careful that you do not harm
her."
He had scarcely ceased speaking when the first of the Horibs rode into
view. Tarzan and the Waziri made no effort to seek concealment and at
sight of them the leading Horib gave voice to a shrill cry of pleasure.
Then a rifle spoke and the leading Horib writhed convulsively and
toppled sideways to the ground. The others in the lead, depending upon
the swiftness of their mounts, darted quickly toward the Waziri and the
tall, white giant who led them, but swifter than the Gorobors were the
bullets of the outer world. As fast as Tarzan and the Waziri could fire
the Horibs fell. Never before had they known defeat. They blazed blue
with rage, which faded to a muddy gray when the bullets found their
hearts and they rolled dead upon the ground.
So swiftly did the Gorobors move and so rapidly did Tarzan and the
Waziri fire that the engagement was decided within a few minutes of
its inception, and now the remaining Horibs, discovering that they
could not hope to overcome and capture gilaks armed with these strange
weapons that hit them more swiftly than they could hurl their lances,
turned and scattered in an effort to pass around the enemy and continue
on their way.
As yet Tarzan had not caught a glimpse of Jana, though he knew that
she must be there somewhere in the rear of the remaining Horibs, and
then he saw her as she flashed by in the distance, borne swiftly upon
the back of a fleet Gorobor. What appeared to be the only chance to
save her now was to shoot down the swift beast upon which she was
being borne away. Tarzan swung his rifle to his shoulder and at the
same instant a riderless Gorobor struck him in the back and sent him
sprawling upon the ground. By the time he had regained his feet, Jana
and her captor were out of sight, hidden by the boles of intervening
trees.
Milling near the Waziri were a number of terrified, riderless Gorobors.
It was from this number that the fellow had broken who had knocked
Tarzan down. The beasts seemed to be lost without the guidance of their
masters, but when they saw one of their number start in pursuit of
the Horibs who had ridden away, the others followed and in their mad
rush these savage beasts constituted as great a menace as the Horibs
themselves.
Muviro and his warriors leaped nimbly behind the boles of large trees
to escape them, but to the mind of the ape-man they carried a new hope,
offering as they did the only means whereby he might overtake the Horib
who was bearing away The Red Flower of Zoram, and then, to the horror
and astonishment of the Waziri, Tarzan leaped to the back of one of the
great lizards as it scuttled abreast of him. Locking his toes beneath
its elbows, as he had seen the Horibs do, he was carried swiftly in
the mad rush of the creature to overtake its fellows and its masters.
No need to urge it on, if he had known what means to employ to do so,
for probably still terrified and excited by the battle it darted with
incredible swiftness among the boles of the gray trees, out-stripping
its fellows and leaving them behind.
Presently, just ahead of him, Tarzan saw the Horib who was bearing Jana
away and he saw, too, that he would soon overtake him, but so swiftly
was his own mount running that it seemed quite likely that he would be
carried past Jana without being able to accomplish anything toward her
rescue, and with this thought came the realization that he must stop
the Horib's mount.
There was just an instant in which to decide and act, but in that
instant he raised his rifle and fired. Perhaps it was a wonderful bit
of marksmanship, or perhaps it was just luck, but the bullet struck the
Gorobor in the spine and a moment later its hind legs collapsed and it
rolled over on its side, pitching Jana and the Horib heavily to the
ground. Simultaneously Tarzan's mount swept by and the ape-man, risking
a bad fall, slipped from its back to go tumbling head over heels
against the carcass of the Horib's mount.
Leaping to his feet, he faced the lizard-man and as he did so the
ground gave way beneath him and he dropped suddenly into a hole, almost
to his armpits. As he was struggling to extricate himself something
seized him by the ankles and dragged him downward--cold fingers that
clung relentlessly to him dragging him into a dark, subterranean hole.