nothing of what was about to transpire. The children laughed and played, or teased their mothers for the food that was being saved for the evening meal upon the return journey to Cathne.
The ceremony at Xarator, though it bore the authority of so-called justice, was of a semi-religious nature that required the presence and active participation of priests, two of whom lifted the sack containing the victim from the chariot and placed it at the edge of the crater at the feet of the queen.
As two other priests lifted the body from the ground and were about to hurl it into the crater, she stopped them with a curt command. 'Wait!' she cried. 'We would look upon the too great beauty of Doria, the daughter of Thudos, the traitor.'
All eyes were upon the priest who drew his dagger and ripped open the bag along one loosely sewn seam. The eyes of Thudos and Gemnon were fixed upon the still figure outlined beneath the tawny skins of lions. Beads of perspiration stood upon their foreheads; their jaws and their fists were clenched. The eyes of Tarzan turned from the activities of the priest to the face of the queen; between narrowed lids, from beneath stern brows they watched her.
The priests, gathering the bag by one side, raised it and let the body roll out upon the ground where all could see it. There was a gasp of astonishment. Nemone cried out in a sudden fit of rage. The body was that of Erot, and he was dead!
CHAPTER NINETEEN THE QUEEN'S QUARRY
After the first involuntary cries of surprise and rage, an ominous silence fell upon the barbaric scene. Now all eyes were centred upon the queen, whose ordinarily beautiful countenance was almost hideous from rage, a rage which, after her single angry cry, choked further utterance for the moment. But at length she found her voice and turned furiously upon Tomos.
'What means this?' she demanded, her voice now controlled and as cold as the steel in the sheath at her side.
Tomos, who was as much astounded as she, stammered as he trembled in his sandals of elephant hide. 'There are traitors even in the temple of Thoos !' he cried. 'I chose Erot to prepare the girl for the embraces of Xarator because I knew that his loyalty to his queen would ensure the work being well done. I did not know, O gracious Nemone, that this vile crime had been committed or that the body of Erot had been substituted for that of the daughter of Thudos until this very instant.'
With an expression of disgust the queen commanded the priests to hurl the body of Erot into the crater, and, as it was swallowed by the fiery pit, she ordered an immediate return to Cathne.
In morose and gloomy silence she rode down the winding mountain trail and out onto the Field of the Lions, and often her eyes were upon the bronzed giant striding beside her chariot.
At last she broke her silence. 'Two of your enemies are gone now,' she said. 'I destroyed one; whome do you think destroyed the other?'
'Perhaps I did,' suggested Tarzan with a 'I had been thinking of that possibility,' replied Nemone, but she did not smile.
'Whoever did it performed a service for Cathne.'
'Perhaps,' she half agreed, 'but it is not the killing of Erot that annoys me. It is the effrontery that dared interfere with the plans of Nemone.'
Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders, but remained silent.
The tedious journey back to Cathne ended at last, an with flaring torches lighting the way, the queen's procession crossed the bridge of gold and entered the city. Here she immediately ordered a thorough search to be made for Doria.
Thudos and Gemnon, happy but mystified, were returned to their cell to await the new doom that Nemone would fix for them. Tarzan was commanded to accompany Nemone into the palace and dine with her. Tomos had been dismissed with a curt injunction to find Doria or prepare for the worst.
Tarzan and the queen ate alone in a small dining room attended only by slaves, and when the meal was over Nemone conducted him to the now all too familiar ivory room, where he was greeted by the angry growls of Belthar 'Erot and M'duze are dead,' said the queen, 'and I have sent Tomos away. There will be none to disturb us tonight.'
The ape-man sat with his eyes fixed upon her, studying her. It seemed incredible that this sweet and lovely woman could be the cruel tyrant that was Nemone the queen.
But then, as the Lord of the Jungle looked at her, the spell that had held him vanished. Beneath the beautiful exterior he saw the crazed mind of a mad woman. He saw the creature that cast defenceless men to will beasts that disfigured or destroyed women who might be more beautiful than she, and all that was fine in him revolted.
With a half growl he arose to his feet. Nemone gazed for a moment questioningly at the man above her; then she seemed to realize what he was thinking, and the mad, cruel light of rage blazed in her eyes. She sprang to one side of the room where a metal gong depended from the ceiling and seizing the striker smote it three times.
The brazen notes rang through the chamber mingling with the roars of the infuriated lion Belthar.
Tarzan stood watching her; she seemed wholly irresponsible, quite mad. It would be useless to attempt to reason with her. He moved slowly toward the door, but before he reached it, it swung open, and a score of warriors accompanied by two nobles rushed in.
'Take this man!' ordered Nemone. 'Throw him into the cell with the other enemies of the queen!'
Tarzan was unarmed. He had worn only a sword when he entered the ivory room and that he had unbuckled and laid upon a stand near the doorway. There were twenty spears levelled at him, twenty spears that entirely encircled him. With a shrug he surrendered. It was that or death. In prison he might find the means to escape; at least he would see Gemnon again, and there was something that he very much wished to tell Gemnon and Thudos.
As the soldiers conducted him from the room and the door closed behind them, Nemone threw herself among the cushions of her couch, her body racked by choking sobs. The great lion grumbled in the dusky corner of the room. Suddenly Nemone sat erect and her eyes blazed into the blazing eyes of the lion. For a moment she sat there thus, and then she arose and a peal of maniacal laughter broke from her lips.
Thudos and Gemnon sitting in their cell heard the tramp of marching men approaching the prison in which they were confined. 'Evidently Nemone cannot wait until tomorrow,' said Thudos.
'You think she is sending for us now?' asked Gemnon.
'What else?' demanded the older man. 'The lion pit can be illuminated.'
As they waited and listened, the steps stopped outside their cell, the door was pushed open, and a man entered. The warriors had carried no torches and neither neither Thudos nor Gemnon could discern the features of the newcomer. None of them spoke until the guard had departed out of earshot. 'Greetings, Thudos and Gemnon!' exclaimed the new prisoner cheerily.
'Tarzan!' exclaimed Gemnon.
'None other,' admitted the ape-man.
'What brings you here?' demanded Thudos.
'Twenty warriors and the whim of a woman, an insane woman,' replied Tarzan.
'So you have fallen from favour!' exclaimed Gemnon. 'I am sorry.'
'It was inevitable,' said Tarzan.
'And what will your punishment be?'
'I do not know, but I suspect that it will be quite sufficient. However, that is something that need not concern any of us until it happens. Maybe it won't happen at all.'
'There is no room in the dungeon of Nemone for optimism,' remarked Thudos with a grim laugh.
'Perhaps not,' agreed the ape-man, 'but I shall continue to indulge myself. Doubtless Doria felt hopeless in her prison in the temple last night, yet she escaped Xarator.'
'That is a miracle that I cannot fathom,' said Gemnon.
