out at the head of fifty clean-limbed ebon warriors in quest of
adventure and of riches. They followed the course which old Waziri
had described to Tarzan. For days they marched--up one river,
across a low divide; down another river; up a third, until at the
end of the twenty-fifth day they camped upon a mountainside, from
the summit of which they hoped to catch their first view of the
marvelous city of treasure.

Early the next morning they were climbing the almost perpendicular
crags which formed the last, but greatest, natural barrier between
them and their destination. It was nearly noon before Tarzan, who
headed the thin line of climbing warriors, scrambled over the top
of the last cliff and stood upon the little flat table-land of the
mountaintop.

On either hand towered mighty peaks thousands of feet higher than
the pass through which they were entering the forbidden valley.
Behind him stretched the wooded valley across which they had marched
for many days, and at the opposite side the low range which marked
the boundary of their own country.

But before him was the view that centered his attention. Here lay
a desolate valley--a shallow, narrow valley dotted with stunted
trees and covered with many great bowlders. And on the far side of
the valley lay what appeared to be a mighty city, its great walls,
its lofty spires, its turrets, minarets, and domes showing red and
yellow in the sunlight. Tarzan was yet too far away to note the
marks of ruin--to him it appeared a wonderful city of magnificent
beauty, and in imagination he peopled its broad avenues and its
huge temples with a throng of happy, active people.