know no more.'
'You stole the green stone from them,' accused Tarzan.
'No. They were frightened and ran away, forgetting it; but they took the white stone with them.'
'The white stone?'
'Yes, the white stone. One of them held it in his hands and told us to put down our weapons and go away. He said it was big medicine and that it would kill us if we did not go away; but we stayed, and it did not kill us.'
In the darkness the ape-man smiled. 'Has a white woman passed through your country lately? If you lie to me I shall come back and kill you.'
'I have never seen a white woman,' replied the chief. 'If one had passed through my country I should know it.'
Tarzan slipped from the hut as silently as he had come. As he went, he gathered up the Great Emerald and swung into the tree that overhung the palisade. The chief breathed a choking sigh of relief and broke into a cold sweat.
Strong in the nostrils of the ape-man was the scent of Numa the lion. He knew that the great cat was stalking close to the palisade. He had no quarrel with Numa this night and no wish to tempt a hungry hunting lion; so he made himself comfortable in the tree above the cannibal village to wait until Numa had taken himself elsewhere.
Chapter 16. Tantor
WEARY DAY AFTER weary day Gonfala had trudged north with Spike and Troll. They had made a wide detour to avoid the country of the Bantangos, for although they had both the Gonfal and Gonfala they lacked the courage of their convictions relative to this combination that previously had seemed all-powerful to them.
Gonfala's safety, so far, had lain in the men's jealousy of one another. Neither would leave her alone with the other. Because of her, they had ceased to speak except when absolutely necessary; and each was constantly afraid that the other would murder him. To assure her own safety, the girl watched over the safety of each of the others as though she loved them both.
One of the blacks carried the great diamond, nor did either of the white men attempt to touch it without arousing the savage objections of the other; for now that Gonfala was with them each feared that the other might use the magical power of the stone to destroy him.
Spike was in search of a district which he had passed through on safari several years before.
'It's a regular garden, Miss,' he explained to Gonfala; 'and game! S'elp me, it's lousy with game; and that gentle, from not bein' hunted none, that you can walk right up to 'em an' bat 'em over the head, if you'd a mind to. We could live like kings and with plenty of servants, too; for the natives is peaceablelike, and not many of 'em. I mean not too many. We could rule 'em easy what with our havin' the Gonfal and you.'
'I don't know that the Gonfal would do you much good,' said the girl.
'Wy not?' demanded Troll.
'You don't know how to use it. One must have certain mental powers to succeed with the Gonfal.'
'Have you got 'em?' asked Spike.
'I could use it unless Mafka desired to prevent me. He could do that, for his mind could control mine. I have never tried to use these powers since Mafka died.'
'But you think you can?' Spike's voice reflected the fear that was in him. He had banked heavily on the power of the Gonfal. All his future plans were dependent upon his being able to control the acts of others through the mysterious powers of the great diamond, and now there was doubt. It haunted him day and night.
'I think so,' replied Gonfala, 'but I shall not use it to help either of you unless I am absolutely assured that neither one of you will harm me.'
'I wouldn't think of hurtin' you, Miss,' Spike assured her.
'Me neither, but you better not trust him,' said Troll.
Spike took a step toward Troll, his fist clenched. 'You dirty crook,' he shouted, 'you're the one needs watchin', but you won't need it much longer. I'm goin' to break your neck for you right now.'
Troll jumped back and picked up his rifle. 'Come any closer and I'll let you have it,' he threatened, holding the muzzle of the weapon aimed at Spike's belly.
'You'd better not,' Spike admonished him. 'You may need another gun in some of the country we got to go through. You'd never get through alone with just six niggers.'
'That goes for you, too,' growled Troll.
'Then let's call it quits, and quit our rowin'-it ain't gettin' us nothin'.'
'It won't ever get either one of you me,' said Gonfala, 'and that's what's been the trouble between you. You stole me from my friends, and some day they're going to catch up with you. When they do, it'll be better for you if you haven't harmed me. Stanlee Wood will never give up until he finds me; and when he tells Tarzan I have been stolen, you can rest assured I'll be found and you will be punished.'
'Tarzan!' exclaimed Spike. 'What's Tarzan got to do with it?'
'You know who he is?' demanded Gonfala.
'Sure-everybody's heard of him; but I ain't never seen him. I always thought maybe he was just somethin' somebody made up. What do you know about him? Have you ever seen him?'
'Yes, and so have you.'
'Not us,' said Troll.
'You remember Clayton?' asked the girl.
'Sure, I remember Clayton. That bloke was as good as two-Say! You don't mean– ?'
'Yes, I do. Clayton is Tarzan.'
Troll looked worried. Spike scowled; then he shrugged. 'Wot if he is?' he demanded. 'He couldn't never find us-not where we're goin'; and even if he did, wot could he do against the Gonfal? We could do what we pleased with him.'
'Sure,' agreed Troll; 'we could snuff him out like that.' He snapped his fingers.
'Oh, no you couldn't,' said Gonfala.
'An' wy couldn't we?'
'Because I wouldn't let you. You can't use the Gonfal without my help, and when Tarzan and Stanlee come I shall help them. You see, with the Gonfal, I can snuff you out.'
The two men looked at one another. Presently Spike walked away and called to Troll to accompany him. When he was out of earshot of Gonfala be stopped. 'Listen,' he said; 'that dame's got us to rights. If she ever gets her paws on that rock our lives won't be worth nothin.'
'Looks like the Gonfal ain't goin' to do us much good,' said Troll. 'We can't make it work without her; and if we let her get her hands on it, she'll kill us. Wot are we goin' to do?'
'In the first place we got to see that she doesn't get to touch it. One of us has got to carry it-she might get the nigger to let her touch it some time when we weren't around. You can carry it if you want to.'
'That's wot I been sayin' for a long time,' Troll reminded him.
'Well, it's different now,' Spike explained. 'Neither one of us can get it to work, an' neither one of us dares let her touch it; so we're safe as long as one of us has it.'
'But wot good is the stone goin' to do us, then?'
'Wait 'til we get up in that country I been tellin' you about. We can make the dame be good then. All we got to do is tell her to work the stone the way we say or we'll croak her. She'll have to do it, too; for where I'm takin' her she couldn't never find her way out after she'd killed us; so it wouldn't do her no good.'
Troll shook his head. 'Maybe she'd kill us any way, just to get even with us.'
'Well, there ain't nothin' we can do about it now, anyway,' said Spike; 'so let's get goin'. Come on, you niggers! Come on, Gonfala! we're trekkin'-the sun's been up an hour.'
As they broke camp far to the north of him, Tarzan stopped at the edge of the forest that bordered the valley of the Bantangos on the west. He looked about him, carefully taking his bearings; then with the tip of his spear he
