Edgar Rice Burroughs

“ The ape-man shook his head. "Tarzan can be happy in the jungle only."
Nemone leaned close to him; she seized him fiercely by the shoulders. "I will make you happy here," she whispered passionately. "You do not know Nemone. Wait! The time will come when you will want to stay—for me!"
"Erot and M'duze and Tomos may think differently," Tarzan reminded her.
"I hate them!" cried Nemone. "If they interfere this time, I shall kill them all; this time I shall have my own way; she shall not rob me of all happiness. But do not speak of her; never speak her name to me again. ”

“ The progress to the temple was in the nature of a pageant—marching warriors with pennons streaming from spear tips, nobles resplendent in gorgeous trappings, the Queen in a golden chariot drawn by lions. Tomos walked upon one side of the glittering car, Tarzan upon the other where Erot had previously walked.
The ape-man was as uneasy as a forest lion as he strode between the lines of gaping citizenry. Crowds annoyed and irritated him; formalities irked him; his thoughts were far away in the distant jungle that he loved. He knew that Gemnon was nearby watching him ”

“ Here, upon this terrace, Tarzan and Phobeg were installed with a few warriors to serve as guards.
Presently, from the direction of the city, Tarzan heard the music of drums and trumpets.
"Here they come!" cried Phobeg.
"Who?" asked Tarzan.
"The Queen and the lion men," replied his adversary.
"What are the lion men?" inquired Tarzan.
"They are the nobles," explained Phobeg. "Really only the hereditary nobles are members of the clan of lions, but we usually speak of all nobles as lion men. Erot is a noble because Nemone has created him one; but he is not a lion man, as he was not born a noble." ”

“ A human head, surmounted by a golden helmet, frowned down from sightless eyes from a place of honor above the main entrance. Though shrunken and withered in death there was still strength and majesty in its appearance; and Tarzan gazed for some moments at it, intrigued by the thought of all that had passed within that dry and ghastly skull before it found its way to grace the trophies upon the palace walls of the noble Thudos. ”

“ If I chose, I could have you destroyed in an instant."
"You do not impress me," said Tarzan. "I have not said that you are not Queen of Cathne, only that your manner may often suggest your own doubts. A queen should be so sure of herself that she can always afford to be gracious and merciful."
For a while Nemone sat in silence, evidently pondering the thought that Tarzan had suggested. "They would not understand," she said at last; "if I were gracious and merciful they would think me weak; then they would take advantage of me; and eventually they would destroy me. You do not know them. ”

“ If you give Nemone the slightest reason to believe that you are conspiring against her or that you are fond of Doria she will have you killed. All that I can do is warn you."
"You warned me once before, did you not?" asked Tarzan, "the night that Gemnon and I went to the house of Thudos."
"Yes, that was I," replied Phobeg.
"Why have you done these things?" asked the ape-man.
"Because I owe my life to you," replied the warrior, "and because I know a man when I see one. If a man can pick Phobeg up and toss him around as though he were a baby, Phobeg is willing to be his slave." ”

“ She pressed against him, caressing his shoulder with a smooth, warm palm. "Love me, Tarzan," she whispered, her voice husky with emotion.
There was a rattling of chains at the far end of the room, followed by a terrific roar as Belthar sprang to his feet. Nemone shrank suddenly away from the ape-man; a shudder ran through her body, and an expression, half fright, half anger, suffused her face.
"It is always something," she said irritably, trembling a little. "Belthar is jealous. There is a strange bond linking the life of that beast to my life. ”

“ Tarzan laid a restraining hand upon his shoulder. "No," he said; "it was some one who has tried to befriend me. If he wishes to conceal his identity, it is not for me to reveal it."
"You are right," assented Gemnon.
"And I think I would have learned no more by pursuing him than I already know. I recognized him by his voice and his gait, and then, as he turned to leave, a movement in the air brought his scent spoor to my nostrils. I think I would recognize that a mile away, for it is very strong; it always is in powerful men and beasts." ”

“ Tomos half rose from his seat, his face purple with rage. He banged the table with his fist. He pointed a finger at Tarzan. "Speak when you are spoken to, slave, and not otherwise; and when Tomos, the councillor, tells you to be silent, be silent."
"I have spoken," said Tarzan; "when I choose to speak again, I shall speak."
"We have a way of silencing impudent slaves, forever," sneered Erot.
"It is evident that he is a man from a far country," interjected Gemnon. "It is not strange that he neither understands our customs nor recognizes the great among us. Perhaps we should listen to him. ”

“ Suddenly a beam of light shone down directly into the cage from above, flooding the beast-god with its golden rays. The lion, which had been pacing restlessly to and fro, stopped and looked up, his jaws parted, saliva dripping from his jowls. The audience burst in unison into a singsong chant. Tarzan, half guessing what was about to occur, arose from the rail upon which he had been sitting, and started forward. ”

“ Tarzan had estimated the lion's distance down the valley and the distance that lay between himself and the forest and had guessed that he would reach the trees before their paths crossed. He was not hunting for Numa, the lion, and with the natural caution of the wild beast, he would avoid an encounter. It was not food either that he hunted, for his belly was full, but man, the archenemy of all created things.
It was difficult for Tarzan to think of himself as a man, and his psychology was more often that of the wild beast than the human, nor was he particularly proud of his species. ”

“ There were pathos and tragedy in her voice, and a great pity rose in the breast of the ape-man for this poor Queen who had never known love and who never might because of the warped brain that mistook passion for affection and lust for love.
As she sat down weakly upon her golden throne, the priests led the slave girl away through a doorway at one side of the cage; and, as she passed, the lion leaped for her, striking heavily against the bars that restrained him. His growls rolled through the temple, filling the chamber with thunderous sound, echoing and reëchoing from the dome. ”

“ He knew that several miles below the city of Cathne the river entered a narrow gorge, for that he had seen from the edge of the plateau from which he had first viewed the valley of Onthar; and Valthor had told him that beyond the gorge it tumbled in a mighty falls a hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky canyon. Should he not succeed in escaping the clutches of the torrent before it carried him into the gorge his doom was sealed, but Tarzan felt neither fear nor panic. His life had been in jeopardy often during his savage existence, yet he still lived. ”

“ I am a lion man because my father was; I may own lions because, beyond the memory of man, an ancient ancestor of mine led the king's lions to battle."
"What did Erot do to win his patent of nobility?" inquired the ape-man.
Gemnon grimaced. "Whatever services he has rendered have been personal; he has never served the state with distinction. If he owns any distinction, it is that of being the prince of flatterers, the king of sycophants."
"Your Queen seems too intelligent a woman to be duped by flattery."
"No one is, always."
"There are no sycophants among the beasts," said Tarzan. ”

“ Once within the forest Tarzan dropped gradually to the rear of the party, and then, when none was looking, swung to the branches of a tree. Plain to his nostrils had been the scent spoor of the quarry from the beginning of the chase, and now the ape-man knew, possibly even better than the lions, the direction of the hopeless flight of the doomed black. ”

“ Tomos, who was as much astounded as she, stammered as he trembled in his sandals of elephant hide. "There are traitors even in the temple of Thoos!" he cried. "I chose Erot to prepare the girl for the embraces of Xarator because I knew that his loyalty to his Queen would insure the work being well done. I did not know, O gracious Nemone, that this vile crime had been committed or that the body of Erot had been substituted for that of the daughter of Thudos until this very instant." ”

“ The man who would have killed Tarzan cast a quick backward glance as the warning cry apprised him of his danger; and when he saw the lion he cast away his rifle in his excitement and terror, his terrified scream mingled with the voice of Numa, and in his anxiety to escape the fangs of the man-eater he rushed into the arms of the ape-man. ”

“ An occasional torch only partially dispelled the gloom beneath the overhanging trees that bordered the avenue that led toward the palace of Thudos. At the intersection of a narrow alleyway, beneath the branches of a wide-spreading oak a dark figure lurked in the shadows as Tarzan and Gemnon approached. The keen eyes of the ape-man saw and recognized it as the figure of a man before they came close enough to be in danger ”

“ Erot told her.
"Then why did you offer to bet on the stranger?" demanded the Queen.
"The odds were so attractive that I was tempted into taking a chance," explained Erot quickly.
"What are the odds now?"
"One hundred to one."
"And you think the stranger may not have even one chance in a hundred of winning?" demanded Nemone, toying idly with the hilt of her dagger.
"Phobeg is the strongest man in Cathne," said Erot. "I really think that the stranger has no chance at all against him; he is as good as dead already." ”

“ As Tarzan and Gemnon turned away from Belthar's cage a slave approached the ape-man and addressed him. "Nemone, the Queen, commands your presence immediately," he said; "you are to come to the ivory room; the noble Gemnon will wait in the anteroom. These are the commands of Nemone, the Queen."
"What now? I wonder," remarked Tarzan as they walked through the royal grounds toward the palace.
"No one ever knows why he is summoned to an audience with Nemone until he gets there," commented Gemnon; "one may be going to receive an honor or hear his death sentence. Nemone is capricious. ”

“ If Nemone has other amusements I may escape punishment, or I may come through my trial successfully and be freed; but the chances are all against me, for Nemone seldom has sufficient bloody amusement to sate her.
"Of course, if she leaves the decision of my guilt or innocence to the chances of an encounter with a single man I shall doubtless be successful in proving the latter, for I am very strong; and there is no better sword- or spear-man in Cathne; but I should have less chance against a lion, while, faced by the eternal fires of frowning Xarator, all men are guilty." ”

“ All beasts of prey find hunting poor during a rain, and Tarzan was no exception to the rule. It had rained for two days, and as a result Tarzan was hungry. A small buck was drinking in a stream fringed by bushes and tall reeds, and Tarzan was worming his way upon his belly through short grass to reach a position from which he might either charge or loose an arrow or cast a spear. He was not aware that a group of horsemen had reined in upon a gentle rise a short distance behind him where they sat in silence regarding him intently.
Usha, the wind, who carries scent, also carries sound. ”

“ He was still considering the subject and wondering about the eternal fires of frowning Xarator when sleep overcame his physical discomforts and merged his speculations with his dreams; and to the south another jungle beast crouched in the shelter of a rocky ledge while the storm that had betrayed Tarzan to new enemies wasted its waning wrath and passed on into the nothingness that is the sepulcher of storms; then as the new day dawned bright and clear he arose and stepped out into the sunlight, the great lion that we have seen before, the great lion with the golden coat and the black mane. ”

“ Is she very beautiful? I have heard that she is considered the most beautiful woman in Cathne."
"Perhaps Gemnon thinks so," replied Tarzan with a laugh, "but you know what love does to the eyes of youth."
"What do you think of her?" demanded the Queen.
The ape-man shrugged. "She is not bad looking," he said.
"Is she as beautiful as Nemone?" demanded the Queen.
"As the brilliance of a far star is to the brilliance of the sun."
The reply appeared to please Nemone. She arose and came closer to Tarzan, "You think me beautiful?" ”

“ There could be no retreat for Tarzan; there could be no side-stepping to avoid the thrust, for a step to either side would have carried him in front of one of the other horsemen. He had but a single slender hope for survival, and that hope, forlorn though it appeared, he seized upon with the celerity, strength, and agility that make Tarzan Tarzan. Slipping his bowstring about his neck after his final shot, he struck up the point of the menacing weapon of his antagonist, and grasping the man's arm swung himself to the horse's back behind the rider. ”

“ Althides, the under-officer, watched intently while Tarzan strung the bow again and bent it; he saw how easily the stranger flexed the heavy wood, and he marvelled. The other men looked on in open admiration, and this time a shout of approval arose as Tarzan's second arrow crowded the first in the mouth of the lion. When the symbols of high authority are absent men can be human.
Althides scratched his head. "I shall have to lock you up now," he said, "or old Tomos will have my head on the wall of his palace; but I shall practice with this strange weapon until I learn to use it. ”

“ Tomos turned to the under-officer in command of the escort that was guarding Tarzan and Phobeg. "Take them away!" he snapped. "Take them back to their cell until we are ready to destroy them."
"Wait," said Nemone. "I would know more of this man," and then she turned to Tarzan. "So you came to kill me!" Her voice was smooth, almost caressing. At the moment the woman reminded Tarzan of a cat that is playing with its victim. "Perhaps they chose a good man for the purpose; you look as though you might be equal to any feat of arms."
"Killing a woman is no feat of arms," replied Tarzan. ”

“ I shall find the girl, and her passing will be far more bitter than that from which she was saved today; she cannot escape me. Thudos and Gemnon will also pay more heavily because some one dared flout the Queen."
Tarzan shrugged his broad shoulders, but remained silent.
"Why do you not speak?" demanded the Queen.
"There is nothing to say," he replied; "I can only disagree with you without convincing you; I should only make you more angry than you are. I find no pleasure in making people angry or unhappy unless it is for some good purpose." ”

“ Out on the field Tarzan was striding along the spear-bound lane. He counted his steps, knowing that at the hundredth Belthar would be loosed upon him. The ape-man had a plan. Across the river to the east was the forest in which he had hunted with Xerstle and Pindes and Gemnon; could he reach it, he would be safe. No lion or no man could hope ever to overtake the lord of the jungle once he swung to the branches of those trees. ”

“ I believe his story, and I believe that we should treat him as an honorable warrior from some distant kingdom until we have better reasons than we now have for believing otherwise."
"I should not care to be the one to defend a man who came here to kill the Queen," sneered Erot meaningly.
"Enough of this!" said Tomos curtly. "The man shall be judged fairly and destroyed as Nemone thinks best."
As he ceased speaking, a door at one end of the room opened and a noble resplendent in ivory and gold stepped into the chamber. Halting just within the threshold, he faced the nobles at the table. ”

“ The ape-man glanced up at the Queen's favorite. "Tarzan kills only whom it pleases him to kill." He spoke in a low voice that yet carried to the royal loge. "I shall not kill Phobeg."
"You fool," cried Erot, "do you not understand that it is the Queen's wish, that it is the Queen's command, which no one may disobey and live, that you kill the fellow?"
"If the Queen wants him killed, why doesn't she send you down to do it? She is your Queen, not mine." There was neither awe nor respect in the voice of the ape-man. ”