The Flight from Xuja

Tarzan the Untamed

by Edgar R. Burroughs

THE FLIGHT FROM XUJA, TARZAN THE UNTAMED by Edgar R. Burroughs
An eText from LiteratureClassics.com.

Please see the eText readme for important copyright information (available from the options menu above if you are browsing online or as a separate file in the archive if you are browsing offline.)



As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the
pool, the girl at first had no conception of the deed he
contemplated but when, as they approached the edge,
he did not lessen his speed she guessed the frightful truth. As
he leaped head foremost with her into the water, she closed
her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she was confident
that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown himself
and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that even
in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself, she
clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free her-
self from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her
breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters
must inevitably flood her lungs.

Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute con-
trol of her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware
that the man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He
took perhaps not more than a dozen strokes directly toward
the end wall of the pool and then he arose; and once again she
knew that her head was above the surface. She opened her
eyes to see that they were in a corridor dimly lighted by grat-
ings set in its roof -- a winding corridor, water filled from
wall
to wall.

Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful
strokes, at the same time holding her chin above the water.
For ten minutes he swam thus without stopping and the girl
heard him speak to her, though she could not understand what
he said, as he evidently immediately realized, for, half
floating,
he shifted his hold upon her so that he could touch her nose
and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She grasped what he
meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat he dove
quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and
again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly
submerged.

When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw
that they were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars were
shining high above them, while on either hand domed and
minareted buildings were silhouetted sharply against the star-
lit sky. Metak swam swiftly to the north side of the lagoon
where, by means of a ladder, the two climbed out upon the
embankment. There were others in the plaza but they paid but
little if any attention to the two bedraggled figures. As Metak
walked quickly across the pavement with the girl at his side,
Bertha Kircher could only guess at the man's intentions. She
could see no way in which to escape and so she went docilely
with him, hoping against hope that some fortuitous circum-
stance might eventually arise that would give her the coveted
chance for freedom and life.

Metak led her toward a building which, as she entered, she
recognized as the same to which she and Lieutenant Smith-
Oldwick had been led when they were brought into the city.
There was no man sitting behind the carved desk now, but
about the room were a dozen or more warriors in the tunics
of the house to which they were attached, in this case white
with a small lion in the form of a crest or badge upon the
breast and back of each.

As Metak entered and the men recognized him they arose,
and in answer to a query he put, they pointed to an arched
doorway at the rear of the room. Toward this Metak led the
girl, and then, as though filled with a sudden suspicion, his
eyes
narrowed cunningly and turning toward the soldiery he issued
an order which resulted in their all preceding him through the
small doorway and up a flight of stairs a short distance beyond.

The stairway and the corridor above were lighted by small
flares which revealed several doors in the walls of the upper
passageway. To one of these the men led the prince. Bertha
Kircher saw them knock upon the door and heard a voice reply
faintly through the thick door to the summons. The effect
upon those about her was electrical. Instantly excitement
reigned, and in response to orders from the king's son the
soldiers commenced to beat heavily upon the door, to throw
their bodies against it and to attempt to hew away the panels
with their sabers. The girl wondered at the cause of the evident
excitement of her captors.

She saw the door giving to each renewed assault, but what
she did not see just before it crashed inward was the figures of
the two men who alone, in all the world, might have saved
her, pass between the heavy hangings in an adjoining alcove
and disappear into a dark corridor.

As the door gave and the warriors rushed into the apartment
followed by the prince, the latter became immediately filled
with baffled rage, for the rooms were deserted except for the
dead body of the owner of the palace, and the still form of the
black slave, Otobu, where they lay stretched upon the floor of
the alcove.

The prince rushed to the windows and looked out, but as
the suite overlooked the barred den of lions from which, the
prince thought, there could be no escape, his puzzlement was
only increased. Though he searched about the room for some
clue to the whereabouts of its former occupants he did not dis-
cover the niche behind the hangings. With the fickleness of
insanity he quickly tired of the search, and, turning to the
soldiers who had accompanied him from the floor below,
dismissed them.

After setting up the broken door as best they could, the men
left the apartment and when they were again alone Metak
turned toward the girl. As he approached her, his face dis-
torted by a hideous leer, his features worked rapidly in spas-
modic twitches. The girl, who was standing at the entrance of
the alcove, shrank back, her horror reflected in her face. Step
by step she backed across the room, while the crouching
maniac crept stealthily after her with clawlike fingers poised
in anticipation of the moment they should leap forth and
seize her.

As she passed the body of the Negro, her foot touched some
obstacle at her side, and glancing down she saw the spear with
which Otobu had been supposed to hold the prisoners. In-
stantly she leaned forward and snatched it from the floor
with its sharp point directed at the body of the madman. The
effect upon Metak was electrical. From stealthy silence he
broke into harsh peals of laughter, and drawing his saber
danced to and fro before the girl, but whichever way he went
the point of the spear still threatened him.

Gradually the girl noticed a change in the tone of the crea-
ture's screams that was also reflected in the changing expres-
sion upon his hideous countenance. His hysterical laughter
was slowly changing into cries of rage while the silly leer upon
his face was supplanted by a ferocious scowl and upcurled
lips, which revealed the sharpened fangs beneath.

He now ran rapidly in almost to the spear's point, only to
jump away, run a few steps to one side and again attempt to
make an entrance, the while he slashed and hewed at the
spear with such violence that it was with difficulty the girl
maintained her guard, and all the time was forced to give
ground step by step. She had reached the point where she was
standing squarely against the couch at the side of the room
when, with an incredibly swift movement, Metak stooped and
grasping a low stool hurled it directly at her head.

She raised the spear to fend off the heavy missile, but she
was not entirely successful, and the impact of the blow carried
her backward upon the couch, and instantly Metak was upon her.

Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick gave little thought as to what
had become of the other two occupants of the room. They
were gone, and so far as these two were concerned they might
never return. Tarzan's one desire was to reach the street
again, where, now that both of them were in some sort of
disguise, they should be able to proceed with comparative
safety to the palace and continue their search for the girl.

Smith-Oldwick preceded Tarzan along the corridor and as
they reached the ladder he climbed aloft to remove the trap.
He worked for a moment and then, turning, addressed Tarzan.

"Did we replace the cover on this trap when we came down?
I don't recall that we did."

"No," said Tarzan, "it was left open."

"So I thought," said Smith-Oldwick, "but it's closed now
and locked. I cannot move it. Possibly you can," and he
descended the ladder.

Even Tarzan's immense strength, however, had no effect
other than to break one of the rungs of the ladder against
which he was pushing, nearly precipitating him to the floor
below. After the rung broke he rested for a moment before
renewing his efforts, and as he stood with his head near the
cover of the trap, he distinctly heard voices on the roof above
him.

Dropping down to Oldwick's side he told him what he had
heard. "We had better find some other way out," he said, and
the two started to retrace their steps toward the alcove. Tarzan
was again in the lead, and as he opened the door in the back
of the niche, he was suddenly startled to hear, in tones of
terror and in a woman's voice, the words: "O God, be merci-
ful" from just beyond the hangings.

Here was no time for cautious investigation and, not even
waiting to find the aperture and part the hangings, but with
one sweep of a brawny hand dragging them from their sup-
port, the ape-man leaped from the niche into the alcove.

At the sound of his entry the maniac looked up, and as he
saw at first only a man in the uniform of his father's soldiers,
he shrieked forth an angry order, but at the second glance,
which revealed the face of the newcomer, the madman leaped
from the prostrate form of his victim and, apparently for-
getful of the saber which he had dropped upon the floor beside
the couch as he leaped to grapple with the girl, closed with
bare hands upon his antagonist, his sharp-filed teeth searching
for the other's throat.

Metak, the son of Herog, was no weakling. Powerful by
nature and rendered still more so in the throes of one of his
maniacal fits of fury he was no mean antagonist, even for the
mighty ape-man, and to this a distinct advantage for him was
added by the fact that almost at the outset of their battle
Tarzan, in stepping backward, struck his heel against the
corpse of the man whom Smith-Oldwick had killed, and fell
heavily backward to the floor with Metak upon his breast.

With the quickness of a cat the maniac made an attempt to
fasten his teeth in Tarzan's jugular, but a quick movement of
the latter resulted in his finding a hold only upon the Tar-
mangani's shoulder. Here he clung while his fingers sought
Tarzan's throat, and it was then that the ape-man, realizing
the possibility of defeat, called to Smith-Oldwick to take the
girl and seek to escape.

The Englishman looked questioningly at Bertha Kircher,
who had now risen from the couch, shaking and trembling.
She saw the question in his eyes and with an effort she drew
herself to her full height. "No," she cried, "if he dies here I
shall die with him. Go if you wish to. You can do nothing
here, but I -- I cannot go."

Tarzan had now regained his feet, but the maniac still clung
to him tenaciously. The girl turned suddenly to Smith-Oldwick.
"Your pistol!" she cried. "Why don't you shoot him?"

The man drew the weapon from his pocket and approached
the two antagonists, but by this time they were moving so
rapidly that there was no opportunity for shooting one without
the danger of hitting the other. At the same time Bertha
Kircher circled about them with the prince's saber, but neither
could she find an opening. Again and again the two men fell
to the floor, until presently Tarzan found a hold upon the
other's throat, against which contingency Metak had been
constantly battling, and slowly, as the giant fingers closed, the
other's mad eyes protruded from his livid face, his jaws gaped
and released their hold upon Tarzan's shoulder, and then in a
sudden excess of disgust and rage the ape-man lifted the body
of the prince high above his head and with all the strength of
his great arms hurled it across the room and through the
window where it fell with a sickening thud into the pit of lions
beneath.

As Tarzan turned again toward his companions, the girl was
standing with the saber still in her hand and an expression
upon her face that he never had seen there before. Her eyes
were wide and misty with unshed tears, while her sensitive lips
trembled as though she were upon the point of giving way to
some pent emotion which her rapidly rising and falling bosom
plainly indicated she was fighting to control.

"If we are going to get out of here," said the ape-man, "we
can't lose any time. We are together at last and nothing can
be gained by delay. The question now is the safest way. The
couple who escaped us evidently departed through the pas-
sageway to the roof and secured the trap against us so that
we are cut off in that direction. What chance have we below?
You came that way," and he turned toward the girl.

"At the foot of the stairs," she said, "is a room full of armed
men. I doubt if we could pass that way."

It was then that Otobu raised himself to a sitting posture.
"So you are not dead after all," exclaimed the ape-man.
"Come, how badly are you hurt?"

The Negro rose gingerly to his feet, moved his arms and
legs and felt of his head.

"Otobu does not seem to be hurt at all, Bwana," he replied,
"only for a great ache in his head."

"Good," said the ape-man. "You want to return to the
Wamabo country?"

"Yes, Bwana."

"Then lead us from the city by the safest way."

"There is no safe way," replied the black, "and even if we
reach the gates we shall have to fight. I can lead you from this
building to a side street with little danger of meeting anyone
on the way. Beyond that we must take our chance of discov-
ery. You are all dressed as are the people of this wicked city so
perhaps we may pass unnoticed, but at the gate it will be a dif-
ferent matter, for none is permitted to leave the city at night."

"Very well," replied the ape-man, "let us be on our way."

Otobu led them through the broken door of the outer room,
and part way down the corridor he turned into another apart-
ment at the right. This they crossed to a passageway beyond,
and, finally, traversing several rooms and corridors, he led
them down a flight of steps to a door which opened directly
upon a side street in rear of the palace.

Two men, a woman, and a black slave were not so extraordi-
nary a sight upon the streets of the city as to arouse comment.
When passing beneath the flares the three Europeans were
careful to choose a moment when no chance pedestrian might
happen to get a view of their features, but in the shadow of
the arcades there seemed little danger of detection. They had
covered a good portion of the distance to the gate without mis-
hap when there came to their ears from the central portion
of the city sounds of a great commotion.

"What does that mean?" Tarzan asked of Otobu, who was
now trembling violently.

"Master," he replied, "they have discovered that which has
happened in the palace of Veza, mayor of the city. His son and
the girl escaped and summoned soldiers who have now doubt-
less discovered the body of Veza."

"I wonder," said Tarzan, "if they have discovered the party
I threw through the window."

Bertha Kircher, who understood enough of the dialect to
follow their conversation, asked Tarzan if he knew that the
man he had thrown from the window was the king's son. The
ape-man laughed. "No," he said, "I did not. That rather
complicates matters -- at least if they have found him."

Suddenly there broke above the turmoil behind them the
clear strains of a bugle. Otobu increased his pace. "Hurry,
Master," he cried, "it is worse than I had thought."

"What do you mean?" asked Tarzan.

"For some reason the king's guard and the king's lions are
being called out. I fear, O Bwana, that we cannot escape them.
But why they should be called out for us I do not know."

But if Otobu did not know, Tarzan at least guessed that they
had found the body of the king's son. Once again the notes of
the bugle rose high and clear upon the night air. "Calling more
lions?" asked Tarzan.

"No, Master," replied Otobu. "It is the parrots they are
calling."

They moved on rapidly in silence for a few minutes when
their attention was attracted by the flapping of the wings of a
bird above them. They looked up to discover a parrot circling
about over their heads.

"Here are the parrots, Otobu," said Tarzan with a grin.
"Do they expect to kill us with parrots?"

The Negro moaned as the bird darted suddenly ahead of
them toward the city wall. "Now indeed are we lost, Master,"
cried the black. "The bird that found us has flown to the gate
to warn the guard."

"Come, Otobu, what are you talking about?" exclaimed
Tarzan irritably. "Have you lived among these lunatics so
long that you are yourself mad?"

"No, Master," replied Otobu. "I am not mad. You do not
know them. These terrible birds are like human beings with-
out hearts or souls. They speak the language of the people of
this city of Xuja. They are demons, Master, and when in
sufficient numbers they might even attack and kill us."

"How far are we from the gate?" asked Tarzan.

"We are not very far," replied the Negro. "Beyond this next
turn we will see it a few paces ahead of us. But the bird has
reached it before us and by now they are summoning the
guard," the truth of which statement was almost immediately
indicated by sounds of many voices raised evidently in com-
mands just ahead of them, while from behind came increased
evidence of approaching pursuit -- loud screams and the roars
of lions.

A few steps ahead a narrow alley opened from the east into
the thoroughfare they were following and as they approached
it there emerged from its dark shadows the figure of a mighty
lion. Otobu halted in his tracks and shrank back against
Tarzan. "Look, Master," he whimpered, "a great black lion
of the forest!"

Tarzan drew the saber which still hung at his side. "We
cannot go back," he said. "Lions, parrots, or men, it must be
all the same," and he moved steadily forward in the direction
of the gate. What wind was stirring in the city street moved
from Tarzan toward the lion and when the ape-man had ap-
proached to within a few yards of the beast, who had stood
silently eyeing them up to this time, instead of the expected
roar, a whine broke from the beast's throat. The ape-man was
conscious of a very decided feeling of relief. "It's Numa of
the pit," he called back to his companions, and to Otobu, "Do
not fear, this lion will not harm us."

Numa moved forward to the ape-man's side and then
turning, paced beside him along the narrow street. At the next
turn they came in sight of the gate, where, beneath several
flares, they saw a group of at least twenty warriors prepared
to seize them, while from the opposite direction the roars of
the pursuing lions sounded close upon them, mingling with the
screams of numerous parrots which now circled about their
heads. Tarzan halted and turned to the young aviator. "How
many rounds of ammunition have you left?" he asked.

"I have seven in the pistol," replied Smith-Oldwick, "and
perhaps a dozen more cartridges in my blouse pocket."

"I'm going to rush them," said Tarzan. "Otobu, you stay at
the side of the woman. Oldwick, you and I will go ahead, you
upon my left. I think we need not try to tell Numa what to
do," for even then the great lion was baring his fangs and
growling ferociously at the guardsmen, who appeared uneasy
in the face of this creature which, above all others, they
feared.

"As we advance, Oldwick," said the ape-man, "fire one shot.
It may frighten them, and after that fire only when necessary.
All ready? Let's go!" and he moved forward toward the gate.
At the same time, Smith-Oldwick discharged his weapon and a
yellow-coated warrior screamed and crumpled forward upon
his face. For a minute the others showed symptoms of panic
but one, who seemed to be an officer, rallied them. "Now,"
said Tarzan, "all together!" and he started at a run for the
gate. Simultaneously the lion, evidently scenting the purpose
of the Tarmangani, broke into a full charge toward the guard.

Shaken by the report of the unfamiliar weapon, the ranks
of the guardsmen broke before the furious assault of the great
beast. The officer screamed forth a volley of commands in a
mad fury of uncontrolled rage but the guardsmen, obeying the
first law of nature as well as actuated by their inherent fear of
the black denizen of the forest scattered to right and left to
elude the monster. With ferocious growls Numa wheeled to
the right, and with raking talons struck right and left among a
little handful of terrified guardsmen who were endeavoring
to elude him, and then Tarzan and Smith-Oldwick closed with
the others.

For a moment their most formidable antagonist was the
officer in command. He wielded his curved saber as only an
adept might as he faced Tarzan, to whom the similar weapon
in his own hand was most unfamiliar. Smith-Oldwick could
not fire for fear of hitting the ape-man when suddenly to his
dismay he saw Tarzan's weapon fly from his grasp as the
Xujan warrior neatly disarmed his opponent. With a scream
the fellow raised his saber for the final cut that would termi-
nate the earthly career of Tarzan of the Apes when, to the
astonishment of both the ape-man and Smith-Oldwick, the
fellow stiffened rigidly, his weapon dropped from the nerve-
less fingers of his upraised hand, his mad eyes rolled upward
and foam flecked his bared lip. Gasping as though in the
throes of strangulation the fellow pitched forward at Tarzan's
feet.

Tarzan stooped and picked up the dead man's weapon, a
smile upon his face as he turned and glanced toward the
young Englishman.

"The fellow is an epileptic," said Smith-Oldwick. "I sup-
pose many of them are. Their nervous condition is not with-
out its good points -- a normal man would have gotten you."

The other guardsmen seemed utterly demoralized at the
loss of their leader. They were huddled upon the opposite
side of the street at the left of the gate, screaming at the tops
of their voices and looking in the direction from which sounds
of reinforcements were coming, as though urging on the men
and lions that were already too close for the comfort of the
fugitives. Six guardsmen still stood with their backs against
the gate, their weapons flashing in the light of the flares and
their parchment-like faces distorted in horrid grimaces of rage
and terror.

Numa had pursued two fleeing warriors down the street
which paralleled the wall for a short distance at this point.
The ape-man turned to Smith-Oldwick. "You will have to
use your pistol now," he said, "and we must get by these
fellows at once;" and as the young Englishman fired, Tarzan
rushed in to close quarters as though he had not already dis-
covered that with the saber he was no match for these trained
swordsmen. Two men fell to Smith-Oldwick's first two shots
and then he missed, while the four remaining divided, two
leaping for the aviator and two for Tarzan.

The ape-man rushed in in an effort to close with one of his
antagonists where the other's saber would be comparatively
useless. Smith-Oldwick dropped one of his assailants with a
bullet through the chest and pulled his trigger on the second,
only to have the hammer fall futilely upon an empty chamber.
The cartridges in his weapon were exhausted and the warrior
with his razor-edged, gleaming saber was upon him.

Tarzan raised his own weapon but once and that to divert a
vicious cut for his head. Then he was upon one of his assail-
ants and before the fellow could regain his equilibrium and
leap back after delivering his cut, the ape-man had seized him
by the neck and crotch. Tarzan's other antagonist was edging
around to one side where he might use his weapon, and as he
raised the blade to strike at the back of the Tarmangani's neck,
the latter swung the body of his comrade upward so that it
received the full force of the blow. The blade sank deep into
the body of the warrior, eliciting a single frightful scream, and
then Tarzan hurled the dying man in the face of his final
adversary.

Smith-Oldwick, hard pressed and now utterly defenseless,
had given up all hope in the instant that he realized his
weapon was empty, when, from his left, a living bolt of black-
maned ferocity shot past him to the breast of his opponent.
Down went the Xujan, his face bitten away by one snap of the
powerful jaws of Numa of the pit.

In the few seconds that had been required for the consum-
mation of these rapidly ensuing events, Otobu had dragged
Bertha Kircher to the gate which he had unbarred and thrown
open, and with the vanquishing of the last of the active guards-
men, the party passed out of the maniac city of Xuja into the
outer darkness beyond. At the same moment a half dozen
lions rounded the last turn in the road leading back toward the
plaza, and at sight of them Numa of the pit wheeled and
charged. For a moment the lions of the city stood their
ground, but only for a moment, and then before the black
beast was upon them, they turned and fled, while Tarzan and
his party moved rapidly toward the blackness of the forest
beyond the garden.

"Will they follow us out of the city?" Tarzan asked Otobu.

"Not at night," replied the black. "I have been a slave here
for five years but never have I known these people to leave
the city by night. If they go beyond the forest in the daytime
they usually wait until the dawn of another day before they
return, as they fear to pass through the country of the black
lions after dark. No, I think, Master, that they will not follow
us tonight, but tomorrow they will come, and, O Bwana, then
will they surely get us, or those that are left of us, for at
least
one among us must be the toll of the black lions as we pass
through their forest."

As they crossed the garden, Smith-Oldwick refilled the
magazine of his pistol and inserted a cartridge in the chamber.
The girl moved silently at Tarzan's left, between him and the
aviator. Suddenly the ape-man stopped and turned toward
the city, his mighty frame, clothed in the yellow tunic of
Herog's soldiery, plainly visible to the others beneath the light
of the stars. They saw him raise his head and they heard
break from his lips the plaintive note of a lion calling to his
fellows. Smith-Oldwick felt a distinct shudder pass through
his frame, while Otobu, rolling the whites of his eyes in ter-
rified surprise, sank tremblingly to his knees. But the girl
thrilled and she felt her heart beat in a strange exultation, and
then she drew nearer to the beast-man until her shoulder
touched his arm. The act was involuntary and for a moment
she scarce realized what she had done, and then she stepped
silently back, thankful that the light of the stars was not
sufficient to reveal to the eyes of her companions the flush
which she felt mantling her cheek. Yet she was not ashamed
of the impulse that had prompted her, but rather of the act
itself which she knew, had Tarzan noticed it, would have been
repulsive to him.

From the open gate of the city of maniacs came the answer-
ing cry of a lion. The little group waited where they stood
until presently they saw the majestic proportions of the black
lion as he approached them along the trail. When he had
rejoined them Tarzan fastened the fingers of one hand in the
black mane and started on once more toward the forest. Be-
hind them, from the city, rose a bedlam of horrid sounds, the
roaring of lions mingling with the raucous voices of the
screaming parrots and the mad shrieks of the maniacs. As
they entered the Stygian darkness of the forest the girl once
again involuntarily shrank closer to the ape-man, and this time
Tarzan was aware of the contact.

Himself without fear, he yet instinctively appreciated how
terrified the girl must be. Actuated by a sudden kindly im-
pulse he found her hand and took it in his own and thus they
continued upon their way, groping through the blackness of
the trail. Twice they were approached by forest lions, but
upon both occasions the deep growls of Numa of the pit drove
off their assailants. Several times they were compelled to rest,
for Smith-Oldwick was constantly upon the verge of exhaus-
tion, and toward morning Tarzan was forced to carry him on
the steep ascent from the bed of the valley.