Through several chambers and corridors they were conducted toward the
center of the dome on the same level as the chamber in which they had
left the king and the walmak until finally they were thrust into a
small chamber and a heavy door slammed and barred behind them.
There was no candle in the chamber. A faint light, however, relieved
the darkness so that the interior of the room was discernible. The
chamber contained two benches and a table--that was all. The light
which faintly illuminated it entered through a narrow embrasure which
was heavily barred, but it was evidently daylight.
"We are alone," whispered Komodoflorensal, "and at last we can
converse; but we must be cautious," he added. "'Trust not too far the
loyalty of even the stones of your chamber!'" he quoted.
"Where are we?" asked Tarzan. "You are more familiar with Minunian
dwellings than I."
"We are upon the highest level of the Royal Dome of Elkomoelhago,"
replied the prince. "With no such informality does a king visit
the other domes of his city. You may rest assured that this is
Elkomoelhago's. We are in one of the innermost chambers, next the
central shaft that pierces the dome from its lowest level to its roof.
For this reason we do not need a candle to support life--we will obtain
sufficient air through this embrasure. And now, tell me what happened
within the room with Elkomoelhago and Zoanthrohago."
"I discovered how they reduced my stature," replied Tarzan, "and,
furthermore, that at almost any time I may regain my full size--an
occurrence that may eventuate from three to thirty-nine moons after
the date of my reduction. Even Zoanthrohago cannot determine when this
thing will happen."
"Let us hope that it does not occur while you are in this small
chamber," exclaimed Komodoflorensal.
"I would have a devil of a time getting out," agreed Tarzan.
"You would never get out," his friend assured him. "While you might,
before your reduction, have crawled through some of the larger
corridors upon the first level, or even upon many of the lower levels,
you could not squeeze into the smaller corridors of the upper levels,
which are reduced in size as the necessity for direct supports for the
roof increase as we approach the apex of the dome."
"Then it behooves me to get out of here as quickly as possible," said
Tarzan.
Komodoflorensal shook his head. "Hope is a beautiful thing, my friend,"
he said, "but if you were a Minunian you would know that under such
circumstances as we find ourselves it is a waste of mental energy. Look
at these bars," and he walked to the window and shook the heavy irons
that spanned the embrasure. "Think you that you could negotiate these?"
"I haven't examined them," replied the ape-man, "but I shall never give
up hope of escaping; that your people do is doubtless the principal
reason that they remain forever in bondage. You are too much a
fatalist, Komodoflorensal."
As he spoke Tarzan crossed the room and standing at the prince's side
took hold of the bars at the window. "They do not seem over-heavy," he
remarked, and at the same time exerted pressure upon them. They bent!
Tarzan was interested now and Komodoflorensal, as well. The ape-man
threw all his strength and weight into the succeeding effort with the
result that two bars, bent almost double, were torn from their setting.
Komodoflorensal gazed at him in astonishment. "Zoanthrohago reduced
your size, but left you with your former physical prowess," he cried.
"In no other way can it be accounted for," replied Tarzan, who now, one
by one, was removing the remaining bars from the window embrasure. He
straightened one of the shorter ones and handed it to Komodoflorensal.
"This will make a good weapon," he said, "if we are forced to fight
for our liberty," and then he straightened another for himself.
The Trohandalmakusian gazed at him in wonder. "And you intend," he
demanded, "to defy a city of four hundred and eighty thousand people,
armed only with a bit of iron rod?"
"And my wits," added Tarzan.
"You will need them," said the prince.
"And I shall use them," Tarzan assured him.
"When shall you start?" asked Komodoflorensal, chaffingly.
"Tonight, tomorrow, next moon--who knows?" replied the ape-man.
"Conditions must be ripe. All the time I shall be watching and
planning. In that sense I started to escape the instant I regained
consciousness and knew that I was a prisoner."
Komodoflorensal shook his head.
"You have no faith in me?" demanded Tarzan.
"That is precisely what I have--faith," replied Komodoflorensal. "My
judgment tells me that you cannot succeed and yet I shall cast my lot
with you, hoping for success, yes, believing in success. If that is not
faith I do not know what it might be called."
The ape-man smiled. He seldom, if ever, laughed aloud. "Let us
commence," he said. "First we will arrange these rods so that they
will have the appearance, from the doorway, of not having been
disturbed, for I take it we shall have an occasional visitor. Some one
will bring us food, at least, and whoever comes must suspect nothing."
Together they arranged the rods so that they might be quickly removed
and as quickly replaced. By that time it was getting quite dark within
the chamber. Shortly after they had finished with the rods their door
opened and two warriors, lighting their way with candles, appeared
escorting a slave who bore food in bucketlike receptacles and water in
bottles made of glazed pottery.
As they were going away again, after depositing the food and drink just
inside the doorway, taking their candles with them, Komodoflorensal
addressed them.
"We are without candles, warrior," he said to the nearer. "Will you not
leave us one of yours?"
"You need no candle in this chamber," replied the man. "One night in
darkness will do you good, and tomorrow you return to the quarry.
Zoanthrohago is done with you. In the quarry you will have plenty of
candles," and he passed out of the chamber, closing the door behind him.
The two slaves heard the heavy bolt shot into place upon the opposite
side of the door. It was very dark now. With difficulty they found the
receptacles containing the food and water.
"Well?" inquired Komodoflorensal, dipping into one of the food jars.
"Do you think it is going to be so easy now, when tomorrow you will be
back in the quarry perhaps five hundred huals below ground?"
"But I shall not be," replied Tarzan, "and neither shall you."
"Why not?" asked the prince.
"Because, since they expect to remove us to the quarries tomorrow, it
follows that we must escape tonight," explained Tarzan.
Komodoflorensal only laughed.
When Tarzan had eaten his fill he arose and walked to the window,
where he removed the bars and, taking the one that he had selected for
himself, crawled through the passage that led to the opposite end of
the embrasure, for even so close to the apex of the dome the wall was
quite thick, perhaps ten huals. The hual, which is about three inches
in length by our standards, constitutes the Minunian basic unit of
measure, corresponding most closely to our foot. At this high level
the embrasure was much smaller than those opening at lower levels,
practically all of which were of sufficient size to permit a warrior to
walk erect within them; but here Tarzan was forced to crawl upon all
fours.
At the far end he found himself looking out into a black void above
which the stars were shining and about the sides of which were dotted
vague reflections of inner lights, marking the lighted chambers within
the dome. Above him it was but a short distance to the apex of the
dome, below was a sheer drop of four hundred huals.
Tarzan, having seen all that could be seen from the mouth of the
embrasure, returned to the chamber. "How far is it, Komodoflorensal,"
he asked, "from the floor of this embrasure to the roof of the dome?"
"Twelve huals, perhaps," replied the Trohanadalmakusian.
Tarzan took the longest of the bars from the embrasure and measured it
as best he could. "Too far," he said.
"What is too far?" demanded Komodoflorensal.
"The roof," explained Tarzan.
"What difference does it make where the roof is--you did not expect to
escape by way of the roof of the dome, did you?"
"Most certainly--had it been accessible," replied the ape-man;
"but now we shall have to go by way of the shaft, which will mean
crossing entirely through the dome from the interior shaft to the
outer periphery. The other route would have entailed less danger of
detection."
Komodoflorensal laughed aloud. "You seem to think that to escape a
Minunian city it is only necessary to walk out and away. It cannot
be done. What of the sentries? What of the outer patrols? You would
be discovered before you were halfway down the outside of the dome,
provided that you could get that far without falling to your death."
"Then perhaps the shaft would be safer," said Tarzan. "There would be
less likelihood of discovery before we reached the bottom, for from
what I could see it is as dark as pitch in the shaft."
"Clamber down the inside of the shaft!" exclaimed Komodoflorensal. "You
are mad! You could not clamber from this level to the next without
falling, and it must be a full four hundred huals to the bottom."
"Wait!" Tarzan admonished him.
Komodoflorensal could hear his companion moving around in the dark
chamber. He heard the scraping of metal on stone and presently he heard
a pounding, not loud, yet heavy.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Wait!" said Tarzan.
And Komodoflorensal waited, wondering. It was Tarzan who spoke next.
"Could you find the chamber in which Talaskar is confined in the
quarry?" he asked.
"Why?" demanded the prince.
"We are going after her," explained Tarzan. "We promised that we would
not leave without her."
"I can find it," said Komodoflorensal, rather sullenly Tarzan thought.
For some time the ape-man worked on in silence, except for the muffled
pounding and the scraping of iron on stone, or of iron on iron.
"Do you know every one in Trohanadalmakus?" Tarzan asked, suddenly.
"Why, no," replied Komodoflorensal. "There are a million souls,
including all the slaves. I could not know them all."
"Did you know by sight all those that dwelt in the royal dome?"
continued the ape-man.
"No, not even those who lived in the royal dome," replied the
Trohanadalmakusian; "though doubtless I knew practically all of the
nobles, and the warrior class by sight if not by name."
"Did any one?" asked Tarzan.
"I doubt it," was the reply.
"Good!" exclaimed Tarzan.
Again there was a silence, broken again by the Englishman.
"Can a warrior go anywhere without question in any dome of his own
city?" he inquired.
"Anywhere, under ordinary circumstances, except into the king's dome,
in daytime."
"One could not go about at night, then?" asked Tarzan.
"No," replied his companion.
"By day, might a warrior go and come in the quarries as he pleased?"
"If he appeared to be employed he would not be questioned, ordinarily."
Tarzan worked a little longer in silence. "Come!" he said presently;
"we are ready to go."
"I shall go with you," said Komodoflorensal, "because I like you and
because I think it would be better to be dead than a slave. At least we
shall have some pleasure out of what remains to us of life, even though
it be not a long life."
"I think we shall have some pleasure, my friend," replied Zuanthrol.
"We may not escape; but, like you, I should rather die now than remain
a slave for life. I have chosen tonight for our first step toward
freedom, because I realize that once returned to the quarry our chances
for a successful break for liberty will be reduced to almost nothing,
and tonight is our only night above ground."
"How do you propose that we escape from this chamber?"
"By way of the central shaft," replied Tarzan; "but first tell me, may
a white-tunicked slave enter the quarries freely by day?"
Komodoflorensal wondered what bearing all these seemingly immaterial
questions had upon the problem of their escape; but he answered
patiently:
"No, white tunics are never seen in the quarries."
"Have you the iron bar I straightened for you?"
"Yes."
"Then follow me through the embrasure. Bring the other rods that I
shall leave in the opening. I will carry the bulk of them. Come!"
Komodoflorensal heard Tarzan crawling into the embrasure, the iron rods
that he carried breaking the silence of the little chamber. Then he
followed. In the mouth of the embrasure he found the rods that Tarzan
had left for him to carry. There were four rods, the ends of each bent
into hooks. It had been upon this work that Tarzan had been engaged in
the darkness--Komodoflorensal wondered to what purpose. Presently his
further advance was halted by Tarzan's body.
"Just a moment," said the ape-man. "I am making a hole in the window
ledge. When that is done we shall be ready." A moment later he turned
his head back toward his companion. "Pass along the rods," he said.
After Komodoflorensal had handed the hooked rods to Tarzan he heard
the latter working with them, very quietly, for several minutes,
and then he heard him moving his body about in the narrow confines
of the embrasure and presently when the ape-man spoke again the
Trohanadalmakusian realized that he had turned around and that his head
was close to that of his companion.
"I shall go first, Komodoflorensal," he said. "Come to the edge of the
embrasure and when you hear me whistle once, follow me."
"Where?" asked the prince.
"Down the shaft to the first embrasure that will give us foot-hold,
and let us pray that there is one directly below this within the next
eighteen huals. I have hooked the rods together, the upper end hooked
into the hole I made in the ledge, the lower end dangling down a
distance of eighteen huals."
"Good-bye, my friend," said Komodoflorensal.
Tarzan smiled and slipped over the edge of the embrasure. In one hand
he carried the rod that he had retained as a weapon, with the other he
clung to the window ledge. Below him for eighteen huals dangled the
slender ladder of iron hooks, and below this, four hundred huals of
pitchy darkness hid the stone flagging of the inner courtyard. Perhaps
it roofed the great central throne room of the king, as was true in
the royal dome of Adendrohahkis; perhaps it was but an open court. The
truth was immaterial if the frail support slipped from the shallow
hole in the ledge above, or if one of the hooks straightened under the
weight of the ape-man.
Now he grasped the upper section of his ladder with the hand that held
his improvised weapon, removed the hand from the ledge and grasped
the rod again, still lower down. In this way he lowered his body a
few inches at a time. He moved very slowly for two reasons, the more
important of which was that he feared that any sudden strains upon
his series of hooks might straighten one of them and precipitate him
into the abyss below; the other was the necessity for silence. It was
very dark even this close to the summit of the dome, but that was
rather an advantage than otherwise, for it hid his presence from any
chance observer who might glance through one of the embrasures in the
opposite wall of the shaft. As he descended he felt in both directions
for an embrasure, but he was almost at the end of his ladder before
he felt himself swing slightly into one. When he had lowered himself
still farther and could look into the opening he saw that it was dark,
an indication that it did not lead into an inhabited chamber, a fact
for which he was thankful. He hoped, too, that the inner end of the
embrasure was not barred, nor the door beyond bolted upon the outside.
He whistled once, very low, for Komodoflorensal, and an instant later
he felt the movement of the iron ladder that told him his companion had
commenced the descent. The embrasure in which he stood was higher than
the one they had just quitted, permitting him to stand erect. There he
waited for the Trohanadalmakusian who was soon standing upon the ledge
beside him.
"Whew!" exclaimed the prince, in a whisper. "I should hate to have had
to do that in the daytime when I could have seen all the way to the
bottom. What next? We have come farther already than ever I dreamed
would be possible. Now I am commencing to believe that escape may lie
within the realm of possibilities."
"We haven't started yet," Tarzan assured him; "but we are going to now.
Come!"
Grasping their rude weapons the two walked stealthily the length of the
embrasure. There were no bars to impede their progress and they stepped
to the floor of the chamber beyond. Very carefully, feeling each step
before he planted a foot and with his weapon extended before him,
Tarzan groped his way about the chamber, which he found was fairly well
filled with casks and bottles, the latter in wooden and wicker cases.
Komodoflorensal was directly behind him.
"We are in one of the rooms where the nobles charged with enforcing
the laws against wine have hidden confiscated liquor," whispered the
Trohanadalmakusian. "I have heard much talk concerning the matter since
I was made prisoner--the warriors and the slaves, too, seem to talk of
nothing else but this and the high taxes. The chances are that the door
is heavily barred--they guard these forbidden beverages as never they
guarded their gold or jewels."
"I have found the passageway leading to the door," whispered Tarzan,
"and I can see a light beneath it."
They crept stealthily the length of the passage. Each grasped his
weapon more firmly as Tarzan gently tried the latch. It gave! Slowly
the ape-man pushed the door ajar. Through the tiny aperture thus opened
he could see a portion of the room. Its floor was strewn with gorgeous
carpets, thick and soft. That portion of the wall that was revealed
to him was hung with heavy fabrics woven in many colors and strange
patterns--splendid, barbaric. Directly in the line of his vision the
body of a man lay sprawled, face down, upon the floor--a pool of red
stained a white rug beneath his head.
Tarzan opened the door a little farther, revealing the bodies of three
other men. Two lay upon the floor, the third upon a low divan. The
scene, gorgeous in its coloring, tragic in its suggestion of mystery
and violent death, held the eyes of the ape-man yet a moment longer
before he opened the door still wider and leaped quickly to the center
of the room, his weapon raised and ready, giving no possible skulking
foe behind the door the opportunity to fell him that would have offered
had he edged into the room slowly.
A quick glance about the apartment showed the bodies of six men that
had not been visible from the partially opened door. These were lying
in a pile in one corner of the room.