took, the Athneans are very angry with the queen. Yes, they might easily attempt to assassinate her.'
Tarzan was almost amused as he Contemplated the ease with which these two convinced themselves that what they wanted to believe true, was true. But he realized that this form of one-sided trial might prove disastrous to him if his fate were to be decided by such a tribunal, and so he was prompted to speak.
'I have never been in Athne,' he said quietly. 'I am from a country far to the south. An accident brought me here. I am not an enemy. I have not come to kill your queen or any other. Until today I did not know that your city existed.' This was a long speech for Tarzan of the Apes. He was almost positive that it would not influence his captors, yet there was a chance that they might believe him.
Men are peculiar, and none knew this better than Tarzan, who, because he had seen rather less of men than of beasts, had been inclined to study those whom he had seen. Now he was studying the two men who were questioning him. The elder he judged to be a man accustomed to the exercise of great power-cunning, ruthless, cruel. Tarzan did not like him. His was the instinctive appraisal of the wild beast.
The younger man was of an entirely different mould. He was intelligent rather than cunning; his countenance bespoke a frank and open nature. The ape-man judged that he was honest and courageous.
While he was certain that the younger man had little authority, compared with that exercised by his superior, vet Tarzan thought best to address him rather than the other. He thought that he might win an ally in the younger man ad was sure that he could never influence the elder, unless it was very much to the latter's interests to be influenced. And so, when he spoke again, he spoke to the younger of the two officers.
'Are these men of Athne like me?' he asked.
For an instant the officer hesitated: then he said, quite frankly, 'No, they are not like you. You are unlike any man that I have seen'.
'Are their weapons like my weapons?' continued the ape-man. 'There are mine over in the corner of the room; your men took them away from me. Look at them.'
Even the elder officer seemed interested. 'Bring them here,' he ordered one of the warriors.
The man brought them and laid them on the table before the two officers; the spear, the bow, the quiver of arrows, the grass rope, and the knife. The two men picked them up one by one and examined them carefully. Both seemed interested.
'Are they like the weapons of the Athneans?' demanded Tarzan.
'They are nothing like them,' admitted the younger man. 'What do you suppose this thing is for, Tomos?' he asked his companion as he examined Tarzan's bow.
'Let me take it,' suggested Tarzan, 'and I will show you how it is used.'
The younger man handed the bow to the ape-man.
'Be careful, Gemnon,' cautioned Tomos. 'This may be a trick, a subterfuge by which he hopes to get possession of a weapon with which to kill us.' 'He cannot kill us with that thing,' replied Gemnon.
'Let's see how he uses it. Go ahead. Let's see, what did you say your name is?'
'Tarzan,' replied the Lord of the Jungle, 'Tarzan of the Apes.'
'Well, go ahead, Tarzan, but see that you don't attempt to attack any of us.'
Tarzan stepped to the table and took an arrow from his quiver; then he glanced about the room. On the wall at the far end a lion's head with open mouth hung near the ceiling. With what appeared but a single swift motion he fitted the arrow to the bow, drew the feathered shaft to his shoulder, and released it.
Every eye in the room had been upon him, for the common warriors had been interested spectators of what had been transpiring. Every eye saw the shaft quivering now where it protruded from the centre of the lion's mouth, and an involuntary exclamation broke from every throat, an exclamation in which were mingled surprise and applause.
'Take the thing away from him, Gemnon,' snapped Tomos. 'It is not a safe weapon in the hands of an enemy.'
Tarzan tossed the bow to the table. 'Do the Athneans use this weapon?' he asked.
Gemnon shook his head. 'We know no men who use such a weapon,' he replied.
'Then you must know that I am no Athnean,' stated Tarzan, looking squarely at Tomos.
'It makes no difference where you are from,' snapped Tomos; 'you are an enemy'.
The ape-man shrugged but remained silent. He had accomplished all that he had hoped for. He was sure that he had convinced them both that he was not an Athnean and had aroused the interest of the younger man.
Gemnon had leaned close to Tomos and was whispering in the latter's ear, evidently urging some action upon him. Tarzan could not hear what he was saying. The elder man listened impatiently; it was clear that he was not in accord with the suggestions of his junior.
'No,' he said when the other had finished. 'I will not permit anything of the sort. The life of the queen is too sacred to risk by permitting this fellow any freedom. We shall lock him up for the night, and tomorrow decide what shall he done with him.' He turned to a warrior who seemed to be an under-officer. 'Take this fellow to the strong-house,' he said 'and see that he does not escape.' Then he rose and strode from the room, followed by his younger companion.
When they had gone, the man in whose charge Tarzan had been left picked up the bow examined it. 'What do you call this thing?' he demanded.
'A bow,' replied the ape-man.
'And these?'
'Arrows.'
'Will they kill a man?'
'With them I have killed men and lions and buffaloes and elephants,' replied Tarzan. 'Would you like to learn how to use them?' Perhaps, he thought, a little kindly feeling in the guardroom might be helpful to him later on. Just at present he was not thinking of escape; these people and the city of gold were far too interesting to leave until he had seen more of them.
The man fingering the bow hesitated. Tarzan guessed that he wished to try his hand with the weapon but feared to delay carrying out the order of his officer.
'It will take but a moment,' suggested Tarzan. 'See, let me show you.'
Half-reluctantly the man handed him the bow and Tarzan selected another arrow.
'Hold them like this,' he directed and placed the bow and arrow correctly in the other's hands. 'Tell your men to stand aside; you may not shoot accurately at first. Aim at the lion's head, as I did. Now draw the bow-string back as far as you can.'
The man, of stocky, powerful build, tugged at the bow-string, but the bow that Tarzan bent so easily he could scarcely bend at all. When he released the arrow it flew but a few feet and dropped to the floor. 'What's wrong?' he demanded.
'It requires practice,' the ape-man told him.
'There is a trick to it,' insisted the under-officer. 'Let me see you do it again.'
The other warriors, watching with manifest interest, whispered among themselves or commented openly.
'It takes a strong man to bend that stick,' said one.
Althides, the under-officer, watched intently while Tarzan strung the bow again and bent it; he saw bow easily the stranger flexed the heavy wood, and he marvelled. The other men looked on in open admiration, and this time a shout of approval arose as Tarzan's second arrow crowded the first in the mouth of the lion.
Althides scratched his head. 'I shall have to lock you up now,' he said, 'or old Tomos will have my head on the wall of his palace, but I shall practise with this weapon until I learn to use it. Are you sure that there is no trick in bending that thing you call a bow?'
'There is no trick to it,' Tarzan assured him.
A guard accompanied Tarzan across the courtyard to another building where he was placed in a room which, in the light of the torches borne by his escort, he saw had another occupant. Then they left him, locking the heavy door behind them.
CHAPTER SIX THE MAN WHO STEPPED ON A GOD
