ed
with weapons that require great physical effort in their use, a voice
suddenly arose from among the followers of Ja-don: "Show us the
Dor-ul-Otho. We do not believe you!"

"Wait," cried Lu-don. "If I do not produce him before the sun has moved
his own width, the gates of the palace shall be opened to you and my
warriors will lay down their arms."

He turned to one of his priests and issued brief instructions.

The ape-man paced the confines of his narrow cell. Bitterly he
reproached himself for the stupidity which had led him into this trap,
and yet was it stupidity? What else might he have done other than rush
to the succor of his mate? He wondered how they had stolen her from
Ja-lur, and then suddenly there flashed to his mind the features of the
warrior whom he had just seen with her. They were strangely familiar.
He racked his brain to recall where he had seen the man before and then
it came to him. He was the strange warrior who had joined Ja-don's
forces outside of Ja-lur the day that Tarzan had ridden upon the great
gryf from the uninhabited gorge next to the Kor-ul-ja down to the
capital city of the chieftain of the north. But who could the man be?
Tarzan knew that never before that other day had he seen him.

Presently he heard the clanging of a gong from the corridor without and
very faintly the rush of feet, and shouts. He guessed that his warriors
had been discovered and a fight was in progress. He fretted and chafed
at the chance that had denied him participation in it.

Again and again he tried the doors of his prison and the trap in the
center of the floor, but none would give to his utmost endeavors. He
strained his eyes toward the aperture above but he could see nothing,
and then he continued his futile pacing to and fro like a caged lion
behind its bars.

The minutes dragged slowly into hours. Faintly sounds came to him as of
shouting men at a great distance. The battle was in progress. He
wondered if Ja-don would be victorious and should he be, would his
friends ever discover him in this hidden chamber in the bowels of the
hill? He doubted it.

And now as he looked again toward the aperture in the roof there
appeared to be something depending through its center. He came closer
and strained his eyes to see. Yes, there was something there. It
appeared to be a rope. Tarzan wondered if it had been there all the
time. It must have, he reasoned, since he had heard no sound from above
and it was