Part 11 (1/2)
10
The Forbidden Garden
Lu-don paled ”It is sacrilege,” he cried; ”for countless ages have the priests of the Great God offered each night a life to the spirit of Jad-ben-Otho as it returned below the western horizon to its n that he was displeased”
”Stop!” commanded Tarzan ”It is the blindness of the priesthood that has failed to read the es of their God Your warriors die beneath the knives and clubs of the Wazdon; your hunters are taken by JA and JATO; no day goes by but witnesses the deaths of few or es of the Ho-don, and one death each day of those that die are the toll which Jad-ben-Otho has exacted for the lives you take upon the eastern altar What greater sign of his displeasure could you require, O stupid priest?”
Lu-don was silent There was raging within hiht be the son of God and his hope that it was not, but at last his fear won and he bowed his head ”The son of Jad-ben-Otho has spoken,” he said, and turning to one of the lesser priests: ”Remove the bars and return these people from whence they came”
He thus addressed did as he was bid and as the bars came down the prisoners, now all fully aware of thethemselves upon their knees before Tarzan raised their voices in thanksgiving
Ko-tan was alh priest by this ruthless overturning of an age-old religious rite ”But what,” he cried, ” in the eyes of Jad-ben-Otho?” turning a look of puzzled apprehension toward the ape-man
”If you seek to please your God,” he replied, ”place upon your altars such gifts of food and apparel as are s will Jad-ben-Otho bless, when youthose of the city who need thes are your storerooifts will be brought when the priests tell the people that in this way they find favor before their God,” and Tarzan turned and signified that he would leave the te the precincts devoted to the worshi+p of their deity, the ape- that stood entirely detached froh it had been cut from a little pinnacle of limestone which had stood out frolance passed over it he noticed that its door and ere barred
”To what purpose is that building dedicated?” he asked of Lu-don ”Who do you keep ih priest nervously, ”there is no one there The place is vacant Once it was used but not now for atehich led back into the palace Here he and the priests halted while Tarzan with Ko-tan and his warriors passed out frorounds
The one question which Tarzan would have asked he had feared to ask for he knew that in the hearts of enuineness, but he determined that before he slept he would put the question to Ko-tan, either directly or indirectly-as to whether there was, or had been recently within the city of A-lur a feserved to them in the banquet hall of Ko-tan's palace by a part of the army of black slaves upon whose shoulders fell the burden of all the heavy and menial tasks of the city, Tarzan noticed that there came to the eyes of one of the slaves as apparently an expression of startled recognition, as he looked upon the ape-ain later he saw the fellohisper to another slave and nod his head in his direction The ape- seen this Waz-don before and he was at a loss to account for an explanation of the fellow's interest in hiotten
Ko-tan was surprised and inwardly disgusted to discover that his Godly guest had no desire to gorge himself upon rich foods and that he would not even so much as taste the villainous brew of the Ho-don To Tarzan the banquet was a disreat was the interest of the guests in gorging themselves with food and drink that they had no ti confined to a continuous grunting which, together with their table manners reminded Tarzan of a visit he had once made to the famous Berkshi+re herd of His Grace, the Duke of Westminster at Woodhouse, Chester
One by one the diners succu effects of the liquor with the result that the grunting gave place to snores, so presently Tarzan and the slaves were the only conscious creatures in the banquet hall
Rising, the ape-man turned to a tall black who stood behind him ”I would sleep,” he said, ”show me to my apartment”
As the fellow conducted him from the cha at sight of hith to one of his fellows The latter cast a half-frightened look in the direction of the departing ape-ht,” he said, ”they should reward us with our liberty, but if you are wrong, O Jad-ben-Otho, ill be our fate?”
”But I a!” cried the other
”Then there is but one to tell this to, for I have heard that he looked sour when this Dor-ul-Otho was brought to the temple and that while the so-called son of Jad-ben-Otho was there he gave this one every cause to fear and hate hih priest”
”You know him?” asked the other slave
”I have worked in the teo to him at once and tell him, but be sure to exact the promise of our freedom for the proof”
And so a black Waz-don cah priest, on a h the hour was late Lu-don saw him, and when he had heard his story he proifts if they could prove the correctness of their claih priest in the teroped its way around the shoulder of Pastar-ul-ved and the listened from the shi+ny barrel of an Enfield that was strapped to the naked back, and brass cartridges shed tiny rays of reflected light fro in the bandoliers across the broad brown shoulders and the lean waist
Tarzan's guide conducted hi the blue lake where he found a bed sies of the Waz-don, reat quantities of furry pelts And so he lay down to sleep, the question that he most wished to put still unasked and unanswered