dais.
Tarzan laid a hand upon the Gonfal. 'Stop! Kneel before your queen!' His voice was low. In the din of their shouting it probably reached the ears of few if any of the warriors, but as one they stopped and knelt.
Again the ape-man spoke. 'Stand up! Go to the gates and bring in the captains of the Zuli. They will come. The fighting will stop.' The warriors turned and filed out of the chamber.
Tarzan turned toward his companions. 'It worked. I thought it would. Whatever this strange power is, it is inherent in the Gonfal. The great emerald has the same mystic power. In the hands of vicious men it is bad. Perhaps, though, it may be used for good.'
Gonfala was listening intently. The sounds of the battle ceased; then came echoing footfalls in the long corridor leading to the palace entrance. 'They come!' she whispered.
Fifty warrior women entered the throne room of the queen of the Kaji. Half of them were Kaji and half Zuli. They were a savage company. Many of them were bleeding from wounds. They looked sullenly at one another and at the little company upon the dais.
Tarzan faced them. 'You are free now from the rule of Woora and Mafka. Woora is dead. I shall turn Mafka over to you presently to do with as you wish. His power is gone if you keep the Gonfal from him. We are leaving your country. Gonfala is going with us. As many prisoners and slaves as wish to accompany us may come. When we are safely out we will hand the Gonfal back to one of your warriors, who may accompany us with three companions-no more. It is dawn. We leave at once. Here is Mafka.' He lifted the old magician in his arms and handed him down to the warrior women.
Amidst deathly silence the little company of white men filed out of the throne room with Gonfala the queen of the Kaji. Tarzan carried the Gonfal so that all might see it. Van Eyk bore the great emerald of the Zuli concealed beneath a wrapping of skin.
In the main street of the city a little group of black men and white awaited them, summoned by Tarzan through the necromancy of the Gonfal. They were the slaves and prisoners of the Kaji.
'We are leaving this country,' he told them; 'any who wish to may accompany us.'
'Mafka will kill us,' objected one.
Shrill screams issued from the interior of the palace only to be drowned by savage yells of rage and hatred.
'Mafka will never kill again,' said the ape-man.
Chapter 11. Treachery
IN PEACE THEY marched through the country of the Kaji under the protection of Tarzan and the Gonfal. Those who had been prisoners and slaves for years were filled with nervous apprehension. They could not believe this miracle that had seemingly snatched them from the clutches of the old magician who had dominated and terrorized them for so long. Momentarily they expected to be killed or dragged back to certain torture and death; but nothing happened, and they came at last to the valley of the Neubari.
'I'll leave you here,' said Tarzan. 'You will be going south. I go north.' He handed the Gonfal to van Eyk. 'Keep it until morning; then give it to one of these women.' He indicated the three warrior women who had accompanied them from Kaji; then he turned to them. 'Take the stone back; and if any among you can use it, use it for good and not for evil.
'Wood, take the great emerald of the Zuli in trust for Gonfala. I hope it will bring her happiness, but the chances are that it will not. At least, however, she need never want.'
'Where do we come in?' demanded Spike.
The ape-man shook his head. 'You don't; you go out-you go out with your lives. That's a lot more than you could have hoped for a few days ago.'
'You mean to say you're goin' to give the big rock back to the niggers and we don't get no split? It ain't fair. Look what we been through. You can't do it.'
'It's already done.'
Spike turned toward the others. 'Are you fellows goin' to stand for this?' he shouted angrily. 'Them two rocks belongs to all of us. We ought to take 'em back to London and sell 'em and divide up equal.'
'I'm glad enough to get out with my life,' said van Eyk. 'I think Gonfala has a right to one of the stones; the other will be plenty for both the Kaji and the Zuli to carry out their plans to go out into the world. They'll be cheated out of most of it anyway, but they'll get their wish.'
'I think they ought to be divided,' said Troll. 'We ought to get something out of this.'
Some of the white men who had been liberated agreed with him. Others said they only wanted to get home alive and the sooner they saw the last of the two stones the better they'd be satisfied.
'They're evil,' said one of the men. 'They'll bring no good to anyone.'
'I'd take the chance,' growled Spike.
Tarzan regarded him coldly. 'You won't get it. I've told you all what to do; see that you do it. I'll be travelling south again before you get out of the country. I'll know if you've pulled anything crooked. See that you don't.'
Night had fallen. The little band of fugitives, perhaps a hundred strong, were making camp, such as it was, and preparing the food they had brought from Kaji. The blacks, who had been slaves, fell naturally into positions of porters and personal servants to the whites. There had been some slight attempt toward organization, Wood and van Eyk acting as lieutenants to the man they knew only as Clayton, who had assumed the leadership as naturally as the others had accepted the arrangement.
He stood among them now noting the preparations for the night; then he turned to Wood. 'You and van Eyk will take charge. You will have no trouble unless it be from Spike. Watch him. Three marches to the south you will find friendly villages. After that it will be easy.'
That was all. He turned and was gone into the night. There were no farewells, long-drawn and useless.
'Well,' said van Eyk, 'that was casual enough.'
Wood shrugged. 'He is like that.'
Gonfala strained her eyes out into the darkness. 'He has gone? You think he will not come back?'
'When he finishes whatever business he is on, perhaps. By that time we may be out of the country.'
'I felt so safe when he was with us.' The girl came and stood close to Wood. 'I feel safe with you, too, Stanlee; but him-he seemed a part of Africa.'
The man nodded and put an arm about her. 'We'll take care of you, dear; but I know how you feel. I felt the same way when he was around. I had no sense of responsibility at all, not even for my own welfare. I just took it for granted that he'd look after everything.'
'I often wonder about him,' said van Eyk musingly-'who he is, where he comes from, what he is doing in Africa. I wonder-I wonder if there could be-if-'
'If what?'
'If there could be a Tarzan.'
Wood laughed. 'You know, the same thought came to me. Of course, there is no such person; but this fellow, Clayton, sure would fill the bill.'
The black boy who was cooking for them called them then to the evening meal. It was not much, and they decided that Spike and Troll would have to do some hunting the following day.
Suddenly Wood laughed-a bit ruefully. 'What with?' he demanded. 'We've got spears and knives. What could any of us kill with those?'
Van Eyk nodded. 'You're right. What are we going to do? We've got to have meat. All the way to those first friendly villages we've got to depend on game. There won't be anything else.'
'If we raise any game, we'll have to send out beaters and chase it toward the spears. We ought to get something that way.'
Van Eyk grinned. 'If we're lucky enough to raise something with angina pectoris, the excitement might kill it.'
'Well, they do kill big game with spears,' insisted Wood.
Van Eyk's face brightened. He snapped his fingers. 'I've got it! Bows and arrows! Some of our blacks must be
