And then a third warrior entered the corridor and all of the
newcomers came together before the door of the ape-man's slumbering
mate. And one was the strange warrior who had met Ja-don and Tarzan
outside the city of Ja-lur as they had approached it the previous
day; and he was the same warrior who had entered the temple a short
hour before, but the faces of his fellows were unfamiliar, even to
one another, since it is seldom that a priest removes his hideous
headdress in the presence even of his associates.
Silently they lifted the hangings that hid the interior of the
room from the view of those who passed through the corridor, and
stealthily slunk within. Upon a pile of furs in a far corner lay
the sleeping form of Lady Greystoke. The bare feet of the intruders
gave forth no sound as they crossed the stone floor toward her.
A ray of moonlight entering through a window near her couch shone
full upon her, revealing the beautiful contours of an arm and
shoulder in cameo-distinctness against the dark furry pelt beneath
which she slept, and the perfect profile that was turned toward
the skulking three.
But neither the beauty nor the helplessness of the sleeper aroused
such sentiments of passion or pity as might stir in the breasts of
normal men. To the three priests she was but a lump of clay, nor
could they conceive aught of that passion which had aroused men to
intrigue and to murder for possession of this beautiful American
girl, and which even now was influencing the destiny of undiscovered
Pal-ul-don.
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