For three days the six traveled toward the east, and then, upon the
fourth, they turned south. A great forest loomed upon the distant
southern horizon, sweeping also wide upon the east. To the southwest
lay Trohanadalmakus, a good two days' journey for their tired diadets.
Tarzan often wondered what rest the little creatures obtained. At
night they were turned loose to graze; but his knowledge of the habits
of the carnivora assured him that the tiny antelope must spend the
greater part of each night in terrified watching or in flight; yet
every morning they were back at the camp awaiting the pleasure of their
masters. That they did not escape, never to return, is doubtless due
to two facts. One is that they have been for ages bred in the domes of
the Minunians--they know no other life than with their masters, to whom
they look for food and care--and the other is the extreme kindness and
affection which the Minunians accord their beautiful beasts of burden,
and which have won the love and confidence of the little animals to
such an extent that the diadet is most contented when in the company of
man.
It was during the afternoon of the fourth day of their flight that
Talaskar suddenly called their attention to a small cloud of dust
far to their rear. For a long time all six watched it intently as it
increased in size and drew nearer.
"It may be the long awaited pursuit," said Zoanthrohago.
"Or some of my own people from Trohanadalmakus," suggested
Komodoflorensal.
"Whoever they are, they greatly outnumber us," said Janzara, "and I
think we should find shelter until we know their identity."
"We can reach the forest before they overtake us," said Oratharc, "and
in the forest we may elude them if it is necessary."
"I fear the forest," said Janzara.
"We have no alternative," said Zoanthrohago; "but even now I doubt that
we can reach it ahead of them. Come! we must be quick!"
Never before had Tarzan of the Apes covered ground so rapidly upon the
back of an animal. The diadets flew through the air in great bounds.
Behind them the nucleus of the dust cloud had resolved itself into
a dozen mounted warriors, against whom their four blades would be
helpless. Their one hope, therefore, lay in reaching the forest ahead
of their pursuers, and now it seemed that they would be successful and
now it seemed that they would not.
The recently distant wood seemed rushing toward him as Tarzan watched
ahead between the tiny horns of his graceful mount, and, behind,
the enemy was gaining. They were Veltopismakusian--they were close
enough now for the devices upon their helmets to be seen--and they
had recognized their quarry, for they cried aloud upon them to stop,
calling several of them by name.
One of the pursuers forged farther ahead than the others. He came now
close behind Zoanthrohago, who rode neck and neck with Tarzan, in the
rear of their party. A half length ahead of Zoanthrohago, was Janzara.
The fellow called aloud to her.
"Princess!" he cried. "The king's pardon for you all if you return the
slaves to us. Surrender and all will be forgiven."
Tarzan of the Apes heard and he wondered what the Veltopismakusians
would do. It must have been a great temptation and he knew it. Had it
not been for Talaskar he would have advised them to fall back among
their friends; but he would not see the slave girl sacrificed. He drew
his sword then and dropped back beside Zoanthrohago, though the other
never guessed his purpose.
"Surrender, and all will be forgiven!" shouted the pursuer again.
"Never!" cried Zoanthrohago.
"Never!" echoed Janzara.
"The consequences are yours," cried the messenger, and on they rushed,
pursuers and pursued, toward the dark forest, while from just within
its rim savage eyes watched the mad race and red tongues licked hungry
lips in anticipation.
Tarzan had been glad to hear the reply given by both Zoanthrohago
and Janzara whom he had found likable companions and good comrades.
Janzara's whole attitude had changed since the very instant she had
joined them in their attempted escape. No longer was she the spoiled
daughter of a despot; but a woman seeking happiness through the
new love that she had found, or the old love that she had but just
discovered, for she often told Zoanthrohago that she knew now that she
always had loved him. And this new thing in her life made her more
considerate and loving of others. She seemed now to be trying to make
up to Talaskar for the cruelty of her attack upon her when she had
first seen her. Her mad infatuation for Tarzan she now knew in its true
light--because she had been refused him she wanted him, and she would
have taken him as her prince to spite her father, whom she hated.
Komodoflorensal and Talaskar always rode together, but no words of love
did the Trohanadalmakusian speak in the ear of the little slave girl.
A great resolve was crystallizing in his mind, but it had as yet taken
on no definite form. And Talaskar, seemingly happy just to be near
him, rode blissfully through the first days of the only freedom she
had ever known; but now all was forgotten except the instant danger of
capture and its alternative concomitants, death and slavery.
The six urged their straining mounts ahead. The forest was so near now.
Ah, if they could but reach it! There one warrior might be as good as
three and the odds against them would be reduced, for in the forest the
whole twelve could not engage them at once and by careful maneuvering
they doubtless could separate them.
They were going to succeed! A great shout rose to the lips of Oratharc
as his diadet leaped into the shadows of the first trees, and the
others took it up, for a brief instant, and then it died upon their
lips as they saw a giant hand reach down and snatch Oratharc from his
saddle. They tried to stop and wheel their mounts, but it was too
late. Already they were in the forest and all about them was a horde
of the hideous Zertalocolols. One by one they were snatched from their
diadets, while their pursuers, who must have seen what was taking place
just inside the forest, wheeled and galloped away.
Talaskar, writhing in the grip of a she-Alali, turned toward
Komodoflorensal.
"Good-bye!" she cried. "This, at last, is the end; but I can die near
you and so I am happier dying than I have been living until you came to
Veltopismakus."
"Good-bye, Talaskar!" he replied. "Living, I dared not tell you; but
dying, I can proclaim my love. Tell me that you loved me."
"With all my heart, Komodoflorensal!" They seemed to have forgotten
that another existed but themselves. In death they were alone with
their love.
Tarzan found himself in the hand of a male and he also found himself
wondering, even as he faced certain death, how it occurred that this
great band of male and female Alali should be hunting together, and
then he noticed the weapons of the males. They were not the crude
bludgeon and the slinging-stones that they had formerly carried; but
long, trim spears, and bows and arrows.
And now the creature that held him had lifted him even with his face
and was scrutinizing him and Tarzan saw a look of recognition and
amazement cross the bestial features, and he, in turn, recognized his
captor. It was the son of The First Woman. Tarzan did not wait to learn
the temper of his old acquaintance. Possibly their relations were
altered now. Possibly they were not. He recalled the doglike devotion
of the creature when last he had seen him and he put him to the test at
once.
"Put me down!" he signed, peremptorily; "and tell your people to put
down all of my people. Harm them not!"
Instantly the great creature set Tarzan gently upon the ground and
immediately signaled his fellows to do the same with their captives.
The men did immediately as they were bid, and all of the women but one.
She hesitated. The son of The First Woman leaped toward her, his spear
raised like a whip, and the female cowered and set Talaskar down upon
the ground.
Very proud, the son of The First Woman explained to Tarzan as best he
could the great change that had come upon the Alali since the ape-man
had given the men weapons and the son of The First Woman had discovered
what a proper use of them would mean to the males of his kind. Now each
male had a woman cooking for him--at least one, and some of them--the
stronger--had more than one.
To entertain Tarzan and to show him what great strides civilization
had taken in the land of the Zertalocolols, the son of The First Woman
seized a female by the hair and dragging her to him struck her heavily
about the head and face with his clenched fist, and the woman fell upon
her knees and fondled his legs, looking wistfully into his face, her
own glowing with love and admiration.
That night the six slept in the open surrounded by the great
Zertalacolols and the next day they started across the plain toward
Trohanadalmakus where Tarzan had resolved to remain until he regained
his normal size, when he would make a determined effort to cut his way
through the thorn forest to his own country.
The Zertalacolols went a short distance out into the plain with them,
and both men and women tried in their crude, savage way, to show Tarzan
their gratitude for the change that he had wrought among them, and the
new happiness he had given them.
Two days later the six fugitives approached the domes of
Trohanadalmakus. They had been seen by sentries when they were still a
long way off, and a body of warriors rode forth to meet them, for it
is always well to learn the nature of a visitor's business in Minuni
before he gets too close to your home.
When the warriors discovered that Komodoflorensal and Tarzan had
returned they shouted for joy and a number of them galloped swiftly
back to the city to spread the news.
The fugitives were conducted at once to the throne room of
Adendrohahkis and there that great ruler took his son in his arms and
wept, so great was his happiness at having him returned safely to him.
Nor did he forget Tarzan, though it was some time before he or the
other Trohanadalamkusians could accustom themselves to the fact that
this man, no bigger than they, was the great giant who had dwelt among
them a few moons since.
Adendrohahkis called Tarzan to the foot of the throne and there,
before the nobles and warriors of Trohanadalmakus, he made him a
zertol, or prince, and he gave him diadets and riches and allotted him
quarters fitted to his rank, begging him to stay among them always.
Janzara, Zoanthrohago and Oratharc he gave their liberty and permission
to remain in Trohanadalmakus, and then Komodoflorensal drew Talaskar to
the foot of the throne.
"And now for myself I ask a boon, Adendrohahkis," he said. "As
Zertolosto I am bound by custom to wed a prisoner princess taken from
another city; but in this slave girl have I found the one I love. Let
me renounce my rights to the throne and have her instead."
Talaskar raised her hand as though to demur, but Komodoflorensal would
not let her speak, and then Adendrohahkis rose and descended the steps
at the foot of which Talaskar stood and taking her by the hand led her
to a place beside the throne.
"You are bound by custom only, Komodoflorensal," he said, "to wed a
princess; but custom is not law. A Trohanadalmakusian may wed whom he
pleases."
"And even though he were bound by law," said Talaskar, "to wed a
princess, still might he wed me, for I am the daughter of Talaskhago,
king of Mandalamakus. My mother was captured by the Veltopismakusians
but a few moons before my birth, which took place in the very chamber
in which Komodoflorensal found me. She taught me to take my life before
mating with anyone less than a prince; but I would have forgotten
her teachings had Komodoflorensal been but the son of a slave. That
he was the son of a king I did not dream until the night we left
Veltopismakus, and I had already given him my heart long before, though
he did not know it."
Weeks passed and still no change came to Tarzan of the Apes. He was
happy in his life with the Minunians, but he longed for his own people
and the mate who would be grieving for him, and so he determined to
set forth as he was, pass through the thorn forest and make his way
toward home, trusting to chance that he might escape the countless
dangers that would infest his way, and perhaps come to his normal size
somewhere during the long journey.
His friends sought to dissuade him, but he was determined, and at
last, brooking no further delay, he set out toward the southeast in
the direction that he thought lay the point where he had entered the
land of the Minuni. A kamak, a body consisting of one thousand mounted
warriors, accompanied him to the great forest and there, after some
days' delay, the son of The First Woman found him. The Minunians bid
him good-bye, and as he watched them ride away upon their graceful
mounts, something rose in his throat that only came upon those few
occasions in his life that Tarzan of the Apes knew the meaning of
home-sickness.
The son of The First Woman and his savage band escorted Tarzan to the
edge of the thorn forest. Further than that they could not go. A moment
later they saw him disappear among the thorns, with a wave of farewell
to them. For two days Tarzan, no larger than a Minunian, made his way
through the thorn forest. He met small animals that were now large
enough to be dangerous to him, but he met nothing that he could not
cope with. By night he slept in the burrows of the larger burrowing
animals. Birds and eggs formed his food supply.
During the second night he awoke with a feeling of nausea suffusing
him. A premonition of danger assailed him. It was dark as the grave in
the burrow he had selected for the night. Suddenly the thought smote
him that he might be about to pass through the ordeal of regaining his
normal stature. To have this thing happen while he lay buried in this
tiny burrow would mean death, for he would be crushed, strangled, or
suffocated before he regained consciousness.
Already he felt dizzy, as one might feel who was upon the verge of
unconsciousness. He stumbled to his knees and clawed his way up the
steep acclivity that led to the surface. Would he reach it in time? He
stumbled on and then, suddenly, a burst of fresh, night air smote his
nostrils. He staggered to his feet. He was out! He was free!
Behind him he heard a low growl. Grasping his sword, he lunged forward
among the thorn trees. How far he went, or in what direction he did not
know. It was still dark when he stumbled and fell unconscious to the
ground.