CHAPTER X



MAD TREACHERY


To the northwest of the valley of Opar the smoke rose from
the cook fires of a camp in which some hundred blacks and
six whites were eating their evening meal.  The negroes
squatted sullen and morose, mumbling together in low tones
over their meager fare, the whites, scowling and
apprehensive, kept their firearms close at hand. One of
them, a girl, and the only member of her sex in the party,
was addressing her fellows:

"We have Adolph's stinginess and Esteban's braggadocio to
thank for the condition in which we are," she said.

The fat Bluber shrugged his shoulder, the big Spaniard
scowled.

"For vy," asked Adolph, "am I to blame?"

"You were too stingy to employ enough carriers. I told you
at the time that we ought to have had two hundred blacks in
our party, but you wanted to save a little money, and now
what is the result? Fifty men carrying eighty pounds of gold
apiece and the other carriers are overburdened with camp
equipment, while there are scarce enough left for askari to
guard us properly.  We have to drive them like beasts to
make any progress and to keep them from throwing away their
loads, and they are fagged out and angry.  They don't
require much of an excuse to kill us all on the spot. On
top of all this they are underfed.  If we could keep their
bellies filled we could probably keep them happy and
reasonably contented, but I have learned enough about
natives to know that if they are hungry they are neither
happy nor contented, even in idleness.  If Esteban had not
bragged so much about his prowess as a hunter we should have
brought enough provisions to last us through, but now,
though we are barely started upon our return journey, we are
upon less than half rations."

"I can't kill game when there isn't any game," growled the
Spaniard.

"There is plenty of game," said Kraski, the Russian. "We see
the tracks of it every day."

The Spaniard eyed him venomously. "If there is so much
game," he said, "go out and get it yourself."

"I never claimed to be a hunter," replied Kraski, "though I
could go out with a sling shot and a pea shooter and do as
well as you have."

The Spaniard leaped to his feet menacingly, and instantly
the Russian covered him with a heavy service revolver.

"Cut that business," cried the girl, sharply, leaping
between them.

"Let the blighters fight," growled John Peebles. "If one of
'em kills the hother there'll be fewer to split the swag,
and 'ere we are 'n that's that."

"For vy should ve quarrel?" demanded Bluber. "Dere is enough
for all--over forty-tree t'ousand pounds apiece. Ven you
get mad at me you call me a dirty Jew und say dat I am
stingy, but Mein Gott! you Christians are vorser. You vould
kill vun of your friends to get more money. Oi! Oi! tank
Gott dat I am not a Christian."

"Shut up," growled Throck, "or we'll have forty-three
thousand pounds more to divide."

Bluber eyed the big Englishman fearfully. "Come, come,
Dick," he oozed, in his oiliest tones, "you vouldn't get mad
at a leedle choke vould you, und me your best friend?"

"I'm sick of all this grousin'," said Throck. "I h'ain't no
high-brow, I h'ain't nothin' but a pug. But I got sense
enough to know that Flora's the only one in the bloomin'
bunch whose brains wouldn't rattle around in a peanut shell.
John, Bluber, Kraski and me, we're here because we could
raise the money to carry out Flora's plan. The dago there"
--and he indicated Esteban--"because his face and his
figure filled the bill. There don't any of us need no brains
for this work, and there ain't any of us got any more brains
than we need. Flora's the brains of this outfit, and the
sooner everyone understands that and takes orders from her,
the better off we'll all be. She's been to Africa with this
Lord Greystoke feller before--you wuz his wife's maid,
wasn't you, Flora? And she knows somethin' about the country
and the natives and the animals, and there don't none of us
know nuttin'."

"Throck is right," said Kraski, quickly, "we've been
muddling long enough.  We haven't had a boss, and the thing
to do is to make Flora boss from now on. If anyone can get
us out of this, she can, and from the way those fellows over
there are acting," and he nodded toward the blacks, "we'll
be lucky if we ever get out with our skins, let alone taking
any of the gold with us."

"Oi! Oi! You don't mean to leave the gold?" almost shrieked
Bluber.

"I mean that we do whatever Flora thinks best," replied
Kraski. "If she says to leave the gold, we'll leave it.

"That we do," seconded Throck.

"I'm for it," said Peebles. "Whatever Flora says goes."

The Spaniard nodded his assent sullenly.

"The rest of us are all for it, Bluber.  How about you?"
asked Kraski.

"O vell--sure--if you say so," said Bluber, "und as John
says 'und here ve ain't und vat's dat.'"

"And now, Flora," said Peebles, "you're the big 'un. What
you say goes. What'll we do next?"

"Very well," said the girl; "we shall camp here until these
men are rested, and early tomorrow we'll start out
intelligently and systematically, and get meat for them.
With their help we can do it. When they are rested and well
fed we will start on again for the coast, moving very
slowly, so as not to tire them too much. This is my first
plan, but it all hinges upon our ability to get meat. If we
do not find it I shall bury the gold here, and we will do
our best to reach the coast as quickly as possible. There we
shall recruit new porters--twice as many as we have now
--and purchase enough provisions to carry us in and out
again. As we come back in, we will cache provisions at every
camping place for our return trip, thus saving the necessity
of carrying heavy loads all the way in and out again. In
this way we can come out light, with twice as many porters
as we actually need. And by working them in shifts we will
travel much faster and there will be no grumbling. These are
my two plans. I am not asking you what you think of them,
because I do not care. You have made me chief, and I am
going to run this from now on as I think best."

"Bully for you," roared Peebles; "that's the kind of talk I
likes to hear."

"Tell the head man I want to see him, Carl," said the girl,
turning to Kraski, and a moment later the Russian returned
with a burly negro.

"Owaza," said the girl, as the black halted before her, "we
are short of food and the men are burdened with loads twice
as heavy as they should carry. Tell them that we shall wait
here until they are rested and that tomorrow we shall all go
out and hunt for meat. You will send your boys out under
three good men, and they will act as beaters and drive the
game in to us. In this way we should get plenty of meat, and
when the men are rested and well fed we will move on slowly.
Where game is plentiful we will hunt and rest. Tell them
that if they do this and we reach the coast in safety and
with all our loads, I shall pay them twice what they agreed
to come for."

"Oi! Oi!" spluttered Bluber, "twice vat dey agreed to come
for! Oh, Flora, vy not offer dem ten per cent? Dot vould be
fine interest on their money.

"Shut up, you fool," snapped Kraski, and Bluber subsided,
though he rocked back and forth, shaking his head in
disapproval.

The black, who had presented himself for the interview with
sullen and scowling demeanor, brightened visibly now. "I will
tell them," he said, "and I think that you will have no more
trouble."

"Good," said Flora, "go and tell them now," and the black
turned and left.

"There," said the girl, with a sigh of relief, "I believe
that we can see light ahead at last."

"Tvice vat ve promised to pay them!" bawled Bluber, "Oil
Oil"

Early the following morning they prepared to set out upon
the hunt. The blacks were now smiling and happy in
anticipation of plenty of meat, and as they tramped off into
the jungle they were singing gayly. Flora had divided them
into three parties, each under a head man with explicit
directions for the position each party was to take in the
line of beaters. Others had been detailed to the whites as
gun-bearers, while a small party of the askari were left
behind to guard the camp. The whites, with the exception of
Esteban, were armed with rifles. He alone seemed inclined to
question Flora's authority, insisting that he preferred to
hunt with spear and arrows in keeping with the part he was
playing. The fact that, though he had hunted assiduously for
weeks, yet had never brought in a single kill, was not
sufficient to dampen his egotism. So genuinely had he
entered his part that he really thought he was Tarzan of the
Apes, and with such fidelity had he equipped himself in
every detail, and such a master of the art of make-up was
he, that, in conjunction with his splendid figure and his
handsome face that were almost a counterpart of Tarzan's, it
was scarcely to be wondered at that he almost fooled himself
as successfully as he had fooled others, for there were men
among the carriers who had known the great ape-man, and even
these were deceived, though they wondered at the change in
him, since in little things he did not deport himself as
Tarzan, and in the matter of kills he was disappointing.

Flora Hawkes, who was endowed with more than a fair share of
intelligence, realized that it would not be well to cross
any of her companions unnecessarily, and so she permitted
Esteban to hunt that morning in his own way, though some of
the others grumbled a little at her decision.

"What is the difference?" she asked them, after the Spaniard
had set out alone.  "The chances are that he could use a
rifle no better than he uses his spear and arrows. Carl and
Dick are really the only shots among us, and it is upon them
we depend principally for the success of our hunt today.
Esteban's egotism has been so badly bumped that it is
possible that he will go to the last extremity to make a
kill today--let us hope that he is successful."

"I hope he breaks his fool neck," said Kraski. "He has
served our purpose and we would be better off if we were rid
of him."

The girl shook her head negatively. "No," she said, "we must
not think or speak of anything of that kind.  We went into
this thing together, let us stick together until the end. If
you are wishing that one of us is dead, how do you know that
others are not wishing that you were dead?"

"I haven't any doubt but that Miranda wishes I were dead,"
replied Kraski.  "I never go to bed at night without
thinking that the damned greaser may try to stick a knife
into me before morning. And it don't make me feel any kinder
toward him to hear you defending him, Flora. You've been a
bit soft on him from the start."

"If I have, it's none of your business," retorted the girl.

And so they started out upon their hunt, the Russian
scowling and angry, harboring thoughts of vengeance or worse
against Esteban, and Esteban, hunting through the jungle,
was occupied with his hatred and his jealousy. His dark mind
was open to every chance suggestion of a means for putting
the other men of the party out of the way, and taking the
woman and the gold for himself. He hated them all; in each
he saw a possible rival for the affections of Flora, and in
the death of each he saw not only one less suitor for the
girl's affections, but forty-three thousand additional
pounds to be divided among fewer people.  His mind was thus
occupied to the exclusion of the business of hunting, which
should have occupied him solely, when he came through a
patch of heavy underbrush, and stepped into the glaring
sunlight of a large clearing, face to face with a party of
some fifty magnificent ebon warriors.  For just an instant
Esteban stood frozen in a paralysis of terror, forgetting
momentarily the part he was playing--thinking of himself
only as a lone white man in the heart of savage Africa
facing a large band of war-like natives--cannibals,
perhaps. It was that moment of utter silence and inaction
that saved him, for, as he stood thus before them, the
Waziri saw in the silent, majestic figure their beloved lord
in a characteristic pose.

"OBwana, Bwana," cried one of the warriors, rushing
forward, "it is indeed you, Tarzan of the Apes, Lord of the
Jungle, whom we had given up as lost. We, your faithful
Waziri, have been searching for you, and even now we were
about to dare the dangers of Opar, fearing that you might
have ventured there without us and had been captured."

The black, who had at one time accompanied Tarzan to London
as a body servant, spoke broken English, an accomplishment
of which he was inordinately proud, losing no opportunity to air his attainment before his less fortunate fellows.  The
fact that it had been he whom fate had chosen to act as
spokesman was indeed a fortunate circumstance to Miranda.
Although the latter had applied himself assiduously to
mastering the dialect of the west coast carriers, he would
have been hard put to it to carry on a conversation with one
of them, while he understood nothing of the Waziri tongue.
Flora had schooled him carefully and well in the lore of
Tarzan, so that he realized now that he was in the presence
of a band of the ape-man's faithful Waziri. Never before had
he seen such magnificent blacks--clean-cut, powerful men,
with intelligent faces and well molded features, appearing
as much higher in the scale of evolution as were the west
coast blacks above the apes.

Lucky indeed was Esteban Miranda that he was quick witted
and a consummate actor. Otherwise must he have betrayed his
terror and his chagrin upon learning that this band of
Tarzan's fierce and faithful followers was in this part of
the country. For a moment longer he stood in silence before
them, gathering his wits, and then he spoke, realizing that
his very life depended upon his plausibility. And as he
thought a great light broke upon the shrewd brain of the
unscrupulous Spaniard.

"Since I last saw you," he said, "I discovered that a party
of white men had entered the country for the purpose of
robbing the treasure vaults of Opar.  I followed them until
I found their camp, and then I came in search of you, for
there are many of them and they have many ingots of gold,
for they have already been to Opar. Follow me, and we will
raid their camp and take the gold from them. Come!" and he
turned back toward the camp that he had just quitted.

As they made their way along the jungle trail, Usula, the
Waziri who had spoken English to him, walked at Esteban's
side. Behind them the Spaniard could hear the other warriors
speaking in their native tongue, no word of which he
understood, and it occurred to him that his position would
be most embarrassing should he be addressed in the Waziri
language, which, of course, Tarzan must have understood
perfectly. As he listened to the chatter of Usula his mind
was working rapidly, and presently, as though it were an
inspiration, there recurred to him the memory of an accident
that had befallen Tarzan, which had been narrated to him by
Flora--the story of the injury he had received in the
treasure vaults of Opar upon the occasion that he had lost
his memory because of a blow upon the head. Esteban wondered
if he had committed himself too deeply at first to attribute
to amnesia any shortcomings in the portrayal of the role he
was acting.  At its worst, however, it seemed to him the
best that he could do.  He turned suddenly upon Usula.

"Do you remember," he asked, "the accident that befell me in
the treasure vaults of Opar, depriving me of my memory?"

"Yes, Bwana, I remember it well," replied the black.

"A similar accident has befallen me," said Esteban. "A great
tree fell in my path, and in falling a branch struck me upon
the head.  It has not caused me to lose my memory entirely,
but since then it is with difficulty that I recall many
things, and there are others which I must have forgotten
entirely, for I do not know your name, nor do I understand
the words that my other Waziri are speaking about me."

Usula looked at him compassionately.  "Ah, Bwana, sad indeed
is the heart of Usula to hear that this accident has
befallen you.  Doubtless it will soon pass away as did the
other, and in the meantime I, Usula, will be your memory for
you."

"Good," said Esteban, "tell the others that they may
understand, and tell them also that I have lost the memory
of other things besides.  I could not now find my way home
without you, and my other senses are dull as well. But as
you say, Usula, it will soon pass off, and I shall be myself
again."

"Your faithful Waziri will rejoice indeed with the coming of
that moment," said Usula.

As they approached the camp, Miranda cautioned Usula to warn
his followers to silence, and presently he halted them at
the outskirts of the clearing where they could attain a view
of the boma and the tents, guarding which was a little band
of a half-dozen askari.

"When they see our greater numbers they will make no
resistance," said Esteban. "Let us surround the camp,
therefore, and at a signal from me we will advance together,
when you shall address them, saying that Tarzan of the Apes
comes with his Waziri for the gold they have stolen, but
that he will spare them if they will leave the country at
once and never return."

Had it fulfilled his purpose as well, the Spaniard would
have willingly ordered his Waziri to fall upon the men
guarding the camp and destroy them all, but to his cunning
brain had been born a cleverer scheme.  He wanted these men
to see him with the Waziri and to live to tell the others
that they had seen him, and to repeat to Flora and her
followers the thing that Esteban had in his mind to tell one
of the askari, while the Waziri were gathering up the gold
ingots from the camp.

In directing Usula to station his men about the camp,
Esteban had him warn them that they were not to show
themselves until he had crept out into the clearing and
attracted the attention of the askari on guard.  Fifteen
minutes, perhaps, were consumed in stationing his men, and
then Usula returned to Esteban to report that all was ready.

“When I raise my hand then you will know that they have
recognized me and that you are to advance," Esteban
cautioned him, and stepped forward slowly into the clearing.
One of the askari saw him and recognized him as Esteban.
The Spaniard took a few steps closer to the boma and then
halted.

"I am Tarzan of the Apes," he said; "your camp is entirely
surrounded by my warriors. Make no move against us and we
shall not hurt you."

He waved his hand. Fifty stalwart Waziri stepped into view
from the concealing verdure of the surrounding jungle. The
askari eyed them in ill-concealed terror, fingering their
rifles nervously.

"Do not shoot," cautioned Esteban, "or we shall slay you
all." He approached more closely and his Waziri closed in
about him, entirely surrounding the boma.

"Speak to them, Usula," said Esteban. The black stepped
forward.

"We are the Waziri," he cried, "and this is Tarzan of the
Apes, Lord of the Jungle, our master. We have come to
recover the gold of Tarzan that you have stolen from the
treasure vaults of Opar. This time we shall spare you on
condition that you leave the country and never return. Tell
this word to your masters; tell them that Tarzan watches,
and that his Waziri watch with him. Lay down your rifles."

The askari, glad to escape so easily, complied with the
demands of Usula, and a moment later the Waziri had entered
the boma, and at Esteban's direction were gathering up the
golden ingots. As they worked, Esteban approached one of the
askari, whom he knew spoke broken English.

"Tell your master," he said, "to give thanks for the mercy
of Tarzan who has exacted a toll of but one life for this
invasion of his country and theft of his treasure. The
creature who presumes to pose as Tarzan I have slain, and
his body I shall take away with me and feed to the lions.
Tell them that Tarzan forgives even their attempt to poison
him upon the occasion that he visited their camp, but only
upon the condition that they never return to Africa, and
that they divulge the secret of Opar to no others.  Tarzan
watches and his Waziri watch, and no man may enter Africa
without Tarzan's knowledge.  Even before they left London I
knew that they were coming. Tell them that."

It took but a few minutes for the Waziri to gather up the
golden ingots, and before the askari had recovered from the
surprise of their appearance, they had gone again into the
jungle, with Tarzan, their master.

It was late in the afternoon before Flora and the four white
men returned from their hunt, surrounded by happy, laughing
blacks, bearing the fruits of a successful chase.

"Now that you are in charge, Flora," Kraski was saying,
"fortune is smiling upon us indeed. We have enough meat here
for several days, and with plenty of meat in their bellies
they ought to make good progress."

"I vill say it myself dot t'ings look brighter," said
Bluber.

"Blime, they do that," said Throck. "I'm tellin' yu Flora's
a bright one."

"What the devil is this?" demanded Peebles. "What's wrong
with them beggars?" And he pointed toward the boma which was
now in sight, and from which the askari were issuing at a
run, jabbering excitedly as they raced toward them.

"Tarzan of the Apes has been here," they cried excitedly.
"He has been here with all his Waziri--a thousand great
warriors--and though we fought, they overcame us, and
taking the gold they went away.  Tarzan of the Apes spoke
strange words to me before they left. He said that he had
killed one of your number who had dared to call himself
Tarzan of the Apes. We do not understand it. He went away
alone to hunt when you went in the morning, and he came back
shortly with a thousand warriors, and he took all the gold
and he threatened to kill us and you if you ever return to
this country again.

"Vot, vot?" cried Bluber, "der gold iss gone? Oi! Oi!" And
then they all commenced to ask questions at once until Flora
silenced them.

"Come," she said to the leader of the askari, "we will
return to the boma and then you shall tell me slowly and
carefully all that has happened since we left."

She listened intently to his narrative, and then questioned
him carefully upon various points several times. At last she
dismissed him. Then she turned to her confederates.

"It is all clear to me,” she said. "Tarzan recovered from the
effects of the drug we administered. Then he followed us
with his Waziri, caught Esteban and killed him and, finding
the camp, has taken the gold away. We shall be fortunate
indeed if we escape from Africa with our lives."

"Oi! Oi!" almost shrieked Bluber, "der dirty crook. He
steals all our gold, und ve lose our two t'ousand pounds
into the bargain. Oi! Oi!"

"Shut up, you dirty Jew," growled Throck. "If it hadn't a'
been for you and the dago this 'ere thing would never a
'appened. With 'im abraggin' about 'is 'unting and not bein'
able to kill anything, and you a-squeezin' every bloomin'
hapenny, we're in a rotten mess--that we are. This 'ere
Tarzan bounder he bumped off Esteban, which is the best work
what 'e ever done. Too bloody bad you weren't 'ere to get it
too, and what I got a good mind to do is to slit your throat
meself."

"Stow the guff, Dick," roared Peebles; "it wasn't nobody's
fault, as far as I can see. Instead of talkin' what we
oughter do is to go after this 'ere Tarzan feller and take
the bloomin' gold away from 'im."

Flora Hawkes laughed. "We haven't a chance in the world,"
she said.  "I know this Tarzan bloke. If he was all alone
we wouldn't be a match for him, but he's got a bunch of his
Waziri with him, and there are no finer warriors in Africa
than they. And they'd fight for him to the last man. You
just tell Owaza that you're thinking of going after Tarzan
of the Apes and his Waziri to take the gold away from them,
and see how long it'd be before we wouldn't have a single
nigger with us. The very name of Tarzan scares these west
coast blacks out of a year's growth. They would sooner face
the devil. No, sir, we've lost, and all we can do is to get
out of the country, and thank our lucky stars if we manage
to get out alive. The ape-man will watch us. I should not be
surprised if he were watching us this minute."  Her
companions looked around apprehensively at this, casting
nervous glances toward the jungle. "And he'd never let us
get back to Opar for another load, even if we could prevail
upon our blacks to return there."

"Two t'ousand pounds, two t'ousand pounds!" wailed Bluber.
"Und all dis suit, vot it cost me tventy guineas vot I can't
vear it again in England unless I go to a fancy dress ball,
vich I never do."

Kraski had not spoken, but had sat with eyes upon the
ground, listening to the others. Now he raised his head. "We
have lost our gold," he said, and before we get back to
England we stand to spend the balance of our two thousand
pounds--in other words our expedition is a total loss. The
rest of you may be satisfied to go back broke, but I am not.
There are other things in Africa besides the gold of Opar,
and when we leave the country there is no reason why we
shouldn't take something with us that will repay us for our
time and investment."

"What do you mean?" asked Peebles.

"I have spent a lot of time talking with Owaza," replied
Kraski, "trying to learn their crazy language, and I have
come to find out a lot about the old villain.  He's as
crooked as they make 'em, and if he were to be hanged for
all his murders, he'd have to have more lives than a cat,
but notwithstanding all that, he's a shrewd old fellow, and
I've learned a lot more from him than just his monkey talk
--I have learned enough, in fact, so that I feel safe in
saying that if we stick together we can go out of Africa
with a pretty good-sized stake. Personally, I haven't given
up the gold of Opar yet. What we've lost, we've lost, but
there's plenty left where that came from, and some day,
after this blows over, I'm coming back to get my share."

"But how about this other thing?" asked Flora. "How can
Owaza help us?"

"There's a little bunch of Arabs down here," explained
Kraski, "stealing slaves and ivory. Owaza knows where they
are working and where their main camp is. There are only a
few of them, and their blacks are nearly all slaves who
would turn on them in a minute. Now the idea is this:  we
have a big enough party to overpower them and take their
ivory away from them if we can get their slaves to take our
side. We don't want the slaves; we couldn't do anything with
them if we had them, so we can promise them their freedom
for their help, and give Owaza and his gang a share in the
ivory."

"How do you know Owaza will help us?" asked Flora.

"The idea is his; that's the reason I know," replied Kraski.

"It sounds good to me," said Peebles; "I ain't fer goin'
'ome empty 'anded."  And in turn the others signified their
approval of the scheme.