n the end I think that I can lead you
beyond the walls. Come, they will look here for me presently, and if
they find us together we shall both be lost--they would kill me did
they think that I had proved false to my god."

"You must not take the risk, then," he said quickly. "I will return to
the temple, and if I can fight my way to freedom there will be no
suspicion thrown upon you."

But she would not have it so, and finally persuaded him to follow her,
saying that they had already remained in the vault too long to prevent
suspicion from falling upon her even if they returned to the temple.

"I will hide you, and then return alone," she said, "telling them that
I was long unconscious after you killed Tha, and that I do not know
whither you escaped."

And so she led him through winding corridors of gloom, until finally
they came to a small chamber into which a little light filtered through
a stone grating in the ceiling.

"This is the Chamber of the Dead," she said. "None will think of
searching here for you--they would not dare. I will return after it is
dark. By that time I may have found a plan to effect your escape."

She was gone, and Tarzan of the Apes was left alone in the Chamber of
the Dead, beneath the long-dead city of Opar.

Chapter 21

The Castaways

Clayton dreamed that he was drinking his fill of water, pure,
delightful drafts of fresh water. With a start he gained consciousness
to find himself wet through by torrents of rain that were falling upon
his body and his upturned face. A heavy tropical shower was beating
down upon them. He opened his mouth and drank. Presently he was so
revived and strengthened that he was enabled to raise himself upon his
hands. Across his legs lay Monsieur Thuran. A few feet aft Jane
Porter was huddled in a pitiful little heap in the bottom of the
boat--she was quite still. Clayton knew that she was dead.

After infinite labor he released himself from Thuran's pinioning body,
and with renewed strength crawled toward the girl. He raised her head
from the rough boards of the boat's bottom. There might be life in
that poor, starved frame even yet. He could not quite abandon all
hope, and so he seized a water-soaked rag and squeezed the precious
drops between the swollen lips of the hideous thing that had but a few
short days before glowed with the resplendent life of happy youth and
glorious beauty.

For some time there was no sign of return