Woora came close and raised the red-hot iron to the level of Tarzan's eyes; then he jabbed suddenly at one of them. The victim warded off the searing point from its intended target. Only his hand was burned. Again and again Woora jabbed; but always Tarzan succeeded in saving his eyes, yet at the expense of his hands and forearms.
At his repeated failures to blind his victim, Woora became convulsed with rage. He screamed and cursed as he danced about, foaming at the mouth; then, quite suddenly, he gained control of himself. He carried the iron back to the brazier and inserted it among the coals; then he stepped to another part of the room that was not in line with the doorway, and therefore outside the range of Tarzan's vision. He was gone for but a moment, and when he returned he carried a rope in his hand.
He was chuckling again as he approached Tarzan. 'The iron will be hotter this time,' he said, 'and this time it will reach your eyes.'
He passed the rope around the net and Tarzan and made a slip noose and drew it tight; then he walked around and around the ape-man, binding his hands and his arms with many coils of rope until Tarzan had no use of them for protection.
Now he went to the brazier and withdrew the iron. It glowed strangely red in the weird green light of the chamber. With it, Woora crept slowly toward his victim as though he were trying to prolong the agony of suspense; but Tarzan gave no evidence of fear. He knew that he was helpless, and he awaited the inevitable with stoic indifference.
Suddenly Woora was seized by another spasm of fury. 'You pretend that you are not afraid,' he screamed, 'but I'll make you shriek for mercy yet. First the right eye!' And he came forward again, holding the red point on a level with the ape-man's eyes.
Tarzan heard the door behind him open. He saw Woora shrink back, a new expression of fury writ upon his face; then a man leaped past him carrying a stout wooden bar in his hand. It was Lord.
Woora turned to flee into the next apartment, but Lord overtook him, striking him a glancing blow on the head with the rod. The magician turned then and sought to defend himself with the hot iron. He screamed for mercy and for help; but there was no mercy in Lord's attack, and no help came.
Wielding the rod in both hands, the Englishman struck the iron from Woora's hand, breaking the arm at the wrist; then he swung it again furiously, crashing full on the grotesque skull; and with a splintering and crushing of bone Woora sank to the floor, dead.
Lord turned to Tarzan. 'A close call,' be said.
'Yes, a very close call. I shall not forget it.'
'I saw you kill the panther,' continued Lord. 'My word! I'd never have thought it possible. Then I waited. I didn't know just what to do. Presently I commenced to worry; I knew what a wily old devil Woora was; so I followed you, and it was a good thing that I did.'
While he talked, the Englishman found a knife and cut the bonds and the net that held the ape-man; then the two men examined the contents of the inner room. There was a small furnace in one corner, several retorts and test tubes on a long table, shelves with bottles and vials stored upon them, a small library of occultism, black magic, voodooism. In a little niche, before which stood a chair, there was a crystal sphere. But, dominating all, the center of everything, was the great emerald.
Lord looked at it, spellbound, fascinated. 'It is worth over two million pounds sterling,' he said, 'and it is ours for the taking! There are still several hours of darkness; and it may be hours more, perhaps days, before anyone discovers that Woora is dead and the emerald gone. They could never overtake us.'
'You forget your friends here,' Tarzan reminded him.
'Any one of them would do the same if he had the chance,' argued Lord. 'They will have their freedom. We have given them that. The emerald should be ours.'
'You have also forgotten the Kaji. How will you pass through their country?'
Lord gestured his disgust. 'There is always something; but you're right-we can't escape except with a large force.'
'There is a question whether you can escape Mafka even then,' said Tarzan. 'I've seen some evidence of his power. By comparison, Woora's didn't amount to much.'
'Well, then, what?'
'I'll go ahead and try to dispose of Mafka,' said Tarzan.
'Good! I'll go with you.'
The ape-man shook his head. 'I must go alone. Mafka's occult powers are such that he can control the actions of his victims even at great distances, but for some reason he has no power over me. He might have over you. That is the reason I must go alone; he might sense the presence of another with me and through him learn my plans-his powers are most uncanny.'
As he ceased speaking, Tarzan picked up the great emerald, and wrapped it in a bit of cloth he had torn from a banging on the wall.
Lord's eyes narrowed. 'What are you doing that for?' he demanded.
'I'm taking the emerald with me. It will insure my getting an audience with Mafka.'
Lord gave a short, ugly laugh. 'And you think you can get away with that?' he demanded. 'What do you take me for-a fool?'
Tarzan knew the greed of men. That was one of the reasons he liked beasts so well. 'If you try to interfere,' he said, 'I'll know that you are a fool-you saw what I did to the panther and how easily.'
'What do you want with two million pounds? Maybe three million-God alone knows what it's worth. There's plenty for both of us.'
'I don't want any of it,' replied the ape-man. 'I have all the wealth I need. I'm going to use it to get some of my people away from Mafka. When that is done, I won't care what becomes of it.'
He tied two cords to the package holding the emerald. One he looped over his head, the other he tied around his waist holding the package close to his body. He picked up the knife that Lord had laid on the table and stuck it in his own scabbard; then he found a long piece of rope which he coiled and slung across a shoulder.
Lord watched him sullenly. He remembered the panther and knew that he was helpless to prevent the stranger taking the emerald.
'I'm going now,' said Tarzan. 'Wait a day, and then follow with all those who want to get out. No matter whether I'm successful or not you may have to fight your way through the Kaji, but with Mafka out of the way you'll stand a much better chance. If I get through, I'll cache the emerald on the Neubari near the mouth of the Mafa and go on about my business. In about three weeks I shall be back again; then I'll turn the emerald over to the Zuli.'
'To the Zuli!' exclaimed Lord. 'Where do I come in? The emerald belongs to me, and you're trying to cheat me out of it. Is this what I get for saving your life?'
Tarzan shrugged. 'It is none of my business,' he said. 'I do not care who gets the emerald. You told me there was a plan afoot to take it and with the proceeds finance all the Zuli in their desire to go and live in civilization. I did not know that you planned to betray your comrades.'
Lord's eyes could not meet those of the ape-man, and he flushed as he replied. 'I'll see that they get theirs,' he said, 'but I want to control it. What do they know about business? They'd be cheated out of everything in a month.'
'On the Neubari in three weeks, then,' said the ape-man, as he turned and quit the apartment.
As Tarzan vaulted the sill of the window in the outer room and started across the compound where lay the dead body of the black panther, Lord opened the door leading to the throne-room and hastened at a run to the guard-room, his mind busy with a plan based on the belief that the stranger intended to make off with the great emerald and keep it for himself.
Chapter 7. Green Magic
THE GUARDS IN the corridor outside the throne-room were so surprised to see anyone coming from the throneroom at that time in the night that Lord was past them before they recovered their wits. They pursued him,
