Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-14

brought with him for the purpose, and
the Pickering light of which had cast
the first alleviating rays, into the i'm.
penetrable darkness of the buried
chamber that it had known for the
countless ages since it had lain for.
gotten of man, Tarzan's mind re.
verted to that first occasion upon
which he had entered the treasure
vault coming upon 1t by chance as
he fled from the pits beneath the tenn.
pie, where he had been hidden by
La, the high priestess of the sun wor.
shippers.
He recalled the scene within the
temple when he had lain stretched
upon the sacrificial altar, while La,
with high.raised dagger, stood above
him, and the rows of priests and
priestesses awaited in the ecstatic hys.
terra of fanatcism the first gush Of
their victims warm blood, that they
might fill their golden goblets and
drink to the glory of their flaming
god.
The brutal and bloody interruption
by Tha, the mad priest, passed vividly
before the ape-man's recollective eye,
the flight of the votaries before the
insane blood.lust of the hideous Great.
ure, the brutal attack upon La, and
his own part in the grim tragedy
when he had battled with the infuri.
ated Oparian and left him dead at the
nf ha ho ha 1yA
profaned.
This and much more passed through
Tarzan's memory as he stood gazing
at the long tiers of dull yellow metal
He wondered if La still ruled in the
; temples Of the ruined city whose
crumbling walls rose upon the very
foundations about him. Had she
finally been forced into union with
one of her grotesque priests? 1t seem,
ed a hideous fate, indeed, for one so
beautiful.
With a shake of his head Tarzan
stepped to the flickering candle, ex.
tinguished its feeble rays and turned
toward the exit from the darkened
chamber.
Behind him the spy waited for him
to be gone. He had learned the secret
; for which he had come, and now he
could return at his leisure to his wait.
ing followers, bring them to the
treasure vault and carry away all the
gold that they could stagger under.
The Waziri had reached the outer
end Of the tunnel, and were winding
upward toward the fresh ar and the
, welcome starlight of the kopje's sum
nit. before Tarzan shook off the de-
tanning hand of Reverie and started
slowly after them.
Once again, and. he thought. for the
last time, he closed the massive door
, of the treasure room. In the darkness
behind him Werper rose and stretch.
ed his cramped muscles. He stretched
forth hand and lovingly caressed a
golden ingot on the nearest tier. He
raised it from it's immemorial resting
: place and weighed it in his hands. He
clutched it to his bosom in an ecstasy
of avarice.
Tarzan dreamed of the happy home.
coming which lay before him, of dear
: sed to his. ..
And then, in the span of a few brief
seconds, the hopes of both these men
, were shattered. The one forgot even
his greed in the panic of terror-the
other was plunged into total forget.
fulness Of the past by jagged frag-
, ment of rock which gashed a deep
cut upon his head n
=, 1t was at the moment that Tarzan
turned from the closed door to pur-
, sue his way to the outer world. The
, thing came without warning. One in.
! stant all was quiet and stabiity-the
next, and the world rocked. the tor.
tured sides of the narrow passageway
split and crumbled, great blocks of
). granite dislodged from the ceiling.
tumbled into the narrow way, choking
it, and the walls bent inward upon the
!, wreckage.
Beneath the blow of fragment of
the roof Tarzan staggered back against
: the door of the treasure room, his
+, weight pushed it open and bt- body
rolled inward. upon the floor.
In the great apartment whesc. .she
= treasure lay, less damage was brotssht
by the earthquake. A few ins,ts
tpppled from the higher tiers. A sim
gle piece of the rocky ceiling splinter
i ed off and crashed downward to the
floor and the walls cracked though
: they did not collapse.
There was but the single shock, no
other followed to complete the damage
s begun by the first. Werper, thrown
d to his length by the suddenness and
s. violence of the disturbance, stagger.
f ed to his feet when he found himself
h unhurt. Cropping his way toward the
e, far end of the chamber. he sought the
$ candle which Tarzan had left stuck
Z in its own wax upon the protruding
, end of the ingot.
e BY striking numerous matches, the
}. Belgian at last found what he sought,
e and when, moment later the sickly
:. rays relieved the Stygian darkness
e about him, he breathed a nervous sigh
e of relief, for the impenetrable gloom