Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Tarzan (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
“There’s a little bunch of Arabs down here,” explained Kraski, “stealing
slaves and ivory. Owaza knows where they are working and where their
main camp is. There are only a few of them, and their blacks are nearly
all slaves who would turn on them in a minute. Now the idea is this: we
have a big enough party to overpower them and take their ivory away from
them if we can get their slaves to take our side. We don’t want the
slaves; we couldn’t do anything with them if we had them, so we can
promise them their freedom for their help, and give Owaza and his gang a
share in the ivory.”
“How do you know Owaza will help us?” asked Flora.
“The idea is his; that’s the reason I know,” replied Kraski.
“It sounds good to me,” said Peebles; “I ain’t fer goin’ ’ome empty
’anded.” And in turn the others signified their approval of the scheme.
CHAPTER XI
STRANGE INCENSE BURNS
AS Tarzan carried the dead Bolgani from the village of the Gomangani, he
set his steps in the direction of the building he had seen from the rim
of the valley, the curiosity of the man overcoming the natural caution
of the beast. He was traveling up wind and the odors wafted down to his
nostrils told him that he was approaching the habitat of the Bolgani.
Intermingled with the scent spoor of the gorilla-men was that of
Gomangani and the odor of cooked food, and the suggestion of a heavily
sweet scent, which the ape-man could connect only with burning incense,
though it seemed impossible that such a fragrance could emanate from the
dwellings of the Bolgani. Perhaps it came from the great edifice he had
seen—a building which must have been constructed by human beings, and
in which human beings might still dwell, though never among the
multitudinous odors that assailed his nostrils did he once catch the
faintest suggestion of the man scent of whites.
When he perceived from the increasing strength of their odor, that he
was approaching close to the Bolgani, Tarzan took to the trees with his
burden, that he might thus stand a better chance of avoiding discovery,
and presently, through the foliage ahead, he saw a lofty wall, and,
beyond, the outlines of the weird architecture of a strange and
mysterious pile—outlines that suggested a building of another world, so
unearthly were they, and from beyond the wall came the odor of the
Bolgani and the fragrance of the incense, intermingled with the scent
spoor of Numa, the lion. The jungle was cleared away for fifty feet
outside the wall surrounding the building, so that there was no tree
overhanging the wall, but Tarzan approached as closely as he could,
while still remaining reasonably well concealed by the foliage. He had
chosen a point at a sufficient height above the ground to permit him to
see over the top of the wall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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