The rope held him. There was no sound from
above, nor any from the trap below.
Slowly and cautiously he drew himself upward, hand over hand. Nearer
and nearer the roof he came. In a moment his eyes would be above
the level of the floor above. Already his extended arms projected
into the upper chamber and then something closed suddenly upon
both his forearms, pinioning them tightly and leaving him hanging
in mid-air unable to advance or retreat.
Immediately a light appeared in the room above him and presently
he saw the hideous mask of a priest peering down upon him. In the
priest's hands were leathern thongs and these he tied about Tarzan's
wrists and forearms until they were completely bound together
from his elbows almost to his fingers. Behind this priest Tarzan
presently saw others and soon several lay hold of him and pulled
him up through the hole.
Almost instantly his eyes were above the level of the floor he
understood how they had trapped him. Two nooses had lain encircling
the aperture into the cell below. A priest had waited at the end
of each of these ropes and at opposite sides of the chamber. When
he had climbed to a sufficient height upon the rope that had dangled
into his prison below and his arms were well within the encircling
snares the two priests had pulled quickly upon their ropes and he
had been made an easy captive without any opportunity of defending
himself or inflicting injury upon his captors.
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