Part 9 (1/2)
”Build ht and to God, La will offer up the heart of this defiler of the temple Where is the sacred knife? Who took it from him?”
But no one had seen it and each was positive in his assurance that the sacrificial weapon had not been upon Tarzan's person when they captured hi creatures which surrounded him and snarled his defiance He looked upon La and smiled In the face of death he was unafraid
”Where is the knife?” La asked him
”I do not know,” replied Tarzan ”The ht Since you are so desirous for its return I would look for hiet it back for you, did you not hold et it back Of what good was your knife, anyway? You canit back to you”
La laughed a bitter laugh, for in her heart she knew that Tarzan's sin was greater than the purloining of the sacrificial knife of Opar; yet as she looked at hi bound and helpless before her, tears rose to her eyes so that she had to turn away to hide them; but she rehtful suffering and in eventual death for daring to spurn the love of La
When the shelter was coht I shall torture him,” she muttered to her priests, ”and at the first streak of dawn youaltar upon which his heart shall be offered up to the Fla God Gather ell filled with pitch, lay it in the for that the Fla Godthe balance of the day the priests of Opar were busy erecting an altar in the center of the clearing, and while they worked they chanted weird hyue of that lost continent that lies at the bottos of the words they mouthed; they but repeated the ritual that had been handed down froone day when the ancestors of the Piltdown les that are England now
And in the shelter of the hut, La paced to and fro beside the stoic ape-lea over hiiant muscles could not part the many strands that bound his wrists and ankles, for he had strained often, but ineffectually for release He had no hope of outside help and only enemies surrounded him within the camp, and yet he sth of the shelter
And La? She fingered her knife and looked down upon her captive She glared and ht ”Tonight, when it is dark I will torture hiure and upon his handsohts of her love spurned; by religious thoughts that damned the infidel who had desecrated the holy of holies; who had taken fro God-and not once but thrice Three tiht La paused and knelt at his side In her hand was a sharp knife She placed its point against the ape-man's side and pressed upon the hilt; but Tarzan only sed his shoulders
How beautiful he was! La bent low over hiure She compared it with those of the knurled and knotted men froht Dusk careat fire blazed within the little thorn boma about the camp The flames played upon the new altar erected in the center of the clearing, arousing in theGod a picture of the event of the co a lips, burned and blackened, falling away fro, white teeth She saw the shock of black hair tousled upon Tarzan's well-shaped head disappear in a spurt of flahtful pictures as she stood with closed eyes and clenched fists above the object of her hate-ah! was it hate that La of Opar felt?
The darkness of the jungle night had settled down upon the cas of the fire that was kept up to warn off the man-eaters Tarzan lay quietly in his bonds He suffered froht strands about his wrists and ankles; but he le beast was Tarzan with the stoicisence of man He knew that his doom was sealed-that no supplications would avail to temper the severity of his end and so he wasted no breath in pleadings; but waited patiently in the firs could not endure forever
In the darkness La stooped above him In her hand was a sharp knife and in her mind the determination to initiate his torture without further delay The knife was pressed against his side and La's face was close to his when a sudden burst of flahted up the interior of the shelter Close beneath her lips La saw the perfect features of the forest God and into her woreat love she had felt for Tarzan since first she had seen him, and all the accumulated passion of the years that she had dreah Priestess, towered above the helpless creature that had dared to violate the sanctuary of her deity There should be no torture-there should be instant death No longer should the defiler of the tele stroke of the heavy blade and then the corpse to the fla pyre without The knife are, and then La, the woman, collapsed weakly upon the body of the man she loved
She ran her hands in mute caress over his naked flesh; she covered his forehead, his eyes, his lips with hot kisses; she covered hih to protect him fro, piteous tones she begged him for his love For hours the frenzy of her passion possessed the burning hand- God, until at last sleep overpowered her and she lapsed into unconsciousness beside the man she had sworn to torture and to slay And Tarzan, untroubled by thoughts of the future, slept peacefully in La's e of the priests of Opar brought Tarzan to wakefulness Initiated in low and subdued tones, the sound soon rose in volume to the open diapason of barbaric blood lust La stirred Her perfect arm pressed Tarzan closer to her-a smile parted her lips and then she awoke, and slowly the snificance of the death chant i
”Love me, Tarzan!” she cried ”Love me, and you shall be saved”
Tarzan's bonds hurt hi-restricted circulation With an angry growl he rolled over with his back toward La That was her answer! The High Priestess leaped to her feet A hot flush of shame mantled her cheek and then she went dead white and stepped to the shelter's entrance
”Co God!” she cried, ”and s advanced and entered the shelter They laid hands upon Tarzan and bore him forth, and as they chanted they kept ti to and fro to the rhyth of blood and death Behind the too; but not in unison with the chanted cadence White and draas the face of the High Priestess-white and draith unrequited love and hideous terror of the moments to come Yet stern in her resolve was La The infidel should die! The scorner of her love should pay the price upon the fiery altar She saw theh branches She saw the High Priest, he to whonarled, stunted, hideous-advance with the fla her co the sacrificial pyre His hairy, bestial face was distorted in a yellow-fanged grin of anticipatory enjoyment His hands were cupped to receive the life blood of the victiolden sacrificial goblets
La approached with upraised knife, her face turned toward the rising sun and upon her lips a prayer to the burning deity of her people The High Priest looked questioningly toward her-the brand was burning close to his hand and the faggots lay tely near Tarzan closed his eyes and awaited the end He knew that he would suffer, for he recalled the faint memories of past burns He knew that he would suffer and die; but he did not flinch Death is no great adventure to the jungle bred alk hand-in-hand with the grih all the years of their lives It is doubtful that the ape-man even speculated upon what came after death As a matter of fact as his end approached, his hts of the pretty pebbles he had lost, yet his every faculty still was open to what passed around him
He felt La lean over him and he opened his eyes He saw her white, drawn face and he saw tears blinding her eyes ”Tarzan, my Tarzan!” she moaned, ”tell me that you love me-that you will return to Opar with er of ive you What is your answer?”
At the last h Priestess of a cruel cult She saw upon the altar the only creature that ever had aroused the fires of love within her virgin breast; she saw the beast-faced fanatic ould one day be herwith the burning torch ready to ignite the pyre; yet with all her ive the word to apply the fla bosom she leaned close above hile, out of the distance, caht of hope to Tarzan's eyes He raised his voice in a weird scream that sent La back frorumbled and switched the torch fro it closer to the tinder at the base of the pyre
”Your answer!” insisted La ”What is your answer to the love of La of Opar?”
Closer came the sound that had attracted Tarzan's attention and now the others heard it-the shrill tru of an elephant As La looked wide-eyed into Tarzan's face, there to read her fate for happiness or heartbreak, she saw an expression of concern shadow his features Now, for the first ti of Tarzan's shrill scream-he had summoned Tantor, the elephant, to his rescue! La's brows contracted in a savage scowl ”You refuse La!” she cried ”Then die! The torch!” she co toward the priest