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looked upon almost as equals by the Oparians. Among
the legends of Opar were tales of godlike men of the
olden time and of black men who had come more recently;
but these latter had been enemies who killed and
robbed. And, too, these legends always held forth the
hope that some day that nameless continent from which
their race had sprung, would rise once more out of the
sea and with slaves at the long sweeps would send her
carven, gold-picked galleys forth to succor the
long-exiled colonists.
The coming of Tarzan had aroused within La's breast the
wild hope that at last the fulfillment of this ancient
prophecy was at hand; but more strongly still had it
aroused the hot fires of love in a heart that never
otherwise would have known the meaning of that
all-consuming passion, for such a wondrous creature as
La could never have felt love for any of the repulsive
priests of Opar. Custom, duty and religious zeal might
have commanded the union; but there could have been no
love on La's part. She had grown to young womanhood a
cold and heartless creature, daughter of a thousand
other cold, heartless, beautiful women who had never
known love. And so when love came to her it liberated
all the pent passions of a thousand generations,
transforming La into a pulsing, throbbing volcano of
desire, and with desire thwarted this great force of
love and gentleness and sacrifice was transmuted by its
own fires into one of hatred and revenge.
It was in a state of mind superinduced by these
conditions that La led forth her jabbering company to
retrieve the sacred emblem of her high office and wreak
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r r
vengeance upon the author of her wrongs. To Werper she
gave little thought. The fact that the knife had been
in his hand when it departed from Opar brought down no
thoughts of vengeance upon his head. Of course, he
should be slain when captured; but his death would give
La no pleasure--she looked for that in the contemplated
death agonies of Tarzan. He should be tortured.
His should be a slow and frightful death. His punishment
should be adequate to the immensity of his crime.
He had wrested the sacred knife from La; he had lain
sacreligious hands upon the High Priestess of the
Flaming God; he had desecrated the altar and the
temple. For these things he should die; but he had
scorned the love of La, the woman, and for this he
should die horribly with great anguish.
The march of La and her priests was not without its
adventures. Unused were these to the ways of the
jungle, since seldom did any venture forth from behind
Opar's crumbling walls, yet their very numbers
protected them and so they came without fatalities far
along the trail of Tarzan and Werper. Three great apes
accompanied them and to these was delegated the
business of tracking the quarry, a feat beyond the
senses of the Oparians. La commanded. She arranged
the order of march, she selected the camps, she set the
hour for halting and the hour for resuming and though
she was inexperienced in such matters, her native
intelligence was so far above that of the men or the
apes that she did better than they could have done.
She was a hard taskmaster, too, for she looked down
with loathing and contempt upon the misshapen creatures
amongst which cruel Fate had thrown her and to some
extent vented upon them her dissatisfaction and her
thwarted love. She made them build her a strong
protection and shelter each night and keep a great fire
burning before it from dusk to dawn. When she tired of
walking they were forced to carry her upon an
improvised litter, nor did one dare to question her
authority or her right to such services. In fact they
did not question either. To them she was a goddess and
each loved her and each hoped that he would be chosen
as her mate, so they slaved for her and bore the
stinging lash of her displeasure and the habitually
haughty disdain of her manner without a murmur.
For many days they marched, the apes following the
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r r
trail easily and going a little distance ahead of the
body of the caravan that they might warn the others of
impending danger. It was during a noonday halt while
all were lying resting after a tiresome march that one
of the apes rose suddenly and sniffed the breeze. In a
low guttural he cautioned the others to silence and a
moment later was swinging quietly up wind into the
jungle. La and the priests gathered silently together,
the hideous little men fingering their knives and
bludgeons, and awaited the return of the shaggy
anthropoid. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]