ware of a cunning and malevolent
expression upon the cruel countenance that he was subconsciously aware
boded him no good, and then with Ko-tan he passed into the adjoining
room and the hangings dropped.

At the same moment the hideous headdress of an under priest appeared in
the entrance of the outer chamber. Its owner, pausing for a moment,
glanced quickly around the interior and then having located him whom he
sought moved rapidly in the direction of Lu-don. There was a whispered
conversation which was terminated by the high priest.

"Return immediately to the quarters of the princess," he said, "and see
that the slave is sent to me at the temple at once." The under priest
turned and departed upon his mission while Lu-don also left the
apartment and directed his footsteps toward the sacred enclosure over
which he ruled.

A half-hour later a warrior was ushered into the presence of Ko-tan.
"Lu-don, the high priest, desires the presence of Ko-tan, the king, in
the temple," he announced, "and it is his wish that he come alone."

Ko-tan nodded to indicate that he accepted the command which even the
king must obey. "I will return presently, Dor-ul-Otho," he said to
Tarzan, "and in the meantime my warriors and my slaves are yours to
command."

11

The Sentence of Death

But it was an hour before the king re-entered the apartment and in the
meantime the ape-man had occupied himself in examining the carvings
upon the walls and the numerous specimens of the handicraft of
Pal-ul-donian artisans which combined to impart an atmosphere of
richness and luxury to the apartment.

The limestone of the country, close-grained and of marble whiteness yet
worked with comparative ease with crude implements, had been wrought by
cunning craftsmen into bowls and urns and vases of considerable grace
and beauty. Into the carved designs of many of these virgin gold had
been hammered, presenting the effect of a rich and magnificent
cloisonne. A barbarian himself the art of barbarians had always
appealed to the ape-man to whom they represented a natural expression
of man's love of the beautiful to even a greater extent than the
studied and artificial efforts of civilization. Here was the real art
of old masters, the other the cheap imitation of the chromo.

It was while he was thus pleasurably engaged that Ko-tan returned. As
Tarzan, attracted by the movement of the hangings through which the
king entered, turned and faced him he