2
"To the Death!"
In the moment of discovery Tarzan saw that the creature was almost
a counterpart of his companion in size and conformation, with the
exception that his body was entirely clothed with a coat of shaggy
black hair which almost concealed his features, while his harness
and weapons were similar to those of the creature he had attacked.
Ere Tarzan could prevent the creature had struck the ape-man's
companion a blow upon the head with his knotted club that felled
him, unconscious, to the earth; but before he could inflict further
injury upon his defenseless prey the ape-man had closed with him.
Instantly Tarzan realized that he was locked with a creature of
almost superhuman strength. The sinewy fingers of a powerful hand
sought his throat while the other lifted the bludgeon above his
head. But if the strength of the hairy attacker was great, great
too was that of his smooth-skinned antagonist. Swinging a single
terrific blow with clenched fist to the point of the other's chin,
Tarzan momentarily staggered his assailant and then his own fingers
closed upon the shaggy throat, as with the other hand he seized the
wrist of the arm that swung the club. With equal celerity he shot
his right leg behind the shaggy brute and throwing his weight forward
hurled the thing over his hip heavily to the ground, at the same
time precipitating his own body upon the other's chest.
With the shock of the impact the club fell from the brute's hand
and Tarzan's hold was wrenched from its throat. Instantly the two
were locked in a deathlike embrace. Though the creature bit at
Tarzan the latter was quickly aware that this was not a particularly
formidable method of offense or defense, since its canines were scarcely
more developed than his own. The thing that he had principally to
guard against was the sinuous tail which sought steadily to wrap
itself about his throat and against which experience had afforded
him no defense.
Struggling and snarling the two rolled growling about the sward at
the foot of the tree, first one on top and then the other but each
more occupied at present in defending his throat from the other's
choking grasp than in aggressive, offensive tactics. But presently
the ape-man saw his opportunity and as they rolled about he forced
the creature closer and closer to the pool, upon the banks of which
the battle was progressing. At last they lay upon the very verge of
the water and now it remained for Tarzan to precipitate them both
beneath the surface but in such a way that he might remain on top.
At the same instant there came within range of Tarzan's vision,
just behind the prostrate form of his companion, the crouching,
devil-faced figure of the striped saber-tooth hybrid, eyeing him
with snarling, malevolent face.
Almost simultaneously Tarzan's shaggy antagonist discovered
the menacing figure of the great cat. Immediately he ceased his
belligerent activities against Tarzan and, jabbering and chattering
to the ape-man, he tried to disengage himself from Tarzan's hold
but in such a way that indicated that as far as he was concerned
their battle was over. Appreciating the danger to his unconscious
companion and being anxious to protect him from the saber-tooth
the ape-man relinquished his hold upon his adversary and together
the two rose to their feet.
Drawing his knife Tarzan moved slowly toward the body of his
companion, expecting that his recent antagonist would grasp the
opportunity for escape. To his surprise, however, the beast, after
regaining its club, advanced at his side.
The great cat, flattened upon its belly, remained motionless except
for twitching tail and snarling lips where it lay perhaps fifty
feet beyond the body of the pithecanthropus. As Tarzan stepped over
the body of the latter he saw the eyelids quiver and open, and in
his heart he felt a strange sense of relief that the creature was
not dead and a realization that without his suspecting it there
had arisen within his savage bosom a bond of attachment for this
strange new friend.
Tarzan continued to approach the saber-tooth, nor did the shaggy
beast at his right lag behind. Closer and closer they came until
at a distance of about twenty feet the hybrid charged. Its rush was
directed toward the shaggy manlike ape who halted in his tracks
with upraised bludgeon to meet the assault. Tarzan, on the contrary,
leaped forward and with a celerity second not even to that of the
swift-moving cat, he threw himself headlong upon him as might a
Rugby tackler on an American gridiron. His right arm circled the
beast's neck in front of the right shoulder, his left behind the
left foreleg, and so great was the force of the impact that the
two rolled over and over several times upon the ground, the cat
screaming and clawing to liberate itself that it might turn upon
its attacker, the man clinging desperately to his hold.
Seemingly the attack was one of mad, senseless ferocity unguided by
either reason or skill. Nothing, however, could have been farther
from the truth than such an assumption since every muscle in
the ape-man's giant frame obeyed the dictates of the cunning mind
that long experience had trained to meet every exigency of such an
encounter. The long, powerful legs, though seemingly inextricably
entangled with the hind feet of the clawing cat, ever as by a miracle,
escaped the raking talons and yet at just the proper instant in the
midst of all the rolling and tossing they were where they should be
to carry out the ape-man's plan of offense. So that on the instant
that the cat believed it had won the mastery of its antagonist it
was jerked suddenly upward as the ape-man rose to his feet, holding
the striped back close against his body as he rose and forcing it
backward until it could but claw the air helplessly.
Instantly the shaggy black rushed in with drawn knife which it
buried in the beast's heart. For a few moments Tarzan retained his
hold but when the body had relaxed in final dissolution he pushed
it from him and the two who had formerly been locked in mortal
combat stood facing each other across the body of the common foe.
Tarzan waited, ready either for peace or war. Presently two shaggy
black hands were raised; the left was laid upon its own heart and
the right extended until the palm touched Tarzan's breast. It was
the same form of friendly salutation with which the pithecanthropus
had sealed his alliance with the ape-man and Tarzan, glad of every
ally he could win in this strange and savage world, quickly accepted
the proffered friendship.
At the conclusion of the brief ceremony Tarzan, glancing in the
direction of the hairless pithecanthropus, discovered that the
latter had recovered consciousness and was sitting erect watching
them intently. He now rose slowly and at the same time the shaggy
black turned in his direction and addressed him in what evidently
was their common language. The hairless one replied and the
two approached each other slowly. Tarzan watched interestedly the
outcome of their meeting. They halted a few paces apart, first one
and then the other speaking rapidly but without apparent excitement,
each occasionally glancing or nodding toward Tarzan, indicating
that he was to some extent the subject of their conversation.
Presently they advanced again until they met, whereupon was repeated
the brief ceremony of alliance which had previously marked the
cessation of hostilities between Tarzan and the black. They then
advanced toward the ape-man addressing him earnestly as though
endeavoring to convey to him some important information. Presently,
however, they gave it up as an unprofitable job and, resorting to
sign language, conveyed to Tarzan that they were proceeding upon
their way together and were urging him to accompany them.
As the direction they indicated was a route which Tarzan had not
previously traversed he was extremely willing to accede to their
request, as he had determined thoroughly to explore this unknown
land before definitely abandoning search for Lady Jane therein.
For several days their way led through the foothills parallel to the
lofty range towering above. Often were they menaced by the savage
denizens of this remote fastness, and occasionally Tarzan glimpsed
weird forms of gigantic proportions amidst the shadows of the
nights.
On the third day they came upon a large natural cave in the face
of a low cliff at the foot of which tumbled one of the numerous
mountain brooks that watered the plain below and fed the morasses
in the lowlands at the country's edge. Here the three took up their
temporary abode where Tarzan's instruction in the language of his
companions progressed more rapidly than while on the march.
The cave gave evidence of having harbored other manlike forms
in the past. Remnants of a crude, rock fireplace remained and the
walls and ceiling were blackened with the smoke of many fires.
Scratched in the soot, and sometimes deeply into the rock beneath,
were strange hieroglyphics and the outlines of beasts and birds and
reptiles, some of the latter of weird form suggesting the extinct
creatures of Jurassic times. Some of the more recently made
hieroglyphics Tarzan's companions read with interest and commented
upon, and then with the points of their knives they too added to
the possibly age-old record of the blackened walls.
Tarzan's curiosity was aroused, but the only explanation at which
he could arrive was that he was looking upon possibly the world's
most primitive hotel register. At least it gave him a further insight
into the development of the strange creatures with which Fate had
thrown him. Here were men with the tails of monkeys, one of them
as hair covered as any fur-bearing brute of the lower orders, and
yet it was evident that they possessed not only a spoken, but a
written language. The former he was slowly mastering and at this
new evidence of unlooked-for civilization in creatures possessing
so many of the physical attributes of beasts, Tarzan's curiosity
was still further piqued and his desire quickly to master their
tongue strengthened, with the result that he fell to with even
greater assiduity to the task he had set himself. Already he knew
the names of his companions and the common names of the fauna and
flora with which they had most often come in contact.
Ta-den, he of the hairless, white skin, having assumed the role of
tutor, prosecuted his task with a singleness of purpose that was
reflected in his pupil's rapid mastery of Ta-den's mother tongue.
Om-at, the hairy black, also seemed to feel that there rested upon
his broad shoulders a portion of the burden of responsibility for
Tarzan's education, with the result that either one or the other of
them was almost constantly coaching the ape-man during his waking
hours. The result was only what might have been expected--a rapid
assimilation of the teachings to the end that before any of them
realized it, communication by word of mouth became an accomplished
fact.
Tarzan explained to his companions the purpose of his mission but
neither could give him any slightest thread of hope to weave into
the fabric of his longing. Never had there been in their country a
woman such as he described, nor any tailless man other than himself
that they ever had seen.
"I have been gone from A-lur while Bu, the moon, has eaten
seven times," said Ta-den. "Many things may happen in seven times
twenty-eight days; but I doubt that your woman could have entered
our country across the terrible morasses which even you found
an almost insurmountable obstacle, and if she had, could she have
survived the perils that you already have encountered beside those
of which you have yet to learn? Not even our own women venture into
the savage lands beyond the cities."
"'A-lur,' Light-city, City of Light," mused Tarzan, translating
the word into his own tongue. "And where is A-lur?" he asked. "Is
it your city, Ta-den, and Om-at's?"
"It is mine," replied the hairless one; "but not Om-at's. The
Waz-don have no cities--they live in the trees of the forests and
the caves of the hills--is it not so, black man?" he concluded,
turning toward the hairy giant beside him.
"Yes," replied Om-at, "We Waz-don are free--only the Hodon imprison
themselves in cities. I would not be a white man!"
Tarzan smiled. Even here was the racial distinction between white
man and black man--Ho-don and Waz-don. Not even the fact that
they appeared to be equals in the matter of intelligence made any
difference--one was white and one was black, and it was easy to
see that the white considered himself superior to the other--one
could see it in his quiet smile.
"Where is A-lur?" Tarzan asked again. "You are returning to it?"
"It is beyond the mountains," replied Ta-den. "I do not return to
it--not yet. Not until Ko-tan is no more."
"Ko-tan?" queried Tarzan.
"Ko-tan is king," explained the pithecanthropus. "He rules this
land. I was one of his warriors. I lived in the palace of Ko-tan
and there I met O-lo-a, his daughter. We loved, Likestar-light,
and I; but Ko-tan would have none of me. He sent me away to fight
with the men of the village of Dak-at, who had refused to pay his
tribute to the king, thinking that I would be killed, for Dak-at is
famous for his many fine warriors. And I was not killed. Instead
I returned victorious with the tribute and with Dak-at himself my
prisoner; but Ko-tan was not pleased because he saw that O-lo-a
loved me even more than before, her love being strengthened and
fortified by pride in my achievement.
"Powerful is my father, Ja-don, the Lion-man, chief of the largest
village outside of A-lur. Him Ko-tan hesitated to affront and so
he could not but praise me for my success, though he did it with
half a smile. But you do not understand! It is what we call a smile
that moves only the muscles of the face and affects not the light
of the eyes--it means hypocrisy and duplicity. I must be praised
and rewarded. What better than that he reward me with the hand of
O-lo-a, his daughter? But no, he saves O-lo-a for Bu-lot, son of
Mo-sar, the chief whose great-grandfather was king and who thinks
that he should be king. Thus would Ko-tan appease the wrath of
Mo-sar and win the friendship of those who think with Mo-sar that
Mo-sar should be king.
"But what reward shall repay the faithful Ta-den? Greatly do we
honor our priests. Within the temples even the chiefs and the king
himself bow down to them. No greater honor could Ko-tan confer
upon a subject--who wished to be a priest, but I did not so wish.
Priests other than the high priest must become eunuchs for they
may never marry.
"It was O-lo-a herself who brought word to me that her father had
given the commands that would set in motion the machinery of the
temple. A messenger was on his way in search of me to summon me
to Ko-tan's presence. To have refused the priesthood once it was
offered me by the king would have been to have affronted the temple
and the gods--that would have meant death; but if I did not appear
before Ko-tan I would not have to refuse anything. O-lo-a and I
decided that I must not appear. It was better to fly, carrying in
my bosom a shred of hope, than to remain and, with my priesthood,
abandon hope forever.
"Beneath the shadows of the great trees that grow within the palace
grounds I pressed her to me for, perhaps, the last time and then,
lest by ill-fate I meet the messenger, I scaled the great wall that
guards the palace and passed through the darkened city. My name and
rank carried me beyond the city gate. Since then I have wandered
far from the haunts of the Ho-don but strong within me is the urge
to return if even but to look from without her walls upon the city
that holds her most dear to me and again to visit the village of
my birth, to see again my father and my mother."
"But the risk is too great?" asked Tarzan.
"It is great, but not too great," replied Ta-den. "I shall go."
"And I shall go with you, if I may," said the ape-man, "for I must
see this City of Light, this A-lur of yours, and search there for
my lost mate even though you believe that there is little chance
that I find her. And you, Om-at, do you come with us?"
"Why not?" asked the hairy one. "The lairs of my tribe lie in the
crags above A-lur and though Es-sat, our chief, drove me out I should
like to return again, for there is a she there upon whom I should
be glad to look once more and who would be glad to look upon me.
Yes, I will go with you. Es-sat feared that I might become chief
and who knows but that Es-sat was right. But Pan-at-lee! it is she
I seek first even before a chieftainship."
"We three, then, shall travel together," said Tarzan.
"And fight together," added Ta-den; "the three as one," and as he
spoke he drew his knife and held it above his head.
"The three as one," repeated Om-at, drawing his weapon and duplicating
Ta-den's act. "It is spoken!"
"The three as one!" cried Tarzan of the Apes. "To the death!" and
his blade flashed in the sunlight.
"Let us go, then," said Om-at; "my knife is dry and cries aloud
for the blood of Es-sat."
The trail over which Ta-den and Om-at led and which scarcely could
be dignified even by the name of trail was suited more to mountain
sheep, monkeys, or birds than to man; but the three that followed
it were trained to ways which no ordinary man might essay. Now, upon
the lower slopes, it led through dense forests where the ground was
so matted with fallen trees and over-rioting vines and brush that
the way held always to the swaying branches high above the tangle;
again it skirted yawning gorges whose slippery-faced rocks gave
but momentary foothold even to the bare feet that lightly touched
them as the three leaped chamois-like from one precarious foothold
to the next. Dizzy and terrifying was the way that Om-at chose
across the summit as he led them around the shoulder of a towering
crag that rose a sheer two thousand feet of perpendicular rock above
a tumbling river. And when at last they stood upon comparatively
level ground again Om-at turned and looked at them both intently
and especially at Tarzan of the Apes.
"You will both do," he said. "You are fit companions for Om-at,
the Waz-don."
"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.
"I brought you this way," replied the black, "to learn if either
lacked the courage to follow where Om-at led. It is here that the
young warriors of Es-sat come to prove their courage. And yet,
though we are born and raised upon cliff sides, it is considered
no disgrace to admit that Pastar-ul-ved, the Father of Mountains,
has defeated us, for of those who try it only a few succeed--the
bones of the others lie at the feet of Pastar-ul-ved."
Ta-den laughed. "I would not care to come this way often," he said.
"No," replied Om-at; "but it has shortened our journey by at least
a full day. So much the sooner shall Tarzan look upon the Valley of
Jad-ben-Otho. Come!" and he led the way upward along the shoulder
of Pastar-ul-ved until there lay spread below them a scene of mystery
and of beauty--a green valley girt by towering cliffs of marble
whiteness--a green valley dotted by deep blue lakes and crossed
by the blue trail of a winding river. In the center a city of the
whiteness of the marble cliffs--a city which even at so great a
distance evidenced a strange, yet artistic architecture. Outside
the city there were visible about the valley isolated groups
of buildings--sometimes one, again two and three and four in a
cluster--but always of the same glaring whiteness, and always in
some fantastic form.
About the valley the cliffs were occasionally cleft by deep gorges,
verdure filled, giving the appearance of green rivers rioting
downward toward a central sea of green.
"Jad Pele ul Jad-ben-Otho," murmured Tarzan in the tongue of the
pithecanthropi; "The Valley of the Great God--it is beautiful!"
"Here, in A-lur, lives Ko-tan, the king, ruler over all Pal-ul-don,"
said Ta-den.
"And here in these gorges live the Waz-don," exclaimed Om-at, "who
do not acknowledge that Ko-tan is the ruler over all the Land-of-man."
Ta-den smiled and shrugged. "We will not quarrel, you and I," he said
to Om-at, "over that which all the ages have not proved sufficient
time in which to reconcile the Ho-don and Waz-don; but let me
whisper to you a secret, Om-at. The Ho-don live together in greater
or less peace under one ruler so that when danger threatens them
they face the enemy with many warriors, for every fighting Ho-don
of Pal-ul-don is there. But you Waz-don, how is it with you? You
have a dozen kings who fight not only with the Ho-don but with
one another. When one of your tribes goes forth upon the fighting
trail, even against the Ho-don, it must leave behind sufficient
warriors to protect its women and its children from the neighbors
upon either hand. When we want eunuchs for the temples or servants
for the fields or the homes we march forth in great numbers upon
one of your villages. You cannot even flee, for upon either side
of you are enemies and though you fight bravely we come back with
those who will presently be eunuchs in the temples and servants in
our fields and homes. So long as the Waz-don are thus foolish the
Ho-don will dominate and their king will be king of Pal-ul-don."
"Perhaps you are right," admitted Om-at. "It is because our neighbors
are fools, each thinking that his tribe is the greatest and should
rule among the Waz-don. They will not admit that the warriors of
my tribe are the bravest and our shes the most beautiful."
Ta-den grinned. "Each of the others presents precisely the same
arguments that you present, Om-at," he said, "which, my friend, is
the strongest bulwark of defense possessed by the Ho-don."
"Come!" exclaimed Tarzan; "such discussions often lead to quarrels
and we three must have no quarrels. I, of course, am interested
in learning what I can of the political and economic conditions
of your land; I should like to know something of your religion;
but not at the expense of bitterness between my only friends in
Pal-ul-don. Possibly, however, you hold to the same god?"
"There indeed we do differ," cried Om-at, somewhat bitterly and
with a trace of excitement in his voice.
"Differ!" almost shouted Ta-den; "and why should we not differ?
Who could agree with the preposterous----"
"Stop!" cried Tarzan. "Now, indeed, have I stirred up a hornets'
nest. Let us speak no more of matters political or religious."
"That is wiser," agreed Om-at; "but I might mention, for your
information, that the one and only god has a long tail."
"It is sacrilege," cried Ta-den, laying his hand upon his knife;
"Jad-ben-Otho has no tail!"
"Stop!" shrieked Om-at, springing forward; but instantly Tarzan
interposed himself between them.
"Enough!" he snapped. "Let us be true to our oaths of friendship
that we may be honorable in the sight of God in whatever form we
conceive Him."
"You are right, Tailless One," said Ta-den. "Come, Om-at, let us
look after our friendship and ourselves, secure in the conviction
that Jad-ben-Otho is sufficiently powerful to look after himself."
"Done!" agreed Om-at, "but----"
"No 'buts,' Om-at," admonished Tarzan.
The shaggy black shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Shall we make
our way down toward the valley?" he asked. "The gorge below us is
uninhabited; that to the left contains the caves of my people. I
would see Pan-at-lee once more. Ta-den would visit his father in
the valley below and Tarzan seeks entrance to A-lur in search of the
mate that would be better dead than in the clutches of the Ho-don
priests of Jad-ben-Otho. How shall we proceed?"
"Let us remain together as long as possible," urged Ta-den. "You,
Om-at, must seek Pan-at-lee by night and by stealth, for three,
even we three, may not hope to overcome Es-sat and all his warriors.
At any time may we go to the village where my father is chief, for
Ja-don always will welcome the friends of his son. But for Tarzan
to enter A-lur is another matter, though there is a way and he has
the courage to put it to the test--listen, come close for Jad-ben-Otho
has keen ears and this he must not hear," and with his lips close
to the ears of his companions Ta-den, the Tall-tree, son of Ja-don,
the Lion-man, unfolded his daring plan.
And at the same moment, a hundred miles away, a lithe figure,
naked but for a loin cloth and weapons, moved silently across a
thorn-covered, waterless steppe, searching always along the ground
before him with keen eyes and sensitive nostrils.
