In the arena the slaves were working rapidly; fallen Numa had been dragged away, the sands swept, and as the last slave disappeared, leaving Tarzan again alone within the enclosure, those menacing gates at the far end swung open once more. _Chapter Seventeen_ As Tarzan looked toward the far end of the arena he saw six bull apes being herded through the gateway. They had heard the victory cry roll thunderously from the arena a few minutes before and they came now from their cages filled with excitement and ferocity. Already had they long been surly and irritable from confinement and from the teasing and baiting to which they had been subjected by the cruel Sanguinarians. Before them they saw a man-thing--a hated Tarmangani. He represented the creatures that had captured them and teased them and hurt them. "I am Gayat," growled one of the bull apes. "I kill." "I am Zutho," bellowed another. "I kill." "Kill the Tarmangani," barked Go-yad, as the six lumbered forward--sometimes erect upon their hind feet, sometimes swinging with gnarled knuckles to the ground. The crowd hooted and groaned. "Down with Caesar!" "Death to Sublatus!" rose distinctly above the tumult. To a man they were upon their feet, but the glittering pikes held them in awe as one or two, with more courage than brains, sought to reach the loge of Caesar, but ended upon the pikes of the legionaries instead. Their bodies, lying in the aisles, served as warning to the others. Sublatus turned and whispered to a guest in the imperial loge. "This should be a lesson to all who would dare affront Caesar," he said. "Quite right," replied the other. "Glorious Caesar is, indeed, all powerful," but the fellow's lips were blue from terror as he saw how great and menacing was the crowd and how slim and few looked the glittering pikes that stood between it and the imperial loge. As the apes approached, Zutho was in the lead. "I am Zutho," he cried. "I kill." "Look well, Zutho, before you kill your friend," replied the ape-man. "I am Tarzan of the Apes." Zutho stopped, bewildered. The others crowded about him. "The Tarmangani spoke in the language of the great apes," said Zutho. "I know him," said Go-yad. "He was king of the tribe when I was a young ape." "It is, indeed, Whiteskin," said Gayat. "Yes," said Tarzan, "I am Whiteskin. We are all prisoners here together. These Tarmangani are my enemies and yours. They wish us to fight, but we shall not." "No," said Zutho, "we shall not fight against Tarzan." "Good," said the ape-man, as they gathered close around him, sniffing that their noses might validate the testimony of their eyes. "What has happened?" growled Sublatus. "Why do they not attack him?" "He has cast a spell upon them," replied Caesar's guest.