Part 19 (2/2)
Directed now by a leader whom they both respected and admired those who had been loyal to Ko-tan rushed forward upon the faction that had surrounded Mo-sar Fierce and terrible was the fighting, devoid, apparently, of all else than the ferocious lust to kill and while it was at its height Mo-sar and Bu-lot slipped unnoticed froned to the their visit to A-lur they hastened Here were their servants and the lesser warriors of their party who had not been bidden to the feast of Ko-tan These were directed quickly to gather together their belongings for immediate departure When all was ready, and it did not take long, since the warriors of Pal-ul-don require but little iate
Suddenly Mo-sar approached his son ”The princess,” he whispered ”We must not leave the city without her-she is half the battle for the throne”
Bu-lot, now entirely sober, deet out of A-lur quickly,” he urged, ”or we shall have the whole city upon us She would not co”
”There is plenty of ti in the pal-e-don-so It will be long before theybefore any will think to look to the safety of the princess Our time is noas made for us by Jad-ben-Otho Come!”
Reluctantly Bu-lot followed his father, who first instructed the warriors to await theateway of the palace Rapidly the two approached the quarters of the princess Within the entrance-way only a handful of warriors were on guard The eunuchs had retired
”There is fighting in the pal-e-don-so,” Mo-sar announced in feigned excite desires you to couard the apartments of the princess Make haste!” he commanded as the men hesitated
The warriors knew him and that on the morrow the princess was to be betrothed to Bu-lot, his son If there was trouble what more natural than that Mo-sar and Bu-lot should be intrusted with the safety of the princess And then, too, was not Mo-sar a powerful chief to whose orders disobedienceh school of tribal warfare, but they had learned to obey a superior and so they departed for the banquet hall-the place-where- until they had disappeared Mo-sar crossed to the hangings at the opposite end of the entrance-hall and followed by Bu-lotapart, the two ht of the of this?” she derily
Mo-sar advanced and halted before her Into his cunning mind had entered a plan to trick her If it succeeded it would prove easier than taking her by force, and then his eyes fell upon Jane Clayton and he alht himself and returned to the business of the ency of our ive us We have sad news for you There has been an uprising in the palace and Ko-tan, the king, has been slain The rebels are drunk with liquor and now on their way here We et you out of A-lur at once-there is not a moment to lose Come, and quickly!”
”My father dead?” cried O-lo-a, and suddenly her eyes ide ”Then my place is here with my people,” she cried ”If Ko-tan is dead I am queen until the warriors choose a new ruler-that is the law of Pal-ul-don And if I am queen none can make me hom I do not wish to wed-and Jad-ben-Otho knows I never wished to wed thy cowardly son Go!” She pointed a slier imperiously toward the doorway
Mo-sar saw that neither trickery nor persuasion would avail now and every precious ain at the beautiful woman who stood beside O-lo-a He had never before seen her but he well knew froossip that she could be no other than the Godlike stranger whom Ko-tan had planned to make his queen
”Bu-lot,” he cried to his son, ”take you your oo suddenly forward and seizing Jane about the waist lifted her in his aruess his purpose he had disappeared through the hangings near the foot of the dais and was gone with the stranger worasp
And then Bu-lot sought to seize O-lo-a, but O-lo-a had her Pan-at-lee-fierce little tiger-girl of the savage Kor-ul-JA-Pan-at-lee whose name belied her-and Bu-lot found that with the two of them his hands were full When he would have lifted O-lo-a and borne her away Pan-at-lee seized hi him down Viciously he kicked her, but she would not desist, and finally, realizing that he ht not only lose his princess but be so delayed as to invite capture if he did not rid hi she-JATO, he hurled O-lo-a to the floor and seizing Pan-at-lee by the hair drew his knife and-
The curtains behind hiure crossed the roooal his wrist was seized fro to the base of his brain dropped him, lifeless, to the floor Bu-lot, coward, traitor, and assassin, died without knoho struck him down
As Tarzan of the Apes leaped into the pool in the GRYF pit of the teht have accounted for his act on the hypothesis that it was the last blind urge of self-preservation to delay, even for a edy in which each soe; but no-those cool, gray eyes had caught the sole possibility for escape that the surroundings and the circu through a small aperture in the cliff at the surface of the pool upon its farther side With swift, bold strokes he swa that the water would in no way deter his pursuer Nor did it Tarzan heard the great splash as the huge creature plunged into the pool behind hied rapidly onward in his wake He was nearing the opening-would it be large enough to pere of his body? That portion of it which showed above the surface of the water most certainly would not His life, then, depended upon how ed And noas directly before him and the GRYF directly behind There was no alternative-there was no other hope The ape-th into the last few strokes, extended his hands before hied to the water's level and shot forward toward the hole
Frothing with rage was the baffled Lu-don as he realized how neatly the stranger she had turned his own tables upon him He could of course escape the Temple of the Gryf in which her quick wit had te the delay, however brief, Ja-don would find time to steal her from the temple and deliver her to Ko-tan But he would have her yet-that the high priest swore in the names of Jad-ben-Otho and all the demons of his faith He hated Ko-tan Secretly he had espoused the cause of Mo-sar, in whoive hi the revolt that would dethrone Ko-tan and place Mo-sar in poith Lu-don the real ruler of Pal-ul-don He licked his thin lips as he sought thethrough which Tarzan had entered and now Lu-don's only avenue of escape Cautiously hebefore him with his hands, and when they discovered that the trap was set for hily snarl broke from the priest's lips ”The she-devil!” he muttered; ”but she shall pay, she shall pay-ah, Jad-ben-Otho; how she shall pay for the trick she has played upon Lu-don!”
He crawled through theand cliround Should he pursue Ja-don and the wo an encounter with the fierce chief, or bide his tin? He chose the latter solution, asto his quarters he summoned several of his priests-those ere most in his confidence and who shared his ambitions for absolute power of the temple over the palace-all men who hated Ko-tan
”The time has come,” he told them, ”when the authority of the temple must be placed definitely above that of the palace Ko-tan h priest Go then, Pan-sat, and suo to the city and prepare the faithful warriors that they may be in readiness when the time comes”
For another hour they discussed the details of the coup d'etat that was to overthrow the governnal sounded fro, would thrust a knife into the heart of Ko-tan, for the price of liberty Another held personal knowledge of an officer of the palace that he could use to compel the latter to admit a number of Lu-don's warriors to various parts of the palace With Mo-sar as the cat's paw, the plan see upon their immediate errands to palace and to city
As Pan-sat entered the palace grounds he are of a sudden commotion in the direction of the pal-e-don-so and a few minutes later Lu-don was surprised to see hih priest, breathless and excited
”What now, Pan-sat?” cried Lu-don ”Are you pursued by demons?”