Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 127: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

TARZAN skull of Kalfastoban and the rest of the warriors about us; and that I shall run away at the first opportunity and take you and Talaskar with me.” Komodoflorensal listened intently until Tarzan had ceased speaking and then turned to the two warriors who had come with him to find the ape-man. ‘‘Zuanthrol says that he fully under- stands his position and that he is glad to serve the noble and illustrious Zoanthro- hago, from whom he claims but a single boon,” translated the Trohanadalmakusian prince, rather freely. ‘* And what boon is that?’’ demanded one of the warriors. “ That I be permitted to accompany him that he may thus better fulfill the wishes of his master, since without me he could not even know what was desired of him,” ex- plained Aoponato. Tarzan understood now how Komodo- florensal would surmount whatever difficul- ties of communication might arise and he felt that he would be safe in the hands of his quick witted friend for as long a time as he cared to pretend ignorance of the Minunian tongue. ‘The thought was even in our minds, slave, when we heard that you could com- municate with this fellow,” said the warrior to whom Komodoflorensal had addressed the suggestion. ‘ You shall both be taken to Zoanthrohago, who will doubtless decide his wishes without consulting you or any other slave. Come! Kalfastoban Vental, we assume responsibility for the slave Zuan- throl,” and they handed the vental a slip of paper upon which they had marked some curious hieroglyphics. Then, with swords drawn, they motioned Komodoflorensal and Tarzan to precede them along the corridor, for the story of Tarzan’s handling of Caraftap had reached even to the guard room of the quarry, and these warriors were taking no chances. The way led through a straight corridor and up a winding spiral runway to the sur- face, where Tarzan greeted the sunlight and the fresh air almost with a sob of gratitude, for to be shut away from them for even a brief day was to the ape-man cruel punish- ment, indeed. Here he saw again the vast AND THE ANT-MEN. 285 multitude of slaves bearing endlessly their heavy burdens to and fro, the trim warriors who paced haughtily upon either flank of the long lines of toiling serfs, the richly trapped nobles of the higher castes and the innumerable white tunicked slaves who darted hither and thither upon the errands of their masters, or upon their own business or pleasure, for many of these had a certain freedom and independence that gave them almost the standing of freedmen. Always were these slaves of the white tunic owned by a master, but, especially in the case of skilled artisans, about the only allegiance they owed to this master’ was to pay to him a certain percentage of their incomes. They constituted the bour- geoisie of Minuni and also the higher caste serving class. Unlike the green tunicked slaves, no guard was placed over them to prevent their escape, since there was no danger that they would attempt to escape, there being no city in Minuni where their estate would be improved, for any other city than that of their birth would treat them as alien prisoners, reducing them im- mediately to the green tunic and lifelong hard fabor. The domes of Veltoptismakus were as im- posing as those of Trohanadalmakus. In fact, to Tarzan, they appeared infinitely Jarger since he now was one fourth the size he had been when he had left Trohanadal- makus. There were eight of them fully oc- cupied and another in course of construc- tion, for the surface population of Veltoptis- makus was already four hundred and eighty thousand souls, and as overcrowding was not permitted in the king’s dome the re- maining seven were packed densely with humanity. It was to the royal dome that Tarzan and Komodoflorensal were conducted, but they did not enter by way of the King’s Corri- dor, before the gates of which fluttered the white and gold of the royal standards. In- stead they were escorted to the Warriors’ Corridor, which opens toward the west. Unlike the city of Trohanadalmakus, Vel- toptismakus was beautiful in the areas be- tween the domes with flowers and shrub- bery and trees, among which wound grav- eled walks and broad roadways. ECORMICOOOL< (El)