Magra sighed and turned to Tarzan. "You have all been so splendid to me," she said, "although you knew that I was an accomplice of Thorne. I want you to know that I am loyal to you now."
Tarzan made no reply. His attention was centered on another matter. The galley was too heavily laden. Its gunwales were almost awash as it moved slowly up the narrow gorge.
"Well have to put some of this stuff ashore in that ravine where we found Helen," he said. "If we ran into swift water in the river or any sort of a blow on the lake, we'd founder."
"Look!" cried Lavac. "Here comes a galley."
"An Asharian!" exclaimed Thetan, "and there are others right behind it."
"Six of 'em," said Levac.
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Gregory. "We'd better turn back."
"They'd overtake us in no time," said Thetan. "We're in for it."
Tarzan smiled. "There is nothing to do, then, but fight," he said.
"We haven't a chance, have we?" asked Magra.
"It doesn't look like it," replied d'Arnot.
"If there is such a thing as a jinx," said Helen, "we certainly have one camping on our trail."
The narrow gorge echoed to the war cries of the Asha-rians, as their galleys bore down on their hapless victims. Gregory's party met them with gunfire and arrows, while the short Asharian spears hurtled about them. As the men had leaped to their feet to fire over the heads of the slaves, the galley tipped dangerously, shipping water and spoiling their aim. A spear struck one of the oarsmen; and as he lurched forward, dead, his oar fouled that of another slave; and a moment later the galley swung broadside across the river as the leading Asharian galley, sped down stream by forty oars, bore down upon it. There was a crash of splintering wood as the prow of the enemy rammed the Gregory galley amidships. Already listing crazily, she careened to the impact; and as the water poured over her port gunwale, she began to sink, leaving her passengers floundering in the river and her slaves screaming in their chains; then the other galleys moved in to pick up the survivors.
D'Arnot and Helen were dragged into the galley farthest up stream, which immediately set out for Ashair. The other members of the party had drifted down stream before they were finally picked up by a second galley. Tarzan had swum beside Magra, encouraging and supporting her, while Gregory, Lavac, and Ogabi remained nearby. Night was falling, and it would soon be dark in the narrow gorge. When they were in the craft, they saw that Thetan was already there, having been picked up before they were; but Helen and d'Arnot were not there; and the boat in which they were prisoners was out of sight around a bend in the river.
"Did you see anything of Helen?" asked Gregory, but no one had.
"I could almost wish that she drowned," he added. "God! Why did I ever undertake this stupid venture?"
"It would have been better had we all drowned," said Thetan. "There is no hope for those who fall into the hands of the Asharians."
"All that has happened to us so far," said Tarzan, "is that we have gotten wet. Wait until something really bad happens before you give up hope."
"But look at what lies ahead of us!" exclaimed Lavac.
"I do not know what lies ahead of us, and neither do you," the ape-man reminded him; "therefore we might as well anticipate the best as the worst."
"A most excellent philosophy," commented Gregory, "but a strain on one's credulity."
"I think it is good," said Magra.
In the leading galley, Helen and d'Arnot sat huddled together, shivering with cold.
"I wonder what became of the others," said the girl.
"I don't know, dear," replied d'Arnot; "but thank God that you and I were not separated."
"Yes," she whispered, and then, "I suppose this is the end; but we shall go together."
"Keep a stiff upper lip, darling. Don't give up hope; they haven't harmed us yet."
"Poor Dad," said Helen. "Do you suppose he and all the others drowned?"
"They may have been picked up, too," encouraged d'Arnot.
"Little good it will do any of us," continued the girl. "No wonder poor Brian never returned from Ashair. What was that?"
An eerie scream shattered the silence of the night, reverberating weirdly in the narrow gorge.
Chapter 17
Atan Thome AND Lal Taask were taking their ease on the terrace of Atka's palace, overlooking the lake. They were treated like guests, but they knew that they were prisoners. Lal Taask would have given his soul to be well out of the country; but Atan Thome still harbored dreams of The Father of Diamonds, which he pictured as a stone as large as a football. He often amused himself by trying to compute its value; then he translated it into pounds sterling and bought yachts and castles and great country estates. He gave the most marvellous dinners that Paris had ever known, and was fawned upon by the world's most beautiful women, whom he covered with furs and jewels. But the walls of Ashair still rose about him; and, towering above those, the walls of Tuen-Baka.
As they sat there, the noble Akamen joined them. "Your enemies have probably been captured by this time," he said.
"What will happen to them?" asked Lal Taask. He was thinking of what might be going to happen to him sooner or later.
"They shall know the wrath of Brulor," replied Akamen.
"Who is Brulor?" asked Thorne.
"Brulor is our god, The Father of Diamonds," explained the Asharian. "His temple lies at the bottom of Lake Horus , guarded by the priests of Brulor and the waters of sacred Horus."
"But I thought that The Father of Diamonds was a diamond," exclaimed Atan Thome, terrified by the suggestion that it was a man.
"What do you know of The Father of Diamonds?" demanded Akamen.
"Nothing," said Thorne, hastily. "I have just heard the term."
"Well," said Akamen, "it's something we are not supposed to discuss with barbarians; but I don't mind telling you that The Father of Diamonds is the name given both to Brulor and The Father of Diamonds that reposes in the casket on the altar before his throne in the temple."
Atan Thome breathed a sigh of relief. So there was a Father of Diamonds after all. Suddenly there came faintly to their ears a weird scream from far down the lake toward the tunnel that leads to the outside world and carries the waters of Horus down to the sea thousands of miles away.
"I wonder what that was," said Akamen. "It sounded almost human."
"Are there any apes around here?" asked Thorne.
"No," replied Akamen; "why?"
"That sounded a little like an ape," said Atan Thome.
"It will be very dark inside there," said Tarzan, as the galley in which he and his fellow prisoners were being taken to Ashair approached the mouth of the tunnel leading to Lake Horus . He spoke in English. "Each of you pick a couple of men; and when I say 'Kreegah,' throw them overboard. If we act very quickly, taking them off their guard, we can do it; and as soon as you have two overboard, go after more. I can't tell either Thetan or Ogabi now, as the Asharians understand Swahili; but as soon as I give you the signal, I shall tell them."
"And then what?" asked Lavac.
"Why, we'll take the boat, of course," said Gregory.
"We're likely to be killed," said Lavac, "but that's all right with me."
As the galley neared the tunnel, a warrior in the bow lighted a torch, for within the tunnel there would not be even the sky to guide the helmsman. Tarzan regretted the torch, but he did not give up his plan. Perhaps it might be more difficult now, but he felt that it still had an excellent chance to succeed.
Suddenly the ape-man sprang to his feet, and as he hurled a warrior into the water his "Kre-e-gah!" rang through the tunnel.