13
Condemned To Torture and Death
La had followed her company and when she saw them clawing and biting atTarzan, she raised her voice and cautioned them not to kill him. Shesaw that he was weakening and that soon the greater numbers wouldprevail over him, nor had she long to wait before the mighty junglecreature lay helpless and bound at her feet.
"Bring him to the place at which we stopped," she commanded and theycarried Tarzan back to the little clearing and threw him down beneath atree.
"Build me a shelter!" ordered La. "We shall stop here tonight andtomorrow in the face of the Flaming God, La will offer up the heart ofthis defiler of the temple. Where is the sacred knife? Who took itfrom him?"
But no one had seen it and each was positive in his assurance that thesacrificial weapon had not been upon Tarzan's person when they capturedhim. The ape-man looked upon the menacing creatures which surroundedhim and snarled his defiance. He looked upon La and smiled. In theface of death he was unafraid.
"Where is the knife?" La asked him.
"I do not know," replied Tarzan. "The man took it with him when heslipped away during the night. Since you are so desirous for itsreturn I would look for him and get it back for you, did you not holdme prisoner; but now that I am to die I cannot get it back. Of whatgood was your knife, anyway? You can make another. Did you follow usall this way for nothing more than a knife? Let me go and find him andI will bring it back to you."
La laughed a bitter laugh, for in her heart she knew that Tarzan's sinwas greater than the purloining of the sacrificial knife of Opar; yetas she looked at him lying bound and helpless before her, tears rose toher eyes so that she had to turn away to hide them; but she remainedinflexible in her determination to make him pay in frightful sufferingand in eventual death for daring to spurn the love of La.
When the shelter was completed La had Tarzan transferred to it. "Allnight I shall torture him," she muttered to her priests, "and at thefirst streak of dawn you may prepare the flaming altar upon which hisheart shall be offered up to the Flaming God. Gather wood well filledwith pitch, lay it in the form and size of the altar at Opar in thecenter of the clearing that the Flaming God may look down upon ourhandiwork and be pleased."
During the balance of the day the priests of Opar were busy erecting analtar in the center of the clearing, and while they worked they chantedweird hymns in the ancient tongue of that lost continent that lies atthe bottom of the Atlantic. They knew not the meanings of the wordsthey mouthed; they but repeated the ritual that had been handed downfrom preceptor to neophyte since that long-gone day when the ancestorsof the Piltdown man still swung by their tails in the humid junglesthat are England now.
And in the shelter of the hut, La paced to and fro beside the stoicape-man. Resigned to his fate was Tarzan. No hope of succor gleamedthrough the dead black of the death sentence hanging over him. He knewthat his giant muscles could not part the many strands that bound hiswrists and ankles, for he had strained often, but ineffectually forrelease. He had no hope of outside help and only enemies surroundedhim within the camp, and yet he smiled at La as she paced nervouslyback and forth the length of the shelter.
And La? She fingered her knife and looked down upon her captive. Sheglared and muttered but she did not strike. "Tonight!" she thought."Tonight, when it is dark I will torture him." She looked upon hisperfect, godlike figure and upon his handsome, smiling face and thenshe steeled her heart again by thoughts of her love spurned; byreligious thoughts that damned the infidel who had desecrated the holyof holies; who had taken from the blood-stained altar of Opar theoffering to the Flaming God--and not once but thrice. Three times hadTarzan cheated the god of her fathers. At the thought La paused andknelt at his side. In her hand was a sharp knife. She placed itspoint against the ape-man's side and pressed upon the hilt; but Tarzanonly smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
How beautiful he was! La bent low over him, looking into his eyes.How perfect was his figure. She compared it with those of the knurledand knotted men from whom she must choose a mate, and La shuddered atthe thought. Dusk came and after dusk came night. A great fire blazedwithin the little thorn boma about the camp. The flames played uponthe new altar erected in the center of the clearing, arousing in themind of the High Priestess of the Flaming God a picture of the event ofthe coming dawn. She saw this giant and perfect form writhing amid theflames of the burning pyre. She saw those smiling lips, burned andblackened, falling away from the strong, white teeth. She saw theshock of black hair tousled upon Tarzan's well-shaped head disappear ina spurt of flame. She saw these and many other frightful pictures asshe stood with closed eyes and clenched fists above the object of herhate--ah! was it hate that La of Opar felt?
The darkness of the jungle night had settled down upon the camp,relieved only by the fitful flarings of the fire that was kept up towarn off the man-eaters. Tarzan lay quietly in his bonds. He sufferedfrom thirst and from the cutting of the tight strands about his wristsand ankles; but he made no complaint. A jungle beast was Tarzan withthe stoicism of the beast and the intelligence of man. He knew thathis doom was sealed--that no supplications would avail to temper theseverity of his end and so he wasted no breath in pleadings; but waitedpatiently in the firm conviction that his sufferings could not endureforever.
In the darkness La stooped above him. In her hand was a sharp knifeand in her mind the determination to initiate his torture withoutfurther delay. The knife was pressed against his side and La's facewas close to his when a sudden burst of flame from new branches thrownupon the fire without, lighted up the interior of the shelter. Closebeneath her lips La saw the perfect features of the forest god and intoher woman's heart welled all the great love she had felt for Tarzansince first she had seen him, and all the accumulated passion of theyears that she had dreamed of him.
Dagger in hand, La, the High Priestess, towered above the helplesscreature that had dared to violate the sanctuary of her deity. Thereshould be no torture--there should be instant death. No longer shouldthe defiler of the temple pollute the sight of the lord god almighty.A single stroke of the heavy blade and then the corpse to the flamingpyre without. The knife arm stiffened ready for the downward plunge,and then La, the woman, collapsed weakly upon the body of the man sheloved.
She ran her hands in mute caress over his naked flesh; she covered hisforehead, his eyes, his lips with hot kisses; she covered him with herbody as though to protect him from the hideous fate she had ordainedfor him, and in trembling, piteous tones she begged him for his love.For hours the frenzy of her passion possessed the burning hand-maidenof the Flaming God, until at last sleep overpowered her and she lapsedinto unconsciousness beside the man she had sworn to torture and toslay. And Tarzan, untroubled by thoughts of the future, sleptpeacefully in La's embrace.
At the first hint of dawn the chanting of the priests of Opar broughtTarzan to wakefulness. Initiated in low and subdued tones, the soundsoon rose in volume to the open diapason of barbaric blood lust. Lastirred. Her perfect arm pressed Tarzan closer to her--a smile partedher lips and then she awoke, and slowly the smile faded and her eyeswent wide in horror as the significance of the death chant impingedupon her understanding.
"Love me, Tarzan!" she cried. "Love me, and you shall be saved."
Tarzan's bonds hurt him. He was suffering the tortures oflong-restricted circulation. With an angry growl he rolled over withhis back toward La. That was her answer! The High Priestess leaped toher feet. A hot flush of shame mantled her cheek and then she wentdead white and stepped to the shelter's entrance.
"Come, Priests of the Flaming God!" she cried, "and make ready thesacrifice."
The warped things advanced and entered the shelter. They laid handsupon Tarzan and bore him forth, and as they chanted they kept time withtheir crooked bodies, swaying to and fro to the rhythm of their song ofblood and death. Behind them came La, swaying too; but not in unisonwith the chanted cadence. Whi
te and drawn was the face of the HighPriestess--white and drawn with unrequited love and hideous terror ofthe moments to come. Yet stern in her resolve was La. The infidelshould die! The scorner of her love should pay the price upon thefiery altar. She saw them lay the perfect body there upon the roughbranches. She saw the High Priest, he to whom custom would uniteher--bent, crooked, gnarled, stunted, hideous--advance with the flamingtorch and stand awaiting her command to apply it to the faggotssurrounding the sacrificial pyre. His hairy, bestial face wasdistorted in a yellow-fanged grin of anticipatory enjoyment. His handswere cupped to receive the life blood of the victim--the red nectarthat at Opar would have filled the golden sacrificial goblets.
La approached with upraised knife, her face turned toward the risingsun and upon her lips a prayer to the burning deity of her people. TheHigh Priest looked questioningly toward her--the brand was burningclose to his hand and the faggots lay temptingly near. Tarzan closedhis eyes and awaited the end. He knew that he would suffer, for herecalled the faint memories of past burns. He knew that he wouldsuffer and die; but he did not flinch. Death is no great adventure tothe jungle bred who walk hand-in-hand with the grim specter by day andlie down at his side by night through all the years of their lives. Itis doubtful that the ape-man even speculated upon what came afterdeath. As a matter of fact as his end approached, his mind wasoccupied by thoughts of the pretty pebbles he had lost, yet his everyfaculty still was open to what passed around him.
He felt La lean over him and he opened his eyes. He saw her white,drawn face and he saw tears blinding her eyes. "Tarzan, my Tarzan!"she moaned, "tell me that you love me--that you will return to Oparwith me--and you shall live. Even in the face of the anger of mypeople I will save you. This last chance I give you. What is youranswer?"
At the last moment the woman in La had triumphed over the HighPriestess of a cruel cult. She saw upon the altar the only creaturethat ever had aroused the fires of love within her virgin breast; shesaw the beast-faced fanatic who would one day be her mate, unless shefound another less repulsive, standing with the burning torch ready toignite the pyre; yet with all her mad passion for the ape-man she wouldgive the word to apply the flame if Tarzan's final answer wasunsatisfactory. With heaving bosom she leaned close above him. "Yesor no?" she whispered.
Through the jungle, out of the distance, came faintly a sound thatbrought a sudden light of hope to Tarzan's eyes. He raised his voicein a weird scream that sent La back from him a step or two. Theimpatient priest grumbled and switched the torch from one hand to theother at the same time holding it closer to the tinder at the base ofthe pyre.
"Your answer!" insisted La. "What is your answer to the love of La ofOpar?"
Closer came the sound that had attracted Tarzan's attention and now theothers heard it--the shrill trumpeting of an elephant. As La lookedwide-eyed into Tarzan's face, there to read her fate for happiness orheartbreak, she saw an expression of concern shadow his features. Now,for the first time, she guessed the meaning of Tarzan's shrillscream--he had summoned Tantor, the elephant, to his rescue! La'sbrows contracted in a savage scowl. "You refuse La!" she cried. "Thendie! The torch!" she commanded, turning toward the priest.
Tarzan looked up into her face. "Tantor is coming," he said. "Ithought that he would rescue me; but I know now from his voice that hewill slay me and you and all that fall in his path, searching out withthe cunning of Sheeta, the panther, those who would hide from him, forTantor is mad with the madness of love."
La knew only too well the insane ferocity of a bull elephant in MUST.She knew that Tarzan had not exaggerated. She knew that the devil inthe cunning, cruel brain of the great beast might send it hither andthither hunting through the forest for those who escaped its firstcharge, or the beast might pass on without returning--no one mightguess which.
"I cannot love you, La," said Tarzan in a low voice. "I do not knowwhy, for you are very beautiful. I could not go back and live inOpar--I who have the whole broad jungle for my range. No, I cannotlove you but I cannot see you die beneath the goring tusks of madTantor. Cut my bonds before it is too late. Already he is almost uponus. Cut them and I may yet save you."
A little spiral of curling smoke rose from one corner of the pyre--theflames licked upward, crackling. La stood there like a beautifulstatue of despair gazing at Tarzan and at the spreading flames. In amoment they would reach out and grasp him. From the tangled forestcame the sound of cracking limbs and crashing trunks--Tantor was comingdown upon them, a huge Juggernaut of the jungle. The priests werebecoming uneasy. They cast apprehensive glances in the direction ofthe approaching elephant and then back at La.
"Fly!" she commanded them and then she stooped and cut the bondssecuring her prisoner's feet and hands. In an instant Tarzan was uponthe ground. The priests screamed out their rage and disappointment.He with the torch took a menacing step toward La and the ape-man."Traitor!" He shrieked at the woman. "For this you too shall die!"Raising his bludgeon he rushed upon the High Priestess; but Tarzan wasthere before her. Leaping in to close quarters the ape-man seized theupraised weapon and wrenched it from the hands of the frenzied fanaticand then the priest closed upon him with tooth and nail. Seizing thestocky, stunted body in his mighty hands Tarzan raised the creaturehigh above his head, hurling him at his fellows who were now gatheredready to bear down upon their erstwhile captive. La stood proudly withready knife behind the ape-man. No faint sign of fear marked herperfect brow--only haughty disdain for her priests and admiration forthe man she loved so hopelessly filled her thoughts.
Suddenly upon this scene burst the mad bull--a huge tusker, his littleeyes inflamed with insane rage. The priests stood for an instantparalyzed with terror; but Tarzan turned and gathering La in his armsraced for the nearest tree. Tantor bore down upon him trumpetingshrilly. La clung with both white arms about the ape-man's neck. Shefelt him leap into the air and marveled at his strength and his abilityas, burdened with her weight, he swung nimbly into the lower branchesof a large tree and quickly bore her upward beyond reach of the sinuoustrunk of the pachyderm.
Momentarily baffled here, the huge elephant wheeled and bore down uponthe hapless priests who had now scattered, terror-stricken, in everydirection. The nearest he gored and threw high among the branches of atree. One he seized in the coils of his trunk and broke upon a hugebole, dropping the mangled pulp to charge, trumpeting, after another.Two he trampled beneath his huge feet and by then the others haddisappeared into the jungle. Now Tantor turned his attention once moreto Tarzan for one of the symptoms of madness is a revulsion ofaffection--objects of sane love become the objects of insane hatred.Peculiar in the unwritten annals of the jungle was the proverbial lovethat had existed between the ape-man and the tribe of Tantor. Noelephant in all the jungle would harm the Tarmangani--the white-ape;but with the madness of MUST upon him the great bull sought to destroyhis long-time play-fellow.
Back to the tree where La and Tarzan perched came Tantor, the elephant.He reared up with his forefeet against the bole and reached high towardthem with his long trunk; but Tarzan had foreseen this and clamberedbeyond the bull's longest reach. Failure but tended to further enragethe mad creature. He bellowed and trumpeted and screamed until theearth shook to the mighty volume of his noise. He put his head againstthe tree and pushed and the tree bent before his mighty strength; yetstill it held.
The actions of Tarzan were peculiar in the extreme. Had Numa, orSabor, or Sheeta, or any other beast of the jungle been seeking todestroy him, the ape-man would have danced about hurling missiles andinvectives at his assailant. He would have insulted and taunted them,reviling in the jungle Billingsgate he knew so well; but now he satsilent out of Tantor's reach and upon his handsome face was anexpression of deep sorrow and pity, for of all the jungle folk Tarzanloved Tantor the best. Could he have slain him he would not havethought of doing so. His one idea was to escape, for he knew that withthe passing of the MUST Tantor would be sane again an
d that once morehe might stretch at full length upon that mighty back and make foolishspeech into those great, flapping ears.
Finding that the tree would not fall to his pushing, Tantor was butenraged the more. He looked up at the two perched high above him, hisred-rimmed eyes blazing with insane hatred, and then he wound his trunkabout the bole of the tree, spread his giant feet wide apart and tuggedto uproot the jungle giant. A huge creature was Tantor, an enormousbull in the full prime of all his stupendous strength. Mightily hestrove until presently, to Tarzan's consternation, the great tree gaveslowly at the roots. The ground rose in little mounds and ridges aboutthe base of the bole, the tree tilted--in another moment it would beuprooted and fall.
The ape-man whirled La to his back and just as the tree inclined slowlyin its first movement out of the perpendicular, before the sudden rushof its final collapse, he swung to the branches of a lesser neighbor.It was a long and perilous leap. La closed her eyes and shuddered; butwhen she opened them again she found herself safe and Tarzan whirlingonward through the forest. Behind them the uprooted tree crashedheavily to the ground, carrying with it the lesser trees in its pathand then Tantor, realizing that his prey had escaped him, set up oncemore his hideous trumpeting and followed at a rapid charge upon theirtrail.