violent shaking of one of the tents. "There is someone or something in
there," he said to Tony, as he walked briskly toward the entrance.
The sight within that met his eyes brought a sharp ejaculation to his
lips--a man and woman struggling upon the ground, the former choking
the bare throat of his victim while the girl struck feebly at his face
with clenched fists.
So engrossed was Jafar in his unsuccessful attempt to subdue the girl
that he was unaware of Colt's presence until a heavy hand fell upon his
shoulder and he was jerked violently aside.
Consumed by maniacal fury, he leaped to his feet and struck at the
American only to be met with a blow that sent him reeling backward.
Again he charged and again he was struck heavily upon the face. This
time he went to the ground, and as he staggered to his feet, Colt
seized him, wheeled him around and hurtled him through the entrance
of the tent, accelerating his departure with a well-timed kick. "If
he tries to come back, Tony, shoot him," he snapped at the Filipino,
and then turned to assist the girl to her feet. Half carrying her, he
laid her on the cot and then, finding water in a bucket, bathed her
forehead, her throat and her wrists.
Outside the tent Raghunath Jafar saw the porters and the askaris lying
in the shade of a tree. He also saw Antonio Mori with a determined
scowl upon his face and a revolver in his hand, and with an angry
imprecation he turned and made his way toward his own tent, his face
livid with anger and murder in his heart.
Presently Zora Drinov opened her eyes and looked up into the solicitous
face of Wayne Colt, bending over her.
From the leafy seclusion of a tree above the camp, Tarzan of the Apes
overlooked the scene below. A single, whispered syllable had silenced
Nkima's scolding. Tarzan had noted the violent shaking of the tent
that had attracted Colt's attention, and he had seen the precipitate
ejection of the Hindu from its interior and the menacing attitude of
the Filipino preventing Jafar's return to the conflict. These matters
were of little interest to the ape-man. The quarrelings and defections
of these people did not even arouse his curiosity. What he wished to
learn was the reason for their presence here, and for the purpose of
obtaining this information he had two plans. One was to keep them under
constant surveillance until their acts divulged that which he wished to
know. The other was to determine definitely the head of the expedition
and then to enter the camp and demand the information he desired. But
this he would not do until he had obtained sufficient information to
give him an advantage. What was going on within the tent he did not
know, nor did he care.
For several seconds after she opened her eyes Zora Drinov gazed
intently into those of the man bent upon her. "You must be the
American," she said finally.
"I am Wayne Colt," he replied, "and I take it from the fact that you
guessed my identity that this is Comrade Zveri's camp."
She nodded. "You came just in time, Comrade Colt," she said.
"Thank God for that," he said.
"There is no God," she reminded him.
Colt flushed. "We are creatures of heredity and habit," he explained.
Zora Drinov smiled. "That is true," she said, "but it is our business
to break a great many bad habits not only for ourselves, but for the
entire world."
Since he had laid her upon the cot, Colt had been quietly appraising
the girl. He had not known that there was a white woman in Zveri's
camp, but had he it is certain that he would not have anticipated
one at all like this girl. He would rather have visualized a female
agitator capable of accompanying a band of men to the heart of Africa
as a coarse and unkempt peasant woman of middle age; but this girl,
from her head of glorious, wavy hair to her small well-shaped foot,
suggested the antithesis of a peasant origin and, far from being
unkempt, was as trig and smart as it were possible for a woman to be
under such circumstances and, in addition, she was young and beautiful.
"Comrade Zveri is absent from camp?" he asked.
"Yes, he is away on a short expedition."
"And there is no one to introduce us to one another?" he asked, with a
smile.
"Oh, pardon me," she said. "I am Zora Drinov."
"I had not anticipated such a pleasant surprise," said Colt. "I
expected to find nothing but uninteresting men like myself. And who was
the fellow I interrupted?"
"That was Raghunath Jafar, a Hindu."
"He is one of us?" asked Colt.
"Yes," replied the girl, "but not for long--not after Peter Zveri
returns."
"You mean--?"
"I mean that Peter will kill him."
Colt shrugged. "It is what he deserves," he said. "Perhaps I should
have done it."
"No," said the girl, "leave that for Peter."
"Were you left alone here in this camp without any protection?"
demanded Colt.
"No. Peter left my boy and ten askaris, but in some way Jafar got them
all out of camp."
"You will be safe now," he said. "I shall see to that until Comrade
Zveri returns. I am going now to make my camp, and I shall send two of
my askaris to stand guard before your tent."
"That is good of you," she said, "but I think now that you are here it
will not be necessary."
"I shall do it anyway," he said. "I shall feel safer."
"And when you have made camp, will you come and have supper with me?"
she asked, and then, "Oh, I forgot, Jafar has sent my boy away, too.
There is no one to cook for me."
"Then, perhaps, you will dine with me," he said. "My boy is a fairly
good cook."
"I shall be delighted, Comrade Colt," she replied.
As the American left the tent, Zora Drinov lay back upon the cot with
half-closed eyes. How different the man had been from what she had
expected. Recalling his features, and especially his eyes, she found
it difficult to believe that such a man could be a traitor to his
father or to his country, but then, she realized, many a man has turned
against his own for a principle. With her own people it was different.
They had never had a chance. They had always been ground beneath the
heel of one tyrant or another. What they were doing they believed
implicitly to be for their own and for their country's good. Among
those of them who were motivated by honest conviction there could not
fairly be brought any charge of treason, and yet, Russian though she
was to the core, she could not help but look with contempt upon the
citizens of other countries who turned against their governments to aid
the ambitions of a foreign power. We may be willing to profit by the
act of foreign mercenaries and traitors, but we cannot admire them.
As Colt crossed from Zora's tent to where his men lay to give the
necessary instruction for the making of his camp, Raghunath Jafar
watched him from the interior of his own tent. A malignant scowl
clouded the countenance of the Hindu, and hatred smoldered in his eyes.
Tarzan, watching from above, saw the young American issuing
instructions to his men. The personality of this young stranger had
impressed Tarzan favorably. He liked him as well as he could like any
stranger, for deeply ingrained in the fiber of the ape-man was the wild
beast suspicion of all strangers and especially of all white strangers.
As he watched him now nothing else within the range of his vision
escaped him. It was thus that he saw Raghunath Jafar emerge from his
tent, carrying a rifle. Only Tarzan and little Nkima saw this, and only
Tarzan placed any sinister interpretation upon it.
Raghunath Jafar walked directly away from camp and entered the jungle.
Swinging silently through the trees, Tarzan of the Apes followed him.
Jafar made a half circle of the camp just within the concealing verdure
of the jungle, and then he halted. From where he stood the entire camp
was visible to him, but his own position was concealed by foliage.
Colt was watching the disposition of his loads and the pitching of
his tent. His men were busy with the various duties assigned to them
by their headman. They were tired and there was little talking. For
the most part they worked in silence, and an unusual quiet pervaded
the scene--a quiet that was suddenly and unexpectedly shattered by
an anguished scream and the report of a rifle, blending so closely
that it was impossible to say which had preceded the other. A bullet
whizzed by Colt's head and nipped the lobe off the ear of one of his
men standing behind him. Instantly the peaceful activities of the camp
were supplanted by pandemonium. For a moment there was a difference
of opinion as to the direction from which the shot and the scream had
come, and then Colt saw a wisp of smoke rising from the jungle just
beyond the edge of camp.
"There it is," he said, and started toward the point.
The headman of the askaris stopped him. "Do not go, Bwana," he said.
"Perhaps it is an enemy. Let us fire into the jungle first."
"No," said Colt, "we will investigate first. Take some of your men in
from the right, and I'll take the rest in from the left. We'll work
around slowly through the jungle until we meet."
"Yes, Bwana," said the headman, and calling his men he gave the
necessary instructions.
No sound of flight or any suggestion of a living presence greeted the
two parties as they entered the jungle; nor had they discovered any
signs of a marauder when, a few moments later, they made contact with
one another. They were now formed in a half circle that bent back into
the jungle and, at a word from Colt, they advanced toward the camp.
It was Colt who found Raghunath Jafar lying dead just at the edge of
camp. His right hand grasped his rifle. Protruding from his heart was
the shaft of a sturdy arrow.
The negroes gathering around the corpse looked at one another
questioningly and then back into the jungle and up into the trees.
One of them examined the arrow. "It is not like any arrow I have ever
seen," he said. "It was not made by the hand of man."
Immediately the blacks were filled with superstitious fears. "The shot
was meant for the bwana," said one; "therefore the demon who shot the
arrow is a friend of our bwana. We need not be afraid."
This explanation satisfied the blacks, but it did not satisfy Wayne
Colt. He was puzzling over it as he walked back into camp, after giving
orders that the Hindu be buried.
Zora Drinov was standing in the entrance to her tent, and as she saw
him she came to meet him. "What was it?" she asked. "What happened?"
"Comrade Zveri will not kill Raghunath Jafar," he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because Raghunath Jafar is already dead."
"Who could have shot the arrow?" she asked, after he had told her of
the manner of the Hindu's death.
"I haven't the remotest idea," he admitted. "It is an absolute mystery,
but it means that the camp is being watched and that we must be very
careful not to go into the jungle alone. The men believe that the
arrow was fired to save me from an assassin's bullet; and while it
is entirely possible that Jafar may have been intending to kill me,
I believe that if I had gone into the jungle alone instead of him it
would have been I that would be lying out there dead now. Have you been
bothered at all by natives since you made camp here, or have you had
any unpleasant experiences with them at all?"
"We have not seen a native since we entered this camp. We have often
commented upon the fact that the country seems to be entirely deserted
and uninhabited, notwithstanding the fact that it is filled with game."
"This thing may help to account for the fact that it is uninhabited,"
suggested Colt, "or rather apparently uninhabited. We may have
unintentionally invaded the country of some unusually ferocious tribe
that takes this means of acquainting newcomers with the fact that they
are persona non grata."
"You say one of our men was wounded?" asked Zora.
"Nothing serious. He just had his ear nicked a little."
"Was he near you?"
"He was standing right behind me," replied Colt.
"I think there is no doubt that Jafar meant to kill you," said Zora.
"Perhaps," said Colt, "but he did not succeed. He did not even kill my
appetite; and if I can succeed in calming the excitement of my boy, we
shall have supper presently."
From a distance Tarzan and Nkima watched the burial of Raghunath Jafar
and a little later saw the return of Kahiya and his askaris with Zora's
boy Wamala, who had been sent out of camp by Jafar.
"Where," said Tarzan to Nkima, "are all the many Tarmangani and
Gomangani that you told me were in this camp?"
"They have taken their thundersticks and gone away," replied the little
Manu. "They are hunting for Nkima."
Tarzan of the Apes smiled one of his rare smiles. "We shall have to
hunt them down and find out what they are about, Nkima," he said.
"But it grows dark in the jungle soon," pleaded Nkima, "and then will
Sabor, and Sheeta, and Numa, and Histah be abroad, and they, too,
search for little Nkima."
Darkness had fallen before Colt's boy announced supper, and in the
meantime Tarzan, changing his plans, had returned to the trees above
the camp. He was convinced that there was something irregular in the
aims of the expedition whose base he had discovered. He knew from the
size of the camp that it had contained many men. Where they had gone
and for what purpose were matters that he must ascertain. Feeling that
this expedition, whatever its purpose, might naturally be a principal
topic of conversation in the camp, he sought a point of vantage
wherefrom he might overhear the conversations that passed between the
two white members of the party beneath him; and so it was that as Zora
Drinov and Wayne Colt seated themselves at the supper table, Tarzan of
the Apes crouched amid the foliage of a great tree just above them.
"You have passed through a rather trying ordeal today," said Colt, "but
you do not appear to be any the worse for it. I should think that your
nerves would be shaken."
"I have passed through too much already in my life, Comrade Colt, to
have any nerves left at all," replied the girl.
"I suppose so," said Colt. "You must have passed through the revolution
in Russia."
"I was only a little girl at the time," she explained, "but I remember
it quite distinctly."
Colt was gazing at her intently. "From your appearance," he ventured,
"I imagine that you were not by birth of the proletariat."
"My father was a laborer. He died in exile under the Tzarist
regime. That was how I learned to hate everything monarchistic and
capitalistic. And when I was offered this opportunity to join Comrade
Zveri, I saw another field in which to encompass my revenge, while at
the same time advancing the interests of my class throughout the world."
"When I last saw Zveri in the United States," said Colt, "he evidently
had not formulated the plans he is now carrying out, as he never
mentioned any expedition of this sort. When I received orders to join
him here, none of the details were imparted to me; and so I am rather
in the dark as to what his purpose is."
"It is only for good soldiers to obey," the girl reminded him.
"Yes, I know that," agreed Colt, "but at the same time even a poor
soldier may act more intelligently sometimes if he knows the objective."
"The general plan, of course, is no secret to any of us here," said
Zora, "and I shall betray no confidence in explaining it to you. It
is a part of a larger plan to embroil the capitalistic powers in wars
and revolutions to such an extent that they will be helpless to unite
against us.
"Our emissaries have been laboring for a long time toward the
culmination of the revolution in India that will distract the attention
and the armed forces of Great Britain. We are not succeeding so well
in Mexico as we had planned, but there is still hope, while our
prospects in the Philippines are very bright. The conditions in China
you well know. She is absolutely helpless, and we have hope that with
our assistance she will eventually constitute a real menace to Japan.
Italy is a very dangerous enemy, and it is largely for the purpose of
embroiling her in war with France that we are here."
"But just how can that be accomplished in Africa?" asked Colt.
"Comrade Zveri believes that it will be simple," said the girl. "The
suspicion and jealousy that exist between France and Italy are well
known; their race for naval supremacy amounts almost to a scandal. At
the first overt act of either against the other, war might easily
result, and a war between Italy and France would embroil all of Europe."
"But just how can Zveri, operating in the wilds of Africa, embroil
Italy and France in war?" demanded the American.
"There is now in Rome a delegation of French and Italian Reds engaged
in this very business. The poor men know only a part of the plan and,
unfortunately for them, it will be necessary to martyr them in the
cause for the advancement of our world plan. They have been furnished
with papers outlining a plan for the invasion of Italian Somaliland by
French troops. At the proper time one of Comrade Zveri's secret agents
in Rome will reveal the plot to the Fascist Government; and almost
simultaneously a considerable number of our own blacks, disguised
in the uniforms of French native troops, led by the white men of
our expedition, uniformed as French officers, will invade Italian
Somaliland.
"In the meantime our agents are carrying on in Egypt and Abyssinia and
among the native tribes of North Africa, and already we have definite
assurance that with the attention of France and Italy distracted by
war and Great Britain embarrassed by a revolution in India the natives
of North Africa will arise in what will amount almost to a holy war
for the purpose of throwing off the yoke of foreign domination and the
establishment of autonomous soviet states throughout the entire area."
"A daring and stupendous undertaking," exclaimed Colt, "but one that
will require enormous resources in money as well as men."
"It is Comrade Zveri's pet scheme," said the girl. "I do not know, of
course, all the details of his organization and backing; but I do know
that while he is already well financed for the initial operations, he
is depending to a considerable extent upon this district for furnishing
most of the necessary gold to carry on the tremendous operations that
will be necessary to insure final success."
"Then I am afraid he is foredoomed to failure," said Colt, "for he
surely cannot find enough wealth in this savage country to carry on any
such stupendous program."
"Comrade Zveri believes to the contrary," said Zora; "in fact, the
expedition that he is now engaged upon is for the purpose of obtaining
the treasure he seeks."
Above them, in the darkness, the silent figure of the ape-man lay
stretched at ease upon a great branch, his keen ears absorbing all
that passed between them, while curled in sleep upon his bronzed back
lay little Nkima, entirely oblivious of the fact that he might have
listened to words well calculated to shake the foundations of organized
government throughout the world.
"And where," demanded Colt, "if it is no secret, does Comrade Zveri
expect to find such a great store of gold?"
"In the famous treasure vaults of Opar," replied the girl. "You
certainly have heard of them."
"Yes," answered Colt, "but I never considered them other than purely
legendary. The folklore of the entire world is filled with these
mythical treasure vaults."
"But Opar is no myth," replied Zora.
If the startling information divulged to him affected Tarzan, it
induced no outward manifestation. Listening in silence imperturbable,
trained to the utmost refinement of self-control, he might have been
part and parcel of the great branch upon which he lay, or of the
shadowy foliage which hid him from view.
For a time Colt sat in silence, contemplating the stupendous
possibilities of the plan that he had just heard unfolded. It seemed
to him little short of the dream of a mad man, and he did not believe
that it had the slightest chance for success. What he did realize
was the jeopardy in which it placed the members of the expedition,
for he believed that there would be no escape for any of them once
Great Britain, France, and Italy were apprised of their activities;
and, without conscious volition, his fears seemed centered upon the
safety of the girl. He knew the type of people with whom he was
working and so he knew that it would be dangerous to voice a doubt as
to the practicability of the plan, for scarcely without exception
the agitators whom he had met had fallen naturally into two separate
categories, the impractical visionary, who believed everything that
he wanted to believe, and the shrewd knave, actuated by motives of
avarice, who hoped to profit either in power or riches by any change
that he might be instrumental in bringing about in the established
order of things. It seemed horrible that a young and beautiful girl
should have been enticed into such a desperate situation. She seemed
far too intelligent to be merely a brainless tool, and even his brief
association with her made it most difficult for him to believe that she
was a knave.
"The undertaking is certainly fraught with grave dangers," he said,
"and as it is primarily a job for men I cannot understand why you were
permitted to face the dangers and hardships that must of necessity be
entailed by the carrying out of such a perilous campaign."
"The life of a woman is of no more value than that of a man," she
declared, "and I was needed. There is always a great deal of important
and confidential clerical work to be done which Comrade Zveri can
entrust only to one in whom he has implicit confidence. He reposes such
trust in me and, in addition, I am a trained typist and stenographer.
Those reasons in themselves are sufficient to explain why I am here,
but another very important one is that I desire to be with Comrade
Zveri."
In the girl's words Colt saw the admission of a romance; but to his
American mind this was all the greater reason why the girl should not
have been brought along, for he could not conceive of a man exposing
the girl he loved to such dangers.
Above them Tarzan of the Apes moved silently. First he reached over
his shoulder and lifted little Nkima from his back. Nkima would have
objected, but the veriest shadow of a whisper silenced him. The ape-man
had various methods of dealing with enemies--methods that he had
learned and practiced long before he had been cognizant of the fact
that he was not an ape. Long before he had ever seen another white
man he had terrorized the gomangani, the black men of the forest and
the jungle, and had learned that a long step toward defeating an enemy
may be taken by first demoralizing its morale. He knew now that these
people were not only the invaders of his own domain and, therefore,
his own personal enemies, but that they threatened the peace of Great
Britain, which was dear to him, and of the rest of the civilized world,
with which, at least, Tarzan had no quarrels. It is true that he held
civilization in general in considerable contempt, but in even greater
contempt he held those who interfered with the rights of others or with
the established order of jungle or city.
As Tarzan left the tree in which he had been hiding, the two below
him were no more aware of his departure than they had been of his
presence. Colt found himself attempting to fathom the mystery of love.
He knew Zveri, and it appeared inconceivable to him that a girl of Zora
Drinov's type could be attracted by a man of Zveri's stamp. Of course,
it was none of his affair, but it bothered him nevertheless because it
seemed to constitute a reflection upon the girl and to lower her in his
estimation. He was disappointed in her, and Colt did not like to be
disappointed in people to whom he had been attracted.
"You knew Comrade Zveri in America, did you not?" asked Zora.
"Yes," replied Colt.
"What do you think of him?" she demanded.
"I found him a very forceful character," replied Colt. "I believe
him to be a man who would carry on to a conclusion anything that he
attempted. No better man could have been chosen for this mission."