Tarzan was eyeing the man and the woman, a puzzled expression in his eyes, but there was no faintest tinge7 of recognition. It was as though he had discovered some new species of living creature and was marveling at his find.
La was studying the ape-man's features. Slowly her large eyes opened very wide.
"Tarzan!" she exclaimed, and then, in the vernacular8 of the great apes which constant association with the anthropoids had rendered the common language of the Oparians: "You have come back to me! La has ignored the mandates10 of her religion, waiting, always waiting for Tarzan—for her Tarzan. She has taken no mate, for in all the world there was but one with whom La would mate. And now you have come back! Tell me, O Tarzan, that it is for me you have returned."
Werper listened to the unintelligible11 jargon12. He looked from La to Tarzan. Would the latter understand this strange tongue? To the Belgian's surprise, the Englishman answered in a language evidently identical to hers.
"It is your name—you are Tarzan," cried La.
"I am Tarzan?" The ape-man shrugged14. "Well, it is a good name—I know no other, so I will keep it; but I do not know you. I did not come hither for you. Why I came, I do not know at all; neither do I know from whence I came. Can you tell me?"
La shook her head. "I never knew," she replied.
Tarzan turned toward Werper and put the same question to him; but in the language of the great apes. The Belgian shook his head.
"I do not understand that language," he said in French.
Without effort, and apparently15 without realizing that he made the change, Tarzan repeated his question in French. Werper suddenly came to a full realization16 of the magnitude of the injury of which Tarzan was a victim. The man had lost his memory—no longer could he recollect17 past events. The Belgian was upon the point of enlightening him, when it suddenly occurred to him that by keeping Tarzan in ignorance, for a time at least, of his true identity, it might be possible to turn the ape-man's misfortune to his own advantage.
"I cannot tell you from whence you came," he said; "but this I can tell you—if we do not get out of this horrible place we shall both be slain18 upon this bloody altar. The woman was about to plunge19 her knife into my heart when the lion interrupted the fiendish ritual. Come! Before they recover from their fright and reassemble, let us find a way out of their damnable temple."
Tarzan turned again toward La.
"Why," he asked, "would you have killed this man? Are you hungry?"
The High Priestess cried out in disgust.
"Did he attempt to kill you?" continued Tarzan.
The woman shook her head.
"Then why should you have wished to kill him?" Tarzan was determined20 to get to the bottom of the thing.
"We were offering up his soul as a gift to the Flaming God," she said.
Tarzan looked puzzled. He was again an ape, and apes do not understand such matters as souls and Flaming Gods.
"Do you wish to die?" he asked Werper.
The Belgian assured him, with tears in his eyes, that he did not wish to die.
"Very well then, you shall not," said Tarzan. "Come! We will go. This SHE would kill you and keep me for herself. It is no place anyway for a Mangani. I should soon die, shut up behind these stone walls."
He turned toward La. "We are going now," he said.
The woman rushed forward and seized the ape-man's hands in hers.
"Do not leave me!" she cried. "Stay, and you shall be High Priest. La loves you. All Opar shall be yours. Slaves shall wait upon you. Stay, Tarzan of the Apes, and let love reward you."
The ape-man pushed the kneeling woman aside. "Tarzan does not desire you," he said, simply, and stepping to Werper's side he cut the Belgian's bonds and motioned him to follow.
Panting—her face convulsed with rage, La sprang to her feet.
"Stay, you shall!" she screamed. "La will have you—if she cannot have you alive, she will have you dead," and raising her face to the sun she gave voice to the same hideous22 shriek23 that Werper had heard once before and Tarzan many times.
"Come, Guardian25 Priests!" she cried. "The infidels have profaned26 the holiest of the holies. Come! Strike terror to their hearts; defend La and her altar; wash clean the temple with the blood of the polluters."
Tarzan understood, though Werper did not. The former glanced at the Belgian and saw that he was unarmed. Stepping quickly to La's side the ape-man seized her in his strong arms and though she fought with all the mad savagery27 of a demon28, he soon disarmed29 her, handing her long, sacrificial knife to Werper.
"You will need this," he said, and then from each doorway30 a horde31 of the monstrous32, little men of Opar streamed into the temple.
They were armed with bludgeons and knives, and fortified33 in their courage by fanatical hate and frenzy34. Werper was terrified. Tarzan stood eyeing the foe35 in proud disdain36. Slowly he advanced toward the exit he had chosen to utilize37 in making his way from the temple. A burly priest barred his way. Behind the first was a score of others. Tarzan swung his heavy spear, clublike, down upon the skull38 of the priest. The fellow collapsed39, his head crushed.
Again and again the weapon fell as Tarzan made his way slowly toward the doorway. Werper pressed close behind, casting backward glances toward the shrieking40, dancing mob menacing their rear. He held the sacrificial knife ready to strike whoever might come within its reach; but none came. For a time he wondered that they should so bravely battle with the giant ape-man, yet hesitate to rush upon him, who was relatively41 so weak. Had they done so he knew that he must have fallen at the first charge. Tarzan had reached the doorway over the corpses42 of all that had stood to dispute his way, before Werper guessed at the reason for his immunity43. The priests feared the sacrificial knife! Willingly would they face death and welcome it if it came while they defended their High Priestess and her altar; but evidently there were deaths, and deaths. Some strange superstition44 must surround that polished blade, that no Oparian cared to chance a death thrust from it, yet gladly rushed to the slaughter45 of the ape-man's flaying46 spear.
Once outside the temple court, Werper communicated his discovery to Tarzan. The ape-man grinned, and let Werper go before him, brandishing47 the jeweled and holy weapon. Like leaves before a gale48, the Oparians scattered49 in all directions and Tarzan and the Belgian found a clear passage through the corridors and chambers of the ancient temple.
The Belgian's eyes went wide as they passed through the room of the seven pillars of solid gold. With ill-concealed avarice50 he looked upon the age-old, golden tablets set in the walls of nearly every room and down the sides of many of the corridors. To the ape-man all this wealth appeared to mean nothing.
On the two went, chance leading them toward the broad avenue which lay between the stately piles of the half-ruined edifices51 and the inner wall of the city. Great apes jabbered52 at them and menaced them; but Tarzan answered them after their own kind, giving back taunt53 for taunt, insult for insult, challenge for challenge.
Werper saw a hairy bull swing down from a broken column and advance, stiff-legged and bristling54, toward the naked giant. The yellow fangs55 were bared, angry snarls56 and barkings rumbled57 threateningly through the thick and hanging lips.
The Belgian watched his companion. To his horror, he saw the man stoop until his closed knuckles58 rested upon the ground as did those of the anthropoid9. He saw him circle, stiff-legged about the circling ape. He heard the same bestial59 barkings and growlings issue from the human throat that were coming from the mouth of the brute60. Had his eyes been closed he could not have known but that two giant apes were bridling61 for combat.
But there was no battle. It ended as the majority of such jungle encounters end—one of the boasters loses his nerve, and becomes suddenly interested in a blowing leaf, a beetle62, or the lice upon his hairy stomach.
In this instance it was the anthropoid that retired63 in stiff dignity to inspect an unhappy caterpillar64, which he presently devoured65. For a moment Tarzan seemed inclined to pursue the argument. He swaggered truculently66, stuck out his chest, roared and advanced closer to the bull. It was with difficulty that Werper finally persuaded him to leave well enough alone and continue his way from the ancient city of the Sun Worshipers.
The two searched for nearly an hour before they found the narrow exit through the inner wall. From there the well-worn trail led them beyond the outer fortification to the desolate67 valley of Opar.
Tarzan had no idea, in so far as Werper could discover, as to where he was or whence he came. He wandered aimlessly about, searching for food, which he discovered beneath small rocks, or hiding in the shade of the scant68 brush which dotted the ground.
The Belgian was horrified69 by the hideous menu of his companion. Beetles70, rodents71 and caterpillars72 were devoured with seeming relish73. Tarzan was indeed an ape again.
At last Werper succeeded in leading his companion toward the distant hills which mark the northwestern boundary of the valley, and together the two set out in the direction of the Greystoke bungalow74.
What purpose prompted the Belgian in leading the victim of his treachery and greed back toward his former home it is difficult to guess, unless it was that without Tarzan there could be no ransom75 for Tarzan's wife.
That night they camped in the valley beyond the hills, and as they sat before a little fire where cooked a wild pig that had fallen to one of Tarzan's arrows, the latter sat lost in speculation76. He seemed continually to be trying to grasp some mental image which as constantly eluded77 him.
At last he opened the leathern pouch78 which hung at his side. From it he poured into the palm of his hand a quantity of glittering gems79. The firelight playing upon them conjured80 a multitude of scintillating81 rays, and as the wide eyes of the Belgian looked on in rapt fascination82, the man's expression at last acknowledged a tangible83 purpose in courting the society of the ape-man.
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1
astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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6
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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7
tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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8
vernacular
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| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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anthropoid
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| adj.像人类的，类人猿的；n.类人猿；像猿的人 | |
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mandates
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| 托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式） | |
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unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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14
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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15
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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16
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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17
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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18
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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19
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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20
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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22
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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24
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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25
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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profaned
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| v.不敬( profane的过去式和过去分词 )；亵渎，玷污 | |
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27
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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28
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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29
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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30
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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31
horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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32
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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33
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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34
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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35
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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36
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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37
utilize
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| vt.使用，利用 | |
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38
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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39
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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40
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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41
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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42
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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43
immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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44
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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45
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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46
flaying
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| v.痛打( flay的现在分词 )；把…打得皮开肉绽；剥（通常指动物）的皮；严厉批评 | |
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47
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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48
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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49
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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50
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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51
edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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52
jabbered
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| v.急切而含混不清地说( jabber的过去式和过去分词 )；急促兴奋地说话 | |
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53
taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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54
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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55
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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56
snarls
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| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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57
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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58
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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59
bestial
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| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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60
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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61
bridling
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的现在分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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62
beetle
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| n.甲虫，近视眼的人 | |
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63
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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64
caterpillar
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| n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫 | |
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65
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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66
truculently
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67
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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68
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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69
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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70
beetles
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| n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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71
rodents
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| n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 ) | |
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72
caterpillars
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| n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 )；履带 | |
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73
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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74
bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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75
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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76
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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77
eluded
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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78
pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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79
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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80
conjured
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| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
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81
scintillating
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| adj．才气横溢的,闪闪发光的; 闪烁的 | |
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82
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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83
tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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