"We wouldn't have been in this mess if it hadn't been for Wood messin' around with that Gonfala dame," growled Spike. "I never knew it to fail that you didn't get into trouble with any bunch of heathen if you started mixin' up with their women folk—especially niggers. But a guy's got it comin' to him that plays around with a nigger wench."
"Shut that dirty trap of yours," snapped Wood, "or I'll shut it for you." He took a quick step toward Spike and swung a vicious right for the other man's jaw. Spike stepped back and van Eyk jumped between them.
"Cut it!" he ordered. "We got enough grief without fighting among ourselves."
"You're dead right," agreed Troll. "We'll punch the head of the next guy that starts anything like that again."
"That's all right, too," said Wood; "but Spike's got to apologize or I'll kill him for that the first chance I get. He's got to take it back."
"You'd better apologize, Spike," advised van Eyk.
The hunter looked sullenly from beneath lowering brows. Troll went over and whispered to him. "All right," said Spike, finally; "I take it back. I didn't mean nothin'."
Wood nodded. "Very well," he said, "I accept your apology," and turned and joined Tarzan, who had been standing by a window a silent spectator of what had transpired.
He stood for a time in silence; then he shook his head dejectedly. "The trouble is," he said in low tones, "I know Spike is right. She must have Negro blood in her—they all have; but it doesn't seem to make any difference to me—I'm just plain crazy about her, and that's all there is to it. If you could only see her, you'd understand."
"I have seen her," said the ape-man.
"What!" exclaimed Wood. "You've seen her? When?"
"Shortly after I was brought here," said Tarzan.
"You mean she came here to see you?"
"She was on the throne with Mafka when I was taken before him," explained Tarzan.
"Oh, yes; I see. I thought maybe you'd talked with her."
"I did—afterward, in her apartment. I found a way to get there."
"What did she say? How was she? I haven't seen her since I got back. I was afraid something had happened to her."
"Mafka suspects her of helping you to escape. He keeps her locked up under guard."
"Did she say anything about me?" demanded Wood, eagerly.
"Yes; she wants to help you. At first she was eager and friendly; then, quite abruptly and seemingly with no reason, she became sullen and dangerous, screaming for her guard."
"Yes, she was like that—sweet and lovely one moment; and the next, a regular she-devil. I never could understand it. Do you suppose she's —well, not quite right mentally?"
The ape-man shook his head. "No," he said, "I don't think that. I believe there is another explanation. But that is neither here nor there now. There is just one matter that should concern us—getting out of here. We don't know when Mafka plans on putting us out of the way nor how. Whatever we are going to do we should do immediately—take him by surprise."
"How are we going to surprise him—locked up here in a room, under guard?" demanded Wood.
"You'd be surprised," replied Tarzan, smiling faintly; "so will Mafka. Tell me, can we count on any help beyond what we can do ourselves—the five of us? How about the other prisoners? Will they join with us?"
"Yes, practically all of them—if they can. But what can any of us do against Mafka? We're beaten before we start. If we could only get hold of the Gonfal! I think that's the source of all his power over us."
"We might do that, too," said Tarzan.
"Impossible," said Wood. "What do you think, Bob?" he asked van Eyk, who had just joined them.
"Not a chance in a million," replied van Eyk. "He keeps the old rock in his own apartment at night, or in fact wherever he is the Gonfal is with him. His apartment is always locked and guarded—warriors at the door all the time. No, we never could get it."
Tarzan turned to Wood. "I thought you told me once that they seemed very careless of the Gonfal—that you had handled it."
Wood grinned. "I thought I had, but since I came back I learned differently. One of the women told me. It seems that Mafka is something of a chemist. He has a regular lab and plays around in it a lot—ordinary chemistry as well as his main line of black magic. Well, he learned how to make phony diamonds; so he makes an imitation of the Gonfal, and that's what I handled. They say he leaves the phony out where it can be seen and hides the real Gonfal at night when he goes to bed; so that if, by any chance, some one was able to get into his room to steal it they'd get the wrong stone. But he has to keep the Gonfal near him just the same, or he'd be more or less helpless against an enemy."
"The only chance to get it would be to get into Mafka's apartment at night," said van Eyk, "and that just can't be done."
"Do his apartments connect with Gonfala's?" asked Tarzan.
"Yes, but the old boy keeps the door between them locked at night. He isn't taking any chances—not even with Gonfala."
"I think we can get into Mafka's apartment," said the apeman. "I'm going now to find out."
"Going!" exclaimed Wood. "I'd like to know how."
"Don't let anyone follow me," cautioned the ape-man. "I'll be back."
The two Americans shook their heads skeptically as Tarzan turned away and crossed the room; then they saw him enter the fireplace and disappear.
"Well I'll be damned!" exclaimed van Eyk. "Who is that guy, anyway?"
"An Englishman named Clayton," replied Wood. "At least that's all I know about him, and that came direct from him."
"If there were such a bird as Tarzan of the Apes, I'd say this was he," said van Eyk.
"That's what I thought when I first met him. Say, he flits through the trees like a regular Tarzan, kills his meat with a bow and arrow, and packs it back to camp on his shoulder through the trees."
"And now look what he's done! Up the flue like a-a-well, like something, whatever it is goes up a flue."
"Smoke," suggested Wood; "only he's coming back, and smoke doesn't - except occasionally."
Tarzan followed the corridor as he had before until he came to the opening into Gonfala's chamber; then he retraced his steps a short distance and felt his way back again with his right hand touching the side of the passageway instead of his left as before; nor was he surprised to discover that the tunnel ran on past the apartment of Gonfala. It was what he had expected - what he had been banking his hopes upon.
Now, past the opening that led to Gonfala's room, he touched the left-hand wall again and, pacing off the distance roughly, came to another opening that he judged would be about opposite the center of the next apartment, which was one of Mafka's suite. He did not stop here, but went on until he had located three more openings. Here the corridor ended.
He stepped to the edge of the flue and looked down into the fireplace. It was night now, but a faint illumination came from the opening below him. It was a greenish glow, now all too familiar.
He listened. He heard the snores of a heavy sleeper. Was there another in the apartment below, or was the sleeper alone? His sensitive nostrils sought an answer.
With the dagger of Gonfala in one hand, Tarzan dropped lightly to the floor of the fireplace that opened into the room where the sleeper lay.
10. TOWARD FREEDOM
Before him WAS a large chamber with a single door, heavily bolted upon the inside. He who slept there quite evidently slept in fear. It was Mafka. He lay upon a narrow cot. Upon a table at one side rested the Gonfal and the great emerald of the Zuli and beside them a cutlass and a dagger. Similar weapons lay on a table at the other side of the cot. All were within easy reach of the sleeper. A single cresset burned upon one of the tables.