"And why not?" inquired Tarzan.
"This may be another trap for you."
The ape-man shrugged. "It is quite possible, but I cannot remain cooped up in hiding. I should like to see what a grand hunt is; I have heard the term often since I came to Cathne. Who is Pindes? I do not recall him."
"He was an officer of the guard when Erot became the queen's favorite, but through Erot he was dismissed. He is not a bad fellow but weak and easily influenced; however he must hate Erot, and so I think you have nothing to fear from him."
"I have nothing to fear from anyone," Tarzan assured "Perhaps "you think not, but be on guard."
"I am always on guard; had I not been I should have been dead long ago."
"Your self-complacency may be your undoing," growled Gemnon testily.
Tarzan laughed. "I appreciate both danger and my own limitations, but I cannot let fear rob me of my liberty and pleasures of life. Fear is to be more dreaded than death. You are afraid, Erot is afraid, Nemone is afraid; and are all unhappy. Were I afraid, I should be unhappy but no safer. I prefer to be simply cautious.
And by the way, way, speaking of caution, Nemone instructed Me to tell you to take me from the palace and keep me in your father's house. She says the palace is no safe place for me. I really think that it is M'duze who is after me."
"M'duze and Erot and Tomos," said Gemnon; "there is a triumvirate of greed and malice and duplicity that I should hate to have upon my trail."
At his quarters, Gemnon gave orders that his and Tarzan's belongings be moved to the house of his father while the two men were hunting; then they went to the avenue where they found Xerstle and Pindes awaiting them. The latter was a man of about thirty, rather good looking but with a weak face and eyes that invariably dropped from a direct gaze. He met Tarzan with great cordiality, and as the four men walked along the main avenue of the city toward the eastern gate he was most affable.
Beyond the eastern gate an open parklike plain stretched for a short distance to the forest. Near the gate four stalwart slaves held two lions in leash, while a fifth man, naked but for a dirty loin- cloth, squatted upon the ground a short distance away.
As the four hunters approached the party, Xerstle explained to Tarzan that the leashed beasts were his hunting lions, and as the ape- man's observant eyes ran over the five men who were to accompany them on the hunt he recognized the stalwart black seated upon the ground apart as the man he had seen upon the auction block in the market- place. Xerstle approached the fellow and spoke briefly with him, evidently giving him orders.
When Xerstle had finished, the black started off at a trot across the plain in the direction of the forest. Everyone watched his progress.
"Why is he running ahead?" asked Tarzan. "He will frighten away the quarry."
Pindes laughed. "He is the quarry."
"You mean "demanded Tarzan with a scowl.
"That this is a grand hunt," cried Xerstle, "where we hunt man, the grandest quarry."
"What happens if you do not get him? Is he free then?"
"I should say not; not if we can capture him again cried Xerstle. "Slaves cost too much money to be lightly thrown away like that."
When the native reached the forest, Xerstle spoke a word of command to the keepers and they unleashed the two great beasts. The lions bounded away in pursuit of the quarry.
Halfway to the forest the lions settled down to a slower gait, and the hunters commenced gradually to overhaul them. Xerstle and Pindes appeared excited, far more excited than the circumstances of the hunt warranted; Gemnon was silent and thoughtful; Tarzan was disgusted and bored. But before they reached the forest his interest was aroused, for a plan had occurred to him whereby he might derive some pleasure from the day's sport.
The wood, which the hunters presently entered a short distance behind the lions, was of extraordinary beauty. The trees were very old and gave evidence of having received the intelligent care of man, as did the floor of the forest. There was little or no deadwood in the trees, and only occasional clumps of underbrush upon the ground between them. As far as Tarzan could see among the boles of the trees, the aspect was that of a well-kept park rather than of a natural wood, and in answer to a comment he made upon this fact Gemnon explained that for ages his people had given regular attention to the conservation of this forest from the city of gold to the Pass of the Warriors.
Once within the forest, Tarzan dropped gradually to the near of the party, and then, when none was looking, swung the branches of a tree. Plain to his nostrils had been the scent spoor of the quarry from the beginning of the chase and now the ape-man knew, possibly even better than the lions, the direction of the hopeless flight of the man.
Swinging through the trees in a slight detour that Carried him around and beyond the hunters without revealing his desertion to them, Tarzan sped through the middle terraces of the forest as only the Lord of the Jungle can. Stronger and stronger in his nostrils waxed the scent of the quarry; behind him came the lions and the hunters.
And he knew that he must act quickly, for they were no great distance in his rear. A grim smile lighted his gray eyes as he considered the denouement of the project he had undertaken.
Presently he saw the native running through the forest just ahead of him. The fellow was moving at a dogged trot, casting an occasional glance behind him.
Tarzan was directly above the man now, and he spoke to him in the language of his people. "Take to the trees," he called down.
The native looked up, but he did not stop. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"An enemy of your master, who would help you escape," replied the ape-man.
"There is no escape; if I take to the trees they will stone me down."
"They will not find you; I will see to that."
"Why should you help me?" demanded the man, but he stopped now and looked up again, searching for the man whose voice came down to him in a tongue that gave him confidence in the speaker.
"I have told you that I am an enemy of your master."
Now the native saw the bronzed figure of the giant above him. "You are a white man!" he exclaimed. "You are trying to trick me. Why should a white man help me?" "Hurry!" admonished Tarzan, "or it will be too late, and no one can help you.
For just an instant longer the native hesitated; then be leaped for a low-hanging branch and swung himself up into the tree as Tarzan came down to meet him.
15. THE PLOT THAT FAILED
Swiftly, the giant of the jungle bore the Galla slave toward the east where, beyond the forest, loomed the mountains that hemmed Onthar upon that side. For a mile he carried him through the trees and then swung lightly to the ground.
"If the lions ever pick up your trail now," he said, it will not be until long after you have reached the mountains and safety. But do not delay —go now.
The man fell upon his knees and took the hand of his savor in his own. "I am Hafim," he said. "If I could serve you, I would die for you. Who are you?"
"I am Tarzan of the Apes. Now go your way and lose no time."
One more favor," begged the native.
"What?"
"I have a brother. He, too, was captured by these when they captured me. He is a slave in the gold mines south of Cathne. His name is Niaka. If you should to the gold mines, tell him that Hafim has escaped."
"I shall tell him. Now go."
Silently the native disappeared among the boles of the Forest trees, and Tarzan sprang again into the branches and Swung rapidly back in the direction of the hunters. When he reached them, dropping to the ground and approaching them from behind, they were clustered near the spot at which Hafim had taken to the trees.
"Where have you been?" asked Xerstle. "We thought that you had become lost."
"I dropped behind," replied the ape-man. "Where is your quarry? I thought that you would have had him by this time."
"We cannot understand it," admitted Xerstle. "It is evident that he climbed this tree, because the lion
s followed him to this very spot, where they stood looking up into the tree; but they did not growl as though they saw the man. Then we leashed them again and sent one of the keepers into the tree, but he saw no sign of the quarry.
"It is a mystery!" exclaimed Pindes.
"It is indeed," agreed Tarzan; "at least for those who do not know the secret."
"Who does know the secret?" demanded Xerstle.
"The black slave who has escaped you must know, if no other."
"He has not escaped me," snapped Xerstle. "He has but prolonged the hunt and increased its interest. Come, let us go. I shall hunt with Gemnon and Pindes with Tarzan. We shall take one lion, they the other."
"Agreed," said Tarzan.
"But I am responsible to the queen for the safe return of Tarzan," demurred Gemnon. "I do not like to have him out of my sight even for a short time."
"I promise that I shall not try to escape," the ape-man assured him.
"It was not that alone of which I was thinking," explained Gemnon.
"And I can assure you that I can take care of myself, if you feel fears for my safety," added Tarzan.
Reluctantly Gemnon assented to the arrangement, and presently the two parties separated, Xerstle and Gemnon going towards the northwest while Pindes and Tarzan took an easterly direction. The latter had proceeded but a short distance, the lion still upon its leash, when Pindes suggested that they separate, spreading out through the forest, and thus combing it more carefully.
"You go straight east," he said to Tarzan, "the keepers and the lion will go northeast, and I will go north. If any comes upon the trail he may shout to attract the others to his position. If we have not located the quarry in an hour let us all converge toward the mountains at the eastern side of the forest."
The ape-man nodded and started off in the direction assigned him, soon disappearing among the trees. But neither Pindes nor the keepers moved from where he had left them, the keepers held by a whispered word from Pindes. The leashed lion looked after the departing ape-man, and Pindes smiled. The keepers looked at him questioningly.
"Such sad accidents have happened many times before," said Pindes.
Tarzan moved steadily toward the east. Presently he heard a noise behind him and glancing back was not surprised by what he saw. A lion was stalking him, a lion wearing the harness of a hunting lion of Cathne. It was one of Xerstle's lions; it was the same lion that had accompanied Pindes and Tarzan.
Instantly the ape-man guessed the truth, and a grim light glinted in his eyes. It was no light of anger, but there was disgust in it and the shadowy suggestion of a savage smile. The lion, realizing that its quarry had discovered it, began to roar. In the distance Pindes heard and smiled.
Let us go now," he said to the keepers. "We must not find the remains too quickly; that might not look well."
The three men moved slowly off toward the north.
From a distance Gemnon and Xerstle heard the roar of The hunting lion. "They have picked up the trail." said Gemnon, halting; "we had best join them."
"Not yet," demurred Xerstle. "It may be a false trail. We will wait until we hear the hunters call. But Gemnon was troubled.
Tarzan stood awaiting the coming of the lion. He could have taken to the trees and escaped, but a spirit of bravado prompted him to remain. He hated treachery, and exposing it gave him pleasure. He carried a Cathnean spear and his own hunting knife; his bow and arrows he had left behind.
The lion came nearer; it seemed vaguely disturbed. Perhaps it did not understand why the quarry stood and faced it instead of running away. Its tail twitched; its head was flattened; slowly it came on again, its wicked eyes gleaming angrily.
Tarzan waited. In his right hand was the sturdy Cathnean spear, in his left his hunting knife. He measured the distance with a trained eye as the lion started its swift, level charge; then, when it was coming at full speed, his spear hand flew back and he launched the heavy weapon.
Deep beneath the left shoulder it drove, deep into the savage heart, but it checked the beast's charge for but an instant. Infuriated now, the carnivore rose upon its hind legs above the ape- man, its great, taloned paws reaching to drag him to the slavering jowls; but Tarzan, swift as Ara the lightning, stooped and sprang beneath them, sprang to one side and then in again, closing with the lion, leaping upon its back.
With a hideous roar, the animal wheeled and sought to bury its great fangs in the bronzed body or reach it with those raking talons. It threw itself to right and left as the creature clinging to it drove a steel blade repeatedly into the already torn and bleeding heart.
The vitality and life tenacity of a lion are astounding, but even that mighty frame could not long withstand the lethal wounds its adversary had inflicted, and presently it slumped to earth and, with a little quiver, died.
Then the ape-man leaped to his feet. With one foot upon the carcass of his kill, Tarzan of the Apes raised his face to the leafy canopy of the Cathnean forest and from his great chest rolled the hideous victory cry of the bull ape which has killed.
As the uncanny challenge reverberated down the forest aisles, Pindes and the two keepers looked questioningly at one another and laid their hands upon their sword hilts.
"In the name of Thoos! What was that?" demanded one of the keepers.
"Silence!" admonished Pindes. "Do you want the thing to creep upon us unheard because of your jabbering!"
"What was it, master?" asked one of the men in a whisper.
"It may have been the death cry of the stranger," suggested Pindes, voicing the hope that was in his heart.
"It sounded not like a death cry, master," replied the keeper. "There was a note of strength and elation in it, and none of weakness and defeat."
At a little distance, Gemnon and Xerstle heard, too. "What was that?" demanded the latter.
Gemnon shook his head. "I do not know, but we had better go and find out. I did not like the sound of it."
Xerstle appeared nervous. "It was nothing, perhaps, but the wind in the trees. Let us go on with our hunting." "There is no wind," demurred Gemnon. "I am going to investigate. I am responsible for the safety of the stranger; but, of even more importance than that, I like him."
"Oh, so do I!" exclaimed Xerstle eagerly. "But nothing could have happened to him. Pindes is with him."
"That is precisely what I was thinking," observed Gemnon.
"That nothing could have happened to him?"
"That Pindes is with him!"
Xerstle shot a quick, suspicious look at the other, motioned to the keepers to follow with the leashed lion, and fell in behind Gemnon, who had already started back toward the point at which they had separated from their companions.
In the meantime Pindes, unable to curb his curiosity, overcame his fears and started after Tarzan.
They had not gone far when Pindes, who was in the lead, halted suddenly and pointed straight ahead. "What is that?" he demanded.
The keepers pressed forward. "Mane of Thoos!" cried one. "It is the lion!"
They advanced slowly, watching the lion, looking to right and left. "It is dead!" exclaimed Pindes.
The three men examined the body of the dead beast, turning it over. "It has been stabbed to death," announced one of the keepers.
"The Galla slave had no weapon," said Pindes thoughtfully.
"The stranger carried a knife," a keeper reminded him.
"Whoever killed the lion must have fought it hand to hand," reflected Pindes aloud.
"Then he must be lying nearby dead or wounded, master."
"He could have killed Phobeg with his bare hands that day that he threw him into the audience at the stadium," a keeper reminded the noble. "He carried him around as though Phobeg were a babe. He is very strong."
"What has that to do with the matter?" demanded Pindes irritably.
"I do not know, master. I was only thinking."
I did not tell you to think," snapped Pindes; "I told You to hunt for the man that killed t
he lion. He must be dying or dead nearby."
While they hunted, Xerstle and Gemnon were drawing Nearer. The latter was much concerned about the welfare of his charge. He trusted neither Xerstle nor Pindes, and now he commenced to suspect that he and Tarzan had been deliberately separated sinister purposes. He was walking a little behind Xerstle at the time: the keepers, with the lion lion, were just ahead of them. He felt a hand upon his shoulder and wheeled about. There stood Tarzan, a smile upon his lips. "Where did you drop from?" demanded Gemnon.
"We separated to search for the Galla. Pindes and I," explained the ape-man as Xerstle turned at the sound of Gemnon' s voice and discovered him.
"Did you hear that terrible scream a while ago?" demanded Xerstle. "We thought it possible that one of you was hurt, and we were hurrying to investigate."
"Did someone scream?" inquired Tarzan innocently.
"Perhaps it was Pindes, for I am not hurt."
Shortly after Tarzan had rejoined them, Xerstle and Gemnon came upon Pindes and his two lion keepers searching the underbrush and the surrounding forest.
As his eyes fell upon Tarzan, Pindes's eyes went wide in astonishment, and he paled a little.
"What has happened?" demanded Xerstle. "What are you looking for? Where is your lion?"
"He is dead," explained Pindes. "Someone or something stabbed him to death." He did not look at Tarzan; he feared to do so. "We have been looking for the man who did it, thinking that he must have been badly mauled and, doubtless, killed."
"Have you found him?" asked Tarzan.
"No".
"Shall I help you search for him? Suppose you and I, Pindes, go away alone and look for him!"
For a moment Pindes seemed choking as he sought for a reply. "No!" he exclaimed presently. "It would be useless; we have searched carefully. There is not even a sign of blood to indicate that he was wounded."
"And you found no trace of the quarry?" asked Xerstle.
"None," replied Pindes. "He has escaped, and we might as well return to the city. I have had enough hunting for today."
The Complete Tarzan Collection Page 364
