23
Taken Alive
As night fell a warrior from the palace of Ja-lur slipped into thetemple grounds. He made his way to where the lesser priests werequartered. His presence aroused no suspicion as it was not unusual forwarriors to have business within the temple. He came at last to achamber where several priests were congregated after the evening meal.The rites and ceremonies of the sacrifice had been concluded and therewas nothing more of a religious nature to make call upon their timeuntil the rites at sunrise.
Now the warrior knew, as in fact nearly all Pal-ul-don knew, that therewas no strong bond between the temple and the palace at Ja-lur and thatJa-don only suffered the presence of the priests and permitted theircruel and abhorrent acts because of the fact that these things had beenthe custom of the Ho-don of Pal-ul-don for countless ages, and rashindeed must have been the man who would have attempted to interferewith the priests or their ceremonies. That Ja-don never entered thetemple was well known, and that his high priest never entered thepalace, but the people came to the temple with their votive offeringsand the sacrifices were made night and morning as in every other templein Pal-ul-don.
The warriors knew these things, knew them better perhaps than a simplewarrior should have known them. And so it was here in the temple thathe looked for the aid that he sought in the carrying out of whateverdesign he had.
As he entered the apartment where the priests were he greeted themafter the manner which was customary in Pal-ul-don, but at the sametime he made a sign with his finger that might have attracted littleattention or scarcely been noticed at all by one who knew not itsmeaning. That there were those within the room who noticed it andinterpreted it was quickly apparent, through the fact that two of thepriests rose and came close to him as he stood just within the doorwayand each of them, as he came, returned the signal that the warrior hadmade.
The three talked for but a moment and then the warrior turned and leftthe apartment. A little later one of the priests who had talked withhim left also and shortly after that the other.
In the corridor they found the warrior waiting, and led him to a littlechamber which opened upon a smaller corridor just beyond where itjoined the larger. Here the three remained in whispered conversationfor some little time and then the warrior returned to the palace andthe two priests to their quarters.
The apartments of the women of the palace at Ja-lur are all upon thesame side of a long, straight corridor. Each has a single door leadinginto the corridor and at the opposite end several windows overlooking agarden. It was in one of these rooms that Jane slept alone. At each endof the corridor was a sentinel, the main body of the guard beingstationed in a room near the outer entrance to the women's quarters.
The palace slept for they kept early hours there where Ja-don ruled.The pal-e-don-so of the great chieftain of the north knew no such wildorgies as had resounded through the palace of the king at A-lur. Ja-lurwas a quiet city by comparison with the capital, yet there was always aguard kept at every entrance to the chambers of Ja-don and hisimmediate family as well as at the gate leading into the temple andthat which opened upon the city.
These guards, however, were small, consisting usually of not more thanfive or six warriors, one of whom remained awake while the othersslept. Such were the conditions then when two warriors presentedthemselves, one at either end of the corridor, to the sentries whowatched over the safety of Jane Clayton and the Princess O-lo-a, andeach of the newcomers repeated to the sentinels the stereotyped wordswhich announced that they were relieved and these others sent to watchin their stead. Never is a warrior loath to be relieved of sentry duty.Where, under different circumstances he might ask numerous questions heis now too well satisfied to escape the monotonies of that universallyhated duty. And so these two men accepted their relief without questionand hastened away to their pallets.
And then a third warrior entered the corridor and all of the newcomerscame together before the door of the ape-man's slumbering mate. And onewas the strange warrior who had met Ja-don and Tarzan outside the cityof Ja-lur as they had approached it the previous day; and he was thesame warrior who had entered the temple a short hour before, but thefaces of his fellows were unfamiliar, even to one another, since it isseldom that a priest removes his hideous headdress in the presence evenof his associates.
Silently they lifted the hangings that hid the interior of the roomfrom the view of those who passed through the corridor, and stealthilyslunk within. Upon a pile of furs in a far corner lay the sleeping formof Lady Greystoke. The bare feet of the intruders gave forth no soundas they crossed the stone floor toward her. A ray of moonlight enteringthrough a window near her couch shone full upon her, revealing thebeautiful contours of an arm and shoulder in cameo-distinctness againstthe dark furry pelt beneath which she slept, and the perfect profilethat was turned toward the skulking three.
But neither the beauty nor the helplessness of the sleeper aroused suchsentiments of passion or pity as might stir in the breasts of normalmen. To the three priests she was but a lump of clay, nor could theyconceive aught of that passion which had aroused men to intrigue and tomurder for possession of this beautiful American girl, and which evennow was influencing the destiny of undiscovered Pal-ul-don.
Upon the floor of the chamber were numerous pelts and as the leader ofthe trio came close to the sleeping woman he stooped and gathered upone of the smaller of these. Standing close to her head he held the rugoutspread above her face. "Now," he whispered and simultaneously hethrew the rug over the woman's head and his two fellows leaped uponher, seizing her arms and pinioning her body while their leader stifledher cries with the furry pelt. Quickly and silently they bound herwrists and gagged her and during the brief time that their workrequired there was no sound that might have been heard by occupants ofthe adjoining apartments.
Jerking her roughly to her feet they forced her toward a window but sherefused to walk, throwing herself instead upon the floor. They werevery angry and would have resorted to cruelties to compel her obediencebut dared not, since the wrath of Lu-don might fall heavily uponwhoever mutilated his fair prize.
And so they were forced to lift and carry her bodily. Nor was the taskany sinecure since the captive kicked and struggled as best she might,making their labor as arduous as possible. But finally they succeededin getting her through the window and into the garden beyond where oneof the two priests from the Ja-lur temple directed their steps toward asmall barred gateway in the south wall of the enclosure.
Immediately beyond this a flight of stone stairs led downward towardthe river and at the foot of the stairs were moored several canoes.Pan-sat had indeed been fortunate in enlisting aid from those who knewthe temple and the palace so well, or otherwise he might never haveescaped from Ja-lur with his captive. Placing the woman in the bottomof a light canoe Pan-sat entered it and took up the paddle. Hiscompanions unfastened the moorings and shoved the little craft out intothe current of the stream. Their traitorous work completed they turnedand retraced their steps toward the temple, while Pan-sat, paddlingstrongly with the current, moved rapidly down the river that wouldcarry him to the Jad-ben-lul and A-lur.
The moon had set and the eastern horizon still gave no hint ofapproaching day as a long file of warriors wound stealthily through thedarkness into the city of A-lur. Their plans were all laid and thereseemed no likelihood of their miscarriage. A messenger had beendispatched to Ta-den whose forces lay northwest of the city. Tarzan,with a small contingent, was to enter the temple through the secretpassageway, the location of which he alone knew, while Ja-don, with thegreater proportion of the warriors, was to attack the palace gates.
The ape-man, leading his little band, moved stealthily through thewinding alleys of A-lur, arriving undetected at the building which hidthe entrance to the secret passageway. This spot being best protectedby the fact that its existence was unknown to others than the priests,was unguarded. To facilitate the passage of his little company throughthe narrow winding, uneven tunn
el, Tarzan lighted a torch which hadbeen brought for the purpose and preceding his warriors led the waytoward the temple.
That he could accomplish much once he reached the inner chambers of thetemple with his little band of picked warriors the ape-man wasconfident since an attack at this point would bring confusion andconsternation to the easily overpowered priests, and permit Tarzan toattack the palace forces in the rear at the same time that Ja-donengaged them at the palace gates, while Ta-den and his forces swarmedthe northern walls. Great value had been placed by Ja-don on the moraleffect of the Dor-ul-Otho's mysterious appearance in the heart of thetemple and he had urged Tarzan to take every advantage of the oldchieftain's belief that many of Lu-don's warriors still wavered intheir allegiance between the high priest and the Dor-ul-Otho, beingheld to the former more by the fear which he engendered in the breastsof all his followers than by any love or loyalty they might feel towardhim.
There is a Pal-ul-donian proverb setting forth a truth similar to thatcontained in the old Scotch adage that "The best laid schemes o' miceand men gang aft a-gley." Freely translated it might read, "He whofollows the right trail sometimes reaches the wrong destination," andsuch apparently was the fate that lay in the footsteps of the greatchieftain of the north and his godlike ally.
Tarzan, more familiar with the windings of the corridors than hisfellows and having the advantage of the full light of the torch, whichat best was but a dim and flickering affair, was some distance ahead ofthe others, and in his keen anxiety to close with the enemy he gave toolittle thought to those who were to support him. Nor is this strange,since from childhood the ape-man had been accustomed to fight thebattles of life single-handed so that it had become habitual for him todepend solely upon his own cunning and prowess.
And so it was that he came into the upper corridor from which openedthe chambers of Lu-don and the lesser priests far in advance of hiswarriors, and as he turned into this corridor with its dim cressetsflickering somberly, he saw another enter it from a corridor beforehim--a warrior half carrying, half dragging the figure of a woman.Instantly Tarzan recognized the gagged and fettered captive whom he hadthought safe in the palace of Ja-don at Ja-lur.
The warrior with the woman had seen Tarzan at the same instant that thelatter had discovered him. He heard the low beastlike growl that brokefrom the ape-man's lips as he sprang forward to wrest his mate from hercaptor and wreak upon him the vengeance that was in the Tarmangani'ssavage heart. Across the corridor from Pan-sat was the entrance to asmaller chamber. Into this he leaped carrying the woman with him.
Close behind came Tarzan of the Apes. He had cast aside his torch anddrawn the long knife that had been his father's. With the impetuosityof a charging bull he rushed into the chamber in pursuit of Pan-sat tofind himself, when the hangings dropped behind him, in utter darkness.Almost immediately there was a crash of stone on stone before himfollowed a moment later by a similar crash behind. No other evidencewas necessary to announce to the ape-man that he was again a prisonerin Lu-don's temple.
He stood perfectly still where he had halted at the first sound of thedescending stone door. Not again would he easily be precipitated to theGRYF pit, or some similar danger, as had occurred when Lu-don hadtrapped him in the Temple of the Gryf. As he stood there his eyesslowly grew accustomed to the darkness and he became aware that a dimlight was entering the chamber through some opening, though it wasseveral minutes before he discovered its source. In the roof of thechamber he finally discerned a small aperture, possibly three feet indiameter and it was through this that what was really only a lesserdarkness rather than a light was penetrating its Stygian blackness ofthe chamber in which he was imprisoned.
Since the doors had fallen he had heard no sound though his keen earswere constantly strained in an effort to discover a clue to thedirection taken by the abductor of his mate. Presently he could discernthe outlines of his prison cell. It was a small room, not over fifteenfeet across. On hands and knees, with the utmost caution, he examinedthe entire area of the floor. In the exact center, directly beneath theopening in the roof, was a trap, but otherwise the floor was solid.With this knowledge it was only necessary to avoid this spot in so faras the floor was concerned. The walls next received his attention.There were only two openings. One the doorway through which he hadentered, and upon the opposite side that through which the warrior hadborne Jane Clayton. These were both closed by the slabs of stone whichthe fleeing warrior had released as he departed.
Lu-don, the high priest, licked his thin lips and rubbed his bony whitehands together in gratification as Pan-sat bore Jane Clayton into hispresence and laid her on the floor of the chamber before him.
"Good, Pan-sat!" he exclaimed. "You shall be well rewarded for thisservice. Now, if we but had the false Dor-ul-Otho in our power allPal-ul-don would be at our feet."
"Master, I have him!" cried Pan-sat.
"What!" exclaimed Lu-don, "you have Tarzan-jad-guru? You have slain himperhaps. Tell me, my wonderful Pan-sat, tell me quickly. My breast isbursting with a desire to know."
"I have taken him alive, Lu-don, my master," replied Pan-sat. "He is inthe little chamber that the ancients built to trap those who were toopowerful to take alive in personal encounter."
"You have done well, Pan-sat, I--"
A frightened priest burst into the apartment. "Quick, master, quick,"he cried, "the corridors are filled with the warriors of Ja-don."
"You are mad," cried the high priest. "My warriors hold the palace andthe temple."
"I speak the truth, master," replied the priest, "there are warriors inthe corridor approaching this very chamber, and they come from thedirection of the secret passage which leads hither from the city."
"It may be even as he says," exclaimed Pan-sat. "It was from thatdirection that Tarzan-jad-guru was coming when I discovered and trappedhim. He was leading his warriors to the very holy of holies."
Lu-don ran quickly to the doorway and looked out into the corridor. Ata glance he saw that the fears of the frightened priest were wellfounded. A dozen warriors were moving along the corridor toward him butthey seemed confused and far from sure of themselves. The high priestguessed that deprived of the leadership of Tarzan they were littlebetter than lost in the unknown mazes of the subterranean precincts ofthe temple.
Stepping back into the apartment he seized a leathern thong thatdepended from the ceiling. He pulled upon it sharply and through thetemple boomed the deep tones of a metal gong. Five times the clangingnotes rang through the corridors, then he turned toward the twopriests. "Bring the woman and follow me," he directed.
Crossing the chamber he passed through a small doorway, the otherslifting Jane Clayton from the floor and following him. Through anarrow corridor and up a flight of steps they went, turning to rightand left and doubling back through a maze of winding passageways whichterminated in a spiral staircase that gave forth at the surface of theground within the largest of the inner altar courts close beside theeastern altar.
From all directions now, in the corridors below and the grounds above,came the sound of hurrying footsteps. The five strokes of the greatgong had summoned the faithful to the defense of Lu-don in his privatechambers. The priests who knew the way led the less familiar warriorsto the spot and presently those who had accompanied Tarzan foundthemselves not only leaderless but facing a vastly superior force. Theywere brave men but under the circumstances they were helpless and sothey fell back the way they had come, and when they reached the narrowconfines of the smaller passageway their safety was assured since onlyone foeman could attack them at a time. But their plans were frustratedand possibly also their entire cause lost, so heavily had Ja-don bankedupon the success of their venture.
With the clanging of the temple gong Ja-don assumed that Tarzan and hisparty had struck their initial blow and so he launched his attack uponthe palace gate. To the ears of Lu-don in the inner temple court camethe savage war cries that announced the beginning of the battle.Leaving Pan-sat and the othe
r priest to guard the woman he hastenedtoward the palace personally to direct his force and as he passedthrough the temple grounds he dispatched a messenger to learn theoutcome of the fight in the corridors below, and other messengers tospread the news among his followers that the false Dor-ul-Otho was aprisoner in the temple.
As the din of battle rose above A-lur, Lieutenant Erich Obergatz turnedupon his bed of soft hides and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and lookedabout him. It was still dark without.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho," he cried, "who dares disturb my slumber?"
A slave squatting upon the floor at the foot of his couch shuddered andtouched her forehead to the floor. "It must be that the enemy havecome, O Jad-ben-Otho." She spoke soothingly for she had reason to knowthe terrors of the mad frenzy into which trivial things sometimes threwthe Great God.
A priest burst suddenly through the hangings of the doorway and fallingupon his hands and knees rubbed his forehead against the stoneflagging. "O Jad-ben-Otho," he cried, "the warriors of Ja-don haveattacked the palace and the temple. Even now they are fighting in thecorridors near the quarters of Lu-don, and the high priest begs thatyou come to the palace and encourage your faithful warriors by yourpresence."
Obergatz sprang to his feet. "I am Jad-ben-Otho," he screamed. "Withlightning I will blast the blasphemers who dare attack the holy city ofA-lur."
For a moment he rushed aimlessly and madly about the room, while thepriest and the slave remained upon hands and knees with their foreheadsagainst the floor.
"Come," cried Obergatz, planting a vicious kick in the side of theslave girl. "Come! Would you wait here all day while the forces ofdarkness overwhelm the City of Light?"
Thoroughly frightened as were all those who were forced to serve theGreat God, the two arose and followed Obergatz towards the palace.
Above the shouting of the warriors rose constantly the cries of thetemple priests: "Jad-ben-Otho is here and the false Dor-ul-Otho is aprisoner in the temple." The persistent cries reached even to the earsof the enemy as it was intended that they should.