"
10
The Forbidden Garden
Lu-don paled. "It is sacrilege," he cried; "for countless ages
have the priests of the Great God offered each night a life to the
spirit of Jad-ben-Otho as it returned below the western horizon
to its master, and never has the Great God given sign that he was
displeased."
"Stop!" commanded Tarzan. "It is the blindness of the priesthood
that has failed to read the messages of their god. Your warriors
die beneath the knives and clubs of the Wazdon; your hunters are
taken by ja and jato; no day goes by but witnesses the deaths of
few or many in the villages of the Ho-don, and one death each day
of those that die are the toll which Jad-ben-Otho has exacted for
the lives you take upon the eastern altar. What greater sign of
his displeasure could you require, O stupid priest?"
Lu-don was silent. There was raging within him a great conflict
between his fear that this indeed might be the son of god and his
hope that it was not, but at last his fear won and he bowed his
head. "The son of Jad-ben-Otho has spoken," he said, and turning
to one of the lesser priests: "Remove the bars and return these
people from whence they came."
He thus addressed did as he was bid and as the bars came down the
prisoners, now all fully aware of the miracle that had saved them,
crowded forward and throwing themselves upon their knees before
Tarzan raised their voices in thanksgiving.
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