"Blessing be upon you, my son," replied the gorilla god. "And now tell me what has happened in the city."
"The castle is destroyed."
"Yes, I knew that; but what of the king? Does he think me dead?"
"All think so; and, may curses descend upon him, Henry is pleased. They say that he will proclaim himself God."
"Do you know aught of the fate of the girl Wolsey rescued from Henry's clutches and brought to my castle? Did she die in the fire?" asked the gorilla god.
"She escaped, My Lord. I saw her."
"Where is she?" demanded Tarzan.
"The king's men recaptured her and took her to the palace."
"That will be the end of her," announced the gorilla god,
"for if Henry insists on marrying her, as he certainly will, Catherine of Aragon will tear her to pieces."
"We must get her away from him at once," said Tarzan.
The gorilla god shrugged. "I doubt if that can be done."
"You have said that some one did it before—Wolsey I think you called him."
"But Wolsey had a strong incentive."
"No stronger than the one you have," said the ape-man quietly, but he jerked a little on the rope about God's neck and fingered the hilt of his hunting knife.
"But how can I do it?" demanded the gorilla god. "Henry has many soldiers. The people think that I am dead, and now they will be more afraid of the king than ever."
"You have many faithful followers, haven't you?" inquired Tarzan.
"Yes."
"Then send this priest out to gather them. Tell them to meet outside this cave with whatever weapons they can obtain."
The priest was looking in astonishment from his god to the stranger who spoke to him with so little reverence and who held an end of the rope tied about the god's neck. With horror, he had even seen the creature jerk the rope.
"Go, Father Tobin," said the gorilla god, "and gather the faithful."
"And see that there is no treachery," snapped Tarzan. "I have your god's promise to help me save that girl. You see this rope about his neck? You see this knife at my side?"
The priest nodded.
"If you both do not do all within your power to help me your god dies." There was no mistaking the sincerity of that statement.
"Go, Father Tobin," said the gorilla god.
"And hurry," added Tarzan.
"I go, My Lord," cried the priest; "but I hate to leave you in the clutches of this creature."
"He will be safe enough if you do your part," Tarzan assured him.
The priest knelt again, crossed himself, and departed. As the door closed after him, Tarzan turned to his companion. "How is it," he asked, "that you have been able to transmit the power to speak and perhaps to reason to these brutes, yet they have not taken on any of the outward physical attributes of man?"
"That is due to no fault of mine," replied the gorilla god, "but rather to an instinct of the beasts themselves more powerful than their newly acquired reasoning faculties. Transmitting human germ cells from generation to generation, as they now do, it is not strange that there are often born to them children with the physical attributes of human beings. But in spite of all that I can do these sports have invariably been destroyed at birth.
"In the few cases where they have been spared they have developed into monsters that seem neither beast nor human—manlike creatures with all the worst qualities of man and beast. Some of these have either been driven out of the city or have escaped, and there is known to be a tribe of them living in caves on the far side of the valley.
"I know of two instances where the mutants were absolutely perfect in human form and figure but possessed the minds of gorillas; the majority, however, have the appearance of grotesque hybrids.
"Of these two, one was a very beautiful girl when last I saw her but with the temper of a savage lioness; the other was a young man with the carriage and the countenance of an aristocrat and the sweet amiability of a Jack the Ripper.
"And now, young man," continued the gorilla god, "when my followers have gathered here, what do you purpose doing?"
"Led by us," replied Tarzan, "they will storm the palace of the king and take the girl from him."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Death at Dawn
Rhonda terry awoke with a start. She heard shouting and growls and screams and roars that sounded very close indeed. She saw the shes of Henry's harem moving about restlessly. Some of them uttered low growls like nervous, half frightened beasts; but it was not these sounds that had awakened her—they came through the unglazed windows of the apartment, loud, menacing.
She rose and approached a window. Catherine of Aragon saw her and bared her fangs in a vicious snarl.
"It is she they want," growled the old queen.
From the window Rhonda saw in the light of torches a mass of hairy forms battling to the death. She gasped and pressed a hand to her heart, for among them she saw Stanley Obroski fighting his way toward an entrance to the palace.
At first it seemed to her that he was fighting alone against that horde of beasts, but presently she realized that many of them were his allies. She saw the gorilla god close to Obroski; she even saw the grass rope about the creature's neck. Now her only thought was of the safety of Obroski.
Vaguely she heard voices raised about her in anger; then she became conscious of the words of the old queen. "She has caused all this trouble," Catherine of Aragon was saying. "If she were dead we should have peace."
"Kill her, then," said Anne of Cleves.
"Kill her!" screamed Anne Boleyn.
The girl turned from the window to see the savage beasts advancing upon her—great hairy brutes that could tear her to pieces. The incongruity of their human speech and their bestial appearance seemed suddenly more shocking and monstrous than ever before.
One of them stepped forward from her side and stood in front of her, facing the others. It was Catherine Parr. "Leave her alone," she said. "It is not her fault that she is here."
"Kill them both! Kill Parr too!" screamed Catherine Howard.
The others took up the refrain. "Kill them both!" The Howard leaped upon the Parr; and with hideous growls the two sought each other's throat with great, yellow fangs. Then the others rushed upon Rhonda Terry.
There was no escape. They were between her and the door; the windows were barred. Her eyes searched vainly for something with which to beat them off, but there was nothing. She backed away from them, but all the time she knew that there was no hope.
Then the door was suddenly thrown open, and three great bulls stepped into the apartment. "His Majesty, the King!" cried one of them, and the shes quieted their tongues and fell away from Rhonda. Only the two battling on the floor did not hear.
The great bull gorilla that was Henry the Eighth rolled into the room. "Silence!" he bellowed, and crossing to the embattled pair he kicked and cuffed them until they desisted. "Where is the fair, hairless one?" he demanded, and then his eyes alighted upon Rhonda where she stood almost hidden by the great bulks of his wives.
"Come here!" he commanded. "God has come for you, but he'll never get you. You belong to me."
"Let him have her, Henry," cried Catherine of Aragon; "she has caused nothing but trouble."
"Silence, woman!" screamed the king. "Or you'll go to the Tower and the block."
He stepped forward and seized Rhonda, throwing her across one shoulder as though she had no weight whatever; then he crossed quickly to the door. "Stand in the corridor here, Suffolk and Howard, and, if God's men reach this floor, hold them off until I have time to get safely away."
"Let us go with you, Sire," begged one of them.
"No; remain here until you have news for me; then follow me to the north end of the valley, to the canyon where the east branch of the Thames rises." He turned then and hurried down the corridor.