She rose and approached a window. Catherine of Aragon saw her and bared her fangs in a vicious snarl.
'It is she they want,' growled the old queen.
From the window Rhonda saw in the light of torches a mass of hairy forms battling to the death. She gasped and pressed a hand to her heart, for among them she saw Stanley Obroski fighting his way toward an entrance to the palace.
At first it seemed to her that he was fighting alone against that horde of beasts, but presently she realized that many of them were his allies. She saw the gorilla god close to Obroski; she even saw the grass rope about the creature's neck. Now her only thought was of the safety of Obroski.
Vaguely she heard voices raised about her in anger; then she became conscious of the words of the old queen. 'She has caused all this trouble,' Catherine of Aragon was saying. 'If she were dead we should have peace.'
'Kill her, then,' said Anne of Cleves.
'Kill her!' screamed Anne Boleyn.
The girl turned from the window to see the savage beasts advancing upon her—great hairy brutes that could tear her to pieces. The incongruity of their human speech and their bestial appearance seemed suddenly more shocking and monstrous than ever before.
One of them stepped forward from her side and stood in front of her, facing the others. It was Catherine Parr. 'Leave her alone,' she said. 'It is not her fault that she is here.'
'Kill them both! Kill Parr too!' screamed Catherine Howard.
The others took up the refrain. 'Kill them both!' The Howard leaped upon the Parr; and with hideous growls the two sought each other's throat with great, yellow fangs. Then the others rushed upon Rhonda Terry.
There was no escape. They were between her and the door; the windows were barred. Her eyes searched vainly for something with which to beat them off, but there was nothing. She backed away from them, but all the time she knew that there was no hope.
Then the door was suddenly thrown open, and three great bulls stepped into the apartment. 'His Majesty, the King!' cried one of them, and the shes quieted their tongues and fell away from Rhonda. Only the two battling on the floor did not hear.
The great bull gorilla that was Henry the Eighth rolled into the room. 'Silence!' he bellowed, and crossing to the embattled pair he kicked and cuffed them until they desisted. 'Where is the fair, hairless one?' he demanded, and then his eyes alighted upon Rhonda where she stood almost hidden by the great bulks of his wives.
'Come here!' he commanded. 'God has come for you, but he'll never get you. You belong to me.'
'Let him have her, Henry,' cried Catherine of Aragon; 'she has caused nothing but trouble.'
'Silence, woman!' screamed the king. 'Or you'll go to the Tower and the block.'
He stepped forward and seized Rhonda, throwing her across one shoulder as though she had no weight whatever; then he crossed quickly to the door. 'Stand in the corridor here, Suffolk and Howard, and, if God's men reach this floor, hold them off until I have time to get safely away.'
'Let us go with you, Sire,' begged one of them.
'No; remain here until you have news for me; then follow me to the north end of the valley, to the canyon where the east branch of the Thames rises.' He turned then and hurried down the corridor.
At the far end he turned into a small room, crossed to a closet, and raised a trap door. 'They'll never follow us here, my beauty,' he said. 'I got this idea from God, but he doesn't know that I made use of it.'
Like a huge monkey he descended a pole that led downward into darkness, and after they reached the bottom Rhonda became aware that they were traversing a subterranean corridor. It was very long and very dark. The gorilla king moved slowly, feeling his way; but at last they came out into the open.
He had set Rhonda down upon the floor of the corridor, and she had been aware by the noises that she heard that he was moving some heavy object. Then she had felt the soft night air and had seen stars above them. A moment later they stood upon the bank of a river at the foot of a low cliff while Henry replaced a large, flat stone over the dark entrance to the tunnel they had just quitted.
Then commenced a trek of terror for Rhonda. Following the river, they hurried along through the night toward the upper end of the valley. The great brute no longer carried her but dragged her along by one wrist. He seemed nervous and fearful, occasionally stopping to sniff the air or listen. He moved almost silently, and once or twice he cautioned her to silence.
After a while they crossed the river toward the east where the water, though swift, was only up to their knees; then they continued in a northeasterly direction. There was no sound of pursuit, yet the gorilla's nervousness increased. Presently Rhonda guessed the reason for it—from the north came the deep throated roar of a lion.
The gorilla king growled deep in his chest and quickened his pace. A suggestion of dawn was tinging the eastern horizon. A cold mist enveloped the valley. Rhonda was very tired. Every muscle in her body ached and cried out for rest, but still her captor dragged her relentlessly onward.
Now the voice of the lion sounded again, shattering the silence of the night, making the earth tremble. It was much closer than before—-it seemed very near. The gorilla broke into a lumbering run. Dawn was coming. Nearby objects became visible.
Rhonda saw a lion ahead of them and a little to their left. The gorilla king saw it too, and changed his direction toward the east and a fringe of trees that were visible now about a hundred yards ahead of them.
The lion was approaching them at an easy, swinging walk. Now he too changed his direction and broke into a trot with the evident intention of heading them off before they reached the trees.
Rhonda noticed how his flat belly swung from side to side to the motion of his gait. It is strange how such trivialities often impress one at critical moments of extreme danger. He looked lean and hungry. He was roaring almost continuously now as though he were attempting to lash himself into a rage. He commenced to gallop.
Now it became obvious that they could never reach the trees ahead of him. The gorilla paused, growling. Instantly the lion changed its course again and came straight for them. The gorilla hesitated; then he lifted the girl in his powerful paws and hurled her into the path of the lion, at the same time turning and running at full speed back in the direction from which they had come. His prize had become the offering which he hoped would save his life.
But he reckoned without sufficient knowledge of lion psychology. Rhonda fell face downward. She knew that the lion was only a few yards away and coming toward her, that she could not escape him; but she recalled her other experience with a lion, and so she lay very still. After she fell she did not move a muscle.
It is the running creature that attracts the beast of prey. You have seen that exemplified by your own dog, which is a descendant of beasts of prey. Whatever runs he must chase. He cannot help it. Provided it is running away from him he has to chase it because he is the helpless pawn of a natural law a million years older than the first dog.
If Henry the Eighth had ever known this he must have forgotten it; otherwise he would have made the girl run while he lay down and remained very quiet. But he did not, and the inevitable happened. The lion ignored the still figure of the girl and pursued the fleeing gorilla.
Rhonda felt the lion pass swiftly, close to her; then she raised her head and looked. The gorilla was moving much more swiftly than she had guessed possible but not swiftly enough. In a moment the lion would overhaul it. They would be some distance from Rhonda when this happened, and the lion would certainly be occupied for a few moments with the killing of its prey. It seemed incredible that the huge ape, armed as it was with powerful jaws and mighty fighting fangs, would not fight savagely for self-preservation.
The girl leaped to her feet, and without a backward glance raced for the trees. She had covered but a few yards when she heard terrific roars and growls and screams that told her that the lion had overtaken the gorilla and that the two beasts were already tearing at one another. As long as these sounds lasted she knew that her flight would not be noticed by the lion.
When, breathless, she reached the trees she stopped and looked back. The lion was dragging the gorilla down, the great jaws closed upon its head, there was a vicious shake; and the ape went limp. Thus died Henry the Eighth.
The carnivore did not even look back in her direction but immediately crouched upon the body of its kill and commenced to feed. He was very hungry.
The girl slipped silently into the wood. A few steps brought her to the bank of a river. It was the east fork of the Thames, the wood a fringe of trees on either side. Thinking to throw the lion off her trail should it decide to
