here is none. At least we may take
the tablets from the walls, though the pillars are too heavy for us to
handle; but there should be great storerooms filled with gold--gold
that we can carry away upon our backs with ease. Run on now, out into
the fresh air where you may breathe easier."

Some of the warriors started to obey their chief with alacrity, but
Busuli and several others hesitated to leave him--hesitated between
love and loyalty for their king, and superstitious fear of the unknown.
And then, quite unexpectedly, that occurred which decided the question
without the necessity for further discussion. Out of the silence of
the ruined temple there rang, close to their ears, the same hideous
shriek they had heard the previous night, and with horrified cries the
black warriors turned and fled through the empty halls of the age-old
edifice.

Behind them stood Tarzan of the Apes where they had left him, a grim
smile upon his lips--waiting for the enemy he fully expected was about
to pounce upon him. But again silence reigned, except for the faint
suggestion of the sound of naked feet moving stealthily in near-by
places.

Then Tarzan wheeled and passed on into the depths of the temple. From
room to room he went, until he came to one at which a rude, barred door
still stood, and as he put his shoulder against it to push it in, again
the shriek of warning rang out almost beside him. It was evident that
he was being warned to refrain from desecrating this particular room.
Or could it be that within lay the secret to the treasure stores?

At any rate, the very fact that the strange, invisible guardians of
this weird place had some reason for wishing him not to enter this
particular chamber was sufficient to treble Tarzan's desire to do so,
and though the shrieking was repeated continuously, he kept his
shoulder to the door until it gave before his giant strength to swing
open upon creaking wooden hinges.

Within all was black as the tomb. There was no window to let in the
faintest ray of light, and as the corridor upon which it opened was
itself in semi-darkness, even the open door shed no relieving rays
within. Feeling before him upon the floor with the butt of his spear,
Tarzan entered the Stygian gloom. Suddenly the door behind him closed,
and at the same time hands clutched him from every direction out of the
darkness.

The ape-man fought with all the savage fury of self-preservation backed
by the hercu