登陆注册
15329300000065

第65章

The Secret Way

IT WAS a baffled gryf that bellowed in angry rage as Tarzan's sleek brown body cutting the moonlit waters shot through the aperture in the wall of the gryf pool and out into the lake beyond.The ape-man smiled as he thought of the comparative ease with which he had defeated the purpose of the high priest but his face clouded again at the ensuing remembrance of the grave danger that threatened his mate.His sole object now must be to return as quickly as he might to the chamber where he had last seen her on the third floor of the Temple of the Gryf, but how he was to find his way again into the temple grounds was a question not easy of solution.

In the moonlight he could see the sheer cliff rising from the water for a great distance along the shore--far beyond the precincts of the temple and the palace--towering high above him, a seemingly impregnable barrier against his return.Swimming close in, he skirted the wall searching diligently for some foothold, however slight, upon its smooth, forbidding surface.

Above him and quite out of reach were numerous apertures, but there were no means at hand by which he could reach them.

Presently, however, his hopes were raised by the sight of an opening level with the surface of the water.It lay just ahead and a few strokes brought him to it--cautious strokes that brought forth no sound from the yielding waters.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.A moment later his head disappeared within; then his shoulders, and his lithe body, and the hangings dropped quietly into place again.A moment later there filtered to the vacant corridor without a brief, gasping gurgle and again silence.A minute passed; a second, and a third, and then the hangings were thrust aside and a grimly masked priest of the temple of Jad-ben-Otho strode into the passageway.

With bold steps he moved along and was about to turn into a diverging gallery when his attention was aroused by voices coming from a room upon his left.Instantly the figure halted and crossing the corridor stood with an ear close to the skins that concealed the occupants of the room from him, and him from them.

Presently he leaped back into the concealing shadows of the diverging gallery and immediately thereafter the hangings by which he had been listening parted and a priest emerged to turn quickly down the main corridor.The eavesdropper waited until the other had gained a little distance and then stepping from his place of concealment followed silently behind.

The way led along the corridor which ran parallel with the face of the cliff for some little distance and then Pan-sat, taking a cresset from one of the wall niches, turned abruptly into a small apartment at his left.The tracker followed cautiously in time to see the rays of the flickering light dimly visible from an aperture in the floor before him.Here he found a series of steps, similar to those used by the Waz-don in scaling the cliff to their caves, leading to a lower level.

First satisfying himself that his guide was continuing upon his way unsuspecting, the other descended after him and continued his stealthy stalking.The passageway was now both narrow and low, giving but bare headroom to a tall man, and it was broken often by flights of steps leading always downward.The steps in each unit seldom numbered more than six and sometimes there was only one or two but in the aggregate the tracker imagined that they had descended between fifty and seventy-five feet from the level of the upper corridor when the passageway terminated in a small apartment at one side of which was a little pile of rubble.

Setting his cresset upon the ground, Pan-sat commenced hurriedly to toss the bits of broken stone aside, presently revealing a small aperture at the base of the wall upon the opposite side of which there appeared to be a further accumulation of rubble.This he also removed until he had a hole of sufficient size to permit the passage of his body, and leaving the cresset still burning upon the floor the priest crawled through the opening he had made and disappeared from the sight of the watcher hiding in the shadows of the narrow passageway behind him.

No sooner, however, was he safely gone than the other followed, finding himself, after passing through the hole, on a little ledge about halfway between the surface of the lake and the top of the cliff above.The ledge inclined steeply upward, ending at the rear of a building which stood upon the edge of the cliff and which the second priest entered just in time to see Pan-sat pass out into the city beyond.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 南歌余声

    南歌余声

    一场屠杀,两段命运。再次相逢,犹如陌路。猜忌,试探,伤害。当他一步步踏入迷雾,当真相层层揭露,那个所期盼是却又不是的事实如尖刀刺骨,痛不欲生。简介无能,简单来讲,就是一个浴火重生,归来复仇与亲人朋友相见不相认的故事。
  • 大神逆天后会无期

    大神逆天后会无期

    “夜幽寒!你给我站住!!!”唐糖手叉腰怒吼,像极了泼妇骂街,和她的样子格格不入。那名叫做夜幽寒的少年回过头,问道:“我像笨蛋吗?”懒散的声音在唐糖听着就是超级欠扁,但还是回答了“不像啊,咋了?”唐糖歪了歪头,表示不鸡倒。少年唉了一口气,跳下窗口,“只有笨蛋才会站住”“喂!这是二楼…你说什么!!!”唐糖气得头发都竖直起来了。
  • 神兵百刃

    神兵百刃

    厌倦了千篇一律的程式化玄幻法宝打斗,笔者想要挑战更加细致的伪实践流打斗描写。看主人公从开头到结尾在一场接一场的战斗中成长为三界第一人。
  • TFBOYS之梦在未来绽放

    TFBOYS之梦在未来绽放

    面对闪耀的他们,她们醒悟,疯够了,玩够了是该好好想想了,现在才明白与他们之间的距离是那么遥不可及,他们是太阳,看的到,但却触摸不到‘我会fighting,追上他的脚步!’
  • 灭世武皇

    灭世武皇

    命运这种东西,生来就是要被强者踏于足下的!仿佛死神环绕!他们一同睁眼,泣血的双瞳如一对对来自地狱的萤火虫在黑暗中飞舞。他手执擎天的巨剑誓斩断这多揣的命途,哪怕前进的道路上横亘着神一样的敌人也在所不惜,这个从兵痞起家的男人也会挥舞着手中的巨剑义无反顾的迎上去,这一切的一切都只为笃定心中“毁天灭地”的誓言!
  • 秘语笌笌

    秘语笌笌

    他的离去是我一分不堪一分,思念源源不断,一个神奇的雕刻,一个黄发女人的到来,你的再次离去,我该如何是好?
  • 启迪青少年学习做人智慧的故事

    启迪青少年学习做人智慧的故事

    本书分为励志篇和哲理篇,内容系统,包括爱的内涵、为人处世、智慧人生、走向成功、挑战命运、教育哲理、财富智慧等内容,多层面、多角度,深入浅出地阐述了人生哲理。将许多人生哲理以最简单、最朴实的方式呈现给读者,计读者能抛开理论的迷雾,直入心灵,获得人生感悟。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 冰魄天尊

    冰魄天尊

    本书因为是小龙第一次写书,文笔不够好已经断更,按照同样的写作模板和崭新的文风发布了新书《冰绝天尊》,隐藏背景故事相同的情况下调整了冲突的并发性,希望大家喜欢。
  • 三界传说:天神

    三界传说:天神

    传说在上古时期,有一天,天气发生了异象,一块名为三色石的石头从天而坠,忍不住烈火的燃烧,突然爆炸,随即碎裂成三片分别朝着三个不同的地方坠落。神、鬼、妖三个种族有幸夺得了其中三块,借助了上天的力量吞噬掉其他的种族,形成了三大势力......