Nor were his deductions erroneous. So frantic were the Gomangani with the blood-lust of revenge and so enthused by the first fruits of victory, that they went fully as mad as Jad-bal-ja himself. They neither gave nor asked quarter, and the fighting ended only when they could find no more Bolgani to slay.
The fighting over, Tarzan, with La and the old man, returned to the throne room, from which the fumes of the smoke bombs had now disappeared. To them they summoned the head-man of each village, and when they had assembled before the dais, above which stood the three whites, with the great, black-maned lion Jad-bal-ja, Tarzan addressed them.
'Gomangani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds ,' he said, ‘you have this night won your freedom from the tyrannical masters that have oppressed you since far beyond the time the oldest of you may remember. For so many countless ages have you been oppressed that there has never developed among you a leader capable of ruling you wisely and justly. Therefore you must select a ruler from another race than your own.'
'You! You!' cried voice after voice as the head-men clamored to make Tarzan of the Apes their king.
'No,' cried the ape-man, holding up his hand for silence, 'but there is one here who has lived long among you, and who knows your habits and your customs, your hopes and your needs better than any other. If he will stay with you and rule you he will, I am sure, make you a good king,' and Tarzan pointed to the old man.
The old man looked at Tarzan in bewilderment. 'But I want to go away from here,' he said; 'I want to get back into the world of civilization, from which I have been buried all these years.'
'You do not know what you are talking about,' replied the ape-man. 'You have been gone very long. You will find no friends left back there from whence you came. You will find deceit, and hypocrisy, and greed, and avarice, and cruelty. You will find that no one will be interested in you and that you will be interested in no one there. I, Tarzan of the Apes, have left my jungle and gone to the cities built by men, but always I have been disgusted and been glad to return to my jungle—to the noble beasts that are honest in their loves and in their hates—to the freedom and genuineness of nature.
'If you return you will be disappointed, and you will realize that you have thrown away an opportunity of accomplishing a work well worth your while. These poor creatures need you. I cannot remain to guide them out of darkness, but you may, and you may so mold them that they will be an industrious, virtuous, and kindly people, not untrained, however, in the arts of warfare, for when we have that which is good, there will always be those who are envious and who, if they are more powerful than we, Will attempt to come and take what we have by force. Therefore, you must train your people to protect their country and their rights, and to protect them they must have the ability and the knowledge to fightsuccessfully, and the weapons wherewith to wage their wars.'
'You speak the truth, Tarzan of the Apes,' replied the Old man. 'There is nothing for me in that other world, so, if the Gomangani wish me to be their chief I will remain here.'
The head-men, when he questioned them, assured Tarzan that if they could not have him for chief they would be very glad to have the old man, whom they all knew, either by sight or reputation, as one who had never perpetrated any cruelties upon the Gomangani.
The few surviving Bolgani who had taken refuge in various parts of the palace were sought out and brought to the throne room. Here they were given the option of remaining in the valley as slaves, or leaving the country entirely. The Gomangani would have fallen upon them and slain them, but that their new king would not permit.
'But where shall we go if we leave the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds ?' asked one of the Bolgani. 'Beyond the city of Opar we know not what exists, and in Opar may we find only enemies.'
Tarzan sat eyeing them quizzically, and in silence. For a long time he did not speak, while several of the Gomangani head-men, and others of the Bolgani, made suggestions for the future of the gorilla-men. Finally the ape-man arose and nodded toward the Bolgani.
'There are about a hundred of you,' he said. 'You are powerful creatures and should be ferocious fighters. Beside me sits La, the High Priestess and queen of Opar. A wicked priest, usurping her power, has driven her from her throne, but tomorrow we march upon Opar with the bravest Gomangani of the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds, and there we punish Cadj, the High Priest, who has proven a traitor to his queen; and La, once more, ascends the throne of Opar. But where the seeds of treason have once been broadcast the plant may spring up at any time and where least expected. It will be long, therefore, before La of Opar may have full confidence in the loyalty of her people—a fact which offers you an opportunity and a country. Accompany us, therefore, to Opar, and fight with us to re-place La upon her throne, and then, when the fighting is over, remain there as La's bodyguard to protect her, not only from enemies without, but from enemies within.'
The Bolgani discussed the matter for several minutes, and then one of them came to Tarzan. 'We will do as you suggest,' he said.
'And you will be loyal to La?' asked the ape-man.
'A Bolgani is never a traitor,' replied the gorilla-man.
'Good!' exclaimed Tarzan, 'and you, La, are you satisfied with this arrangement?'
'I accept them in my service,' replied she.
Early the next morning Tarzan and La set out with three thousand Gomangani and a hundred Bolgani to punish the traitorous Cadj. There was little or no attempt at strategy or deception. They simply marched down through the Valley of the Palace of Diamonds , descended the rocky ravine into the valley of Opar , and made straight for the rear of the palace of La.
A little gray monkey, sitting among the vines and creepers upon the top of the temple walls, saw them coming. He cocked his head, first upon one side and then upon the other, and became so interested and excited that for a moment he forgot to scratch his belly—an occupation he had been assiduously pursuing for some time. The closer the column approached the more excited became Manu, the monkey, and when he realized vaguely the great numbers of the Gomangani he was fairly beside himself, but the last straw that sent him scampering madly back to the palace of Opar was the sight of the Bolgani—the ogres of his little world.
Cadj was in the courtyard of the inner temple, where at sunrise he had performed a sacrifice to the Flaming God. With Cadj were a number of the lesser priests, and Oah and her priestesses. That there was dissension among them was evident by the scowling faces fully as much as by the words which Oah directed at Cadj.
'Once again have you gone too far, Cadj,' she cried bitterly. 'Only may the High Priestess of the Flaming God perform the act of sacrifice. Yet again and again do you persist in defiling the sacred knife with your unworthy hand.'
'Silence, woman,' growled the High Priest. 'I am Cadj, king of Opar, High Priest of the Flaming God. You are what you are only because of the favor of Cadj. Try not my patience too far or you shall indeed know the feel of the sacred knife.' There could be no mistaking the sinister menace in his words. Several of those about him could ill conceal the shocked surprise they felt at his sacrilegious attitude toward their High Priestess. However little they thought of Oah, the fact remained that she had been elevated to the highest place among them, and those that believed that La was dead, as Cadj had taken great pains to lead them all to believe, gave in full to Oah the reverence which her high office entitled her.
'Have a care, Cadj,' warned one of the older priests. 'There is a limit beyond which not even you may pass.'
'You dare threaten me?' cried Cadj, the maniacal fury of fanaticism gleaming in his eyes. 'You dare threaten me, Cadj, the High Priest of the Flaming God?' And as he spoke he leaped toward the offending man, the sacrificial knife raised menacingly above his head, and just at that moment a little gray monkey came chattering and screaming through an embrasure in the wall overlooking the court of the temple.
'The Bolgani! The Bolgani!' he shrieked. 'They come! They come!'
Cadj stopped and wheeled toward Manu, the hand that held the knife dropping at his side. 'You saw them, Manu?' he asked. 'You are speaking the truth? If this is another of your tricks you will not live to play another joke upon Cadj.'
'I speak the truth,' chattered the little monkey. 'I saw them with my own eyes.'
'How many of them are there?' asked Cadj. 'And how near to Opar have they come?'
'They are as many as the leaves upon the trees,' replied Manu, 'and they are already close to the temple wall—the Bolgani and the Gomangani, they come as the grasses that grow in the ravines where it is cool and damp.'
Cadj turned and raised his face toward the sun, and throwing back his head gave voice to a long-drawn scream that ended in a piercing shriek. Three times he voiced the hideous cry, and then with a command to the
