21
The Maniac
The last bar that would make the opening large enough to permit hisbody to pass had been removed as Tarzan heard the warriors whisperingbeyond the stone door of his prison. Long since had the rope of hidebeen braided. To secure one end to the remaining bar that he had leftfor this purpose was the work of but a moment, and while the warriorswhispered without, the brown body of the ape-man slipped through thesmall aperture and disappeared below the sill.
Tarzan's escape from the cell left him still within the walled areathat comprised the palace and temple grounds and buildings. He hadreconnoitered as best he might from the window after he had removedenough bars to permit him to pass his head through the opening, so thathe knew what lay immediately before him--a winding and usually desertedalleyway leading in the direction of the outer gate that opened fromthe palace grounds into the city.
The darkness would facilitate his escape. He might even pass out of thepalace and the city without detection. If he could elude the guard atthe palace gate the rest would be easy. He strode along confidently,exhibiting no fear of detection, for he reasoned that thus would hedisarm suspicion. In the darkness he easily could pass for a Ho-don andin truth, though he passed several after leaving the deserted alley, noone accosted or detained him, and thus he came at last to the guard ofa half-dozen warriors before the palace gate. These he attempted topass in the same unconcerned fashion and he might have succeeded had itnot been for one who came running rapidly from the direction of thetemple shouting: "Let no one pass the gates! The prisoner has escapedfrom the pal-ul-JA!"
Instantly a warrior barred his way and simultaneously the fellowrecognized him. "Xot tor!" he exclaimed: "Here he is now. Fall uponhim! Fall upon him! Back! Back before I kill you."
The others came forward. It cannot be said that they rushed forward. Ifit was their wish to fall upon him there was a noticeable lack ofenthusiasm other than that which directed their efforts to persuadesomeone else to fall upon him. His fame as a fighter had been too longa topic of conversation for the good of the morale of Mo-sar'swarriors. It were safer to stand at a distance and hurl their clubs andthis they did, but the ape-man had learned something of the use of thisweapon since he had arrived in Pal-ul-don. And as he learned great hadgrown his respect for this most primitive of arms. He had come torealize that the black savages he had known had never appreciated thepossibilities of their knob sticks, nor had he, and he had discovered,too, why the Pal-ul-donians had turned their ancient spears intoplowshares and pinned their faith to the heavy-ended club alone. Indeadly execution it was far more effective than a spear and itanswered, too, every purpose of a shield, combining the two in one andthus reducing the burden of the warrior. Thrown as they throw it,after the manner of the hammer-throwers of the Olympian games, anordinary shield would prove more a weakness than a strength while onethat would be strong enough to prove a protection would be too heavy tocarry. Only another club, deftly wielded to deflect the course of anenemy missile, is in any way effective against these formidable weaponsand, too, the war club of Pal-ul-don can be thrown with accuracy a fargreater distance than any spear.
And now was put to the test that which Tarzan had learned from Om-atand Ta-den. His eyes and his muscles trained by a lifetime of necessitymoved with the rapidity of light and his brain functioned with anuncanny celerity that suggested nothing less than prescience, and thesethings more than compensated for his lack of experience with the warclub he handled so dexterously. Weapon after weapon he warded off andalways he moved with a single idea in mind--to place himself withinreach of one of his antagonists. But they were wary for they fearedthis strange creature to whom the superstitious fears of many of themattributed the miraculous powers of deity. They managed to keep betweenTarzan and the gateway and all the time they bawled lustily forreinforcements. Should these come before he had made his escape theape-man realized that the odds against him would be unsurmountable, andso he redoubled his efforts to carry out his design.
Following their usual tactics two or three of the warriors were alwayscircling behind him collecting the thrown clubs when Tarzan's attentionwas directed elsewhere. He himself retrieved several of them which hehurled with such deadly effect as to dispose of two of his antagonists,but now he heard the approach of hurrying warriors, the patter of theirbare feet upon the stone pavement and then the savage cries which wereto bolster the courage of their fellows and fill the enemy with fear.
There was no time to lose. Tarzan held a club in either hand and,swinging one he hurled it at a warrior before him and as the man dodgedhe rushed in and seized him, at the same time casting his second clubat another of his opponents. The Ho-don with whom he grappled reachedinstantly for his knife but the ape-man grasped his wrist. There was asudden twist, the snapping of a bone and an agonized scream, then thewarrior was lifted bodily from his feet and held as a shield betweenhis fellows and the fugitive as the latter backed through the gateway.Beside Tarzan stood the single torch that lighted the entrance to thepalace grounds. The warriors were advancing to the succor of theirfellow when the ape-man raised his captive high above his head andflung him full in the face of the foremost attacker. The fellow wentdown and two directly behind him sprawled headlong over their companionas the ape-man seized the torch and cast it back into the palacegrounds to be extinguished as it struck the bodies of those who led thecharging reinforcements.
In the ensuing darkness Tarzan disappeared in the streets of Tu-lurbeyond the palace gate. For a time he was aware of sounds of pursuitbut the fact that they trailed away and died in the direction ofJad-in-lul informed him that they were searching in the wrongdirection, for he had turned south out of Tu-lur purposely to throwthem off his track. Beyond the outskirts of the city he turned directlytoward the northwest, in which direction lay A-lur.
In his path he knew lay Jad-bal-lul, the shore of which he wascompelled to skirt, and there would be a river to cross at the lowerend of the great lake upon the shores of which lay A-lur. What otherobstacles lay in his way he did not know but he believed that he couldmake better time on foot than by attempting to steal a canoe and forcehis way up stream with a single paddle. It was his intention to put asmuch distance as possible between himself and Tu-lur before he sleptfor he was sure that Mo-sar would not lightly accept his loss, but thatwith the coming of day, or possibly even before, he would dispatchwarriors in search of him.
A mile or two from the city he entered a forest and here at last hefelt such a measure of safety as he never knew in open spaces or incities. The forest and the jungle were his birthright. No creature thatwent upon the ground upon four feet, or climbed among the trees, orcrawled upon its belly had any advantage over the ape-man in his nativeheath. As myrrh and frankincense were the dank odors of rottingvegetation in the nostrils of the great Tarmangani. He squared hisbroad shoulders and lifting his head filled his lungs with the air thathe loved best. The heavy fragrance of tropical blooms, the commingledodors of the myriad-scented life of the jungle went to his head with apleasurable intoxication far more potent than aught contained in theoldest vintages of civilization.
He took to the trees now, not from necessity but from pure love of thewild freedom that had been denied him so long. Though it was dark andthe forest strange yet he moved with a surety and ease that bespokemore a strange uncanny sense than wondrous skill. He heard JA moaningsomewhere ahead and an owl hooted mournfully to the right of him--longfamiliar sounds that imparted to him no sense of loneliness as theymight to you or to me, but on the contrary one of companionship forthey betokened the presence of his fellows of the jungle, and whetherfriend or foe it was all the same to the ape-man.
He came at last to a little stream at a spot where the trees did notmeet above it so he was forced to descend to the ground and wadethrough the water and upon the opposite shore he stopped as thoughsuddenly his godlike figure had been transmuted from flesh to marble.Only his dilating nostrils bespoke his pulsing vitality. For a longmoment he stood the
re thus and then swiftly, but with a caution andsilence that were inherent in him he moved forward again, but now hiswhole attitude bespoke a new urge. There was a definite and masterfulpurpose in every movement of those steel muscles rolling softly beneaththe smooth brown hide. He moved now toward a certain goal that quiteevidently filled him with far greater enthusiasm than had the possibleevent of his return to A-lur.
And so he came at last to the foot of a great tree and there he stoppedand looked up above him among the foliage where the dim outlines of aroughly rectangular bulk loomed darkly. There was a choking sensationin Tarzan's throat as he raised himself gently into the branches. Itwas as though his heart were swelling either to a great happiness or agreat fear.
Before the rude shelter built among the branches he paused listening.From within there came to his sensitive nostrils the same delicatearoma that had arrested his eager attention at the little stream a mileaway. He crouched upon the branch close to the little door.
"Jane," he called, "heart of my heart, it is I."
The only answer from within was as the sudden indrawing of a breaththat was half gasp and half sigh, and the sound of a body falling tothe floor. Hurriedly Tarzan sought to release the thongs which held thedoor but they were fastened from the inside, and at last, impatientwith further delay, he seized the frail barrier in one giant hand andwith a single effort tore it completely away. And then he entered tofind the seemingly lifeless body of his mate stretched upon the floor.
He gathered her in his arms; her heart beat; she still breathed, andpresently he realized that she had but swooned.
When Jane Clayton regained consciousness it was to find herself heldtightly in two strong arms, her head pillowed upon the broad shoulderwhere so often before her fears had been soothed and her sorrowscomforted. At first she was not sure but that it was all a dream.Timidly her hand stole to his cheek.
"John," she murmured, "tell me, is it really you?"
In reply he drew her more closely to him. "It is I," he replied. "Butthere is something in my throat," he said haltingly, "that makes ithard for me to speak."
She smiled and snuggled closer to him. "God has been good to us, Tarzanof the Apes," she said.
For some time neither spoke. It was enough that they were reunited andthat each knew that the other was alive and safe. But at last theyfound their voices and when the sun rose they were still talking, somuch had each to tell the other; so many questions there were to beasked and answered.
"And Jack," she asked, "where is he?"
"I do not know," replied Tarzan. "The last I heard of him he was on theArgonne Front."
"Ah, then our happiness is not quite complete," she said, a little noteof sadness creeping into her voice.
"No," he replied, "but the same is true in countless other Englishhomes today, and pride is learning to take the place of happiness inthese."
She shook her head, "I want my boy," she said.
"And I too," replied Tarzan, "and we may have him yet. He was safe andunwounded the last word I had. And now," he said, "we must plan uponour return. Would you like to rebuild the bungalow and gather togetherthe remnants of our Waziri or would you rather return to London?"
"Only to find Jack," she said. "I dream always of the bungalow andnever of the city, but John, we can only dream, for Obergatz told methat he had circled this whole country and found no place where hemight cross the morass."
"I am not Obergatz," Tarzan reminded her, smiling. "We will rest todayand tomorrow we will set out toward the north. It is a savage country,but we have crossed it once and we can cross it again."
And so, upon the following morning, the Tarmangani and his mate wentforth upon their journey across the Valley of Jad-ben-Otho, and aheadof them were fierce men and savage beasts, and the lofty mountains ofPal-ul-don; and beyond the mountains the reptiles and the morass, andbeyond that the arid, thorn-covered steppe, and other savage beasts andmen and weary, hostile miles of untracked wilderness between them andthe charred ruins of their home.
Lieutenant Erich Obergatz crawled through the grass upon all fours,leaving a trail of blood behind him after Jane's spear had sent himcrashing to the ground beneath her tree. He made no sound after the onepiercing scream that had acknowledged the severity of his wound. He wasquiet because of a great fear that had crept into his warped brain thatthe devil woman would pursue and slay him. And so he crawled away likesome filthy beast of prey, seeking a thicket where he might lie downand hide.
He thought that he was going to die, but he did not, and with thecoming of the new day he discovered that his wound was superficial. Therough obsidian-shod spear had entered the muscles of his side beneathhis right arm inflicting a painful, but not a fatal wound. With therealization of this fact came a renewed desire to put as much distanceas possible between himself and Jane Clayton. And so he moved on, stillgoing upon all fours because of a persistent hallucination that in thisway he might escape observation. Yet though he fled his mind stillrevolved muddily about a central desire--while he fled from her hestill planned to pursue her, and to his lust of possession was added adesire for revenge. She should pay for the suffering she had inflictedupon him. She should pay for rebuffing him, but for some reason whichhe did not try to explain to himself he would crawl away and hide. Hewould come back though. He would come back and when he had finishedwith her, he would take that smooth throat in his two hands and crushthe life from her.
He kept repeating this over and over to himself and then he fell tolaughing out loud, the cackling, hideous laughter that had terrifiedJane. Presently he realized his knees were bleeding and that they hurthim. He looked cautiously behind. No one was in sight. He listened. Hecould hear no indications of pursuit and so he rose to his feet andcontinued upon his way a sorry sight--covered with filth and blood, hisbeard and hair tangled and matted and filled with burrs and dried mudand unspeakable filth. He kept no track of time. He ate fruits andberries and tubers that he dug from the earth with his fingers. Hefollowed the shore of the lake and the river that he might be nearwater, and when JA roared or moaned he climbed a tree and hid there,shivering.
And so after a time he came up the southern shore of Jad-ben-lul untila wide river stopped his progress. Across the blue water a white cityglimmered in the sun. He looked at it for a long time, blinking hiseyes like an owl. Slowly a recollection forced itself through histangled brain. This was A-lur, the City of Light. The association ofideas recalled Bu-lur and the Waz-ho-don. They had called himJad-ben-Otho. He commenced to laugh aloud and stood up very straightand strode back and forth along the shore. "I am Jad-ben-Otho," hecried, "I am the Great God. In A-lur is my temple and my high priests.What is Jad-ben-Otho doing here alone in the jungle?"
He stepped out into the water and raising his voice shrieked loudlyacross toward A-lur. "I am Jad-ben-Otho!" he screamed. "Come hitherslaves and take your god to his temple." But the distance was great andthey did not hear him and no one came, and the feeble mind wasdistracted by other things--a bird flying in the air, a school ofminnows swimming around his feet. He lunged at them trying to catchthem, and falling upon his hands and knees he crawled through the watergrasping futilely at the elusive fish.
Presently it occurred to him that he was a sea lion and he forgot thefish and lay down and tried to swim by wriggling his feet in the wateras though they were a tail. The hardships, the privations, the terrors,and for the past few weeks the lack of proper nourishment had reducedErich Obergatz to little more than a gibbering idiot.
A water snake swam out upon the surface of the lake and the man pursuedit, crawling upon his hands and knees. The snake swam toward the shorejust within the mouth of the river where tall reeds grew thickly andObergatz followed, making grunting noises like a pig. He lost the snakewithin the reeds but he came upon something else--a canoe hidden thereclose to the bank. He examined it with cackling laughter. There weretwo paddles within it which he took and threw out into the current ofthe river. He watched them for a while and then he sa
t down beside thecanoe and commenced to splash his hands up and down upon the water. Heliked to hear the noise and see the little splashes of spray. He rubbedhis left forearm with his right palm and the dirt came off and left awhite spot that drew his attention. He rubbed again upon the nowthoroughly soaked blood and grime that covered his body. He was notattempting to wash himself; he was merely amused by the strangeresults. "I am turning white," he cried. His glance wandered from hisbody now that the grime and blood were all removed and caught again thewhite city shimmering beneath the hot sun.
"A-lur--City of Light!" he shrieked and that reminded him again ofTu-lur and by the same process of associated ideas that had beforesuggested it, he recalled that the Waz-ho-don had thought himJad-ben-Otho.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho!" he screamed and then his eyes fell again upon thecanoe. A new idea came and persisted. He looked down at himself,examining his body, and seeing the filthy loin cloth, now water soakedand more bedraggled than before, he tore it from him and flung it intothe lake. "Gods do not wear dirty rags," he said aloud. "They do notwear anything but wreaths and garlands of flowers and I am a god--I amJad-ben-Otho--and I go in state to my sacred city of A-lur."
He ran his fingers through his matted hair and beard. The water hadsoftened the burrs but had not removed them. The man shook his head.His hair and beard failed to harmonize with his other godly attributes.He was commencing to think more clearly now, for the great idea hadtaken hold of his scattered wits and concentrated them upon a singlepurpose, but he was still a maniac. The only difference being that hewas now a maniac with a fixed intent. He went out on the shore andgathered flowers and ferns and wove them in his beard and hair--blazingblooms of different colors--green ferns that trailed about his ears orrose bravely upward like the plumes in a lady's hat.
When he was satisfied that his appearance would impress the most casualobserver with his evident deity he returned to the canoe, pushed itfrom shore and jumped in. The impetus carried it into the river'scurrent and the current bore it out upon the lake. The naked man stooderect in the center of the little craft, his arms folded upon hischest. He screamed aloud his message to the city: "I am Jad-ben-Otho!Let the high priest and the under priests attend upon me!"
As the current of the river was dissipated by the waters of the lakethe wind caught him and his craft and carried them bravely forward.Sometimes he drifted with his back toward A-lur and sometimes with hisface toward it, and at intervals he shrieked his message and hiscommands. He was still in the middle of the lake when someonediscovered him from the palace wall, and as he drew nearer, a crowd ofwarriors and women and children were congregated there watching him andalong the temple walls were many priests and among them Lu-don, thehigh priest. When the boat had drifted close enough for them todistinguish the bizarre figure standing in it and for them to catch themeaning of his words Lu-don's cunning eyes narrowed. The high priesthad learned of the escape of Tarzan and he feared that should he joinJa-don's forces, as seemed likely, he would attract many recruits whomight still believe in him, and the Dor-ul-Otho, even if a false one,upon the side of the enemy might easily work havoc with Lu-don's plans.
The man was drifting close in. His canoe would soon be caught in thecurrent that ran close to shore here and carried toward the river thatemptied the waters of Jad-ben-lul into Jad-bal-lul. The under priestswere looking toward Lu-don for instructions.
"Fetch him hither!" he commanded. "If he is Jad-ben-Otho I shall knowhim."
The priests hurried to the palace grounds and summoned warriors. "Go,bring the stranger to Lu-don. If he is Jad-ben-Otho we shall know him."
And so Lieutenant Erich Obergatz was brought before the high priest atA-lur. Lu-don looked closely at the naked man with the fantasticheaddress.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
"I am Jad-ben-Otho," cried the German. "I came from heaven. Where is myhigh priest?"
"I am the high priest," replied Lu-don.
Obergatz clapped his hands. "Have my feet bathed and food brought tome," he commanded.
Lu-don's eyes narrowed to mere slits of crafty cunning. He bowed lowuntil his forehead touched the feet of the stranger. Before the eyes ofmany priests, and warriors from the palace he did it.
"Ho, slaves," he cried, rising; "fetch water and food for the GreatGod," and thus the high priest acknowledged before his people thegodhood of Lieutenant Erich Obergatz, nor was it long before the storyran like wildfire through the palace and out into the city and beyondthat to the lesser villages all the way from A-lur to Tu-lur.
The real god had come--Jad-ben-Otho himself, and he had espoused thecause of Lu-don, the high priest. Mo-sar lost no time in placinghimself at the disposal of Lu-don, nor did he mention aught about hisclaims to the throne. It was Mo-sar's opinion that he might considerhimself fortunate were he allowed to remain in peaceful occupation ofhis chieftainship at Tu-lur, nor was Mo-sar wrong in his deductions.
But Lu-don could still use him and so he let him live and sent word tohim to come to A-lur with all his warriors, for it was rumored thatJa-don was raising a great army in the north and might soon march uponthe City of Light.
Obergatz thoroughly enjoyed being a god. Plenty of food and peace ofmind and rest partially brought back to him the reason that had been sorapidly slipping from him; but in one respect he was madder than ever,since now no power on earth would ever be able to convince him that hewas not a god. Slaves were put at his disposal and these he orderedabout in godly fashion. The same portion of his naturally cruel mindmet upon common ground the mind of Lu-don, so that the two seemedalways in accord. The high priest saw in the stranger a mighty forcewherewith to hold forever his power over all Pal-ul-don and thus thefuture of Obergatz was assured so long as he cared to play god toLu-don's high priest.
A throne was erected in the main temple court before the eastern altarwhere Jad-ben-Otho might sit in person and behold the sacrifices thatwere offered up to him there each day at sunset. So much did thecruel, half-crazed mind enjoy these spectacles that at times he eveninsisted upon wielding the sacrificial knife himself and upon suchoccasions the priests and the people fell upon their faces in awe ofthe dread deity.
If Obergatz taught them not to love their god more he taught them tofear him as they never had before, so that the name of Jad-ben-Otho waswhispered in the city and little children were frightened intoobedience by the mere mention of it. Lu-don, through his priests andslaves, circulated the information that Jad-ben-Otho had commanded allhis faithful followers to flock to the standard of the high priest atA-lur and that all others were cursed, especially Ja-don and the baseimpostor who had posed as the Dor-ul-Otho. The curse was to take theform of early death following terrible suffering, and Lu-don caused itto be published abroad that the name of any warrior who complained of apain should be brought to him, for such might be deemed to be undersuspicion, since the first effects of the curse would result in slightpains attacking the unholy. He counseled those who felt pains to lookcarefully to their loyalty. The result was remarkable andimmediate--half a nation without a pain, and recruits pouring intoA-lur to offer their services to Lu-don while secretly hoping that thelittle pains they had felt in arm or leg or belly would not recur inaggravated form.
Tarzan the Terrible Page 21
