'Well,' agreed Brown, grudgingly, 'get him back and see what he says.'
Tarzan called Sborov's name aloud several times, but there was no answer.
''E couldn't have gotten so very far,' said Tibbs. ''E must 'ear you, sir.'
Tarzan shrugged. 'He'll come back when he gets more afraid of the jungle than he is of Brown.'
'Are we going to sit here waiting for him?' asked the American.
'No,' replied Tarzan. 'I am going on to find the Kavuru village. My own people are somewhere to the east. I'll take you to them. Sborov will most certainly follow and catch up with us after we stop for the night. Come.'
Chapter 27 Madmen and Leopards
AS JANE reached the foot of the ladder leading down into the dark interior of the kivalike structure in the village of the Kavuru her ears caught a faint sound as of someone or something moving at no great distance from her.
Instantly she froze to silent immobility, listening. She thought that she heard the sound of breathing. Dim light from the opening above relieved the darkness immediately about her, and she knew that she must be revealed to whatever was in the room with her. Then a voice spoke, spoke in English with a familiar accent.
'Oh, madame! It is you? They got you, too?'
'Annette! You are here? Then it was not the prince who took you away?'
'No, madame. It was a terrible white man who held me powerless by some black magic. I could not cry out for help. I could not resist. I simply went to him, and he took me up into the trees and carried me away.'
'One of them took me in the same way, Annette. They possess a hypnotic power beyond anything that I had ever dreamed might be possible. Have they harmed you, Annette?'
'I have only been terribly frightened,' replied the girl, 'because I don't know what they intend to do with me.'
Jane's eyes had become accustomed to the gloom of the dark chamber. Now she could discern more of the details of the interior. She saw a circular room with a litter of dry grasses and leaves on the hard dirt floor. Against one wall Annette was sitting on a little pallet of these same leaves and grasses that she had evidently scraped together. There was no one else, nothing else, in the room.
'What do you suppose they are going to do with us?' asked Jane. 'Haven't they given you any clew at all?'
'None, madame, absolutely none. Nor you? They have told you nothing?'
'The man who captured me was named Ogdli. He told me that much and that he was taking me to some one called Kavandavanda, who, I gathered, is their chief. When I asked more questions he threatened to cut my tongue out, saying that Kavandavanda did not need my tongue. They are most unpleasant people.'
'Ah, madame, that does not describe them—they are terrifying. If only Monsieur Brown was here. You have seen him lately, madame? He is well?'
'Quite well, Annette, in body; but his heart was sick. He was worrying about you.'
'I think he loves me very much, madame.'
'I am sure of it, Annette.'
'And I love him. It is terrible to have this happen now when we might have been so happy. Now we never shall be. I shall never see him again. I have that feeling, madame. It is what you call a—a premonition. I shall die here in this awful village—soon.'
'Nonsense, Annette! You mustn't say such things; you mustn't even think them. What we should be thinking about is escape—and nothing else.'
'Escape? What chance have we, madame?' 'I saw no guard at the entrance to this hole when they brought me in,' explained Jane; 'and if there is none posted at night we can certainly get to the roof. From there on will depend upon what obstacles we find in our way, but it will be worth trying.'
'Whatever you say, madame.'
'Tonight then, Annette.' 'S-sh, madame! Some one is coming.'
Footsteps sounded plainly on the roof above them now, and then the opening through which they had entered was darkened by the form of a man.
'Come up!' he commanded; 'both of you.'
Jane sighed. 'Our poor little plan,' she bemoaned.
'What difference does it make?' asked Annette. 'It would not have succeeded anyway.'
'We shall have to try something else later,' insisted the other, as she started to ascend the ladder.
'It will fail, too,' prophesied Annette gloomily. 'We shall die here—both of us—tonight, perhaps.'
As they stepped out onto the roof Jane recognized the warrior as the one who had captured her. 'Now what, Ogdli?' she asked. 'Are you going to set us free?'
'Be still,' growled the Kavuru. 'You talk too much. Kavandavanda has sent for you. Do not talk too much to Kavandavanda.'
He took hold of her arm to urge her along—a soft, smooth, sun-tanned arm. Suddenly he stopped and wheeled her about until she faced him. A new fire burned in his eyes. 'I never saw you before,' he said, in a low voice. 'I never saw you before.' It was an almost inaudible whisper.
Jane bared her teeth in a flashing smile. 'Look at my teeth,' she said. 'You will soon be wearing them; then you will have four rows.'
'I do not want your teeth, woman,' growled Ogdli huskily. 'You have cast a spell on me; I, who have foresworn women, am bewitched by a woman.'
Jane thought quickly. The change in the man had come so suddenly, and his infatuation was so apparent that for an instant it only frightened her; then she saw in it possibilities that might be turned to the advantage of herself and Annette.
'Ogdli,' she whispered softly, 'you can help me, and no one need ever know. Hide us until tonight. Tell Kavandavanda that you could not find us, that we must have escaped; then come back after dark and let us out of the village. Tomorrow you can come out to look for us; and perhaps, Ogdli, you will find me—find me waiting for you in the forest.' Her words, her tones, were provocative.
The man shook his head as though to rid his brain of an unwelcome thought; he passed a palm across his eyes as one who would push aside a veil.
'No!' he almost shouted; then he seized her roughly and dragged her along. 'I will take you to Kavandavanda. After that you will bewitch me no more.'
'Why are you afraid of me, Ogdli?' she asked. 'I am only a woman.'
'That is why I am afraid of you. You see no women here. There are none, other than those who are brought for Kavandavanda; and they are here but briefly. I am a priest. We are all priests. Women would contaminate us. We are not allowed to have them. If we were to weaken and succumb to their wiles, we should live in torment forever after death; and if Kavandavanda found it out, we should die quickly and horribly.'
'What is he saying, madame?' asked Annette. 'What are you talking about?'
'It is preposterous, Annette,' replied Jane; 'but Ogdli has developed a sudden infatuation for me. I tried to play upon it in order to tempt Mm to let us escape—and meet me in the forest tomorrow. It offered hope.'
'Oh, madame! You would not!'
'Of course not; but all is fair in love and war, and this is both. If we ever get into the forest, Annette, it will just be too bad for Ogdli if he can't find us.'
'And what does he say to it?'
'Thumbs down. He is dragging me off to Kavandavanda as fast as he can, so that temptation may be removed from his path.'
'All our hopes are dashed, madame,' said Annette, woefully.
'Not entirely, if I know men,' replied Jane. 'Ogdli will not so easily escape his infatuation. When he thinks he has lost me, it will tear at his vitals; then anything may happen.'
The Kavuru was leading the two girls along the main street toward the rear of the village. Confronting them was a heavy gate across the bottom of a narrow cleft in the cliff that towered ominously above the village.
