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Tarzan the Terrible

E >> Edgar Rice Burroughs >> Tarzan the Terrible




At first sight of him Tarzan realized that here lay the greatest danger
to his ruse, for he saw at a glance that the man was antagonistic
toward him and his pretensions, and he knew too that doubtless of
all the people of Pal-ul-don the high priest was most likely to
harbor the truest estimate of Jad-ben-Otho, and, therefore, would
look with suspicion on one who claimed to be the son of a fabulous
god.

No matter what suspicion lurked within his crafty mind, Lu-don,
the high priest of A-lur, did not openly question Tarzan's right
to the title of Dor-ul-Otho, and it may be that he was restrained
by the same doubts which had originally restrained Ko-tan and
his warriors--the doubt that is at the bottom of the minds of all
blasphemers even and which is based upon the fear that after all
there may be a god. So, for the time being at least Lu-don played
safe. Yet Tarzan knew as well as though the man had spoken aloud
his inmost thoughts that it was in the heart of the high priest to
tear the veil from his imposture.

At the entrance to the temple Ko-tan had relinquished the guidance
of the guest to Lu-don and now the latter led Tarzan through those
portions of the temple that he wished him to see. He showed him
the great room where the votive offerings were kept, gifts from
the barbaric chiefs of Pal-ul-don and from their followers. These
things ranged in value from presents of dried fruits to massive
vessels of beaten gold, so that in the great main storeroom and
its connecting chambers and corridors was an accumulation of wealth
that amazed even the eyes of the owner of the secret of the treasure
vaults of Opar.

Moving to and fro throughout the temple were sleek black Waz-don
slaves, fruits of the Ho-don raids upon the villages of their less
civilized neighbors. As they passed the barred entrance to a dim
corridor, Tarzan saw within a great company of pithecanthropi of
all ages and of both sexes, Ho-don as well as Waz-don, the majority
of them squatted upon the stone floor in attitudes of utter dejection
while some paced back and forth, their features stamped with the
despair of utter hopelessness.

"And who are these who lie here thus unhappily?" he asked of Lu-don.
It was the first question that he had put to the high priest since
entering the temple, and instantly he regretted that he had asked
it, for Lu-don turned upon him a face upon which the expression of
suspicion was but thinly veiled.

"Who should know better than the son of Jad-ben-Otho?" he retorted.

"The questions of Dor-ul-Otho are not with impunity answered with
other questions," said the ape-man quietly, "and it may interest
Lu-don, the high priest, to know that the blood of a false priest
upon the altar of his temple is not displeasing in the eyes of
Jad-ben-Otho."

Lu-don paled as he answered Tarzan's question. "They are the offerings
whose blood must refresh the eastern altars as the sun returns to
your father at the day's end."

"And who told you," asked Tarzan, "that Jad-ben-Otho was pleased that
his people were slain upon his altars? What if you were mistaken?"

"Then countless thousands have died in vain," replied Lu-don.

Ko-tan and the surrounding warriors and priests were listening
attentively to the dialogue. Some of the poor victims behind the
barred gateway had heard and rising, pressed close to the barrier
through which one was conducted just before sunset each day, never
to return.

"Liberate them!" cried Tarzan with a wave of his hand toward the
imprisoned victims of a cruel superstition, "for I can tell you in
the name of Jad-ben-Otho that you are mistaken."





10

The Forbidden Garden




Lu-don paled. "It is sacrilege," he cried; "for countless ages
have the priests of the Great God offered each night a life to the
spirit of Jad-ben-Otho as it returned below the western horizon
to its master, and never has the Great God given sign that he was
displeased."

"Stop!" commanded Tarzan. "It is the blindness of the priesthood
that has failed to read the messages of their god. Your warriors
die beneath the knives and clubs of the Wazdon; your hunters are
taken by ja and jato; no day goes by but witnesses the deaths of
few or many in the villages of the Ho-don, and one death each day
of those that die are the toll which Jad-ben-Otho has exacted for
the lives you take upon the eastern altar. What greater sign of
his displeasure could you require, O stupid priest?"

Lu-don was silent. There was raging within him a great conflict
between his fear that this indeed might be the son of god and his
hope that it was not, but at last his fear won and he bowed his
head. "The son of Jad-ben-Otho has spoken," he said, and turning
to one of the lesser priests: "Remove the bars and return these
people from whence they came."

He thus addressed did as he was bid and as the bars came down the
prisoners, now all fully aware of the miracle that had saved them,
crowded forward and throwing themselves upon their knees before
Tarzan raised their voices in thanksgiving.

Ko-tan was almost as staggered as the high priest by this ruthless
overturning of an age-old religious rite. "But what," he cried, "may
we do that will be pleasing in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho?" turning
a look of puzzled apprehension toward the ape-man.

"If you seek to please your god," he replied, "place upon your
altars such gifts of food and apparel as are most welcome in the
city of your people. These things will Jad-ben-Otho bless, when
you may distribute them among those of the city who need them most.
With such things are your storerooms filled as I have seen with
mine own eyes, and other gifts will be brought when the priests
tell the people that in this way they find favor before their god,"
and Tarzan turned and signified that he would leave the temple.

As they were leaving the precincts devoted to the worship of their
deity, the ape-man noticed a small but rather ornate building that
stood entirely detached from the others as though it had been cut
from a little pinnacle of limestone which had stood out from its
fellows. As his interested glance passed over it he noticed that
its door and windows were barred.

"To what purpose is that building dedicated?" he asked of Lu-don.
"Who do you keep imprisoned there?"

"It is nothing," replied the high priest nervously, "there is no
one there. The place is vacant. Once it was used but not now for
many years," and he moved on toward the gateway which led back
into the palace. Here he and the priests halted while Tarzan with
Ko-tan and his warriors passed out from the sacred precincts of
the temple grounds.

The one question which Tarzan would have asked he had feared to
ask for he knew that in the hearts of many lay a suspicion as to
his genuineness, but he determined that before he slept he would
put the question to Ko-tan, either directly or indirectly--as to
whether there was, or had been recently within the city of A-lur
a female of the same race as his.

As their evening meal was being served to them in the banquet
hall of Ko-tan's palace by a part of the army of black slaves upon
whose shoulders fell the burden of all the heavy and menial tasks
of the city, Tarzan noticed that there came to the eyes of one of
the slaves what was apparently an expression of startled recognition,
as he looked upon the ape-man for the first time in the banquet
hall of Ko-tan. And again later he saw the fellow whisper to another
slave and nod his head in his direction. The ape-man did not recall
ever having seen this Waz-don before and he was at a loss to account
for an explanation of the fellow's interest in him, and presently
the incident was all but forgotten.

Ko-tan was surprised and inwardly disgusted to discover that his
godly guest had no desire to gorge himself upon rich foods and
that he would not even so much as taste the villainous brew of the
Ho-don. To Tarzan the banquet was a dismal and tiresome affair,
since so great was the interest of the guests in gorging themselves
with food and drink that they had no time for conversation, the
only vocal sounds being confined to a continuous grunting which,
together with their table manners reminded Tarzan of a visit he
had once made to the famous Berkshire herd of His Grace, the Duke
of Westminster at Woodhouse, Chester.

One by one the diners succumbed to the stupefying effects of the
liquor with the result that the grunting gave place to snores, so
presently Tarzan and the slaves were the only conscious creatures
in the banquet hall.

Rising, the ape-man turned to a tall black who stood behind him.
"I would sleep," he said, "show me to my apartment."

As the fellow conducted him from the chamber the slave who had
shown surprise earlier in the evening at sight of him, spoke again
at length to one of his fellows. The latter cast a half-frightened
look in the direction of the departing ape-man. "If you are right,"
he said, "they should reward us with our liberty, but if you are
wrong, O Jad-ben-Otho, what will be our fate?"

"But I am not wrong!" cried the other.

"Then there is but one to tell this to, for I have heard that he
looked sour when this Dor-ul-Otho was brought to the temple and that
while the so-called son of Jad-ben-Otho was there he gave this one
every cause to fear and hate him. I mean Lu-don, the high priest."

"You know him?" asked the other slave.

"I have worked in the temple," replied his companion.

"Then go to him at once and tell him, but be sure to exact the
promise of our freedom for the proof."

And so a black Waz-don came to the temple gate and asked to see
Lu-don, the high priest, on a matter of great importance, and though
the hour was late Lu-don saw him, and when he had heard his story
he promised him and his friend not only their freedom but many
gifts if they could prove the correctness of their claims.

And as the slave talked with the high priest in the temple at
A-lur the figure of a man groped its way around the shoulder of
Pastar-ul-ved and the moonlight glistened from the shiny barrel of
an Enfield that was strapped to the naked back, and brass cartridges
shed tiny rays of reflected light from their polished cases where
they hung in the bandoliers across the broad brown shoulders and
the lean waist.

Tarzan's guide conducted him to a chamber overlooking the blue
lake where he found a bed similar to that which he had seen in the
villages of the Waz-don, merely a raised dais of stone upon which
was piled great quantities of furry pelts. And so he lay down to
sleep, the question that he most wished to put still unasked and
unanswered.

With the coming of a new day he was awake and wandering about the
palace and the palace grounds before there was sign of any of the
inmates of the palace other than slaves, or at least he saw no
others at first, though presently he stumbled upon an enclosure
which lay almost within the center of the palace grounds surrounded
by a wall that piqued the ape-man's curiosity, since he had determined
to investigate as fully as possible every part of the palace and
its environs.

This place, whatever it might be, was apparently without doors or
windows but that it was at least partially roofless was evidenced
by the sight of the waving branches of a tree which spread above
the top of the wall near him. Finding no other method of access,
the ape-man uncoiled his rope and throwing it over the branch of
the tree where it projected beyond the wall, was soon climbing with
the ease of a monkey to the summit.

There he found that the wall surrounded an enclosed garden in which
grew trees and shrubs and flowers in riotous profusion. Without
waiting to ascertain whether the garden was empty or contained
Ho-don, Waz-don, or wild beasts, Tarzan dropped lightly to the
sward on the inside and without further loss of time commenced a
systematic investigation of the enclosure.

His curiosity was aroused by the very evident fact that the place
was not for general use, even by those who had free access to other
parts of the palace grounds and so there was added to its natural
beauties an absence of mortals which rendered its exploration all
the more alluring to Tarzan since it suggested that in such a place
might he hope to come upon the object of his long and difficult
search.

In the garden were tiny artificial streams and little pools of water,
flanked by flowering bushes, as though it all had been designed by
the cunning hand of some master gardener, so faithfully did it carry
out the beauties and contours of nature upon a miniature scale.

The interior surface of the wall was fashioned to represent the
white cliffs of Pal-ul-don, broken occasionally by small replicas
of the verdure-filled gorges of the original.

Filled with admiration and thoroughly enjoying each new surprise
which the scene offered, Tarzan moved slowly around the garden, and
as always he moved silently. Passing through a miniature forest he
came presently upon a tiny area of flowerstudded sward and at the
same time beheld before him the first Ho-don female he had seen
since entering the palace. A young and beautiful woman stood in
the center of the little open space, stroking the head of a bird
which she held against her golden breastplate with one hand. Her
profile was presented to the ape-man and he saw that by the standards
of any land she would have been accounted more than lovely.

Seated in the grass at her feet, with her back toward him, was a
female Waz-don slave. Seeing that she he sought was not there and
apprehensive that an alarm be raised were he discovered by the two
women, Tarzan moved back to hide himself in the foliage, but before
he had succeeded the Ho-don girl turned quickly toward him as though
apprised of his presence by that unnamed sense, the manifestations
of which are more or less familiar to us all.

At sight of him her eyes registered only her surprise though there
was no expression of terror reflected in them, nor did she scream
or even raise her well-modulated voice as she addressed him.

"Who are you," she asked, "who enters thus boldly the Forbidden
Garden?"

At sound of her mistress' voice the slave maiden turned quickly,
rising to her feet. "Tarzan-jad-guru!" she exclaimed in tones of
mingled astonishment and relief.

"You know him?" cried her mistress turning toward the slave and
affording Tarzan an opportunity to raise a cautioning finger to
his lips lest Pan-at-lee further betray him, for it was Pan-at-lee
indeed who stood before him, no less a source of surprise to him
than had his presence been to her.

Thus questioned by her mistress and simultaneously admonished to
silence by Tarzan, Pan-at-lee was momentarily silenced and then
haltingly she groped for a way to extricate herself from her dilemma.
"I thought--" she faltered, "but no, I am mistaken--I thought that
he was one whom I had seen before near the Kor-ul-gryf."

The Ho-don looked first at one and then at the other an expression
of doubt and questioning in her eyes. "But you have not answered
me," she continued presently; "who are you?"

"You have not heard then," asked Tarzan, "of the visitor who arrived
at your king's court yesterday?"

"You mean," she exclaimed, "that you are the Dor-ul-Otho?" And now
the erstwhile doubting eyes reflected naught but awe.

"I am he," replied Tarzan; "and you?"

"I am O-lo-a, daughter of Ko-tan, the king," she replied.

So this was O-lo-a, for love of whom Ta-den had chosen exile rather
than priesthood. Tarzan had approached more closely the dainty
barbarian princess. "Daughter of Ko-tan," he said, "Jad-ben-Otho
is pleased with you and as a mark of his favor he has preserved
for you through many dangers him whom you love."

"I do not understand," replied the girl but the flush that mounted
to her cheek belied her words. "Bu-lat is a guest in the palace of
Ko-tan, my father. I do not know that he has faced any danger. It
is to Bu-lat that I am betrothed."

"But it is not Bu-lat whom you love," said Tarzan.

Again the flush and the girl half turned her face away. "Have I
then displeased the Great God?" she asked.

"No," replied Tarzan; "as I told you he is well satisfied and for
your sake he has saved Ta-den for you."

"Jad-ben-Otho knows all," whispered the girl, "and his son shares
his great knowledge."

"No," Tarzan hastened to correct her lest a reputation for omniscience
might prove embarrassing. "I know only what Jad-ben-Otho wishes me
to know."

"But tell me," she said, "I shall be reunited with Ta-den? Surely
the son of god can read the future."

The ape-man was glad that he had left himself an avenue of escape.
"I know nothing of the future," he replied, "other than what
Jad-ben-Otho tells me. But I think you need have no fear for the
future if you remain faithful to Ta-den and Ta-den's friends."

"You have seen him?" asked O-lo-a. "Tell me, where is he?"

"Yes," replied Tarzan, "I have seen him. He was with Om-at, the
gund of Kor-ul-ja."

"A prisoner of the Waz-don?" interrupted the girl.

"Not a prisoner but an honored guest," replied the ape-man.

"Wait," he exclaimed, raising his face toward the heavens; "do not
speak. I am receiving a message from Jad-ben-Otho, my father."

The two women dropped to their knees, covering their faces with
their hands, stricken with awe at the thought of the awful nearness
of the Great God. Presently Tarzan touched O-lo-a on the shoulder.

"Rise," he said. "Jad-ben-Otho has spoken. He has told me that this
slave girl is from the tribe of Kor-ul-ja, where Ta-den is, and
that she is betrothed to Om-at, their chief. Her name is Pan-at-lee."

O-lo-a turned questioningly toward Pan-at-lee. The latter nodded,
her simple mind unable to determine whether or not she and her
mistress were the victims of a colossal hoax. "It is even as he
says," she whispered.

O-lo-a fell upon her knees and touched her forehead to Tarzan's feet.
"Great is the honor that Jad-ben-Otho has done his poor servant,"
she cried. "Carry to him my poor thanks for the happiness that he
has brought to O-lo-a."

"It would please my father," said Tarzan, "if you were to cause
Pan-at-lee to be returned in safety to the village of her people."

"What cares Jad-ben-Otho for such as she?" asked O-lo-a, a slight
trace of hauteur in her tone.

"There is but one god," replied Tarzan, "and he is the god of the
Waz-don as well as of the Ho-don; of the birds and the beasts and
the flowers and of everything that grows upon the earth or beneath
the waters. If Pan-at-lee does right she is greater in the eyes
of Jad-ben-Otho than would be the daughter of Ko-tan should she do
wrong."

It was evident that O-lo-a did not quite understand this
interpretation of divine favor, so contrary was it to the teachings
of the priesthood of her people. In one respect only did Tarzan's
teachings coincide with her belief--that there was but one god. For
the rest she had always been taught that he was solely the god of
the Ho-don in every sense, other than that other creatures were
created by Jad-ben-Otho to serve some useful purpose for the benefit
of the Ho-don race. And now to be told by the son of god that she
stood no higher in divine esteem than the black handmaiden at her
side was indeed a shock to her pride, her vanity, and her faith.
But who could question the word of Dor-ul-Otho, especially when
she had with her own eyes seen him in actual communion with god in
heaven?

"The will of Jad-ben-Otho be done," said O-lo-a meekly, "if it lies
within my power. But it would be best, O Dor-ul-Otho, to communicate
your father's wish directly to the king."

"Then keep her with you," said Tarzan, "and see that no harm befalls
her."

O-lo-a looked ruefully at Pan-at-lee. "She was brought to me but
yesterday," she said, "and never have I had slave woman who pleased
me better. I shall hate to part with her."

"But there are others," said Tarzan.

"Yes," replied O-lo-a, "there are others, but there is only one
Pan-at-lee."

"Many slaves are brought to the city?" asked Tarzan.

"Yes," she replied.

"And many strangers come from other lands?" he asked.

She shook her head negatively. "Only the Ho-don from the other
side of the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho," she replied, "and they are
not strangers."

"Am I then the first stranger to enter the gates of A-lur?" he
asked.

"Can it be," she parried, "that the son of Jad-ben-Otho need question
a poor ignorant mortal like O-lo-a?"

"As I told you before," replied Tarzan, "Jad-ben-Otho alone is
all-knowing."

"Then if he wished you to know this thing," retorted O-lo-a quickly,
"you would know it."

Inwardly the ape-man smiled that this little heathen's astuteness
should beat him at his own game, yet in a measure her evasion
of the question might be an answer to it. "There have been other
strangers here then recently?" he persisted.

"I cannot tell you what I do not know," she replied. "Always is
the palace of Ko-tan filled with rumors, but how much fact and how
much fancy how may a woman of the palace know?"

"There has been such a rumor then?" he asked.

"It was only rumor that reached the Forbidden Garden," she replied.

"It described, perhaps, a woman of another race?" As he put the
question and awaited her answer he thought that his heart ceased
to beat, so grave to him was the issue at stake.

The girl hesitated before replying, and then. "No," she said, "I
cannot speak of this thing, for if it be of sufficient importance
to elicit the interest of the gods then indeed would I be subject
to the wrath of my father should I discuss it."

"In the name of Jad-ben-Otho I command you to speak," said Tarzan.
"In the name of Jad-ben-Otho in whose hands lies the fate of Ta-den!"

The girl paled. "Have mercy!" she cried, "and for the sake of Ta-den
I will tell you all that I know."

"Tell what?" demanded a stern voice from the shrubbery behind them.
The three turned to see the figure of Ko-tan emerging from the
foliage. An angry scowl distorted his kingly features but at sight
of Tarzan it gave place to an expression of surprise not unmixed
with fear. "Dor-ul-Otho!" he exclaimed, "I did not know that it
was you," and then, raising his head and squaring his shoulders
he said, "but there are places where even the son of the Great God
may not walk and this, the Forbidden Garden of Ko-tan, is one."

It was a challenge but despite the king's bold front there was a
note of apology in it, indicating that in his superstitious mind
there flourished the inherent fear of man for his Maker. "Come,
Dor-ul-Otho," he continued, "I do not know all this foolish child
has said to you but whatever you would know Ko-tan, the king, will
tell you. O-lo-a, go to your quarters immediately," and he pointed
with stern finger toward the opposite end of the garden.

The princess, followed by Pan-at-lee, turned at once and left them.

"We will go this way," said Ko-tan and preceding, led Tarzan
in another direction. Close to that part of the wall which they
approached Tarzan perceived a grotto in the miniature cliff into
the interior of which Ko-tan led him, and down a rocky stairway to
a gloomy corridor the opposite end of which opened into the palace
proper. Two armed warriors stood at this entrance to the Forbidden
Garden, evidencing how jealously were the sacred precincts of the
place guarded.

In silence Ko-tan led the way back to his own quarters in the
palace. A large chamber just outside the room toward which Ko-tan
was leading his guest was filled with chiefs and warriors awaiting
the pleasure of their ruler. As the two entered, an aisle was
formed for them the length of the chamber, down which they passed
in silence.

Close to the farther door and half hidden by the warriors who
stood before him was Lu-don, the high priest. Tarzan glimpsed him
but briefly but in that short period he was aware of a cunning
and malevolent expression upon the cruel countenance that he was
subconsciously aware boded him no good, and then with Ko-tan he
passed into the adjoining room and the hangings dropped.

At the same moment the hideous headdress of an under priest
appeared in the entrance of the outer chamber. Its owner, pausing
for a moment, glanced quickly around the interior and then having
located him whom he sought moved rapidly in the direction of Lu-don.
There was a whispered conversation which was terminated by the high
priest.

"Return immediately to the quarters of the princess," he said,
"and see that the slave is sent to me at the temple at once." The
under priest turned and departed upon his mission while Lu-don also
left the apartment and directed his footsteps toward the sacred
enclosure over which he ruled.

A half-hour later a warrior was ushered into the presence of
Ko-tan. "Lu-don, the high priest, desires the presence of Ko-tan,
the king, in the temple," he announced, "and it is his wish that
he come alone."

Ko-tan nodded to indicate that he accepted the command which even
the king must obey. "I will return presently, Dor-ul-Otho," he
said to Tarzan, "and in the meantime my warriors and my slaves are
yours to command."

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