23
Taken Alive
As night fell a warrior from the palace of Ja-lur slipped into the
temple grounds. He made his way to where the lesser priests were
quartered. His presence aroused no suspicion as it was not unusual
for warriors to have business within the temple. He came at last to
a chamber where several priests were congregated after the evening
meal. The rites and ceremonies of the sacrifice had been concluded
and there was nothing more of a religious nature to make call upon
their time until the rites at sunrise.
Now the warrior knew, as in fact nearly all Pal-ul-don knew, that
there was no strong bond between the temple and the palace at
Ja-lur and that Ja-don only suffered the presence of the priests
and permitted their cruel and abhorrent acts because of the fact
that these things had been the custom of the Ho-don of Pal-ul-don
for countless ages, and rash indeed must have been the man who would
have attempted to interfere with the priests or their ceremonies.
That Ja-don never entered the temple was well known, and that his
high priest never entered the palace, but the people came to the
temple with their votive offerings and the sacrifices were made
night and morning as in every other temple in Pal-ul-don.
The warriors knew these things, knew them better perhaps than a
simple warrior should have known them. And so it was here in the
temple that he looked for the aid that he sought in the carrying
out of whatever design he had.
As he entered the apartment where the priests were he greeted them
after the manner which was customary in Pal-ul-don, but at the
same time he made a sign with his finger that might have attracted
little attention or scarcely been noticed at all by one who knew
not its meaning. That there were those within the room who noticed
it and interpreted it was quickly apparent, through the fact that
two of the priests rose and came close to him as he stood just within
the doorway and each of them, as he came, returned the signal that
the warrior had made.
The three talked for but a moment and then the warrior turned and
left the apartment. A little later one of the priests who had talked
with him left also and shortly after that the other.
In the corridor they found the warrior waiting, and led him to
a little chamber which opened upon a smaller corridor just beyond
where it joined the larger. Here the three remained in whispered
conversation for some little time and then the warrior returned to
the palace and the two priests to their quarters.
The apartments of the women of the palace at Ja-lur are all upon
the same side of a long, straight corridor. Each has a single door
leading into the corridor and at the opposite end several windows
overlooking a garden. It was in one of these rooms that Jane slept
alone. At each end of the corridor was a sentinel, the main body
of the guard being stationed 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
wild orgies as had resounded through the palace of the king at
A-lur. Ja-lur was a quiet city by comparison with the capital, yet
there was always a guard kept at every entrance to the chambers
of Ja-don and his immediate family as well as at the gate leading
into the temple and that which opened upon the city.
These guards, however, were small, consisting usually of not more than
five or six warriors, one of whom remained awake while the others
slept. Such were the conditions then when two warriors presented
themselves, one at either end of the corridor, to the sentries who
watched over the safety of Jane Clayton and the Princess O-lo-a,
and each of the newcomers repeated to the sentinels the stereotyped
words which announced that they were relieved and these others sent
to watch in their stead. Never is a warrior loath to be relieved
of sentry duty. Where, under different circumstances he might
ask numerous questions he is now too well satisfied to escape the
monotonies of that universally hated duty. And so these two men
accepted their relief without question and hastened away to their
pallets.
And then a third warrior entered the corridor and all of the
newcomers came together before the door of the ape-man's slumbering
mate. And one was the strange warrior who had met Ja-don and Tarzan
outside the city of Ja-lur as they had approached it the previous
day; and he was the same warrior who had entered the temple a short
hour before, but the faces of his fellows were unfamiliar, even to
one another, since it is seldom that a priest removes his hideous
headdress in the presence even of his associates.
Silently they lifted the hangings that hid the interior of the
room from the view of those who passed through the corridor, and
stealthily slunk within. Upon a pile of furs in a far corner lay
the sleeping form of Lady Greystoke. The bare feet of the intruders
gave forth no sound as they crossed the stone floor toward her.
A ray of moonlight entering through a window near her couch shone
full upon her, revealing the beautiful contours of an arm and
shoulder in cameo-distinctness against the dark furry pelt beneath
which she slept, and the perfect profile that was turned toward
the skulking three.
But neither the beauty nor the helplessness of the sleeper aroused
such sentiments of passion or pity as might stir in the breasts of
normal men. To the three priests she was but a lump of clay, nor
could they conceive aught of that passion which had aroused men to
intrigue and to murder for possession of this beautiful American
girl, and which even now was influencing the destiny of undiscovered
Pal-ul-don.
Upon the floor of the chamber were numerous pelts and as the
leader of the trio came close to the sleeping woman he stooped and
gathered up one of the smaller of these. Standing close to her head
he held the rug outspread above her face. "Now," he whispered and
simultaneously he threw the rug over the woman's head and his two
fellows leaped upon her, seizing her arms and pinioning her body
while their leader stifled her cries with the furry pelt. Quickly
and silently they bound her wrists and gagged her and during the
brief time that their work required there was no sound that might
have been heard by occupants of the adjoining apartments.
Jerking her roughly to her feet they forced her toward a window
but she refused to walk, throwing herself instead upon the floor.
They were very angry and would have resorted to cruelties to compel
her obedience but dared not, since the wrath of Lu-don might fall
heavily upon whoever mutilated his fair prize.
And so they were forced to lift and carry her bodily. Nor was the
task any sinecure since the captive kicked and struggled as best
she might, making their labor as arduous as possible. But finally
they succeeded in getting her through the window and into the
garden beyond where one of the two priests from the Ja-lur temple
directed their steps toward a small barred gateway in the south
wall of the enclosure.
Immediately beyond this a flight of stone stairs led downward
toward the river and at the foot of the stairs were moored several
canoes. Pan-sat had indeed been fortunate in enlisting aid from
those who knew the temple and the palace so well, or otherwise he
might never have escaped from Ja-lur with his captive. Placing the
woman in the bottom of a light canoe Pan-sat entered it and took up
the paddle. His companions unfastened the moorings and shoved the
little craft out into the current of the stream. Their traitorous
work completed they turned and retraced their steps toward the
temple, while Pan-sat, paddling strongly with the current, moved
rapidly down the river that would carry him to the Jad-ben-lul and
A-lur.
The moon had set and the eastern horizon still gave no hint of
approaching day as a long file of warriors wound stealthily through
the darkness into the city of A-lur. Their plans were all laid and
there seemed no likelihood of their miscarriage. A messenger had
been dispatched to Ta-den whose forces lay northwest of the city.
Tarzan, with a small contingent, was to enter the temple through
the secret passageway, the location of which he alone knew, while
Ja-don, with the greater proportion of the warriors, was to attack
the palace gates.
The ape-man, leading his little band, moved stealthily through the
winding alleys of A-lur, arriving undetected at the building which
hid the entrance to the secret passageway. This spot being best
protected by the fact that its existence was unknown to others
than the priests, was unguarded. To facilitate the passage of his
little company through the narrow winding, uneven tunnel, Tarzan
lighted a torch which had been brought for the purpose and preceding
his warriors led the way toward the temple.
That he could accomplish much once he reached the inner chambers
of the temple with his little band of picked warriors the ape-man
was confident since an attack at this point would bring confusion
and consternation to the easily overpowered priests, and permit
Tarzan to attack the palace forces in the rear at the same time
that Ja-don engaged them at the palace gates, while Ta-den and his
forces swarmed the northern walls. Great value had been placed by
Ja-don on the moral effect of the Dor-ul-Otho's mysterious appearance
in the heart of the temple and he had urged Tarzan to take every
advantage of the old chieftain's belief that many of Lu-don's
warriors still wavered in their allegiance between the high priest
and the Dor-ul-Otho, being held to the former more by the fear which
he engendered in the breasts of all his followers than by any love
or loyalty they might feel toward him.
There is a Pal-ul-donian proverb setting forth a truth similar to
that contained in the old Scotch adage that "The best laid schemes
o' mice and men gang aft a-gley." Freely translated it might
read, "He who follows the right trail sometimes reaches the wrong
destination," and such apparently was the fate that lay in the
footsteps of the great chieftain of the north and his godlike ally.
Tarzan, more familiar with the windings of the corridors than his
fellows and having the advantage of the full light of the torch,
which at best was but a dim and flickering affair, was some distance
ahead of the others, and in his keen anxiety to close with the
enemy he gave too little thought to those who were to support him.
Nor is this strange, since from childhood the ape-man had been
accustomed to fight the battles of life single-handed so that it
had become habitual for him to depend solely upon his own cunning
and prowess.
And so it was that he came into the upper corridor from which opened
the chambers of Lu-don and the lesser priests far in advance of his
warriors, and as he turned into this corridor with its dim cressets
flickering somberly, he saw another enter it from a corridor before
him--a warrior half carrying, half dragging the figure of a woman.
Instantly Tarzan recognized the gagged and fettered captive whom
he had thought safe in the palace of Ja-don at Ja-lur.
The warrior with the woman had seen Tarzan at the same instant that
the latter had discovered him. He heard the low beastlike growl
that broke from the ape-man's lips as he sprang forward to wrest
his mate from her captor and wreak upon him the vengeance that was
in the Tarmangani's savage heart. Across the corridor from Pan-sat
was the entrance to a smaller chamber. Into this he leaped carrying
the woman with him.
Close behind came Tarzan of the Apes. He had cast aside his torch
and drawn the long knife that had been his father's. With the
impetuosity of a charging bull he rushed into the chamber in pursuit
of Pan-sat to find himself, when the hangings dropped behind him,
in utter darkness. Almost immediately there was a crash of stone
on stone before him followed a moment later by a similar crash
behind. No other evidence was necessary to announce to the ape-man
that he was again a prisoner in Lu-don's temple.
He stood perfectly still where he had halted at the first sound of
the descending stone door. Not again would he easily be precipitated
to the gryf pit, or some similar danger, as had occurred when Lu-don
had trapped him in the Temple of the Gryf. As he stood there his
eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness and he became aware that
a dim light was entering the chamber through some opening, though
it was several minutes before he discovered its source. In the roof
of the chamber he finally discerned a small aperture, possibly three
feet in diameter and it was through this that what was really only
a lesser darkness rather than a light was penetrating its Stygian
blackness of the chamber in which he was imprisoned.
Since the doors had fallen he had heard no sound though his keen
ears were constantly strained in an effort to discover a clue
to the direction taken by the abductor of his mate. Presently he
could discern the outlines of his prison cell. It was a small room,
not over fifteen feet across. On hands and knees, with the utmost
caution, he examined the entire area of the floor. In the exact
center, directly beneath the opening 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 far as the floor was concerned.
The walls next received his attention. There were only two openings.
One the doorway through which he had entered, and upon the opposite
side that through which the warrior had borne Jane Clayton. These
were both closed by the slabs of stone which the fleeing warrior
had released as he departed.
Lu-don, the high priest, licked his thin lips and rubbed his bony
white hands together in gratification as Pan-sat bore Jane Clayton
into his presence and laid her on the floor of the chamber before
him.
"Good, Pan-sat!" he exclaimed. "You shall be well rewarded for this
service. Now, if we but had the false Dor-ul-Otho in our power all
Pal-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
him perhaps. Tell me, my wonderful Pan-sat, tell me quickly. My
breast is bursting with a desire to know."
"I have taken him alive, Lu-don, my master," replied Pan-sat. "He
is in the little chamber that the ancients built to trap those who
were too powerful 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
and the temple."
"I speak the truth, master," replied the priest, "there are warriors
in the corridor approaching this very chamber, and they come from
the direction of the secret passage which leads hither from the
city."
"It may be even as he says," exclaimed Pan-sat. "It was from that
direction that Tarzan-jad-guru was coming when I discovered and
trapped him. He was leading his warriors to the very holy of holies."
Lu-don ran quickly to the doorway and looked out into the corridor.
At a glance he saw that the fears of the frightened priest were
well founded. A dozen warriors were moving along the corridor toward
him but they seemed confused and far from sure of themselves. The
high priest guessed that deprived of the leadership of Tarzan they
were little better than lost in the unknown mazes of the subterranean
precincts of the temple.
Stepping back into the apartment he seized a leathern thong that
depended from the ceiling. He pulled upon it sharply and through
the temple boomed the deep tones of a metal gong. Five times the
clanging notes rang through the corridors, then he turned toward
the two priests. "Bring the woman and follow me," he directed.
Crossing the chamber he passed through a small doorway, the others
lifting Jane Clayton from the floor and following him. Through a
narrow corridor and up a flight of steps they went, turning to right
and left and doubling back through a maze of winding passageways
which terminated in a spiral staircase that gave forth at the
surface of the ground within the largest of the inner altar courts
close beside the eastern altar.
From all directions now, in the corridors below and the grounds
above, came the sound of hurrying footsteps. The five strokes of
the great gong had summoned the faithful to the defense of Lu-don
in his private chambers. The priests who knew the way led the less
familiar warriors to the spot and presently those who had accompanied
Tarzan found themselves not only leaderless but facing a vastly
superior force. They were brave men but under the circumstances
they were helpless and so they fell back the way they had come,
and when they reached the narrow confines of the smaller passageway
their safety was assured since only one foeman could attack them
at a time. But their plans were frustrated and possibly also their
entire cause lost, so heavily had Ja-don banked upon the success
of their venture.
With the clanging of the temple gong Ja-don assumed that Tarzan
and his party had struck their initial blow and so he launched his
attack upon the palace gate. To the ears of Lu-don in the inner
temple court came the savage war cries that announced the beginning
of the battle. Leaving Pan-sat and the other priest to guard
the woman he hastened toward the palace personally to direct his
force and as he passed through the temple grounds he dispatched a
messenger to learn the outcome of the fight in the corridors below,
and other messengers to spread the news among his followers that
the false Dor-ul-Otho was a prisoner in the temple.
As the din of battle rose above A-lur, Lieutenant Erich Obergatz
turned upon his bed of soft hides and sat up. He rubbed his eyes
and looked about 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
and touched her forehead to the floor. "It must be that the enemy
have come, O Jad-ben-Otho." She spoke soothingly for she had reason
to know the terrors of the mad frenzy into which trivial things
sometimes threw the Great God.
A priest burst suddenly through the hangings of the doorway and
falling upon his hands and knees rubbed his forehead against the
stone flagging. "O Jad-ben-Otho," he cried, "the warriors of Ja-don
have attacked the palace and the temple. Even now they are fighting
in the corridors near the quarters of Lu-don, and the high priest
begs that you come to the palace and encourage your faithful warriors
by your presence."
Obergatz sprang to his feet. "I am Jad-ben-Otho," he screamed.
"With lightning I will blast the blasphemers who dare attack the
holy city of A-lur."
For a moment he rushed aimlessly and madly about the room, while
the priest and the slave remained upon hands and knees with their
foreheads against the floor.
"Come," cried Obergatz, planting a vicious kick in the side of the
slave girl. "Come! Would you wait here all day while the forces of
darkness overwhelm the City of Light?"
Thoroughly frightened as were all those who were forced to serve the
Great God, the two arose and followed Obergatz towards the palace.
Above the shouting of the warriors rose constantly the cries of
the temple priests: "Jad-ben-Otho is here and the false Dor-ul-Otho
is a prisoner in the temple." The persistent cries reached even to
the ears of the enemy as it was intended that they should.
