Nothing very
useful to you or me, perhaps; but nothing useless to the savage
life of the ape-man.
When Tarzan realized the trick that had been so neatly played upon
him he had awaited expectantly the coming of the lion, for though
the scent of ja was old he was sure that sooner or later they would
let one of the beasts in upon him. His first consideration was a
thorough exploration of his prison. He had noticed the hide-covered
windows and these he immediately uncovered, letting in the light,
and revealing the fact that though the chamber was far below the
level of the temple courts it was yet many feet above the base of
the hill from which the temple was hewn. The windows were so closely
barred that he could not see over the edge of the thick wall in
which they were cut to determine what lay close in below him. At
a little distance were the blue waters of Jad-in-lul and beyond,
the verdure-clad farther shore, and beyond that the mountains. It
was a beautiful picture upon which he looked--a picture of peace
and harmony and quiet. Nor anywhere a slightest suggestion of the
savage men and beasts that claimed this lovely landscape as their
own. What a paradise! And some day civilized man would come
and--spoil it! Ruthless axes would raze that age-old wood; black,
sticky smoke would rise from ugly chimneys against that azure sky;
grimy little boats with wheels behind or upon either side would
churn the mud from the bottom of Jad-in-lul, turning its blue waters
to a dirty brown; hideous piers would project into the lake from
squalid buildings of corrugated iron, doubtless, for of such are
the pioneer cities of the world.
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