CHAPTER VIII



MYSTERY OF THE PAST


La had breakfasted the following morning, and had sent Dooth
with food for Tarzan, when there came to her a young
priestess, who was the sister of Oah.  Even before the girl
had spoken La knew that she was an emissary from Cadj, and
that the treachery of which Dooth had warned her was already
under way. The girl was ill at ease and quite evidently
frightened, for she was young and held in high revere the
queen whom she had good reason to know was all-powerful, and
who might even inflict death upon her if she so wished. La,
who had already determined upon a plan of action that she
knew would be most embarrassing to Cadj and his
conspirators, waited in silence for the girl to speak.  But
it was some time before the girl could muster up her courage
or find a proper opening.  Instead, she spoke of many things
that had no bearing whatsoever upon her subject, and La, the
High Priestess, was amused at her discomfiture.

"It is not often," said La, "that the sister of Oah comes to
the apartments of her queen unless she is bidden.  I am glad
to see that she at last realizes the service that she owes
to the High Priestess of the Flaming God."

"I come," said the girl, at last, speaking almost as one who
has learned a part, "to tell you that I have overheard that
which may be of interest to you, and which I am sure that
you will be glad to hear."

"Yes?" interrogated La, raising her arched eyebrows.

"I overheard Cadj speaking with the lesser priests," the
girl continued, "and I distinctly heard him say that he
would be glad if the ape-man escaped, as that would relieve
you, and Cadj as well, of much embarrassment.  I thought
that La, the queen, would be glad to know this, for it is
known by all of us that La has promised friendship to the
ape-man, and therefore does not wish to sacrifice him upon
the altar of the Flaming God."

"My duty is plain to me," replied La, in a haughty voice,
"and I do not need Cadj nor any hand-maiden to interpret it
to me.  I also know the prerogatives of a High Priestess,
and that the right of sacrifice is one of them.  For this
reason I prevented Cadj from sacrificing the stranger. No
other hand than mine may offer his heart’s blood to the
Flaming God, and upon the third day he shall die beneath my
knife upon the altar of our temple."

The effect of these words upon the girl were precisely what
La had anticipated.  She saw disappointment and chagrin
written upon the face of Cadj's messenger, who now had no
answer, for her instructions had not foreseen this attitude
upon the part of La.  Presently the girl found some lame
pretext upon which to withdraw, and when she had left the
presence of the High Priestess, La could scarcely restrain a
smile.  She had no intention of sacrificing Tarzan, but
this, of course, the sister of Oah did not know.  So she
returned to Cadj and repeated as nearly as she could recall
it, all that La had said to her. The High Priest was much
chagrined, for his plan had been now, not so much to
encompass the destruction of Tarzan as to lead La into the
commission of an act that would bring upon her the wrath of
the priests and people of Opar, who, properly instigated,
would demand her life in expiation.  Oah, who was present
when her sister returned, bit her lips, for great was her
disappointment. Never before had she seen so close at hand
the longed-for possibility of becoming High Priestess.  For
several minutes she paced to and fro in deep thought, and
then, suddenly, she halted before Cadj.

"La loves this ape-man," she said, "and even though she may
sacrifice him, it is only because of fear of her people. She
loves him still--loves him better, Cadj, than she has ever
loved you. The ape-man knows it, and trusts her, and because
he knows it there is a way. Listen, Cadj, to Oah. We will
send one to the ape-man who shall tell him that she comes
from La, and that La has instructed her to lead him out of
Opar and set him free. This one shall lead him into our
ambush and when he is killed we shall go, many of us, before
La, and accuse her of treachery. The one who led the ape-man
from Opar shall say that La ordered her to do it, and the
priests and the people will be very angry, and then you
shall demand the life of La. It will be very easy and we
shall be rid of both of them."

"Good!" exclaimed Cadj. "We shall do this thing at dawn upon
the morrow, and before the Flaming God goes to his rest at
night he shall look upon a new High Priestess in Opar."

That night Tarzan was aroused from his sleep by a sound at
one of the doors of his prison cell. He heard the bolt
slipped back and the door creak slowly open upon its ancient
hinges.  In the inky darkness he could discern no presence,
but he heard the stealthy movement of sandaled feet upon the
concrete floor, and then, out of the darkness, his name was
whispered, in a woman's voice.

"I am here," he replied.  "Who are you and what do you want
of Tarzan of the Apes"

"Your life is in danger," replied the voice. "Come, follow
me."

"Who sent you?" demanded the ape-man, his sensitive nostrils
searching for a clue to the identity of the nocturnal
visitor, but so heavily was the air laden with the pungent
odor of some heavy perfume with which the body of the woman
seemed to have been anointed, that there was no
distinguishing clue by which he might judge as to whether
she was one of the priestesses he had known upon the
occasion of his former visits to Opar, or an entire stranger
to him.

"La sent me," she said, "to lead you from the pits of Opar
to the freedom of the outside world beyond the city's
walls." Groping in the darkness she finally found him. "Here
are your weapons," she said, handing them to him, and then
she took his hand, turned and led him from the dungeon,
through a long, winding, and equally black corridor, down
flights of age-old concrete steps, through passages and
corridors, opening and closing door after door that creaked
and groaned upon rusty hinges.  How far they traveled thus,
and in what direction, Tarzan could not guess. He had
gleaned enough from Dooth, when the latter brought him his
food, to believe that in La he had a friend who would aid
him, for Dooth had told him that she had saved him from Cadj
when the latter had discovered him unconscious in the
deserted boma of the Europeans who had drugged and left him.
And so, the woman having said that she came from La, Tarzan
followed her willingly.  He could not but recall Jane's
prophecy of the evils that he might expect to befall him
should he persist in undertaking this third trip to Opar,
and he wondered if, after all, his wife was right, that he
should never again escape from the toils of the fanatical
priests of the Flaming God. He had not, of course, expected
to enter Opar, but there seemed to hang over the accursed
city a guardian demon that threatened the life of whosoever
dared approach the forbidden spot or wrest from the
forgotten treasure vaults a portion of their great hoard.

For more than an hour his guide led him through the Stygian
darkness of underground passages, until, ascending a flight
of steps they emerged into the center of a clump of bushes,
through which the pale light of the moon was barely
discernible. The fresh air, however, told him that they had
reached the surface of the ground, and now the woman, who
had not spoken a word since she had led him from his cell,
continued on in silence, following a devious trail that
wound hither and thither in an erratic fashion through a
heavy forest choked with undergrowth, and always upward.

From the location of the stars and moon, and from the upward
trend of the trail, Tarzan knew that he was being led into
the mountains that lie behind Opar--a place he had never
thought of visiting, since the country appeared rough and
uninviting, and not likely to harbor game such as Tarzan
cared most to hunt. He was already surprised by the nature
of the vegetation, for he had thought the hills barren
except for stunted trees and scraggy bush. As they continued
upon their way, climbing ever upward, the moon rose higher
in the heavens, until its soft light revealed more clearly
to the keen eyes of the ape-man the topography of the
country they were traversing, and then it was that he saw
they were ascending a narrow, thickly wooded gorge, and he
understood why the heavy vegetation had been invisible from
the plain before Opar.  Himself naturally uncommunicative,
the woman's silence made no particular impression upon
Tarzan.  Had he had anything to say he should have said it,
and likewise he assumed that there was no necessity for her
speaking unless there was some good reason for speaking, for
those who travel far and fast have no breath to waste upon
conversation.

The eastern stars were fading at the first hint of coming
dawn when the two scrambled up a precipitous bank that
formed the upper end of the ravine, and came out upon
comparatively level ground. As they advanced the sky
lightened, and presently the woman halted at the edge of a
declivity, and as the day broke Tarzan saw below him a
wooded basin in the heart of the mountain, and, showing
through the trees at what appeared to be some two or three
miles distant, the outlines of a building that glistened and
sparkled and scintillated in the light of the new sun. Then
he turned and looked at his companion, and surprise and
consternation were writ upon his face, for standing before
him was La, the High Priestess of Opar.

"You?" he exclaimed. "Now indeed will Cadj have the excuse
that Dooth said he sought to put you out of the way."

"He will never have the opportunity to put me out of the
way," replied La, "for I shall never return to Opar."

"Never return to Opar!" he exclaimed, "then where are you
going? Where can you go?"

"I am going with you," she replied. "I do not ask that you
love me.  I only ask that you take me away from Opar and
from the enemies who would slay me. There was no other way.
Manu, the monkey, overheard them plotting, and he came to me
and told me all that they would do. Whether I saved you or
sacrificed you, it had all been the same with me. They were
determined to do away with me, that Oah might be High
Priestess and Cadj king of Opar.  But I should not have
sacrificed you, Tarzan, under any circumstances, and this,
then, seemed the only way in which we might both be saved.
We could not go to the north or the west across the plain of
Opar for there Cadj has placed warriors in ambush to waylay
you, and though you be Tarzan and a mighty fighter, they
would overwhelm you by their very numbers and slay you."

"But where are you leading me?" asked Tarzan.

"I have chosen the lesser of two evils; in this direction
lies an unknown country, filled for us Oparians with legends
of grim monsters and strange people. Never has an Oparian
ventured here and returned again to Opar.  But if there
lives in all the world a creature who could win through this
unknown valley, it be you, Tarzan of the Apes."

"But if you know nothing of this country, or its
inhabitants," demanded Tarzan, "how is it that you so well
know the trail that leads to it?"

"We well know the trail to the summit, but that is as far as
I have ever been before. The great apes and the lions use
this trail when they come down into Opar. The lions, of
course, cannot tell us where it leads, and the great apes
will not, for usually we are at war with them. Along this
trail they come down into Opar to steal our people, and upon
this trail we await to capture them, for often we offer a
great ape in sacrifice to the Flaming God, or rather that
was our former custom, but for many years they have been too
wary for us, the toll being upon the other side, though we
do not know for what purpose they steal our people, unless
it be that they eat them. They are a very powerful race,
standing higher than Bolgani, the gorilla, and infinitely
more cunning, for, as there is ape blood in our veins, so is
there human blood in the veins of these great apes that
dwell in the valley above Opar."

"Why is it, La, that we must pass through this valley in
order to escape from Opar? There must be some other way.

"There is no other way, Tarzan of the Apes," she replied.
"The avenues across the valley are guarded by Cadj's people.
Our only chance of escape lies in this direction, and I have
brought you along the only trail that pierces the
precipitous cliffs that guard Opar upon the south. Across or
around this valley we must go in an attempt to find an
avenue across the mountain and down upon the other side."

The ape-man stood gazing down into the wooded basin below
them, his mind occupied with the problems of the moment. Had
he been alone he would not have come this way, for he was
sufficiently confident of his own prowess to believe that he
might easily have crossed the valley of Opar in comparative
safety, regardless of Cadj's plans to the contrary. But he
was not alone. He had now to think of La, and he realized
that in her efforts to save him she had placed him under a
moral obligation which he might not disregard.

To skirt the basin, keeping as far as possible from the
building, which he could see in the distance, seemed the
wisest course to pursue, since, of course, his sole purpose
was to find a way across the mountain and out of this
inhospitable country.  But the glimpses he caught of the
edifice, half concealed as it was amid the foliage of great
trees, piqued his curiosity to such an extent that he felt
an almost irresistible urge to investigate.  He did not
believe that the basin was inhabited by other than wild
beasts, and he attributed the building which he saw to the
handiwork of an extinct or departed people, either
contemporaneous with the ancient Atlantians who had built
Opar or, perhaps, built by the original Oparians themselves,
but now forgotten by their descendants.  The glimpses which
he caught of the building suggested such size and
magnificence as might belong to a palace.

The ape-man knew no fear, though he possessed to a
reasonable extent that caution which is inherent in all wild
beasts. He would not have hesitated to pit his cunning and
his prowess against the lower orders, however ferocious they might be, for, unlike man, they could not band together to
his undoing. But should men elect to hunt him in numbers he
knew that a real danger would confront him, and that, in the
face of their combined strength and intelligence, his own
might not avail him. There was little likelihood, however,
he reasoned, that the basin was inhabited by human beings.
Doubtless closer investigation of the building he saw would
reveal that it was but a deserted ruin, and that the most
formidable foes he would encounter would be the great apes
and the lions. Of neither of these had he any fear; with the
former it was even reasonable to imagine that he might
establish amicable relations.  Believing as he did that he
must look for egress from the basin upon its opposite side,
it was only natural that he should wish to choose the most
direct route across the basin.  Therefore his inclinations
to explore the valley were seconded by considerations of
speed and expediency.

"Come," he said to La, and started down the declivity which
led into the basin in the direction of the building ahead of
them.

"You are not going that way?" she cried in astonishment.

"Why not?" he said.  "It is the shortest way across the
valley, and in so far as I can judge our trail over the
mountains is more likely to lie in that direction than
elsewhere."

"But I am afraid," she said.  "The Flaming God alone knows
what hideous dangers lurk in the depths of that forest below
us.

"Only Numa and the Mangani," he said. "Of these we need have
no fear."

"You fear nothing," she said, "but I am only a woman."

"We can die but once," replied Tarzan, "and that once we
must die.  To be always fearing, then, would not avert it,
and would make life miserable. We shall go the short way,
then, and perhaps we shall see enough to make the risk well
worth while."

They followed a well-worn trail downward among the brush,
the trees increasing in both size and number as they
approached the floor of the basin, until at last they were
walking beneath the foliage of a great forest. What wind
there was was at their back, and the ape-man, though he
moved at a swinging walk, was constantly on the alert. Upon
the hard-packed earth of the trail there were few signs to
indicate the nature of the animals that had passed to and
fro, but here and there the spoor of a lion was in evidence.
Several times Tarzan stopped and listened, often he raised
his head and his sensitive nostrils dilated as he sought for
whatever the surrounding air might hold for him.

"I think there are men in this valley," he said presently.
"For some time I have been almost positive that we are being
watched. But whoever is stalking us is clever beyond words,
for it is only the barest suggestion of another presence
that I can scent."

La looked about apprehensively and drew close to his side.
"I see no one," she said, in a low voice.

"Nor I," he replied.  "Nor can I catch any well-defined
scent spoor, yet I am positive that someone is following us.
Someone or something that trails by scent, and is clever
enough to keep its scent from us. It is more than likely
that, whatever it is, it is passing through the trees, at a
sufficient height to keep its scent spoor always above us.
The air is right for that, and even if he were up wind from
us we might not catch his scent at all. Wait here, I will
make sure," and he swung lightly into the branches of a
nearby tree and swarmed upward with the agility of Manu, the
monkey. A moment later he descended to the girl's side.

"I was right," he said, "there is someone, or something, not
far off.  But whether it is man or Mangani I cannot say, for
the odor is a strange one to me, suggesting neither, yet
both.  But two can play at that game.  Come!" And he swung
the girl to his shoulder and a moment later had carried her
high into the trees.  "Unless he is close enough to watch
us, which I doubt," he said, "our spoor will be carried over
his head and it will be some time before he can pick it up
again, unless he is wise enough to rise to a higher level."

La marveled at the strength of the ape-man as he carried her
easily from tree to tree, and at the speed with which he
traversed the swaying, leafy trail. For half an hour he
continued onward, and then quite suddenly he stopped, poised
high upon a swaying bough.

"Look!" he said, pointing ahead and below them. Looking in the direction that he indicated the girl saw through the
leafy foliage a small, heavily stockaded compound, in which
were some dozen huts that immediately riveted her surprised
attention, nor no less was the ape-man's curiosity piqued by
what he glimpsed vaguely through the foliage.  Huts they
evidently were, but they seemed to be moving to and fro in
the air, some moving gently backward and forward, while
others jumped up and down in more or less violent agitation.
Tarzan swung to a nearer tree and descended to a sturdy
branch, to which he lowered La from his shoulder.  Then he
crept forward stealthily, the girl following, for she was,
in common with the other Oparians, slightly arboreal.
Presently they reached a point where they could see plainly
the village below them, and immediately the seeming mystery
of the dancing huts was explained.

They were of the bee-hive type, common to many African
tribes, and were about seven feet in diameter by six or
seven in height, but instead of resting on the ground, each
hut was suspended by a heavy hawser-like grass rope to a
branch of one of the several giant trees that grew within
the stockade. From the center of the bottom of each hut
trailed another lighter rope. From his position above them
Tarzan saw no openings in any of the huts large enough to
admit the body of a man, though there were several openings
four or five inches in diameter in the sides of each hut
about three feet above the floor. Upon the ground, inside
the compound, were several of the inhabitants of the
village, if the little collection of swinging houses could
be dignified by such a name.  Nor were the people any less
strange to Tarzan than their peculiar domiciles. That they
were negroes was evident, but of a type entirely unfamiliar
to the ape-man. All were naked, and without any
ornamentation whatsoever other than a few daubs of color,
placed apparently at random upon their bodies. They were
tall, and very muscular appearing, though their legs seemed
much too short and their arms too long for perfect
symmetry, while their faces were almost bestial in contour,
their jaws being exaggeratedly prognathous while above their
beetling brows there was no forehead, the skull running back
in an almost horizontal plane to a point.

As Tarzan stood looking at them he saw another descend one
of the ropes that dangled from the bottom of a hut, and
immediately he understood the purpose of the ropes and the
location of the entrances to the dwellings.  The creatures
squatting about upon their haunches were engaged in feeding.
Several had bones from which they were tearing the uncooked
flesh with their great teeth, while others ate fruit and
tubers.  There were individuals of both sexes and of various
ages, from childhood to maturity, but there was none that
seemed very old. They were practically hairless, except for
scraggy, reddish brown locks upon their heads.  They spoke
but seldom and then in tones which resembled the growling of
beasts, nor once, while Tarzan watched them, did he see one
laugh or even smile, which, of all their traits, rendered
them most unlike the average native of Africa. Though
Tarzan's eyes searched the compound carefully he saw no
indication of cooking utensils or of any fire.  Upon the
ground about them lay their weapons, short javelin-like
spears and a sort of battle-ax with a sharpened, metal
blade. Tarzan of the Apes was glad that he had come this
way, for it had permitted him to see such a type of native
as he had not dreamed existed--a type so low that it
bordered closely upon the brute. Even the Waz-dons and Ho-
dons of Pal-ul-don were far advanced in the scale of
evolution compared to these.

As he looked at them he could not but wonder that they were
sufficiently intelligent to manufacture the weapons they
possessed, which he could see, even at a distance, were of
fine workmanship and design.  Their huts, too, seemed well
and ingeniously made, while the stockade which surrounded
the little compound was tall, strong, and well-built,
evidently for the purpose of safeguarding them against the
lions which infested the basin.

As Tarzan and La watched these people they became presently
aware of the approach of some creature from their left, and
a moment later they saw a man similar to those of the
compound swing from a tree that overhung the stockade and
drop within. The others acknowledged his coming with scarce
more than indifferent glances.  He came forward and,
squatting among them, appeared to be telling them of
something, and though Tarzan could not hear his words he
judged from his gestures and the sign language which he used
to supplement his meager speech, that he was telling his
fellows of the strange creatures he had seen in the forest a
short time before, and the ape-man immediately judged that
this was the same who he had been aware was following them
and whom he had successfully put off the scent. The
narration evidently excited them, for some of them arose,
and leaping up and down with bent knees, slapped their arms
against their sides grotesquely. The expressions upon their
faces scarcely changed, however, and after a moment each
squatted down again as he had been before.
It was while they were thus engaged that there echoed
through the forest a loud scream that awakened in the mind
of the ape-man many savage memories.

"Bolgani," he whispered to La.

"It is one of the great apes," she said, and shuddered.

Presently they saw him, swinging down the jungle trail
toward the compound. A huge gorilla, but such a gorilla as
Tarzan of the Apes had never looked on before. Of almost
gigantic stature, the creature was walking erect with the
stride of a man, not ever once touching his knuckles to the
ground.  His head and face were almost those of a gorilla,
and yet there was a difference, as Tarzan could note as the
creature came nearer--it was Bolgani, with the soul and
brain of a man--nor was this all that rendered the
creature startling and unique. Stranger perhaps than aught
else was the fact that it wore ornaments--and such
ornaments! Gold and diamonds sparkled against its shaggy
coat, above its elbows were numerous armlets and there were
anklets upon its legs, while from a girdle about its middle
there depended before and behind a long narrow strip that
almost touched the ground and which seemed to be entirely
constructed of golden spangles set with small diamonds.
Never before had John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, seen such a
display of barbaric finery, nor even amidst the jewels of
Opar such a wealth of priceless stones.

Immediately after the hideous scream had first broken the
comparative silence of the forest, Tarzan had noticed its
effects upon the inmates of the compound.  Instantly they
had arisen to their feet.  The women and children scurried
behind the boles of the trees or clambered up the ropes into
their swinging cages, while some of the men advanced to what
Tarzan now saw was the gate of the compound.  Outside this
gate the gorilla halted and again raised his voice, but this
time in speech rather than his hideous scream.