Show r all AU the jewellc jew eloc of opar by EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS author of TARZAN OF THE APES SON OF TARZAN copyright 1918 A C mcclurg mcclura clu C co CHAPTER XI continued 10 cada tile the high priest he announced bounce noun ced would sacrifice you both to tile the flaming god but all of us except cade would gladly return to opar with our queen you yi iu are arc many il against one up tarzan why should you not have our will go your way with la to opar par and ami it if cada inter interferes feres slay him tile the priests of op opar nr welcomed tills mig hit loud cries 0 of approval they rushed forward and seized cada they talked in loud menacing tones into liis its ear they threatened him with mith bludgeon and knife until at last ho he acquiesced in their demands though sullenly ul lenly and then tarzan stepped close before cada priest lie he said la goes back to her temple under tile the protection of her priests and the threat of tarzan of the apes that whoever harms her shall die tarzan will go again to opar before the next rains and it if harm has befallen la woe betide cada the high priest sullenly cada promised not to harm ills his queen protect her cried tarzan to the other Opar lans protect her so that is nhen hen tarzan comes again lie will find la there to greet him la will be the re to greet thee exclaimed the high priestess and la will III wait longing always origin longing until you conic come again oh tell me that 3 ou on will come who knows asked the ape man as he swung quickly into the trees and raced off toward tile the cast for a moment la stood looking after him then her head drooped a sigh escaped her lips and like an old woman she took up the march toward distant opar through the trees raced tarzan of the apes until the darkness of night had bad settled upon the jungle then lie he lay down and slept with no thought beyond the morrow and with even la but the shadow of a memory within his consciousness but a few marches to the north lady greystoke looked forward to the day when her mighty lord find and master should discover the crime of achmet zelt zek and be spee speeding dlug to rescue and avenge avedge and even as the pictured the coming of john clayton the object of lier her thoughts squatted almost naked beside a fallen log beneath which he was as searching with grimy fingers tor for a clil chance beetle or a lu luscious selous grub I 1 two days elapsed following f oil owing the theft of the jewels before tarzan gave them a thought then as they chanced to enter his mind he conceived a desire to play with them again and having nothing better to do than satisfy the first whim which possessed him he rose and started across the plain from the forest in which lie he had spent the preceding day though no mark showed where the gems had been buried and though the spot resembled the balance of an unbroken stretch several miles in length abere the reeds terminated at the edge of the men meadowland meadow dowland land yet the ape ulan man moved with unerring precision dl to the place where he had bad hid his als treasures with his hunting knife lie he upturned the loose earth beneath which the pouch be but though lie he excavated to a greater distance thau than the depth of the original hole there was no sign of 0 pouch or jewels Tar trow brow clouded as lie he discovered that he tad had been despoiled little or no reasoning was required to convince him of ct the identity of the guilty party and with the same celerity that had marked aked his decision to unearth the jewels lie set out upon the trail of the thief though the spoor was two days old li tactically obliterated in many 1 lilaces liln cices ces Ta inn followed it with COM chiq INtra tive fuse case th man he followed ii tu ittu alasa shead of him when tar IK ul the fultun find and each luy day he gained upon the ape man the latter ho however weier felt not the slightest doubt as to the outcome some day he be would overhaul his quarry lie he could bide his time in peace until that day dawned damned doggedly he followed the faint spoor pausing by day only to kill and eat and at night only to sleep and refresh himself occasionally he passed parties of savage warriors but these lie he gave a wide berth for lie he was hunting with a purpose that eliat was not to be distracted by the minor accidents of the trail the parties were ere of the collecting hordes of tile the and their allies which casull bagull had bad scattered his messengers broadcast to summon they were marching to a common rendezvous in preparation for an assault upon tile the stronghold of achmet zek but to tarzan they were enemies he retained no conscious memory of any friendship for the black men it was night when vohen he halted outside the palisades ded village of the arab raider perched in the branches of 0 a great tree he gazed down upon the life within the inclosure to this place had the spoor led him ills quarry lu arry must be within but how was lie he to find him among 0 0 many huts tarzan although cognizant of his bis mighty powers realized also his limitations lie ile knew that he could not successfully cope with great numbers in oren open battle ile he must resort to the stealth and trickery of tile the wild mild beast if lie he were to succeed patiently lie he waited until the streets street were deserted by all save the sentries at the gates then he dropped lightly to the ground circled to tile the opposite side of the billage and approached the palisade at his bis side hun hung a long rawhide ilde a natural and more dependable evolution from the grass rope of his childhood loosening tills this ile he spread the noose upon the ground behind him and with aith a quick movement of his 1119 wrist tossed the colls coils over one of the sharpened projections of the summit of the palisade drawing the noose taut he be tested the solidity of its hold Satis satisfied fled the ape man ran nimbly up the vertical wall aided by the rope which be clutched in both hands once at the top it required but a moment to gather the dangling rope once more into its coils make it fast again at ills bis waist alst take a quick glance downward m ard within the palisade anil and assured that no one lurked directly beneath him drop softly to the ground now he was within tile village before him stretched a series of tents and native huts it was not necessary that lie he enter each habitation through a door a window or an open chink his nose told him whether or no his prey lay within for some time lie he found one disappointment following upon the heels of another in quiet quick succession no spoor of the belgian was discernible but at last he came to a tent where the smell of the thief was strong tarzan listened his car doss close to the canvas at the lle rear but no sound came horn within at last he cut one of the pin ropes raised tile the bottom of tile the canvas and intruded ills hia head within the interior all was quiet and lark dark tarzan crawled cautiously within the scent of it the belgian was strong but it was not live scent even before lie he had bad examined tho the interior minutely tarzan linew knew that no ono one was within it in one corner lie he found a pile of blankets and clothing scattered about but no pouch of pretty pebbles at the side where the blankets and clothing lay the ope ape man nian discovered that the tent wall had been becu loosened tit nt the bottom fin and presently lie aenied seined that the belgian had recently passed out of the tent by tills avenue tarzan was not long in following follo the wily that his prey had fled tile spoor led always in the blindow binl dikil I 1 at the rear of the hnis hills timid tells of il I 1 1 the village it wat quite e id ill is i I 1 tarzan that the bellian belgian hail had gone alone and secretly upon his mission at the back of a native hut the spoor led through a small hole recently cut in the brush wall and into tho the dark interior beyond fearlessly tarzan tartan followed the trail on hands and knees he crawled through the small aperture within the hut his nostrils were assailed by many odors but clear and distinct among them was one that halt half aroused a latent nici memory nory of the he past it was the faint and delicate odor of a woman with the cognizance of it there rose in the breast of the ape man a strange uneasiness the result of an irresistible force NN hibb he was destined to become acquainted with anew the instinct which draws the mate male to his mate in the same hut was the scent spoor of t the lie belgian too and as both these assailed the nostrils ot of the ape man iliin mingling ling one with the other it jealous rage leaped and burned within him though his memory held before the mirror of recollection no image of tile the she to which he had attached ills his desire si re like tile the tent he had investigated the hut too was empty and after satisfying himself that his stolen pouch wits was secreted nowhere within he left as lie he had entered by the hole bole in the rear wall here lie he took the of the belgian followed it across the clearing over the palisade and out into the dark jungle beyond CHAPTER XII the flight of after had arranged the dummy in his bed and sneaked out into the darkness of the village beneath the rear wall of ills his tent lie he had gone directly to the hut in which jane clayton was held captive tile the belgian being one of achilles principal lieutenants might naturally go where he wished within or without the village lind and so the sentry did not question his right to enter tile the hut with the white woman prisoner within Wit liln called in french and in a low Nih whisper isper lady greystoke it is 1 I SI 11 Fre coult where are you idl ZV I 1 0 4 7 al i 4 1 protect her cried tarzan but there was no response hastily the man felt around the interior groping blindly th through rought the dankness dai kness with outstretched hands there was no one within I 1 herpers pers astonishment surpassed words ile he was on the point ot of stepping without to question the sentry when his eyes becoming accustomed to the dark discovered a blotch of lesser blackness near the base of tile rear wall vall of the hut examination revealed the fact that the blotch was an opening cut in the wall it was large to permit penult the passage of ills his body and assured as he was that lady greystoke had passed out through the aperture in an attempt to escape tile il lage lie ho lost no time in availing himself of the same avenue but neither did lie he lose time in a fruitless search tor for jane clayton his own life depended upon the chance of 0 his eluding or outdistancing achmet zek when that worthy should have discovered that lie he had escaped ills his original plan had contemplated connivance in the escape of lady grey stoke tor for good and sufficient reasons accompanied by a titled tilled englishwoman whom he had rescued from a fright ful fate and his identity vouched couched tor for by her as that of 0 a frenchman by the name of Fre coult lie had looked forward and not without reason to tile the active assistance of the british from the moment that he dime came in contact with their first outpost but now that lady greystoke greystone Greys had disappeared though lie mill hlll looked to lo wild waid tile the east for or hope its his clif chances inces worp ere lessoned lessened ond and mi other subsidiary design completely ant hed front from the koinm dial he lidid arst laid eyes upon little lime clayton in ill nail 1111 ared sed within ills ennst it 11 searel ims liin the till lul anu rican ift if lu ad owl 1 ai ai liuigi I acks ut 01 the jewels had necessitated illah the belgian Bel filan had bad dreamed in ills his plan planning ling of a future in which lie might convince lady greystoke that her husband was dead and by playing upon her gratitude win her for himself at that part of the village farthest from the gates discovered that two or three long poles taken from a nearby near by pile which had bad been collected for the construction of huts had bad been leaned against tile the top of the palisade forming a precarious though not impossible avenue of escape rightly lie inferred eliat 1 thus had bad lady greystoke found th the e means to scale the wall nor did he lose even a moment in following her lead once in the jungle he struck out directly eastward A few rulle rulles miles s south of him jane clayton lay panting among the branches of a tree in which she had taken refuge from a prowling and hungry lioness Ion her escape from the village id i ad d been much easier than she had anticipated the knife which she had used to cut her way through the brush wall of tile the hut to freedom she had found sticking in the wall of her prison doubtless left there by accident when allen a former tenant had vacated the premises for an hour she had followed the old game trail toward the south until there fell upon uon her trained hearing the stealthy padding of a stalking beast behind her the nearest tree gave her instant sanctuary for she was too wise in the ways of the jungle to chance her safety for a moment after discovering that she ws being hunted with better success traveled slowly onward until dawn when to his chagrin lie he discovered a mounted arab upon lits his trail it was one of achmet minions many of whom were scattered in all directions through the forest searching tor for the fugitive belgian jane claytona claytons clay tons escape had not yet been discovered when achmet zek and his searchers set forth to overhaul with the discovery of the arab close behind him the belgian idd hid in the foliage of a leafy bush here the trail ran straight tor for a considerable distance and down the shady forest aisle beneath the overarching branches of the trees rode the white robed figure of 0 the pursuer nearer and nearer he came crouched closer to the ground behind the leaves of liis his hiding biding place across the trail a vine moved pers eyes instantly Instant ix centered upon the spot there was no wind to stir the foliage in the depths of the jungle again the vine moved in the mind of the belgian only the presence of a sinister and malevolent force could account for the lie phenomenon the mans eyes bored steadily dlly into the screen of loaves leaves upon the opposite side of the trail gradually a form took shape beyond them is a tawny form grim all and terrible with yellow green eyes glaring fearsomely across the narrow trail straight into his could have screamed in fright but up tile the trail was coming the messenger of another death equally sure and no loss less terrible ile he remained silent almost paralyzed by tear fear the arab approached across the trail from the lion crouched for the spring when suddenly liis ills attention was attracted toward the horseman boneman the belgian saw the massive head turn in the direction of the raider and his heart all but ceased its beating as lie he waited tile the result of this interruption ter at a walk the horseman approached shuddered find and finif rose at the same instant the lion sprang from his place of co concealment full upon the mounted man the hore bore with a shrill neigh of terror shrank si sideways deNnys almost upon the belgian the lion dragged the helpless arab from his saddle anil and the horse leaped back into the trail and flow flew away toward the x west est sees the diamonds tio I 1 ID UK CONTINUED |