"Why, certainly," replied Tarzan. "I may go any day, or night; there is nothing to hold me here, and I have given no promise that I would not escape when I wished."
Gemnon smiled a wry smile that Tarzan did not see in the semi-darkness of the ill-lit avenue through which they were passing. "That will make it extremely interesting for me," he remarked.
"Why?" demanded the ape-man.
"Nemone turned you over into my keeping. If you escape while I am responsible for you she will have me destroyed."
A frown knit the brows of the lord of the jungle. "I did not know that," he said; "but you need not worry; I shall not go until you have been relieved of responsibility." A sudden smile lighted his countenance. "I think I shall ask Nemone to give me over into the keeping of Erot or Xerstle."
Gemnon chuckled. "What a story that would make!" he cried.
An occasional torch only partially dispelled the gloom beneath the overhanging trees that bordered the avenue that led toward the palace of Thudos. At the intersection of a narrow alleyway, beneath the branches of a wide-spreading oak a dark figure lurked in the shadows as Tarzan and Gemnon approached. The keen eyes of the ape-man saw and recognized it as the figure of a man before they came close enough to be in danger; and Tarzan was ready even though he had no suspicion that the man's presence there was in any way concerned with him, for it is the business of the jungle bred to be always ready, whether danger threatens or not.
Just as the two came opposite the figure, Tarzan heard his name whispered in a hoarse voice. He stopped. "Beware of Erot!" whispered the voice. "Tonight!" Then the figure wheeled and lumbered into the denser shadows of the narrow alleyway; but in the glimpse that Tarzan got of it there was a familiar roll to the great body, just as there had been a suggestion of familiarity in the voice.
"Now who do you suppose that is?" demanded Gemnon. "Come on! We'll capture him and find out," and he started as though to pursue the stranger down the alley.
Tarzan laid a restraining hand upon his shoulder. "No," he said; "it was some one who has tried to befriend me. If he wishes to conceal his identity, it is not for me to reveal it."