Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar

10

Achmet Zek Sees the Jewels

Mugambi, weak and suffering, had dragged his painful way along the trail of the retreating raiders.  He could move but slowly, resting often; but savage hatred and an equally savage desire for vengeance kept him to his task.  As the days passed his wounds healed and his strength returned, until at last his giant frame had regained all of its former mighty powers.  Now he went more rapidly; but the mounted Arabs had covered a great distance while the wounded black had been painfully crawling after them.

They had reached their fortified camp, and there Achmet Zek awaited the return of his lieutenant, Albert Werper.  During the long, rough journey, Jane Clayton had suffered more in anticipation of her impending fate than from the hardships of the road.

Achmet Zek had not deigned to acquaint her with his intentions regarding her future.  She prayed that she had been captured in the hope of ransom, for if such should prove the case, no great harm would befall her at the hands of the Arabs; but there was the chance, the horrid chance, that another fate awaited her.  She had heard of many women, among whom were white women, who had been sold by outlaws such as Achmet Zek into the slavery of black harems, or taken farther north into the almost equally hideous existence of some Turkish seraglio.

Jane Clayton was of sterner stuff than that which bends in spineless terror before danger.  Until hope proved futile she would not give it up; nor did she entertain thoughts of self-destruction only as a final escape from dishonor.  So long as Tarzan lived there was every reason to expect succor.  No man nor beast who roamed the savage continent could boast the cunning and the powers of her lord and master.  To her, he was little short of omnipotent in his native world—­this world of savage beasts and savage men.  Tarzan would come, and she would be rescued and avenged, of that she was certain.  She counted the days that must elapse before he would return from Opar and discover what had transpired during his absence.  After that it would be but a short time before he had surrounded the Arab stronghold and punished the motley crew of wrongdoers who inhabited it.

That he could find her she had no slightest doubt.  No spoor, however faint, could elude the keen vigilance of his senses.  To him, the trail of the raiders would be as plain as the printed page of an open book to her.

And while she hoped, there came through the dark jungle another.  Terrified by night and by day, came Albert Werper.  A dozen times he had escaped the claws and fangs of the giant carnivora only by what seemed a miracle to him.  Armed with nothing more than the knife he had brought with him from Opar, he had made his way through as savage a country as yet exists upon the face of the globe.

By night he had slept in trees.  By day he had stumbled fearfully on, often taking refuge among the branches when sight or sound of some great cat warned him from danger.  But at last he had come within sight of the palisade behind which were his fierce companions.

At almost the same time Mugambi came out of the jungle before the walled village.  As he stood in the shadow of a great tree, reconnoitering, he saw a man, ragged and disheveled, emerge from the jungle almost at his elbow.  Instantly he recognized the newcomer as he who had been a guest of his master before the latter had departed for Opar.

The black was upon the point of hailing the Belgian when something stayed him.  He saw the white man walking confidently across the clearing toward the village gate.  No sane man thus approached a village in this part of Africa unless he was sure of a friendly welcome.  Mugambi waited.  His suspicions were aroused.

He heard Werper halloo; he saw the gates swing open, and he witnessed the surprised and friendly welcome that was accorded the erstwhile guest of Lord and Lady Greystoke.  A light broke upon the understanding of Mugambi.  This white man had been a traitor and a spy.  It was to him they owed the raid during the absence of the Great Bwana.  To his hate for the Arabs, Mugambi added a still greater hate for the white spy.

Within the village Werper passed hurriedly toward the silken tent of Achmet Zek.  The Arab arose as his lieutenant entered.  His face showed surprise as he viewed the tattered apparel of the Belgian.

“What has happened?” he asked.

Werper narrated all, save the little matter of the pouch of gems which were now tightly strapped about his waist, beneath his clothing.  The Arab’s eyes narrowed greedily as his henchman described the treasure that the Waziri had buried beside the ruins of the Greystoke bungalow.

“It will be a simple matter now to return and get it,” said Achmet Zek.  “First we will await the coming of the rash Waziri, and after we have slain them we may take our time to the treasure—­none will disturb it where it lies, for we shall leave none alive who knows of its existence.

“And the woman?” asked Werper.

“I shall sell her in the north,” replied the raider.  “It is the only way, now.  She should bring a good price.”

The Belgian nodded.  He was thinking rapidly.  If he could persuade Achmet Zek to send him in command of the party which took Lady Greystoke north it would give him the opportunity he craved to make his escape from his chief.  He would forego a share of the gold, if he could but get away unscathed with the jewels.

He knew Achmet Zek well enough by this time to know that no member of his band ever was voluntarily released from the service of Achmet Zek.  Most of the few who deserted were recaptured.  More than once had Werper listened to their agonized screams as they were tortured before being put to death.  The Belgian had no wish to take the slightest chance of recapture.

“Who will go north with the woman,” he asked, “while we are returning for the gold that the Waziri buried by the bungalow of the Englishman?”

Achmet Zek thought for a moment.  The buried gold was of much greater value than the price the woman would bring.  It was necessary to rid himself of her as quickly as possible and it was also well to obtain the gold with the least possible delay.  Of all his followers, the Belgian was the most logical lieutenant to intrust with the command of one of the parties.  An Arab, as familiar with the trails and tribes as Achmet Zek himself, might collect the woman’s price and make good his escape into the far north.  Werper, on the other hand, could scarce make his escape alone through a country hostile to Europeans while the men he would send with the Belgian could be carefully selected with a view to preventing Werper from persuading any considerable portion of his command to accompany him should he contemplate desertion of his chief.

At last the Arab spoke:  “It is not necessary that we both return for the gold.  You shall go north with the woman, carrying a letter to a friend of mine who is always in touch with the best markets for such merchandise, while I return for the gold.  We can meet again here when our business is concluded.”

Werper could scarce disguise the joy with which he received this welcome decision.  And that he did entirely disguise it from the keen and suspicious eyes of Achmet Zek is open to question.  However, the decision reached, the Arab and his lieutenant discussed the details of their forthcoming ventures for a short time further, when Werper made his excuses and returned to his own tent for the comforts and luxury of a long-desired bath and shave.

Having bathed, the Belgian tied a small hand mirror to a cord sewn to the rear wall of his tent, placed a rude chair beside an equally rude table that stood beside the glass, and proceeded to remove the rough stubble from his face.

In the catalog of masculine pleasures there is scarce one which imparts a feeling of greater comfort and refreshment than follows a clean shave, and now, with weariness temporarily banished, Albert Werper sprawled in his rickety chair to enjoy a final cigaret before retiring.  His thumbs, tucked in his belt in lazy support of the weight of his arms, touched the belt which held the jewel pouch about his waist.  He tingled with excitement as he let his mind dwell upon the value of the treasure, which, unknown to all save himself, lay hidden beneath his clothing.

What would Achmet Zek say, if he knew?  Werper grinned.  How the old rascal’s eyes would pop could he but have a glimpse of those scintillating beauties!  Werper had never yet had an opportunity to feast his eyes for any great length of time upon them.  He had not even counted them—­only roughly had he guessed at their value.

He unfastened the belt and drew the pouch from its hiding place.  He was alone.  The balance of the camp, save the sentries, had retired—­none would enter the Belgian’s tent.  He fingered the pouch, feeling out the shapes and sizes of the precious, little nodules within.  He hefted the bag, first in one palm, then in the other, and at last he wheeled his chair slowly around before the table, and in the rays of his small lamp let the glittering gems roll out upon the rough wood.

The refulgent rays transformed the interior of the soiled and squalid canvas to the splendor of a palace in the eyes of the dreaming man.  He saw the gilded halls of pleasure that would open their portals to the possessor of the wealth which lay scattered upon this stained and dented table top.  He dreamed of joys and luxuries and power which always had been beyond his grasp, and as he dreamed his gaze lifted from the table, as the gaze of a dreamer will, to a far distant goal above the mean horizon of terrestrial commonplaceness.

Unseeing, his eyes rested upon the shaving mirror which still hung upon the tent wall above the table; but his sight was focused far beyond.  And then a reflection moved within the polished surface of the tiny glass, the man’s eyes shot back out of space to the mirror’s face, and in it he saw reflected the grim visage of Achmet Zek, framed in the flaps of the tent doorway behind him.

Werper stifled a gasp of dismay.  With rare self-possession he let his gaze drop, without appearing to have halted upon the mirror until it rested again upon the gems.  Without haste, he replaced them in the pouch, tucked the latter into his shirt, selected a cigaret from his case, lighted it and rose.  Yawning, and stretching his arms above his head, he turned slowly toward the opposite end of the tent.  The face of Achmet Zek had disappeared from the opening.

To say that Albert Werper was terrified would be putting it mildly.  He realized that he not only had sacrificed his treasure; but his life as well.  Achmet Zek would never permit the wealth that he had discovered to slip through his fingers, nor would he forgive the duplicity of a lieutenant who had gained possession of such a treasure without offering to share it with his chief.

Slowly the Belgian prepared for bed.  If he were being watched, he could not know; but if so the watcher saw no indication of the nervous excitement which the European strove to conceal.  When ready for his blankets, the man crossed to the little table and extinguished the light.

It was two hours later that the flaps at the front of the tent separated silently and gave entrance to a dark-robed figure, which passed noiselessly from the darkness without to the darkness within.  Cautiously the prowler crossed the interior.  In one hand was a long knife.  He came at last to the pile of blankets spread upon several rugs close to one of the tent walls.

Lightly, his fingers sought and found the bulk beneath the blankets—­the bulk that should be Albert Werper.  They traced out the figure of a man, and then an arm shot upward, poised for an instant and descended.  Again and again it rose and fell, and each time the long blade of the knife buried itself in the thing beneath the blankets.  But there was an initial lifelessness in the silent bulk that gave the assassin momentary wonder.  Feverishly he threw back the coverlets, and searched with nervous hands for the pouch of jewels which he expected to find concealed upon his victim’s body.

An instant later he rose with a curse upon his lips.  It was Achmet Zek, and he cursed because he had discovered beneath the blankets of his lieutenant only a pile of discarded clothing arranged in the form and semblance of a sleeping man—­Albert Werper had fled.

Out into the village ran the chief, calling in angry tones to the sleepy Arabs, who tumbled from their tents in answer to his voice.  But though they searched the village again and again they found no trace of the Belgian.  Foaming with anger, Achmet Zek called his followers to horse, and though the night was pitchy black they set out to scour the adjoining forest for their quarry.

As they galloped from the open gates, Mugambi, hiding in a nearby bush, slipped, unseen, within the palisade.  A score of blacks crowded about the entrance to watch the searchers depart, and as the last of them passed out of the village the blacks seized the portals and drew them to, and Mugambi lent a hand in the work as though the best of his life had been spent among the raiders.

In the darkness he passed, unchallenged, as one of their number, and as they returned from the gates to their respective tents and huts, Mugambi melted into the shadows and disappeared.

For an hour he crept about in the rear of the various huts and tents in an effort to locate that in which his master’s mate was imprisoned.  One there was which he was reasonably assured contained her, for it was the only hut before the door of which a sentry had been posted.  Mugambi was crouching in the shadow of this structure, just around the corner from the unsuspecting guard, when another approached to relieve his comrade.

“The prisoner is safe within?” asked the newcomer.

“She is,” replied the other, “for none has passed this doorway since I came.”

The new sentry squatted beside the door, while he whom he had relieved made his way to his own hut.  Mugambi slunk closer to the corner of the building.  In one powerful hand he gripped a heavy knob-stick.  No sign of elation disturbed his phlegmatic calm, yet inwardly he was aroused to joy by the proof he had just heard that “Lady” really was within.

The sentry’s back was toward the corner of the hut which hid the giant black.  The fellow did not see the huge form which silently loomed behind him.  The knob-stick swung upward in a curve, and downward again.  There was the sound of a dull thud, the crushing of heavy bone, and the sentry slumped into a silent, inanimate lump of clay.

A moment later Mugambi was searching the interior of the hut.  At first slowly, calling, “Lady!” in a low whisper, and finally with almost frantic haste, until the truth presently dawned upon him—­the hut was empty!