At
the nearer side of the opening he stopped and reconnoitered. There
was no one in sight. Carefully he raised his body to the threshold
of the entrance-way, his smooth brown hide glistening in the
moonlight as it shed the water in tiny sparkling rivulets.
Before him stretched a gloomy corridor, unlighted save for the faint
illumination of the diffused moonlight that penetrated it for but
a short distance from the opening. Moving as rapidly as reasonable
caution warranted, Tarzan followed the corridor into the bowels of
the cave. There was an abrupt turn and then a flight of steps at
the top of which lay another corridor running parallel with the
face of the cliff. This passage was dimly lighted by flickering
cressets set in niches in the walls at considerable distances apart.
A quick survey showed the ape-man numerous openings upon each side
of the corridor and his quick ears caught sounds that indicated that
there were other beings not far distant--priests, he concluded, in
some of the apartments letting upon the passageway.
To pass undetected through this hive of enemies appeared quite
beyond the range of possibility. He must again seek disguise and
knowing from experience how best to secure such he crept stealthily
along the corridor toward the nearest doorway. Like Numa, the
lion, stalking a wary prey he crept with quivering nostrils to the
hangings that shut off his view from the interior of the apartment
beyond.
Pages:
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257