Tarzan and the Forbidden City t-19 Read online

  "We can't have anything like this," he said. "We've enough troubles without fighting among ourselves."

  "I'm sorry, Monsieur Gregory," said d'Arnot, bolstering his weapon.

  Wolff turned and walked away, muttering to himself.

  "What had we better do, Captain?" asked Gregory. "Wait here for Tarzan? or go on?"

  "We might as well go on," said d'Arnot. "We might just lose a day or two by staying here."

  "But if we go on, Tarzan might not be able to find us," objected Gregory.

  D'Arnot laughed. "Even yet, you do not know Tarzan," he said. "You might as well fear to lose yourself on the main street of your native city as think that Tarzan could lose us in two days, anywhere in Africa ."

  "Very well," said Gregory, "let's go on."

  As they moved on behind Wolff, Lavac was walking beside Helen.

  "What a deadly experience this would be," he said, "if it were not for—" He hesitated.

  "Not for what?" said the girl.

  "You," he said.

  "Me? I don't understand what you mean."

  "That is because you've never been in love," he replied, huskily.

  Helen laughed. "Oh," she cried, "are you trying to tell me you're in love with me? It must be the altitude."

  "You laugh at my love?" he demanded.

  "No," she said, "at you. Magra and I are the only women you have seen for weeks. You were bound to have fallen in love with one of us, being a Frenchman; and Magra is so obviously in love with Tarzan that it would have been a waste of time to have fallen in love with her. Please forget it."

  "I shall never forget it," said Lavac, "and I shall never give up. I am mad about you, Helen. Please give me something to hope for. I tell you I'm desperate. I won't be responsible for what I may do, if you don't tell me that there may be a little hope for me."

  "I'm sorry," she said, seriously, "but I just don't love you. If you are going to act like this, you will make everything even more disagreeable than it already is."

  "You are cruel," grumbled Lavac; and for the rest of the day walked moodily alone, nursing his jealousy of d'Arnot.

  And there was another who was imbued with thoughts of love that clamored for expression. It was Wolff, and just to be charitable let us call the sentiment that moved him love. He had been leading the safari, but the game trail he was following was too plain to be missed; so he dropped back beside Magra.

  "Listen, beautiful," he said. "I'm sorry for what I said the other day. I wouldn't hurt you for nothin'. I know we ain't always hit it off so good, but I'm for you. There ain't nothin' I wouldn't do for you. Why can't we be friends? We could go a long way, if we worked together."

  "Meaning what?" asked Magra.

  "Meaning I got what it takes to make a woman happy—two strings on that big diamond and Ј.2000 in real money. Think what me and you could do in God's country with all that!"

  "With you?" she sneered.

  "Yes, with me. Ain't I good enough for you?" he demanded.

  Magra looked at him, and laughed.

  Wolff flushed. "Look here," he said, angrily; "if you think you can treat me like dirt and get away with it, you're all wrong. I just been offerin' to marry you, but I ain't good enough. Well, let me tell you this—I always get what I go after. I'll get you; and I won't have to marry you, neither. You're stuck on that monkey-man; but he can't even see you, and anyway he hasn't got tuppence to rub together."

  "A guide belongs at the head of the safari," said Magra; "good-by."

  Late in the afternoon Tarzan dropped from the branches of a tree into the midst of the trekking safari, if the six whites and Ogabi could be called a safari. The seven stopped and gathered around him.

  "I'm glad you're back," said Gregory. "I'm always worried when you are away."

  "I went to look for Thorne's trail," said Tarzan, "and I found it."

  "Good!" exclaimed Gregory.

  "He's a long way ahead of us," continued the ape-man, "thanks to you, Wolff."

  "Anyone can make a mistake," growled Wolff.

  "You made no mistake," snapped Tarzan. "You have tried, deliberately, to lead us off the trail. We'd be better off without this man, Gregory. You should dismiss him."

  "You can't turn me out alone in this country," said Wolff.

  "You'd be surprised what Tarzan can do," remarked d'Arnot.

  "I think it would be a little too drastic," said Gregory.

  Tarzan shrugged. "Very well," he said; "as you will, but we'll dispense with his services as guide from now on."

  Chapter 10

  ATAN THOME AND Lal Taask stood at the head of their safari, which had just emerged from a dense forest. At their right ran a quiet river; and before them stretched rough, open country. In the distance, visible above low hills, rose the summit of what appeared to be a huge extinct volcano.

  "Look, Lal Taask!" exclaimed Thome. "It is Tuen-Baka. Inside its crater lies Ashair, The Forbidden City."

  "And The Father of Diamonds, Master," added Lal Taask.

  "Yes, The Father of Diamonds. I wish that Magra were here to see. I wonder where they are. Wolff must be on his way here with her by now. Perhaps we shall meet them when we come out; they could scarcely have overtaken us—we have moved too swiftly."

  "If we do not meet them, there will be fewer with whom to divide," suggested Lal Taask.

  "I promised her mother," said Thome.

  "That was a long time ago; and her mother is dead, and Magra never knew of the promise."

  "The memory of her mother never dies," said Thome. "You have been a faithful servitor, Lal Taask. Perhaps I should tell you the story; then you will understand."

  "Your servant listens."

  "Magra's mother was the only woman I ever loved. The inexorable laws of caste rendered her unobtainable by me. I am a mongrel. She was the daughter of a maha-raja. I was trusted in the service of her father; and when the princess married an Englishman, I was sent to England with her in her entourage. While her husband was hunting big game in Africa , he stumbled upon Ashair. For three years he was a prisoner there, undergoing cruelties and torture. At last he managed to escape, and returned home only to die as a result of his experiences. But he brought the story of The Father of Diamonds, and exacted from his wife a promise that she would organize an expedition to return to Ashair and punish those who had treated him so cruelly. The Father of Diamonds was to be the incentive to obtain volunteers; but the map he made became lost, and nothing was ever done. Then the princess died, leaving Magra, who was then ten years old, in my care; for the old maharaja was dead, and his successor would have nothing to do with the daughter of the Englishman. I have always had it in my mind to look for Ashair, and two years ago I made the first attempt. It was then that I learned that Brian Gregory was on a similar quest. He reached Ashair and made a map, though he never actually entered the city. On his second venture, I followed him; but got lost. I met the remnants of his safari coming out. He had disappeared. They refused to give me the map; so I swore to obtain it, and here I am with the map."

  "How did you know he made a map?" asked Lal Taask.

  "Our safaris met for one night, after his first trip in. I just happened to see him making the map. It is the one I have, or, rather, a copy of it that he sent home in a letter.

  "Because Magra's father died because of The Father of Diamonds, a share of it belongs to her; and there is another reason. I am not yet an old man. I see in Magra the reincarnation of the woman I loved. Do you understand, Lal Taask?"

  "Yes, master."

  Atan Thome sighed. "Perhaps I dream foolish dreams. We shall see, but now we must move on. Come, Mbuli, get the boys going!"

  The natives had been whispering among themselves while Thome and Taask talked, now Mbuli came to Atan Thome.

  "My people will go no farther, bwana," he said.

  "What!" exclaimed Thome. "You must be crazy. I hired you to go to Ashair."

  "In Bonga, Ashair was a long way off; and the spirit
s of my people were brave. Now Bonga is a long way off and Ashair is near. Now they remember that Tuen-Baka is taboo, and they are afraid."

  "You are headman," snapped Thome. "You make them come."

  "No can do," insisted Mbuli.

  "We'll camp here by the river tonight," said Thome. "I'll talk with them. They may feel braver tomorrow. They certainly can't quit on me now."

  "Very well, bwana; tomorrow they may feel braver. It would be well to camp here tonight."

  Atan Thome and Lal Taask slept well that night, lulled by the soothing murmuring of the river; and Atan Thome dreamed of The Father of Diamonds and Magra. Lal Taask thought that he dreamed when the silence of the night was broken by a sepulchral voice speaking in a strange tongue, but it was no dream.

  The sun was high when Atan Thome awoke. He called his boy, but there was no response; then he called again, loudly, peremptorily. He listened. The camp was strangely silent. Rising, he went to the front of the tent and parted the flaps. Except for his tent and Lal Taask's, the camp was deserted. He crossed to Taask's tent and awakened him.

  "What is the matter, master?" asked Lal Taask.

  "The dogs have deserted us," exclaimed Thome.

  Taask leaped to his feet and came out of his tent. "By Allah! They have taken all our provisions and equipment with them. They have left us to die. We must hurry after them. They can't be very far away."

  "We shall do nothing of the sort," said Thome. "We're going on!" There was a strange light hi his eyes that Lal Taask had never seen there before. "Do you think I have gone through what I have gone through to turn back now because a few cowardly natives are afraid?"

  "But, master, we cannot go on alone, just we two," begged Lal Taask.

  "Silence!" commanded Thome. "We go on to Ashair—to the Forbidden City and The Father of Diamonds. The Father of Diamonds!" He broke into wild laughter. "Magra shall wear the finest diamonds in the world. We shall be rich, rich beyond the wildest dreams of avarice—she and I—the richest people in the world! I, Atan Thome, the mongrel, shall put the maharajas of India to shame. I shall strew the streets of Paris with gold. I—" He stopped suddenly and pressed a palm to his forehead. "Come!" he said presently in his normal tone. "We'll follow the river up to Ashair."

  In silence, Lal Taask followed his master along a narrow trail that paralleled the river. The ground was rough and broken by gullies and ravines, the trail was fault across rocky, barren ground. Near noon they reached the mouth of a narrow gorge with precipitous cliffs on either side, cliffs that towered high above them, dwarfing the two men to Lilliputian proportions. Through the gorge flowed the river, placidly.

  "Siva! What a place!" exclaimed Lal Taask. "We can go no farther."

  "It is the trail to Ashair," said Thorne, pointing. "See it winding along the face of the cliff?"

  "That, a trail!" exclaimed Taask. "It is only a scratch that a mountain goat couldn't find footing on."

  "Nevertheless, it is the trail that we follow," said Thorne.

  "Master, it is madness!" cried Lal Taask. "Let us turn back. All the diamonds in the world are not worth the risk. Before we have gone a hundred yards we shall have fallen into the river and drowned."

  "Shut up!" snapped Thorne, "and follow me."

  Clinging precariously to a narrow foot path scratched in the face of the towering cliff, the two men inched their way along the rocky wall. Below them flowed the silent river that rose somewhere in the mystery that lay ahead. A single mis-step would cast them into it. Lal Taask dared not look down. Facing the wall, with arms outspread searching for handholds that were not there, trembling so that he feared his knees would give beneath him and hurl him to death, he followed his master, sweat gushing from every pore.

  "We'll never make it," he panted.

  "Shut up and come along!" snapped Thorne. "If I fall, you may turn back."

  "Oh, master, I couldn't even do that. No one could turn around on this hideous trail."

  "Then keep coming and quit making such a fuss. You make me nervous."

  "And to think you take such risks for a diamond! If it were as big as a house and I had it now, I'd give it to be back in Lahore ."

  "You are a coward, Lal Taask," snapped Thorne.

  "I am, master; but it is better to be a live coward than a dead fool."

  For two hours the men moved slowly along the narrow foot path until both were on the verge of exhaustion, and even Thorne was beginning to regret his temerity; then, as he turned a jutting shoulder in the cliff, he saw a little wooded canyon that broke the face of the mighty escarpment and ran gently down to the river. Down into this canyon the trail led. When they reached it, they threw themselves upon the ground in total exhaustion; and lay there until almost dark.

  Finally they aroused themselves and built a fire, for with the coming of night a chill settled upon the canyon. All day they had been without food; and they were famished, but there was nothing for them to eat, and they had to content themselves by filling their bellies with water at the river. For warmth, they huddled close to their little fire.

  "Master, this is an evil place," said Lal Taask. "I have a feeling that we are being watched."

  "It is the evil within you speaking, fool," growled Thorne.

  "Allah! Master, look!" faltered Taask. "What is it?" He pointed into the blackness among the trees; and then a sepulchral voice spoke in a strange tongue, and Lal Taask faulted.

  Chapter 11

  UNGO, THE KING ape, was hunting with his tribe. They were nervous and irritable, for it was the period of the Dum-Dum; and as yet they had found no victim for the sacrificial dance. Suddenly the shaggy king raised his head and sniffed the air. He growled his disapproval of the evidence that Usha, the wind, brought to his nostrils. The other apes looked at him questioningly.

  "Gomangani, tarmangani," he said. "They come," then he led his people into the underbrush and hid close to the trail.

  The little band of men and women who formed the Gregory "safari" followed the plain trail left by Atan Thome's safari, while Tarzan hunted for meat far afield.

  "Tarzan must have had difficulty in locating game," said d'Arnot. "I haven't heard his kill-call yet."

  "He's marvellous," said Magra. "We'd have starved to death if it hadn't been for him—even with a hunter along."

  "Well, you can't shoot game where there ain't none," growled Wolff.

  "Tarzan never comes back empty handed," said Magra; "and he hasn't any gun, either."

  "The other monkeys find food, too," sneered Wolff; "but who wants to be a monkey?"

  Ungo was watching them now, as they came in sight along the trail. His close-set, bloodshot eyes blazed with anger; and then suddenly and without warning he charged, and his whole tribe followed him. The little band fell back in dismay. D'Arnot whipped out his pistol and fired; and an ape fell, screaming; then the others were among them, and he could not fire again without endangering his companions. Wolff ran. Lavac and Gregory were both knocked down and bitten. For a few moments all was confusion, so that afterward no one could recall just what happened. The apes were among them and gone again; and when they went, Ungo carried Magra off under one great hairy arm.

  Magra struggled to escape until she was exhausted, but the powerful beast that carried her paid little attention to her struggles. Once, annoyed, he cuffed her, almost knocking her insensible; then she ceased, waiting and hoping for some opportunity to escape. She wondered to what awful fate she was being dragged. So man-like was the huge creature, she shuddered as she contemplated what might befall her.

  Half carrying her, half dragging her through the woods, with his huge fellows lumbering behind, Ungo, the king ape, bore the girl to a small, natural clearing, a primitive arena where, from time immemorial, the great apes had held their sacrificial dance. There he threw her roughly to the ground, and two females squatted beside her to see that she did not escape.

  Back on the trail, the little party, overwhelmed by the tragedy of this misadventur
e, stood debating what they had best do.

  "We could follow them," said d'Arnot; "but we haven't a chance of overtaking them, and if we did, what could we do against them, even though we are armed?"

  "But we can't just stand here and do nothing," cried Helen.

  "I'll tell you," said d'Arnot. "I'll take Wolff's rifle and follow them. I may be able to pick off enough of them to frighten the others away if I come up with them after they halt; then, when Tarzan returns, send him after me."

  "Here's Tarzan now," said Helen, as the ape-man came trotting along the trail with the carcass of his kill across his shoulder.

  Tarzan found a very disorganized party as he joined them. They were all excited and trying to talk at the same time.

  "We never saw them 'til they jumped us," said Lavac.

  "They were as big as gorillas," added Helen.

  "They were gorillas," put in Wolff.

  "They were not gorillas," contradicted d'Arnot; "and anyway, you didn't wait to see what they were."

  "The biggest one carried Magra off under his arm," said Gregory.

  "They took Magra?" Tarzan looked concerned. "Why didn't you say so in the first place? Which way did they go?"

  D'Arnot pointed in the direction in which the apes had made off.

  "Keep on this trail until you find a good place to camp," said Tarzan; then he was gone.

  As the moon rose slowly over the arena where Magra lay beside a primitive earthen drum upon which three old apes beat with sticks, several of the great shaggy bulls commenced to dance around her. Menacing her with heavy sticks, the bulls leaped and whirled as they circled the frightened girl. Magra had no knowledge of the significance of these rites. She only guessed that she was to die.

  The Lord of the Jungle followed the trail of the great apes through the darkness of the forest as unerringly as though he were following a well marked spoor by daylight, followed it by the scent of the anthropoids that clung to the grasses and the foliage of the underbrush, tainting the air with the effluvia of the great bodies. He knew that he should come upon them eventually, but would he be in time?