The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-11-19

on the far side or the valley la what
appeared to be Il mighty city. it's great
walls It's lofty spires. it's turrets. nina
fets and dUmeS showing red and vel.
low IN the sunlight. Tarzan was vet
TOO far away 10 note the marks Of ruin
-tc him II appeared Il wonderful city
OF magnificent beauty. and in imagina-
tlon lie peopled its broad avenue and
It's huge temples with a throng or
happy. active people.
for an hour the little ex Expedition
rested upon the mountaintop. and then
TarZan led them down into the valley
below. There was no trail. hut the
way was less arduous than the ascent
or the opposite face OF the mountain
had been, Once in the valley their
progress was rapid. 50 that it was still
ugh when they halted before the tow
ering walls of the ancient city.
The outer wall was fifty feet In
height where il had not fallen into
ruin. but nowhere as far as they could
See had more than ten or twenty feet
or the upper courses fallen away. II
was still IA formidable defense. On
several occasions Tarzan had thought
that he di~cerned things moving be-
hind the ruined portions of the wall
near 10 them. as though creatures were
watching them from behind the bul-
warks of the ancient pile. And often
he felt the sensation of unseen eyes
upon him. but not once could he be
sure that il was more than imagina.
ton.
That night they camped outside the
city. Once, at midnight. they were
awakened by a shrill scream from be-
yond the great wall. 1t was very high
at first, descending gradually until 1t
ended in Il series of dismal moans 1t
had Il strange effect upon the blacks.
almost paralyZing them with terror
while it lasted. and il was an hour be-
fore the camp settled down to sleep
once more. In the morning Ii required
considerable encouragement and urg-
ing ON TarZan's part to prevent the
blacks from abandoning the venture
on the spot and Fastening back across
the valley toward the cliffs they had
scaled the day before. But at length.
by dint Of commands and threats that
he would enter the city alone, they
agreed to accompany him.
For fifteen minutes they marched
along the face of the wall before they
discovered a means Of ingreSs. Then
tha,. "a, 30 , -l,fN ,Ia,,t
twenty inches wide. Within a flight
of concrete steps. worn hollow by cen
turtles of use. rose before them to dis
appear at Il sharp turning of the pas
sage a few yards ahead.
Into this narrow alley TarZan made
his way. turning his giant shoulders
sideways that they might enter at all.
Behind him trailed his black warriors
At the turn in the cleft the stairs end
ed and the path was level, but ii
wound and twisted in a serpentiue
fashion, until suddenly at Il sharp angle
it debouched upon a narrow court.
across which doomed an inner wall
equally as high al the outer. This in.
ner wall was set with little round tow
erS alternating along its entire summit
had fallen. and the wall was ruined,
but 1t was in a much better state OF
preservation than the outer wall.
Another narrow passage led through
this wall. and at its end TarZan and his
warriors found themselves in u broad
venue. on the opposite side OF which
crumbling editiceS of hewn granite
doomed dark and fOrbidding. Upon
the crumbled debris along the face OF
the buildings trees had grown. and
vines wound in and ont of the hollow.
staring windows. but the building di-
rectly opposite them seemed less over
grown than the others and in n much
better state of preservation Ii was a
massive pile, surmounted by an enOr-
nous dome. At either side Of its great
each capped by a huge. groteSque bird
carved from the solid rock OF the mon
oliths.
As the ape man and his companions
stood gazing in varying degrees of won
derment AT this ancient city in the
midst of wage Africa. several Of them
became aware Of movement within she
structure AZ which they were looking.
Dim. shadowy shapes appeared to be
moving about in the semidarkneSs of
the interior. There was nothing tangi
BILE that the eye cOuld grasp-only an
%uncanny suggestion of life whore il
seemed that there should he no life. for
living things seemed ont of place in
this weird. dead city of the long dead
past.
TO BIZ CONTINUED