Tarzans in the Valley of Gold
by
Dennis D. Power

Warning!! Contains spoilers about the novel and film
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold... Well sort of.

Sections:
Introduction
Part one: Ramel
Part Two: Vinaro's trail
Part Three: Valley
addendum

INTRODUCTION

"The next series of films, Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, Tarzan and the Big River and Tarzan and the Jungle Boy starred Mike Henry. They at first might appear to be adventures of the Tarzan chronicled by Burroughs. This I do not believe is the case, despite the authorized novel of Tarzan and the Valley Gold by the Burroughs estate. Rather this trilogy of films chronicle the further adventures of Lord Grandrith on his last mission for the Nine and the start of his opposition to them."...

    This is the introduction to this film that I have on my Tarzan ? Jane? article which speculates how the cinematic Tarzan's relate to the WNU. My research lead me to believe that Lord Grandrith, Tarzan of the Nine was the protagonist of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold  however a few of my esteemed colleagues balked at this notion. They believed because of the Tarzan biography released by Lord Greystoke's biographer's estate that the protagonist was Lord Greystoke. Was it possible that I was wrong?

    Taking a cue from David Vincent Jr., whose article Jungle Brothers
examined the two differing accounts of Sherlock Holmes' encounters with feral men in The Adventure of the Peerless Peer and The Adventure of the Three Madmen. I re-examined both the film and novelization of the film. I found substantial differences in character, location and action  I discovered that this was another instance of blending and synthesis of two characters into one. The film's version was a pretty scant overview of the incident, garbled for popular consumption and for the protection of the filmmakers. Fritz Leiber's "novelization"  hit the mark a bit closer for he was able to research the incident a bit more thoroughly, however he also did not reveal the unvarnished or even unaltered truth.

Lord Greystoke was indeed the Tarzan of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold.
Lord Grandrith was indeed the Tarzan of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold.

Due to the lack any solid evidence except for the corroboration of David Vincent Jr. what follows must be pure speculation, for that, please accept my apologies.

PART ONE: RAMEL

    The film of Tarzan and the Valley of Gold was the first format to present the following tale. Originally titled Tarzan '66, it was purportedly an attempt to portray the character as much closer to that envisioned by his "creator" Edgar Rice Burroughs. However as the later researches of Philip Jose Farmer as depicted in Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: an Apocalyptic Life demonstrated  Tarzan was a real person who had allowed ERB to present some somewhat fictionalized versions of the incidents of his life. Tarzan '66 was however not authorized by the "Greystoke" family.

    The film's original screenplay and story line was actually part of an overall plan to discredit Lord Grandrith by the Caliban faction of the Nine. Anana had one of their servants contact a journalist and possibly showed him excerpts from Grandrith's secret diaries. They wanted the journalist to publish an expose, that would say that Tarzan was real, alive and this was his identity. This way Grandrith would be immediately be under sentence of death by all of the Nine and their servants for exposing the secrets.

    However, their chosen journalist knew that the expose would be met with overwhelming skepticism and disbelief. He opted instead for quick cash and turned the material into story outlines for the new series of Tarzan films. He, of course, did not survive the premier of the first film.

    Fictionalized as it was Tarzan '66 however hit too close to home for the "Greystoke" family's  comfort. They contacted the heirs of Tarzan's biographer and arranged for a new book to added to the canon, using a highly regarded and noted author to pen it, based as it were on the screenplay.

    The novel was tailored so that it seemed more like a Burroughsian Tarzan adventure. This was deliberate on the part of Tarzan. He was in fact helping out a "friend" so that this friend's involvement would be downplayed.

    Although the novel by Fritz Leiber is touted as a novelization of the film, a close reading proves that there are however substantial differences with alternate beginnings and endings. There are also differing locales, differing bits of actions, altered endings for some of the main characters. As with many accounts, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

    Although the film and novel both begin afterwards, our tale truly begins with the emergence of a young man from the Central American Jungle. The film depicts him as very young perhaps five or six, the novel does not specify an age but he seems to be around ten. This was most likely the true age of the boy called Ramel. He had left his home, a "lost" city in a hidden valley, to see the outside world about which he had heard so much. Ramel was garbed in classical Mayan garb, accoutered with ornaments of solid gold and accompanied by a white jaguar, of a species long thought to be extinct.

    It was the sighting of the golden ornaments and the white jaguar which triggered the events that followed. Their appearance sent a signal that alerted many of the players in the drama to follow. Both the film and novel versions have Ramel accidentally fall into the clutches of Augustus Vinaro, a ruthless multi-millionaire and international criminal with a lust for gold. This was done to simplify the story line and also to further hide the true location of the Valley of Gold.

    Actually Ramel visited quite a few villages in his journey. There was a legend among many of the Indians of Mayan descent that should a person answering Ramel's description ever appear, that they were to inform the High Priest of Ek Chuah. Ek Chuah is the Mayan fierce and violent god of war, associated with fallen warriors. He is represented as a black man with a black-rimmed eye, a hanging lower lip and a scorpion tail.(1) Some adherents of the old religion informed the Priest of the small but still active cult.

    It was also known through out South and Central America that Senor Augustus Vinaro had a standing reward for any information that could lead to a cache of Aztec, Mayan or Incan Treasure. He too was contacted by one of the villagers. Intrigued, Vinaro had him flown to his headquarters, the Castle in the Matto Grosso. The villager was wined, dined and pumped of information. When Vinaro was certain that the villager had given them as much useful information as he knew Vinaro paid him off. Vinaro had his informant dropped off in Sao Paolo having given him a large draft to be drawn from Vinaro's bank and a golden wristwatch. The wristwatch exploded as the Indian crossed the street in front of the bank.

    Vinaro, his current amore, Sophia Renault, and a few of his best men, including the mysterious Mr. Train, traveled to the area where the hapless Indian had said the boy was located. They located him in a short time. The white jaguar was tranquilized. Vinaro had the golden ornaments stripped off of Ramel's arms with brutal efficiency. A medallion on the boy's neck was a bas relief map leading to the boy's home only it was limited to the region very near the boy's home. Vinaro had no idea where to start the search.

    Ramel was tortured for the information. Unfortunately he had no idea where Tucamai was located since he had become truly lost in the Central American jungle. Vinaro had no intention of freeing the boy once he was certain that he had no more information to give. Although Sophia Renault was not quite the kind-hearted woman she was portrayed in the film, she did draw the line at the murder of children and mass murder.

    She drugged Mr. Train and Vinaro's dinners, she then freed Ramel and his jaguar. She was discovered by one of the guards and was forced to shoot him. Sophia Renault realized then that she would not be able to escape from Vinaro. She concocted a story that the guard had drugged everyone but since she had eaten lightly had not been as affected. Sophia had discovered the guard freeing the boy and his jaguar and had been attacked by him.

    Vinaro was in a fine rage when he awoke. He was torn between a desire to hunt down the boy or press on to discover the whereabouts to the lost city and loot it. Mr. Train convinced him that to properly remove the assets of the lost city they would need man power and transportation, in short a small army.

    Vinaro agreed reluctantly. Vinaro and his people returned to the Castle to make arrangements for their expedition. Vinaro acquired a half track, a tank, several trucks and another helicopter. These arrangements took a few months. Meanwhile Ramel found his way into the Yucatan. He literally stumbled into the campsite of Juan Ruiz. Ruiz was an animal trainer working primarily in television or films. His ocelot had just died and he was trying to find a female with cubs. He knew he was onto something remarkable when he saw the white jaguar with blue eyes. He managed to befriend Ramel and his jaguar and took them back to his ranch.

    Ruiz was a friend of Tarzan's, having hunted with him several times on trapping expeditions. Tarzan had once even taken Ruiz onto the the famed Mutia escarpment "owned" by Tarzan's distant kinsman, Richard Lansing.(2) Ruiz heard that there was a reward for the boy put out by August Vinaro and he knew that Tarzan had some experience in dealing with "lost" civilizations and so contacted him.

    Meanwhile the High Priest of Ek Chuah managed to contact by various proxies, Ek Chuah. Ek Chuah was one of the Nine.(3) He was the last living Olmec. He had at one time been the patron god of Ramel's city, until they had, in his viewpoint, decided to desert him. Since he had failed to protect them during the Spanish Invasion, they had given up on him. Ek Chuah had no choice but to let the Spanish Invasion run its course, this was one of the decrees by the Nine. It had been decreed by Holy Writ, or so said those who remembered the writings in the Lost Books of T'harn.(4)

    When his people had taken off for parts unknown, Ek Chuah was deeply involved in a Nine project that took decades. By the time he was able to search for his people any trace of them had gone. He had a suspicion that they did not want him to find them. While this enraged him, what added to the fuel of his rage was that they had absconded with what he had considered his personal fortune, their treasure.

    When told that a boy matching the description of a classical Mayan wearing golden ornaments was seen in the Yucatan, Ek Chuah was intrigued. The description of the white jaguar cinched it. He was preparing to take the situation in hand himself when he heard of Vinaro's involvement. He knew then that he would have to move carefully and through a proxy, not only was Vinaro a ruthless, psychotic but he was the tool of one of the other members of the Nine. One who even outranked Ek Chuah. Ek Chuah chose for his emissary, a man with experience in the Jungle and one whose failure and possible death would not be met with great grief among many members of the Nine, except oddly enough by that very member of the Nine whom Ek Chuah would be opposing.

    This was Tarzan, Lord Grandrith, the Nine's supposed culmination of 30,000 years of breeding experiments, the Nine's living incarnation of the Undying God. Or so they had supposed many in the Nine believed Grandrith to be the Nine's embarrassment and a living symbol of their fallibility. When it became known to them that Lord Greystoke, Tarzan actually existed, all but a few die hards realized that they had merely created an imitation of the real thing. (This is discussed in Triple Tarzan Tangle)

    Yet, imitation or not, Lord Grandrith was truly a Tarzan, having also been raised by the Mangani and having many of the same mutations that the true Tarzan possessed.

    Ek Chuah sent Lord Grandrith to contact his people in Brazil to get some available information on Vinaro and discover how Ek Chuah wanted this situation resolved.

PART TWO: VINARO'S TRAIL

    The film has Tarzan arrive at Mexico, hop a small charter flight and then arrive at a small airport A chauffeur picks him up at the airport. Tarzan smells blood near the car. The Car is driven into a bull ring where Tarzan is fired upon by a sniper in the stands.

    The novel has John Clayton, Lord Greystoke first fight a bull in the ring in Mexico. Where upon he incurs the wrath of Vinaro for mocking the sport of Bullfighting. Vinaro hires a boy to fling a small jewel filled with a highly combustible material at Tarzan. Tarzan eludes this trap. He flies down to Brazil.  He is met with a  chauffeured car and ended up having a violent altercation in a car wash prior to meeting with Professor Talmage.

    The film and novel both compress time elements and switch events around for dramatic purposes and for purposes of deliberate misinformation. So bear with me as I reconstruct these various events, as they appear to have actually have transpired. To keep the Tarzans straight I will refer to them as by their last names; Greystoke, meaning of course the original Tarzan whose adventures were recorded by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Grandrith, the Tarzan created by and recruited by the Nine to be their servant.

    Greystoke agreed to help Ruiz and the boy find the boy's home. There is not a great sense of urgency so while on his way to Ruiz ranch, Tarzan indulges in a anti-cruelty to animals statement when he fights a bull in the ring. His refusal to taunt the bull and to do anything to him except tame and ride it had angered the crowd. It had however infuriated Augustus Vinaro who included the blood sport of bull fighting into his Religion of Death. Mr. Train summarized Tarzan's abilities as "He has speed and cunning Mr. Vinaro but he lacks weight and the will to kill."

    In punishment for his having disgraced the sport of Bull fighting, Vinaro had a small boy throw a gem filled with a combustible at Greystoke as he emerged from the Bullring. The boy's throw was off and the gem exploded near Tarzan but without any harm. Although the novel has this action taking at the airport, just in time for Greystoke to see Vinaro's jet flee into the sky, that was mere dramatization. In reality Greystoke stayed with his friend Manuelito for a few days before traveling onto the ranch of Ruiz. He was unaware of the need for urgency.

    Vinaro and companions returned to the Castle (5) to arrange for final preparations of their expedition to the Valley of Gold. He was given the good word that the whereabouts of the boy had been discovered. He sent word to the mercenaries assembling in Guatemala that a small squad be diverted to Ruiz' Ranch.

    Ruiz had been unwittingly betrayed by his animals. Ruiz had many large carnivores on his ranch, all of which had to be fed. He therefore had contracts with meat suppliers. One of these had spotted Ramel at the Ranch, having heard of the reward and turned the information over to one of Vinaro's agents.

    Vinaro also heard to his great chagrin that Tarzan had not only survived his exploding gem but was now on his way to Brazil, where he would be meeting with Lionel Talmage, a Professor of Antiquities, and Colonel Carlos Juarez, whom Vinaro knew was part of the Brazilian Army's Intelligence Branch. Mr. Clayton or as he was rumored to be the legendary Tarzan had evidently been digging into Vinaro's affairs and was on his way to settle a score.

    Vinaro had Mr. Train arrange for an assassination to remove Mr. Clayton from the board before he even met Professor Talmage.

    The Tarzan who flew into Brazil however was not Greystoke but rather Grandrith who was at this time totally unaware of Vinaro's existence. Vinaro's agents killed Talmage's chauffeur and replaced him with one of their own. Grandrith did indeed smell blood near the car which put him instantly on alert. He was driven into a stadium as depicted in the film but this was a soccer stadium not a bull fighting arena. He managed to kill his attackers using a giant advertisting Coca Cola bottle as depicted in the film. He then drove to Professor Talmage's.

    The Tarzan who visited Professor Talmage in the novel appears to be a bit more edgy and a bit more paranoid than was usually depicted by Burroughs. While this may have been due to the recent assassination attempt, it may also been due to the fact that this, of course, was not the Tarzan depicted by Burroughs. This was Grandrith, the product of the Nine, who having dealt with their internal politics and deadly policies for decades was apt to be suspicious and more prone to violence than his counterpart.

    Professor Talmage was acquainted with Grandrith and to Colonel Juarez through their association with the Nine. Talmage was not as old as he appeared to be but was truly an archaeologist specializing in Meso-American culture. He had been initiated into the Nine's organization through his acquaintanceship with Ek Chuah whom he had met on a Incan dig in the early 1920s. Colonel Juarez was also one of Ek Chuah's men but Grandrith did not know his background.

    Talmage explained Vinaro's background as a wealthy industrialist and secret psychotic killer. He gave people who annoyed him pieces of jewelry which would explode. Among those people who annoyed him were included his discarded female companions. Talmage also explained that there was a rumor that Vinaro might possibly be a Nine agent but none of Talmage's sources could confirm that rumor. They also filled Grandrith on the mysterious Mr. Train, his background was sketchy at best. He appeared to be a professional assassin well versed in many forms of weaponry and unarmed combat.

    In his description of Mr. Train, novelist Leiber drops a clue that the film left out. Mr. Train is a hugely built man who has one eye. This clue is important and will be dealt with later.

    They were aware of a flurry of Vinaro's activity in the Central American region, this is where Ek Chuah believed his people were hidden. Talmage told Tarzan that Ek Chuah had been separated from his people due to the Spanish Conquest. They had hidden well, despite Ek Chuah's best efforts he had not been able to find his city. Talmage told Grandrith that his mission was three fold, make certain the boy returned to his family, prevent Vinaro from looting the Valley and to map out the route so that Ek Chuah could be reunited with his people.

    Grandrith wondered why Ek Chuah did not come with him. He was immediately suspicious when Talmage demonstrated one of Vinaro's devices. He demanded to know how Talmage had acquired it. Grandrith wondered who Talmage was actually working for? Was he truly working for Ek Chuah or was he working for Vinaro, who wished to use Grandrith's jungle skills to bird dog the trail to the lost valley.

    Talmage was able to quell Grandrith's suspicions by stating that the person who had received the watch in the mail had heard of Vinaro's gifts and turned it into the police. Colonel Juarez had then acquired it. Their precautions, although overly elaborate, were necessary for Vinaro had no qualms about taking lives. It was believed that his organization had shot down a plane carrying a Museum's  Spanish treasure collection. The plane had been lost over the Mohave desert and never found again. His organization was wide and had many ears. Their sources stated that he had acquired army surplus vehicles including a tank for his assault on the Valley of Gold.

    They told Grandrith about where his men were assembling, Grandrith was to accompany Talmage and Juarez to the Yucatan where a small force would hopefully discover the whereabouts of the boy or follow Vinaro and then hit him with a pre-emptive strike before he could enter the Valley of Gold.

    At the Castle, Vinaro met with the leaders of his mercenary army and with the Captain of the Barges which were transporting Vinaro's artillery, trucks and men via river into the heart of Guatemala. Captain Voss wants more money and a cut of everything that Vinaro takes out of the jungle. Vinaro kills two annoyances with one small package. The first annoyance is Captain Voss who sits patiently in Vinaro's office while Vinaro goes to get his money. The second annoyance is Sophia Renault's pet dog, upon which Sophia has lavished more attention than she has upon Augustus Vinaro.

    After excusing himself, Vinaro detonates the bomb within his own office destroying several antique pieces of furniture. He does this as an object lesson, to demonstrate to his mercenaries that he will not tolerate insubordination, he will deal with it harshly and immediately in whatever circumstances. He also wished to demonstrate how effective was even a small amount of the explosive they would be using.

    Vinaro receives a report that the assault squad has taken care of Ruiz and has re-captured the Mayan boy. He and his contingent travel to San Salvador.  He also received a less pleasant report. The attempt on Grandrith's life in Sao Paolo had failed. Talmage and Colonel Juarez had flown to San Salvador. Tarzan was expected to join them. Vinaro found Tarzan's escapes from his traps tiresome. He told Mr. Train to arrange for his demise this time. Vinaro was a bit puzzled that Tarzan managed to arrive in San Salvador before them. At least in this case he would have time to witness Tarzan's death. He had to move rapidly if Talmage and Juarez were also involved.

    The Tarzan who had arrived  in San Salvador ahead of Vinaro was
Greystoke, he had left his friend's Manuelito's and was now traveling on his way to Ruiz' Ranch. He was only planning on being in San Salvador a day, until he could arrange for transportation into the interior. He hailed a cab from his hotel room and directed it to take him to a good restaurant
.
    Greystoke thought little of the cab driver's insistence that a person driving up to a nice restaurant should do so in a clean car. They drove to the first modern car wash in San Salvador. Tarzan was not as alert as he might have been, the strong detergents and wax covered up the scent of blood.

    Once the car had entered the car wash, the driver started to roll out of his door. This alerted  Greystoke, he dove over the front seat and grabbed the driver. Tarzan was below the dash holding the driver above him when the shooting started. Although the cab was raked with gunfire, Greystoke managed to avoid being seriously wounded. He did take a few flesh wounds along his arms, back and scalp. Once the cab was through the car wash, he rolled the driver's body out of the cab. Grabbing the first gunman he broke his neck and took his machine gun. He turned the machine gun on the two others who ran up firing at him.

Greystoke tried to start the cab but the engine was too bullet ridden. He threw down the machine gun and dashed into the street. A black sedan with darkened windows gave chase.

    This reminded Greystoke of his encounter with the bull. The car was going to run him down. Greystoke managed to find a nearby building with brick wall. It appeared to the driver of the car that Greystoke was frozen with fear in front of a brick wall, he aimed at the front of the car at Greystoke ready to crush him like a bug. Just prior to being crushed by the car's front end Greystoke, jumped. He jumped completely over the oncoming car which crashed into the brick wall.

    Although Mr. Leiber does not tell us this, the police became involved. Greystoke, told them that he believed a group of criminals having believed the wild tales of his fortune coming from a a secret gold mine were attempting to kill him to get some of it. As soon as possible he ended his Mexican vacation and went directly to Ruiz' Ranch, believing that the attack had something to do with the boy at the ranch.

    He arrived to find Ruiz' ranch afire. Ruiz' wife and his ranch hands had been shot and killed. Ruiz was dying from a stomach wound. The film and novel both have Ruiz dying almost immediately after Greystoke, arrived. This is a dramatic touch on both their parts, making Ruiz' death more poignant. In fact it took Ruiz about an hour and a half to die. Greystoke, was not going to abandon him. He may have done what emergency medicine he could with the materials on hand.

    Ruiz was worried about his animals. The film showed the animals that Ruiz kept in small cages barely large enough to hold them. These were probably holding cages. In truth the animals were probably kept in a fenced in compounds. Quite a few of Ruiz exotic animals had died from smoke inhalation or injuries sustained while attempting to escape the compound because of the fire. Not having time to care for the others, Greystoke released them into the wild where they had a better chance of survival. He transferred the male lion and the white jaguar to one of the compounds not affected by the fire. Once his animals were safe, Tarzan made Ruiz comfortable and Ruiz gasped out the story of the boy.

    The boy was Mayan, speaking a dialect not heard for many centuries. The boy also spoke perfect English. His people had learned it from an explorer who had found his way into the lost valley a long time ago. His land was called Tu-Toh-Hom-May, which loosely translates as Place of the Sacred Cloud Crevice, although for the purposes of this narrative we will continue to call it Tucumai. (6)

    Ramel's people had fled their homeland after the Spanish Conquest and found a valley deep in a Central American mountain chain. Ramel's ancestors had built a civilization based on the Classical Mayan mode but it had evolved as most civilizations did. With the advent of the modern technology of the twentieth century travelers did find their way to the Valley. One in particular became the friend of the the people of the Valley, it was he that taught them English. Ramel became silent about this man when asked further questions.

    Ruiz described Ramel's harrowing ordeal at the hands of Augustus Vinaro and his escape. Ruiz knew little about Vinaro except that he was wealthy, ruthless and planned to take the Valley by force. It was six of his men who had attacked the ranch, Ruiz had heard them mention Vinaro's name.

    Greystoke, buried his friend and got Ramel's scent from a piece of clothing he had recently worn. He left with his army as he later described it. Xima, the White Jaguar who would help track of the captors of the boy and help lead the way back to the Valley of Gold, Major a male African would help Greystoke, protect the boy and Dinky who would help Greystoke, scout out the jungle.

    Greystoke, suspected that Major was a son of his pet/companion the lion Jad-bal-ja. He had much the same golden coloration and a high degree of intelligence which made training him fairly easy.

    Ruiz and Greystoke had found Major and two of his littermates near the shot and skinned body of their mother. Poachers had stolen the skin and head. Major was raised by Ruiz, the other two females had been donated to African Wildlife preserves.

    Dinky was an unusual case in that he was not a pet nor was he one of Ruiz' animals. He was in a sense Ruiz' partner. Although he resembled a Chimpanzee to a great degree, he was in reality a Pygmy Mangani whom Greystoke and Ruiz had run across when they had visited the Mutia escarpment a few years back. He had been bored with life on the Mutia escarpment especially since Greystoke's immortal doppelganger and his family had departed for Pellucidar. Dinky had followed Greystoke and Ruiz down the Mutia Escarpment, seeking new adventures. Greystoke was all for returning him immediately but Dinky insisted that he would follow them again and again.

    Ruiz offered to give Dinky a job, if he would pretend to be a Chimpanzee, he could use him in films. Dinky returned to Central America with Ruiz. Because of Dinky's ability to learn a vide variety of  "tricks" he was offered quite a few television and film jobs. He even starred in a couple of Tarzan films. For the past year he had been the one of the lead characters in a television show about a family who owned and exhibit performing chimps.(7) It had been canceled shortly before Ramel shown up at the Ranch.

    Dinky was more than willing to accompany Tarzan and help him exact revenge on those men who had killed their mutual friend.

    Greystoke and his beasts discovered Ramel and his captors' whereabouts approximately a day and a half after leaving Ruiz' ranch, a few hours after sunset. Xima raced ahead of the others and managed to kill two of the four men before being cut down by machine gun fire. Greystoke and the rest arrived just as Xima was shot down.

    Greystoke accounted for one of the captors, dropping from a tree onto him and wrestling him to the ground while stabbing him in the heart with his knife. Major disabled the leader but had knocked him head first into the fire in doing so. Major stood patiently waiting for his next command. Greystoke realized that he would be getting no information from the mercenary. He uttered a sharp word, the kill command, that was very rarely spoken to Major. Rodriguez had his throat torn out.

    Greystoke grabbed a knapsack of supplies, loaded up with guns and ammo and took the portable radio set. He then got the others moving to make camp a mile or so away from the scene of the firefight, just on the off chance Vinaro was nearby. Greystoke discovered that Ramel could speak English and did so with a distinct British accent and intonation but with some American accentation. Ramel explained who had taught his people to speak English, although Leiber calls the man Hugh Malpole and invents a history for him, the Englishman was named something quite else and frankly the name startled even Greystoke.

    Ramel also claimed that the reason that Tucumai had remained hidden so long and so well was that a cloud cover that was partially natural and partially psychic had concealed it. The older men of his tribe, the Thinkers, were able to generate illusions. Greystoke let that go without comment since the boy seemed reluctant to be specific about how this was accomplished.

    Early the next morning the radio began to signal. Greystoke made the signal off a bit so that his voice would sound distorted. He claimed that the radio was damaged when wild beasts attacked the camp. Vinaro was upset that the radio had been damaged. He was immediately suspicious and asked for the operator's name. Although Greystoke supplied it via Ramel, Vinaro remained suspicious. When Greystoke failed to answer that question Vinaro, knew that it was an enemy. Although uncertain as to how he had accomplished finding his trail, he believed that this man was the elusive Lord Greystoke, also known as Tarzan. He dispatched two helicopters to search for Greystoke and the boy. They were to capture the boy and kill Greystoke.

    Greystoke knew that some type of attack would be forthcoming but was not certain as to what, since he did not know how close Vinaro was to him. He dumped most of the supplies including the machine guns, keeping only a bag of food and a couple of smoke and explosive grenades. He and his party traveled in the direction which Ramel believed was the direction of the Valley of Gold. About an hour after his conversation with Vinaro, he heard the sound of helicopter blades. They took shelter in the dense rain forest but somehow one the helicopter pilot spotted them and dropped several canisters of a yellowish gas. Major and Greystoke managed to run away from the area of the gas but Dinky and Ramel were affected.

    Hoping to draw them away Greystoke sprinted into a small clearing. The helicopter opened fire on him. He realized that they had not been instructed to capture him. Taking shelter in the undergrowth, he made a small primitive bolo consisting of a smoke grenade and an explosive one. Sprinting into the clearing allowed them to make a strafing run at him, marking his throw as he zig zagged. He tossed the bolo so that it wrapped around the runner right under the pilot's door. The pilot was too concerned about the smoke pouring from the smoke grenade to notice that an explosive grenade was also attached to the line. As the pilot struggled to clear the smoke the explosive grenade detonated, killing the pilot and damaging the flight controls. In an uncontrolled spin the helicopter crash-landed into the rain forest, starting a small fire which fortunately stayed confined to a small area.

    Grandrith, Professor Talmage, Colonel Juarez and a half of dozen men, hand picked by either Talmage, Juarez or Ek Chuah flew to Punta Gorda, Belize, traveled via rented boat into the Lago de Isabel in Guatamala to Panzos, where Vinaro's army had assembled. They then followed the trail of Vinaro's private army. Although Grandrith chafes at being slowed by Talmage, Juarez and the rest he stays with them until their truck experiences mechanical difficulties. He then insists on going on ahead alone.

    Grandrith smells a fire and makes his way towards it. He comes across an abandoned campsite. Inside the campsite are two machine guns with some ammo and a short-wave radio. He smells recently opened canned food, even though the cans have been buried. He also sees the tracks of a barefoot adult human male, a young child clad in tennis shoes, an African Lion and what appears either a chimpanzee or a juvenile Mangani. He is puzzled by this but has seen many odd things when the Nine are involved.

    He shoulders the machine guns and radio and walks towards the fire. It originated from a helicopter crash.

    As Grandrith examines the burning wreckage, the radio chimes with an incoming message. A male voice calls his mangani name. Somehow Vinaro has discovered that Ek Chuah had sent him to stop the looting of Tucamai.

    The voice said that since he had somehow managed to elude his first bird of prey, then he would give him another opportunity.

    Grandrith heard the whir of helicopter blades. He raised the one of the machine guns and cursed himself for not checking them immediately. They had been rendered useless. (Greystoke had not wanted to take them but had also not wanted the enemy to be able to use them.)  The helicopter shot at him with machine gunfire, forcing him to run, duck, dodge and hide. Grandrith devised a plan to possibly capture the helicopter. Making certain that the helicopter spotted him he ran into a small clearing and he dropped into the grasses. The helicopter dipped lower for a better strafing run. Grandrith stood up from the grasses and tossed one of the machine guns at the canopy like a throwing axe. It shattered the driver's glass door causing him to dip and then soar as he overcompensated. He could the bloody face of the pilot screaming obscenities at him.

    The helicopter made another pass. Grandrith tossed the other machine gun in the same manner. It flew through the holed door and hit the head of the pilot, smashing his jaw and breaking his neck as Grandrith had wished. The pilot slumped forward and the helicopter dove into the forest. Despite its relatively slower speed, the helicopter hit too hard to serve Grandrith's purposes. The vanes were bent by the impact and the gas line was torn. At least Vinaro would be crippled by having another of his helicopters destroyed.

    Grandrith spoke into the radio informing Vinaro that one of his aircraft was missing.

    Grandrith set off following the tracks of the boy and his captors or rescuers. A odd suspicion was beginning to form in his mind.

    Greystoke and his small party soon found their trail meeting up with that of Vinaro's back trail. He knew from experience the tracks that a jungle tread tank could make. It also appeared that Vinaro had a half track and two trucks. Shortly after taking up Vinaro's trail, Greystoke smelled the scent of death. It was a strong scent which soon became almost overpowering to his mutant sense of smell. It was the stench of a mass human death.

    Greystoke and Major sped towards the smell. Ramel and Dinky rode on Major's back but only for a short distance. The lion is of course not a beast of burden and so bears any burden grudgingly, beside this he was not suited for it, the rider cut down on his wind and his speed.

    They discovered an Indian village whose inhabitants had been slaughtered by Vinaro and his men. Possibly as a test of their weapons on a population and possibly as Vinaro's test of his men's' willingness to follow orders and to kill unarmed civilians. Greystoke also believed that Vinaro received a great deal of pleasure from the slaughter.

    Inside the village was an woman in her late thirties. Mr. Leiber's facts about her age and her identity were deliberate fabrications to protect her identity. The woman identified herself as Dr. Maria Babakab by which Greystoke identified her as of Mayan descent. She was working for, or so she claimed, for the United Nations World Health Organization. She was treating those who had some chance at survival.

    Greystoke introduced himself as John Clayton. He thought he saw some hint of recognition in the woman's eyes but dismissed it as due to his fame. She had not witnessed the attack but the survivors told her that white devils had done the deed. She discussed some of the previous tragedies that the Mayans had been subject to under the conquistadors and the various Guatemalan governments. She said she would have a hard time talking the warriors who were out hunting not to seek vengeance by killing every person that they ran across.

    Greystoke told her he was following the man who initiated the massacre and intended to destroy him. She wished him well but did not condone killing, she had vowed never to kill. She asked if the man who massacred this village was simply insane or if he had a purpose.

    Greystoke told her that he was looking for a city of gold. He was certain that that caused a reaction but she quickly hid it by shaking her head at the idea. She urged Greystoke to be on his way if he had any chance at all to stop the madman from slaughtering another group of people over a fantasy. Greystoke was reluctant to leave the Doctor alone in the village, the Indians who had fled might return and kill her.

    Dr. Babakab replied that if they killed her maybe they wouldn't kill someone else.

    Greystoke left the village filled with rage at Vinaro's bloody deed, following the trail left by the army's passage. Fortunately for them, he was not the only thinking adult in their party. Dinky suddenly darted off of the trail and into the jungle. His anger overcame his sense, for he should have realized that the attack on the village also served the purpose of diverting Greystoke's attention from his immediate surroundings. Instantly alert to possible danger, he realized that his foe probably left traps or an ambush to take him unaware.

    Not wanting to endanger Ramel or the rest of his party, Greystoke swallowed his anger. Vengeance on Vinaro would wait until Ramel was safely in the Valley of Gold. Tarzan skirted Vinaro's trail, relying on his augmented senses and on those of Major and Dinky to avoid any traps.

    Circumventing Vinaro's trail, they soon approached the main body of his army. Greystoke did not want to get much closer, he was planning on how to best follow Vinaro yet keep out his sight, when Ramel told him that he recognized the surrounding jungle as part of the area he had traversed. In the distance was a looming mountain range. Greystoke and his party made a wide detour from Vinaro's impeding path and hurried towards the cave entrance to the Valley of Gold. Ramel told Greystoke that he knew of a little used passage that they could use to get into the valley and avoid being seen by Vinaro altogether.

    Tarzan, Ramel, Major and Dinky squeezed into a cleft in the mountains that barely allowed the passage of the full grown male lion. Wending their way through a series of twisting, extremely narrow caverns and canyons, they eventually came to a tunnel underneath a waterfall.

    Greystoke entered the Valley of Gold.

    Grandrith followed the trail to the massacred village. He found that several of the villagers had returned from the jungle where they had taken shelter. They were about to execute and rape a woman who appeared to be a Doctor or Nurse. He dodged a barrage of spears as he entered the village. Feeling that additional deaths would only aggravate the situation, he approached slowly.

     The woman told him in Spanish to depart immediately. The apparent leader of the warriors pressed a spear tip into the woman's throat, causing a drop of blood to bead around the point. This woman who already had Grandrith's admiration for not panicking in this situation, now had his respect. The man wielding the spear told Grandrith to come and die as all White Devils deserved.

    Grandrith recognized the tongue as a Mayan derived language. John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith was an accomplished linguist who had written on the subject, he was able to reply in a language similar to the leader of the village.(8)

     "Those are evil men that is certain but I am not as they are. Nor are all White men devils, most perhaps, but not all. I know of the White men's medicines and can help the Doctor with your wounded."

     The leader of the village asked Grandrith to prove that he was their friend by traveling the path of the devil and defeating the spells he had left behind to plague them.

    Grandrith surmised from this statement that Vinaro had left behind booby traps to kill more villagers or even perhaps him. It is possible that Vinaro had undertaken this exercise in butchery to prove how ruthless he could be. Alert for possible danger Grandrith first dodged a slew of arrows from more returning hunters. He also noticed anomalies on the trail created by the vehicle tracks, hidden in the crushed vegetation were metal calthorps, tipped with what smelled like curari. He smelled the scent of tobacco and sweat wafting from the jungle. Grandrith crept off the road and followed the scent.

    He spotted a man in sniping position off the side of the beaten down road. Knowing that snipers seldom worked singly, he looked and spotted another on the other side of the road. They were positioned to catch him either in a sniping maneuver or in crossfire. Picking up some of the calthorps, Grandrith placed several of them in a makeshift sling. Approaching stealthily to the sniper nearest to him, he slung the calthorps at him. The man cursed as several of the needle like points pierced the skin of his face and exposed skin of his arms. Plucking them out, he realized what they were and made a few steps towards Grandrith before collapsing from paralysis.

    Grandrith disposed of the other sniper in a similar fashion and hung a dead sniper over each of his shoulders and carried them back to the village. He flung them down in the village's center. The head man had  Dr. Babakab  cut free. Grandrith, who also had a medical degree, spent the rest of the day and part of the night helping  Dr. Babakab stitch up those that they could save. He left at dawn.

    The small party consisting of Colonel Fuerte, Professor Talmage and some of Fuerte's men arrived in the village hours after Grandrith had left. In order to help keep the whole business under wraps and to help quell the attention that Vinaro's murderous activities were causing, Fuerte and his men spent much of the next two days helping to bury the dead. When they had finished Dr. Babakab insisted upon accompanying them as they followed Vinaro's trail to the Valley of Gold.

    Vinaro was in a fine rage when it became apparent that the latest of his well-conceived traps had failed to kill this annoying, so called Ape man. Although Vinaro liked to pretend that he was playing a predatory game, in reality he was like one of those hunters trap and hobble their game so that they can get a certain, easy kill. It was the killing that mattered not how it was done.

    His current amore was becoming increasingly annoying, as she took a perverse pleasure in his failure to kill Greystoke. Drugging her wine, he placed one of his special toys on her, a solid gold amulet encrusted with jewels and filled with fulminate of mercury. He placed her on a stump in a clearing near an army ant colony. Tarzan's misplaced nobility would no doubt cause him to attempt to rescue her. If Vinaro's plan succeeded then two annoyances would cease when the amulet exploded, if Sophie was the only one killed then at least one annoyance would be stopped.

    As close as Vinaro and his party were to the Valley of Gold, even Sophie's death would serve to slow Tarzan down.

    Grandrith did in fact come across Sophie Renault. While it is true that he was raised to be less compassionate, especially towards humans, than Greystoke, he stopped to help Sophie Renault. His motivations may have been compassionate but he also knew that she could be a valuable resource of information against Vinaro and that if he could save her life, it would infuriate Vinaro even more.

    Leiber's depiction of Grandrith arriving in the clearing just as the army ants were heading towards Sophie Renault is quite accurate. Despite Sophie's whispered protestations, shouts as depicted in the film might have set off the amulet, Grandrith approached slowly. He took he Amulet's welded chain into his hands and summoning his great strength managed to break the steel without jerking the amulet. All the while army ants were starting to climb on and bite on him and Sophie. Sophie slid out from under Grandrith's arms and rolled across the plain. Grandrith flung the amulet at the main body of the Army ant column diving behind the tree stump as he did. Momentarily disrupted, the Army ant column soon reformed but by this time, Grandrith had picked Sophie Renault in his arms and run towards Vinaro's trail.

       Out of the path of the Army ants, Grandrith and Sophie Renault disrobed and shook out their hair to remove the remaining ants. Sophie took the opportunity of their nudity to offer herself to Grandrith in gratitude for having saved her life and because he was the most magnificent male she had ever seen. Grandrith rejected her offer, except for required liasons at the Sanctuary of the Nine, Grandrith was faithful to his wife Cleo, at least with humans.

PART THREE: VALLEY

    Having deduced what the Valley of Gold truly was, Greystoke was not all a surprised to  see the Pyramids were made of a quartz rock shot through with veins of gold. He found that English was a widespread secondary language among the people. The sight of several damaged aircraft sitting in a small field in the far edge of the City did not even cause so much as a lifted eyebrow. Although Leiber stated that all the aircraft were wrecks from crashes, he fails to mention that some of the crashes had been caused by gunfire.

    Greystoke was greeted by the leader of the Mayan living in this valley. Although Leiber states that his name was Manco Capac, this was part of his ploy to make it appear as a lost Incan city. The true name of the chief was Mak'ina Chaac Pak. He was Ramel's great uncle. Greystoke warned Mak'ina Chaac Pak (9) of the approaching army. Mak'ina Chaac Pak mentioned that such incursions had taken place before. Before they had fought them off, this time however they would not fight. Since the last time they had fought off an invader, some fifteen years or so, they had adopted a new philosophy of strict non-violence. This had been spearheaded by Mak'ina Chaac Pak as a tribute to his late son in law, who had lived a life dedicated to non-violence.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak even showed Greystoke the room where their broken weapons were stored. Mak'ina Chaac Pak had great confidence in the Thinkers who had the ability to project illusionary fog to hide the Valley from possible invaders. Although as Greystoke would discover the Thinkers did not truly have mental abilities of illusion, rather they were the only ones entrusted to operate a sophisticated piece of machinery that was the legacy of Mak'ina Chaac Pak's late son in law. This device projected a sophisticated holographic image of fog and mountains.

    Greystoke realized that he was not going to get the cooperation of the inhabitants of the Valley of Gold to help him fight off Vinaro and invaders. He had to come up with a plan to stop them before they reached the Valley of Gold.

    Grandrith and Sophie Renault managed to catch up with Vinaro's army as they traveled swiftly through the trees parallel to the beaten down path. They were close to a tall range of mountains. Using all of  his jungle training and heightened senses, Grandrith scanned the growth-covered mountains for a hint of the entrance to the Valley of Gold.

    He smelled the entrance before he saw it, a subtle aroma of cavern air. Grandrith saw that the entrance had a natural camouflage of foliage consisting of bushy trees and tall yellow reeds covering it. He and Sophie Renault managed to skirt Vinaro's column and enter the dark carvern without a trace. Sophie Renault was agitated and panicky, she admitted to a severe case of claustrophobia. Grandrith gathered up a bunch of reeds and shrubbery to make torches.

    Grandrith noted that the initial entrance of the cavern narrowed to a gap barely big enough for a man to squeeze through. Once beyond that it widened once more, wide enough for a tank to move in one direction. The cavern branched, one side ending abruptly in a drop off of several hundred feet. the other continuing deeper into the mountain.

    Grandrith stepped out of the cavern to gather more material for torches and heard machinery being moved. Throwing himself flat he avoided the machine gun blast, although the heat from passing bullets seared his back. While still laying flat on his belly Grandrith slipped his bow off of his shoulder, drew out an arrow, nocked it and drew it. Rolling onto his back he aimed the arrow across his chest, while looking at the man from an upside down position. Firing awkwardly yet accurately, the arrow struck the man in his left eye and penetrated into his brain.

    He ran to the scout and was stripping him of his weapons when another scout arrived and fired at him. Grandrith shot him with the scout's side arm and gathered up his weapons and the torch materials and returned to the cavern. Sophie Renault told Grandrith that Vinaro's men never made a move without consulting him first, so they would have some time to set traps.

    Grandrith set up a series of concealed sharpened stakes that lead directly to the drop off. He thought that Vinaro would believe that he had placed the traps to dissuade him from going down that path and so consequently would take it. Just in case Vinaro did not take the bait, Grandrith and Sophie Renault left a clear passage for about a half a mile then started laying down stakes and deadfalls.

    They waited until the first of Vinaro's scouts had appeared in the cavern. Grandrith waited to be spotted and ran towards the passage with the drop off. He threw cannon sized boulders at the pursuing soldiers and killed them. He then backtracked and slipped past the rest of the oncoming army by crawling above them in the darkness.

    Mr. Train called a halt to the column. Mr. Vinaro had refused to listen to him and had been overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in the enclosed cavern. They had to await for him to recover, meanwhile they began blasting to widen the entrance.

    Grandrith and Sophie Renault made their way down the correct passage, although they had made a slight detour having smelled a pool of water in a small passage just off the main cavern. Sucking up the clear, cold liquid, Grandrith became instantly alert having heard and smelled a human presence. Yet even with his heightened senses he could not clearly sense the presence it was like a tangible ghost had come and gone.  Grandrith and Sophie Renault exited into the Valley of Gold quite late at night. They made their way to the large city he could see in the distance.

    Greystoke had spent the day fruitlessly arguing with Mak'ina Chaac Pak. Not only did Mak'ina Chaac Pak wish for his people not to take arms against the invaders but he did not wish for them to take any defensive actions, for fear it would cause the invaders harm and also because it might cause the invaders to make violence against his people. Greystoke tried to explain that Vinaro and his men needed no such prompting.

    The Mayan government or power structure seemed divided into three factions; those who followed Mak'ina Chaac Pak implicitly and to the letter, those lead by a couple of the Thinkers who wished to take some defensive measures and another faction, lead by the former warrior class who wished to take arms against the invaders.

    Greystoke pointed to the wreckage of the planes, asking Mak'ina Chaac Pak if the pilots had not died by violence?

    Some of them yes, but not of the Mayan's making. They had never deliberately caused a plane to crash with their illusionary power. Mak'ina Chaac Pak talked about the man Leiber calls Hugh Malpole, stating his philosophy.

    Leiber states that Manco Capac said, "His skin was fair, his hair had been gold yet inwardly he was one of us." Mak'ina Chaac Pak actually said something to the effect that "His skin was fair, his hair was bronze but he became one of us."

    The Mayan's had a town meeting, another legacy of  "Malpole's". By a fairly wide margin the Mayan's voted to follow Mak'ina Chaac Pak's dictates. Although he moderated it by stating that those who wished to follow their own conscience could do so.

    Greystoke had a few of the dissidents set up some traps and make some crude weapons. He decided that his best option was to confront Vinaro and stop him before he entered the Valley. Following Ramel's directons as to the route Vinaro would have to follow to enter the Valley, Greystoke entered a canyon that gradually turned into a cavern leading into the Mountain's heart.

    Smelling a fleeting human presence, he decided that Vinaro's scouts had already entered this part of the cavern and hurried to stop them. He unknowingly passed by the side passage where Grandrith and Sophie Renault had paused for a water break.

    As Greystoke traveled further into the cavern, he became aware of deadfalls and swing traps that appeared recently set. He guessed that perhaps some of the Mayan's had already been here before him and set up a welcome for Vinaro and his men. Greystoke carefully avoided the traps and came to a branch in the natural tunnel. He heard voices and carefully approached.

  Just past the opening he saw many of Vinaro's men sitting down taking oxygen in a part of the tunnel just past the branching. Vinaro was engaged in what appeared to be an argument with Mr. Train. Greystoke was too far away to read the lips clearly and the loud roaring of the engines drowned much of the dialogue.

    He saw that a few of Vinaro's men were not merely resting but were dead. They had sprung a hidden trap.

    Mr. Train motioned for the engines to cut off. He walked up the other passage way a bit disappearing from Greystoke's sight. He returned with a disgusted look on his face.

    He spoke to a red faced Vinaro, stating with some degree of anger and contempt that Mr. Vinaro's insistence upon taking that passage had cost them six men and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

    Vinaro replied that he had not thought that the ape-man would be so cunning. He ordered his men to regroup and press on through the other passage.

    Greystoke retraced his steps. If Vinaro wished to blame him for this misfortune, so much the better. Hiding in the shadows of rocks jutting   near the ceiling of the cavern, Greystoke took up a position. He waited for Vinaro's men to spring the various traps set by another's hands. One tripped a wire that caused a framework of sharpened sticks to swing down and impale him. Another tripped a trap setting off a man made avalanche causing a number of bowling ball and cannon ball sized boulders to crush three of the scouts and cover the floor or the passage.

    Greystoke hurried to grab a few boulders and a machine gun and took up his position again. He brained the next few scouts that entered the passage. Unfortunately one of them managed to fire off a shot which caused several mercenaries to come running into the passage. Greystoke picked them off with accurate single shots yet they kept coming faster than he had wished, giving him no time to run down and replenish his ammunition. When he was nearly out ammo he had a sudden inspiration. Waiting until the passage was crowded with mercenaries, Greystoke fired the last of his ammunition at the stalactites above the group of mercenaries firing at him. The broken stones rained down wreaking havoc on the mercenaries. It would at least take them a while to clean up that debris.

    Greystoke threw his empty machine gun and managed to brain another mercenary. He dashed through the passage he had come through earlier, dodging the wild firing of a few wounded mercenaries. A stray bullet clipped his heel and creased his shoulder. Greystoke planned to organize those citizens of Tucamai who wished to fight into small units which could divide and overwhelm the mercenaries, however as soon as Greystoke exited into the Valley he was met by runners which asked if they could escort him to Mak'ina Chaac Pak.

    They ran with Greystoke to the main pyramid, that massive structure that appeared carven out of a single massive piece of gold. Mak'ina Chaac Pak told Greystoke that he had decided to show him the true treasure of Tucamai. He lead Greystoke past storage rooms filled to the brim with all manner of golden objects, from bowls, plates, statuettes to knives, bas relief plaques, amulets and jewelry and then into a room with a door made of pure gold. This room was empty but for a few scattered golden nuggets on the floor. The walls were carven with frescos depicting Mayan pictographs. There were two head busts jutting from the wall, one was made of pure gold and appeared an accurate depiction of a  man of the vanished people known as the Olmecs. The other was a carven stone representation of the Wing Serpent Kuklucan. With some surprise, Greystoke noted that the features of Kukulcan resembled to some extent, his own.(10)

   Mak'ina Chaac Pak explained that the golden head was of Ek Chuah the false god who had once claimed dominion over the people of Tucamai, much of the gold he had seen had been part of Ek Chuah's treasure. Mak'ina Chaac Pak pulled on the bust of Kukulcan. Part of the wall swung open in a small doorway. Steps lead down into the pyramid. Mak'ina Chaac Pak motioned for Greystoke to follow him. Mak'ina Chaac Pak lead Greystoke down a long flight of well worn stone steps, until they came to a large cavern which went on for some distance.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak proclaimed this was the true treasure of Tucamai, the sanctuary where his people had hidden from invaders for centuries. Their purpose was not merely survival but rather to safeguard the gift that the gods had placed in their care.

    In explanation, Mak'ina Chaac Pak lead Greystoke down a rather lengthy tunnel which exited in a cavern. Not easily shocked, Greystoke was totally surprised at the absolute richness of the walls of the cavern. The cavern walls were comprised the same substance from which the pyramids had been constructed, clear quartz shot through with golden wire. Even where the quartz was not present there were wide veins of gold stretching for as far as the eye could see. He followed the veins of gold and came to another storeroom filled with golden artifacts and there were fiber sacks of golden nuggets.

    Tarzan suddenly realized that Mak'ina Chaac Pak was no longer beside him. Hearing a slight grating sound he ran back to where the tunnel had branched off from the main one. He found his way blocked by a golden door that had slid down from the ceiling. The door was several inches in width and weighed a couple of tons, beyond his ability lift it.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak explained that unlike on previous occasions he would need time to make certain this people were gathered in this sanctuary. Doing so now would be more difficult especially now that Greystoke had talked some of them into fighting back. Mak'ina Chaac Pak said he would offer all of the gold in the pyramid and on the pyramids to secure the lives of his people, not one life was worth all the gold in the world. Mak'ina Chaac Pak added that his people were also uneasy and suspicious since a woman, Ramel whom said belong to the Chief of the Invader's had come into the valley along with a man whose appearance had sent a wave of confusion through the populous.

    Greystoke felt that he knew who the man was. He named him. Mak'ina Chaac Pak looked shocked and then saddened but turned way with a small wistful smile.(11) "No, Tarzan, he claimed to be you."

    "We will free you when this is over or you may try to find your way out through the passages on that side of the door. It has been known to happen but by then it should all be over anyway."

    Grandrith and Sophie Renault arrived on the outskirts of the city flanked by several unarmed men moving warily behind them, Grandrith was aware of them but chose not to say or do anything until he had spoken to the King of the Mayans.

    An man in his late sixties or early seventies greeted Grandrith, accompanying the man was a ten year old boy, an African lion of a golden color and to his shock what appeared to be one of the Old Ones, albeit a dwarf of the species.

    Sophie Renault called out to the boy. Ramel smiled and spoke to the older man. The boy told her that this was Vinaro's woman and he did not now who the man was. Rather than reveal his ability to understand Mayan, Grandrth kept silent.

    The older man spoke in English, Welcoming them to his city. He asked who Grandrith might be. He told him John Cloamby, Lord Grandrith also known by the name of Tarzan.

    A startled look came onto the old man's face and an angry murmuring began among the crowd.

    The old man invited him to his home for food and refreshment where they discussed Vinaro and his plans. The old man said he was aware of the threat and his people were making preparations. He offered to show them the treasure of Tucamai.

    As they traveled through the plaza, Sophie Renault remarked on a shimmering fountain whose waters seemed as black as night. Upon closer examination, it was not a pool of water but a sheet of obsidian glass.Mak'ina Chaac Pak remarked that under the glass was a shaft that seemed endless, they thought perhaps it went to the center of the world. The  Mayans had covered it with the obsidian glass to prevent accidents.

    The moon light caused the central pyramid to glisten with milky radiance  and coruscate with whorls of golden fire. Grandrith and Sophia Renault  marveled at the sight as they were lead up the long staircase. Upon reaching the top they were shown the room of broken weapons and the golden artifacts of the Mayan treasure.

    Grandrith and Sophie Renault were lead into a small room covered with various pictographs carven into the wall. Recognizing Ek Chuah's name Grandrith bent down to read them. It was an account of how Tucamai had been founded. They had fled their god as well as the Spanairds.

    Grandrith turned to ask a question and noticed a barred door nearly down to the floor. He saw by its construction and weight that it was beyond his ability to lift or bend.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak explained that while he was grateful to Sophie Renault for having freed Ramel, she remained a mystery especially since she had shown up the company of man claiming to be Tarzan, when Tarzan was the one who had brought Ramel in safely.

    Cloamby immediately thought that some other poor deluded nut thought he was Tarzan and told Mak'ina Chaac Pak so.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak said that his lies were clever but that he was certain of the identity of the true Tarzan.

    Grandrith and Sophie Renault were left to sit out the invasion in a cell. Out of curiosity, Dinky stayed behind to observe this man who called himself Tarzan.

    Dinky asked who he was and how he had come to be named Tarzan.

    Grandrith explained that he had been raised by the Old Ones and so was one by adoption. This was the name given to him. He asked Dinky to pull on the lever off to the side of the room and open the cage.

    Dinky said he did not think he could do it, besides he was not certain he trusted this particular Tarzan.

    Grandrith asked with a smile how many Tarzan's Dinky knew. Dinky replied that Cloamby made four.(12)

    Like many of the Mangani Dinky did not have a long lasting attention span, besides he found this man's endless questions tiresome. He left Grandrith and Sophie Renault to their own devices.

    Grandrith attempted bending the bars of the cage but even his immense Cro-Magnon derived strength could made very little headway against the extremely thick gold bars.

    Through the slits in the stone walls, Grandrith and Sophia Renault  heard the approach of the large vehicles of Vinaro's Army. He saw Mak'ina Chaac Pak approach with several older men garbed in Black. He also had some Moon Maidens and and about a hundred or so Mayans. They all carried flowers.

    Vinaro climbed down from the tank and asked where the rest of the valley dwellers were.

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak said a disease known as the Red Death had wiped out most of his people decades ago. These were all that were left. (13)

    Deciding that Mak'ina Chaac Pak was lying, considering the vast amount of cultivated fields on the sides of the mountains, Vinaro grabbed a machine gun from a mercenary and shot down four of the Moon Maidens. When Mak'ina Chaac Pak gave him the same answer twice. He told the tank crew to blow up the miserable hovels. When no people came scurrying out of them. He dispatched a fourth of the men to search the remaining buildings.

    Turning to Mak'ina Chaac Pak, Vinaro pointed to a spot in front of the trucks. "I am here to take your gold, old man,  I want a mountain of gold here by sunset or your people will die even more quickly."

    Ramel and a few of the old and comely looking women were taken hostage by Vinaro and put inside a hastily constructed copper wire fence about two persons tall. It was electrified. Mak'ina Chaac Pak and the old men were put to work carrying the gold. Four of them were casualties of the heavy labor. One dying of a heart attack, the three others were shot at separate times for falling down.

    Vinaro took the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep, giving Mr. Train the responsibility to run the activities of the retreival and loading operation. It was during his sleep that the caged Grandrith and Sophia Renault were discovered by a patrol. Mr. Train used all of his muscle to push the lever that opened the cage.

    Surrounded by several armed guards with machine guns Sophie Renault and Grandrith made no attempt to escape. Mr. Train lead them to a small enclosure where several of the more frail or younger Mayans were being held behind a hurriedly strung electrical fence near the Central Plaza, being kept as hostages to encourage the others to work harder.

     Mr. Vinaro was awakened and awoke in a foul mood. To restore his good humor he remarked he needed to see Mr. Train kill someone. He wanted Mr. Train to kill Tarzan but first an appetizer, he selected two of the the younger men carrying the gold to wrestle against Mr. Train. Despite the pacificistic leanings wrestling was still practiced as a sport in Tucamai. The wrestlers asked Mak'ina Chaac Pak if they could wrestle for true. He said for them to follow their own hearts.

    To make it more sporting, Mr. Train wrestled with them blind folded. He beat them using a variety of martial arts, both singly and and together. However, he refused to kill them at Mr. Vinaro's order. He did however break their arms and render them unconscious. Infuriated Vinaro tells Mr. Train that his purpose is to serve him. Always, as he promised when Vinaro procured his release from Franco's prisons.

    Mr. Train showed anger for the first time and replied that Vinaro also promised at that time never to mention that agreement. He would serve him the rest of the day and then never again.

    Grandrith was released from the electrical fence. He found Mr. Train to be a huge man with extremely powerful punches that would have crippled or killed an ordinary man. For such a huge man he also moved very rapidly. He also seemed to be as resilient from Grandrith's punches as Grandrith was from his. Grandrith suspected his origins and thought that even if he defeated Mr. Train in a one to one battle, then he might have to battle him again.

    Grandrith managed to roll under Mr. Train and then flip him over his head. Mr. Train landed on his back on the glass covered shaft. Like a sheet of fractured black ice, cracks trailed out from its center and then Mr. Train fell into the bottomless pit amidst a rain of shattered black glass.

    Vinaro was visibly shaken when there was no sign of Mr. Train anywhere in the shaft.

    He ordered Grandrith returned to the cell where he had been found. A squad of heavily armed guards returned him to his cell.

    Noticing that the mound of gold had stopped growing, he turned to Mak'ina Chaac Pak. "This will do for a start old man but I want the rest."

    Mak'ina Chaac Pak told him that was all that was left, except for a few trinkets in some of the smaller temples, left untouched for decades because of the disease that had killed his people.

    Vinaro told Mak'ina Chaac Pak to take him to them now or the rest of his people would be butchered like cattle. He had all of the rest of the Mayans herded behind the electric wire fence. Vinaro told the mercenaries to not to kill anyone until he returned. Mak'ina Chaac Pak traveled with Vinaro in the tank and one of the trucks to a temple on the far side of the valley.

    When Mak'ina Chaac Pak had sealed off Greystoke from the passage leading back to the into the pyramid, he had told him that there was another way out. Once Greystoke's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he sped down the passage, at least as fast as he could travel in the almost total darkness inside a cavern with walls, floors and contours that waxed and waned. It was part of an ancient streambed and its ceiling and floor were festooned with stalagmites and stalactites. Eventually stones blocked the path and he was forced to crawl past them to regain a forward motion. There were several side passages that he explored trying to find the exit. He could felt a breeze and could smell fresh air but with a tinge of sulphur but the twisting passages of the cavern made it difficult to find a direction.

    Relying mostly on smell he eventually came to a hole which turned out to be a rip in solid rock. There were a small series of carven steps. Greystoke followed them and exited onto a shelf of rock, below which stretched a sheer wall of rock. It was just turning dawn. Tarzan discovered a series of steps carven into the rock wall that allowed him easier access down the mountain. He would have climbed it if necessary but was just as glad not to do so. The stone wall steps lead down the mountain back to jungle just outside the caverns where Vinaro and his army had entered.

    Greystoke killed some game and then rested for an hour or so, before retracing Vinaro's path.

    He saw the approach of others coming along Vinaro's trail and thought he recognized the silhouette of Dr. Maria Babakab, however she did not appear to be in any danger but the Mayan's undoubtedly were so he sped off after Vinaro.

    Shortly after finally re-entering the Valley of Gold, he smelled a very strong animal scent coming off to a side of the mountain wall near the entrance to the valley. Exploring further, he found about twenty Mayans inside a hidden cavern, inside the cavern were the penned domestic animals which Mak'ina Chaac Pak had hidden prior to Vinaro's arrival. They consisted of pigs, dogs, small puma, a species of deer, sheep and the white jaguars. The Mayan's told Greystoke what was transpiring in the main city.

    Greystoke did not believe that the hidden Mayan's would stay hidden for very long. Vinaro would slaughter the Mayan's he saw and proceed to demolish every monument, every building seeking to get every bit of gold that he could from Tucamai. He said as much to the Mayans. Greystoke came up with a desperate plan, asking if they woudl join him in it.

    They agreed.  Greystoke took a  half the Mayans and a quarter of the animals with him and stealthily approached Vinaro's encampment in the Valley's square. Since everyone's attention was focused on a contest of some type,  Greystoke and the rest were able to get quite close, taking shelter in tall grass and behind monuments.

    Mr. Train, Vinaro's right hand man was no where in sight, which put Tarzan on the alert. A man clothed in a loincloth was lead under heavy guard into the main pyramid. Greystoke wondered if this was the man who claimed to be him. If so he hoped he was not another Esteban Miranda.(14) Vinaro's woman was lead into a wired enclosure that also held Ramel, several other Mayans, Dinky and Major. Vinaro and Mak'ina Chaac Pak climbed into a half track took off across the and tooand several soldiers climbed When Greystoke thought they were close enough, the Mayan's began removing the muzzles that they had placed on the animals and loosening from their leashes.

    Greystoke and the Mayans herded the animals into the mercenaries camp. Tarzan knew that they would be slaughtered but hoped that they would provide a diversion. The animals sounds made the mercenaries turn in their direction. Machine guns chattered. Most of the animals were killed as they ran towards the mercenaries yet many of the surviving dogs, pigs and jaguars attacked the mercenaries.

    Tarzan and the Mayans grabbed what fallen weapons they could and attacked the mercenaries, pushing their way towards the mercenaries.

    Sophie Renault had formed a plan as soon as Vinaro had left. Using the distraction of animals and Mayans attacked the rear of the mercenaries she put it into effect. As Leiber correctly states she was a trained acrobat, she quickly had one of the Mayans sit on the shoulders of another and stand near the wire fence. She clambered atop them and then stood on the highest Mayan's shoulders and performed a back flip that landed her outside the  electrical fence. Dinky had followed suit and grabbed her arm preventing her from traveling on foot towards the pyramid. He pulled her towards the remaining half track whose crew had hurried off to help the other mercenaries.

    To Sophie's great surprise when Dinky reached the half track, he jumped onto the driver and bit his face with his long incisors. Pulling the faceless man out of the vehicle, he started it up and drove it directly into the electrical fence, knocking it down and shorting it out. The freed Mayans ran to help their fellow Mayans picking up stones and guns. Dinky drove the half track directly into the path of the mercenaries. Despite the sight of an ape driving a half track, some mercenaries recovered their senses enough to fire at the windshield. Dinky took a hit in the side and slumped over.

    Sophie Renault had grabbed a couple of guns and was fighting the mercenaries with bullets and savate.

    Vinaro and his men had reached the top of the pyramid when they heard the gunfire. Looking back he saw that the damned ape man had somehow escaped and rallied the Mayans. He ordered most of his men to go help the others but to return with the half-track as soon as possible.

    Vinaro ordered Mak'ina Chaac Pak to show him where the riches were. Mak'ina Chaac Pak replied it was not gold but silver. Vinaro gestured menacingly. Mak'ina Chaac Pak pointed to a silver idol of the God whose head was represented in gold in the other temple. Vinaro hefted the small idol and stepped back with a start as a stone slid down from behind the idol creating a small chute from which silver ore poured. Vinaro and his two men grasped the ore as fell from the chute. It stopped after a moment.

    Vinaro asked what was going on. Mak'ina Chaac Pak said there was more the chute was probably blocked. Vinaro grabbed a machine gun and poked it into the chute and let loose with a barrage. He heard a rumbling. As he and the mercenaries looked to see the silver come from it , Mak'ina Chaac Pak hurried from the room.

    Gallons of mercury poured from the chute with the force of a firehose knocking Vinaro and his two men off of their feet. And coating them with the slippery deadly metal. Of his two guards, one died immediately from choking on the mercury. The other made it to the steps but slid and went tumbling down them breaking his neck. Vinaro was knocked onto his back and he slid across the temple floor and down the pyramid steps. As fortune would have it handed on his fallen mercenary and managed to hold on as they slid down the steps.

    Vinaro spit the foul taste of mercury from his face as he wrung if off of his face and hair. Mak'ina Chaac Pak stood at the head of the temple steps. Vinaro raised his gun and fired. The gun was fouled with mercury. He saw his tank's gun lower and then his truck burst into flames as a shell destroyed it. He ran towards his former encampment which was now overrun by Mayans. Mayans were now pouring out of the main temple, which is where they had evidently been hidden all this time. The brat Ramel lead this throng.

    He had to clear his eyes of mercury and was not certain if he seeing things or not. He saw Sophie Renault enter the top of the Pyramid and right behind her, moving slowly and smeared all over with blood was Mr. Train.

    Out of the tank popped the damned ape man who raced up the stairs of the pyramid. A few seconds after he exited the tank the interior trembled and smoked poured out of it. Tarzan had left live grenades it, destroying much of the interior.

    When Grandrith had tossed Mr. Train into the bottomless well, Mr. Train had fallen but had continually grabbed out for a foot or hand hold. At five hundred feet down he had finally stopped his descent although much of his clothing was torn off and skin was abraded, to the bone in  a few places. He had then slowly used his great strength to pull himself up the sheer walls of the well. What his ultimate plans were we can only guess, perhaps he was going to exact vengeance on Vinaro and Sophie Renault or on everyone in his way.

    Mr. Train saw Sophie Renault going up the pyramid steps and ran after her. She stopped in the room of broken weapons. Grandrith was back behind the thick golden bars. Sophie turned and screamed seeing the huge man with torn and bleeding skin. What made him even more frightening was that his eyepatch was gone. His empty eye socket was filled with blood and the other one was rimmed with blood.

    Mr. Train told Sophie Renault that her game was now over. Vinaro would be dying and so her mission was also at an end. Unfortunately did not intend leave any loose ends.

    Greystoke entered the room and shouted at him. Train turned and went into a karate stance.

    "Since I first saw you I've wanted to kill you but you were unkillable. My life has in your shadow and I have hated it. Now I have a chance to end it all here make the world in my image."

    Mr. Train and Greystoke fought for a few moments but the battle was quick as it always truly is between two masters of the martial arts. Moving rapidly and striking deadly, one will make a fatal mistake and the other will take fatal advantage.

    Despite Mr. Train's advantage of height, his great speed and strength, Greystoke managed to get him in a full-nelson. Although it was much harder than breaking the neck of a male mangani or a gorilla, Greystoke eventually, heard the snap. Grandrith jumped away and stood near the doorway to the cell holding Grandrith