第109章 The Flight from Xuja.(3)
"Your pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?"The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached the two antagonists, but by this time they were moving so rapidly that there was no opportunity for shooting one without the danger of hitting the other. At the same time Bertha Kircher circled about them with the prince's saber, but neither could she find an opening. Again and again the two men fell to the floor, until presently Tarzan found a hold upon the other's throat, against which contingency Metak had been constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers closed, the other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws gaped and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in a sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of his great arms hurled it across the room and through the window where it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions beneath.
As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was standing with the saber still in her hand and an expression upon her face that he never had seen there before. Her eyes were wide and misty with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips trembled as though she were upon the point of giving way to some pent emotion which her rapidly rising and falling bosom plainly indicated she was fighting to control.
"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we can't lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can be gained by delay. The question now is the safest way. The couple who escaped us evidently departed through the pas-sageway to the roof and secured the trap against us so that we are cut off in that direction. What chance have we below?
You came that way," and he turned toward the girl.
"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed men. I doubt if we could pass that way."It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture.
"So you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man.
"Come, how badly are you hurt?"
The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and legs and felt of his head.
"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied, "only for a great ache in his head.""Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the Wamabo country?""Yes, Bwana."
"Then lead us from the city by the safest way.""There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we reach the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this building to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone on the way. Beyond that we must take our chance of discov-ery. You are all dressed as are the people of this wicked city so perhaps we may pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a dif-ferent matter, for none is permitted to leave the city at night.""Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way."Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room, and part way down the corridor he turned into another apart-ment at the right. This they crossed to a passageway beyond, and, finally, traversing several rooms and corridors, he led them down a flight of steps to a door which opened directly upon a side street in rear of the palace.
Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordi-nary a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment.
When passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were careful to choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might happen to get a view of their features, but in the shadow of the arcades there seemed little danger of detection. They had covered a good portion of the distance to the gate without mis-hap when there came to their ears from the central portion of the city sounds of a great commotion.
"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was now trembling violently.
"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has happened in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and the girl escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubt-less discovered the body of Veza."
"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party I threw through the window."Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to follow their conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the man he had thrown from the window was the king's son. The ape-man laughed. "No," he said, "I did not. That rather complicates matters -- at least if they have found him."Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the clear strains of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry, Master," he cried, "it is worse than I had thought.""What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.
"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are being called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them.
But why they should be called out for us I do not know."But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they had found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of the bugle rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more lions?" asked Tarzan.
"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are calling."They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when their attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a bird above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling about over their heads.
"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin.
"Do they expect to kill us with parrots?"The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of them toward the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master,"cried the black. "The bird that found us has flown to the gate to warn the guard.""Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed Tarzan irritably. "Have you lived among these lunatics so long that you are yourself mad?""No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not know them. These terrible birds are like human beings with-out hearts or souls. They speak the language of the people of this city of Xuja. They are demons, Master, and when in sufficient numbers they might even attack and kill us.""How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan.