Chapter Nineteen

As the days passed and Tarzan did not return to his home, his son became

more and more apprehensive. Runners were sent to nearby villages, but

each returned with the same report. No one had seen the Big Bwana. Korak

dispatched messages, then, to the nearest telegraph inquiring from all

the principal points in Africa, where the ape-man might have made a

landing, if aught had been seen or heard of him; but always again were

the answers in the negative.

And at last, stripped to a string and carrying naught but his primitive

weapons, Korak the Killer took the trail with a score of the swiftest and

bravest of the Waziri in search of his father. Long and diligently they

searched the jungle and the forest, often enlisting the friendly services

of the villages near which they chanced to be carrying on their quest,

until they had covered as with a fine-toothed comb a vast area of

country, covered it as could have no other body of men; but for all their

care and all their diligence they uncovered no single clew as to the fate

or whereabouts of Tarzan of the Apes, and so, disheartened yet

indefatigable, they searched on and on through tangled miles of steaming

jungle or across rocky uplands as inhospitable as the stunted thorns that

dotted them.

And in the Royal Dome of Elkomoelhago, Thagostogal of Veltopismakus, three

people halted in a rock-walled, hidden chamber and listened to a human

voice that appeared to come to them out of the very rock of the walls

surrounding them. Upon the floor about them lay the bones of long-dead

men. About them rose the impalpable dust of ages.

The girl pressed closer to Tarzan. "Who is it?" she whispered.

Tarzan shook his head.

"It is a woman's voice," said Komodoflorensal.

The ape-man raised his candle high above his head and took a step closer

to the left-hand wall; then he stopped and pointed. The others looked in

the direction indicated by Tarzan's finger and saw an opening in the wall

a hual or two above his head. Tarzan handed his candle to

Komodoflorensal, removed his sword and laid it on the floor, and then

sprang lightly for the opening. For a moment he clung to its edge,

listening, and then he dropped back into the chamber.

"It is pitch-black beyond," he said. "Whoever owns that voice is in

another chamber beyond that into which I was just looking. There was no

human being in the next apartment."

"If it was absolutely dark, how could you know that?" demanded

Komodoflorensal.

"Had there been anyone there I should have smelled him," replied the

ape-man.

The others looked at him in astonishment. "I am sure of it," said Tarzan,

"because I could plainly feel a draught sucking up from the chamber,

through the aperture, and into this chamber. Had there been a human being

there his effluvium would have been carried directly to my nostrils."

"And you could have detected it?" demanded Komodoflorensal. "My friend, I

can believe much of you, but not that!"

Tarzan smiled. "I, at least, have the courage of my convictions," he said,

"for I am going over there and investigate. From the clearness with which

the voice comes to us I am certain that it comes through no solid wall.

There must be an opening into the chamber where the woman is and as we

should investigate every possible avenue of escape, I shall investigate

this." He stepped again toward the wall below the aperture.

"Oh, let us not separate," cried the girl. "Where one goes, let us all

go!"

"Two swords are better than one," said Komodoflorensal, though his tone

was only halfhearted.

TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN

"Very well," replied Tarzan. "I will go first, and then you can pass

Talaskar up to me."

Komodoflorensal nodded. A minute or two later the three stood upon the

opposite side of the wall. Their candle revealed a narrow passage that

showed indications of much more recent use than those through which they

had passed from the quarters of Kalfastoban. The wall they had passed

through to reach it was of stone, but that upon the opposite side was of

studding and rough boards.

"This is a passage built along the side of a paneled room," whispered

Komodoflorensal.

"The other side of these rough boards supports beautifully polished

panels of brilliant woods or burnished metals."

"Then there should be a door, you think, opening from this passage into

the adjoining chamber?" asked Tarzan.

"A secret panel, more likely," he replied.

They walked along the passage, listening intently. At first they had just

been able to distinguish that the voice they heard was that of a woman;

but now they heard the words.

"--had they let me have him," were the first that they distinguished.

"Most glorious mistress, this would not have happened then," replied

another female voice.

"Zoanthrohago is a fool and deserves to die; but my illustrious father,

the king, is a bigger fool," spoke the first voice. "He will kill

Zoanthrohago and with him the chance of discovering the secret of making

our warriors giants. Had they let me buy this Zuanthrol he would not have

escaped. They thought that I would have killed him, but that was farthest

from my intentions."

"What would you have done with him, wondrous Princess?"

"That is not for a slave to ask or know," snapped the mistress.

For a time there was silence.

"That is the Princess Janzara speaking," whispered Tarzan to

Komodoflorensal. "It is the daughter of Elkomoelhago whom you would have

captured and made your princess; but you would have had a handful."

"Is she as beautiful as they say?" asked Komodoflorensal.

"She is very beautiful, but she is a devil."

"It would have been my duty to take her," said Komodoflorensal.

Tarzan was silent. A plan was unfolding itself within his mind. The voice

from beyond the partition spoke again.

"He was very wonderful," it said. "Much more wonderful than our

warriors," and then, after a silence, "You may go, slave, and see to it

that I am not disturbed before the sun stands midway between the Women's

Corridor and the King's Corridor."

"May your candles burn as deathlessly as your beauty, Princess," said the

slave, as she backed across the apartment.

An instant later the three behind the paneling heard a door close.

Tarzan crept stealthily along the passage, seeking the secret panel that

connected the apartment where the Princess Janzara lay composed for the

night; but it was Talaskar who found it.

"Here!" she whispered and together the three examined the fastening. It

was simple and could evidently be opened from the opposite side by

pressure upon a certain spot in the panel.

"Wait here!" said Tarzan to his companions. "I am going to fetch the

Princess Janzara. If we cannot escape with her we should be able to buy

our liberty with such a hostage."

Without waiting to discuss the advisability of his action with the

others, Tarzan gently slid back the catch that held the panel and pushed

it slightly ajar. Before him was the apartment of Janzara--a creation of

gorgeous barbarity in the center of which, upon a marble slab, the

princess lay upon her back, a gigantic candle burning at her head and

another at her feet.

Regardless of the luxuriousness of their surroundings, of their wealth,

or their positions in life, the Minunians never sleep upon a substance

softer than a single thickness of fabric, which they throw upon the

ground, or upon wooden, stone, or marble sleeping slabs, depending upon

their caste and their wealth.

Leaving the panel open the ape-man stepped quietly into the apartment and

moved directly toward the princess, who lay with closed eyes, either

already asleep, or assiduously wooing Morpheus. He had crossed halfway to

her cold couch when a sudden draught closed the panel with a noise that

might well have awakened the dead.

Instantly the princess was on her feet and facing him. For a moment she

stood in silence gazing at him and then she moved slowly toward him, the

sinuous undulations of her graceful carriage suggesting to the Lord of

the Jungle a similarity to the savage majesty of Sabor, the lioness.

"It is you, Zuanthrol!" breathed the princess. "You have come for me?"

"I have come for you, Princess," replied the ape-man. "Make no outcry and

no harm will befall you."

"I will make no outcry," whispered Janzara as with half-closed lids she

glided to him and threw her arms about his neck.

Tarzan drew back and gently disengaged himself. "You do not understand,

Princess," he told her. "You are my prisoner. You are coming with me."

"Yes," she breathed, "I am your prisoner, but it is you who do not

understand. I love you. It is my right to choose whatever slave I will to

be my prince. I have chosen you."

Tarzan shook his head impatiently. "You do not love me," he said. "I am

sorry that you think you do, for I do not love you. I have no time to

waste. Come!" and he stepped closer to take her by the wrist.

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you mad?" she demanded. "Or can it be that you do

not know who I am?"

"You are Janzara, daughter of Elkomoelhago," replied Tarzan. "I know well

who you are."

"And you dare to spurn my love!" She was breathing heavily, her breasts

rising and falling to the tumultuous urge of her emotions.

"It is no question of love between us," replied the ape-man. "To me it is

only a question of liberty and life for myself and my companions."

"You love another?" questioned Janzara.

"Yes," Tarzan told her.

"Who is she?" demanded the princess.

"Will you come quietly, or shall I be compelled to carry you away by

force?" asked the ape-man, ignoring her question.

For a moment the woman stood silently before him, her every muscle

tensed, her dark eyes two blazing wells of fire, and then slowly her

expression changed. Her face softened and she stretched one hand toward

him.

"I will help you, Zuanthrol," she said. "I will help you to escape.

Because I love you I shall do this. Come! Follow me!" She turned and

moved softly across the apartment.

"But my companions," said the ape-man. "I cannot go without them."

"Where are they?"

He did not tell her, for as yet he was none too sure of her motives.

"Show me the way," he said, "and I can return for them."

"Yes," she replied, "I will show you and then perhaps you will love me

better than you love the other."

In the passage behind the paneling Talaskar and Komodoflorensal awaited

the outcome of Tarzan's venture. Distinctly to their ears came every word

of the conversation between the ape-man and the princess.

"He loves you," said Komodoflorensal. "You see, he loves you."

"I see nothing of the kind," returned Talaskar. "Because he does not love

the Princess Janzara is no proof that he loves me."

"But he does love you--and you love him! I have seen it since first he

came. Would that he were not my friend, for then I might run him

through."

"Why would you run him through because he loves me--if he does?" demanded

the girl. "Am I so low that you would rather see your friend dead than

mated with me?"

"I--" he hesitated. "I cannot tell you what I mean."

The girl laughed, and then suddenly sobered. "She is leading him from her

apartment. We had better follow."

As Talaskar laid her fingers upon the spring that actuated the lock

holding the panel in place, Janzara led Tarzan across her chamber toward

a doorway in one of the side walls--not the doorway through which her

slave had departed.

"Follow me," whispered the princess, "and you will see what the love of

Janzara means."

Tarzan, not entirely assured of her intentions, followed her warily.

"You are afraid," she said. "You do not trust me! Well, come here then

and look, yourself, into this chamber before you enter."

Komodoflorensal and Talaskar had but just stepped into the apartment when

Tarzan approached the door to one side of which Janzara stood. They saw

the floor give suddenly beneath his feet and an instant later Zuanthrol

had disappeared. As he shot down a polished chute he heard a wild laugh

from Janzara following him into the darkness of the unknown.

Komodoflorensal and Talaskar leaped quickly across the chamber, but too

late. The floor that had given beneath Tarzan's feet had slipped quietly

back into place. Janzara stood above the spot trembling with anger and

staring down at the place where the ape-man had disappeared. She shook as

an aspen shakes in the breeze--shook in the mad tempest of her own

passions.

"If you will not come to me you shall never go to another!" she screamed,

and then she turned and saw Komodoflorensal and Talaskar running toward

her. What followed occurred so quickly that it would be impossible to

record the facts in the brief time that they actually consumed. It was

over almost before Tarzan reached the bottom of the chute and picked

himself from the earthen floor upon which he had been deposited.

The room in which he found himself was lighted by several candles burning

in iron-barred niches. Opposite him was a heavy gate of iron bars through

which he could see another lighted apartment in which a man, his chin

sagging dejectedly upon his breast, was seated upon a low bench. At the

sound of Tarzan's precipitate entrance into the adjoining chamber the man

looked up and at sight of Zuanthrol, leaped to his feet.

"Quick! To your left!" he cried, and Tarzan, turning, saw two huge,

green-eyed beasts crouching to spring.

His first impulse was to rub his eyes as one might to erase the phantom

figures of a disquieting dream, for what he saw were two ordinary African

wildcats--ordinary in contour and markings, but in size gigantic. For an

instant the ape-man forgot that he was but one-fourth his normal size,

and that the cats, that appeared to him as large as full-grown lions,

were in reality but average specimens of their kind.

As they came toward him he whipped out his sword, prepared to battle for

his life with these great felines as he had so often before with their

mighty cousins of his own jungle.

"If you can hold them off until you reach this gate," cried the man in

the next chamber, "I can let you through. The bolt is upon this side,"

but even as he spoke one of the cats charged.

Komodoflorensal, brushing past Janzara, leaped for the spot upon the

floor at which Tarzan had disappeared and as it gave beneath him he heard

a savage cry break from the lips of the Princess of Veltopismakus.

"So it is you he loves?" she screamed. "But he shall not have you--no! not

even in death!" and that was all that Komodoflorensal heard as the black

chute swallowed him.

Talaskar, confronted by the infuriated Janzara, halted, and then stepped

back, for the princess was rushing upon her with drawn dagger.

"Die, slave!" she screamed, as she lunged for the white breast of

Talaskar, but the slave girl caught the other's wrist and a moment later

they went down, locked in one another's embrace. Together they rolled

about the floor, the daughter of Elkomoelhago seeking to drive her slim

blade into the breast of the slave girl, while Talaskar fought to hold

off the menacing steel and to close with her fingers upon the throat of

her antagonist.

As the first cat charged the other followed, not to be robbed of its

share of the flesh of the kill, for both were half-starved and ravenous,

and as the ape-man met the charge of the first, sidestepping its rush and

springing in again to thrust at its side, Komodoflorensal, who had drawn

his sword as he entered the apartment of Janzara, shot into the

subterranean den almost into the teeth of the second beast, which was so

disconcerted by the sudden appearance of this second human that it

wheeled and sprang to the far end of the den before it could gather its

courage for another attack.

In the chamber above, Talaskar and Janzara fought savagely, two

she-tigers in human form. They rolled to and fro about the room,

straining and striking; Janzara screaming: "Die, slave! You shall not

have him!" But Talaskar held her peace and saved her breath, so that

slowly she was overcoming the other when they chanced to roll upon the

very spot that had let Tarzan and Komodoflorensal to the pit beneath.

As Janzara realized what had happened she uttered a scream of terror.

"The cats! The cats!" she cried, and then the two disappeared into the

black shaft.

Komodoflorensal did not follow the cat that had retreated to the far end

of the pit; but sprang at once to Tarzan's aid, and together they drove

off the first beast as they backed toward the gate where the man in the

adjoining chamber stood ready to admit them to the safety of his own

apartment.

The two cats charged and then retreated, springing in quickly and away

again as quickly, for they had learned the taste of the sharp steel with

which the humans were defending themselves. The two men were almost at

the gate, another instant and they could spring through. The cats charged

again and again were driven to the far corner of the pit. The man in the

next chamber swung open the gate.

"Quick!" he cried, and at the same instant two figures shot from the

mouth of the shaft and, locked tightly in one another's embrace, rolled

to the floor of the pit directly in the path of the charging carnivores.