The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-03-05
CHAPTER K.

La had followed her company and
when she saw them clawing and bit.
ing at Tarzan she raised her voice and
cautioned them not to kill him. She
saw that he was weakening and that
soon the greater numbers would pre-,
vail over him, nor had she long to
wait before the mighty jungle crea-
ture lay helpless and bound ut her
feet
"Bring him to the place at which we
stopped" she commanded, and they
carried Tarzan back to the little clear
ing and threw him down beneath a
tree.
Build me shelterp ordered La.
1--WE shall stop here tonight and to-
morrow in the face of the Flaming
God La will offer up the heart Of this
defiler of the temple. Where is the
sacred knife? Who took it from him ?"
But no one had seen it and each was
positive in his assurance that the sac
rificial weapon had not been upon
Tarzan's person when they captured
him. The ape-man looked upon the
menacing creatures which surrounded
him and snarled his defiance. He
looked upon La and smiled. In the
face Of death he was unafraid.
"Where Is the knife?" La asked
him.
Il do not KNOW" replied Tarzan.
"The man took it away with him when
he slipped away during the night. OF
what good was your knife, anyway?
You can make another. Did you fol-
low us all this way for nothing more
than a knife? Let me go and find him
and / will bring it back to you."
La laughed a bitter laugh, for in her
heart sha knew that Tarzan'S sin was
greater than the purloining Of the sa.
cred sacrifcial knife of Opar; yet as
she looked at him lying bound and
helpless before her, tears rose to her
eyes so that she had to turn away to
hide them; but she remained inflexible
in her determination to make him pay
in frightful suffering and in eventual
death for daring to spurn the love of
La.
When the shelter was completed La
had Tarzan transferred to it. "All
night I shall torture him." she NUT
tered to her priests, "and at the first
streak of dawn you may prepare the
flaming altar upon which his heart
shall be offered up to the Flaming
God.''
During the balance of the day the
priests of Opar were busy erecting an
altar in the center of the clearing, and
while they worked they chanted weird
hymns in the ancient tongue of that
lost continent that lies at the bottom
of the Atlantic
In the shelter of the hut La paced
to and fro beside the stole ape-man.
Resigned to his fate was Tarzan. No
hope of succor cleaned through the
dead black of the death sentence
hanging over him. He knew that his
giant muscles could not part the many
strands that bound his wrists and
ankles, for he had strained often but
Intellectually for release. He had no
hope of outside help and only enemies
surrounded him within the camp, and
yet he smiled at La as she paced nerv
ously back and forth the length OF
the shelter.
And La? She fingered her knife and
looked down upon her captive. She
glared and muttered but she did not
strike. Tonight" she thought. ITO
night, when it is dark will torture
him." She looked upon his perfect
godlike figure and upon his handsome,
smiling face and then she steeled her
heart again by thoughts of her love
spurned; by religious thoughts that
damned the infidel who had desecrated
the holy of holes; who had taken
from the blood-stained altar of Opar
the offering to the Flaming God-and
not once but thrice. Three times had
Tarzan cheated the god of her fathers
At the thought La paused and knelt
at his side. In her hand was SHARP
knife. She placed its point against
the ape-man's side and pressed upor
the hilt; but Tarzan only smiled and
shrugged his shoulders