noon
she asked . `` I am still alive , '' he said as though that were sufficient answer . She was a woman and she did not have the courage of this man who knew no fear . In her heart of hearts she knew that he would die upon the altar at high noon for he had told her , after he had been brought to the inner court , of the sentence of death that Obergatz had pronounced upon him , and she knew too that Tarzan knew that he would die , but that he was too courageous to admit it even to himself . As she looked upon him standing there so straight and wonderful and brave among his savage captors her heart cried out against the cruelty of the fate that had overtaken him . It seemed a gross and hideous wrong that that wonderful creature , now so quick with exuberant life and strength and purpose should be presently naught but a bleeding lump of clay -- and all so uselessly and wantonly . Gladly would she have offered her life for his but she knew that it was a waste of words since their captors would work upon them whatever it was their will to do -- for him , death ; for her -- she shuddered at the thought .