Tarzan Triumphant

She stepped quickly to the side of the lifeless body. 'But for me He will resurrect her. Come Jezebel and help me!'

Now Lady Barbara, in common with most modern, athletically inclined young women, was familiar with the ordinary methods for resuscitating the drowned; and she fell to work upon the victim of the Prophet's homicidal mania with a will born not only of compassion, but of vital necessity. She issued curt orders to Jezebel from time to time, orders which broke but did not terminate a constant flow of words which she voiced in chant-like measures. She started with The Charge of the Light Brigade, but after two stanzas her memory failed and she had recourse to Mother Goose, snatches from the verse in Alice in Wonderland, Kipling, Omar Khayyam; and, as the girl after ten minutes of heartbreaking effort commenced to show signs of life, Lady Barbara closed with excerpts from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

Crowded about them were the Prophet, the Apostles, the Elders, and the six executioners, while beyond these the villagers pressed as close as they dared to witness the miracle if such it were to be.

''And that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth,'' chanted Lady Barbara, rising to her feet. 'Lay the child in the net,' she commanded, turning to the wide eyed young men who had cast her into the lake, 'and carry her tenderly back to the cave of her parents. Come Jezebel!' To Abraham, the son of Abraham, she vouchsafed not even a glance.

That night the two girls sat at the entrance of their cave looking out across the uncharted valley of Midian . A full moon silvered the crest of the lofty escarpment of the crater's northern rim. In the middle distance the silent waters of Chinnereth lay like a burnished shield.

'It is beautiful,' sighed Jezebel.

'But, oh, how horrible, because of man,' replied Lady Barbara, with a shudder.

'At night, when I am alone, and can see only the beautiful things, I try to forget man,' said the golden one. 'Is there so much cruelty and wickedness in the land from which you come, Barbara?'

'There are cruelty and wickedness everywhere where men are, but in my land it is not so bad as here where the church rules and cruelty is the sole business of the church.'

'They say the men over there are very cruel,' said Jezebel, pointing across the valley; 'but they are beautiful—not like our people.'

'You have seen them?'

'Yes. Sometimes they come searching for their strayed goats, but not often. Then they chase us into our caves, and we roll rocks down on them to keep them from coming up and killing us. They steal our goats at such times; and if they catch any of our men they kill them, too. If I were alone I would let them catch me for they are very beautiful, and I do not think they would kill me. I think they would like me.'

'I don't doubt it,' agreed Lady Barbara, 'but if I were you I would not let them catch me.'

'Why not? What have I to hope for here? Perhaps some day I shall be caught smiling or singing; and then I shall be killed, and you have not seen all of the ways in which the Prophet can destroy sinners. If I am not killed I shall certainly be taken to his cave by some horrible old man; and there, all my life, I shall be a slave to him and his other women; and the old women are more cruel to such as I than even the men. No, if I were not afraid of what lies between I should run away and go to the land of the North Midians.'

'Perhaps your life will be happier and safer here with me since we showed Abraham, the son of Abrahm, that we are more powerful than he; and when the time comes that my people find me, or I discover an avenue of escape, you shall come away with me, Jezebel; though I don't know that you will be much safer in England than you are here.'

'Why?' demanded the girl.

'You are too beautiful ever to have perfect safety or perfect happiness.'

'You think I am beautiful? I always thought so, too. I saw myself when I looked into the lake or into a vessel of water; and I thought that I was beautiful, although I did not look like the other girls of the land of Midian . Yet you are beautiful and I do not look like you. Have you never been safe or happy, Barbara?'

The English girl laughed. 'I am not too beautiful, Jezebel,' she explained.

A footfall on the steep pathway leading to the cave caught their attention. 'Someone comes,' said Jezebel.

'It is late,' said Lady Barbara. 'No one should be coming now to our cave.'

'Perhaps it is a man from North Midian,' suggested Jezebel. 'Is my hair arranged prettily?'

'We had better be rolling a rock into position than thinking about our hair,' said Lady Barbara, with a short laugh.

'Ah, but they are such beautiful men!' sighed Jezebel.

Lady Barbara drew a small knife from one of her pockets and opened the blade. 'I do not like 'beautiful' men,' she said.

The approaching footfalls were coming slowly nearer; but the two young women, sitting just within the entrance to their cave, could not see the steep pathway along which the nocturnal visitor was approaching. Presently a shadow fell across their threshold and an instant later a tall old man stepped into view. It was Abraham, the son of Abraham.

Lady Barbara rose to her feet and faced the Prophet. 'What brings you to my cave at this time of night?' she demanded. 'What is it, of such importance, that could not wait until morning? Why do you disturb me now?'

For a long moment the old man stood glaring at her. 'I have walked with Jehovah in the moonlight,' he said, presently; 'and Jehovah bath spoken in the ear of Abraham, the son of Abraham, Prophet of Paul, the son of Jehovah.'

'And you have come to make your peace with me as Jehovah directed?'

'Such are not the commands of Jehovah,' replied the Prophet. 'Rather He is wroth with thee who didst seek to deceive the Prophet of His son.'

'You must have been walking with someone else,' snapped Lady Barbara.

'Nay. I walked with Jehovah,' insisted Abraham, the son of Abraham. 'Thou hast deceived me. With trickery, perhaps even with sorcery, thou didst bring to life her who was dead by the will of Jehovah; and Jehovah is wroth.'

'You heard my prayers, and you witnessed the miracle of the resurrection,' Lady Barbara reminded him. 'Thinkest thou that I am more powerful than Jehovah? It was Jehovah who raised the dead child.'

'Thou speakest even as Jehovah prophesied,' said the Prophet. 'And He spoke in my ear and commanded that I should prove thee false, that all men might see thy iniquity.'

'Interesting, if true,' commented Lady Barbara; 'but not true.'

'Thou darest question the word of the Prophet?' cried the man angrily. 'But tomorrow thou shalt have the opportunity to prove thy boasts. Tomorrow Jehovah shall judge thee. Tomorrow thou shalt be cast into the waters of Chinnereth in a weighted net, nor will there be cords attached whereby it may be drawn above the surface.'

Chapter 7 The Slave Raider

Leon Stabutch mounted behind one of his captors, riding to an unknown fate, was warrantably perturbed. He had been close to death at the hands of one of the band already, and from their appearance and their attitude toward him it was not difficult for him to imagine that they would require but the slightest pretext to destroy him.

What their intentions might be was highly problematical, though he could conceive of but one motive which might inspire such as they to preserve him. But if ransom were their aim he could not conjecture any method by which these semi-savages might contact with his friends or superiors in Russia . He was forced to admit that his prospects appeared most discouraging.

The shiftas were forced to move slowly because of the packs some of their horses were carrying since the looting of the Russian's camp. Nor could they have ridden much more rapidly, under any circumstances, on the trail that they entered shortly following their capture of Stabutch.

Entering a narrow, rocky canyon the trail wound steeply upward to debouch at last upon a small, level mesa,