02.03.2013 Views

READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Tarzan on Mars<br />

large enough to admit her slender body. However, as she was<br />

about to crawl through her eyes rested once more upon the<br />

fallen body of the high priest. And suddenly a vengeful smile<br />

curved her lips. No wound was apparent on Cadj. Perhaps,<br />

she reasoned, his heart had stopped as the result of his<br />

strenuous fit of madness, but there was a way of making the<br />

others who might follow him to this spot believe that the old<br />

superstition was true—that the dead had offered him up in<br />

sacrifice.<br />

She took hold of his limp, heavy arms and dragged him<br />

to the altar. Struggling determinedly, she finally pulled him<br />

up onto it and rolled him over onto his back, where his dead,<br />

horror-widened eyes could be seen. This, she thought with<br />

grim satisfaction, would provide a more certain barrier to<br />

further pursuit than a ten foot wall of granite.<br />

After she had passed through the opening in the wall, she<br />

carefully replaced the stones, duplicating Tarzan's own<br />

handiwork of years gone by. And then she continued on her<br />

way, confident now that she would soon find the ancient<br />

treasure vaults and the outside exit to the valley.<br />

It was not long before she came to a round shaft in the<br />

floor. Fortunately, illumination from above revealed the pit in<br />

time, or she might have plunged to destruction in its dark<br />

depths. Dimly she remembered this place. She had visited it<br />

so long ago that it was impossible to count the years. It was<br />

an old well that the workers in the mines had used, and it had<br />

once been covered with wood. Beyond this place, she knew<br />

for sure, she would find a wooden door that would give her<br />

entrance to the main treasure vault of Opar.<br />

She made a quick little run and leapt across the shaft,<br />

landing just on its farther edge. Then she continued onward<br />

and soon discovered that which she sought. The great door<br />

complained loudly as she struggled to push it inward, but at<br />

last she stood within that darkened vault where a hundred<br />

kings' ransoms in golden ingots lay neatly piled, row upon<br />

42

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!