"'A-lur,' Light-city, City of Light," mused Tarzan, translating the word into his own tongue."And where is A-lur?" he asked."Is it your city, Ta-den, and Om-at's?"
"It is mine," replied the hairless one; "but not Om-at's.The Waz-don have no cities--they live in the trees of the forests and the caves of the hills--is it not so, black man?" he concluded, turning toward the hairy giant beside him.
"Yes," replied Om-at, "We Waz-don are free--only the Hodon imprison themselves in cities.I would not be a white man!"
Tarzan smiled.Even here was the racial distinction between white man and black man--Ho-don and Waz-don.Not even the fact that they appeared to be equals in the matter of intelligence made any difference--one was white and one was black, and it was easy to see that the white considered himself superior to the other--one could see it in his quiet smile.
"Where is A-lur?" Tarzan asked again."You are returning to it?"
"It is beyond the mountains," replied Ta-den."I do not return to it--not yet.Not until Ko-tan is no more."
"Ko-tan?" queried Tarzan.
"Ko-tan is king," explained the pithecanthropus."He rules this land.I was one of his warriors.I lived in the palace of Ko-tan and there I met O-lo-a, his daughter.We loved, Likestar-light, and I; but Ko-tan would have none of me.He sent me away to fight with the men of the village of Dak-at, who had refused to pay his tribute to the king, thinking that I would be killed, for Dak-at is famous for his many fine warriors.And I was not killed.
Instead I returned victorious with the tribute and with Dak-at himself my prisoner; but Ko-tan was not pleased because he saw that O-lo-a loved me even more than before, her love being strengthened and fortified by pride in my achievement.
"Powerful is my father, Ja-don, the Lion-man, chief of the largest village outside of A-lur.Him Ko-tan hesitated to affront and so he could not but praise me for my success, though he did it with half a smile.But you do not understand! It is what we call a smile that moves only the muscles of the face and affects not the light of the eyes--it means hypocrisy and duplicity.I
must be praised and rewarded.What better than that he reward me with the hand of O-lo-a, his daughter? But no, he saves O-lo-a for Bu-lot, son of Mo-sar, the chief whose great-grandfather was king and who thinks that he should be king.Thus would Ko-tan appease the wrath of Mo-sar and win the friendship of those who think with Mo-sar that Mo-sar should be king.
"But what reward shall repay the faithful Ta-den? Greatly do we honor our priests.Within the temples even the chiefs and the king himself bow down to them.No greater honor could Ko-tan confer upon a subject--who wished to be a priest, but I did not so wish.Priests other than the high priest must become eunuchs for they may never marry.
"It was O-lo-a herself who brought word to me that her father had given the commands that would set in motion the machinery of the temple.A messenger was on his way in search of me to summon me to Ko-tan's presence.To have refused the priesthood once it was offered me by the king would have been to have affronted the temple and the gods--that would have meant death; but if I did not appear before Ko-tan I would not have to refuse anything.
O-lo-a and I decided that I must not appear.It was better to fly, carrying in my bosom a shred of hope, than to remain and, with my priesthood, abandon hope forever.
"Beneath the shadows of the great trees that grow within the palace grounds I pressed her to me for, perhaps, the last time and then, lest by ill-fate I meet the messenger, I scaled the great wall that guards the palace and passed through the darkened city.My name and rank carried me beyond the city gate.Since then I have wandered far from the haunts of the Ho-don but strong within me is the urge to return if even but to look from without her walls upon the city that holds her most dear to me and again to visit the village of my birth, to see again my father and my mother."
"But the risk is too great?" asked Tarzan.
"It is great, but not too great," replied Ta-den."I shall go."
"And I shall go with you, if I may," said the ape-man, "for I
must see this City of Light, this A-lur of yours, and search there for my lost mate even though you believe that there is little chance that I find her.And you, Om-at, do you come with us?"
"Why not?" asked the hairy one."The lairs of my tribe lie in the crags above A-lur and though Es-sat, our chief, drove me out I
should like to return again, for there is a she there upon whom I
should be glad to look once more and who would be glad to look upon me.Yes, I will go with you.Es-sat feared that I might become chief and who knows but that Es-sat was right.But Pan-at-lee! it is she I seek first even before a chieftainship."
"We three, then, shall travel together," said Tarzan.
"And fight together," added Ta-den; "the three as one," and as he spoke he drew his knife and held it above his head.
"The three as one," repeated Om-at, drawing his weapon and duplicating Ta-den's act."It is spoken!"
"The three as one!" cried Tarzan of the Apes."To the death!" and his blade flashed in the sunlight.
"Let us go, then," said Om-at; "my knife is dry and cries aloud for the blood of Es-sat."