Part 15 (1/2)

”Take him back to Kor-ul-JA,” said Om-at, to one of his warriors, ”and hold him there unharmed until I return”

And so the puzzled Kor-ul-lul was led ahile the savage company moved stealthily froe Fortune sht-a battle royal, for they had not yet coht of the caves of the Kor-ul-lul when they encountered a considerable band of warriors headed down the gorge upon some expedition

Like shadows the Kor-ul-JA e upon either side of the trail Ignorant of ie that they trod their own domain where each rock and stone was as familiar as the features of their mates, the Kor-ul-lul walked innocently into the a peace was shattered by a savage cry and a hurled club felled a Kor-ul-lul

The cry was a signal for a savage chorus froled the war cries of their ene clubs and then as the two forces led, the battle resolved itself into a nuled out a foe and closed upon hiht that filtered through the foliage of the trees above Sleek black coats were streaked with criht the sled with the black bodies of friend and foe Only his keen eyes and his quick wit had shown him how to differentiate between Kor-ul-lul and Kor-ul-JA since with the single exception of apparel they were identical, but at the first rush of the enemy he had noticed that their loin cloths were not of the leopard-matted hides such as orn by his allies

Olanced at Jar-don ”He fights with the ferocity of JATO,” mused the chief ”Powerful indeed uru come,” and then his whole attention was occupied by a new assailant

The fighters surged to and fro through the forest until those who survived were spent with exhaustion All but the stranger who seeht on when each new antagonist would have gladly quit, and when there were no ed, he leaped upon those who stood pantingly facing the exhausted Kor-ul-JA

And always he carried upon his back the peculiar thing which Oe weapon but the purpose of which he could not now account for in view of the fact that Jar-don never used it, and that for the most part it seeed and sainst its owner as he leaped, catlike, hither and thither in the course of his victorious duels The bow and arrows he had tossed aside at the beginning of the fight but the Enfield he would not discard, for where he went he o until its mission had been fulfilled

Presently the Kor-ul-JA, seely shamed by the example of Jar-don closed once more with the enemy, but the latter, er, a tireless demon who appeared invulnerable to their attacks, lost heart and sought to flee And then it was that at Om-at's command his warriors surrounded a half-dozen of the most exhausted and made them prisoners

It was a tired, bloody, and elated company that returned victorious to the Kor-ul-JA Twenty of their number were carried back and six of these were dead lorious and successful raid that the Kor-ul-JA had made upon the Kor-ul-lul in the reatest of chiefs, but that fierce warrior knew that advantage had lain upon his side largely because of the presence of his strange ally Nor did he hesitate to give credit where credit belonged, with the result that Jar-don and his exploits were upon the tongue of every reat was the fame of the race that could produce two such as he and Tarzan-jad-guru

And in the gorge of Kor-ul-lul beyond the ridge the survivors spoke in bated breath of this second demon that had joined forces with their ancient enemy

Returned to his cave Oht into his presence singly, and each he questioned as to the fate of Tarzan Without exception they told him the same story-that Tarzan had been taken prisoner by theuard hi the head of the unfortunate sentry to the opposite side of Kor-ul-lul where he had left it suspended by its hair from the branch of a tree But what had become of him after, they did not know; not one of them, until the last prisoner was examined, he who his way from the direction of the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho toward the caves of his people

This one, when he discovered the purpose of their questioning, bartered with them for the lives and liberty of himself and his fellows ”I can tell you much of this terrible man of whom you ask, Kor-ul-JA,” he said ”I saw him yesterday and I knohere he is, and if you will promise to let me and my fellows return in safety to the caves of our ancestors I will tell you all, and truthfully, that which I know”

”You will tell us anyway,” replied Om-at, ”or we shall kill you”

”You will kill me anyway,” retorted the prisoner, ”unless youI know shall go with ht, Om-at,” said Ta-den, ”promise him that they shall have their liberty”

”Very well,” said Om-at ”Speak Kor-ul-lul, and when you have told me all, you and your fellows may return unharmed to your tribe”

”It was thus,” co with a party of my fellows near the mouth of Kor-ul-lul not far fro, ere surprised and set upon by a large number of Ho-don who took us prisoners and carried us to A-lur where a feere chosen to be slaves and the rest were cast into a chamber beneath the temple where are held for sacrifice the victims that are offered by the Ho-don to Jad-ben-Otho upon the sacrificial altars of the temple at A-lur

”It seemed then that indeed was my fate sealed and that lucky were those who had been selected for slaves aht hope to escape-those in the chamber withhappened There came to the te and reat reverence, and when he ca to the chamber in which retched ones awaited our fate, I saw to my surprise that it was none other than that terrible e of Kor-ul-lul-he whouru but whom they addressed as Dor-ul-Otho And he looked upon us and questioned the high priest and when he was told of the purpose for which ere iry and cried that it was not the will of Jad-ben-Otho that his people be thus sacrificed, and he coh priest to liberate us, and this was done

”The Ho-don prisoners were permitted to return to their homes and ere led beyond the City of A-lur and set upon our way toward Kor-ul-lul There were three of us, but ers that lie between A-lur and Kor-ul-lul and ere only three and unare of our people and only one of us lives I have spoken”

”That is all you know concerning Tarzan-jad-guru?” asked Om-at

”That is all I know,” replied the prisoner, ”other than that he whory, and that one of the two priests who guided us out of the city said to the other that the stranger was not Dor-ul-Otho at all; that Lu-don had said so and that he had also said that he would expose him and that he should be punished with death for his presu