CHAPTER XVI



THE DIAMOND HOARD


The primitive smoke bombs filled the throne room of the
Tower of the Emperors with their suffocating fumes, the
Gomangani clustered about Tarzan begging him to save them,
for they, too, had seen the massed Bolgani before every
entrance and the great body of them that awaited in the
gardens and upon the terrace without.

Wait a minute," said Tarzan, "until the smoke is thick
enough to hide our movements from the Bolgani, and then we
will rush the windows overlooking the terrace, for they are
nearer the east gate than any other exit, and thus some of
us will have a better chance for escape."

"I have a better plan," said the old man. "When the smoke
conceals us, follow me. There is one exit that is unguarded,
probably because they do not dream that we would use it.
When I passed over the dais behind the throne I took
occasion to note that there were no Bolgani guarding it."

"Where does it lead?" asked Tarzan.

"Into the basement of the Tower of Diamonds--the tower in
which I discovered you. That portion of the palace is
nearest to the east gate, and if we can reach it before they
suspect our purpose there will be little doubt that we can
reach the forest at least."

"Splendid!" ejaculated the ape-man. "It will not be long now
before the smoke hides us from the Bolgani."

In fact it was so thick by this time that the occupants of
the throne room were finding difficulty in breathing.  Many
of them were coughing and choking and the eyes of all were
watering from the effects of the acrid smoke. And yet they
were not entirely hidden from the observation of the
watchers all about them.

"I don't know how much more of this we can stand," said
Tarzan. "I have about all I care for, now."

"It is thickening up a bit," said the old man. "Just a
moment more and I think we can make it unseen."

"I can stand it no longer," cried La. "I am suffocating and
I am half-blinded."

"Very well," said the old man; "I doubt if they can see us
now. It is pretty thick. Come, follow me;" and he led the
way up the steps of the dais and through an aperture behind
the thrones--a small opening hidden by hangings. The old
man went first, and then La, followed by Tarzan and
Jad-bal-ja, who had about reached the limit of his endurance
and patience, so that it had been with difficulty that
Tarzan had restrained him, and who now was voicing his anger
in deep growls which might have apprised the Bolgani of
their avenue of escape. Behind Tarzan and the lion crowded
the coughing Gomangani; but because Jad-bal-ja was just in
front of them they did not crowd as closely upon the party
ahead of them as they probably would have done otherwise.

The aperture opened into a dark corridor which led down a
flight of rough steps to a lower level, and then straight
through utter darkness for the rather considerable distance
which separated the Tower of Diamonds from the Tower of the
Emperors. So great was their relief at escaping the dense
smoke of the throne room that none of the party minded the
darkness of the corridor, but followed patiently the lead of
the old man who had explained that the first stairs down
which they had passed were the only obstacles to be
encountered in the tunnel.

At the corridor's end the old man halted before a heavy
door, which after considerable difficulty he managed to
open.

"Wait a moment," he said, "until I find a cresset and make a
light."

They heard him moving about beyond the doorway for a moment
and then a dim light flared, and presently the wick in a
cresset flickered. In the dim rays Tarzan saw before them a
large rectangular chamber, the great size of which was only
partially suggested in the wavering light of the cresset.

"Get them all in," said the old man, "and close the door;"
and when that had been done he called to Tarzan. "Come!" he
said. "Before we leave this chamber I want to show you such
a sight as no other human eyes have ever rested upon."

He led him to the far side of the chamber where, in the
light of the cresset, Tarzan saw tier after tier of shelves,
upon which were stacked small sacks made of skins. The old
man set the cresset upon one of the shelves and taking a
sack opened it and spilled a portion of the contents into
the palm of his hand. "Diamonds," he said. "Each of these
packages weighs five pounds and each contains diamonds. They
have been accumulating them for countless ages, for they
mine far more than they can use themselves. In their legends
is the belief that some day the Atlantians will return and
they can sell the diamonds to them. And so they continue to
mine them and store them as though there was a constant and
ready market for them. Here, take one of the bags with you,"
he said. He handed one to Tarzan and another to La.

"I do not believe that we shall ever leave the valley alive,
but we might;" and he took a third bag for himself.

From the diamond vault the old man led them up a primitive
ladder to the floor above, and quickly to the main entrance
of the Tower. Only two heavy doors, bolted upon the inside,
now lay between them and the terrace, a short distance
beyond which the east gate swung open. The old man was about
to open the doors when Tarzan stopped him.

"Wait a moment," he said, "until the rest of the Gomangani
come. It takes them some time to ascend the ladder. When
they are all here behind us, swing the doors open, and you
and La, with this ten or a dozen Gomangani that are
immediately around us, make a break for the gate. The rest
of us will bring up the rear and hold the Bolgani off in
case they attack us.  Get ready," he added a moment later,
"I think they are all up."

Carefully Tarzan explained to the Gomangani the plan he had
in mind, and then, turning to the old man, he commanded
"Now!" The bolt slipped, the doors swung open, and
simultaneously the entire party started at a run toward the
east gate.

The Bolgani, who were still massed about the throne room,
were not aware that their victims had eluded them until
Tarzan, bringing up the rear with Jad-bal-ja was passing
through the east gate. Then the Bolgani discovered him, and
immediately set up a hue and cry that brought several
hundred of them on a mad run in pursuit.

"Here they come," cried Tarzan to the other, "make a run of
it--straight down the valley toward Opar, La."

"And you?" demanded the young woman.

"I shall remain a moment with the Gomangani, and attempt to
punish these fellows."

La stopped in her tracks. "I shall not go a step without
you, Tarzan of the Apes," she said. "Too great already are
the risks you have taken for me. No; I shall not go without
you."

The ape-man shrugged. "As you will," he said. "Here they
come."

With great difficulty he rallied a portion of the Gomangani
who, once through the gate, seemed imbued but with a single
purpose, and that to put as much distance between the Palace
of Diamonds and themselves as possible. Perhaps fifty
warriors rallied to his call, and with these he stood in the
gateway toward which several hundred Bolgani were now
charging.

The old man came and touched Tarzan on the arm. "You had
better fly," he said. "The Gomangani will break and run at
the first assault."

"We will gain nothing by flying," said Tarzan, "for we
should only lose what we have gained with the Gomangani, and
then we should have the whole valley about us like hornets."

He had scarcely finished speaking when one of the Gomangani
cried:  "Look! Look! They come;" and pointed along the trail
into the forest.

"And just in time, too," remarked Tarzan, as he saw the
first of a swarm of Gomangani pouring out of the forest
toward the east gate. "Come!" he cried to the advancing
blacks, "the Bolgani are upon us. Come, and avenge your
wrongs!" Then he turned, and calling to the blacks around
him, leaped forward to meet the onrushing gorilla-men.
Behind them wave after wave of Gomangani rolled through the
east gate of the Palace of Diamonds, carrying everything
before them to break at last like surf upon the wavering
wall of Bolgani that was being relentlessly hurled back
against the palace walls.

The shouting and the fighting and the blood worked
Jad-bal-ja into such a frenzy of excitement that Tarzan with
difficulty restrained him from springing upon friend and foe
alike, with the result that it required so much of the
ape-man's time to hold in leash his ferocious ally that he
was able to take but little part in the battle, yet he saw
that it was going his way, and that, but for the occurrence
of some untoward event, the complete defeat of the Bolgani
was assured.

Nor were his deductions erroneous. So frantic were the
Gomangani with the blood-lust of revenge and so enthused by
the first fruits of victory, that they went fully as mad as
Jad-bal-ja himself. They neither gave nor asked quarter, and
the fighting ended only when they could find no more Bolgani
to slay.

The fighting over, Tarzan, with La and the old man, returned
to the throne room, from which the fumes of the smoke bombs
had now disappeared. To them they summoned the head-man of
each village, and when they had assembled before the dais,
above which stood the three whites, with the great,
black-maned lion Jad-bal-ja, Tarzan addressed them.

"Gomangani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds," he
said, ‘you have this night won your freedom from the
tyrannical masters that have oppressed you since far beyond
the time the oldest of you may remember. For so many
countless ages have you been oppressed that there has never
developed among you a leader capable of ruling you wisely
and justly. Therefore you must select a ruler from another
race than your own."

"You! You!" cried voice after voice as the head-men clamored
to make Tarzan of the Apes their king.

"No," cried the ape-man, holding up his hand for silence,
"but there is one here who has lived long among you, and who
knows your habits and your customs, your hopes and your
needs better than any other. If he will stay with you and
rule you he will, I am sure, make you a good king," and
Tarzan pointed to the old man.

The old man looked at Tarzan in bewilderment. "But I want to
go away from here," he said; "I want to get back into the
world of civilization, from which I have been buried all
these years."

"You do not know what you are talking about," replied the
ape-man. "You have been gone very long. You will find no
friends left back there from whence you came. You will find
deceit, and hypocrisy, and greed, and avarice, and cruelty.
You will find that no one will be interested in you and that
you will be interested in no one there. I, Tarzan of the
Apes, have left my jungle and gone to the cities built by
men, but always I have been disgusted and been glad to
return to my jungle--to the noble beasts that are honest
in their loves and in their hates--to the freedom and
genuineness of nature.

"If you return you will be disappointed, and you will
realize that you have thrown away an opportunity of
accomplishing a work well worth your while. These poor
creatures need you. I cannot remain to guide them out of
darkness, but you may, and you may so mold them that they
will be an industrious, virtuous, and kindly people, not
untrained, however, in the arts of warfare, for when we have
that which is good, there will always be those who are
envious and who, if they are more powerful than we, Will
attempt to come and take what we have by force. Therefore,
you must train your people to protect their country and
their rights, and to protect them they must have the ability
and the knowledge to fightsuccessfully, and the weapons
wherewith to wage their wars."

"You speak the truth, Tarzan of the Apes," replied the Old
man. "There is nothing for me in that other world, so, if
the Gomangani wish me to be their chief I will remain here."

The head-men, when he questioned them, assured Tarzan that
if they could not have him for chief they would be very glad
to have the old man, whom they all knew, either by sight or
reputation, as one who had never perpetrated any cruelties
upon the Gomangani.

The few surviving Bolgani who had taken refuge in various
parts of the palace were sought out and brought to the
throne room. Here they were given the option of remaining in
the valley as slaves, or leaving the country entirely. The
Gomangani would have fallen upon them and slain them, but
that their new king would not permit.

"But where shall we go if we leave the Valley of the Palace
of Diamonds?" asked one of the Bolgani.  "Beyond the city of
Opar we know not what exists, and in Opar may we find only
enemies."

Tarzan sat eyeing them quizzically, and in silence. For a
long time he did not speak, while several of the Gomangani
head-men, and others of the Bolgani, made suggestions for
the future of the gorilla-men. Finally the ape-man arose and
nodded toward the Bolgani.

"There are about a hundred of you," he said. "You are
powerful creatures and should be ferocious fighters.  Beside
me sits La, the High Priestess and queen of Opar.  A wicked
priest, usurping her power, has driven her from her throne,
but tomorrow we march upon Opar with the bravest Gomangani
of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds, and there we punish
Cadj, the High Priest, who has proven a traitor to his
queen; and La, once more, ascends the throne of Opar. But
where the seeds of treason have once been broadcast the
plant may spring up at any time and where least expected. It
will be long, therefore, before La of Opar may have full
confidence in the loyalty of her people--a fact which
offers you an opportunity and a country. Accompany us,
therefore, to Opar, and fight with us to re-place La upon her
throne, and then, when the fighting is over, remain there as
La's bodyguard to protect her, not only from enemies
without, but from enemies within."

The Bolgani discussed the matter for several minutes, and
then one of them came to Tarzan. "We will do as you
suggest," he said.

"And you will be loyal to La?" asked the ape-man.

"A Bolgani is never a traitor," replied the gorilla-man.

"Good!" exclaimed Tarzan, "and you, La, are you satisfied
with this arrangement?"

"I accept them in my service," replied she.

Early the next morning Tarzan and La set out with three
thousand Gomangani and a hundred Bolgani to punish the
traitorous Cadj. There was little or no attempt at strategy
or deception. They simply marched down through the Valley of
the Palace of Diamonds, descended the rocky ravine into the
valley of Opar, and made straight for the rear of the palace
of La.

A little gray monkey, sitting among the vines and creepers
upon the top of the temple walls, saw them coming. He cocked
his head, first upon one side and then upon the other, and
became so interested and excited that for a moment he forgot
to scratch his belly--an occupation he had been
assiduously pursuing for some time. The closer the column
approached the more excited became Manu, the monkey, and
when he realized vaguely the great numbers of the Gomangani
he was fairly beside himself, but the last straw that sent
him scampering madly back to the palace of Opar was the
sight of the Bolgani--the ogres of his little world.

Cadj was in the courtyard of the inner temple, where at
sunrise he had performed a sacrifice to the Flaming God.
With Cadj were a number of the lesser priests, and Oah and
her priestesses. That there was dissension among them was
evident by the scowling faces fully as much as by the words
which Oah directed at Cadj.

"Once again have you gone too far, Cadj," she cried
bitterly. "Only may the High Priestess of the Flaming God
perform the act of sacrifice. Yet again and again do you
persist in defiling the sacred knife with your unworthy
hand."

"Silence, woman," growled the High Priest. "I am Cadj, king
of Opar, High Priest of the Flaming God. You are what you
are only because of the favor of Cadj. Try not my patience
too far or you shall indeed know the feel of the sacred
knife." There could be no mistaking the sinister menace in
his words. Several of those about him could ill conceal the
shocked surprise they felt at his sacrilegious attitude
toward their High Priestess. However little they thought of
Oah, the fact remained that she had been elevated to the
highest place among them, and those that believed that La
was dead, as Cadj had taken great pains to lead them all to
believe, gave in full to Oah the reverence which her high
office entitled her.

"Have a care, Cadj," warned one of the older priests. "There
is a limit beyond which not even you may pass."

"You dare threaten me?" cried Cadj, the maniacal fury of
fanaticism gleaming in his eyes. "You dare threaten me,
Cadj, the High Priest of the Flaming God?"  And as he spoke
he leaped toward the offending man, the sacrificial knife
raised menacingly above his head, and just at that moment a
little gray monkey came chattering and screaming through an
embrasure in the wall overlooking the court of the temple.

"The Bolgani! The Bolgani!" he shrieked. "They come! They
come!"

Cadj stopped and wheeled toward Manu, the hand that held the
knife dropping at his side. "You saw them, Manu?" he asked.
"You are speaking the truth?  If this is another of your
tricks you will not live to play another joke upon Cadj."

"I speak the truth," chattered the little monkey. "I saw
them with my own eyes."

"How many of them are there?" asked Cadj. "And how near to
Opar have they come?"

"They are as many as the leaves upon the trees," replied
Manu, "and they are already close to the temple wall--the
Bolgani and the Gomangani, they come as the grasses that
grow in the ravines where it is cool and damp."

Cadj turned and raised his face toward the sun, and throwing
back his head gave voice to a long-drawn scream that ended
in a piercing shriek. Three times he voiced the hideous cry,
and then with a command to the others in the court to follow
him he started at a brisk trot toward the palace proper. As
Cadj directed his steps toward the ancient avenue, upon
which the palace of Opar faced, there issued from every
corridor and doorway groups of the knurled and hairy men of
Opar, armed with their heavy bludgeons and their knives.
Screaming and chattering in the trees above them were a
score or more of little gray monkeys.

"Not here," they cried, "not here," and pointed toward the
south side of the city.

Like an undisciplined mob the horde of priests and warriors
reentered the palace at Cadj's heels, and retraced their
steps toward the opposite side of the edifice. Here they
scrambled to the summit of the lofty wall which guards the
palace, just as Tarzan's forces came to a halt outside.

"Rocks! Rocks!" screamed Cadj, and in answer to his commands
the women in the courtyard below commenced to gather the
loose fragments of stone that had crumbled from the wall and
from the palace, and to toss them up to the warriors above.

"Go away!" screamed Cadj to the army outside his gates. "Go
away! I am Cadj, High Priest of the Flaming God, and this is
his temple. Defile not the temple of the Flaming God or you
shall know his wrath."

Tarzan stepped forward a little ahead of the others, and
raised his hand for silence.

"La, your High Priestess and your queen, is here," he cried
to the Oparians upon the wall. "Cadj is a traitor and an
impostor. Open your gates and receive your queen. Give up
the traitors to justice, and no harm will befall you; but
refuse La entry to her city and we shall take by force and
with bloodshed that which belongs to La rightfully."

As he ceased speaking La stepped to his side that all her
people might see her, and immediately there were scattering
cries for La and a voice or two raised against Cadj.
Evidently realizing that it would not take much to turn the
scale against him, Cadj shrieked to his men to attack, and
simultaneously launched a stone at Tarzan. Only the wondrous
agility that he possessed saved the ape-man, and the missile
passed by, and striking a Gomangani over the heart, felled
him. Instantly a shower of missiles fell upon them, and then
Tarzan called to his followers to charge. Roaring and
growling, the Bolgani and the Gomangani leaped forward to
the attack.  Cat-like they ran up the rough wall in the face
of the menacing bludgeons above. Tarzan, who had chosen Cadj
as his objective, was among the first to reach the summit. A
hairy, crooked warrior struck at him with a bludgeon, and
hanging to the summit of the wall with one hand, Tarzan
caught the weapon in the other and wrested it from his
assailant.  At the same time he saw Cadj turn and disappear
into the courtyard beyond.  Then Tarzan drew himself to the
top where he was immediately engaged by two other warriors
of Opar. With the weapon he had wrested from their fellow he
knocked them to right and left, so great an advantage his
great height and strength gave him over them, and then,
remembering only that Cadj, who was the ring-leader of the
revolt against La, must not be permitted to escape, Tarzan
leaped to the pavement below just as the High Priest
disappeared through an archway at the opposite end of the
courtyard.

Some priests and priestesses sought to impede his progress.
Seizing one of the former by the ankles he swung the body in
circles about him, clearing his own pathway as he ran for
the opposite end of the courtyard, and there he halted and
wheeled and putting all the strength of his great muscles
into the effort, he swung the body of the priest once more
and hurled it back into the faces of his pursuers.

Without waiting to note the effect of his act he turned
again and continued in pursuit of Cadj.  The fellow kept
always just ahead of him, because Cadj knew his way through
the labyrinthian mazes of the palace and temple and
courtyards better than Tarzan.  That the trail was leading
toward the inner courts of the temple Tarzan was convinced.
There Cadj would find easy ingress to the pits beneath the
palace and a hiding place from which it would be difficult
to dislodge him, so numerous and winding were the dark
subterranean tunnels. And so Tarzan put forth every effort
to reach the sacrificial court in time to prevent Cadj from
gaining the comparative safety of the underground passages;
but as he finally leaped through the doorway into the court,
a noose, cunningly laid, closed about one of his ankles and
he was hurled heavily to the ground. Almost instantly a
number of the crooked little men of Opar leaped upon him,
where he lay, half-stunned by the fall, and before he had
fully regained his faculties they had trussed him securely.

Only about half conscious, he felt them raise him from the
ground and carry him, and presently he was deposited upon a
cold stone surface. Then it was that full consciousness
returned to him, and he realized that he lay outstretched
once more upon the sacrificial altar of the inner court of
the Temple of the Flaming God and above him stood Cadj, the
High Priest, his cruel face contorted in a grimace of hate
and the anticipation of revenge long deferred.

"At last!" gloated the creature of hate. "This time, Tarzan
of the Apes, you shall know the fury not of the Flaming God,
but of Cadj, the man; nor shall there be any wait nor any
interference."

He swung the sacrificial knife high above his head.  Beyond
the point of the knife Tarzan of the Apes saw the summit of
the courtyard wall, and just surmounting it the head and
shoulders of a mighty, black-maned lion.

"Jad-bal-ja!" he cried. "Kill! Kill!"

Cadj hesitated, his knife poised on high. He saw the
direction of the ape-man's eyes and followed them, and in
that instant the golden lion leaped to the pavement, and
with two mighty bounds was upon the High Priest of Opar. The
knife clattered to the floor and the great jaws closed upon
the horrid face.

The lesser priests who had seized Tarzan, and who had
remained to witness his death at the hands of Cadj, had fled
screaming from the court the instant that the golden lion
had leaped upon their master, and now Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja
and the corpse of Cadj were the sole occupants of the
sacrificial courtyard of the temple.

"Come, Jad-bal-ja," commanded Tarzan; "let no one harm
Tarzan of the Apes."


An hour later the victorious forces of La were overrunning
the ancient palace and temples of Opar. The priests and
warriors who had not been killed had quickly surrendered and
acknowledged La as their queen and High Priestess, and now
at La's command the city was being searched for Tarzan and
Cadj. It was thus that La, herself, leading a searching
party, entered the sacrificial courtyard.

The sight that met her eyes brought her to a sudden halt,
for there, bound upon the altar, lay Tarzan of the Apes, and
standing above him, his snarling face and gleaming eyes
glaring directly at her was Jad-bal-ja, the golden lion.

"Tarzan!" shrieked La, taking a step toward the altar. "Cadj
has had his way at last.  God of my fathers have pity on me
--Tarzan is dead."

"No," cried the ape-man; "far from dead. Come and release
me. I am only bound, but had it not been for Jad-bal-ja I
had been dead beneath your sacrificial knife."

"Thank God," cried La, and started to approach the altar,
but paused before the menacing attitude of the growling
lion.

"Down!" cried Tarzan, "let her approach;" and Jad-bal-ja lay
down beside his master and stretched his whiskered chin
across the ape-man's breast.

La came then, and picking up the sacrificial knife, cut the
bonds that held the lord of the jungle captive, and then she
saw beyond the altar the corpse of Cadj.

"Your worst enemy is dead," said Tarzan, "and for his death
you may thank Jad-bal-ja, as I thank him for my life. You
should rule now in peace and happiness and in friendship
with the people of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds."

That night Tarzan and the Bolgani and the head-men of the
Gomangani, and the priests and priestesses of Opar, sat in
the great banquet hall of the Palace of Opar, as the guests
of La, the queen, and ate from the golden platters of the
ancient Atlantians--platters that had been fashioned on a
Continent that exists today only in the legends of
antiquity. And the following morning Tarzan and Jad-bal-ja
set forth upon their return journey to the land of the
Waziri and home.