When he reached the lair it was with dismay that he saw only strange apes, mostly young and none too friendly. They moved forward to thwart the interloper, stopping in awe and concern as the words of the ape greeting issued from the mouth of the huge smooth-skinned ape. “Who are you, that you speak the language of the mangani?”

  “I am Tarzan.” The ape-man spoke quietly, but with much pride. “I am the mightiest of hunters, the greatest of all fighters. When I speak, the jungle listens. When I roar it trembles with terror. I am Tarzan of the Apes. You are my people. I have been away for a long time, but now I have returned to you.”

  An old she-ape who had remained huddling in the shadows moved forward as Tarzan spoke, “It is Tarzan. He speaks truth. I remember him. His mother was Kala. His fellow mangani was Neeta, he who was killed last by the hunters.”

  At this verification of his claim to kinship, the other apes moved closer and sniffed about the ape-man. He stood quite still, tolerating their movements, but mouth still set m a snarl and muscles tensed and in fighting condition. None of the apes questioned the smell he gave forth, however, and by their silence consented to his belonging among them. As two of the she-apes brought forth some food for their new family member Tarzan began to speak to the great bull ape who had first spoken to him. He told him of the invasion of the snake-men. He told him of the great silence with which they filled the jungle. He told him of their massive strength, their vicious poisoned venom, their mad priestess. He asked that they lend him some of their strongest fighters to go with him and wipe out this new scourge of the jungle. After considerable argument among themselves, Tarzan then pointed out that if the snake-men were not removed from the jungle now, before the next full moon when they would replenish their weakened forces, they might gain full possession and enslave all beasts, even the powerful mangani. Still they argued together. Tarzan might be one of them, but only the oldest recalled him, and the young had no reason to realize his great bravery. Finally one of them, a young ape, strong and endowed with a greater sense of intelligence than most of the others, agreed to join Tarzan in the fight. His imagination had been fired by Tarzan’s tale, and the fight seemed to smell of adventure and battle. Kuchek was his name, and now he joined Tarzan in trying to persuade others of his kind to come with them. The discussions continued throughout the waning afternoon, and finally a second of the apes agreed to join the foray. Tombak was no longer young, but he was a mighty beast, heavily muscled and with the craft and cunning of many battles behind him. He was of such gigantic proportions, Tarzan thought as he looked him over, that four of the snake-men together couldn’t bring him down. In the land of the great apes where so many of the anthropoids were of a morose and sullen temper, his disposition was of so evil a nature that even here he stood apart. Glancing toward the late afternoon sun, Tarzan gave up the argument, and decided to go forth with the two apes instead of the many he had hoped would join him. They were better than none, and time was too important to risk losing the light travel hours on the off-chance that possibly one or even two more mangani would join them.

  As they set off for the compound of Tarzan where the Waziri awaited the coming of hordes of them, the rest of the tribe simply stared after them, without a gesture of goodbye, good luck or even of simple interest. Before they were out of sight, the tribe had resumed feeding. On the return trip, Tarzan had no difficulty. persuading Kuchek and Tombak to move swiftly; both of them were chafing from a period of inactivity and gloried in swinging at breathtaking rapidity through the trees. He did, however, find difficulty inimpressing on them the importance of being friendly with his Waziri warriors. Each time Tarzan succeeded in making his point, he would wait a while, then start in pounding his point into their small brains again. For the mind of the ape lacks the power of long-sustained concentration. To learn something for “now” is easy and imperative to their lives; to remember it for “later” is quite another thing. As the sun sank closer to the horizon Tarzan had a bit of a time keeping up the pace of the journey. His original spirits fulfilled by the exhilarating speed at which they’d been moving, Kuchek began to find other matters which seemed to call for his immediate attention—such as a newly fallen tree with its rich forage of grubs and beetles beneath. It almost came to a battle to get Kuchek to leave this treasure, and only at renewed mention of the snake-men and Narda, their priestess, did the young ape agree to forego his feast and continue the trip.

  The interruptions grew more constantly as the journey went on. Fortunately for Tarzan, the two apes had left their lair before completing their afternoon meal. Therefore, as delay after delay came up, he found the easiest way to end it was to make much mention of the huge feast awaiting them within his compound. It was not always easy to maintain their sustained interest in the fight and the cause behind it, but the mention of food, increasingly exaggerated by Tarzan, served the purpose.

  The three arrived at the compound Just before sundown. The first thing Tarzan saw as he entered it was the tall figure of Kamjei, his number one runner.

  “Kamjei, he exclaimed, running forward, “how did you …”

  The weary native handed Tarzan a note. It was the letter from Jane.

  CHAPTER XIII

  The Death Insurance

  Lyta’s fury knew no bounds when she was told of the escaped or kidnapped runner, Kamjei. All day, since her return from the jungles and her talk with Tarzan, Lyta had been plotting and planning with her snake-men. They had searched hitherto unexplored tunnels and caverns in the beehive that was the cliff fortress in he Valley of the Volcanos. Lyta had earnestly hoped they itiight find the secret hiding place ,in which her sister Narda had imprisoned the wife of Tarzan. She knew now that he would help her people, but she hoped to remove his mate from the clutches of the night group so as to remove his mind from the problems of the woman, and keep it on the problems of Lyta’s people. They had met with no success, although they had uncovered several of the lairs of the snake-men themselves, and killed them as they lay helpless because of the sun.

  How, she wanted to scream the thoughts outloud, how had Kamjei escaped? When had he escaped? Could it be—of course! The Belgian was back. He must have been exploring the caverns as her men had been doing, and through an inexplicable stroke of luck had discovered the room in which Kamjei had been supposedly safely kept. But why, Lyta asked herself, and Lerta, her chamberlain, leader of her valiant snake-men—why would they want Kamjei when they have the wife of Tarzan?

  “It is good, I think,” the great snake advised her, “that we have called upon this man Tarzan for help. For while we have the heads and brains of the tarmangani, we have not lived among them, Lyta.”

  “What can that have to do with Kamjei?” the woman snapped irritably.

  “Since the evil Belgian has bewitched Narda, much has happened we do not understand. We do not know why she has warred upon us, her own people. Sometimes I wonder if she herself does know. But the Belgian does. All that has come to pass which has been bad has come to pass since Narda fell under his spell.”

  “Lerta, you make much circumlocution. We were speaking of KamJei, the friend of Tarzan. I had guaranteed his safety. Now, what will Tarzan think of me—or our people?”

  “Being a man who has lived amongst men, he has surely known evil as well as good. Perhaps he will have the answer for us. In the meantime, we had best send two of our men into the jungles toward the compound of Tarzan. Perhaps they may find the missing runner.”

  “Yes. But they are not to recapture him. Merely to assure themselves of his safe return to his master. This time he will not give in easily to hypnotism. This time the shock of our dearly beloved people will not ‘horrify’ him. He might fight. He might injure them, or even force them to do harm to him. But send two of our scouts. If they find him, it will do much to ease my mind.”

  Narda’s pleasure and sense of triumph when Keinin returned with the trembimg Kamjei, for Lyta, had guessed correctly as to the means of his disappearance, were destroyed completely later in the day as she made her rounds. She found cave after cave filled with the dead bodies of her men. She stalked furiously back to her quarters as Keinin and Pierre Sortie sprawled indolently upon the floor discussing their rich, full future, and confronted them. “So, you spent the morning seeking out the prisoner of Lyta, my sister. For a messenger for your new friend, Tarzan of the Apes! And while you did so, the snake-men of the day invaded our fortress, and now more of my men lie dead in the cliff beneath us! We shall not raid tonight, Keinin. We shall not raid tonight, nor tomorrow night, nor the next. Enough of this bloodshed. Take your hands off me!” Eyes blazing with mad fury, Narda pushed the Belgian half-way across the room.

  “Narda,” the wheedling voice which had changed the course of Narda’s life and all but brought her world down about her in ruins came across the eerily lit room. my beautiful Narda, you must calm yourself. You must understand. We shall not have to raid tonight, nor tomorrow night. If only you would listen to your Leopold. Kamjei is already en route to Tarzan with the note. That note will be the end of Lyta, and the end of her vicious followers. It is sad, I know, and, my darling, my heart does bleed for you, that more of your beloved people have been murdered in their sleep. But it has been to end all of this that I have endangered my life, and the life of my friend, Pierre. It has been to entrap Tarzan into helping our cause, that I did not guard the chambers but went in search of Kamjei. You must realize this Narda. Remember our plans? Remember all of our beautiful dreams … remember, Narda?”

  “I must rest. Forgive me, Leopold—Pierre, but even though you may find my people grotesque, they are my people. Somehow, I don’t know,” her body drooped as if in pain, her voice was filled with anguish, “I just can t seem to remember how it all started, or why…”

  The two men looked sharply at each other. This was not apart of the plan. Narda must continue her war; the snake-people must kill each other off, or all had been for naught. The Belgian moved once again-to take the lovely woman in his arms. This time she did not resist his caress. “You rest, my lovely Narda. Pierre and I will take good care no more harm befalls your people.”

  Despite her anguish, the corrupted priestess felt a stir of pleasure awaken once again within her heathen heart. “Yes, Leopold,” her soft, velvety fingers stroked his face at first gently, then intensely. “Yes, Leopold, my beloved.” She did not speak to Sortie as she walked lissomely across the room and vanished through a small, almost completely hidden doorway.

  The Belgian began to pace back and forth across the room as though plagued by demons. “That runner had better get to Tarzan today, Pierre, or this whole thing is going to blow up in our faces. Already Narda is thinking more of her people than she is of me. For the first time, she seems to be escaping from her passionate instincts—the very instincts which allowed me to set this entire scheme of things into movement.”

  The German pushed himself up to a full sitting position. “I think you are right, Keinin,” he drawled slowly, “and I think we’d better try to figure some kind of insurance for ourselves just in case the runner doesn’t make it—or in case the ape-man doesn’t fall in with us.”

  The Belgian’s eyes narrowed. “Just. what kind of insurance did you have in mind, Pierre?” To himself, he was wondering if there was some possible way to dump the entire mess into his friend’s lap, should Narda revolt, or should Tarzan refuse the ransom plea.

  “You got into Lyta’s fortress today—to get the runner. What if we could get the priestess herself? That’d stop the day snakes until we get out of here. After all, Keinin, we don’t need too much of this radium to be wealthy. Better to be rich and alive than a millionaire and dead!”

  “Your second suggestion has merit. Your first is sheer stupidity!”

  The German’s beefy face flushed with anger which he quickly controlled. After all, he thought, for the time being, this has to be his game. But he’ll pay for that remark when and if we get out of this filthy hole. “Stupidity? To capture the leader of an opposing force? I fail to see your objections?”

  “Think it over for a minute, Pierre. Lyta is Narda’s sister. They have been closer than any family or friends in the world we know because of the physical problems involved. Narda is beginning to feel remorseful about ‘her people’– about the war itself. If we bring Lyta over here, and Narda speaks with her for even a short time, she’ll end the war right then and there. Perhaps even without speaking to her, just by seeing her, she d end hostilities. And,” he pointed an accusing finger at the German, “don’t suggest hiding her where Narda can’t see her. It won’t work, and you know it. That snake-woman gets all over this valley. They both do, for that matter. No, capturing Lyta isn’t the kind of insurance that can do either of us any good.”

  The two men sat, staring pensively at the flickering light emanating from the heaps of radium-rich dirt. As if they were one, suddenly they both looked up and spoke at the same time:

  “Jane Clayton!”

  ” Even as they spoke, Jane and the young American were fighting the depths of despair together. Throughout the long day they had heard many times the sounds of movement about their prison, but no one had come near them. Had either known the sounds were those of the friendly snake-men as opposed to their captors, just a faint cry for help would have been the means of their release. Neither Jane nor Bill Harvey, however, knew of the existence of a friendly group of snake-men. To them, the horrors of the previous night were their full knowledge of these strange mutants. So they remained silent, hoping only to escape the painful jets of venom their captors used so freely.

  As the hours passed, their spirits became more and more depressed. He, because despite her courtesies and womanly gratitude, he still felt responsible for the situation she was now facing. Jane, because of her deep love for Tarzan and the unspoken fear that he might disregard her pleas and do as her vile jailers asked. When Narda brought, them some food, wild berries, fruit and a strange, jelly-like substance which both left untouched, Jane scrambled to her feet and tried to speak to the priestess. Still heartsick from the death of her followers, and still slightly enamored of the vicious Belgian who’d brought it about, Narda slapped the American woman across the face with a stinging blow. As Bill Harvey jumped to her aid, Narda lashed at him with her forked tongue. “Silence both of you! And do not tempt me further. As their priestess,” and Narda drew herself to her full height, “I, too, have the power of the poisonous venom. Do not force me to use it on you again. Eat, and wait. That is all either of you must do. You shall not be visited again this night,” Without another word the priestess whirled and left the room, a grinning snake-man taking guard before the entrance.

  Jane and Bill Harvey looked at one another in helpless desperation.

  CHAPTER XIV

  The Invaders

  Basuli had done his Job well. If the Waziri warriors did not want to fight with the great mangani, they disguised the fact. Kamjei, the runner, though on the verge of exhaustion, wanted to join them.

  Tarzan knew a giant relief when he read the message from Jane. The reference to Kala, the giant she-ape who had suckled him, told the ape-man that he had selected a fine and true woman as his mate—a woman who would put his own heart and righteousness before her safety. The message from Keinin had a very different effect. The brazen demand that Tarzan of the Apes lend himself to the ugly treachery of wiping out an innocent group of people, though they be horrendously malformed, and the Belgian’s blithe assumption that a person of his ilk had outwitted and could order about the king of the jungle brought rage to Tarzan’s heart. While he had planned to await the dawn before moving his strange army through the jungle and into the Valley of the Volcanos, the message from the evil Keinin served to dissuade him. They would move that night. They would, he abruptly advised Basuli, get ready to march forward within the hour!

  As the orders were given to the Waziri, and they began to prepare their strange and unortliodox battle garb, Tarzan called Basuli to a conference he was holding with Kuchek and Tombak. He explained his strategy quickly, glancing from time to time with his keen grey eyes at the two mangani and at his Waziri leader to ascertaift they were absorbing his instructions.