Part 2 (1/2)

The old fellow sighed and shook his head ”You have tried to save me froreat witch-doctor Listen to me, white man! I see bad days ahead of you It is writ in reater even than you will rise up and strike you down Turn back, Munango-Keewati! Turn back before it is too late Danger lies ahead of you and danger lurks behind; but greater is the danger before I see-” He paused and drew a long, gasping breath Then he crumpled into a little, wrinkled heap and died Tarzan wondered what else he had seen

It was very late when the ape- his black warriors None had seen hi of the old witch-doctor before he fell asleep and he thought of it again after he awoke; but he did not turn back for he was unafraid, though had he knohat lay in store for one he loved h the trees to her side and allowed the gold of Opar to reotten storehouse

Behind hi he had heard during the night and very nearly did he give up his project and turn back upon his trail It was Werper, the ht had heard far away upon the trail ahead of him a sound that had filled his cowardly soul with terror-a sound such as he never before had heard in all his life, nor dreas of a God-created creature He had heard the victory cry of the bull ape as Tarzan had screamed it forth into the face of Goro, the moon, and he had treht of a new day he treain as he recalled it, and would have turned back frohtful sound seereater fear of Ached steadily ahead toward Opar's ruined ramparts and behind him slunk Werper, jackal-like, and only God knehat lay in store for each

At the edge of the desolate valley, overlooking the golden doo alone to the treasure vault, reconnoitering, for he had determined that caution should mark his every ht he set forth, and Werper, who had scaled the cliffs alone behind the ape-h boulders of the mountain top, slunk stealthily after hie and the ranite kopje, outside the city's walls, where lay the entrance to the passage-way leading to the treasure vault, gave the Belgian ample cover as he followed Tarzan toward Opar

He saw the giant ape-reat rock Werper, clawing fearfully during the perilous ascent, sweating in terror, al upward, until at last he stood upon the suht For a time Werper hid behind one of the lesser boulders that were scattered over the top of the hill, but, seeing or hearing nothing of the Englishman, he crept from his place of conceals, in the hope that he ht discover the location of the treasure in ample time to ian's desire old, that, after Tarzan had departed, he ht come in safety with his followers and carry away as much as he could transport

He found the narrow cleft leading doard into the heart of the kopje along orn, granite steps He advanced quite to the dark mouth of the tunnel into which the runway disappeared; but here he halted, fearing to enter, lest he roped his way along the rocky passage, until he came to the ancient wooden door A es since, long-dead hands had ranged the lofty rows of precious ingots for the rulers of that great continent which now lies subed beneath the waters of the Atlantic

No sound broke the stillness of the subterranean vault There was no evidence that another had discovered the forgotten wealth since last the ape- place

Satisfied, Tarzan turned and retraced his steps toward the su, granite shoulder, watched him pass up froe of the hill which faced the rinal of theirplace, dropped into the somber darkness of the entrance and disappeared

Tarzan, halting upon the kopje's edge, raised his voice in the thunderous roar of a lion Twice, at regular intervals, he repeated the call, standing in attentive silence for several minutes after the echoes of the third call had died away And then, fro roar-once, twice, thrice Basuli, the Waziri chieftain, had heard and replied

Tarzan againthat in a few hours his blacks would be with hiely shaped, golden ingots of Opar In the meantime he would carry as much of the precious metal to the summit of the kopje as he could

Six trips he made in the five hours before Basuli reached the kopje, and at the end of that tireat boulder, carrying upon each trip a load which iant fraue, as he helped to raise his ebon warriors to the hill top with the rope that had been brought for the purpose

Six times he had returned to the treasure chaian, had cowered in the black shadows at the far end of the long vault Once again cahtingporters for love of the only creature in the world who hty natures such ots passed out of the vaults,aith him

As the last of the Waziri filed frolimpse of the fabulous wealth upon which his two inroads had uished the single candle he had brought with hiht of which had cast the first alleviating rays into the impenetrable darkness of the buried chaes since it had lain forgotten of man, Tarzan's mind reverted to that first occasion upon which he had entered the treasure vault, co upon it by chance as he fled from the pits beneath the teh Priestess of the Sun Worshi+pers

He recalled the scene within the temple when he had lain stretched upon the sacrificial altar, while La, with high-raised dagger, stood above him, and the rows of priests and priestesses awaited, in the ecstatic hysteria of fanaticisht fill their golden goblets and drink to the glory of their Fla God

The brutal and bloody interruption by Tha, the mad priest, passed vividly before the ape-ht of the votaries before the insane blood lust of the hideous creature, the brutal attack upon La, and his own part of the griedy when he had battled with the infuriated Oparian and left him dead at the feet of the priestess he would have profaned

This andat the long tiers of dull-yellow metal He wondered if La still ruled the te walls rose upon the very foundations about hirotesque priests? It seemed a hideous fate, indeed, for one so beautiful With a shake of his head, Tarzan stepped to the flickering candle, extinguished its feeble rays and turned toward the exit

Behind hione He had learned the secret for which he had co followers, bring theold that they could stagger under

The Waziri had reached the outer end of the tunnel, and inding upward toward the fresh air and the welcoht of the kopje's su hand of reverie and started slowly after theht, for the last time, he closed the massive door of the treasure room In the darkness behind him Werper rose and stretched his craly caressed a golden ingot on the nearest tier He raised it frohed it in his hands He clutched it to his bosom in an ecstasy of avarice

Tarzan drea which lay before him, of dear arms about his neck, and a soft cheek pressed to his; but there rose to dispel that drea

And then, in the span of a few brief seconds, the hopes of both these reed in the panic of terror-the other was plunged into total forgetfulness of the past by a jagged fragashed a deep cut upon his head