Part 29 (2/2)

He cast his eyes upward at the sun ”The time approaches,” he said to Lu-don ”Prepare the sacrifice”

Lu-don nodded to the priests ere gathered about Tarzan They seized the ape-man and lifted him bodily to the altar where they laid him upon his back with his head at the south end of the monolith, but a few feet from where Jane Clayton stood Impulsively and before they could restrain her the wo quickly kissed her mate upon the forehead ”Good-bye, John,” she whispered

”Good-bye,” he answered, sed her away Lu-don handed the sacrificial knife to Obergatz ”I am the Great God,” cried the German, ”thus falleth the divine wrath upon all my eneh above his head

”Thus die the blasphemers of God!” he screa out above the silent, spell-boundwhistle in the air and Jad-ben-Otho cruain the sa noise and Lu-don fell, a third and Mo-sar cruround And now the warriors and the people, locating the direction of this new and unknown sound turned toward the western end of the court

Upon the suures-a Ho-don warrior and beside hiuru, across his shoulders and about his hips were strange broad belts studded with beautiful cylinders that glinted in theof wood and ray s clear upon the ears of the silent throng ”Thus speaks the true Jad-ben-Otho,” he cried, ”through this his Messenger of Death Cut the bonds of the prisoners Cut the bonds of the Dor-ul-Otho and of Ja-don, King of Pal-ul-don, and of the woman who is the mate of the son of God”

Pan-sat, filled with the frenzy of fanaticisione To one and only one did he attribute the blame for the disaster that had but just overwhelmed him It was the creature who lay upon the sacrificial altar who had brought Lu-don to his death and toppled the drea in the brain of the under priest

The sacrificial knife lay upon the altar where it had fallen froatz Pan-sat crept closer and then with a sudden lunge he reached forth to seize the handle of the blade, and even as his clutching fingers were poised above it, the strange thing in the hands of the strange creature upon the te word of doo, fell back upon the dead body of his master

”Seize all the priests,” cried Ta-den to the warriors, ”and let none hesitate lest Jad-ben-Otho's ”

The warriors and the people had noitnessed such an exhibition of divine power as ht have convinced an even less superstitious and htened people, and since many of them had but lately wavered between the Jad-ben-Otho of Lu-don and the Dor-ul-Otho of Ja-don it was not difficult for the quickly back to the latter, especially in view of the unanswerable argument in the hands of hier of the Great God

And so the warriors sprang forward noith alacrity and surrounded the priests, and when they looked again at the western wall of the tereat force of warriors And the thing that startled and appalled them was the fact that many of these were black and hairy Waz-don

At their head caht was Ta-den, the Ho-don, and on his left Ound of Kor-ul-JA

A warrior near the altar had seized the sacrificial knife and cut Tarzan's bonds and also those of Ja-don and Jane Clayton, and now the three stood together beside the altar and as the newcomers from the western end of the temple court pushed their way toward theled astonish his weapon across his back by a leather strap, rushed forward and took her in his ar on his shoulder ”Jack, my son!”

And Tarzan of the Apes ca of Pal-ul-don and the warriors and the people kneeled in the teround before the altar where the three stood

25

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Within an hour of the fall of Lu-don and Mo-sar, the chiefs and principal warriors of Pal-ul-don gathered in the great throneroom of the palace at A-lur upon the steps of the lofty pyra Upon one side of the old chieftain stood Tarzan of the Apes, and upon the other Korak, the Killer, worthy son of the hty ape-man

And when the brief ceremony was over and the warriors with upraised clubs had sworn fealty to their new ruler, Ja-don dispatched a trusted company to fetch O-lo-a and Pan-at-lee and the women of his own household from Ja-lur

And then the warriors discussed the future of Pal-ul-don and the question arose as to the administration of the temples and the fate of the priests, who practically without exception had been disloyal to the govern always only their oer and corandizement And then it was that Ja-don turned to Tarzan ”Let the Dor-ul-Otho transmit to his people the wishes of his father,” he said

”Your problem is a simple one,” said the ape- in the eyes of God Your priests, to increase their power, have taught you that Jad-ben-Otho is a cruel God, that his eyes love to dwell upon blood and upon suffering But the falsity of their teachings has been demonstrated to you today in the utter defeat of the priesthood

”Take then the teive them instead to the women that they may be administered in kindness and charity and love Wash the blood from your eastern altar and drain forever the water from the western