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At the doorway her two guards were turned back and their places taken by a half

dozen of the yellow-coated soldiery. These conducted her through the doorway

which the blacks, pulling upon heavy chains, closed behind them. And as the girl

watched them she noted with horror that the poor creatures were chained by the

neck to the doors.

Before her led a broad hallway in the center of which was a little pool of clear

water. Here again in floor and walls was repeated in new and ever-changing

combinations and designs, the parrots, the monkeys, and the lions, but now

many of the figures were of what the girl was convinced must be gold. The walls

of the corridor consisted of a series of open archways through which, upon either

side, other spacious apartments were visible. The hallway was entirely

unfurnished, but the rooms on either side contained benches and tables.

Glimpses of some of the walls revealed the fact that they were covered with

hangings of some colored fabric, while upon the floors were thick rugs of barbaric

design and the skins of black lions and beautifully marked leopards.

The room directly to the right of the entrance was filled with men wearing the

yellow tunics of her new guard while the walls were hung with numerous spears

and sabers. At the far end of the corridor a low flight of steps led to another

closed doorway. Here the guard was again halted. One of the guards at this

doorway, after receiving the report of one of those who accompanied her, passed

through the door, leaving them standing outside. It was fully fifteen minutes

before he returned, when the guard was again changed and the girl conducted

into the chamber beyond.

Through three other chambers and past three more massive doors, at each of

which her guard was changed, the girl was conducted before she was ushered

into a comparatively small room, back and forth across the floor of which paced a

man in a scarlet tunic, upon the front and back of which was embroidered an

enormous parrot and upon whose head was a barbaric headdress surmounted by

a stuffed parrot.

The walls of this room were entirely hidden by hangings upon which hundreds,

even thousands, of parrots were embroidered. Inlaid in the floor were golden

parrots, while, as thickly as they could be painted, upon the ceiling were brilliant-

hued parrots with wings outspread as though in the act of flying.

The man himself was larger of stature than any she had yet seen within the city.

His parchment-like skin was wrinkled with age and he was much fatter than any

other of his kind that she had seen. His bared arms, however, gave evidence of

great strength and his gait was not that of an old man. His facial expression

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Tarzan the Untamed