The gryf and his riders heard the shout though not the words. The
former bellowed terrifically and started in the direction of the
knoll, and Ja-don, followed by a few of his more intrepid warriors,
ran to meet him. Tarzan, loath to enter an unnecessary quarrel,
tried to turn the animal, but as the beast was far from tractable
it always took a few minutes to force the will of its master upon
it; and so the two parties were quite close before the ape-man
succeeded in stopping the mad charge of his furious mount.

Ja-don and his warriors, however, had come to the realization that
this bellowing creature was bearing down upon them with evil intent
and they had assumed the better part of valor and taken to trees,
accordingly. It was beneath these trees that Tarzan finally stopped
the gryf. Ja-don called down to him.

"We are friends," he cried. "I am Ja-don, Chief of Ja-lur. I and
my warriors lay our foreheads upon the feet of Dor-ul-Otho and pray
that he will aid us in our righteous fight with Lu-don, the high
priest."

"You have not defeated him yet?" asked Tarzan. "Why I thought you
would be king of Pal-ul-don long before this."

"No," replied Ja-don. "The people fear the high priest and now that
he has in the temple one whom he claims to be Jad-ben-Otho many of
my warriors are afraid. If they but knew that the Dor-ul-Otho had
returned and that he had blessed the cause of Ja-don I am sure that
victory would be ours."

Tarzan thought for a long minute and then he spoke. "Ja-don," he