"I do not like it," grumbled the latter. "We shall all die for it."
"It is perfectly safe," Atan Thome assured him. "Everything is arranged, and when it is over we shall be safe, favorites of the ruler of Ashair—and that much nearer The Father of Diamonds."
"I have a presentiment," said Lal Taask, "that we shall not be safe."
"Put your trust in Akamen," urged Thorne. "He will lead you to the Queen's bedroom; then you will know what to do."
"Why not you?" demanded Lal Taask. "It is you who wants The Father of Diamonds so badly, not I."
"I do not do it, because you are more experienced with a dagger," replied Thorne, smiling. "Come! Have you lost your nerve?"
"I do not wish to do it," said Lal Taask, emphatically.
"You will do as I command!" snapped Thorne.
Lal Taask's eyes fell before those of his master. "Just this once," he said. "Promise that you will not ask such a thing of me again."
"I promise that after tonight I shall ask nothing more of you," agreed Thorne. "S-s-h! Some one is coming!"
As he ceased speaking, the door opened and Akamen entered the room. He was pale and nervous. He looked at Atan Thome questioningly. The latter nodded.
"It is all understood," he said. "Lal Taask will do his duty."
"Very well," said Akamen. "I have arranged everything. The Queen has retired. There are no guards before her door. It will be over in five minutes. Suspicion will be directed against the noble in command of the guard. The Queen disciplined him severely a short time ago, and it is known that he was very bitter. Come with me, Lal Taask."
Akamen led the way through silent corridors to the Queen's bedroom. Without noise, he opened the door; and as the assassin, dagger in hand, slunk stealthily toward his victim, Akamen, flattened against the wall of the corridor, awaited the blow that would make him King of Ashair. Seconds seemed as hours to him as he waited for Lal Taask to reach the side of the Queen's bed and strike.
He was almost there! The dagger hand was rising! And then there was sudden commotion in the room as warriors leaped from behind hangings and fell upon the would-be assassin and his accomplice; and Queen Atka sat up in bed, a bitter smile of triumph on her lips.
"Summon my nobles to the throne room," she directed, "and take these two and the man Thorne there, also, that justice may be done."
When a warrior came to Atan Thome's apartments and summoned him to the throne room in the Queen's name, the Eurasian could scarcely restrain an expression of exultation, though he simulated surprise that Atka should wish to see him at so late an hour.
"Akamen," said the Queen, as the three men were lined up before the throne, "you conspired with these two strangers to assassinate me, that you might be king. One of your accomplices, hoping to curry favor with me, informed upon you. To my mind, he is even more vile than you, if that be possible; and his punishment shall be the same as yours. I sentence all three of you to the cages of the temple for life—a far greater punishment than a quick and merciful death. As added punishment, you shall all be half starved all of the time and tortured periodically, at each full moon. At the first, you shall each have one eye burned out; at the next, another; after that, you shall lose, first your right hands; then your left hands; your feet shall follow, one by one; and after that I am sure that I can devise other means whereby you may be reminded that treachery is a dangerous avocation." She turned to one of her nobles. "Take them away!"
Atan Thome, Lal Taask, and Akamen in adjoining cages were the only prisoners now in the Temple of Bru-lor, Father of Diamonds. Lal Taask and Akamen glared at Atan Thome, cursing him; but he seemed oblivous to everything except the casket on the altar before the throne.
"Lowest of the low!" growled Akamen. "You betrayed us. But for you, I should be King of Ashair."
"There is The Father of Diamonds!" whispered Atan Thome.
"Dog!" cried Taask. "For years I have served you faithfully, and now you have sacrificed me!"
"There lies The Father of Diamonds," droned Thorne. "For that, I would betray my mother or my god."
A ptome approached, bearing a wriggling fish upon a trident. "Here is your dinner, damned ones!" he cried.
"It is not cooked!" exclaimed Atan Thome. "Take it away!"
"Sure, I'll take it away," said the ptome; "but then you'll go hungry. We do not cook the fish for such as you."
"Give me the fish!" screamed Lal Taask; "and let him starve, but not too much—he must be saved for my dagger."
"It is I who should have the right to kill him," growled Akamen—"he who kept me from being a king."
"You are both fools," cried Atan Thome. "Nothing matters but The Father of Diamonds. Help me get that, and I shall make us all rich. Think, Taask, what it would buy in the capitals of Europe ! I would give my soul for it."
"You have no soul, you beast!" screamed Taask. "Only let me get my dagger into you!"
Tarzan and Thetan came with a warrior to the cell where Gregory and Lavac were chained. " Herat has reprieved you," explained Tarzan, while the warrior removed their chains. "You are to have freedom within the city until I return from Ashair."
"Why are you going to Ashair?" asked Gregory.
"I want to find out if your daughter and d'Arnot are there, and ascertain if there is any way in which they may be rescued, if they are there; then there is the matter of Brulor and The Father of Diamonds. To win freedom for all of us, they must be brought to Herat ."
"The other conditions have been fulfilled?" asked La-vac. "You have killed the lions?"
"They are both dead," replied Tarzan.
"I shall go to Ashair with you." said Lavac.
"And I," said Gregory.
"It is better that I go alone," said Tarzan.
"But I must go," insisted Lavac. "I must do something to atone for my beastliness to d'Arnot. Please let me go with you."
"I must go, too," insisted Gregory.
"I can take one of you," replied Tarzan. " Herat insists that one of us remain here as a hostage. You may come, Lavac."
The morning was still young as Thetan bid Tarzan and Lavac farewell as they were setting out for Ashair. "I have told you all that I know of Ashair and the Temple of Brulor at the bottom of Lake Horus ," said the Thobotian. "May the gods be with you!"
"I need no gods," said Tarzan.
"Tarzan is enough," added Lavac.
All night the nine fugitives had tramped from their last hiding place, and they were foot sore and weary. There had been no indication of pursuit, but Herkuf knew his own people well enough to know that they would not be allowed to escape so easily.
"Now that it is light," he said, "it is time that we found another hiding place."
"We are only a few hours from Thobos," said the Thobotian, "and before that I can show you the trail out of Tuen-Baka."
"Nevertheless, I think it better that we hide through the day," insisted Herkuf. "I have no wish to be caught and taken back to the cages."
"What is another day, if by hiding we can escape?" asked Brian.
"I think Herkuf is right," said d'Arnot. "We should not take a single risk, however small it may seem."
"Listen!" whispered Helen. "I hear voices. Some one is coming behind us."
"It can be no one but the Asharians who are looking for us," said Herkuf. "Quick! We'll turn off the trail here, and hide. Make no noise—just follow me. I know this place."
They moved silently along a narrow trail for a quarter of a mile, coming at last to a little clearing. "This is the place," said Herkuf. "I do not think they will look here for us. They will think that we kept on straight up the valley."
"I don't hear them any more," said Helen.
"The trouble with this," said d'Arnot, "is that now they'll be between us and where we want to go."