e rope of hide
been braided. To secure one end to the remaining bar that he had left
for this purpose was the work of but a moment, and while the warriors
whispered without, the brown body of the ape-man slipped through the
small aperture and disappeared below the sill.

Tarzan's escape from the cell left him still within the walled area
that comprised the palace and temple grounds and buildings. He had
reconnoitered as best he might from the window after he had removed
enough bars to permit him to pass his head through the opening, so that
he knew what lay immediately before him--a winding and usually deserted
alleyway leading in the direction of the outer gate that opened from
the palace grounds into the city.

The darkness would facilitate his escape. He might even pass out of the
palace and the city without detection. If he could elude the guard at
the palace gate the rest would be easy. He strode along confidently,
exhibiting no fear of detection, for he reasoned that thus would he
disarm suspicion. In the darkness he easily could pass for a Ho-don and
in truth, though he passed several after leaving the deserted alley, no
one accosted or detained him, and thus he came at last to the guard of
a half-dozen warriors before the palace gate. These he attempted to
pass in the same unconcerned fashion and he might have succeeded had it
not been for one who came running rapidly from the direction of the
temple shouting: "Let no one pass the gates! The prisoner has escaped
from the pal-ul-ja!"

Instantly a warrior barred his way and simultaneously the fellow
recognized him. "Xot tor!" he exclaimed: "Here he is now. Fall upon
him! Fall upon him! Back! Back before I kill you."

The others came forward. It cannot be said that they rushed forward. If
it was their wish to fall upon him there was a noticeable lack of
enthusiasm other than that which directed their efforts to persuade
someone else to fall upon him. His fame as a fighter had been too long
a topic of conversation for the good of the morale of Mo-sar's
warriors. It were safer to stand at a distance and hurl their clubs and
this they did, but the ape-man had learned something of the use of this
weapon since he had arrived in Pal-ul-don. And as he learned great had
grown his respect for this most primitive of arms. He had come to
realize that the black savages he had known had never appreciated the
possibilities of their knob sticks, nor had he, and he had discove