"What now?" demanded d'Arnot.
"Magra and Wolff deserted with all the men and equipment last night," said Gregory.
"Oh, I can't believe that Magra would have done a thing like that," exclaimed Helen.
Gregory shook his head. "Don't forget," he reminded her, "that she was in cahoots with Thorne."
"Any way," said Lavac, "she's gone."
"What are we to do now?" demanded Gregory. "It looks like the end of the trail to me."
"On the way down," said Tarzan, "I questioned some of the galley slaves. They tell me that a white man is held prisoner in the temple of The Father of Diamonds at Ashair. It may be your son. I have talked with Thetan; and he believes it may be possible that the King of Thobos will receive us kindly and even help in the rescue of your son, if there is any possibility that it may be accomplished. Under the circumstances, it may be well to go to Thobos. We have a galley, and by entering the lake after dark we should be able to pass Ashair safely."
"I should like to do that," said Gregory, "but I can't ask the rest of you to risk your lives further for me. Had I had any idea that we were to encounter such dangers, I should never have started out without a strong force of white men."
"I'll go with you," said d'Arnot.
"And I," said Lavac.
"Where Bwana Tarzan goes, I go," said Ogabi.
"Then we all go," said the ape-man.
An exhausted warrior stumbled into the presence of Atka, Queen of Ashair. "We were camped for the night in the ravine below the tunnel," he reported. "We had with us a girl whom we had captured in the camp of the strangers. At dawn we were attacked by three men and a band of apes. One of the men was a Thobotian. The leader was a naked white warrior. In the beginning of the fight, I was knocked senseless. I knew nothing more until I regained consciousness and found myself alone with the dead. The galley was gone. I think they must have thought me dead."
"Which way did they go?" demanded Atka.
"That I do not know," replied the warrior, "but it is probable that they went back down stream to their camp."
The Queen turned to a noble standing near the throne. "Man six galleys," she ordered, "and bring me those people, dead or alive! They shall taste the anger of Brulor!"
Chapter 16
WOLFF HAD stumbled along the back trail all night, and his disposition had not been improved by the fact that he had had to drag a resisting Magra most of the way. He had stopped now for a brief rest. The boys had dropped their packs and thrown themselves to the ground. Wolff was wiping the sweat from his forehead and glaring at the girl.
"You might as well come along peaceable," said the man. "It'll be easier for both of us. I got you, and I'm goin' to keep you. You might as well make up your mind to that."
"You're wasting your time," replied Magra. "You can lead a horse to water, you know—"
"And I can make it drink, too," growled Wolff. "Come here, you!" He seized her and drew her to him.
With her right hand, Magra attempted to push him away, while her left hand sought the pistol at his hip. "Stop!" she cried, "or, before God, I'll kill you!" but Wolff only laughed at her and drew her closer.
He died with the ugly grin upon his face, as Magra wrested his weapon from its holster and shot him through the chest. As Wolff fell, Mbuli leaped to his feet, followed by his boys. The white girl was alone now, in their power; and Mbuli knew where she would bring a good price. Also, there were two thousand English pounds on the dead man.
Magra swung around and faced Mbuli. "Pick up your loads and get going back to camp!" she ordered. Mbuli hesitated and came toward her. His attitude was insubordinate and threatening. "Do as I tell you, Mbuli," snapped the girl, "or you'll get what Wolff got."
"We are tired," said Mbuli, seeking tune. "Let us rest."
"You can rest in camp. Get going!"
Urging the men on, Magra drove them back along the trail toward camp. They grumbled; but they obeyed, for they had seen her kill Wolff. She walked behind them, with Mbuli just in front of her; and she never let him forget that a pistol was aimed at the small of his back. She would have driven them faster had she known that her companions were about to abandon the camp along a route she could not follow, but she did not know.
As the others in the Gregory camp discussed their plans, Lavac stood aside moodily, eyeing d'Arnot and Helen who stood hand in hand; and as the others went to their tents to gather a few of the personal belongings the deserting porters had left behind, he accosted d'Arnot.
"You are very familiar with Ma'moiselle Helen," he said; "and I resent it, but I suppose she prefers you because you are a captain and have more money than I."
D'Arnot, ordinarily slow to anger, flushed and then went white. "And I resent that, you pig!" he snapped, slapping Lavac across the face.
"You can't do that to me!" growled Lavac, whipping his gun from its holster.
Fortunately, Tarzan chanced to be passing close to La-vac. He leaped between the two men and seized the lieutenant's gun hand. "None of that!" he snapped. "We've enough troubles without fighting among ourselves. I'll keep your gun until you cool off and get a little sense. Now, into the barge, all of you. We're leaving for Thobos at once."
"We can't have any of this," said Gregory. "If Lieutenant Lavac feels as he does, I think he had better wait here for us."
"How about it, Lavac?" asked Tarzan.
"It will not occur again," said the man. "I lost my head. If Captain d'Arnot will accept my apology, I offer it."
"Certainly," said d'Arnot. "I regret the whole affair, and I am sorry that I struck you." Then the two men shook hands quite perfunctorily, and separated coldly. It was obvious that from now on nothing but bad blood would exist between them.
"What about the apes?" asked Gregory, more to bridge the awkward silence than because he was interested.
"I have told them to stay around here for a moon and hunt," replied Tarzan. "If they don't forget it, they'll stay; unless the hunting is very poor."
As Tarzan was about to board the galley, his keen ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps from the direction of the forest. "Some one is coming," he said. "We'll wait and see who it is. Be ready to push off—they may not be friends."
Presently the head of a safari came into view, debouching from the forest. "Why, those are our men!" exclaimed Helen.
"Yes," said Tarzan, "and there's Magra bringing up the rear. You were quite right about her."
"I was sure she'd never desert us like that," said Helen. "I wonder where Wolff is."
"She's got a gun on Mbuli," said d'Arnot. "There is a woman!"
Magra herded them down to the river, where she told briefly of how Wolff had persuaded Mbuli and his men to abduct her and desert, and of Wolff's death. "I found these on him," she said, "The Ј2000 of which he defrauded Mr. Gregory and Thorne and the map he stole from Helen's room."
"We are well rid of him," said Gregory.
Tarzan ordered the natives to load all of the supplies and equipment on board the galley, and when they had done so he dismissed them.
"You may wait here for us if you wish," he said, "or you may go back to your own country. Eventually you will be punished for what you have done."
Bending to their oars, the slaves drove the galley up stream, as the members of the party momentarily relaxed from the nervous strain of the past hours. Lavac sat in the bow, looking forward, so that he would not see d'Arnot and Helen sitting close to one another. Magra sat beside Tarzan. All were quiet, grateful for the peace and restfulness of the river. For a tune, at least, their way seemed assured as far as Thobos, for they would pass Ashair by night. What their reception in Thobos would be was uncertain. Even Thetan could assure them of nothing more than that he would intercede with his uncle, the King, in their behalf; but he thought that the fact that Tarzan had saved his life and that they were all enemies of the Asharians would go a long way toward insuring them a friendly attitude on the part of King Herat.