Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 74, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1920 — TARZAN AND THE Jewels of Opar [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TARZAN AND THE Jewels of Opar

By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

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SYNOPSIS. CHAPTER I.—Hiding in the Jungle after killing his captain in a fit Of brooding madness, Lieut. Albert Werper, Belgian ofllcer, is captured by Achmet Zek, Arab slave raider, who spares his life and proposes to him a scheme to kidnap Jane, wife of Tarxan (Lord Greystoke) and sell her into slavery. Werper accepts. CHAPTER IL—Posing as Jules Frecoult. French traveler, Werper is hospitably received by the Greystokes. He learns his host is in financial straits and plans an expedition to the treasure vaults of Opar to procure gold. Werper Informs Achmet Zek of the opportunity to seise Lady Greystoke, and follows Tarsan to learn the secret of Onar •

CHAPTER IV. The Altar of the Flaming God. It was at the moment that Tarzan turned from the closed door to pursue his way to the outer world. The thing came without warning. One instant afl was quiet and stability—the next, the world rocked, the tortured sides of the narrow passageway split and crumbled, great blocks of granite, dislodged from the celling, tumbled into the narrow way, choking it, and the walls bent Inward upon the wreckage. Beneath the blow of a fragment of the roof, Tarzan staggered back against the door to the treasure room, his weight pushed It open and iris body rolled Inward upon the floor. There was but the single shock, no other followed to complete the damage undertaken by the first. Werper, thrown to his length by the suddenness and violence at the disturbance, staggered to hi* feet when he found himself unhurt. Groping Ms vroy toward the far end of the tSmmber, he aought the candle which Tarzan had left stuck In Ms own wax upon the protruding erd of an ingot. ■ By striking numerous matches the Belgian at last found what he sought, and when, a moment later, the sickly rqyß relieved the Btygin darkness about him, lie breathed a uervoua sigh of relief, tor the Impenetrable gloom had accentuated the tenors at Ms situation. As they became accustomed to the light the man turned his eyes toward the door—his one thought now was of escane from this frightful tomb—and

as he did so he saw the body of toe naked giant lying stretched upon the floor just within the 'doorway. Werper drew back in sudden fear of detection;

but a second glance convinced him that the Englishman was dead. From a great gash in the man's head a pool of blood had collected upon the concrete floor. Quickly, the Belgian leaped over the prostrate form of his erstwhile host, and without a thought of succor for the man in whom, for aught he knew, life atm remained, he bolted for the passageway and safety. But hta renewed hopes were soon dashed. Just beyond the doorway he found the passage completely clogged and choked by impenetrable masses of shattered rock. Once more he turned and re-entered the treasure vault. Taking the candle from its place he commenced a systematic search of the apartment, nor had he gone far before he discovered another door In the opposite end of the room, a door which gave upon creaking hinges to the weight of bls body. Beyond the door lay another narrow passageway. Along ♦M* WamM* mad* hta was. aacendlnp a Hight or suns sups to anomer comdor twenty foot above the level of the first. Before him was a circular shaft He held toe candle above it and peered downward. Below him, at a great dis* tance, be saw the light reflected. back from toe surface of a pool of water. Ha had come unon a well. He raised

me cbik;.® nuvve mo »— psere--across the black void, and there upon the opposite side he saw the continuation of the tunnel; but how was he to span the gulf? As he stood there measuring the dis* tance to the opposite side and wondering if he dared venture so great a leap, there broke suddenly upon his startled ears a piercing scream which, diminished gradually until it ended in a series of dismal moans. The Belgian shuddered and looked fearfully upward, for the scream had seemed to come from above him. As be looked he saw an opening far overhead, and a patch of sky pinked with brilliant stars. He listened fearfully, but the cry was not repeated, and at last spurred to desperate means, he gathered himself for the leap across the chasm. Going back twenty paces, he took a runnidg start, and at the edge of thb well, leaped upward and outward in an attempt to gain the opposite side. In his hand he clutched the sputtering candle, and as he took the leap the rush of air extinguished it. In utter darkness he flew through space, clutching outward for a hold should his feet miss the Invisible ledge. He struck the edge of the floor of the opposite terminus of the rocky tunnel with his knees, slipped backward, clutched desperately for a moment, and at last hung half within and half without the opening; but he was safe. Cautiously, he drew himself well within the tunnel, and again he lay at full length upon the' floor, fighting to regain control of his shattered nerves. When his knees struck the edge of the tunnel he had dropped the candle. Presently, hoping against hope that it had fallen upon the floor of the passageway, rather than back into the depths of the well, he rose upon all ’fours and commenced a diligent search for the little tallow cylinder, which now seemed infinitely more precious to him than all the fabulous wealth of the hoarded ingots of Opar. And when, at last, he found it, he clasped it to him and sank back sobbing and exhausted. For many mln-, utes he lay trembling and broken ;*but finally he drew himself to a sitting posture, and with the light he found it easier to regain control of his nerves, and presently he was again making his way along the tunnel in search of an avenue of escape. The horrid cry that had come down to him from above through the ancient well-shaft still haunted him, so that he trembled in terror at even the sounds of his own cautious advance. A long, dark corridor showed before him, but before he had'followed it far, his candle burned down until it ! scorched his fingers. With an oath he dropped it to tike floor, where it sputtered for a moment and went out Slowly he groped his way along, feeling with his hands upon the tunnel’s walls, and cautiously with his feet ahead of him upon the floor before he would take a single forward step. How long he crept on thus he could not guess; but at last, feeling that the tunnel’s length was interminable, and exhausted by his efforts, by terror, and loss of sleep, he determined to ile down and rest before proceeding farther. When be awoke there was no change ,tn the surrounding blackness. He ' might have slept a second or a day—he could not know; but that he had । slept for some time was attested by I the fact that he felt refreshed and

hungry. Again he commenced hta groping advance; but this time he had gone but a short distance when he emerged into a which was lighted through an opening in the ceiling, from which a flight of concrete steps led downward to toe floor of the chamber. Above him, through the aperture, Werper could see sunlight glancing from massive columns, which were twined about by clinging vines. He listened; but he heard no sound. Boldly he ascended the stairway, to And himself in a circular court. Just before him stood a stone altar, stained with rusty-brown discolorations. At toe time Werper gave no thought to an'explanation of these stains—later their origin became all too hideously apparent to him. Besides the opening in the floor, just behind toe altar, through which he had entered the court from the subterranean chamber below, the Belgian discovered several doors leading from the inclosure upon toe level of the ! floor. Above, and circling the court- . yard, was a series of open balconies. I Werper felt relieved. He sighed, as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He took a step toward one of toe exits, and then he halted, wide-eyed in astonishment and terror, for almost at the same instant 1 a dozen doors opened in the courtyard wall and a horde of frightful men rushed in upon him. They were the priests of the Flaming .God of Opar—-the same shaggy, knotted, hideous little men who had dragged Jane Clayton to the sacrificial altar at this very spot years before. Their long arms, their short and crooked legs, their close-set, evil eyes, and their low, receding foreheads gave th«p a bestial appearance that sent a qualm of paralyzing fright through toe shaken nerves of toe Belgian. With a scream he turned to flee back Into toe lesser terrors of the gloomy corridors and apartments from which he **** haft toe frightful men anuctpavea ms mtenttona. may blocked toe way ? they seized him, and though he fell, groveling upon hta knees before them, begging for hta life, they bound him and buried him to toe floor of toe inner temple.

acrs»ss tae war. ocm sweat exuded from his every pore as La raised the cruel, sacrificial knife above him. The death chant fell upon his tortured ears. Hta staring eyes wandered to the golden goblets from which the hideous votaries would soon quench their Inhuman thirst in bis own, warm life-blood. He wished that he might be granted the brief respite of unconsciousness before the final plunge of the keen blade—and then there was a frightful roar that sounded almost in hta ears. The high priestess lowered her dagger. Her eyes went wide in horror. The priestesses, her votaresses, screamed and fled madly toward toe exits. The priests roared out their rage and terror accordlng.to the temper of their courage. Werper strained his neck about to catch a sight of the cause of their panic, and when at last he saw it, he too went cold in dread, for what his eyes beheld was the figure of a huge Hon standing in toe center of toe temple, and already a single victim lay mangled beneath hta cruel paws. Again toe lord of ton wilderness roared, turning his baleful gaze upon toe altar. La ataggered forwatd, reeled, and fell across Werper In * swoon. *

A Second Glance Convinced Him That the Englishman Was Dead.