"And who are these who lie here thus unhappily?" he asked of Lu-don.
It was the first question that he had put to the high priest since
entering the temple, and instantly he regretted that he had asked
it, for Lu-don turned upon him a face upon which the expression of
suspicion was but thinly veiled.
"Who should know better than the son of Jad-ben-Otho?" he retorted.
"The questions of Dor-ul-Otho are not with impunity answered with
other questions," said the ape-man quietly, "and it may interest
Lu-don, the high priest, to know that the blood of a false priest
upon the altar of his temple is not displeasing in the eyes of
Jad-ben-Otho."
Lu-don paled as he answered Tarzan's question. "They are the offerings
whose blood must refresh the eastern altars as the sun returns to
your father at the day's end."
"And who told you," asked Tarzan, "that Jad-ben-Otho was pleased that
his people were slain upon his altars? What if you were mistaken?"
"Then countless thousands have died in vain," replied Lu-don.
Ko-tan and the surrounding warriors and priests were listening
attentively to the dialogue. Some of the poor victims behind the
barred gateway had heard and rising, pressed close to the barrier
through which one was conducted just before sunset each day, never
to return.
"Liberate them!" cried Tarzan with a wave of his hand toward the
imprisoned victims of a cruel superstition, "for I can tell you in
the name of Jad-ben-Otho that you are mistaken.
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