Part 27 (2/2)

Ja-don led Tarzan and Jane to the quarters of the Princess O-lo-a who, the round and touched her forehead to his feet Pan-at-lee was there with her and she too seeain When they found that Jane was his mate they looked with almost equal awe upon her, since even the most skeptical of the warriors of Ja-don were now convinced that they were entertaining a God and a Goddess within the city of Ja-lur, and that with the assistance of the power of these two, the cause of Ja-don would soon be victorious and the old Lion-man set upon the throne of Pal-ul-don

From O-lo-a Tarzan learned that Ta-den had returned and that they were to be united in ion and in accordance with the custom of their people as soon as Ta-den caht at A-lur

The recruits were now gathering at the city and it was decided that the next day Ja-don and Tarzan would return to the main body in the hidden caht the attack should be made in force upon Lu-don's forces at A-lur Word of this was sent to Ta-den where he awaited with his warriors upon the north side of Jad-ben-lul, only a fewout of these plans it was necessary to leave Jane behind in Ja-don's palace at Ja-lur, but O-lo-a and her wouard thes of apprehension as to her safety, and again seated upon the GRYF made his way out of the city with Ja-don and his warriors

At the e mount since it had served its purpose and could be of no further value to him in their attack upon A-lur, which was to beday when, as he could not have been seen by the enemy, the effect of his entry to the city upon the GRYF would have been totally lost A couple of sharp bloith the spear sent the big ani in the direction of the Kor-ul-GRYF nor was the ape-man sorry to see it depart since he had never known at what instant its short teht turn it upon some of his coe the march on A-lur was coht fell a warrior frorounds He made his way to where the lesser priests were quartered His presence aroused no suspicion as it was not unusual for warriors to have business within the temple He caated after the evening meal The rites and ceremonies of the sacrifice had been concluded and there was nothing ious nature to make call upon their time until the rites at sunrise

Now the warrior knew, as in fact nearly all Pal-ul-don knew, that there was no strong bond between the temple and the palace at Ja-lur and that Ja-don only suffered the presence of the priests and permitted their cruel and abhorrent acts because of the fact that these things had been the custoes, and rash indeed must have been the man ould have attempted to interfere with the priests or their ceremonies That Ja-don never entered the teh priest never entered the palace, but the people cas and the sacrifices wereas in every other tes, knew them better perhaps than a simple warrior should have known them And so it was here in the te out of whatever design he had

As he entered the apartreeted them after the manner which was custon with his finger that ht have attracted little attention or scarcely been noticed at all by one who knew not itsThat there were those within the room who noticed it and interpreted it was quickly apparent, through the fact that two of the priests rose and came close to him as he stood just within the doorway and each of thenal that the warrior had made

The three talked for but a moment and then the warrior turned and left the apartment A little later one of the priests who had talked with him left also and shortly after that the other

In the corridor they found the warrior waiting, and led him to a little chamber which opened upon a ser Here the three remained in whispered conversation for some little time and then the warrior returned to the palace and the two priests to their quarters

The apartments of the women of the palace at Ja-lur are all upon the sale door leading into the corridor and at the opposite end several s overlooking a garden It was in one of these rooms that Jane slept alone At each end of the corridor was a sentinel, thestationed in a room near the outer entrance to the women's quarters

The palace slept for they kept early hours there where Ja-don ruled The pal-e-don-so of the great chieftain of the north knew no such wild orgies as had resounded through the palace of the king at A-lur Ja-lur was a quiet city by couard kept at every entrance to the chaate leading into the teuards, however, were s usually of not more than five or six warriors, one of whom remained ahile the others slept Such were the conditions then when tarriors presented themselves, one at either end of the corridor, to the sentries atched over the safety of Jane Clayton and the Princess O-lo-a, and each of the newcomers repeated to the sentinels the stereotyped words which announced that they were relieved and these others sent to watch in their stead Never is a warrior loath to be relieved of sentry duty Where, under different circuht ask numerous questions he is now too well satisfied to escape the monotonies of that universally hated duty And so these two men accepted their relief without question and hastened away to their pallets

And then a third warrior entered the corridor and all of the newco e warrior who had met Ja-don and Tarzan outside the city of Ja-lur as they had approached it the previous day; and he was the same warrior who had entered the temple a short hour before, but the faces of his felloere unfamiliar, even to one another, since it is seldom that a priest removes his hideous headdress in the presence even of his associates

Silently they lifted the hangings that hid the interior of the rooh the corridor, and stealthily slunk within Upon a pile of furs in a far corner lay the sleeping forave forth no sound as they crossed the stone floor toward her A ray of h anear her couch shone full upon her, revealing the beautiful contours of an arainst the dark furry pelt beneath which she slept, and the perfect profile that was turned toward the skulking three

But neither the beauty nor the helplessness of the sleeper aroused such sentiht stir in the breasts of normal men To the three priests she was but a luht of that passion which had aroused ue and to irl, and which even noas influencing the destiny of undiscovered Pal-ul-don

Upon the floor of the chamber were numerous pelts and as the leader of the trio caathered up one of the s outspread above her face ”Now,” he whispered and si over the wo her ar her body while their leader stifled her cries with the furry pelt Quickly and silently they bound her wrists and gagged her and during the brief tiht have been heard by occupants of the adjoining aparthly to her feet they forced her toward abut she refused to walk, throwing herself instead upon the floor They were very angry and would have resorted to cruelties to compel her obedience but dared not, since the wrath of Lu-don ht fall heavily upon whoever mutilated his fair prize

And so they were forced to lift and carry her bodily Nor was the task any sinecure since the captive kicked and struggled as best shetheir labor as arduous as possible But finally they succeeded in getting her through theand into the garden beyond where one of the two priests from the Ja-lur teateway in the south wall of the enclosure

Iht of stone stairs led doard toward the river and at the foot of the stairs were moored several canoes Pan-sat had indeed been fortunate in enlisting aid from those who knew the teht never have escaped fro the woht canoe Pan-sat entered it and took up the paddle His cos and shoved the little craft out into the current of the stream Their traitorous work completed they turned and retraced their steps toward the tely with the current, moved rapidly down the river that would carry him to the Jad-ben-lul and A-lur

The ave no hint of approaching day as a long file of warriors wound stealthily through the darkness into the city of A-lur Their plans were all laid and there seeer had been dispatched to Ta-den whose forces lay northwest of the city Tarzan, with a sh the secret passageway, the location of which he alone knehile Ja-don, with the greater proportion of the warriors, was to attack the palace gates

The ape-h the winding alleys of A-lur, arriving undetected at the building which hid the entrance to the secret passageway This spot being best protected by the fact that its existence was unknown to others than the priests, was unguarded To facilitate the passage of his little cohted a torch which had been brought for the purpose and preceding his warriors led the way toward the temple