Part 17 (2/2)
The dootten Every consideration of stealth and quiet was cast aside as the ape-le terrific blow upon the bars of the smallbefore hi that held the to the floor of the aparth the aperture carrying the hangings of antelope hide with hiling pelt from about his head only to find himself in utter darkness and in silence He called aloud a name that had not passed his lips for many weary months ”Jane, Jane,” he cried, ”where are you?” But there was only silence in reply
Again and again he called, groping with outstretched hands through the Stygian blackness of the room, his nostrils assailed and his brain tantalized by the delicate effluvia that had first assured him that his mate had been within this very roo the base dereater caution! If he had but continued to ht even at thisher in his arms while the body of Lu-don, beneath his foot, spoke eloquently of vengeance achieved But there was no time now for idle self-reproaches
He stu for he knew not what till suddenly the floor beneath him tilted and he shot doard into a darkness even more utter than that above He felt his body strike a s doard as through a polished chute while froh and the voice of Lu-don screamed after him: ”Return to thy father, O Dor-ul-Otho!”
The ape-man came to a sudden and painful stop upon a rocky floor Directly before him was an ovalcrossed byon the waters of the blue lake below Simultaneously he was conscious of a falance revealed in the semidarkness as of considerable proportion
It was the faint, but unmistakable odor of the GRYF, and now Tarzan stood silently listening At first he detected no sounds other than those of the city that ca the lake; but presently, faintly, as though fro a stone pavement, and as he listened he are that the sound approached
Nearer and nearer it ca of the beast was audible Evidently attracted by the noise of his descent into its cavernous retreat it was approaching to investigate He could not see it but he knew that it was not far distant, and then, deafeningly there reverberated through those gloomy corridors the ht of the beast, and his own eyes non accustoht to elude the infuriated charge which he well knew no living creature could withstand Neither did he dare risk the chance of experie GRYF with the tactics of the Tor-o-don that he had found so efficacious upon that other occasion when his life and liberty had been the stakes for which he cast In many respects the conditions were dissiht, he had been able to approach the GRYF under normal conditions in its natural state, and the GRYF itself was one that he had seen subjected to the authority of man, or at least of a manlike creature; but here he was confronted by an ie and he had every reason to suspect that this GRYFinfluence of authority, confined as it was in this gloole purpose that Tarzan had already seen so graphically portrayed in his own experience of the past few moments
To elude the creature, then, upon the possibility of discovering some loophole of escape from his predicament seemed to the ape-man the wisest course to pursue Too ht be avoided-an encounter the outcome of which there was every reason to apprehend would seal the fate of the ly Yet high as his disappointrin ran, hopeless as his present estate now appeared, there tingled in the veins of the savage lord a war and elation She lived! After all these weary months of hopelessness and fear he had found her She lived!
To the opposite side of the chamber, silently as the wraith of a disele creature uided solely in the semi-darkness by its keen ears, bore down upon the spot tohich Tarzan's noisy entrance into its lair had attracted it Along the further wall the ape- of the corridor froer chaed into it Even here his eyes, long accustomed to darkness that would have seemed total to you or to me, saw dimly the floor and the walls within a radius of a few feet-enough at least to prevent hi hi
The corridor was both wide and lofty, which indeed it must be to accommodate the colossal proportions of the creature whose habitat it was, and so Tarzan encountered no difficulty intrail He are as he proceeded that the trend of the passage was doard, though not steeply, but it seemed interminable and he wondered to what distant subterranean lair it ht better have reer cha the GRYF where there was at least sufficient rooht chance of success To be overtaken here in the narrow confines of the black corridor where he was assured the GRYF could not see him at all would spell al from behind Its thunderous bellows fairly shook the cliff from which the cavernous chambers were excavated To halt and meet this monstrous incarnation of fury with a futile whee-oo! see the corridor, increasing his pace as he realized that the GRYF was overhauling him
Presently the darkness lessened and at the final turning of the passage he saw before hi rapidly forward and eed froe circular enclosure the towering white walls of which rose high upon every side-smooth perpendicular walls upon the sheer face of which was no slightest foothold To his left lay a pool of water, one side of which lapped the foot of the wall at this point It was, doubtless, theand the drinking pool of the GRYF
And now the creature ee of the pool to make his last stand There was no staff hich to enforce the authority of his voice, but yet he ht else to do Just beyond the entrance to the corridor the GRYF paused, turning its weak eyes in all directions as though searching for its prey This then see his voice in peremptory command the ape-man voiced the weird whee-oo! of the Tor-o-don Its effect upon the GRYF was instantaneous and complete-with a terrific bellow it lowered its three horns and dashed ht nor to left was any avenue of escape, for behind him lay the placid waters of the pool, while down upon hihty body seemed already to tower above him as the ape-man turned and dove into the dark waters
Dead in her breast lay hope Battling for life during harrowing er and hardshi+p it had fitfully flickered and flamed only to sink after each renewal to smaller proportions than before and now it had died out entirely leaving only cold, charred eain be rekindled Hope was dead as she faced Lu-don, the high priest, in her prison quarters in the Temple of the Gryf at A-lur Both time and hardshi+p had failed to leave their impress upon her physical beauty-the contours of her perfect forlory of her radiant loveliness had defied theer which now confronted her, for Lu-don desired her From the lesser priests she had been safe, but from Lu-don, she was not safe, for Lu-don was not as they, since the high priestshi+p of Pal-ul-don , had wanted her and all that had so far saved her from either was the fear of each for the other, but at last Lu-don had cast aside discretion and had cohtily had she repulsed hi her of relief or renewed hope she could not even rerily upon his cruel countenance as he advanced across the room to seize her She did not shrink nor cower, but stood there very erect, her chin up, her level gaze freighted with the loathing and conteered him, it but increased his desire for possession Here indeed was a queen, perhaps a Goddess; fit h priest
”You shall not!” she said as he would have touched her ”One of us shall die before ever your purpose is accorated upon her ears ”Love does not kill,” he replied ly
He reached for her arainst the bars of one of the s, crashi+ng them inward to the floor, to be followed alure which dove headforeings which it carried with it in its i of terror too leap to the countenance of the high priest and then she saw hi that depended fro of the apartly contrived partition that fell between the hirope upon its opposite side in darkness, since the only cresset the room contained was upon their side of the partition
Faintly fro, but whose it was and what the words she could not distinguish Then she saw Lu-don jerk upon another thong and wait in evident expectancy of so to wait She saw the thong h jerked fronal put in motion whatever ain to its place in the ceiling
Advancing into that portion of the rooh priest knelt upon the floor, and down tilting a section of it, revealed the darkloudly he shouted into the hole: ”Return to thy father, O Dor-ul-Otho!”
Making fast the catch that prevented the trapdoor fro beneath the feet of the unwary until such tiain to his feet