| 168 | 169 | 170 | 171 | 172 |
| 1 | 61 | 121 | 182 | 242 |
|
www.freeclassicebooks.com
the trail leading through the gardens to the city gate, he awaited the return of his
would-be captors. And soon they came--the strange man followed by the pack of
great lions. Like dogs they moved along behind him down the trail among the
gardens to the gate.
Here the man struck upon the panels of the door with the butt of his spear, and
when it opened in response to his signal he passed in with his lions. Beyond the
open door Tarzan, from his distant perch, caught but a fleeting glimpse of life
within the city, just enough to indicate that there were other human creatures
who abode there, and then the door closed.
Through that door he knew that the girl and the man whom he sought to succor
had been taken into the city. What fate lay in store for them or whether already it
had been meted out to them he could not even guess, nor where, within that
forbidding wall, they were incarcerated he could not know. But of one thing he
was assured: that if he were to aid them he could not do it from outside the wall.
He must gain entrance to the city first, nor did he doubt, that once within, his
keen senses would eventually reveal the whereabouts of those whom he sought.
The low sun was casting long shadows across the gardens when Tarzan saw the
workers returning from the eastern field. A man came first, and as he came he
lowered little gates along the large ditch of running water, shutting off the
streams that had run between the rows of growing plants; and behind him came
other men carrying burdens of fresh vegetables in great woven baskets upon their
shoulders. Tarzan had not realized that there had been so many men working in
the field, but now as he sat there at the close of the day he saw a procession filing
in from the east, bearing the tools and the produce back into the city.
And then, to gain a better view, the ape-man ascended to the topmost branches of
a tall tree where he overlooked the nearer wall. From this point of vantage he saw
that the city was long and narrow, and that while the outer walls formed a perfect
rectangle, the streets within were winding. Toward the center of the city there
appeared to be a low, white building around which the larger edifices of the city
had been built, and here, in the fast-waning light, Tarzan thought that between
two buildings he caught the glint of water, but of that he was not sure. His
experience of the centers of civilization naturally inclined him to believe that this
central area was a plaza about which the larger buildings were grouped and that
there would be the most logical place to search first for Bertha Kircher and her
companion.
And then the sun went down and darkness quickly enveloped the city--a
darkness that was accentuated for the ape-man rather than relieved by the
170
Page
Quick Jump
|