Kalfastoban turned immediately to a search of the various chambers of
his quarters, but Caraftap laid a restraining hand upon his arm.
"Wait, Vental," he begged. "If they be here would it not be best to
insure their capture by fastening the doors leading from your quarters?"
"A good thought, Caraftap," replied Kalfastoban, "and then we may take
our time searching for them. Out of here, all you women!" he cried,
waving the females back into Hamadalban's quarters. A moment later the
two doors leading from the chamber to Hamadalban's quarters and the
gallery were closed and locked.
"And now, master," suggested Caraftap, "as there be two of them would
it not be well to supply me with a weapon."
Kalfastoban smote his chest. "A dozen such could Kalfastoban overcome
alone," he cried; "but for your own protection get you a sword from
yonder room while I lock this proud she-cat in her cell again."
As Kalfastoban followed Talaskar to the room in which she had been
confined, Caraftap crossed to the door of the storeroom where the
Vental had told him he would find a weapon.
The Vental reached the door of the room just behind the girl and
reaching out caught her by the arm.
"Not so fast, my pretty!" he cried. "A kiss before you leave me; but
fret not! The moment we are sure that those villainous slaves are
not within these rooms I shall join you, so do not pine for your
Kalfastoban."
Talaskar wheeled and struck the Vental in the face. "Lay not your
filthy hands upon me, beast!" she cried, and struggled to free herself
from his grasp.
"So-ho! a cat, indeed!" exclaimed the man, but he did not release her,
and so they struggled until they disappeared from sight within the
cell, and at the same moment Caraftap, the slave, laid his hand upon
the latch of the storeroom door, and opening it stepped within.
As he did so steel fingers reached forth out of the darkness and closed
upon his throat. He would have screamed in terror, but no sound could
he force through his tight closed throat. He struggled and struck at
the thing that held him--a thing so powerful that he knew it could not
be human, and then a low voice, cold and terrifying, whispered in his
ear.
"Die, Caraftap!" it said. "Meet the fate that you deserve and that you
well knew you deserved when you said that you dared not return to the
quarters of the slaves of Zoanthrohago after betraying two of your
number. Die, Caraftap! and know before you die that he whom you would
have betrayed is your slayer. You searched for Zuanthrol and--you have
found him!" With the last word the terrible fingers closed upon the
man's neck. Spasmodically the slave struggled, fighting for air. Then
the two hands that gripped him turned slowly in opposite directions and
the head of the traitor was twisted from his body.
Throwing the corpse aside Tarzan sprang into the main chamber of the
Vental's quarters and ran quickly toward the door of Talaskar's cell,
Komodoflorensal but half a pace behind him. The door of the little room
had been pushed to by the struggles of the couple within, and as Tarzan
pushed it open he saw the girl in the clutches of the huge Vental, who,
evidently maddened by her resistance, had lost his temper completely
and was attempting to rain blows upon her face, which she sought to
ward off, clutching at his arms and hands.
A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the Vental. "You seek us!" a low
voice whispered in his ear. "Here we are!"
Kalfastoban released the girl and swung around, at the same time
reaching for his sword. Facing him were the two slaves and both were
armed, though only Aoponato had drawn his weapon. Zuanthrol, who held
him, had not yet drawn.
"'A dozen such could Kalfastoban overcome alone'," quoted Tarzan. "Here
we are, braggart, and we are only two; but we cannot wait while you
show us how mighty you be. We are sorry. Had you not molested this
girl I should merely have locked you in your quarters, from which you
would soon have been released; but your brutality deserves but one
punishment--death."
"Caraftap!" screamed Kalfastoban. No longer was he a blusterer, deep
toned and swaggering. His voice was shrill with terror and he shook in
the hands of the ape-man. "Caraftap! Help!" he cried.
"Caraftap is dead," said Tarzan. "He died because he betrayed his
fellows. You shall die because you were brutal to a defenseless slave
girl. Run him through, Komodoflorensal! We have no time to waste here."
As the Trohandalmakusian withdrew his sword from the heart of
Kalfastoban Vental and the corpse slid to the floor of the cell
Talaskar ran forward and fell at the feet of the ape-man.
"Zuanthrol and Aoponato!" she cried. "Never did I think to see you
again. What has happened? Why are you here? You have saved me, but now
you will be lost. Fly--I know not where to you may fly--but go from
here! Do not let them find you here. I cannot understand why you are
here, anyway."
"We are trying to escape," explained Komodoflorensal, "and Zuanthrol
would not go without you. He searched the quarry for you and now the
Royal Dome. He has performed the impossible, but he has found you."
"Why did you do this for me?" asked Talaskar, looking wonderingly at
Tarzan.
"Because you were kind to me when I was brought to the chamber of
Zoanthrohago's slaves," replied the ape-man, "and because I promised
that when the time for escape came we three should go together."
He had lifted her to her feet and led her into the main chamber.
Komodoflorensal stood a little aside, his eyes upon the floor. Tarzan
glanced at him and an expression of puzzlement came into the eyes
of the ape-man, but whatever thought had caused it he must have put
quickly aside for the consideration of more pressing matters.
"Komodoflorensal, you know best what avenues of escape should be the
least beset by the dangers of discovery. Whether to go by way of
Hamadalban's quarters or through the gallery they mentioned? These are
questions I cannot answer to my own satisfaction; and look!" his eyes
had been roving about the chamber, "there is an opening in the ceiling.
Where might that lead?"
"It might lead almost anywhere, or nowhere at all," replied the
Trohanadalmakusian. "Many chambers have such openings. Sometimes they
lead into small lofts that are not connected with any other chamber;
again they lead into secret chambers, or even into corridors upon
another level."
There came a pounding upon the door leading into Hamadalban's
quarters and a woman's voice called aloud: "Kalfastoban, open!" she
cried. "There has come an ental from the quarry guard in search of
Caraftap. The sentry at the entrance to the quarters of the slaves of
Zoanthrohago has been found slain and they wish to question Caraftap,
believing that there is a conspiracy among the slaves."
"We must go by the gallery," whispered Komodoflorensal, stepping
quickly to the door leading thereto.
As he reached it someone laid a hand upon the latch from the opposite
side and attempted to open the door, which was locked.
"Kalfastoban!" cried a voice from the gallery beyond. "Let us in! The
slaves went not this way. Come, open quickly!"
Tarzan of the Apes glanced quickly about. Upon his face was a
half-snarl, for once again was he the cornered beast. He measured the
distance from the floor to the trap in the ceiling, and then with a
little run he sprang lightly upward. He had forgotten to what extent
the reduction of his weight had affected his agility. He had hoped to
reach a handhold upon the upper edge of the opening, but instead he
shot entirely through it, alighting upon his feet in a dark chamber.
Turning he looked down at his friends below. Consternation was writ
large upon the countenance of each; but at that he could not wonder. He
was almost as much surprised himself.
"Is it too far for you to jump?" he asked.
"Too far!" they replied.
He swung, then, head downward through the opening, catching the edge of
the trap in the hollow of his knees. At the gallery door the knocking
was becoming insistent and now at that leading into the quarters of
Hamadalban a man's voice had supplanted that of the woman. The fellow
was demanding entrance, angrily.
"Open!" he shouted. "In the name of the king, open!"
"Open yourself!" shouted the fellow who had been hammering at the
opposite door, thinking that the demand to open came from the interior
of the chamber to which he sought admission.
"How can I open?" screamed back the other. "The door is locked upon
your side!"
"It is not locked upon my side. It is locked upon yours," cried the
other, angrily.
"You lie!" shouted he who sought entrance from Hamadalban's quarters,
"and you will pay well when this is reported to the king."
Tarzan swung, head downward, into the chamber, his hands extended
toward his companions. "Lift Talaskar to me," he directed
Komodoflorensal, and as the other did so he grasped the girl's wrists
and raised her as far as he could until she could seize upon a part of
his leather harness and support herself alone without falling. Then he
took another hold upon her, lower down, and lifted still higher, and in
this way she managed to clamber into the chamber above.
The angry warriors at the two doors were now evidently engaged in an
attempt to batter their way into the chamber. Heavy blows were falling
upon the substantial panels that threatened to splinter them at any
moment.
"Fill your pouch with candles, Komodoflorensal," said Tarzan, "and then
jump for my hands."
"I took all the candles I could carry while we were in the storeroom,"
replied the other. "Brace yourself! I am going to jump."
A panel splintered and bits of wood flew to the center of the floor
from the door at the gallery just as Tarzan seized the outstretched
hands of Komodoflorensal, and an instant later, as both men kneeled in
the darkness of the loft and looked down into the chamber below the
opposite door flew open and the ten warriors who composed the ental
burst in at the heels of their Vental.
For an instant they looked about in blank surprise and then their
attention was attracted by the pounding upon the other door. A smile
crossed the face of the Vental as he stepped quickly to the gallery
door and unlocked it. Angry warriors rushed in upon him, but when he
had explained the misapprehension under which both parties had been
striving for entrance to the chamber they all joined in the laughter,
albeit a trifle shamefacedly.
"But who was in here?" demanded the Vental who had brought the soldiers
from the quarry.
"Kalfastoban and the green slave Caraftap," proffered a woman belonging
to Hamadalban.
"They must be hiding," said a warrior.
"Search the quarters!" commanded the Vental.
"It will not take long to find one," said another warrior, pointing at
the floor just inside the storeroom doorway.
The others looked and there they saw a human hand resting upon the
floor. The fingers seemed frozen into the semblance of clutching claws.
Mutely they proclaimed death. One of the warriors stepped quickly to
the storeroom, opened the door and dragged forth the body of Caraftap,
to which the head was clinging by a shred of flesh. Even the warriors
stepped back, aghast. They looked quickly around the chamber.
"Both doors were barred upon the inside," said the Vental. "Whatever
did this must still be here."
"It could have been nothing human," whispered a woman who had followed
them from the adjoining quarters.
"Search carefully," said the Vental, and as he was a brave man, he went
first into one chamber and then another. In the last one they found
Kalfastoban, run through the heart.
"It is time we got out of here if there is any way out," whispered
Tarzan to Komodoflorensal. "One of them will espy this hole directly."
Very cautiously the two men felt their way in opposite direction around
the walls of the dark, stuffy loft. Deep dust, the dust of ages, rose
about them, chokingly, evidencing the fact that the room had not been
used for years, perhaps for ages. Presently Komodoflorensal heard a
"H-s-s-t!" from the ape-man who called them to him. "Come here, both of
you. I have found something."
"What have you found?" asked Talaskar, coming close.
"An opening near the bottom of the wall," replied Tarzan. "It is large
enough for a man to crawl through. Think you, Komodoflorensal, that it
would be safe to light a candle."
"No, not now," replied the prince.
"I will go without it, then," announced the ape-man, "for we must see
where this tunnel leads, if anywhere."
He dropped upon his hands and knees, then, and Talaskar, who had been
standing next him, felt him move away. She could not see him--it was
too dark in the gloomy loft.
The two waited, but Zuanthrol did not return. They heard voices in the
room below. They wondered if the searchers would soon investigate the
loft, but really there was no need for apprehension. The searchers had
determined to invest the place--it would be safer than crawling into
that dark hole after an unknown thing that could tear the head from
a man's body. When it came down, as come down it would have to, they
would be prepared to destroy or capture it; but in the meantime they
were content to wait.
"What has become of him?" whispered Talaskar, anxiously.
"You care very much for him, do you not?" asked Komodoflorensal.
"Why should I not?" asked the girl. "You do, too, do you not?"
"Yes," replied Komodoflorensal.
"He is very wonderful," said the girl.
"Yes," said Komodoflorensal.
"I wish he would come back," said the girl.
"Yes," said Komodoflorensal.
As though in answer to their wish they heard a low whistle from the
depths of the tunnel into which Tarzan had crawled. "Come!" whispered
the ape-man.
Talaskar first, they followed him, crawling upon hands and knees
through a winding tunnel, feeling their way through the darkness, until
at last a light flared before them and they saw Zuanthrol lighting a
candle in a small chamber, that was only just high enough to permit a
tall man to sit erect within it.
"I got this far," he said to them, "and as it offered a fair hiding
place where we might have light without fear of discovery I came back
after you. Here we can stop a while in comparative comfort and safety
until I can explore the tunnel further. From what I have been able
to judge it has never been used during the lifetime of any living
Veltopismakusian, so there is little likelihood that anyone will think
of looking here for us."
"Do you think they will follow us?" asked Talasker.
"I think they will," replied Komodoflorensal, "and as we cannot go
back it will be better if we push on at once, as it is reasonable to
assume that the opposite end of this tunnel opens into another chamber.
Possibly there we shall find an avenue of escape."
"You are right, Komodoflorensal," agreed Tarzan. "Nothing can be gained
by remaining here. I will go ahead. Let Talaskar follow me, and you
bring up the rear. If the place proves a blind alley we shall be no
worse off for having investigated it."
Lighting their way this time with candles the three crawled
laboriously and painfully over the uneven, rock floor of the tunnel,
which turned often, this way and that, as though passing around
chambers, until, to their relief, the passageway abruptly enlarged,
both in width and height, so that now they could proceed in an erect
position. The tunnel now dropped in a steep declivity to a lower level
and a moment later the three emerged into a small chamber, where
Talaskar suddenly placed a hand upon Tarzan's arm, with a little
in-taking of her breath in a half gasp.
"What is that, Zuanthrol!" she whispered, pointing into the darkness
ahead.
Upon the floor at one side of the room a crouching figure was barely
discernible close to the wall.
"And that!" exclaimed the girl, pointing to another portion of the room.
The ape-man shook her hand from his arm and stepped quickly forward,
his candle held high in his left hand, his right upon his sword. He
came close to the crouching figure and bent to examine it. He laid his
hand upon it and it fell into a heap of dust.
"What is it?" demanded the girl.
"It _was_ a man," replied Tarzan; "but it has been dead many years. It
was chained to this wall. Even the chain has rusted away."
"And the other, too?" asked Talaskar.
"There are several of them," said Komodoflorensal. "See? There and
there."
"At least they cannot detain us," said Tarzan, and moved on again
across the chamber toward a doorway on the opposite side.
"But they tell us something, possibly," ventured Komodoflorensal.
"What do they say?" asked the ape-man.
"That this corridor connected with the quarters of a very powerful
Veltopismakusian," replied the prince. "So powerful was he that he
might dispose of his enemies thus, without question; and it also tells
us that all this happened long years ago."
"The condition of the bodies told us that," said Tarzan.
"Not entirely," replied Komodoflorensal. "The ants would have reduced
them to that state in a short time. In past ages the dead were left
within the domes, and the ants, who were then our scavengers, soon
disposed of them, but the ants sometimes attacked the living. They grew
from a nuisance to a menace, and then every precaution had to be taken
to keep from attracting them. Also we fought them. There were great
battles waged in Trohanadalmakus between the Minunians and the ants
and thousands of our warriors were devoured alive, and though we slew
billions of ants their queens could propagate faster than we could kill
the sexless workers who attacked us with their soldiers. But at last we
turned our attention to their nests. Here the carnage was terrific,
but we succeeded in slaying their queens and since then no ants have
come into our domes. They live about us, but they fear us. However, we
do not risk attracting them again by leaving our dead within the domes."
"Then you believe that this corridor leads to the quarters of some
great noble?" inquired Tarzan.
"I believe that it once did. The ages bring change. Its end may now
be walled up. The chamber to which it leads may have housed a king's
son when these bones were quick; today it may be a barrack-room for
soldiers, or a stable for diadets. About all that we know definitely
about it," concluded Komodoflorensal, "is that it has not been used by
man for a long time, and probably, therefore, is unknown to present day
Veltopismakusians."
Beyond the chamber of death the tunnel dropped rapidly to lower levels,
entering, at last, a third chamber larger than either of the others.
Upon the floor lay the bodies of many men.
"These were not chained to the walls," remarked Tarzan.
"No, they died fighting, as one may see by their naked swords and the
position of their bones."
As the three paused a moment to look about the chamber there fell upon
their ears the sound of a human voice.