'I guess we're in for it,' growled Brown. 'It caught from the ship. Looks like we're trapped. Does anyone else know a way out?'
'Yes,' said Jane. 'There is a secret passage leading from the temple to the forest. I know where the entrance is. Come this way.' She turned back and they retraced their steps toward the throne room.
Soon they commenced to meet warriors and slaves. These slunk away into side corridors and apartments. Presently they reached the apartments of Kavandavanda. Jane was struck by a sudden thought.
She turned to Brown. 'We all risked our lives,' she said, 'and two of us died in a mad search for the secret of eternal youth. It is in this room. Do you care to take the few seconds it will require to get it?'
'Do I?' exclaimed Brown. 'And how! Lead me to it.'
In the inner room of the high priest's apartments, Jane pointed out the cabinet. 'There is a box in there that contains what you wish, but the key is on the body of Kavandavanda,' she explained.
'I got a key right here,' said Brown; and, drawing his pistol, be fired a shot into the lock that shattered it; then he opened the cabinet.
'There,' said Jane, pointing out the box that contained the pellets.
Brown seized it, and they continued on in search of the tunnel's entrance. But presently Jane paused, hesitant. 'I am afraid we have come too far,' she said. 'I thought I knew just where the tunnel was, but now I am all confused.'
'We must find some way out of the temple,' said Tar-zan. 'The fire is spreading rapidly, following closely behind us.'
Smoke was already rolling down upon them in stifling volume. They could hear the ominous roaring of the flames, the crash of falling timbers as portions of the roof fell in, the shouts and screams of the inmates of the temple.
A warrior, choking and half blinded, stumbled into view from the dense smoke that filled the corridor along which they had come. Before the man could gather his faculties, Tarzan seized him.
'Lead us out of here,' he commanded. 'That is the price of your life.'
When the fellow was able to open his eyes he looked at his captor. 'Tarzan of the Apes!' he exclaimed.
'Ydeni,' said the ape-man. 'I did not recognize you at first.'
'And you wish me to lead you out of the temple? You who have slain Kavandavanda, our high priest?'
'Yes,' replied Tarzan.
'If I show you the way through the village you will all be killed. The warriors of Kavuru are recovering from their first fright. They will never let you pass. I could lead you that way and let you be killed; but once you saved my life. Now, I shall give you yours. Follow me.'
He led the party a short distance down a side corridor and turned into a gloomy apartment. Crossing it, he pushed open a door beyond which was utter darkness.
'This tunnel leads out into the forest,' he said. 'Go your way, Tarzan of the Apes, nor return again to the village of the Kavuru.'
Three weeks later a party of six was gathered before a roaring fire in the living room of Tarzan's bungalow far from the savage village of the Kavuru. The Lord of the Jungle was there, and his mate; Brown and Annette sat upon a lion's skin before the hearth, holding hands; Tibbs sat decorously on the edge of a chair in the background. He had not yet become accustomed to sitting on terms of equality with titled personages. Little Nkima, with far greater poise, perched upon the shoulder of a viscount.
'What are we goin' to do with this box of pills?' demanded Brown.
'Whatever you wish,' said Jane. 'You were willing to risk your life to get them. If I recall correctly, I think you said something to the effect that if you had them back in civilization they would make you 'lousy' with money. Keep them.'
'No,' replied the American. 'We all risked our lives, and anyway you were the one that really got them. The more I think of it, the less I like my scheme. Most everybody lives too long anyway for the good of the world—most of 'em ought to have died young. Suppose Congress got hold of 'em?—just think of that! Not on your life.
'I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll divide them. There will be five of us that will live forever.'
'And be beautiful always,' added Annette.
'If you will pardon my saying so, Miss,' observed Tibbs with an apologetic cough, 'I should rawther dislike thinking of pressing trousers for so many years; and as for being beautiful—my word! I'd never get a job. Who ever heard of a beautiful valet?'
'Well, we'll divide 'em anyway,' insisted Brown. 'You don't have to take 'em, but be sure you don't sell none of 'em to no cab driver princes. Here, I'll divide 'em into five equal parts.'
'Aren't you forgetting Nkima?' asked Jane, smiling.
'That's right,' said Brown. 'We'll make it six parts. He's sure a lot more use in the world than most people.'
THE END
