La had followed her company and when she saw themclawing and biting at Tarzan, she raised her voice andcautioned them not to kill him. She saw that he wasweakening and that soon the greater numbers wouldprevail over him, nor had she long to wait before themighty jungle creature lay helpless and bound at herfeet.

"Bring him to the place at which we stopped," shecommanded and they carried Tarzan back to the littleclearing and threw him down beneath a tree.

"Build me a shelter!" ordered La. "We shall stop heretonight and tomorrow in the face of the Flaming God, Lawill offer up the heart of this defiler of the temple.Where is the sacred knife? Who took it from him?"

But no one had seen it and each was positive in hisassurance that the sacrificial weapon had not been uponTarzan's person when they captured him. The ape-manlooked upon the menacing creatures which surrounded himand snarled his defiance. He looked upon La andsmiled. In the face of death he was unafraid.

"Where is the knife?" La asked him.

"I do not know," replied Tarzan. "The man took it withhim when he slipped away during the night. Since youare so desirous for its return I would look for him andget it back for you, did you not hold me prisoner; butnow that I am to die I cannot get it back. Of whatgood was your knife, anyway? You can make another.Did you follow us all this way for nothing more than aknife? Let me go and find him and I will bring it backto you."

La laughed a bitter laugh, for in her heart she knewthat Tarzan's sin was greater than the purloining ofthe sacrificial knife of Opar; yet as she looked at himlying bound and helpless before her, tears rose to hereyes so that she had to turn away to hide them; but sheremained inflexible in her determination to make himpay in frightful suffering and in eventual death fordaring to spurn the love of La.

When the shelter was completed La had Tarzantransferred to it. "All night I shall torture him,"she muttered to her priests, "and at the first streakof dawn you may prepare the flaming altar upon whichhis heart shall be offered up to the Flaming God.Gather wood well filled with pitch, lay it in the formand size of the altar at Opar in the center of theclearing that the Flaming God may look down upon ourhandiwork and be pleased."

During the balance of the day the priests of Opar werebusy erecting an altar in the center of the clearing,and while they worked they chanted weird hymns in theancient tongue of that lost continent that lies at thebottom of the Atlantic. They knew not the meanings ofthe words they mouthed; they but repeated the ritualthat had been handed down from preceptor to neophytesince that long-gone day when the ancestors of thePiltdown man still swung by their tails in the humidjungles that are England now.

And in the shelter of the hut, La paced to and frobeside the stoic ape-man. Resigned to his fate wasTarzan. No hope of succor gleamed through the deadblack of the death sentence hanging over him. He knewthat his giant muscles could not part the many strandsthat bound his wrists and ankles, for he had strainedoften, but ineffectually for release. He had no hopeof outside help and only enemies surrounded him withinthe camp, and yet he smiled at La as she pacednervously back and forth the length of the shelter.

And La? She fingered her knife and looked down upon hercaptive. She glared and muttered but she did notstrike. "Tonight!" she thought. "Tonight, when it isdark I will torture him." She looked upon his perfect,godlike figure and upon his handsome, smiling face andthen she steeled her heart again by thoughts of herlove spurned; by religious thoughts that damned theinfidel who had desecrated the holy of holies; who hadtaken from the blood-stained altar of Opar the offeringto the Flaming God--and not once but thrice.Three times had Tarzan cheated the god of her fathers.At the thought La paused and knelt at his side. In herhand was a sharp knife. She placed its point againstthe ape-man's side and pressed upon the hilt; butTarzan only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

How beautiful he was! La bent low over him, lookinginto his eyes. How perfect was his figure. Shecompared it with those of the knurled and knotted menfrom whom she must choose a mate, and La shuddered atthe thought. Dusk came and after dusk came night.A great fire blazed within the little thorn boma aboutthe camp. The flames played upon the new altar erectedin the center of the clearing, arousing in the mind ofthe High Priestess of the Flaming God a picture of theevent of the coming dawn. She saw this giant andperfect form writhing amid the flames of the burningpyre. She saw those smiling lips, burned andblackened, falling away from the strong, white teeth.She saw the shock of black hair tousled upon Tarzan'swell-shaped head disappear in a spurt of flame. Shesaw these and many other frightful pictures as shestood with closed eyes and clenched fists above theobject of her hate--ah! was it hate that La of Oparfelt?

The darkness of the jungle night had settled down uponthe camp, relieved only by the fitful flarings of thefire that was kept up to warn off the man-eaters.Tarzan lay quietly in his bonds. He suffered fromthirst and from the cutting of the tight strands abouthis wrists and ankles; but he made no complaint.A jungle beast was Tarzan with the stoicism of the beastand the intelligence of man. He knew that his doom wassealed--that no supplications would avail to temper theseverity of his end and so he wasted no breath inpleadings; but waited patiently in the firm convictionthat his sufferings could not endure forever.

In the darkness La stooped above him. In her hand wasa sharp knife and in her mind the determination toinitiate his torture without further delay. The knifewas pressed against his side and La's face was close tohis when a sudden burst of flame from new branchesthrown upon the fire without, lighted up the interiorof the shelter. Close beneath her lips La saw theperfect features of the forest god and into her woman'sheart welled all the great love she had felt for Tarzansince first she had seen him, and all the accumulatedpassion of the years that she had dreamed of him.

Dagger in hand, La, the High Priestess, towered abovethe helpless creature that had dared to violate thesanctuary of her deity. There should be no torture--there should be instant death. No longer should thedefiler of the temple pollute the sight of the lord godalmighty. A single stroke of the heavy blade and thenthe corpse to the flaming pyre without. The knife armstiffened ready for the downward plunge, and then La,the woman, collapsed weakly upon the body of the manshe loved.

She ran her hands in mute caress over his naked flesh;she covered his forehead, his eyes, his lips with hotkisses; she covered him with her body as though toprotect him from the hideous fate she had ordained forhim, and in trembling, piteous tones she begged him forhis love. For hours the frenzy of her passionpossessed the burning hand-maiden of the Flaming God,until at last sleep overpowered her and she lapsed intounconsciousness beside the man she had sworn to tortureand to slay. And Tarzan, untroubled by thoughts of thefuture, slept peacefully in La's embrace.

At the first hint of dawn the chanting of the priestsof Opar brought Tarzan to wakefulness. Initiated inlow and subdued tones, the sound soon rose in volume tothe open diapason of barbaric blood lust. La stirred.Her perfect arm pressed Tarzan closer to her--a smileparted her lips and then she awoke, and slowly thesmile faded and her eyes went wide in horror as thesignificance of the death chant impinged upon herunderstanding.

"Love me, Tarzan!" she cried. "Love me, and you shallbe saved."

Tarzan's bonds hurt him. He was suffering the torturesof long-restricted circulation. With an angry growl herolled over with his back toward La. That was heranswer! The High Priestess leaped to her feet. A hotflush of shame mantled her cheek and then she went deadwhite and stepped to the shelter's entrance.

"Come, Priests of the Flaming God!" she cried,"and make ready the sacrifice."

The warped things advanced and entered the shelter.They laid hands upon Tarzan and bore him forth, and asthey chanted they kept time with their crooked bodies,swaying to and fro to the rhythm of their song of bloodand death. Behind them came La, swaying too; but notin unison with the chanted cadence. White and drawnwas the face of the High Priestess--white and drawnwith unrequited love and hideous terror of the momentsto come. Yet stern in her resolve was La. The infidelshould die! The scorner of her love should pay theprice upon the fiery altar. She saw them lay theperfect body there upon the rough branches. She sawthe High Priest, he to whom custom would unite her--bent, crooked, gnarled, stunted, hideous--advance withthe flaming torch and stand awaiting her command toapply it to the faggots surrounding the sacrificialpyre. His hairy, bestial face was distorted in ayellow-fanged grin of anticipatory enjoyment. Hishands were cupped to receive the life blood of thevictim--the red nectar that at Opar would have filledthe golden sacrificial goblets.

La approached with upraised knife, her face turnedtoward the rising sun and upon her lips a prayer to theburning deity of her people. The High Priest lookedquestioningly toward her--the brand was burning closeto his hand and the faggots lay temptingly near.Tarzan closed his eyes and awaited the end. He knewthat he would suffer, for he recalled the faintmemories of past burns. He knew that he would sufferand die; but he did not flinch. Death is no greatadventure to the jungle bred who walk hand-in-hand withthe grim specter by day and lie down at his side bynight through all the years of their lives. It isdoubtful that the ape-man even speculated upon whatcame after death. As a matter of fact as his endapproached, his mind was occupied by thoughts of thepretty pebbles he had lost, yet his every faculty stillwas open to what passed around him.

He felt La lean over him and he opened his eyes.He saw her white, drawn face and he saw tears blindingher eyes. "Tarzan, my Tarzan!" she moaned, "tell me thatyou love me--that you will return to Opar with me--andyou shall live. Even in the face of the anger of mypeople I will save you. This last chance I give you.What is your answer?"

At the last moment the woman in La had triumphed overthe High Priestess of a cruel cult. She saw upon thealtar the only creature that ever had aroused the firesof love within her virgin breast; she saw the beast-facedfanatic who would one day be her mate, unless shefound another less repulsive, standing with the burningtorch ready to ignite the pyre; yet with all her madpassion for the ape-man she would give the word toapply the flame if Tarzan's final answer wasunsatisfactory. With heaving bosom she leaned closeabove him. "Yes or no?" she whispered.

Through the jungle, out of the distance, came faintly asound that brought a sudden light of hope to Tarzan'seyes. He raised his voice in a weird scream that sentLa back from him a step or two. The impatient priestgrumbled and switched the torch from one hand to theother at the same time holding it closer to the tinderat the base of the pyre.

"Your answer!" insisted La. "What is your answer tothe love of La of Opar?"

Closer came the sound that had attracted Tarzan'sattention and now the others heard it--the shrilltrumpeting of an elephant. As La looked wide-eyed intoTarzan's face, there to read her fate for happiness orheartbreak, she saw an expression of concern shadow hisfeatures. Now, for the first time, she guessed themeaning of Tarzan's shrill scream--he had summonedTantor, the elephant, to his rescue! La's browscontracted in a savage scowl. "You refuse La!"she cried. "Then die! The torch!" she commanded,turning toward the priest.

Tarzan looked up into her face. "Tantor is coming,"he said. "I thought that he would rescue me; but I knownow from his voice that he will slay me and you and allthat fall in his path, searching out with the cunningof Sheeta, the panther, those who would hide from him,for Tantor is mad with the madness of love."

La knew only too well the insane ferocity of a bullelephant in MUST. She knew that Tarzan had notexaggerated. She knew that the devil in the cunning,cruel brain of the great beast might send it hither andthither hunting through the forest for those whoescaped its first charge, or the beast might pass onwithout returning--no one might guess which.

"I cannot love you, La," said Tarzan in a low voice."I do not know why, for you are very beautiful.I could not go back and live in Opar--I who have thewhole broad jungle for my range. No, I cannot love youbut I cannot see you die beneath the goring tusks ofmad Tantor. Cut my bonds before it is too late.Already he is almost upon us. Cut them and I may yetsave you."

A little spiral of curling smoke rose from one cornerof the pyre--the flames licked upward, crackling.La stood there like a beautiful statue of despair gazingat Tarzan and at the spreading flames. In a momentthey would reach out and grasp him. From the tangledforest came the sound of cracking limbs and crashingtrunks--Tantor was coming down upon them, a hugeJuggernaut of the jungle. The priests were becominguneasy. They cast apprehensive glances in the directionof the approaching elephant and then back at La.

"Fly!" she commanded them and then she stooped and cutthe bonds securing her prisoner's feet and hands.In an instant Tarzan was upon the ground. The priestsscreamed out their rage and disappointment. He withthe torch took a menacing step toward La and the ape-man."Traitor!" He shrieked at the woman. "For thisyou too shall die!" Raising his bludgeon he rushed uponthe High Priestess; but Tarzan was there before her.Leaping in to close quarters the ape-man seized theupraised weapon and wrenched it from the hands of thefrenzied fanatic and then the priest closed upon himwith tooth and nail. Seizing the stocky, stunted bodyin his mighty hands Tarzan raised the creature highabove his head, hurling him at his fellows who were nowgathered ready to bear down upon their erstwhilecaptive. La stood proudly with ready knife behind theape-man. No faint sign of fear marked her perfectbrow--only haughty disdain for her priests andadmiration for the man she loved so hopelessly filledher thoughts.

Suddenly upon this scene burst the mad bull--a hugetusker, his little eyes inflamed with insane rage.The priests stood for an instant paralyzed with terror;but Tarzan turned and gathering La in his arms raced forthe nearest tree. Tantor bore down upon him trumpeting shrilly.La clung with both white arms about the ape-man's neck.She felt him leap into the air andmarveled at his strength and his ability as, burdenedwith her weight, he swung nimbly into the lowerbranches of a large tree and quickly bore her upwardbeyond reach of the sinuous trunk of the pachyderm.

Momentarily baffled here, the huge elephant wheeled andbore down upon the hapless priests who had nowscattered, terror-stricken, in every direction.The nearest he gored and threw high among the branchesof a tree. One he seized in the coils of his trunk andbroke upon a huge bole, dropping the mangled pulp tocharge, trumpeting, after another. Two he trampledbeneath his huge feet and by then the others haddisappeared into the jungle. Now Tantor turned hisattention once more to Tarzan for one of the symptomsof madness is a revulsion of affection--objects of sanelove become the objects of insane hatred. Peculiar inthe unwritten annals of the jungle was the proverbiallove that had existed between the ape-man and the tribeof Tantor. No elephant in all the jungle would harmthe Tarmangani--the white-ape; but with the madness ofMUST upon him the great bull sought to destroy hislong-time play-fellow.

Back to the tree where La and Tarzan perched cameTantor, the elephant. He reared up with his forefeetagainst the bole and reached high toward them with hislong trunk; but Tarzan had foreseen this and clamberedbeyond the bull's longest reach. Failure but tended tofurther enrage the mad creature. He bellowed andtrumpeted and screamed until the earth shook to themighty volume of his noise. He put his head againstthe tree and pushed and the tree bent before his mightystrength; yet still it held.

The actions of Tarzan were peculiar in the extreme.Had Numa, or Sabor, or Sheeta, or any other beast ofthe jungle been seeking to destroy him, the ape-manwould have danced about hurling missiles and invectivesat his assailant. He would have insulted and tauntedthem, reviling in the jungle Billingsgate he knew sowell; but now he sat silent out of Tantor's reach andupon his handsome face was an expression of deep sorrowand pity, for of all the jungle folk Tarzan lovedTantor the best. Could he have slain him he would nothave thought of doing so. His one idea was to escape,for he knew that with the passing of the MUSTTantor would be sane again and that once more he mightstretch at full length upon that mighty back and makefoolish speech into those great, flapping ears.

Finding that the tree would not fall to his pushing,Tantor was but enraged the more. He looked up at thetwo perched high above him, his red-rimmed eyes blazingwith insane hatred, and then he wound his trunk aboutthe bole of the tree, spread his giant feet wide apartand tugged to uproot the jungle giant. A huge creaturewas Tantor, an enormous bull in the full prime of allhis stupendous strength. Mightily he strove untilpresently, to Tarzan's consternation, the great treegave slowly at the roots. The ground rose in littlemounds and ridges about the base of the bole, the treetilted--in another moment it would be uprooted and fall.

The ape-man whirled La to his back and just as the treeinclined slowly in its first movement out of theperpendicular, before the sudden rush of its finalcollapse, he swung to the branches of a lesserneighbor. It was a long and perilous leap. La closedher eyes and shuddered; but when she opened them againshe found herself safe and Tarzan whirling onwardthrough the forest. Behind them the uprooted treecrashed heavily to the ground, carrying with it thelesser trees in its path and then Tantor, realizingthat his prey had escaped him, set up once more hishideous trumpeting and followed at a rapid charge upontheir trail.