shed, the officer called Valthor.
'I am here,' said the noble, rising.
'I have a present for you, aristocrat,' announced the officer, who until the revolution had been a groom in the elephant stables of Zygo.
'So I see,' replied Valthor, glancing at the collar and chain, 'and one which it must give a stable-boy much pleasure to bring me.'
The officer flushed angrily. 'Be careful, or I'll teach you some manners,' he growled. 'You are the stable-boy now, and I am the aristocrat.'
Valthor shook his head. 'No, stable-boy, you are wrong. You will always be a stable-boy at heart, and way down deep inside you you know it. That is what makes you angry. That is what makes you hate me, or think that you hate me; you really hate yourself, because you know that you will always be a stable-boy no matter what Phoros tells you you are. He has done many strange things since he drove out the king, but he cannot make a lion out of a jackal's tail.'
'Enough of this,' snapped the officer. 'Here you, snap the collar about his neck and chain him to the stanchion beside the wild-man.'
'Why has Phoros thus honored me?' inquired Valthor.
'It was not Phoros; it was Menofra. She is ruling now.'
'Ah, I see,' said the noble. 'Her psychology of hate for my class is more deeply rooted than yours, for it springs from filthy soil. Your vocation was at least honorable. Menofra was a woman of the street before Phoros married her.'
'Well, have your say while you can, aristocrat,' said the officer, tauntingly, 'for tomorrow you and the wild- man die in the arena, trampled and gored by a rogue elephant.'
Chapter 24. Death
THE OTHER SLAVES were furious because of the sentence imposed upon Valthor, who was to die, the officer had told him before he left, in punishment for the outbreak that had resulted in the death of an Erythros warrior and the escape of three slaves and as a warning to the others. Valthor had been chosen ostensibly not because he had been charged with fomenting rebellion among the slaves, but really because he was popular among them and an aristocrat.
Wood was horrified by the knowledge that Tarzan was to die, Tarzan and Valthor, both of whom were his friends. It seemed to him absolutely inconceivable that the mighty heart of the Lord of the Jungle should be stilled forever, that that perfect body should be broken and trampled in the dust of an arena to satisfy the blood lust of ignorant barbarians.
'There must be something that we can do,' he said; 'there's got to be. Couldn't we break those chains?'
Tarzan shook his head. 'I have examined mine carefully,' he said, 'and tested it. If it were cast iron, we might break a link; but it is malleable and would only bend. If we had a chisel-but we haven't. No, there is nothing to do but wait.'
'But they are going to kill you, Tarzan! Don't you understand? They are going to kill you.'
The ape-man permitted himself the shadow of a smile. 'There is nothing unique in that,' he said. 'Many people have died; many people are dying; many people will die-even you, my friend.'
'Tarzan is right,' said Valthor. 'We must all die; what matters is how we die. If we meet death courageously, as befits warriors, there will be no regrets. For myself, I am glad that an elephant is going to kill me; for I am an elephantman. You know what that means, Tarzan; for you have been to Cathne where the lion-men are the nobles; and you know with what pride they bear the title. It is the same here, except that the nobles are the elephant-men. As they breed lions, we breed elephants; their god, Thoos, is a lion; our Dyaus is an elephant. The nobles who escaped the Erythros revolution took him into the mountains with them, for the Erythra, who have no god, would have killed him.'
'If I were to have my choice of the manner in which I were to die,' said Tarzan, 'I should prefer the lion to the elephant. For one thing, the lion kills quickly; but my real reason is that the elephant has always been my friend; my very best friend, perhaps; and I do not like to think that a friend must kill me.'
'This one will not be your friend, Tarzan,' Valthor reminded him.
'No, I know it; but I was not thinking of him as an individual,' explained Tarzan. 'And now, as, with all our talk, we have arrived nowhere, I am going to sleep.'
The morning of their death dawned like any other morning. Neither spoke of what was impending. With Wood they cooked their breakfasts, and they talked, and Valthor laughed, and occasionally Tarzan smiled one of his rare smiles. Wood was the most nervous. When the time came for the slaves to be taken to their work he came to say goodbye to the ape-man.
Tarzan laid a hand upon his shoulder. 'I do not like to say good-bye, my friend,' he said.
If Wood had known how rare was the use by Tarzan of that term 'my friend' he would have been honored. He thought of many animals as friends, but few men. He liked Wood, his intelligence, his courage, his cleanness.
'Have you no message you would like to send to-to-' Wood hesitated.
Tarzan shook his head. 'Thank you, no,' he said. 'She will know, as she always has.'
Wood turned and walked away, following the other slaves out of the stockade. He stumbled over the threshold, and swore under his breath as he drew a palm across his eyes.
It was afternoon before they came for Tarzan and Valthor, half a hundred warriors and several officers, all in their best trappings, their freshly burnished arms shining in the sun.
In front of the palace a procession was forming. There were many elephants richly caparisoned and bearing howdahs in which rode the new-made nobility of Athne. All the howdahs were open except one elaborate pavilion. In this sat Menofra alone. When Valthor saw her he laughed aloud. Tarzan turned and looked at him questioningly.
'Look at her!' exclaimed the noble. 'She could not be more self-conscious if she were naked. In fact that would not bother her so much. The poor thing is trying to look the queen. Note the haughty mien, and the crown! Dyaus! she is wearing the crown to the arena-and wearing it backwards. It is worth dying to see.'
Valthor had not attempted to lower his voice. In fact it seemed that he raised it a little. His laughter had attracted attention to him, so that many listened and heard his words. They even reached the ears of Menofra. That was apparent to all who could see her, for her face turned fiery red; and she took the crown off and placed it on the seat beside her. She was so furious that she trembled; and when she gave the command to march, as she immediately did, her voice shook with rage.
With the hundred elephants in single file, the many warriors on foot, the banners and pennons, the procession was colorful; but it lacked that something that would have made its magnificence impressive. There was nothing real about its assumed majesty, and the entire pageant was colored by the spuriosity of its principal actors. This was the impression that it made upon the Lord of the Jungle walking in chains behind the elephant of Menofra.
The procession followed the main avenue to the south gate through lines of silent citizens. There was no cheering, no applause. There were whispered comments as Valthor and Tarzan passed; and it was plain to see that the sympathies of the people were with Valthor, though they dared not express them openly. Tarzan was a stranger to them; their only interest in him lay in the fact that he might serve to give them a few minutes of thrills and entertainment in the arena.
Passing through the gate, the column turned toward the east, coming at last to the arena, which lay directly east of the city. Just outside the main gate, through which the procession entered the arena, Tarzan and Valthor were led from the line of march and taken to a smaller gate which led through a high palisade of small logs into a paddock between two sections of a grandstand. The inner end of the paddock was formed by a palisade of small logs; and was similar to the outer end, having a small gate opening onto the arena. The ape-man could not but notice the flimsy construction of the two palisades, and idly wondered if the entire arena were as poorly built.
