Chapter Eighteen

Kalfastoban turned immediately to a search of the various chambers of his

quarters, but Caraftap laid a restraining hand upon his arm.

"Wait, Vental," he begged. "If they be here would it not be best to

ensure their capture by fastening the doors leading from your quarters?"

"A good thought, Caraftap," replied Kalfastoban, "and then we may take

our time searching for them. Out of here, all you women!" he cried,

waving the females back into Hamadalban's quarters. A moment later the

two doors leading from the chamber to Hamadalban's quarters and the

gallery were closed and locked.

"And now, master," suggested Caraftap, "as there be two of them would it

not be well to supply me with a weapon."

Kalfastoban smote his chest. "A dozen such could Kalfastoban overcome

alone," he cried; "but for your own protection get you a sword from

yonder room while I lock this proud she-cat in her cell again."

As Kalfastoban followed Talaskar to the room in which she had been

confined, Caraftap crossed to the door of the storeroom where the Vental

had told him he would find a weapon.

The Vental reached the door of the room just behind the girl and reaching

out caught her by the arm.

"Not so fast, my pretty!" he cried. "A kiss before you leave me; but fret

not! The moment we are sure that those villainous slaves are not within

these rooms I shall join you, so do not pine for your Kalfastoban."

Talaskar wheeled and struck the Vental in the face. "Lay not your filthy

hands upon me, beast!" she cried, and struggled to free herself from his

grasp.

"So-hot a cat, indeed!" exclaimed the man, but he did not release her,

and so they struggled until they disappeared from sight within the cell,

and at the same moment Caraftap, the slave, laid his hand upon the latch

of the storeroom door, and opening it stepped within.

As he did so steel fingers reached forth out of the darkness and closed

upon his throat. He would have screamed in terror, but no sound could he

force through his tight-closed throat. He struggled and struck at the

thing that held him--a thing so powerful that he knew it could not be

human, and then a low voice, cold and terrifying, whispered in his ear.

"Die, Caraftap!" it said. "Meet the fate that you deserve and that you

well knew you deserved when you said that you dared not return to the

quarters of the slaves of Zoanthrohago after betraying two of your

number. Die, Caraftap! and know before you die that he whom you would

have betrayed is your slayer. You searched for Zuanthrol and--you have

found him!" With the last word the terrible fingers closed upon the man's

neck. Spasmodically the slave struggled, fighting for air. Then the two

hands that gripped him turned slowly in opposite directions and the head

of the traitor was twisted from his body.

Throwing the corpse aside Tarzan sprang into the main chamber of the

Vental's quarters and ran quickly toward the door of Talaskar's cell,

Komodoflorensal but half a pace behind him. The door of the little room

had been pushed to by the struggles of the couple within, and as Tarzan

pushed it open he saw the girl in the clutches of the huge Vental, who,

evidently maddened by her resistance, had lost his temper completely and

was attempting to rain blows upon her face, which she sought to ward off,

clutching at his arms and hands.

A heavy hand fell upon the shoulder of the Vental. "You seek us!" a low

voice whispered in his ear. "Here we are!"

Kalfastoban released the girl and swung around, at the same time reaching

for his sword. Facing him were the two slaves and both were armed, though

only Aoponato had drawn his weapon. Zuanthrol, who held him, had not yet

drawn.

"'A dozen such could Kalfastoban overcome alone,'" quoted Tarzan. "Here

we are, braggart, and we are only two; but we cannot wait while you show

us how mighty you be. We are sorry. Had you not molested this girl I

should merely have locked you in your quarters, from which you would soon

have been released; but your brutality deserves but one punishment--death."

"Caraftap!" screamed Kalfastoban. No longer was he a blusterer,

deep-toned and swaggering. His voice was shrill with terror and he shook

in the hands of the ape-man. "Caraftap! Help!" he cried.

"Caraftap is dead," said Tarzan. "He died because he betrayed his

fellows. You shall die because you were brutal to a defenseless slave

girl. Run him through, Komodoflorensal! We have not time to waste here."

As the Trohanadalmakusian withdrew his sword from the heart of

Kalfastoban Vental and the corpse slid to the floor of the cell Talaskar

ran forward and fell at the feet of the ape-man.

"Zuanthrol and Aoponato!" she cried. "Never did I think to see you

again. What has happened? Why are you here? You have saved me, but now

you will be lost. Fly--I know not where to you may fly--but go from here! Do

not let them find you here. I cannot understand why you are here,

anyway."

"We are trying to escape," explained Komodoflorensal, "and Zuanthrol

would not go without you. He searched the quarry for you and now the

Royal Dome. He has performed the impossible, but he has found you."

"Why did you do this for me?" asked Talaskar, looking wonderingly at

Tarzan.

"Because you were kind to me when I was brought to the chamber of

Zoanthrohago's slaves," replied the ape-man, "and because I promised that

when the time for escape came we three should be together."

He had lifted her to her feet and led her into the main chamber.

Komodoflorensal stood a little aside, his eyes upon the floor. Tarzan

glanced at him and an expression of puzzlement came into the eyes of the

ape-man, but whatever thought had caused it he must have put quickly

aside for the consideration of more pressing matters.

"Komodoflorensal, you know best what avenues of escape should be the

least beset by the dangers of discovery. Whether to go by way of

Hamadalban's quarters or through the gallery they mentioned? These are

questions I cannot answer to my own satisfaction; and look!" his eyes had

been roving about the chamber, "There is an opening in the ceiling. Where

might that lead?"

"It might lead almost anywhere, or nowhere at all!" replied the

Trohanadalmakusian. "Many chambers have such openings. Sometimes they

lead into small lofts that are not connected with any other chamber;

again they lead into secret chambers, or even into corridors upon another

level."

There came a pounding upon the door leading into Hamadalban's quarters

and a woman's voice called aloud: "Kalfastoban, open!" she cried. "There

has come an ental from the quarry guard in search of Caraftap. The sentry

at the entrance to the quarters of the slaves of Zoanthrohago has been

found slain and they wish to question Caraftap, believing that there is a

conspiracy among the slaves."

"We must go by the gallery," whispered Komodofiorensal, stepping quickly

to the door leading thereto.

As he reached it someone laid a hand upon the latch from the opposite

side and attempted to open the door, which was locked.

"Kalfastoban!" cried a voice from the gallery beyond. "Let us in! The

slaves went not this way. Come, open quickly!"

Tarzan of the Apes glanced quickly about. Upon his face was a half-snarl,

for once again was he the cornered beast. He measured the distance from

the floor to the trap in the ceiling, and then with a little run he

sprang lightly upward. He had forgotten to what extent the reduction of

his weight affected his agility. He had hoped to reach a handhold upon

the upper edge of the opening, but instead he shot entirely through it,

alighting upon his feet in a dark chamber. Turning he looked down at his

friends below. Consternation was writ large upon the countenance of each;

but at that he could not wonder. He was almost as much surprised himself.

"Is it too far for you to jump?" he asked.

"Too far!" they replied.

He swung, then, head downward through the opening, catching the edge of

the trap in the hollow of his knees. At the gallery door the knocking was

becoming insistent and now at that leading into the quarters of

Hamadalban a man's voice had supplanted that of the woman. The fellow was

demanding entrance, angrily.

"Open!" he shouted. "In the name of the king, open!"

"Open yourself!" shouted the fellow who had been hammering at the

opposite door, thinking that the demand to open came from the interior of

the chamber to which he sought admission.

"How can I open?" screamed back the other. "The door is locked upon your

side!"

"It is not locked upon my side. It is locked upon yours," cried the other,

angrily.

"You lie!" shouted he who sought entrance from Hamadalban's quarters,

"and you will pay well when this is reported to the king."

Tarzan swung, head downward, into the chamber, his hands extended toward

his companions. "Lift Talaskar to me," he directed Komodoflorensal, and

as the other did so he grasped the girl's wrists and raised her as far as

he could until she could seize upon a part of his leather harness and

support herself alone without falling. Then he took another hold upon

her, lower down, and lifted still higher, and in this way she managed to

clamber into the chamber above.

The angry warriors at the two doors were now evidently engaged in an

attempt to batter their way into the chamber. Heavy blows were falling

upon the substantial panels that threatened to splinter them at any

moment.

"Fill your pouch with candles, Komodoflorensal," said Tarzan, "and then

jump for my hands."

"I took all the candles I could carry while we were in the storeroom,"

replied the other. "Brace yourself [!] I am going to jump."

A panel splintered and bits of wood flew to the center of the floor from

the door at the gallery just as Tarzan seized the outstretched hands of

Komodoflorensal and an instant later, as both men kneeled in the darkness

of the loft and looked down into the chamber below the opposite door flew

open and the ten warriors who composed the ental burst in at the heels of

their Vental.

For an instant they looked about in blank surprise and then their

attention was attracted by the pounding upon the other door. A smile

crossed the face of the Vental as he stepped quickly to the gallery door

and unlocked it. Angry warriors rushed in upon him, but when he had

explained the misapprehension under which both parties had been striving

for entrance to the chamber they all joined in the laughter, albeit a

trifle shamefacedly.

"But who was in here?" demanded the Vental who had brought the soldiers

from the quarry.

"Kalfastoban and the green slave Caraftap," proffered a woman belonging

to Hamadalban.

"They must be hiding!" said a warrior.

"Search the quarters!" commanded the Vental.

"It will not take long to find one," said another warrior, pointing at

the floor just inside the storeroom doorway.

The others looked and there they saw a human hand resting upon the floor.

The fingers seemed frozen into the semblance of clutching claws. Mutely

they proclaimed death. One of the warriors stepped quickly to the

storeroom, opened the door and dragged forth the body of Caraftap, to

which the head was clinging by a shred of flesh. Even the warriors

stepped back, aghast. They looked quickly around the chamber.

"Both doors were barred upon the inside," said the Vental. "Whatever did

this must still be here."

"It could have been nothing human," whispered a woman who had followed

them from the adjoining quarters.

"Search carefully," said the Vental, and as he was a brave man, he went

first into one chamber and then another. In the first one they found

Kalfastoban, run through the heart.

"It is time we got out of here if there is any way out," whispered Tarzan

to Komodoflorensal. "One of them will espy this hole directly."

Very cautiously the two men felt their way in opposite directions around

the walls of the dark, stuffy loft. Deep dust, the dust of ages, rose

about them, chokingly, evidencing the fact that the room had not been

used for years, perhaps for ages. Presently Komodoflorensal heard a

"H-s-s-t!" from the ape-man who called them to him. "Come here, both of

you. I have found something."

"What have you found?" asked Talaskar, coming close.

"An opening near the bottom of the wall," replied Tarzan. "It is large

enough for a man to crawl through. Think you, Komodoflorensal, that it

would be safe to light a candle?"

"No, not now," replied the prince.

"I will go without it then," announced the ape-man, "for we must see

where this tunnel leads, if anywhere."

He dropped upon his hands and knees, then, and Talaskar, who had been

standing next him, felt him move away. She could not see him--it was too

dark in the gloomy loft.

The two waited, but Zuanthrol did not return. They heard voices in the

room below. They wondered if the searchers would soon investigate the

loft but really there was no need for apprehension. The searchers had

determined to invest the place--it would be safer than crawling into that

dark hole after an unknown thing that could tear the head from a man's

body. When it came down, as come down it would have to, they would be

prepared to destroy or capture it; but in the meantime they were content

to wait.

"What has become of him?" whispered Talaskar, anxiously.

"You care very much for him, do you not?" asked Komodoflorensal.

"Why should I not?" asked the girl. "You do, too, do you not?"

"Yes," replied Komodoflorensal.

"He is very wonderful," said the girl.

"Yes," said Komodoflorensal.

As though in answer to their wish they heard a low whistle from the

depths of the tunnel into which Tarzan had crawled. "Come!" whispered

the ape-man.

Talaskar first, they followed him, crawling upon hands and knees through

a winding tunnel, feeling their way through the darkness, until at last a

light flared before them and they saw Zuanthrol lighting a candle in a

small chamber, that was only just high enough to permit a tall man to sit

erect within it.

"I got this far," he said to them, "and as it offered a fair hiding place

where we might have light without fear of discovery I came back after

you. Here we can stop a while in comparative comfort and safety until I

can explore the tunnel further. From what I have been able to judge it

has never been used during the lifetime of any living Veltopismakusian,

so there is little likelihood that anyone will think of looking here for

us."

"Do you think they will follow us?" asked Talaskar.

"I think they will," replied Komodoflorensal, "and as we cannot go back

it will be better if we push on at once, as it is reasonable to assume

that the opposite end of this tunnel opens into another chamber. Possibly

there we shall find an avenue of escape."

"You are right, Komodoflorensal," agreed Tarzan. "Nothing can be gained

by remaining here. I will go ahead. Let Talaskar follow me, and you bring

up the rear. If the place proves a blind alley we shall be no worse off

for having investigated it."

Lighting their way this time with candles the three crawled laboriously

and painfully over the uneven rock floor of the tunnel, which turned

often, this way and that, as though passing around chambers, until, to

their relief, the passageway abruptly enlarged, both in width and height,

so that now they could proceed in an erect position. The tunnel now

dropped in a steep declivity to a lower level and a moment later the

three emerged into a small chamber, where Talaskar suddenly placed a hand

upon Tarzan's arm, with a little intaking of her breath in a half gasp.

"What is that, Zuanthrol!" she whispered, pointing into the darkness

ahead.

Upon the floor at one side of the room a crouching figure was barely

discernible close to the wall.

"And that!" exclaimed the girl, pointing to another portion of the room.

The ape-man shook her hand from his arm and stepped quickly forward, his

candle held high in his left hand, his right upon his sword. He came

close to the crouching figure and bent to examine it He laid his hand

upon it and it fell into a heap of dust.

"What is it?" demanded the girl.

"It was a man," replied Tarzan; "but it has been dead many years. It was

chained to this wall. Even the chain has rusted away."

"And the other, too?" asked Talaskar.

"There are several of them," said Komodoflorensal. "See? There and there."

"At least they cannot detain us," said Tarzan, and moved on again across

the chamber toward a doorway on the opposite side.

"But they tell us something, possibly," ventured Komodoflorensal.

"What do they say?" asked the ape-man.

"That this corridor connected with the quarters of a very powerful

Veltopismakusian," replied the prince. "So powerful was he that he might

dispose of his enemies thus, without question; and it also tells us that

all this happened long years ago."

"The condition of the bodies told us that," said Tarzan.

"Not entirely," replied Komodoflorensal. "The ants would have reduced them

to that state in a short time. In past ages the dead were left within the

domes, and the ants, who were then our scavengers, soon disposed of them,

but the ants sometimes attacked the living. They grew from a nuisance to

a menace, and then every precaution had to be taken to keep from

attracting them. Also we fought them. There were great battles waged in

Trohanadalmakus between the Minunians and the ants and thousands of our

warriors were devoured alive, and though we slew billions of ants their

queens could propagate faster than we could kill the sexless workers who

attacked us with their soldiers. But at last we turned our attention to

their nests. Here the carnage was terrific, but we succeeded in slaying

their queens and since then no ants have come into our domes. They live

about us, but they fear us. However, we do not risk attracting them again

by leaving our dead within the domes."

"Then you believe that this corridor leads to the quarters of some great

noble?" inquired Tarzan.

"I believe that it once did. The ages bring change. Its end may now be

walled up. The chamber to which it leads may have housed a king's son

when these bones were quick; today it may be a barrack-room for soldiers,

or a stable for diadets. About all that we know definitely about it,"

concluded Komodoflorensal, "is that it has not been used by man for a

long time, and probably, therefore, is unknown to present-day

Veltopismakusians."

Beyond the chamber of death the tunnel dropped rapidly to lower levels,

entering, at last, a third chamber larger than either of the others. Upon

the floor lay the bodies of many men.

"These were not chained to the walls," remarked Tarzan.

"No, they died fighting, as one may see by their naked swords and the

position of their bones."

As the three paused a moment to look about the chamber there fell upon

their ears the sound of a human voice.