Test Bank for Operations Management 12th Edition by Heizer

Test Bank for Operations Management

12th Edition by Heizer

Full download chapter at: https://testbankbell.com/product/test-bank-for-

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Operations Management, 12e (Heizer/Render/Munson)

Chapter 1 Operations and Productivity

Section 1 What is Operations Management?

1) Some of the operations-related activities of Hard Rock Café include designing meals and analyzing
them for ingredient cost and labor requirements.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Key Term: Operations management
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

2) Because Hard Rock Cafés are themed restaurants, operations managers focus their layout design
efforts on attractiveness while paying little attention to efficiency.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

3) All organizations, including service firms such as banks and hospitals, have a production function.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
Key Term: Production
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

4) Operations management is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by
transforming inputs into outputs.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Key Term: Operations management
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

5) An example of a "hidden" production function is the transfer of funds between accounts at a bank.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
1
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Key Term: Production
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

2
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6) At Hard Rock Café, tasks that reflect operations or operations management include:
A) designing efficient layouts.
B) providing meals.
C) receiving ingredients.
D) preparing effective employee schedules.
E) all of the above.
Answer: E
Diff: 1
Key Term: Operations management
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

7) An operations task performed at Hard Rock Café is:

A) borrowing funds to build a new restaurant.
B) advertising changes in the restaurant menu.
C) calculating restaurant profit and loss.
D) preparing employee schedules.
E) all of the above.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Key Term: Operations management
AACSB: Reflective thinking
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

8) Operations management is applicable:

A) mostly to the service sector.
B) to services exclusively.
C) mostly to the manufacturing sector.
D) to all firms, whether manufacturing or service.
E) to the manufacturing sector exclusively.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Key Term: Operations management
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

9) ________ is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming
inputs into outputs.
Answer: Operations management
Diff: 1
Key Term: Operations management
Objective: LO 1.1 Define operations management
Learning Outcome: Discuss operations and operations management as a competitive advantage for the organization

3
Copyright © 2017 Pearson Education, Inc.
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King saw the beast gradually drawing its hind feet well beneath its body as
it prepared to charge.

IV

FOU-TAN
Returning early from a successful hunt, Che approached the clearing. He,
too, moved silently, for thus he always moved through the jungle. Along a
forest aisle he could see the clearing before he reached it. He saw Uda
digging among the dry leaves, which made a rustling sound that would have
drowned the noise of the approach of even a less careful jungle animal than
Che. The father smiled as his eyes rested upon his first-born, but in the
same instant the smile froze to an expression of horror as he saw a panther
leap into the clearing.
Kangrey, emerging at that moment from their gloomy dwelling, saw it too,
and screamed as she rushed forward barehanded, impelled by the mother
instinct to protect its young. And then, all in the same brief instant, Che saw
a heavy javelin streak lightning-like from the jungle. He saw the panther
crumple in its charge, and as he ran forward he saw the pale one leap into
the clearing and snatch Uda into his arms.
Che, realising, as had King, the fury of a wounded panther, rushed upon the
scene with ready spear as the pale one tossed Uda to Kangrey and turned
again to face the great cat. But there was no necessity for the vicious thrust
with which Che drove his spear into the carcass of the beast, for the panther
was already dead.
For a moment they stood in silence, looking down upon the kill—four
primitive jungle people, naked but for sampots. It was King's first
experience of a thrill of the primitive hunter. He trembled a little, but that
was reaction to the fear that he had felt for the life of little Uda.
"It is a large panther," said Che simply.
"Only a strong man could have slain it thus," said Kangrey. "Only Che
could thus have slain with a single cast so great a panther."
"It was not the spear of Che. It was the spear of the pale one that laid low
the prince of darkness," said Che.
Kangrey looked her astonishment and would not be convinced until she had
examined the spear that protruded from beneath the left shoulder of the
great cat. "This, then, is the reward that Vay Thon said would be ours if we
befriended the pale one," she declared.
Uda said nothing, but, squirming from his mother's arms, he ran to the side
of the dead panther and belaboured it with his little stick.
The next day Che invited King to accompany him upon his hunt. When
after a hard day they returned empty-handed, King was convinced that in
the search for small game a lone hunter would have greater chances for
success. In the morning, therefore, he announced that he would hunt alone
in another part of the jungle, and Che agreed with him that this plan would
be better.
Marking his trail as he had before, King hunted an unfamiliar territory. The
forest appeared more open. There was less underbrush; and he had
discovered what appeared to be a broad elephant trail, along which he
moved with far greater speed than he had ever been able to attain before in
his wanderings through this empire of trees and underbrush.
He had no luck in his hunting; and when he had about determined that it
was time to turn back, his ears caught an unfamiliar sound. What it was he
did not know. There was a peculiar metallic ring and other sounds that
might have been human voices at a distance.
"Perhaps," soliloquised King, "I am about to see the Nagas or the Yeacks."
The sound was steadily approaching; and as he had learned enough from his
intercourse with Che and Kangrey to know that no friendly creatures might
be encountered in the jungle, he drew to one side of the elephant trail and
concealed himself behind some shrubbery.
He had not waited long when he saw the authors of the sounds approaching.
Suddenly he felt his head. It did not seem over-hot. As he had upon other
similar occasions, he closed his eyes tightly and then opened them again,
but still the vision persisted—a vision of brown-skinned soldiers in
burnished brass cuirasses over leather jerkins that fell midway between
their hips and their knees, with heavy sandals on their feet, strange helmets
on their heads, and armed with swords and spears and bows and arrows.
They came on talking among themselves, and as they passed close to King
he discovered that they spoke the same language that he had learned from
Che and Kangrey. Evidently the men were arguing with their leader, who
wanted to go on, while the majority of his followers seemed in favour of
turning back.
"We shall have to spend the night in the jungle as it is," said one. "If we go
on much farther, we shall have to spend two nights in the jungle. Only a
fool would choose to lair with My Lord the Tiger."
They had stopped now almost opposite King, so that he could clearly
overhear all that passed between them. The man in charge appeared to be a
petty officer with little real authority, for instead of issuing orders he argued
and pleaded.
"It is well enough for you to insist upon turning back," he said, "since if we
return to the city without the apsaras you expect that I alone shall be
punished; but let me tell you that, if you force me to turn back, the entire
truth will be made known and you will share in any punishment that may be
inflicted upon me."
"If we cannot find her, we cannot find her," grumbled one of the men. "Are
we to remain in the jungle the rest of our lives searching for a runaway
apsaras?"
"I would as lief face My Lord the Tiger in the jungle for the rest of my life,"
replied the petty officer, "as face Lodivarman if we return without the girl."
"What Vama says is true," said another. "Lodivarman, the King, will not be
interested in our reason for returning empty-handed. Should we return to
the city to-morrow without the girl and Vama charged that we had forced
him to turn back, Lodivarman, if he were in ill-humour, as he usually is,
would have us all put to death; but if we remain away for many days and
then return with a story of many hardships and dangers he will know that
we did all that might be expected of brave warriors, and thus the anger of
Lodivarman might be assuaged."
"At last," commented Vama, "you are commencing to talk like intelligent
and civilised men. Come, now, and let us resume the search."
As they moved away King heard one of the men suggest that they find a
safe and comfortable camp site where they might remain for a sufficient
length of time to impress upon the King the verity of the story that they
would relate to him. He waited only until they were out of sight before he
arose from his place of concealment, for he was much concerned with the
fact that they were proceeding in the general direction of the dwelling of
Che and Kangrey. King was much mystified by what he had seen. He knew
that these soldiers were no children of a fevered brain. They were flesh and
blood warriors and for that reason a far greater mystery than any of the
creatures he had seen in his delirium, since they could not be accounted for
by any process of intelligent reasoning. His judgment told him that there
were no warriors in this uninhabited jungle and certainly none with the
archaic accoutrements and weapons that he had seen. It might be reasonable
to expect to meet such types in an extravaganza of the stage or screen; and,
doubtless, centuries ago warriors such as these patrolled this very spot
which the jungle and the tiger and the elephant had long since reclaimed.
He recalled the stories that his guide had told him of the ghosts of the
ancient Khmers, which roamed through the sombre aisles of the forest. He
remembered the other soldiers that he had seen and the girl with the
frightened eyes that rode upon the great elephant, and the final result was a
questioning of his own sanity. Since he knew that a fever, such as the one
through which he had passed, might easily affect one's brain either
temporarily or permanently, he was troubled and not a little frightened as he
made his way in the direction of the dwelling of Che and Kangrey. But the
fact that he took a circuitous route that he might avoid the warriors
indicated that either he was quite crazy or, at least, that he was temporising
with his madness.
"'Weeping queens on misty elephants!'" he soliloquised. "'Warriors in brass.'
'A mystery of the Orient.' Perhaps after all there are ghosts. There has been
enough evidence accumulated during historic times to prove that the
materialisation of disembodied spirits may have occurred upon countless
occasions. That I never saw a ghost is not necessarily conclusive evidence
that they do not exist. There are many strange things in the Orient that the
western mind cannot grasp. Perhaps, after all, I have seen ghosts; but if so,
they certainly were thoroughly materialised, even to the dirt on their legs
and the sweat on their faces. I suppose I shall have to admit that they are
ghosts, since I know that no soldiers like them exist in the flesh anywhere in
the world."
As King moved silently through the jungle, he presented an even more
anachronistic figure than had the soldiers in brass; for they, at least,
personified an era of civilisation and advancement, while King, to all
outward appearances, was almost at the dawn of human evolution—a
primitive hunter, naked but for a sampot of leopard skin and rude sandals
fashioned by Kangrey because the soles of his feet, innocent of the
callouses that shod hers and Che's, had rendered him almost helpless in the
jungle without this protection. His skin was brown from exposure to the
sun, and his hair had grown thick and shaggy. That he was smooth-shaven
was the result of chance. He had always made it a habit, since he had taken
up the study of medicine and surgery, to carry a safety razor blade with him,
for what possible emergency he could not himself have explained. It was
merely an idiosyncrasy, and it had so chanced that among several other
things that the monkeys had dropped from his pockets and scattered in the
jungle the razor blade had been recovered by little Uda along with a silver
pencil and a handful of French francs.
He moved through the jungle with all the assurance of a man who has
known no other life, so quickly does humankind adapt itself to
environment. Already his ears and his nostrils had become inured to their
surroundings to such an extent, at least, as to permit them to identify and
classify easily and quickly the more familiar sounds and odors of the jungle.
Familiarity had induced increasing self-assurance, which had now reached a
point that made him feel he might soon safely set out in search of
civilization. However, to-day his mind was not on this thing; it was still
engaged in an endeavor to solve the puzzle of the brass-bound warriors. But
presently the baffling contemplation of this matter was rudely interrupted
by a patch of buff coat and black stripes of which he caught a momentary,
fleeting glimpse between the boles of two trees ahead of him.
A species of unreasoning terror that had formerly seized him each time that
he had glimpsed the terrifying lord of the jungle had gradually passed away
as he had come to recognize the fact that every tiger that he saw was not
bent upon his destruction and that nine times out of ten it would try to get
out of his way. Of course, it is the tenth tiger that one must always reckon
with; but where trees are numerous and a man's eyes and ears and nose are
alert, even the tenth tiger may usually be circumvented.
So now King did not alter his course, though he had seen the tiger directly
ahead of him. It would be time enough to think of retreat when he found
that the temper and intentions of the tiger warranted it, and, further, it was
better to keep the brute in sight than to feel that perhaps he had circled and
was creeping up behind one. It was, therefore, because of this that King
pushed on a little more rapidly; and soon he was rewarded by another
glimpse of the great carnivore and of something else, which presented a
tableau that froze his blood.
Beyond the tiger and facing it stood a girl. Her wide eyes were glassy with
terror. She stood as one in a trance, frozen to the spot, while toward her the
great cat crept. She was a slender girl, garbed as fantastically as had been
the soldiers that had passed him in the jungle shortly before; but her
gorgeous garments were soiled and torn, and even at a distance King could
see that her face and arms were scratched and bleeding. In the instant that
his eyes alighted upon her he sensed something strangely familiar about her.
It was a sudden, wholly unaccountable impression that somewhere he had
seen this girl before; but it was only a passing impression, for his whole
mind now was occupied with her terrifying predicament.
To save her from the terrible death creeping slowly upon her seemed
beyond the realms of possibility, and yet King knew that he must make the
attempt. He recognized instantly that his only hope lay in distracting the
attention of the tiger. If he could center the interest of the brute upon
himself, perhaps the girl might escape.
He shouted, and the tiger wheeled about. "Run!" he cried to the girl.
"Quick! Make for a tree!"
As he spoke, King was running forward. His heavy spear was ready in his
hand, but yet it was a mad chance to take. Perhaps he forgot himself and his
own danger, thinking only of the girl. The tiger glanced back at the girl,
who, obeying King's direction, had run quickly to a nearby tree into which
she was trying to scramble, badly hampered by the long skirt that enveloped
her.
For only an instant did the tiger hesitate. His short and ugly temper was
fully aroused now in the face of this rude interruption of his plan. With a
savage snarl and then the short coughing roars with which King was all too
familiar, he wheeled and sprang toward the man in long, easy bounds.
Twelve to fifteen feet he covered in a single leap. Flight was futile. There
was nothing that King could do but stand his ground and pit his puny spear
against this awful engine of destruction.
In that brief instant there was pictured upon the screen of his memory a
tree-girt athletic field. He saw young men in shirts and shorts throwing
javelins. He saw himself among them. It was his turn now. His arm went
back. He recalled how he had put every ounce of muscle, weight, and
science into that throw. He recalled the friendly congratulations that
followed it, for every one knew without waiting for the official verdict that
he had broken a world's record.
Again his arm flew back. To-day there was more at stake than a world's
record, but the man did not lose his nerve. Timed to the fraction of an
instant, backed by the last ounce of his weight and his skill and his great
strength, the spear met the tiger in mid-leap; full in the chest it struck him.
King leaped to one side and ran for a tree, his single, frail hope lying in the
possibility that the great beast might be even momentarily disabled.
He did not waste the energy or the time even to glance behind him. If the
tiger were able to overtake him, it must be totally a matter of indifference to
King whether the great brute seized him from behind or in front—he had
led his ace and he did not have another.
No fangs or talons rent his flesh as King scrambled to the safety of the
nearest tree. It was not without a sense of considerable surprise that he
found himself safely ensconced in his leafy sanctuary, for from the instant
that the tiger had turned upon him in its venomous charge he had counted
himself already as good as dead.
Now that he had an opportunity to look about him, he saw the tiger
struggling in its death throes upon the very spot where it had anticipated
wreaking its vengeance upon the rash man-thing that had dared to question
its right to the possession of its intended prey; and a little to the right of the
dying beast the American saw the girl crouching in the branches of a tree.
Together they watched the death throes of the great cat; and when at last the
man was convinced that the beast was dead, he leaped lightly to the ground
and approached the tree among the branches of which the girl had sought
safety.
That she was still filled with terror was apparent in the strained and
frightened expression upon her face. "Go away!" she cried. "The soldiers of
Lodivarman, the King, are here; and if you harm me they will kill you."
King smiled. "You are inconsistent," he said, "in invoking the protection of
the soldiers from whom you are trying to escape; but you need not fear me.
I shall not harm you."
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"I am a hunter who dwells in the jungle," replied King. "I am the protector
of high priests and weeping queens, or so, at least, I seem to be."
"High priests? Weeping queens? What do you mean?"
"I have saved Vay Thon, the high priest, from My Lord the Tiger," replied
King; "and now I have saved you."
"But I am no queen and I am not weeping," replied the girl.
"Do not disillusion me," insisted King. "I contend that you are a queen,
whether you weep or smile. I should not be surprised to learn that you are
the queen of the Nagas. Nothing would surprise me in this jungle of
anachronism, hallucination, and impossibility."
"Help me down from the tree," said the girl. "Perhaps you are mad, but you
seem quite harmless."
"Be assured, your majesty, that I shall not harm you," replied King, "for
presently I am sure there will emerge from nowhere ten thousand elephants
and a hundred thousand warriors in shining brass to succour and defend
you. Nothing seems impossible after what I have witnessed; but come, let
me touch you; let me assure myself that I am not again the victim of a
pernicious fever."
"May Siva, who protected me from My Lord the Tiger a moment ago,
protect me also from this madman!"
"Pardon me," said King, "I did not catch what you said."
"I am afraid," said the girl.
"You need not be afraid of me," King assured her; "and if you want your
soldiers I believe that I can find them for you; but if I am not mistaken, I
believe that you are more afraid of them than you are of me."
"What do you know of that?" demanded she.
"I overheard their conversation while they halted near me," replied the
American, "and I learned that they are hunting for you to take you back to
someone from whom you escaped. Come, I will help you down. You may
trust me."
He raised his hand toward her, and after a moment's hesitation she slipped
into his arms and he lowered her to the ground.
"I must trust you," she said. "There is no other way, for I could not remain
for ever in the tree; and then, too, even though you seem mad there is
something about you that makes me feel that I am safe with you."
As he felt her soft, lithe body momentarily in his arms, King knew that this
was no tenuous spirit of a dream. For an instant her small hand touched his
shoulder, her warm breath fanned his cheek, and her firm, young breasts
were pressed against his naked body. Then she stepped back and surveyed
him.
"What manner of man are you?" she demanded. "You are neither Khmer nor
slave. Your colour is not the colour of any man that I have ever seen, nor
are your features those of the people of my race. Perhaps you are a
reincarnation of one of those ancients of whom our legends tell us; or
perhaps you are a Naga who has taken the form of man for some dire
purpose of your own."
"Perhaps I am a Yeack," suggested King.
"No," she said quite seriously, "I am sure you are not a Yeack, for it is
reported that they are most hideous, while you, though not like any man I
have ever seen, are handsome."
"I am neither Yeack nor Naga," replied King.
"Then perhaps you are from Lodidhapura—one of the creatures of
Lodivarman."
"No," replied the man. "I have never been to Lodidhapura. I have never
seen the King, Lodivarman, and, as a matter of fact, I have always doubted
their existence."
The girl's dark eyes regarded him steadily. "I cannot believe that," she said,
"for it is unconceivable that there should be anyone in the world who has
not heard of Lodidhapura and Lodivarman."
"I come from a far country," explained King, "where there are millions of
people who never heard of the Khmers."
"Impossible!" she cried.
"But nevertheless quite true," he insisted.
"From what country do you come?" she asked.
"From America."
"I never heard of such a country."
"Then you should be able to understand that I may never have heard of
Lodidhapura," said the man.
For a moment the girl was silent, evidently pondering the logic of his
statement. "Perhaps you are right," she said finally. "It may be that there are
other cities within the jungle of which we have never heard. But tell me—
you risked your life to save mine—why did you do that?"
"What else might I have done?" he asked.
"You might have run away and saved yourself."
King smiled, but he made no reply. He was wondering if there existed any
man who could have run away and left one so beautiful and so helpless to
the mercies of My Lord the Tiger.
"You are very brave," she continued presently. "What is your name?"
"Gordon King."
"Gordon King," she repeated in a soft, caressing voice. "That is a nice
name, but it is not like any name that I have heard before."
"And what is your name?" asked King.
"I am called Fou-tan," she said, and she eyed him intently, as though she
would note if the name made any impression upon him.
King thought Fou-Tan a pretty name, but it seemed banal to say so. He was
appraising her small, delicate features, her beautiful eyes and her soft brown
skin. They recalled to him the weeping queen upon the misty elephant that
he had seen in his delirium, and once again there arose within him doubts as
to his sanity. "Tell me," he said suddenly. "Did you ever ride through the
jungle on a great elephant escorted by soldiers in brass?"
"Yes," she said.
"And you say that you are from Lodidhapura?" he continued.
"I have just come from there," she replied.
"Did you ever hear of a priest called Vay Thon?"
"He is the high priest of Siva in the city of Lodidhapura," she replied.
King shook his head in perplexity. "It is hard to know," he murmured,
"where dreams end and reality begins."
"I do not understand you," she said, her brows knit in perplexity.
"Perhaps I do not understand myself," he admitted.
"You are a strange man," said Fou-tan. "I do not know whether to fear you
or trust you. You are not like any other man I have ever known. What do
you intend to do with me?"
"Perhaps I had better take you back to the dwelling of Che and Kangrey,"
he said, "and then to-morrow Che can guide you back to Lodidhapura."
"But I do not wish to return to Lodidhapura," said the girl.
"Why not?" demanded King.
"Listen, Gordon King, and I shall tell you," said Fou-tan.

V
 THE CAPTURE
"Let us sit down upon this fallen tree," said Fou-tan, "and I shall tell you
why I do not wish to return to Lodidhapura."
As they seated themselves, King became acutely conscious of the marked
physical attraction that this girl of a forgotten age exercised over him. Every
movement of her lithe body, every gesture of her graceful arms and hands,
each changing expression of her beautiful face and eyes were provocative.
She radiated magnetism. He sensed it in the reaction of his skin, his eyes,
his nostrils. It was as though ages of careful selection had produced her for
the purpose of arousing in man the desire of possession, and yet there
enveloped her a divine halo of chastity that aroused within his breast the
protective instinct that governs the attitude of a normal man toward a
woman that Fate has thrown into his keeping. Never in his life had King
been similarly attracted to any woman.
"Why do you look at me so?" she inquired suddenly.
"Forgive me," said King simply. "Go on with your story."
"I am from Pnom Dhek," said Fou-tan, "where Beng Kher is king. Pnom
Dhek is a greater city than Lodidhapura; Beng Kher is a mightier king than
Lodivarman.
"Bharata Rahon desired me. He wished to take me to wife. I pleaded with
my father the—I pleaded with my father not to give me in marriage to
Bharata Rahon; but he told me that I did not know my own mind, that I only
thought that I did not like Bharata Rahon, that he would make me a good
husband, and that after we were married I should be happy.
"I knew that I must do something to convince my father that my mind and
soul sincerely revolted at the thought of mating with Bharata Rahon, and so
I conceived the idea of running away and going out into the jungle that I
might prove that I preferred death to the man my father had chosen for me.
"I did not want to die. I wanted them to come and find me very quickly, and
when night came I was terrified. I climbed into a tree where I crouched in
terror. I heard My Lord the Tiger pass beneath in the darkness of the night,
and my fear was so great that I thought that I should faint and fall into his
clutches; yet when day came again I was still convinced that I would rather
lie in the arms of My Lord the Tiger than in those of Bharata Rahon, who is
a loathsome man whose very name I detest.
"Yet I moved back in the direction of Pnom Dhek, or rather I thought that I
did, though now I am certain that I went in the opposite direction. I hoped
that searchers sent out by my father would find me, for I did not wish to
return of my own volition to Pnom Dhek.
"The day dragged on and I met no searchers, and once again I became
terrified, for I knew that I was lost in the jungle. Then I heard the heavy
tread of an elephant and the clank of arms and men's voices, and I was filled
with relief and gratitude, for I thought at last that the searchers were about
to find me.
"But when the warriors came within view, I saw that they wore the armour
of Lodivarman. I was terrified and tried to escape them, but they had seen
me and they pursued me. Easily they overtook me, and great was their joy
when they looked upon me.
"'Lodivarman will reward us handsomely,' they cried, 'when he sees that
which we have brought to him from Pnom Dhek.'
"So they placed me in the howdah upon the elephant's back and took me
through the jungle to Lodidhapura, where I was immediately taken into the
presence of Lodivarman.
"Oh, Gordon King, that was a terrible moment. I was terrified when I found
myself so close to the leper king of Lodidhapura. He is covered with great
sores, where leprosy is devouring him. That day he was ugly and
indifferent. He scarcely looked at me, but ordered that I should be taken to
the quarters of the apsarases, and so I became a dancing girl at the court of
the leper king.
"Not in a thousand years, Gordon King, could I explain to you what I
suffered each time that we came before Lodivarman to dance. Each sore
upon his repulsive body seemed to reach out to seize and contaminate me. It
was with the utmost difficulty that, half fainting, I went through the ritual of
the dance.
"I tried to hide my face from him, for I knew that I was beautiful and I
knew the fate of beautiful women in the court of Lodivarman.
"But at last, one day, I realised that he had noticed me. I saw his dead eyes
following me about. We were dancing in the great hall where he holds his
court. Lodivarman was seated upon his throne. The lead-covered walls of
the great apartment were gorgeous with paintings and with hangings.
Beneath our feet were the polished flagstones of the floor, but they seemed
softer to me than the heart of Lodivarman.
"At last the dance was done, and we were permitted to retire to our
apartments. Presently there came to me a captain of the King's household,
resplendent in his gorgeous trappings.
"'The King has looked upon you,' said he, 'and would honour you as befits
your beauty.'
"'It is sufficient honour,' I replied, 'to dance in the palace of Lodivarman.'
"'You are about to receive a more signal manifestation of the King's honour,'
he replied.
"'I am satisfied as I am,' I said.
"'It is not for you to choose, Fou-tan,' replied the messenger. 'The King has
chosen you as his newest concubine. Rejoice, therefore, in the knowledge
that some day you may become queen.'
"I could have fainted at the very horror of the suggestion. What could I do?
I must gain time. I thought of suicide, but I am young, and I do not wish to
die. 'When must I come?' I asked.
"'You will be given time to prepare yourself,' replied the messenger. 'For
three days the women will bathe and anoint your body, and upon the fourth
day you will be conducted to the King.'
"Four days! In four days I must find some way in which to escape the
horrid fate to which my beauty had condemned me. 'Go!' I said. 'Leave me
in peace for the four days that remain to me of even a semblance of
happiness in life.'
"The messenger, grinning, withdrew, and I threw myself upon my pallet and
burst into tears. That night the apsarases were to dance in the moonlight in
the courtyard before the temple of Siva; and though they would have
insisted that my preparation for the honour that was to be bestowed upon
me should commence at once, I begged that I might once more, and for the
last time, join with my companions in honouring Siva, the Destroyer.
"It was a dark night. The flares that illumined the courtyard cast a wavering
light in which exaggerated shadows of the apsarases danced grotesquely. In
the dance I wore a mask, and my position was at the extreme left of the last
line of apsarases. I was close to the line of spectators that encircled the
courtyard, and in some of the movements of the dance I came quite close
enough to touch them. This was what I had hoped for.
"All the time that I was dancing I was perfecting in my mind the details of a
plan that had occurred to me earlier in the day. The intricate series of
postures and steps, with which I had been familiar since childhood, required
of me but little mental concentration. I went through them mechanically, my
thoughts wholly centred upon the mad scheme that I had conceived. I knew
that at one point in the dance the attention of all the spectators would be
focused upon a single apsaras, whose position was in the centre of the first
line, and when this moment arrived I stepped quickly into the line of
spectators.
"Those in my immediate vicinity noticed me, but to these I explained that I
was ill and was making my way back to the temple. A little awed by my
close presence, they let me pass unmolested, for in the estimation of the
people the persons of the apsarases are almost holy.
"Behind the last line of the audience rose a low wall that surrounds the
temple courtyard. Surmounting it at intervals rise the beautifully carved
stone figures of the seven-headed cobra—emblem of the Royal Nagas.
Deep were the shadows between them; and while all eyes were fixed upon
the leading apsaras, I clambered quickly to the top of the low wall, where
for a moment I hid in the shadow of a great Naga. Below me, black,
mysterious, terrifying, lay the dark waters of the moat, beneath the surface
of which lived the crocodiles placed there by the King to guard the Holy of
Holies. Upon the opposite side the level of the water was but a few inches
below the surface of the broad avenue that leads to the stables where the
King's elephants are kept. The avenues were deserted, for all who dwelt
within the walls of the royal enclosure were watching the dance of the
apsarases.
"To Brahma, to Vishnu, and to Siva I breathed a prayer, and then I slid as
quietly as possible down into the terrifying waters of the moat. Quickly I
struck out for the opposite side, every instant expecting to feel the hideous
jaws of a crocodile close upon me; but my prayers had been heard, and I
reached the avenue in safety.
"I was forced to climb two more walls before I could escape from the royal
enclosure and from the city. My wet and bedraggled costume was torn, and
my hands and face were scratched and bleeding before I succeeded.
"At last I was in the jungle, confronted by danger more deadly, yet far less
horrible, than that from which I had escaped. How I survived that night and
this day I do not know. And now the end would have come but for you,
Gordon King."
As King gazed at the sensitive face and delicately moulded figure of the girl
beside him, he marvelled at the courage and strength of will, seemingly so
out of proportion to the frail temple that housed them, that had sustained her
in the conception and execution of an adventure that might have taxed the
courage and stamina of a warrior. "You are a brave girl, Fou-tan," he said.
"The daughter of my father could not be less," she replied simply.
"You are a daughter of whom any father might be proud," said King, "but if
we are to save you for him we had better be thinking about getting to the
dwelling of Che and Kangrey before night falls."
"Who are these people?" asked Fou-tan. "Perhaps they will return me to
Lodidhapura for the reward that Lodivarman will pay."
"You need have no fear on that score," replied King. "They are honest
people, runaway slaves from Lodidhapura. They have been kind to me, and
they will be kind to you."
"And if they are not, you will protect me," said Fou-tan with a tone of
finality that evidenced the confidence which she already felt in the
dependability and integrity of her new-found friend.
As they set out in the direction of Che's dwelling, it became apparent to
King immediately that Fou-tan was tired almost to the point of exhaustion.
Will-power and nerve had sustained her so far; but now, with the discovery
of someone to whom she might transfer the responsibility of her safety, the
reaction had come; and he often found it necessary to assist and support her
over the rough places of the trail. She was small and light, and where the
going was exceptionally bad he lifted her in his arms and carried her as he
might have a child.
"You are strong, Gordon King," she said once as he carried her thus. Her
soft arms were around his neck, her lips were very close to his.
"I must need be strong," he said. But if she sensed his meaning she gave no
evidence of it. Her eyes closed wearily and her little head dropped to his
shoulder. He carried her thus for a long way, though the trail beneath his
feet was smooth and hard.
Vama and his warriors had halted in a little glade where there was water.
While two of them hunted in the forest for meat for their supper, the others
lay stretched out upon the ground in that silence which is induced by hunger
and fatigue. Presently Vama sat up alert. His ears had caught the sound of
the approach of something through the jungle.
"Kau and Tchek are returning from the hunt," whispered one of the warriors
who lay near him and who, also, had heard the noise.
"They did not go in that direction," replied Vama in a low tone. Then
signalling his warriors to silence, he ordered them to conceal themselves
from view.
The sound, already close when they had first heard it, approached steadily;
and they did not have long to wait ere a warrior, naked but for a sampot,
stepped into view, and in his arms was the runaway apsaras whom they
sought. Elated, Vama leaped from his place of concealment, calling to his
men to follow him.
At sight of them King turned to escape, but he knew that he could make no
speed while burdened with the girl. She, however, had seen the soldiers and
slipped quickly from his arms. "We are lost!" she cried.
"Run!" cried King as he snatched a handful of arrows from his quiver and
fitted one to his bow. "Stand back!" he cried to the warriors. But they only
moved steadily forward. His bow-string twanged, and one of Lodivarman's
brass-bound warriors sank to earth, an arrow through his throat. The others
hesitated. They did not dare to cast their spears or loose their bolts for fear
of injuring the girl.
Slowly King, with Fou-tan behind him, backed away into the jungle from
which he had appeared. At the last instant he sped another arrow, which
rattled harmlessly from the cuirass of Vama. Then, knowing that he could
not fire upon them from the foliage, the soldiers rushed forward, while King
continued to fall back slowly with Fou-tan, another arrow fitted to his bow.
Kau and Tchek had made a great circle in their hunting. With their arrows
they had brought down three monkeys, and now they were returning to
camp. They had almost arrived when they heard voices and the twang of a
bow-string, and then they saw, directly ahead of them, a man and a girl
crashing through the foliage of the jungle toward them. Instantly, by her
dishevelled costume, they recognised the apsaras and guessed from the
attitude of the two that they were backing away from Vama and his fellows.
Kau was a powerful, a courageous, and a resourceful man. Instantly he
grasped the situation and instantly he acted. Leaping forward, he threw both
his sinewy arms around Gordon King, pinning the other's arms to his body;
while Tchek, following the example of his companion, seized Fou-tan.
Almost immediately Vama and the others were upon the scene. An instant
later Gordon King was disarmed, and his wrists were bound behind him;
then the soldiers of Lodivarman dragged the captives back to their camping
place.
Vama was tremendously elated. Now he would not have to make up any lies
to appease the wrath of his king but could return to Lodidhapura in triumph,
bearing not only the apsaras for whom he had been despatched, but another
prisoner as well.
King thought that they might make quick work of him in revenge for the
soldier he had killed, but they did not appear to hold that against him at all.
They questioned him at some length while they cooked their supper of
monkey meat over a number of tiny fires; but as what he told them of
another country far beyond their jungle was quite beyond their grasp, they
naturally believed that he lied and insisted that he came from Pnom Dhek
and that he was a runaway slave.
They were all quite content with the happy outcome of their assignment;
and so, looking forward to their return to Lodidhapura on the morrow, they
were inclined to be generous in their treatment of their prisoners, giving
them meat to eat and water to drink. Their attitude toward Fou-tan was one
of respectful awe. They knew that she was destined to become one of the
King's favourites, and it might prove ill for them, indeed, should they offer
her any hurt or affront. Since their treatment of Gordon King, however, was
not dictated by any such consideration, it was fortunate, indeed, for him that
they were in a good humour.
Regardless, however, of the respectful attention shown her, Fou-tan was
immersed in melancholy. A few moments before, she had foreseen escape
and counted return to her native city almost an accomplished fact; now,
once again, she was in the clutches of the soldiers of Lodivarman, while
simultaneously she had brought disaster and, doubtless, death to the man
who had befriended her.
"Oh, Gordon King," she said, "my heart is unstrung; my soul is filled with
terror and consumed by horror, for not only must I return to the hideous fate
from which I had escaped, but you must go to Lodidhapura to slavery or to
death."
"We are not in Lodidhapura yet," whispered King. "Perhaps we shall
escape."
The girl shook her head. "There is no hope," she said. "I shall go to the arms
of Lodivarman, and you—"
"And I?" he asked.
"Slaves fight with other slaves and with wild beasts for the entertainment of
Lodivarman and his court," she replied.
"We must escape then," said King. "Perhaps we shall die in the attempt, but
in any event death awaits me and worse than death awaits you."
"What you command I shall do, Gordon King," replied Fou-tan.
But it did not appear that there was to be much opportunity for escape that
night. After King had eaten they bound his wrists behind his back again and
also bound his ankles together securely, while two warriors remained
constantly with the girl; the others, their simple meal completed, stripped
the armour and weapons from their fallen comrade and laid him upon a
thick bed of dry wood that they had gathered. Upon him, then, they piled a
great quantity of limbs and branches, of twigs and dry grasses; and when
night fell they lighted their weird funeral pyre, which was to answer its
other dual purpose as a beast fire to protect them from the prowling
carnivores. To King it was a gruesome sight, but neither Fou-tan nor the
other Khmers seemed to be affected by it. The men gathered much wood
and placed it near at hand that the fire might be kept burning during the
night.
The flames leaped high, lighting the boles of the trees about them and the
foliage arching above. The shadows rose and fell and twisted and writhed.
Beyond the limits of the firelight was utter darkness, silence, mystery. King
felt himself in an inverted cauldron of flame in which a human body was
being consumed.
The warriors lay about, laughing and talking. Their reminiscences were
brutal and cruel. Their jokes and stories were broad and obscene. But there
was an under-current of rough kindness and loyalty to one another that they
appeared to be endeavouring to conceal as though they were ashamed of
such soft emotion. They were soldiers. Transplanted to the camps of
modern Europe, given a modern uniform and a modern language, their
campfire conversation would have been the same. Soldiers do not change.
One played upon a little musical instrument that resembled a Jew's harp.
Two were gambling with what appeared to be very similar to modern dice,
and all that they said was so interlarded with strange and terrible oaths that
the American could scarcely follow the thread of their thought. Soldiers do
not change.
Vama came presently and squatted down near King and Fou-tan. "Do all the
men in this far country of which you tell me go naked?" he demanded.
"No," replied the American. "When I had become lost in the jungle I was
stricken with fever, and while I was sick the monkeys came and stole my
clothing and my weapons."
"You live alone in the jungle?" asked Vama.
King thought quickly; he thought of Che and Kangrey and their fear of the
soldiers in brass. "Yes," he said.
"Are you not afraid of My Lord the Tiger?" inquired Vama.
"I am watchful and I avoid him," replied the American.