Part 27 (1/2)
At first Ja-don was inclined to doubt the veracity of his inforenerals, he could not perated and so he determined to visit the knoll himself and learn precisely what it was that the sentry had observed through the distorting spectacles of fear He had scarce taken his place beside the man ere the fellow touched his arm and pointed ”They are closer now,” he whispered, ”you can see theh, not a quarter of aexperience in Pal-ul-don he had never before seen-two hu upon the broad back of a GRYF
At first he could scarce credit even this testimony of his own eyes, but soon he realized that the creatures below could be naught else than they appeared, and then he recognized the man and rose to his feet with a loud cry
”It is he!” he shouted to those about him ”It is the Dor-ul-Otho hih not the words The former bellowed terrifically and started in the direction of the knoll, and Ja-don, followed by a few of his more intrepid warriors, ran to meet him Tarzan, loath to enter an unnecessary quarrel, tried to turn the animal, but as the beast was far from tractable it always took a few minutes to force the will of its master upon it; and so the two parties were quite close before the ape-e of his furious mount
Ja-don and his warriors, however, had co down upon them with evil intent and they had assuly It was beneath these trees that Tarzan finally stopped the GRYF Ja-don called down to him
”We are friends,” he cried ”I am Ja-don, Chief of Ja-lur I and my warriors lay our foreheads upon the feet of Dor-ul-Otho and pray that he will aid us in our righteous fight with Lu-don, the high priest”
”You have not defeated hi of Pal-ul-don long before this”
”No,” replied Ja-don ”The people fear the high priest and now that he has in the temple one whom he claims to be Jad-ben-Otho many of my warriors are afraid If they but knew that the Dor-ul-Otho had returned and that he had blessed the cause of Ja-don I aht for a long minute and then he spoke ”Ja-don,” he said, ”was one of the feho believed in me and ished to accord me fair treatment I have a debt to pay to Ja-don and an account to settle with Lu-don, not alone on my own behalf, but principally upon that of o with you Ja-don to mete to Lu-don the punishment he deserves Tell me, chief, how may the Dor-ul-Otho best serve his father's people?”
”By coes between,” replied Ja-don quickly, ”that the people may see that it is indeed the Dor-ul-Otho and that he smiles upon the cause of Ja-don”
”You think that they will believe in me more now than before?” asked the ape-reat GRYF is less than a God?” returned the old chief
”And if I go with you to the battle at A-lur,” asked Tarzan, ”can you assure the safety of one from her?”
”She shall remain in Ja-lur with the Princess O-lo-a and my oomen,” replied Ja-don ”There she will be safe for there I shall leave trusted warriors to protect them Say that you will come, O Dor-ul-Otho, and my cup of happiness will be full, for even now Ta-den, my son, marches toward A-lur with a force from the northwest and if we can attack, with the Dor-ul-Otho at our head, from the northeast our arms should be victorious”
”It shall be as you wish, Ja-don,” replied the ape-man; ”but first you must have meat fetched for my GRYF”
”There are many carcasses in the camp above,” replied Ja-don, ”for my men have little else to do than hunt”
”Good,” exclaiht at once”
And when the ht and laid at a distance the ape-er and fed him with his own hand ”See that there is always plenty of flesh for hiht be short-lived should the vicious beast beco before they could leave for Ja-lur, but Tarzan found the GRYF lying where he had left hiht before beside the carcasses of two antelope and a lion; but now there was nothing but the GRYF
”The paleontologists say that he was herbivorous,” said Tarzan as he and Jane approached the beast
The journey to Ja-lur was es where Ja-don hoped to arouse a keener enthusiasm for his cause A party of warriors preceded Tarzan that the people ht of the GRYF but to receive the Dor-ul-Otho as becah station The results were all that Ja-don could have hoped and in no village through which they passed was there one who doubted the deity of the ape-e warrior joined the knew He said he caes to the south and that he had been treated unfairly by one of Lu-don's chiefs For this reason he had deserted the cause of the high priest and co a home in Ja-lur As every addition to his forces elcoer to accompany them, and so he came into Ja-lur with them
There arose now the question as to as to be done with the GRYF while they remained in the city It ith difficulty that Tarzan had prevented the savage beast fro all who came near it when they had first entered the cae next to the Kor-ul-JA, but during the march to Ja-lur the creature had seemed to become accustoave him no cause for annoyance since they kept as far froh the streets of the city he was viewed from the safety of lofty s and roofs However tractable he appeared to have becoestion to turn hiested that he be turned into a walled enclosure within the palace grounds and this was done, Tarzan driving him in after Jane had dismounted More meat was thrown to him and he was left to his own devices, the awe-struck inhabitants of the palace not even venturing to climb upon the walls to look at him