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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/545-h.zip b/545-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..721972b --- /dev/null +++ b/545-h.zip diff --git a/545-h/545-h.htm b/545-h/545-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ee53e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/545-h/545-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7308 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of At the Earth's Core, by Edgar Rice Burroughs +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.finis { text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of At the Earth's Core, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: At the Earth's Core + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Posting Date: July 30, 2008 [EBook #545] +Release Date: June, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE EARTH'S CORE *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +At the Earth's Core +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +Edgar Rice Burroughs +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap00">PROLOGUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">A STRANGE WORLD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">A CHANGE OF MASTERS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">SLAVES</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">THE BEGINNING OF HORROR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">FREEDOM</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">THE MAHAR TEMPLE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE FACE OF DEATH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">PHUTRA AGAIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">FOUR DEAD MAHARS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">PURSUIT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE SLY ONE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">THE GARDEN OF EDEN</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">BACK TO EARTH</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PROLOGUE +</H3> + +<P> +In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to +believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent +experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous +ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London. +</P> + +<P> +You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less a +heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, +or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King. +</P> + +<P> +The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half +through!—it is all that saved him from exploding—and my dreams of an +Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded +into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere. +</P> + +<P> +But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned +Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it from +the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I did, the +fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in +that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it all—you, too, +would believe. You would not have needed the final ocular proof that I +had—the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brought back +with him from the inner world. +</P> + +<P> +I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the rim +of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin tent +amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab +douar of some eight or ten tents. +</P> + +<P> +I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted of a +dozen children of the desert—I was the only "white" man. As we +approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from his tent +and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight of me he +advanced rapidly to meet us. +</P> + +<P> +"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have been +watching you for hours, hoping against hope that THIS time there would +be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?" +</P> + +<P> +And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck full +in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for +support. +</P> + +<P> +"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me that +you are mistaken, or that you are but joking." +</P> + +<P> +"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should I +deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the date?" +</P> + +<P> +For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head. +</P> + +<P> +"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that at +the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told me his +story—the story that I give you here as nearly in his own words as I +can recall them. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES +</H3> + +<P> +I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David +Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen he +died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my +majority—provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in +close application to the great business I was to inherit. +</P> + +<P> +I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent—not because of +the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For six +months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I wished to +know every minute detail of the business. +</P> + +<P> +Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow who +had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection of a +mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied +paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, +inspected his working model—and then, convinced, I advanced the funds +necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not go into the details of its construction—it lies out there +in the desert now—about two miles from here. Tomorrow you may care to +ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder a hundred feet +long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist through solid rock if +need be. At one end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an engine +which Perry said generated more power to the cubic inch than any other +engine did to the cubic foot. I remember that he used to claim that +that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy—we were going to +make the whole thing public after the successful issue of our first +secret trial—but Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only +after ten years. +</P> + +<P> +I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous occasion +upon which we were to test the practicality of that wondrous invention. +It was near midnight when we repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry +had constructed his "iron mole" as he was wont to call the thing. The +great nose rested upon the bare earth of the floor. We passed through +the doors into the outer jacket, secured them, and then passing on into +the cabin, which contained the controlling mechanism within the inner +tube, switched on the electric lights. +</P> + +<P> +Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air to +replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments for +recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the +materials through which we were to pass. +</P> + +<P> +He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which +transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose of +his strange craft. +</P> + +<P> +Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon +transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were +ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running +horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically toward +the surface again. +</P> + +<P> +At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a moment +we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the starting lever. +There was a frightful roaring beneath us—the giant frame trembled and +vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up +through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be +deposited in our wake. We were off! +</P> + +<P> +The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging seats. +Then Perry glanced at the thermometer. +</P> + +<P> +"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible—quick! What does the distance +meter read?" +</P> + +<P> +That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I +turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering. +</P> + +<P> +"Ten degrees rise—it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug +frantically upon the steering wheel. +</P> + +<P> +As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I +spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred feet, +Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the horizontal." +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot +budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined +strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost." +</P> + +<P> +I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that the +great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young and +vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always had my +physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for that very +reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, since my +natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for and develop +my body and my muscles by every means within my power. What with +boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training since childhood. +</P> + +<P> +And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the huge +iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into it, my +best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been—the thing would not +budge—the grim, insensate, horrible thing that was holding us upon the +straight road to death! +</P> + +<P> +At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word returned +to my seat. There was no need for words—at least none that I could +imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was quite sure that he +would, for he never left an opportunity neglected where he might +sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in the morning, he +prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished eating, and before +he went to bed at night he prayed again. In between he often found +excuses to pray even when the provocation seemed far-fetched to my +worldly eyes—now that he was about to die I felt positive that I +should witness a perfect orgy of prayer—if one may allude with such a +simile to so solemn an act. +</P> + +<P> +But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in the +face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his lips there +flowed—not prayer—but a clear and limpid stream of undiluted +profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn piece of +unyielding mechanism. +</P> + +<P> +"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death." +</P> + +<P> +"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing by +comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David within this +iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that science has +scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and with it +animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand men. That two +lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world calamity that entombs +in the bowels of the earth the discoveries that I have made and proved +in the successful construction of the thing that is now carrying us +farther and farther toward the eternal central fires." +</P> + +<P> +I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with our +own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the world +might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant of its +bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality. +</P> + +<P> +"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask of a +low and level voice. +</P> + +<P> +"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks +are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight hope +that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from the vertical +to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must eventually +return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing before we reach +the higher internal temperature we may even yet survive. There would +seem to me to be about one chance in several million that we shall +succeed—otherwise we shall die more quickly but no more surely than as +though we sat supinely waiting for the torture of a slow and horrible +death." +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While we +were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile into +the rock of the earth's crust. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at this +rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would be so +high, Perry. Didn't you know it?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I had no +instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. I reasoned, +however, that we should make about five hundred yards an hour." +</P> + +<P> +"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, as I sat +with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the Earth's crust, +Perry?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there are +geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, because +the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one degree to each +sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the most +refractory substances at that distance beneath the surface. Another +finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation require that the +earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have a shell not less than +eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. So there you are. You +may take your choice." +</P> + +<P> +"And if it should prove solid?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. "At +the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four days, +while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, then, is +sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand miles of +rock to the antipodes." +</P> + +<P> +"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final stop +between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; but +during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall be +corpses. Am I correct?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe that +either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel that I +should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that the shock +has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities." +</P> + +<P> +Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less +rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated to a +depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled. +</P> + +<P> +"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and then +he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing the +steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts +would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterful +and scientific imprecations. +</P> + +<P> +Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have +essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped the +generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength into a +supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth—but the results +were as barren as when we had been traveling at top speed. +</P> + +<P> +I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward toward +eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my eyes glued +to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury was rising very +slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost unbearable within +the narrow confines of our metal prison. +</P> + +<P> +About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate +journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which point +the mercury registered 153 degrees F. +</P> + +<P> +Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food he +sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he had +turned to singing—I felt that the strain had at last affected his +mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked me for +the readings of the instruments from time to time, and I announced +them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I recalled numerous +acts of my past life which I should have been glad to have had a few +more years to live down. There was the affair in the Latin Commons at +Andover when Calhoun and I had put gunpowder in the stove—and nearly +killed one of the masters. And then—but what was the use, I was about +to die and atone for all these things and several more. Already the +heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few +more degrees and I felt that I should lose consciousness. +</P> + +<P> +"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my +somber reflections. +</P> + +<P> +"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked +hat!" he cried gleefully. +</P> + +<P> +"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back. +</P> + +<P> +"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean +anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of it, +son!" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will it +make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature is 153 +degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one will know the +difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some unaccountable +reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. What I +hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. The very fact, as +Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of several very exact and +learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent that we could not know +what lay before us within the bowels of the earth, and so we might +continue to hope for the best, at least until we were dead—when hope +would no longer be essential to our happiness. It was very good, and +logical reasoning, and so I embraced it. +</P> + +<P> +At one hundred miles the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 DEGREES! +When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me. +</P> + +<P> +From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop until +it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot before. +At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils were assailed +by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperature had dropped +to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly two hours of this intense and +bitter cold, until at about two hundred and forty-five miles from the +surface of the earth we entered a stratum of solid ice, when the +mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. During the next three hours we +passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging into another +series of ammonia-impregnated strata, where the mercury again fell to +ten degrees below zero. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we were +nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred miles the +temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched the +thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and was at last +praying. +</P> + +<P> +Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually increasing +heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater than it really +was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column of mercury rise and +rise until at four hundred and ten miles it stood at 153 degrees. Now +it was that we began to hang upon those readings in almost breathless +anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature +above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would it +continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet +with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope against +practical certainty. +</P> + +<P> +Already the air tanks were at low ebb—there was barely enough of the +precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But would we be +alive to know or care? It seemed incredible. +</P> + +<P> +At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading. +</P> + +<P> +"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! +She's 152 degrees again." +</P> + +<P> +"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the +center?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die it +shall not be by fire—that is all that I have feared. I can face the +thought of any death but that." +</P> + +<P> +Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles +from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization +broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the first to +discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate the air +supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in breathing. +My head felt dizzy—my limbs heavy. +</P> + +<P> +I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat erect +again. Then he turned toward me. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then he +smiled and closed his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back at +him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young—I did +not want to die. +</P> + +<P> +For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that +surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing high +into the framework above me I could find more of the precious +life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must have +been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came to the +realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal struggle +against the inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically +toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles from +the earth's surface—and then of a sudden the huge thing that bore us +came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket +ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it was +running loose in AIR—and then another truth flashed upon me. The +point of the prospector was ABOVE us. Slowly it dawned on me that +since passing through the ice strata it had been above. We had turned +in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We +were safe! +</P> + +<P> +I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have +been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, and +my fondest hopes were realized—a flood of fresh air was pouring into +the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I +lost consciousness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A STRANGE WORLD +</H3> + +<P> +I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward +from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell with a crash +to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself. +</P> + +<P> +My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought that +upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing open +his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried with +relief—his heart was beating quite regularly. +</P> + +<P> +At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across +his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was rewarded by the +raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed and quite +uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he +sat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his face. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. Why—why +what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too busy +reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!" +</P> + +<P> +"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How long +have I been unconscious?" +</P> + +<P> +"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden +whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you instead of +below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall it now." +</P> + +<P> +"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? That +is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose is +deflected from the outside—by some external force or resistance—the +steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering wheel +has not budged, David, since we started. You know that." +</P> + +<P> +I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, and +copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as +you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we are +this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going out to +see just where." +</P> + +<P> +"Better wait till morning, David—it must be midnight now." +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at the chronometer. +</P> + +<P> +"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it must be +midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky +that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," and so saying I +lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it open. There was +quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I had to +remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor +of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly behind me +as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface of the +ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at +Perry—it was broad day-light without! +</P> + +<P> +"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations or the +chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head—there was a strange +expression in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried. +</P> + +<P> +Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscape +at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level shore stretched +down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach the surface of the +water was dotted with countless tiny isles—some of towering, barren, +granitic rock—others resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical +vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent splendor of vivid +blooms. +</P> + +<P> +Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent ferns +intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical forest. +Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, dense +under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches. +Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid coloring of +countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but within the dense +shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave. +</P> + +<P> +And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a cloudless +sky. +</P> + +<P> +"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry. +</P> + +<P> +For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed head, +buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth." +</P> + +<P> +"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, and +this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose of the +prospector protruding from the ground at our backs. +</P> + +<P> +"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to the +country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory +untenable—it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However I +am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world from +that which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, there is +every reason to believe that we may be IN it." +</P> + +<P> +"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon some +tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry shook +his head. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime suppose +we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast—we may find a native +who can enlighten us." +</P> + +<P> +As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across the +water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem. +</P> + +<P> +"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about the +horizon?" +</P> + +<P> +As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the +landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive +suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural—THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far +as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated +tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever +beyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real that +one was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes could +fathom—the distance was lost in the distance. That was all—there was +no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the +line of vision. +</P> + +<P> +"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking +out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle. It +is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun was +directly above us. Where is it now?" +</P> + +<P> +I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center of +the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully +thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, and +apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one +might almost reach up and touch it. +</P> + +<P> +"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning +to get on my nerves." +</P> + +<P> +"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "that +we are—" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity of the +prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever +had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned to discover the +author of that fearsome noise. +</P> + +<P> +Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that +met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging from the +forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It was +fully as large as the largest elephant and with great forepaws armed +with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its +lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giant +body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair. +</P> + +<P> +Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. I +turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other +surroundings—the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, for +he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his +prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what +latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed. +</P> + +<P> +I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which ran +out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, and as the +mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into such +remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I set off after +Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident that +the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that I +considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to +enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up. +</P> + +<P> +Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches +of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of +some fifteen feet—at least on those trees which Perry attempted to +ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the +forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he +scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the ground +once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his +shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken +shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest. +</P> + +<P> +At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, +and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand over hand. +He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree from which the +creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell +sprawling at my feet. +</P> + +<P> +The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already too +close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged him +to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree—one that he could easily +encircle with his arms and legs—I boosted him as far up as I could, +and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my shoulder revealed +the awful beast almost upon me. +</P> + +<P> +It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its enormous +bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the agility of my +young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of its way and run +completely behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged in +the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had at last +found a haven. +</P> + +<P> +Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, and +so did Perry. He was praying—raising his voice in thanksgiving at our +deliverance—and had just completed a sort of paeon of gratitude that +the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning it reared up +beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and reached those +fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which he crouched. +</P> + +<P> +The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of fright, +and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him, so +precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb. It +was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain a higher branch in +safety. +</P> + +<P> +And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. +Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down with +all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force of +those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to bend +toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as the tree leaned +more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in a +panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending and swaying tree +he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward +the ground. +</P> + +<P> +I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. The +use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which nature had +intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, and to feed +that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of their foliage. +The reason for its attacking us might easily be accounted for on the +supposition of an ugly disposition such as that which the fierce and +stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. But these were later +reflections. At the moment I was too frantic with apprehension on +Perry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to save him from +the death that loomed so close. +</P> + +<P> +Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, I +dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the thing's +attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to gain the +safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which not even the +terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend. +</P> + +<P> +As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled mass +that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping unnoticed +behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. My plan +worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast I had been +led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed. +Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours and at the +same time swung his great, wicked tail with a force that would have +broken every bone in my body had it struck me; but, fortunately, I had +turned to flee at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon the +towering back. +</P> + +<P> +As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along the +edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a moment +I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind me +was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate +myself. +</P> + +<P> +A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it I +leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able to +keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But the +zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap +upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing +barks—much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full cry. +Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of this new and +menacing note with the result that I missed my footing and went +sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck. +</P> + +<P> +My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel the +weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to my +surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping and +barking of the new element which had been infused into the melee now +seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon my +hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had distracted the +DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the thing is called, from my trail. +</P> + +<P> +It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures—wild +dogs they seemed—that rushed growling and snapping in upon it from all +sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow brute and were +away again before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping +tail. +</P> + +<P> +But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering and +gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company of +manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were to all +appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa. Their +skins were very black, and their features much like those of the more +pronounced Negroid type except that the head receded more rapidly above +the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were rather longer +and their legs shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, and +later I noticed that their great toes protruded at right angles from +their feet—because of their arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them +trailed long, slender tails which they used in climbing quite as much +as they did either their hands or feet. +</P> + +<P> +I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the +wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several of +the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come slinking +with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward the trees +again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw a number of the +man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of the nearest tree. +</P> + +<P> +Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, but at +least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque parodies on +humanity would accord me, while there was none as to the fate which +awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce pursuers. +</P> + +<P> +And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that which +held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; but the +wolf-dogs were very close behind me—so close that I had despaired of +escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree above swung down +headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, and grasping me +beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his fellows. +</P> + +<P> +There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They +turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered that I +was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their teeth were +very large and white and even, except for the upper canines which were +a trifle longer than the others—protruding just a bit when the mouth +was closed. +</P> + +<P> +When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered that +my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment by +garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. +Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their +ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of +Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of trees +in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was much +exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though I called +his name aloud several times there was no response. +</P> + +<P> +Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to the +ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started off at +a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I experienced +such a journey before or since—even now I oftentimes awake from a deep +sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience. +</P> + +<P> +From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, +while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depths +beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either of my +bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was occupied +with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of Perry? Would +I ever see him again? What were the intentions of these half-human +things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they inhabitants of the +same world into which I had been born? No! It could not be. But yet +where else? I had not left that earth—of that I was sure. Still +neither could I reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief that +I was still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A CHANGE OF MASTERS +</H3> + +<P> +We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal wood +when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among the +branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke into wild +shouting which was immediately answered from within, and a moment later +a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured +me poured out to meet us. Again I was the center of a wildly +chattering horde. I was pulled this way and that. Pinched, pounded, +and thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not think that their +treatment was dictated by either cruelty or malice—I was a curiosity, +a freak, a new plaything, and their childish minds required the added +evidence of all their senses to back up the testimony of their eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon the +branches of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead +branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts upon +one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network of huts and +pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty feet above the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized the +necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same vicious +wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike +animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for their presence. +</P> + +<P> +My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; then +two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance—to prevent my +escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped to I certainly +had not the remotest conception. I had no more than entered the dark +shadows of the interior than there fell upon my ears the tones of a +familiar voice, in prayer. +</P> + +<P> +"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe." +</P> + +<P> +"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man stumbled +toward me and threw his arms about me. +</P> + +<P> +He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a +number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops to their +village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange +clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other +we could not help but laugh. +</P> + +<P> +"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome +ape." +</P> + +<P> +"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite the +thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, +Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can +be? You were about to tell me where we are when that great hairy +frigate bore down upon us—have you really any idea at all?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have made +a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the earth is +hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world." +</P> + +<P> +"Perry, you are mad!" +</P> + +<P> +"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector +bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point it +reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up +to that point we had been descending—direction is, of course, merely +relative. Then at the moment that our seats revolved—the thing that +made you believe that we had turned about and were speeding upward—we +passed the center of gravity and, though we did not alter the direction +of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward—toward the +surface of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora which +we have seen convince you that you are not in the world of your birth? +And the horizon—could it present the strange aspects which we both +noted unless we were indeed standing upon the inside surface of a +sphere?" +</P> + +<P> +"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine +through five hundred miles of solid crust?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It is another +sun—an entirely different sun—that casts its eternal noonday +effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it now, David—if +you can see it from the doorway of this hut—and you will see that it +is still in the exact center of the heavens. We have been here for +many hours—yet it is still noon. +</P> + +<P> +"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous +mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin crust +of solid matter formed upon its outer surface—a sort of shell; but +within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. As it +continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal force burled the +particles of the nebulous center toward the crust as rapidly as they +approached a solid state. You have seen the same principle practically +applied in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only a +small super-heated core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge +vacant interior left by the contraction of the cooling gases. The +equal attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this +luminous core in the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of +it is the sun you saw today—a relatively tiny thing at the exact +center of the earth. Equally to every part of this inner world it +diffuses its perpetual noonday light and torrid heat. +</P> + +<P> +"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal life +long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that the same +agencies were at work here is evident from the similar forms of both +animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen. Take the +great beast which attacked us, for example. Unquestionably a +counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene period of the outer +crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found in South America." +</P> + +<P> +"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely they +have no counterpart in the earth's history." +</P> + +<P> +"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape +and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless +convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely +the result of evolution along slightly different lines—either is quite +possible." +</P> + +<P> +Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several of our +captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and +dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees were +filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their young. There +was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among the lot. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry. +</P> + +<P> +"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. "Now +what do you suppose they intend doing with us?" +</P> + +<P> +We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to the +village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures and +whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our wake +raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black +ape-things. +</P> + +<P> +Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as +we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. +But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and found +sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen their grasp +upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater +moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's toe at a street +crossing in the outer world—they but laughed uproariously and sped on +with me. +</P> + +<P> +For some time they continued through the forest—how long I could not +guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully to my +mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for measuring it +cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were living beneath a +stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute the period of time +which had elapsed since we broke through the crust of the inner world. +It might be hours, or it might be days—who in the world could tell +where it was always noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed—but my +judgment told me that we must have been several hours in this strange +world. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. A +short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward these our +captors urged us, and after a short time led us through a narrow pass +into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we were +soon convinced that if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday, we +were to die for some other purpose. The attitude of our captors +altered immediately as they entered the natural arena within the rocky +hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial +faces—bared fangs menaced us. +</P> + +<P> +We were placed in the center of the amphitheater—the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought—hyaenodon Perry called it—and turned loose with us inside the +circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown mastiff, +its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark, +shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast and belly were +quite white. As it slunk toward us it presented a most formidable +aspect with its upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs. +</P> + +<P> +Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The +ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with savage +cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged us. +</P> + +<P> +At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. My +speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I made +such a record during my senior year at college that overtures were made +to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; but in the +tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past I had never been +in such need for control as now. +</P> + +<P> +As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under +absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward me at +terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my weight and +muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone caught the +hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon +his back. +</P> + +<P> +At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle +of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the upsetting of +their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw that I was +mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions toward +the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished the real cause of their +perturbation. Behind them, streaming through the pass which leads into +the valley, came a swarm of hairy men—gorilla-like creatures armed +with spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons +they set upon the ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had +now regained its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past +us swept the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its +former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to have +authority among them directed that we be brought with them. +</P> + +<P> +When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw +a caravan of men and women—human beings like ourselves—and for the +first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried +out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that they were a +half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were +fashioned along the same lines as ourselves—there was nothing +grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures in this +strange, weird world. +</P> + +<P> +But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered +that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, and +that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony Perry and +I were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the +interrupted march was resumed. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain brought +on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we +stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded +with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They +strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words +with one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a +noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The +men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and +more gracefully molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into +loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well +proportioned—there was not a face among them that would have been +called even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no +ornaments; but this I later learned was due to the fact that their +captors had stripped them of everything of value. As garmenture the +women possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted hide, +rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore +either supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, so that +it hung partially below the knee on one side, or possibly looped +gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin +sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy beast, +long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to the ground. In +some instances these ends were finished with the strong talons of the +beast from which the hides had been taken. +</P> + +<P> +Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, were +rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were indeed +mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned more in +conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered +with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those +of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the +museums at home. +</P> + +<P> +Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above +and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit less +human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth +which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin cloth +of the same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of +some mammoth creature of this inner world. +</P> + +<P> +Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal—silver +predominating—and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles +in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among themselves as +they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I +perceived differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When +they addressed the latter they used what appeared to be a third +language, and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue rather +analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie. +</P> + +<P> +How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us +were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called—then +we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one measure +time where time does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood +at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed toward nadir. +Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time elapsed who may say. +That march may have occupied nine years and eleven months of the ten +years that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been accomplished +in the fraction of a second—I cannot tell. But this I do know that +since you have told me that ten years have elapsed since I departed +from this earth I have lost all respect for time—I am commencing to +doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of +man. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL +</H3> + +<P> +When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They +gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and +strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, and +took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; but +poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call a cab to +travel a square—he was paying for it now, and his old legs wobbled so +that I put my arm about him and half carried him through the balance of +those frightful marches. +</P> + +<P> +The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the level +plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical verdure +of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but even here the +effects of constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity of +the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. Crystal streams +roared through their rocky channels, fed by the perpetual snows which +we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped heights hung masses of +heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, which evidently served +the double purpose of replenishing the melting snows and protecting +them from the direct rays of the sun. +</P> + +<P> +By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language in +which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway in the +rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead of me in the +chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain linked us together +in a forced companionship which I, at least, soon rejoiced in. For I +found her a willing teacher, and from her I learned the language of her +tribe, and much of the life and customs of the inner world—at least +that part of it with which she was familiar. +</P> + +<P> +She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above the +Darel Az, or shallow sea. +</P> + +<P> +"How came you here?" I asked her. +</P> + +<P> +"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as though +that was explanation quite sufficient. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away from +him?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked at me in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Why DOES a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question with +another. +</P> + +<P> +"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run after +them." +</P> + +<P> +But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the fact +that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that creation +was originated solely to produce her own kind and the world she lived +in as are many of the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away to +be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world." +</P> + +<P> +"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It was +the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater trophy +was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One would come and +take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished me, or they would +have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me from Jubal. My father +is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a sadok tossed him, and never +again had he the full use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the +Strong One, had gone to the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. +Thus there was none, father, brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal +the Ugly One, and I ran away and hid among the hills that skirt the +land of Amoz. And there these Sagoths found me and made me captive." +</P> + +<P> +"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?" +</P> + +<P> +Again she looked her incredulity. +</P> + +<P> +"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, "for +otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really mean that +you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of the Mahars—the +mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows +upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims within its +lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next you will be telling +me that you never before heard of the Mahars!" +</P> + +<P> +I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was no +alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean breast of +my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was shocked. But +she did her very best to enlighten me, though much that she said was as +Greek would have been to her. She described the Mahars largely by +comparisons. In this way they were like unto thipdars, in that to the +hairless lidi. +</P> + +<P> +About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; could +swim under water for great distances, and were very, very wise. The +Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and the races like +herself were their hands and feet—they were the slaves and servants +who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were the heads—the +brains—of the inner world. I longed to see this wondrous race of +supermen. +</P> + +<P> +Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we occasionally +did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he would join in the +conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who was chained just +ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was Hooja the Sly One. He +too entered the conversation occasionally. Most of his remarks were +directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It didn't take half an eye to see +that he had developed a bad case; but the girl appeared totally +oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. Did I say thinly veiled? +There is a race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, I have forgotten +which, who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections +by banging her over the head with a bludgeon. By comparison with this +method Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly veiled. At first it +caused me to blush violently although I have seen several Old Years out +at Rectors, and in other less fashionable places off Broadway, and in +Vienna, and Hamburg. +</P> + +<P> +But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and with +the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't even see +Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him furious. He +tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up ahead of him in the +slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with his spear and told him +that he had selected the girl for his own property—that he would buy +her from the Mahars as soon as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, +was the city of our destination. +</P> + +<P> +After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt sea, +upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like creatures +there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet above their +enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with gaping mouths +bristling with countless fangs. There were huge tortoises too, +paddling about among these other reptiles, which Perry said were +Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his veracity—they might +have been most anything. +</P> + +<P> +Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that the +other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from the +deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths—Perry +called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of an +alligator. +</P> + +<P> +I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school—about all +that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations of +restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined +belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination could +"restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, and take +rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek, +shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from the +ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters roll from their +sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided hither and +thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I saw them meet, +open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic and interminable +warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak imagination by +comparison with Nature's incredible genius. +</P> + +<P> +And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself. +</P> + +<P> +"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside that +awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought that I +believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe it—that +it is impossible for man to believe such things as these unless he sees +them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, perhaps, because +we are told them over and over again, and have no way of disproving +them—like religions, for example; but we don't believe them, we only +think we do. If you ever get back to the outer world you will find +that the geologists and paleontologists will be the first to set you +down a liar, for they know that no such creatures as they restore ever +existed. It is all right to IMAGINE them as existing in an equally +imaginary epoch—but now? poof!" +</P> + +<P> +At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack chain +to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We were all +standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her back upon him in +such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could scarce repress a +smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the instant the Sly One's +hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly toward him. +</P> + +<P> +I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics which +prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the appealing +look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes to influence +my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was I paused not to +inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of her with his other +hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw that felled him in his +tracks. +</P> + +<P> +A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and the +Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later learned, +because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, to them, +astounding method by which I had bested Hooja. +</P> + +<P> +And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering eyes, and +then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a delicate flush +suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in silence, and then +her head went high, and she turned her back upon me as she had upon +Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face of Ghak the +Hairy One go very black as he looked at me searchingly. And what I +could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly from red to white. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that in +some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail upon her +to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred—in fact I might +quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all the attention I +got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and prevented my making +any further attempts, and thus a companionship that without my +realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was cut off. +Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja did not renew +his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture near me. +</P> + +<P> +Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a perfect +nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became the +realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, the +more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier of silly +pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for the explanation +which I was sure he could give, and that might have made everything all +right again. +</P> + +<P> +On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice +me—when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over my +head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and +determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me how +I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my mind +that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching another +range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, instead of +winding across them through some high-flung pass we entered a mighty +natural tunnel—a series of labyrinthine grottoes, dark as Erebus. +</P> + +<P> +The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we had +seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered +Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light +above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting their +way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept along at a +snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling—the guards keeping up a +singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with certain high notes which +I found always indicated rough places and turns. +</P> + +<P> +Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian until +I could see from the expression of her face how she was receiving my +apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us of the end of the +tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. Then at a sudden +turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday sun. +</P> + +<P> +But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a real +catastrophe—Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other prisoners. +The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage was terrible to +behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most +diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of responsibility +for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating us with their spear +shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed two near the head of the +line, and were like to have finished the balance of us when their +leader finally put a stop to the brutal slaughter. Never in all my +life had I witnessed a more horrible exhibition of bestial rage—I +thanked God that Dian had not been one of those left to endure it. +</P> + +<P> +Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each alternate +one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. Ghak +remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? The +commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered that the +rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been deftly picked. +</P> + +<P> +"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. +"He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, glancing +at me. +</P> + +<P> +"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me closely for a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he said at +last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance of the ways +of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that you do not know +that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know, Ghak," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes between +another man and the woman the other man would have, the woman belongs +to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. You should have +claimed her or released her. Had you taken her hand, it would have +indicated your desire to make her your mate, and had you raised her +hand above her head and then dropped it, it would have meant that you +did not wish her for a mate and that you released her from all +obligation to you. By doing neither you have put upon her the greatest +affront that a man may put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. No +man will take her as mate, or may take her honorably, until he shall +have overcome you in combat, and men do not choose slave women as their +mates—at least not the men of Pellucidar." +</P> + +<P> +"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, or +act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her as +my—" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent face +floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and where I had +on the second believed that I clung only to the memory of a gentle +friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would have been +disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian the Beautiful +as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a welcome friend in a +strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think that I loved her. +</P> + +<P> +I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than in +my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, but +when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. Your +heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront to Dian +the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is my sister. +She does not know it—her mother was stolen by Dian's father who came +with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle with us for our +women—the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. Then was her father +king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of the king of Sari—to whose +power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian is the daughter of kings, +though her father is no longer king since the sadok tossed him and +Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him. Because of her +lineage the wrong you did her was greatly magnified in the eyes of all +who saw it. She will never forgive you." +</P> + +<P> +I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the +girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon her. +</P> + +<P> +"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand +above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient to +release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed to a +life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?" +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no escape?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied Ghak. +"But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, and once there +it is not so easy—the Mahars are very wise. Even if one escaped from +Phutra there are the thipdars—they would find you, and then—" the +Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never escape the Mahars." +</P> + +<P> +It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about it; +but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded prayer he +had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the only redeeming +feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave him for the +improvisation of prayers—it was becoming an obsession with him. The +Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of declaiming throughout +entire marches. One of them asked him what he was saying—to whom he +was talking. The question gave me an idea, so I answered quickly +before Perry could say anything. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world +from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot see—do +not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon you and rend +you limb from limb—like that," and I jumped toward the great brute +with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward. +</P> + +<P> +I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital out +of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making was +prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with marked +respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed the word +along to their masters, the Mahars. +</P> + +<P> +Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The +entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which guarded +a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths were on guard +here as well as at a hundred or more other towers scattered about over +a large plain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +SLAVES +</H3> + +<P> +As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of +Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner world. +Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached to +inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine. +The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, some six or +eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great round eyes. +Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white fangs, and the backs +of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their +necks to the end of their long tails. Their feet are equipped with +three webbed toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are +attached to their bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude at an +angle of 45 degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points several +feet above their bodies. +</P> + +<P> +I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old man +was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. When it +passed on, he turned to me. +</P> + +<P> +"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, gad, +how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have never +indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary crow." +</P> + +<P> +As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many +thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. +They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground +with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It is +hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and of a +uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the roof of +this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors transmit +the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would otherwise be +Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced. +</P> + +<P> +Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, where +one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a Maharan +official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The method of +communication between these two was remarkable in that no spoken words +were exchanged. They employed a species of sign language. As I was to +learn later, the Mahars have no ears, nor any spoken language. Among +themselves they communicate by means of what Perry says must be a sixth +sense which is cognizant of a fourth dimension. +</P> + +<P> +I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it to me +upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said no, that +it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when in each +others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or the other +inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used to converse with +one another. +</P> + +<P> +"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the +fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense of +their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?" +</P> + +<P> +"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, and +returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great accumulation +of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, and there +arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we were in the +public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced to discover the +key to their written language, he assured me that we were handling the +ancient archives of the race. +</P> + +<P> +During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, and +the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened to +purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the +little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who had +returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but that I +should have been more contented to know that Dian was here in Phutra, +than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, +and I often talked together of possible escape, but the Sarian was so +steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could escape from the Mahars +except by a miracle, that he was not much aid to us—his attitude was +of one who waits for the miracle to come to him. +</P> + +<P> +At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of iron +which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we slept, for +we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action within the +limits of the building to which we had been assigned. So great were +the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants of Phutra that +none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters +unkind to us. +</P> + +<P> +We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and +then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows—weapons +apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these I +found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom of the +building. +</P> + +<P> +We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving +Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped +prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian and +two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was confined in +the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not seen Dian or +the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. What had +become of them he had not the faintest conception—they might be +wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead from +starvation. +</P> + +<P> +I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at +this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection for +the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During my waking +hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and when I slept +her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was I determined to +escape the Mahars. +</P> + +<P> +"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every inch of +this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful and right +the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse I made for +Perry's benefit. +</P> + +<P> +"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are talking +about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar which he had +recently discovered among the manuscript he was arranging. +</P> + +<P> +"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and all +this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two areas? +Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. These +relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of the +continents of the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; then +the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the +superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this is +land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! Our own +world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the balance of its +surface being covered by water. Just as we often compare nations by +their relative land areas, so if we compare these two worlds in the +same way we have the strange anomaly of a larger world within a smaller +one! +</P> + +<P> +"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? Without +stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even though you +knew where she might be found?" +</P> + +<P> +The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but I +found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it. +</P> + +<P> +"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested. +</P> + +<P> +Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him. +</P> + +<P> +"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. Will +you accompany us?" +</P> + +<P> +"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall be +killed; but—" he hesitated—"I would take the chance if I thought that +I might possibly escape and return to my own people." +</P> + +<P> +"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And +could you aid David in his search for Dian?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country +without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?" +</P> + +<P> +Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, but +he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar and carry +him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would be able to +come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. He seemed +surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in it. Perry said +it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is possessed by certain +breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of course, but it gave me an +idea. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" I +asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed her." +</P> + +<P> +I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and Ghak +counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would insure us +some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident could befall +a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where the +inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of +the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, crawl into +the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up in protracted +slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for three years he +will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be +all true, but I never saw but three of them asleep, and it was the +sight of these three that gave me a suggestion for our means of escape. +</P> + +<P> +I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were +supposed to frequent—possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor of the +building—among a network of corridors and apartments, when I came +suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At first I +thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing convinced me +of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of the marvelous +opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means of eluding the +watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards. +</P> + +<P> +Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to me, +meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my surprise +he was horrified. +</P> + +<P> +"It would be murder, David," he cried. +</P> + +<P> +"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment. +</P> + +<P> +"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are the +dominant race—we are the 'monsters'—the lower orders. In Pellucidar +evolution has progressed along different lines than upon the outer +earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time and time again wiped +out the existing species—but for this fact some monster of the +Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own world. We see here what +might well have occurred in our own history had conditions been what +they have been here. +</P> + +<P> +"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. Here +man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of our own +world's history, but for countless millions of years these reptiles +have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense which I am sure +they possess that has given them an advantage over the other and more +frightfully armed of their fellows; but this we may never know. They +look upon us as we look upon the beasts of our fields, and I learn from +their written records that other races of Mahars feed upon men—they +keep them in great droves, as we keep cattle. They breed them most +carefully, and when they are quite fat, they kill and eat them." +</P> + +<P> +I shuddered. +</P> + +<P> +"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They +understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our own +world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the +question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of +communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason—that our +every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of +Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among +themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it is +beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that we +reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know that the +Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how +it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They +believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. That +the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out your +plan." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer." +</P> + +<P> +He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some reason +which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very careful +description of the apartments and corridors I had just explored. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to carry +out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something of very real +and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar at the same time. +Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising nature from these +archives of the Mahars. That you may appreciate my plan I shall +briefly outline the history of the race. +</P> + +<P> +"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little by +little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change took +place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under the +intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took vast +strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we know as +biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist announced the +fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized +by chemical means after they were laid—all true reptiles, you know, +are hatched from eggs. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist—the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed +until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively of +females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula +is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and +unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description of the +vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in the cellar +of this building. +</P> + +<P> +"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and +second, owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first +so many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population +became very grave. +</P> + +<P> +"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this great +secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race within +Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. Why, we two +would be the means of placing the men of the inner world in their +rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths would then stand +between them and absolute supremacy, and I was not quite sure but that +the Sagoths owed all their power to the greater intelligence of the +Mahars—I could not believe that these gorilla-like beasts were the +mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance +into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may +carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's +marvelous—absolutely marvelous just to think about it." +</P> + +<P> +"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just +that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to lead +them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and +hands in the ways of culture and civilization." +</P> + +<P> +"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them to +pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race +of men that will be an honor to us both." +</P> + +<P> +Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our +conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited about. +Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I only +explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him, +he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but for a different +reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible fate that would be +ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed upon him to accept my +plan as the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I would +take all the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a +reluctant assent. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BEGINNING OF HORROR +</H3> + +<P> +Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no nights +to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad day-light—all +but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the building. So we +determined to put our plan to an immediate test lest the Mahars who +made it possible should awake before I reached them; but we were doomed +to disappointment, for no sooner had we reached the main floor of the +building on our way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying +bands of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of the +edifice to the avenue beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other +slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and +hustled into the line of marching humans. +</P> + +<P> +What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, but +presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two escaped +slaves had been recaptured—a man and a woman—and that we were +marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth +of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them. +</P> + +<P> +At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure that +the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly +One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did +Perry. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak. +</P> + +<P> +"Naught," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty +toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the murder of +their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson to all +other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the +fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, and so I +imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the entire +proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible. +</P> + +<P> +They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets at +the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a most +uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally herded +through a low entrance into a huge building the center of which was +given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this open space +upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge bowlders which +rose in receding tiers toward the roof. +</P> + +<P> +At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of rock, +unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background for the +scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but presently, after +the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by slaves and Sagoths, I +discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then the Mahars began to +file into the enclosure. +</P> + +<P> +They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the +opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose above +the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders above. These +were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect. +</P> + +<P> +Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is to them +as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking their hideous +eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in their +sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language. +</P> + +<P> +For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the others +in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in fact all +Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena after the +balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, she was +preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, and +on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while behind came another +score of Sagoth guardsmen. +</P> + +<P> +At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her +wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled down +upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of that side +of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant race. Here she +squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; though doubtless +quite as well assured of her beauty and divine right to rule as the +proudest monarch of the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +And then the music started—music without sound! The Mahars cannot +hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown +among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It filed +out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the rocks might +see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes. +</P> + +<P> +Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their heads in +a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a cadence which +evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence of our own +instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured +steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward and again +forward—it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, but at the end +of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed the first +indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by the dominant +race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up and down, and smote +their rocky perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook. +Then the band started another piece, and all was again as silent as the +grave. That was one great beauty about Mahar music—if you didn't +happen to like a piece that was being played all you had to do was shut +your eyes. +</P> + +<P> +When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled upon +the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of the day was +on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth +guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize the +female—hoping against hope that she might prove to be another than +Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and the sight +of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head filled me with +alarm. +</P> + +<P> +Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit a +huge, shaggy, bull-like creature. +</P> + +<P> +"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer crust +with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We have been +carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of a planet—is +it not wondrous?" +</P> + +<P> +But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart stood +still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes for the +wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should have +leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store +for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age. +</P> + +<P> +With the advent of the Bos—they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar—two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of the +prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been as +effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons. +</P> + +<P> +As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with +the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly beneath us +was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar that ever had +fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see the beast from +which emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect of +bringing the two victims around with a sudden start, and then I saw the +girl's face—she was not Dian! I could have wept for relief. +</P> + +<P> +And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of that +fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge +tiger—such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval when +the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike the +noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions were +exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings +exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites were +as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its +coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it is a beautiful animal +there is no gainsaying, but if its size and colors are magnified here +within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not +the occasional member of its species that is a man hunter—all are man +hunters; but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, for there +is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they will not eat with +relish in the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge +carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. +</P> + +<P> +Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, and +upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with gaping +mouth and dripping fangs. +</P> + +<P> +The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At the +sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became a +veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard such +an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was all lost +upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged! +</P> + +<P> +The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the other. +The two puny things standing between them seemed already lost, but at +the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man grasped his +companion by the arm and together they leaped to one side, while the +frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision. +</P> + +<P> +There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful ferocity +transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again the +colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but each +time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter +with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire. +</P> + +<P> +For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping out +of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate and +each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger was now +upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with powerful +fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds +and ribbons. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage, +its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from side to +side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening about the +arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. It was with +difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded +animal. +</P> + +<P> +All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in +desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and over. A +little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its breath from it I +imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great thag +was up again and had buried those mighty horns deep in the tarag's +abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the arena. +</P> + +<P> +The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were gone, +and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the +skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment the thag +still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and then the man +leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least formidable +enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart. +</P> + +<P> +As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the arena. +With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the arena wall +directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried him, in one of +his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the midst of the +slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging his bloody horns from +side to side the beast cut a wide swath before him straight upward +toward our seats. Before him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad +stampede to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies, for such +only could that frightful charge have been. +</P> + +<P> +Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the exits, +many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind us. Perry, +Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few +moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, each intent upon +saving his own hide. +</P> + +<P> +I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad mob +that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an entire +herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single blinded, +dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FREEDOM +</H3> + +<P> +Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, but +another emotion as quickly gripped me—hope of escape that the +demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant. +</P> + +<P> +I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass his +release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom from me +at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching for an +exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it—a +low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor. +</P> + +<P> +Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows +of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for some +distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter +until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered +from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it +was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with the +darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my way +along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside me. +</P> + +<P> +Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, I came +upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which the +brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out +saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, granite +towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city were +all in front of me—behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken to +the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, then, beyond the +city, and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced. +</P> + +<P> +My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross the +plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a sudden I +recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes +Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light. +</P> + +<P> +Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra—the gorgeous +flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which is +tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom—brilliant little stars of +varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still another +charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape. +</P> + +<P> +But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in +which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the +myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of +gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of +the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I was never +particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped +me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part to the +counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust directly +opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which one's +calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always seemed to me +that I moved with greater speed and agility within Pellucidar than upon +the outer surface—there was a certain airy lightness of step that was +most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only +compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams. +</P> + +<P> +And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I seemed +almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Perry's +suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. The more +I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom. +There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man +shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find some way to +encompass his release kept me from turning back to Phutra. +</P> + +<P> +Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that +some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. It was +quite evident however that little less than a miracle could aid me, for +what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It +was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Phutra should I once +pass beyond view of the plain, and even were that possible, what aid +could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered? +</P> + +<P> +The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with +a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. Behind me +no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living thing. It was +as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world. +</P> + +<P> +I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit of +the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty +little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a +laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. +In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or +five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to size +and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I +watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they suckled +their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe +as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, scarlet lichen +which grew upon the rocks just above the water line. +</P> + +<P> +It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture +one of these herbivorous cetaceans—that is what Perry calls them—and +make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had +become rather used, by this time, to the eating of food in its natural +state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the +amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these delicacies. +</P> + +<P> +Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive purple +whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water, and +then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my +victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape. +</P> + +<P> +Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face +continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered a +rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep +declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet surface +of which lay several beautiful islands. +</P> + +<P> +The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be +seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over the edge of +the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into the delightful +valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace and +security. +</P> + +<P> +The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with +strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still housing as +varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their +sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the +outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first +man of that other world, so complete the solitude which surrounded me, +so primal and untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent +nature. I felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the +childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought there +rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face +surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair. +</P> + +<P> +As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not until +I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered all my +beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal +overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and +in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle. +</P> + +<P> +The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form +of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of loose stones +from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes in that direction +I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man, +running rapidly toward me. +</P> + +<P> +There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence of +brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe +position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question. +</P> + +<P> +The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping +him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative—the rude +skiff—and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing into +the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the +end. +</P> + +<P> +A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and +buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the +paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing out +upon the surface of the sea. +</P> + +<P> +A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one had +plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His mighty +strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order, +for at best I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, +which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to +follow, so that fully half my energy was expended in turning its blunt +prow back into the course. +</P> + +<P> +I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that +my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next half-dozen +strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather of all +paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant +behind me gained and gained. +</P> + +<P> +His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous +body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and the look of +terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further +concern as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look. +</P> + +<P> +And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster +of that prehistoric deep—a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged +jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony +protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns. +</P> + +<P> +As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed +man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression of hopeless +appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden +compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, and that he +might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in +the extremity of his danger. +</P> + +<P> +Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my +pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. The +monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his +awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the +surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled +about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. +The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out upon the copper skin. +</P> + +<P> +Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet +against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but for all +the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with his open palm. +</P> + +<P> +At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman +was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. +Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast +after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I tore +it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the +strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the +hydrophidian. +</P> + +<P> +With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, but +the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing me though +it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE MAHAR TEMPLE +</H3> + +<P> +The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, +and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated +creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters +about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became evident that I +had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us +ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its +back quite dead. +</P> + +<P> +And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in +which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of the +savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear I +looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, and there we +stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon +the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. +</P> + +<P> +What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. +</P> + +<P> +Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to +translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance of +his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard tongue +that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars. +</P> + +<P> +To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you want of my spear?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied. +</P> + +<P> +"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," and +with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom +of the skiff. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?" +</P> + +<P> +I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain how I +came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to +grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear it is for you +upon the outer crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. +To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another +world far beneath his feet peopled by beings similar to himself, and he +laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever +thus. That which has never come within the scope of our really +pitifully meager world-experience cannot be—our finite minds cannot +grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which +obtain about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust +which wends its tiny way among the bowlders of the universe—the speck +of moist dirt we so proudly call the World. +</P> + +<P> +So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a Mezop, +and that his name was Ja. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?" +</P> + +<P> +He looked at me in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, +"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon the +islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop lives +elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course +it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. At any +rate in this sea and those near by it is true that only people of my +race inhabit the islands. +</P> + +<P> +"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to +the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but the +larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. "Even +the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar was young, +the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they do the other men +of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to son among us that this +is so; but we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those +of us that were captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that +at last they learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later +came the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to catch their +own fish, except for amusement, and then they needed us to supply their +wants, and so a truce was made between the races. Now they give us +certain things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish +that we catch, and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace. +</P> + +<P> +"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from the +prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their religious +rites in the temples they have builded there with our assistance. If +you live among us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship, +which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they +bring to take part in it." +</P> + +<P> +As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six or +seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that of +our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to +theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher +tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his +mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive +and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable +makeshift language we were compelled to use. +</P> + +<P> +During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the +skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some +half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his crude +and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been so +short a time before that I had made such pitiful work of it. +</P> + +<P> +As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed him. +Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond +the sand. +</P> + +<P> +"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana are +always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," he +nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance +that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve +of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible to +the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see land and water curving +upward in the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted +into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung +suspended directly above one's head required such a complete reversal +of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to stupefy one. +</P> + +<P> +No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, +presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which wound +hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of all +primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop trail +which I was later to find distinguished them from all other trails that +I ever have seen within or without the earth. +</P> + +<P> +It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly in +the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn directly +back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree, climb +through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low +bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow +back for a short distance only to turn directly about and retrace his +steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and +mysteriously as the former section. Then he would pass again across +some media which would reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of +the trail beyond. +</P> + +<P> +As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but +admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops +who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his track and +delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried +cities. +</P> + +<P> +To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of +traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you would +realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. So +labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting +links and the distances which one must retrace one's steps from the +paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches man's estate before +he is familiar even with those which lead from his own city to the sea. +</P> + +<P> +In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop consists +in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and the status of +an adult is largely determined by the number of trails which he can +follow upon his own island. The females never learn them, since from +birth to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of +their nativity is situated except they be taken to mate by a male from +another village, or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe. +</P> + +<P> +After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward of +five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the exact +center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one might well +imagine. +</P> + +<P> +Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the +ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven twigs, +mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by +some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of +the owner. +</P> + +<P> +Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served to +admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were through +small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude +ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses +varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that I entered +was divided into two floors and eight apartments. +</P> + +<P> +All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and +vegetables as they required. Women and children were working in these +gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted +deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest attention. Among +them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area were many +warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the points of their spears +to the ground directly before them. +</P> + +<P> +Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village—the +house with eight rooms—and taking me up into it gave me food and +drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her +arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter +most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold and +amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day rule +the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of the community. +</P> + +<P> +We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, for +it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man proposed +that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which lay not far from +his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," he said; "but the +great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of sight they need never +know that we have been there. For my part I hate them and always have, +but the other chieftains of the island think it best that we continue +to maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races; +otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst +the hideous creatures and exterminate them—Pellucidar would be a +better place to live were there none of them." +</P> + +<P> +I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be a +difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus +conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we +came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to +those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the +carboniferous age. +</P> + +<P> +Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough +oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No doors +or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there +need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja +explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the roof. +</P> + +<P> +"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even the +Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing and +about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of the +wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, revealing a small +opening which led straight within the building, or so it seemed, though +as I entered after Ja I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme +darkness. +</P> + +<P> +"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow me +closely." +</P> + +<P> +The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a +primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to the +upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet when the +interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter and +presently we came opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us +an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous +hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of granite +rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and +women like myself. +</P> + +<P> +"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading part +in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. You may +be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall as they." +</P> + +<P> +Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above +and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of +Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central +opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple. +</P> + +<P> +There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring +pterodactyls—thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind +these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been when +she entered the amphitheater at Phutra. +</P> + +<P> +Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to +settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer edge +of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was reserved +for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible +guard. +</P> + +<P> +All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. One +might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the +diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. The +men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with folded arms, +awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung to one another, +hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking race, these cave men +of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of +the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of +the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and +little else. +</P> + +<P> +Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; then +very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid noiselessly +into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, turning at the +ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning +upon their backs and diving below the surface. +</P> + +<P> +Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained at +rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. +Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round eyes +upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought +from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, and +bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle. +</P> + +<P> +The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried +to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a woman; +but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity that +I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, and the girl's arms +to reach at last the very center of her brain. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the eyes +never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the victim +responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen, +slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen +power she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her +glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To the water's edge she +came, nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the +little island. On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated +as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, +and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was +at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on +in horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of +their own. +</P> + +<P> +The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed +above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced until the end +of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from her face, her +horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile. +</P> + +<P> +Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose—her eyes and +forehead all that showed—yet still she walked on after the retreating +Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface and +after it went the eyes of her victim—only a slow ripple widened toward +the shores to mark where the two vanished. +</P> + +<P> +For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water for +the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of the tank +her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, +her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the +helpless girl to her doom. +</P> + +<P> +And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the reptile +just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came +the girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and +though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned +her thrice over there was no indication, other than her dripping hair +and glistening body, that she had been submerged at all. +</P> + +<P> +Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out again, +until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so that I +could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue had I not taken a +firm hold of myself. +</P> + +<P> +Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came to the +surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms was +gone—gnawed completely off at the shoulder—but the poor thing gave no +indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set eyes seemed +intensified. +</P> + +<P> +The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then the +breasts, and then a part of the face—it was awful. The poor creatures +on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their +hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under +the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in +terror with their eyes fixed upon the terrible thing that was +transpiring before them. +</P> + +<P> +Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when she +rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The moment +she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter +the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition of the +uncanny performance through which the queen had led her victim. +</P> + +<P> +Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars—they being the +weakest and most tender—and when they had satisfied their appetite for +human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, there +were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that for some +reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the case, for as +the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars darted into the +air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like steam engines, +swooped down upon the remaining slaves. +</P> + +<P> +There was no hypnotism here—just the plain, brutal ferocity of the +beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it +was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the time +the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves the Mahars were all +asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls +swung back to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into +slumber. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja. +</P> + +<P> +"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," he +replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human flesh, +yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always you will +find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring +their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is +supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race; but I +would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no Mahar but +eats human flesh whenever she can get it." +</P> + +<P> +"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is true +that they look upon us as lower animals?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are supposed +to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," replied Ja; "it +is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They would not think of +eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy, any more +than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is +difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far out of +the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. Directly +below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, there being a +break in the bowlders at this point as there was at several other +places about the side of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed a part +of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for it. It +slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save myself and I +plunged headforemost into the water below. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury +from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind filled with +the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible doom which +awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature +that had disturbed their slumber. +</P> + +<P> +As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in +the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to the +utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a +terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was +almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon the rocks +where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple with my eyes +could I discern any within it. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized +that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the +noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is no such +thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had +been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to +figure out by earthly standards—this matter of elapsed time—but when +I set myself to it I began to realize that I might have been submerged +a second or a month or not at all. You have no conception of the +strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods +of measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are non-existent. +</P> + +<P> +I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me +for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars +filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their uncanny art +upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was alone in the +temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, +and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was +trembling like a leaf—you cannot imagine the awful horror which even +the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the +human mind, and to feel that you are in their power—that they are +crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag you down beneath the waters and +devour you! It is frightful. +</P> + +<P> +But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was +indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone was the +next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in +search of a means to escape. +</P> + +<P> +Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled +into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless he +had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our hiding +place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from +the temple and back to his village. +</P> + +<P> +I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the +doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that +the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Mahars the +human flesh they craved would all be carried through the air, and so I +continued my search until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of +several loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple. +</P> + +<P> +A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to +permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later I had +scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the +giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning fangs of +death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden +in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome as those which I +had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely enough if it +but came in the form of some familiar beast or man—anything other than +the hideous and uncanny Mahars. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE FACE OF DEATH +</H3> + +<P> +I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very +hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, I set +off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the island was +not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move in +a straight line, but there came the difficulty as there was no way in +which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun, of course, being +always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I +could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight +line. +</P> + +<P> +As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four +times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did so, +and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the chance +discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had +stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach. +</P> + +<P> +I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft +down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience with +Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick +about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible. +</P> + +<P> +I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that at +which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. +For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well out, before I +saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in +directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to +return to Phutra and give myself up that I might be once more with +Perry and Ghak the Hairy One. +</P> + +<P> +I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I realized +that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim +indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so +long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability that +I might find him was less than slight. +</P> + +<P> +Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit +against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. I +could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had found +the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and +then set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant +companion of my waking hours, and the central and beloved figure of my +dreams. +</P> + +<P> +But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my duty +and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers and +vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, too; +the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for +he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, +too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete twentieth-century +civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable. +</P> + +<P> +Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered Ja's +canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to +retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles came when I +entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found that several of +them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I +had traversed to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember. +</P> + +<P> +It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which seemed +the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that many of us +do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out the course of +our lives, and again learned that it is not always best to follow the +line of least resistance. +</P> + +<P> +By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced +that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland sea +I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps to +the summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only +solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the +canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was about to open into +a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I +decided to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back. +</P> + +<P> +The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I +saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of +the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, +and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a +broad level beach. +</P> + +<P> +Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to +the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of +the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the +foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough +all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced +and retreated. +</P> + +<P> +Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very +beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled vegetation of +the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, but +though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if anything +lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern +it. +</P> + +<P> +Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and lonely +sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet ventured, to +discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its +invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. What savage +faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant +watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! How far did +it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in +comparison with those of the outer crust, but even so this great ocean +might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. For countless +ages it had rolled up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet +today it remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible +from its beaches. +</P> + +<P> +The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I +had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer world to look +upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was +a new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. I was +dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay before us could +Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, a slight noise I +imagine, drew my attention behind me. +</P> + +<P> +As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took +wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form that +I beheld advancing upon me. +</P> + +<P> +A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty jaws +of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet +it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff +that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp +from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty +untracked sea, and before me in the center of the narrow way that led +to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh. +</P> + +<P> +A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was +facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose +fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back as the +Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, +unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had +come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that +distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first time the +terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the +restless, mysterious sea. +</P> + +<P> +Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had handed +down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited +from him, the specific application of the instinct of self-preservation +which saved him from the fate which loomed so close before me today. +</P> + +<P> +To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to +jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. The sea +and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous +amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue me +into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility. +</P> + +<P> +There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I +thought of Perry—how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought +of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all would go on +living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate +that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had +witnessed the last frightful agony of my extinction. And with these +thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life and +happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. We may be +snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for a brief day our +friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while +the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our +coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute +sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely +demise. The labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to +realize that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that +his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my +predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would +so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth? +</P> + +<P> +He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from +the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could have shouted +in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving +frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base. +</P> + +<P> +I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me for +his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would +watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some +slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it. +</P> + +<P> +To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable +cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, +crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small +projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here and +there. +</P> + +<P> +The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his +portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff +and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along +behind me. +</P> + +<P> +As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, but +I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come down to +within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with one hand to +a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously upon tiny bushes +that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his +long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground. +</P> + +<P> +To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored one +was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I came near +the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to try to save +myself. +</P> + +<P> +But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger +himself. +</P> + +<P> +"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much more +rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag you back +before ever you are halfway up the spear—he can rear up and reach you +with ease anywhere below where I stand." +</P> + +<P> +Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the +spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I could—being +so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I imagine the +slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions +and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it +doubled as he had hoped. +</P> + +<P> +When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly +shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific rate. I had +reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; another six +inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench +from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws of the +monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. +</P> + +<P> +I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on the +surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and still +clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner. +</P> + +<P> +At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand the +creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when I came +down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point yet +rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end +transfixed his lower jaw. +</P> + +<P> +With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost +my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and head, across +his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground. +</P> + +<P> +Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly +for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance +over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear +stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in +this occupation that I had gained the safety of the cliff top before he +was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight +within the valley he dashed, hissing into the rank vegetation of the +swamp and that was the last I saw of him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PHUTRA AGAIN +</H3> + +<P> +I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure +footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save me, +which had come so near miscarrying. +</P> + +<P> +"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," +he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and you +may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the +beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the sand +beside it. +</P> + +<P> +"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must +be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk +upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and +men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. It is +well that I arrived when I did." +</P> + +<P> +"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on +the part of a man of another world and a different race and color. +</P> + +<P> +"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my duty to +protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop had I evaded +my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. +I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member +of my tribe. Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing, and +you shall have, to choose a mate from, the most beautiful girls of +Pellucidar. Will you come?" +</P> + +<P> +I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty +was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him—if I could +ever find his island. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come to +the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. There you +will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly opposite the +mouth of the river you will see three large islands far out, so far +that they are barely discernible, the one to the extreme left as you +face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I rule the tribe +of Anoroc." +</P> + +<P> +"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men say +that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory these +primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their world. +</P> + +<P> +"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should fall +back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters of +Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite +flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges, +so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, is a great wall +that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the burning +sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never have been so far from Anoroc +as to have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite +reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at +all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them +Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with their +heads pointed downward!" and Ja laughed uproariously at the very +thought. +</P> + +<P> +It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had not +advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars had so +outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many +ages it would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even +were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly we would be +killed for our pains as were those men of the outer world who dared +challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger +days. But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever presented +itself. +</P> + +<P> +And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity—that I might +make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus note the +effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. +</P> + +<P> +"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as +the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is +correct?" +</P> + +<P> +"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me for +one." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you account +for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer +crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a sea of flame +beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a +great world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, and birds, +and fishes in mighty oceans." +</P> + +<P> +"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with your +head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe that, my +friend, I should indeed be mad." +</P> + +<P> +I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means of +the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a body +to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened so intently +that I thought I had made an impression, and started the train of +thought that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth. +But I was mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity of your +theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. "See," he +said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes +something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported upon the +flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls—you have proven it +yourself!" He had me, that time—you could see it in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for +when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and +the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to picture to +Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the planets, and the +countless stars. Those born within the inner world could no more +conceive of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce to +factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and +eternity. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or down, +here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not so much +where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that +you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars +once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which +the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to +the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the +guardsman. I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time +my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay +may mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their +consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in +the pit beneath the building in which we were confined." +</P> + +<P> +"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja. +</P> + +<P> +"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in +Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I do under the +circumstances?" +</P> + +<P> +He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully. +</P> + +<P> +"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet it +seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to +death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for +your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a +prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. There are but +few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be +recaptured." +</P> + +<P> +"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that I would +rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, Perry is much +too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be +called upon to rescue him from the former locality." +</P> + +<P> +Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he +said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which +Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there. +Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demons +who dwell there. We know this because when graves are opened we find +that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. That is why +we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them +and bear them bit by bit to the Dead World above the Land of Awful +Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it +may go to Molop Az." +</P> + +<P> +As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come to +the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me from +returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so, he +consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where +lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach +where I had again met Ja. It was evident that I had spent much time +following the windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge +lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come several times. +</P> + +<P> +As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the +flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me to +abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in +my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind +that he was looking upon me for the last time. +</P> + +<P> +I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much +indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, and +his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished much +in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful in our +effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later. +</P> + +<P> +There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first—at least +it was the great thing to me—the finding of Dian the Beautiful. I +wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my +ignorance, and I wanted to—well, I wanted to see her again, and to be +with her. +</P> + +<P> +Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and +then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard +the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance +I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four of the +gorilla-men were dashing toward me. +</P> + +<P> +Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches +I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them +as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon +them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they ceased +their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to +turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most +enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears. +</P> + +<P> +"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, "Ho! It +is the slave who claims to be from another world—he who escaped when +the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why do you return, +having once made good your escape?" +</P> + +<P> +"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, as +did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost +my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way +back." +</P> + +<P> +"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of the +guardsmen. +</P> + +<P> +"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar +and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to be in +Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What +better lot could man desire?" +</P> + +<P> +The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so +being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt would +be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they +still considered it. +</P> + +<P> +I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them +off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I +was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily +return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they +would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in +arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city. +</P> + +<P> +So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within +the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian eyes +the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and +read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of +my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's lips and fingers during +the recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Sagoths. +</P> + +<P> +"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because you +think yourself better off here than elsewhere—do you not know that you +may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests of the +wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are +continually occupied with?" +</P> + +<P> +I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not to +admit it. +</P> + +<P> +"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed in +the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was +fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I barely +escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am sure that I +am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule Phutra. At +least such would be the case in my own world, where human beings like +myself rule supreme. There the higher races of man extend protection +and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a +stranger here I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be +accorded me." +</P> + +<P> +The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking +and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The creature +seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some message to the +Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow him, left the +presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me marched the +balance of the guard. +</P> + +<P> +"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right. +</P> + +<P> +"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you +regarding this strange world from which you say you come." +</P> + +<P> +After a moment's silence he turned to me again. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves who +lie to them?" +</P> + +<P> +"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of +lying to the Mahars." +</P> + +<P> +"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you told +Sol-to-to just now—another world, indeed, where human beings rule!" he +concluded in fine scorn. +</P> + +<P> +"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I come? +I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that." +</P> + +<P> +"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not be +judged by one with but half an eye." +</P> + +<P> +"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind to +believe me?" +</P> + +<P> +"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in +research work by the learned ones," he replied. +</P> + +<P> +"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted. +</P> + +<P> +"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with them, +but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them but little +good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their subjects while +they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However I should +not imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was being cut +up; but of course this is all but conjecture. The chances are that ere +long you will know much more about it than I," and he grinned as he +spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor. +</P> + +<P> +"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?" +</P> + +<P> +"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you +escaped?" he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes." +</P> + +<P> +"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for them," +he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals might not be +employed." +</P> + +<P> +"It is sure death in either event?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not +know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the arena +may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom +you saw." +</P> + +<P> +"They gained their liberty? And how?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive +within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it has +happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, whom we +have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in +upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the +instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, but the +result was the same—the man and woman were liberated, furnished with +weapons, and started on their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder +of each a mark was burned—the mark of the Mahars—which will forever +protect these two from slaving parties." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, and +none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself too +quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce one in a +thousand who comes out alive." +</P> + +<P> +To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I had +been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the doorway I +was turned over to the guards there. +</P> + +<P> +"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," said he +who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness." +</P> + +<P> +The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I had +returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it would be +safe to give me liberty within the building as had been the custom +before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to whatever duty had +been mine formerly. +</P> + +<P> +My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual over +the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and +rearranging upon new shelves. +</P> + +<P> +As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only +to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I was both +astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think that I was +risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty and +affection! +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long +absence?" +</P> + +<P> +"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?" +</P> + +<P> +"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed me +since that time we were separated by the charging thag within the +arena?" +</P> + +<P> +"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned from +the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much +later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I had intended +asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as I had completed +the translation of this most interesting passage." +</P> + +<P> +"Perry, you ARE mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how long +I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of +humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their +hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them and from a +great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious +wanderings across an unknown world. I must have been away for months, +Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and +insist that we have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to +treat a friend? I'm surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a +moment that you cared no more for me than this I should not have +returned to chance death at the hands of the Mahars for your sake." +</P> + +<P> +The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There was a +puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt sorrow in +his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love for +you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I know +that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in +the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations that each of +us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time since last we saw +each other. You are positive that months have gone by, while to me it +seems equally certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you +in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and at the +same time both are wrong? First tell me what time is, and then maybe I +can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning?" +</P> + +<P> +I didn't and said so. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over my +book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or +nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food nor +sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted +strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food, +and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you saw me you +naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. As a matter +of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no +such thing as time—surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar, +where there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why, the +Mahars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here +in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. There +seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it is +impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such a condition, but +our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence." +</P> + +<P> +It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to +enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening with +interest to my account of the adventures through which I had passed he +returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with +considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a +Sagoth. +</P> + +<P> +"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators +would speak with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may be +nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel that I am +about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall never +return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you to promise +me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her that with my last +words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon +her, and that my one wish was to be spared long enough to right the +wrong that I had done her." +</P> + +<P> +Tears came to Perry's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It would +be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without you +among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken away I +shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as I should +be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and +then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face in his +hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly by the shoulder and +hustled me from the chamber. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +FOUR DEAD MAHARS +</H3> + +<P> +A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars—the social +investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a +Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed +particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the +strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I +thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence +for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered +returned to my quarters. +</P> + +<P> +During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium of +strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the head of +the tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officer +in charge of the Sagoth guard. +</P> + +<P> +"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits for +having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with the +ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected any +one to believe so impossible a lie?" +</P> + +<P> +It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a low +level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many +Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers my +guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side wall. +There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a +victim even as I was ushered into the room. Several Mahars stood about +the poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another, +grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed fore foot, was laying open +the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered +and the shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. +This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out +upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think that +where there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that my +suffering was enduring for months before death finally released me! +</P> + +<P> +The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been +brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work that +I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me. +The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But those heavy +chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some means +of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay +a tiny surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. It +looked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point +was sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood days had I picked locks +with a button-hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished +steel I might yet effect at least a temporary escape. +</P> + +<P> +Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one hand as +far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted +instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being as I +would, I could not quite make it. +</P> + +<P> +At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. My +heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But suppose +that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove it +still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold sweat broke +out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort. +My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked it toward me +until I felt that it was within reach of my hand and a moment later I +had turned about and the precious thing was in my grasp. +</P> + +<P> +Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. It +was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment later +I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their work at the +table. One already turned away and was examining other victims, +evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject. +</P> + +<P> +Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature +walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thing +approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge slave chained +a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped and commenced to go +over the poor devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned toward +me for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps that +carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I +raced with all the speed I could command. +</P> + +<P> +Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought was +to place as much distance as possible between me and that frightful +chamber of torture. +</P> + +<P> +Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing the +danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, I +moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to a +passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and +presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the +corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins. +I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the same corridor +and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead so important a +role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me, +for the reptiles still slept. +</P> + +<P> +My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in search +of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, and so I +hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions of the +building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and these I +lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends and corners +fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. Thus disguised +I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where we had been wont +to eat and sleep. +</P> + +<P> +Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course they +had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by my +judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before +attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope +to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that +bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However +it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through the +crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, and so I set out +with Perry and Ghak—the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking +me. +</P> + +<P> +Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the main +floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await me. +The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. There is +nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The rooms are +sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape. +The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight. +The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes +similar to those by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers +of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. +The Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness. +</P> + +<P> +Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and slaves; +but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of the domestic +life of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from the +place into the avenue and this was well guarded by Sagoths—this +doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were not +supposed to enter the deeper corridors and apartments except on special +occasions when we were instructed to do so; but as we were considered a +lower order without intelligence there was little reason to fear that +we could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not hindered +as we entered the corridor which led below. +</P> + +<P> +Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and the +arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where I +left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and so I +withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of the +weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels. +</P> + +<P> +Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept I entered +silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without the +sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I disposed of +the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, so that before I +could kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the +third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. But +fighting is not the occupation which the race of Mahars loves, and when +the thing saw that I already had dispatched two of its companions, and +that my sword was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me. +But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it +scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels. +</P> + +<P> +Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability my +instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at my best +I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before me. +</P> + +<P> +Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, +and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of the +Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been occupied +with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put powders and +liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the +bench where it had been working. In an instant I realized what I had +stumbled upon. It was the very room for the finding of which Perry had +given me minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was +hidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench beside +the flasks lay the skin-bound book which held the only copy of the +thing I was to have sought, after dispatching the three Mahars in their +sleep. +</P> + +<P> +There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I now +stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew that they +would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to fight if fight +they must. Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ran +one of them through the heart on the instant, the other fastened its +gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then with her +sharp talons commenced to rake me about the body, evidently intent upon +disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I might +release my arm from that powerful, viselike grip which seemed to be +severing my arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it +only served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist. +</P> + +<P> +Back and forth across the floor we struggled—the Mahar dealing me +terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to +protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for an +opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand to its +rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with what seemed +to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through the ugly body +of my foe. +</P> + +<P> +Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain and +loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that I +stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up the most +potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it was the very +thing that Perry had described to me. +</P> + +<P> +And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race of +Pellucidar—did there flash through my mind the thought that countless +generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason to worship me +for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. I thought +of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid eyes, through a waving +mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God-made for +kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, standing there alone in +the secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized that I loved +Dian the Beautiful. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PURSUIT +</H3> + +<P> +For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a sigh, I +tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, and turned +to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which leads +aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the +prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak that I had +been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, and to my +surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them. +</P> + +<P> +"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The fellow +is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of our chance +now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you decide +whether he might accompany us." +</P> + +<P> +I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure that if +he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I saw no way out +of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of only +the three I had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow in +our scheme of escape. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first +intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you +understand?" +</P> + +<P> +He said that he did. +</P> + +<P> +Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and so +succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed an +excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an +easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them along +the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining out +until the others had all been sewed in with my help, and then leaving +an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which he could pass +his hands to sew me up, we were enabled to accomplish our design to +really much better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the +heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same +means were enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We had +our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that problem was +finally solved, so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. +Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were +thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress. +</P> + +<P> +Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak headed +the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, while I +brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged my +sword that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into his +vitals were he to show any indication of faltering. +</P> + +<P> +As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busy +corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. It is +with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened—never before +in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearing +fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood, I +sweat it then. +</P> + +<P> +Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when +they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy +slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we reached +the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many +Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he padded +between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it was my turn, +and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warm +blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot of +the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, +for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's attention to it. +</P> + +<P> +The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke to +me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means of +communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not have +replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a great +Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my only +hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword so +that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the +gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing the +fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started +slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but before I touched +him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue. +</P> + +<P> +On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, +there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake +which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge +their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying the +cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, and free +from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great seas of +Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind. +</P> + +<P> +In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the +plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was +traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little gully +he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we were +alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly away from +Phutra. +</P> + +<P> +The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horrible +prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, and entering a +sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar skins that had +brought us thus far in safety. +</P> + +<P> +I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling +flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our +tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How we +barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of which +would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the +outer world. +</P> + +<P> +On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between +ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own +land—the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and yet we +were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were dogging our +tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their quarry until +they had captured it or themselves been turned back by a superior force. +</P> + +<P> +Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite +strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of +Sagoths. +</P> + +<P> +At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have been +years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the +foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked ever +quite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body of +men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. It was the +long-expected pursuit. +</P> + +<P> +I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them. +</P> + +<P> +"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move with +incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they are +doubtless much fresher than we. Then—" he paused, glancing at Perry. +</P> + +<P> +I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the +period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the +march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths +might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which +confronted us. +</P> + +<P> +"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it if we +are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no +reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be helped—we +have simply to face it." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't +known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility of +character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now to +my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love. +</P> + +<P> +But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reach +his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force to drive +off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself. +</P> + +<P> +No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but he +suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the king's +danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja—the naked idea +was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which +we now had reached. +</P> + +<P> +Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the +old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew that +he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought of falling +into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, in +part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. While +the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel faster thus than +when half supporting the stumbling old man. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE SLY ONE +</H3> + +<P> +The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us +they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled up the +narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On +either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock, +while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and +noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we had had no +glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope that they had +lost our trail and that we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs +in time to scale them before we should be overtaken. +</P> + +<P> +Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the success +of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the outposts of the +Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen +as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor. +In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with +primeval warriors. But nothing of the kind happened—as a matter of +fact the Sly One had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to +see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back, the craven +traitor was sneaking around the outskirts of the nearest Sarian +village, that he might come up from the other side when it was too late +to save us, claiming that he had become lost among the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had +struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to +sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me. +</P> + +<P> +As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians +appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the sound +of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called to me over +his shoulder that we were lost. +</P> + +<P> +A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at the +far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we had just +passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view; +but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind us was evidence +that the gorilla-man had sighted us. +</P> + +<P> +Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another +branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so that +appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. The +Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I +saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a +ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I +reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. +</P> + +<P> +Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak +and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, and as +the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I turned and +fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the entire +party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak +bore Perry to safety up the other. +</P> + +<P> +Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when my +very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I ran any +better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running had called +down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice +Wagon," and "Call a cab." +</P> + +<P> +The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, +fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had +become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed +a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could not even +guess—possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding +valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had plunged into a +cul-de-sac? +</P> + +<P> +Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the top +of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to check them +temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked +an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder. As I +fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the +gorilla-man. +</P> + +<P> +In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our +escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game by +means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed a fair +degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my +bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I +had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The +hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this, with the strength +and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwonted confidence in my +weapon. +</P> + +<P> +Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then—never were my +nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and +deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never before +seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull +intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine of +destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his +hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in which they +employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, even +under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous. +</P> + +<P> +My shaft was drawn back its full length—my eye had centered its sharp +point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then he launched his +hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that our missiles flew +I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his +attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet at it +grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's +savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my +feet—stone dead. Close behind him were two more—fifty yards +perhaps—but the distance gave me time to snatch up the dead +guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me +had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I had +purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along because their +size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars which +had brought us safely from the city. +</P> + +<P> +With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another +arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his fellow's +hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and fitted another +shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned +and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he had +seen enough of me for the moment. +</P> + +<P> +Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested I +reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or +three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a +narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along this +I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's +end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large +cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight about +another projecting buttress of the mountain. +</P> + +<P> +Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting him +until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About me lay +scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various +sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions for use as +ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones +into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of +the Sagoths. +</P> + +<P> +As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound +that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight noise from +within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might have +been produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising +from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant I thought +that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the +turn. For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided. +</P> + +<P> +And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes +glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet above +my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be standing +upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its +hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know +that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose dimensions +and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before. +</P> + +<P> +Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave, +and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl. I +waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing +which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud—I doubt if the +Sagoths heard it at all—but the suggestion of latent possibilities +behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a gigantic +and ferocious beast. +</P> + +<P> +As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave, +where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but an instant +later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily +advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. +As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after +him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other's +heels. At the same time the beast emerged from the cave, so that he +and the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge. +</P> + +<P> +The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully +eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the end +of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it sighted +the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth +charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man +turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing +companions. +</P> + +<P> +The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped +deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet +below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the +next—there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the mangled +corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast +even pause in his steady advance along the ledge. +</P> + +<P> +Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape +him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing the +demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I could hear +the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and +shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and +disappeared in the distance. +</P> + +<P> +Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen and +returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is called, +pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak +was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible +creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts. +</P> + +<P> +Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall prey +either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along the ledge, +believing that by following around the mountain I could reach the land +of Sari from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the +twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to +the land of Sari then, nor for a long time thereafter. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE GARDEN OF EDEN +</H3> + +<P> +With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused and +lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, in reality, +I did was to pass entirely through them and come out above the valley +upon the farther side. I know that I wandered for a long time, until +tired and hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone +formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back. +</P> + +<P> +The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side of a +lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely +formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make a +comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet +it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark interior. +</P> + +<P> +Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in the +rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient quantities +partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave +was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been +recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small, so that after +considerable effort I was able to lug up a bowlder from the valley +below which entirely blocked it. +</P> + +<P> +Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and on +this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the diminutive +horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of a fox terrier, +which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food and +bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to which +I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the +entrance and curled myself upon a bed of grasses—a naked, primeval, +cave man, as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors. +</P> + +<P> +I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled out +upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before me spread +a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a clear and +sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters of +which were just visible between the two mountain ranges which embraced +this little paradise. The sides of the opposite hills were green with +verdure, for a great forest clothed them to the foot of the red and +yellow and copper green of the towering crags which formed their +summit. The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, while +here and there patches of wild flowers made great splashes of vivid +color against the prevailing green. +</P> + +<P> +Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike +trees—three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood antelope, +while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully to a nearby +ford to drink. There were several species of this beautiful animal, +the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland of Africa, +except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward over +their ears and then forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and +formidable points some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In +size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, yet they are very +agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of +their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. All in +all they are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch to the +strange and lovely landscape that spread before my new home. +</P> + +<P> +I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as a +base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in search +of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass of +the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid the Great +Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder +before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled +down into the peaceful valley. +</P> + +<P> +The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the +little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to safest +distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, and after +moving to what they considered a safe distance stood contemplating me +with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull +antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and bellowed +angrily—even taking a few steps in my direction, so that I thought he +meant to charge; but after I had passed, he resumed feeding as though +nothing had disturbed him. +</P> + +<P> +Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the cliffs +upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I +desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along +which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet from the base I +came upon a projection which formed a natural path along the face of +the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end. +</P> + +<P> +Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs—the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up at +this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I climbed +carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by +the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings. +</P> + +<P> +And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the most +frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a giant +dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of earth +folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, while the +bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of fully +thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, and its +claw equipped with horrible talons. +</P> + +<P> +The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing +from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond and +below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood +terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I +saw the cause of the reptile's agitation. +</P> + +<P> +Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped +down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of +my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did +the end upon which I stood. +</P> + +<P> +And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break in +the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack—a girl cowering +upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as though to +shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her. +</P> + +<P> +The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its +prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which to +weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed +creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out to +all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other +sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation +in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet. +</P> + +<P> +Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of the +ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the +same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent +upon the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and +then rose above us once more. +</P> + +<P> +The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the end +had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when no cruel +fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. As they +fell upon me the expression that came into them would be difficult to +describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been one whit more +complicated than my own—for the wide eyes that looked into mine were +those of Dian the Beautiful. +</P> + +<P> +"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time." +</P> + +<P> +"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell +whether she were glad or angry that I had come. +</P> + +<P> +Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had +no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch up a +rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim was true, +and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and +soared away. +</P> + +<P> +Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the next attack, +and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I surprised her in a +surreptitious glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately, she +again covered her face with her hands. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked straight into my eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair +hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she said, +and I turned again to meet the reptile. +</P> + +<P> +So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound of +the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. But this +time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I had selected +my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent the bow until the +very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand, and then +as the great creature darted toward us I let drive straight for that +tough breast. +</P> + +<P> +Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature +fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried +completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was looking +past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die. +</P> + +<P> +"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I have +found you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less +vehemence in it than before—yet it might have been but my imagination. +</P> + +<P> +"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you since +Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?" +</P> + +<P> +At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it. +</P> + +<P> +"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. "After I +escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my own land; but +on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages or let any of my +friends know that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out. +By watching for a long time I found that my brother had not yet +returned, and so I continued to live in a cave beside a valley which my +race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he should come back and +free me from Jubal. +</P> + +<P> +"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward my +father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave the +alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me across many +lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you +and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man. I have gone as +far as I can go, and there is no escape," and she looked hopelessly up +at the continuation of the ledge twenty feet above us. +</P> + +<P> +"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. +"The sea is there"—she pointed over the edge of the cliff—"and the +sea shall have me rather than Jubal." +</P> + +<P> +"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other +have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift it +above her head and let it fall in token of release. +</P> + +<P> +She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes with +level gaze. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would have +done this when the others were present to witness it—then I should +truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you do it, for +you know that without witnesses your act does not bind you to me," and +she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away. +</P> + +<P> +I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't +forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other occasion. +</P> + +<P> +"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove it," +she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your power, +and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of your +intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I +hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you again." +</P> + +<P> +Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact I +found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic of the +cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make some attempt +to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am +free to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable +and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I +first met her. He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and +killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who could +cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass of the sadok at +fifty paces. It was he who had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth +with a single blow of his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the +Ugly One-and it was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for +him; but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often +the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face. +</P> + +<P> +This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the way +she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the top of the +cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the edge of my own +little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means of ingress +from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the ledge I gave Dian minute +directions for finding my cave against the chance of something +happening to me. I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away +from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair, and the valley +would afford her ample means of sustenance. +</P> + +<P> +Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was sad +and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting that +something terrible might happen to me—that I might, in fact, be +killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I could +perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers, +and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of trouble so +easily as that. +</P> + +<P> +For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think that +I had twice protected her from attack—the last time risking my life to +save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age +could be so ungrateful—so heartless; but maybe her heart partook of +the qualities of her epoch. +</P> + +<P> +Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and +extended by the action of the water draining through it from the +plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, but +finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for several +miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland sea, +curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the blue of +the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the sea lapped +back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond the distant +mountains at our backs—the weird and uncanny aspect of the seascapes +of Pellucidar balk description. +</P> + +<P> +At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was open +and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this direction +that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey when Dian +touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make +peace overtures; but I was mistaken. +</P> + +<P> +"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest. +</P> + +<P> +I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect whale +of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned +accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features. +</P> + +<P> +"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good start. +Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," and then, +without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had +hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me before she went, +for she must have known that I was going to my death for her sake; but +she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it was with a heavy +heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom. +</P> + +<P> +When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features I +understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly One. +Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire side of his +face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws +and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through the horrible scar. +</P> + +<P> +Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of his +handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this encounter +had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. However +this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now +that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at +the sight of Dian with another male, he was indeed most terrible to +see—and much more terrible to meet. +</P> + +<P> +He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his mighty +spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took as steady aim +as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that +the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves to such an +extent that my knees were anything but steady. What chance had I +against this mighty warrior for whom even the fiercest cave bear had no +terrors! Could I hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth +single-handed! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself, my fear was +more for Dian than for my own fate. +</P> + +<P> +And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, and I +raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. The +impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the missile +and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only +remaining weapon that he carried—a murderous-looking knife. He was +too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as he came, +without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of his thigh, +inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me. +</P> + +<P> +My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised arm, +and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's point in his +face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of it in the muscles +of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more warily. +</P> + +<P> +It was a duel of strategy now—the great, hairy man maneuvering to get +inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to play, while +my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at arm's length. +Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield. +Each time my sword found his body—once penetrating to his lung. He +was covered with blood by this time, and the internal hemorrhage +induced paroxysms of coughing that brought the red stream through the +hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth. +He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead. +</P> + +<P> +As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be perfectly +candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of that monstrous +engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from +utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, and then +in his primitive mind there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps +at last he had met his master, and was facing his end. +</P> + +<P> +At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for his +next act, which was in the nature of a last resort—a sort of forlorn +hope, which could only have been born of the belief that if he did not +kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his +fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife, he +dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both his hands +wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as from a babe. +</P> + +<P> +Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant +glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to +almost unnerve me—then he sprang for me with his bare hands. But it +was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time he +had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had he beheld a +sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do with his bare +fists. +</P> + +<P> +As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his +outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon his jaw +as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of flesh +sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay +there for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, and I +stood over him with another dose ready when he should gain his knees. +</P> + +<P> +Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; but +he didn't stay up—I let him have a left fair on the point of the jaw +that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I think Jubal +had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come back for more +as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled him over as fast as +he could stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the ground +between blows, and each time came up weaker than before. +</P> + +<P> +He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and +presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily to +the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once that +Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I looked upon +that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could +not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer of fearful +beasts—this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age. +</P> + +<P> +Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead body of +my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought and won a +great idea was born in my brain—the outcome of this and the suggestion +that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science +could render a comparative pygmy the master of this mighty brute, what +could not the brute's fellows accomplish with the same skill and +science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their feet—and I would be +their king and Dian their queen. +</P> + +<P> +Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within the +possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. She was +quite the most superior person I ever had met—with the most convincing +way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the +cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel +more kindly toward me, since I had freed her of her tormentor. I hoped +that she had found the cave easily—it would be terrible had I lost her +again, and I turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, +when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces behind me. +</P> + +<P> +"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had gone +to the cave, as I told you to do." +</P> + +<P> +Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty +out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor—if palaces +have janitors. +</P> + +<P> +"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I do as +I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I hate you." +</P> + +<P> +I was dumbfounded—this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! I +turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from a worse +fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never +seemed to notice it at all. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry." +</P> + +<P> +She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I was too +angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the lower orders. +I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly felt that at least a +word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own +standards, I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed the +redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter. +</P> + +<P> +We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into the +valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the steep +ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. +Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing +at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would cause +a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise I found +that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman of my +acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at +the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love. +</P> + +<P> +After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed our +hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to the +cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, curling +up, was soon asleep. +</P> + +<P> +When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across the +valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, but she +had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. Every time +I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that I nearly +choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not need any aid in +diagnosing my case—I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I +loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl! +</P> + +<P> +After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to her +tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, and said +that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother to be +considered—his oldest brother. +</P> + +<P> +"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or has +the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on down from +generation to generation?" +</P> + +<P> +She was not quite sure as to what I meant. +</P> + +<P> +"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for the +death of Jubal—there are seven of them—seven terrible men. Someone +may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people." +</P> + +<P> +It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large for +me—about seven sizes, in fact. +</P> + +<P> +"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count—they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for +himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him—some have even +thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than +mate with the Ugly One." +</P> + +<P> +"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look of +pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid on a +little thicker than the circumstance warranted—as though to make quite +certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a +younger brother may not take a mate until all his older brothers have +done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, which Jubal +would not do, knowing that as long as he kept them single they would be +all the keener in aiding him to secure a mate." +</P> + +<P> +Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain +hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon what +slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered. +</P> + +<P> +"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of you +since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you see +fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get along very +well alone." +</P> + +<P> +I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even a +prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then +I arose. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough of +your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode +majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps in +absolute silence, and then Dian spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke—in rage, I thought. +</P> + +<P> +I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began to +realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, to +hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She might +hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as +she already had, until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact +remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave her there alone. +</P> + +<P> +The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time I +reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that I +turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come +down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but +I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her face on the pile +of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she heard me enter she +sprang to her feet like a tigress. +</P> + +<P> +"I hate you!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was rather +glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have read there. +</P> + +<P> +I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the cave and +grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put my arm around +her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, +but I took my free hand and pushed her head back—I imagine that I had +suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand million years, +and was again a veritable cave man taking my mate by force—and then I +kissed that beautiful mouth again and again. +</P> + +<P> +"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else in +this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love like +mine cannot be denied?" +</P> + +<P> +I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes became +accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling—a very contented, +happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently, +she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them +so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and stole about my neck, +and then she drew my lips down to hers once more and held them there +for a long time. At last she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so long." +</P> + +<P> +"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!" +</P> + +<P> +"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you +before I knew that you loved me?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say what +you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me in your +arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's heart +understands. What a silly man you are, David?" +</P> + +<P> +"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment that I +saw you, although I did not know it until that time you struck down +Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me." +</P> + +<P> +"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your ways—I +doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have reviled me +so, and yet have cared for me all the time." +</P> + +<P> +"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from you +that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were battling +with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, and when I +learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a simple thing to +have eluded you and returned to my own people." +</P> + +<P> +"But Jubal's brothers—and cousins—" I reminded her, "how about them?" +</P> + +<P> +She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. "I must needs +have SOME excuse for remaining near you." +</P> + +<P> +"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this +anguish for nothing!" +</P> + +<P> +"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought that +you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come to you and +demand that my love be returned, as you have just come to me. Just now +when you went away hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, +miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done that +before since my mother died," and now I saw that there was the moisture +of tears about her eyes. It was near to making me cry myself when I +thought of all that poor child had been through. Motherless and +unprotected; hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous +brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless fearsome +denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its jungles—it was a +miracle that she had survived it all. +</P> + +<P> +To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must have +endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. It made +me very proud to think that I had won the love of such a woman. Of +course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured or +refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; but she was the +essence of all that is best in woman, for she was good, and brave, and +noble, and virtuous. And she was all these things in spite of the fact +that their observance entailed suffering and danger and possible death. +</P> + +<P> +How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the first +place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have been queen +in her own land—and it meant just as much to the cave woman to be a +queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen +now; it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, and if there +were only half-naked savages on the outer crust today, you'd find that +it would be considerable glory to be the wife a Dahomey chief. +</P> + +<P> +I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid young +woman I had known in New York—I mean splendid to look at and to talk +to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum of mine—a clean, +manly chap—but she had married a broken-down, disreputable old +debauchee because he was a count in some dinky little European +principality that was not even accorded a distinctive color by Rand +McNally. +</P> + +<P> +Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian. +</P> + +<P> +After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to see +Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told Dian about +our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was +fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only +return he could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak could +form an alliance. That would give us a flying start, for the Sarians +and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. Once they had been +armed with swords, and bows and arrows, and trained in their use we +were confident that they could overcome any tribe that seemed +disinclined to join the great army of federated states with which we +were planning to march upon the Mahars. +</P> + +<P> +I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry and I +could construct after a little experimentation—gunpowder, rifles, +cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms +about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was +beginning to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't done +anything but talk—but that is the way with women when they love. +Perry used to say that if a fellow was one-tenth as remarkable as his +wife or mother thought him, he would have the world by the tail with a +down-hill drag. +</P> + +<P> +The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous +vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on the +ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't +exercise, or it might prove fatal—if it had been a full-grown snake +that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a single pace from the +nest—I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent is the poison. As it was +I must have been laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of +herbs and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison. +</P> + +<P> +The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea which +added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles of offense +and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out +some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and having killed +them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon the tips of several +arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my +arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast crumpled in +death almost immediately after he was hit. +</P> + +<P> +We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with +feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful +Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we had +lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been there I +did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me +beneath that eternal noonday sun—it may have been an hour, or a month +of earthly time; I do not know. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BACK TO EARTH +</H3> + +<P> +We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and +finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away as +far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction it +stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that I was +within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods of +indicating direction—there is no north, no south, no east, no west. +UP is about the only direction which is well defined, and that, of +course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust. Since the sun neither rises +nor sets there is no method of indicating direction beyond visible +objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and seas. +</P> + +<P> +The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel Az +upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about as near to +any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not to have +heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountains of the +Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, and long for the good +old understandable northeast and southwest of the outer world. +</P> + +<P> +We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous +animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they that we +could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, but as they +came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a +hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top of very long +necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground. +The beasts moved very slowly—that is their action was slow—but their +strides covered such a great distance that in reality they traveled +considerably faster than a man walks. +</P> + +<P> +As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each sat +a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never before +had seen one. +</P> + +<P> +"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria +lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians +alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere else +than beside the dark country are they found." +</P> + +<P> +"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; "the +Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar above the +Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes the great +shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar." +</P> + +<P> +I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do yet, +for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which the Dead +World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar—a +tiny planet within a planet—and that it revolves around the earth's +axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is always above the same +spot within Pellucidar. +</P> + +<P> +I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about this +Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the hitherto +inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes. +</P> + +<P> +When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that one +was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his two hands, +palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, when +he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and slipping from +his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, throwing his arms about her. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; since +Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was David, her +mate. +</P> + +<P> +"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to me. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none to his +liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to the land of +the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this very lovely +Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people. +</P> + +<P> +When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany +us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative to +an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed +annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I. +</P> + +<P> +After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we came to +the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between one and two +hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great cliff. Here to +our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was +quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since given me up as dead. +</P> + +<P> +When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to say, +but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I could not +have done better. +</P> + +<P> +Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a +council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the +eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the +various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was to +be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I should be the +first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar. +</P> + +<P> +We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and poison +pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus, and +it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned the swords under +Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another +until representatives from nations so far distant that the Sarians had +never even heard of them came in to take the oath of allegiance which +we required, and to learn the art of making the new weapons and using +them. +</P> + +<P> +We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the +federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before +the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when three +of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. +They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly developed +a power which rendered them really formidable. +</P> + +<P> +In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians took a +number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had been +members of the guards within the building where we had been confined at +Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with rage when they +discovered what had taken place in the cellars of the buildings. The +Sagoths knew that something very terrible had befallen their masters, +but the Mahars had been most careful to see that no inkling of the true +nature of their vital affliction reached beyond their own race. How +long it would take for the race to become extinct it was impossible +even to guess; but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable. +</P> + +<P> +The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one of +us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the direst +punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could not +understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though their +purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great Secret, +and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them. +</P> + +<P> +Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning +of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped—there was a +whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were both +assured that the solution of these problems would advance the cause of +civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. +Then there were various other arts and sciences which we wished to +introduce, but our combined knowledge of them did not embrace the +mechanical details which alone could render them of commercial, or +practical value. +</P> + +<P> +"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce +gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the outer +world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have all the +labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has been +produced above—what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back and get that +knowledge in the shape of books—then this world will indeed be at our +feet." +</P> + +<P> +And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, which +still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we had first +penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would not listen to +any arrangement for my going which did not include her, and I was not +sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my +world, and I wanted my world to see her. +</P> + +<P> +With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which +Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back toward +the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. He +replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. At +last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our +pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all +times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths and +Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra. +</P> + +<P> +Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the first +clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of +Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning of +a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first emperor +of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my right, to be +in the thick of that momentous struggle. +</P> + +<P> +As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars with +the Sagoth troops—an indication of the vast importance which the +dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for it was not +customary with them to take active part in the sorties which their +creatures made for slaves—the only form of warfare which they waged +upon the lower orders. +</P> + +<P> +Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the +prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of our +battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. +Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head +men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and I let +them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave the word to +fire. +</P> + +<P> +At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the +gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over the +prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon us +with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, and +then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line to +engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the Sagoths +were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, who turned the +spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped to close quarters +with their lighter, handier weapons. +</P> + +<P> +Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the swordsmen +engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into their +unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and were more +in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of them would fasten +its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian. +</P> + +<P> +The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our men +in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already so +demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued them for +some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred +slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One. +</P> + +<P> +He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own land; +but that his life had been spared in hope that through him the Mahars +would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak and I were +inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding this expedition to +the land of Sari, where he thought that the book might be found in +Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this and so we took him in +and treated him as one of us, although none liked him. And how he +rewarded my generosity you will presently learn. +</P> + +<P> +There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful were +our own people of them that they would not approach them unless +completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece of skin. +Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the evil effects of +exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though I laughed at her fears +I was willing enough to humor them if it would relieve her apprehension +in any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector, near which the +Mahars had been chained, while Perry and I again inspected every +portion of the mechanism. +</P> + +<P> +At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of the +men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite close to +the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, without my +knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the +fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there were others in the +plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, since all my people were +loyal to me and would have made short work of Hooja had he suggested +the heartless scheme, even had he had time to acquaint another with it. +It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that it was the +result of sudden impulse, aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous +circumstances occurring at precisely the right moment. +</P> + +<P> +All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, +still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion +which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into camp. +He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all ready to get +under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had grasped my hand in +the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the outer and inner +doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulled the +starting lever. +</P> + +<P> +As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial of +the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us—the giant +frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the loose +earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner and outer +jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing was off. +</P> + +<P> +But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by the +sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize what had +happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just before entering the +crust the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, +and that instead of entering the ground vertically we were plunging +into it at a different angle. Where it would bring us out upon the +upper crust I could not even conjecture. And then I turned to note the +effect of this strange experience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in +the great skin. +</P> + +<P> +"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar +eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion skin +from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror. +</P> + +<P> +The thing beneath the skin was not Dian—it was a hideous Mahar. +Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and the +purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would +be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effort +to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as on that other +occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair. +</P> + +<P> +It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. +It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from the +outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we had entered +the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me out +here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States as I +had hoped. +</P> + +<P> +For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I dared +not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to find it +again—the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover it, and then +my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone +forever. +</P> + +<P> +That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for how +may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate—and how, without a north or south or an east or a west may I +hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny spot where +my lost love lies grieving for me? +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me out +to see the prospector—it was precisely as he had described it. So +huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible part +of the world by no means of transportation that existed there—it could +only have come in the way that David Innes said it came—up through the +crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar. +</P> + +<P> +I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned +directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a great +quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar with him. +There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, chemicals, +telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more books—books +upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted a library with +which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth century in the +Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got it for him. +</P> + +<P> +I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to the +end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America upon +important business. However, I was able to employ a very trustworthy +man to take charge of the caravan—the same guide, in fact, who had +accompanied me on the previous trip into the Sahara—and after writing +a long letter to Innes in which I gave him my American address, I saw +the expedition head south. +</P> + +<P> +Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred +miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had it packed +on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea that he could +fasten one end here before he left and by paying it out through the end +of the prospector lay a telegraph line between the outer and inner +worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to mark the terminus of the +line very plainly with a high cairn, in case I was not able to reach +him before he set out, so that I might easily find and communicate with +him should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. +</P> + +<P> +I received several letters from him after I returned to America—in +fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop me +word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before he +intended to depart. Here it is. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + My Dear Friend: +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is + if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I + don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my + life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they + intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should + anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to + depart. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour + approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, + so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the + south—he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he + doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again. +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> + Yours,<BR> + David Innes.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed for +the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was when I +discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks of my return, +nor could I find any member of my former party who could lead me to the +same spot. +</P> + +<P> +For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had heard +of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes scanned the +blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find +the wires leading to Pellucidar—but always was I unsuccessful. +</P> + +<P> +And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David +Innes and his strange adventures. +</P> + +<P> +Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? +Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner +world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of +the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to +break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, or among +some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's desire? +</P> + +<P> +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at +the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's At the Earth's Core, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE EARTH'S CORE *** + +***** This file should be named 545-h.htm or 545-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/545/ + +Produced by Judith Boss. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: At the Earth's Core + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Posting Date: July 30, 2008 [EBook #545] +Release Date: June, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE EARTH'S CORE *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss. + + + + + + + + + +At the Earth's Core + + +By + +Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +CONTENTS + + PROLOGUE + I TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES + II A STRANGE WORLD + III A CHANGE OF MASTERS + IV DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL + V SLAVES + VI THE BEGINNING OF HORROR + VII FREEDOM + VIII THE MAHAR TEMPLE + IX THE FACE OF DEATH + X PHUTRA AGAIN + XI FOUR DEAD MAHARS + XII PURSUIT + XIII THE SLY ONE + XIV THE GARDEN OF EDEN + XV BACK TO EARTH + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to +believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent +experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous +ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London. + +You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less a +heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, +or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King. + +The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half +through!--it is all that saved him from exploding--and my dreams of an +Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded +into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere. + +But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned +Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it from +the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I did, the +fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in +that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it all--you, too, +would believe. You would not have needed the final ocular proof that I +had--the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brought back +with him from the inner world. + +I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the rim +of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin tent +amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab +douar of some eight or ten tents. + +I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted of a +dozen children of the desert--I was the only "white" man. As we +approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from his tent +and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight of me he +advanced rapidly to meet us. + +"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have been +watching you for hours, hoping against hope that THIS time there would +be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?" + +And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck full +in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for +support. + +"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me that +you are mistaken, or that you are but joking." + +"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should I +deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the date?" + +For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head. + +"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that at +the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told me his +story--the story that I give you here as nearly in his own words as I +can recall them. + + + + +I + +TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES + + +I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David +Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen he +died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my +majority--provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in +close application to the great business I was to inherit. + +I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent--not because of +the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For six +months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I wished to +know every minute detail of the business. + +Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow who +had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection of a +mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied +paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, +inspected his working model--and then, convinced, I advanced the funds +necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector. + +I shall not go into the details of its construction--it lies out there +in the desert now--about two miles from here. Tomorrow you may care to +ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder a hundred feet +long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist through solid rock if +need be. At one end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an engine +which Perry said generated more power to the cubic inch than any other +engine did to the cubic foot. I remember that he used to claim that +that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy--we were going to +make the whole thing public after the successful issue of our first +secret trial--but Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only +after ten years. + +I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous occasion +upon which we were to test the practicality of that wondrous invention. +It was near midnight when we repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry +had constructed his "iron mole" as he was wont to call the thing. The +great nose rested upon the bare earth of the floor. We passed through +the doors into the outer jacket, secured them, and then passing on into +the cabin, which contained the controlling mechanism within the inner +tube, switched on the electric lights. + +Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air to +replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments for +recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the +materials through which we were to pass. + +He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which +transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose of +his strange craft. + +Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon +transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were +ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running +horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically toward +the surface again. + +At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a moment +we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the starting lever. +There was a frightful roaring beneath us--the giant frame trembled and +vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up +through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be +deposited in our wake. We were off! + +The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging seats. +Then Perry glanced at the thermometer. + +"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does the distance +meter read?" + +That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I +turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering. + +"Ten degrees rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug +frantically upon the steering wheel. + +As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I +spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred feet, +Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the horizontal." + +"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot +budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined +strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost." + +I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that the +great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young and +vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always had my +physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for that very +reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, since my +natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for and develop +my body and my muscles by every means within my power. What with +boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training since childhood. + +And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the huge +iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into it, my +best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been--the thing would not +budge--the grim, insensate, horrible thing that was holding us upon the +straight road to death! + +At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word returned +to my seat. There was no need for words--at least none that I could +imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was quite sure that he +would, for he never left an opportunity neglected where he might +sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in the morning, he +prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished eating, and before +he went to bed at night he prayed again. In between he often found +excuses to pray even when the provocation seemed far-fetched to my +worldly eyes--now that he was about to die I felt positive that I +should witness a perfect orgy of prayer--if one may allude with such a +simile to so solemn an act. + +But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in the +face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his lips there +flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid stream of undiluted +profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn piece of +unyielding mechanism. + +"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death." + +"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing by +comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David within this +iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that science has +scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and with it +animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand men. That two +lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world calamity that entombs +in the bowels of the earth the discoveries that I have made and proved +in the successful construction of the thing that is now carrying us +farther and farther toward the eternal central fires." + +I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with our +own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the world +might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant of its +bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality. + +"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask of a +low and level voice. + +"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks +are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight hope +that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from the vertical +to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must eventually +return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing before we reach +the higher internal temperature we may even yet survive. There would +seem to me to be about one chance in several million that we shall +succeed--otherwise we shall die more quickly but no more surely than as +though we sat supinely waiting for the torture of a slow and horrible +death." + +I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While we +were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile into +the rock of the earth's crust. + +"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at this +rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would be so +high, Perry. Didn't you know it?" + +"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I had no +instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. I reasoned, +however, that we should make about five hundred yards an hour." + +"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, as I sat +with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the Earth's crust, +Perry?" I asked. + +"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there are +geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, because +the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one degree to each +sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the most +refractory substances at that distance beneath the surface. Another +finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation require that the +earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have a shell not less than +eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. So there you are. You +may take your choice." + +"And if it should prove solid?" I asked. + +"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. "At +the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four days, +while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, then, is +sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand miles of +rock to the antipodes." + +"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final stop +between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; but +during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall be +corpses. Am I correct?" I asked. + +"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?" + +"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe that +either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel that I +should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that the shock +has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities." + +Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less +rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated to a +depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled. + +"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and then +he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing the +steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts +would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterful +and scientific imprecations. + +Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have +essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped the +generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength into a +supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth--but the results +were as barren as when we had been traveling at top speed. + +I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward toward +eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my eyes glued +to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury was rising very +slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost unbearable within +the narrow confines of our metal prison. + +About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate +journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which point +the mercury registered 153 degrees F. + +Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food he +sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he had +turned to singing--I felt that the strain had at last affected his +mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked me for +the readings of the instruments from time to time, and I announced +them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I recalled numerous +acts of my past life which I should have been glad to have had a few +more years to live down. There was the affair in the Latin Commons at +Andover when Calhoun and I had put gunpowder in the stove--and nearly +killed one of the masters. And then--but what was the use, I was about +to die and atone for all these things and several more. Already the +heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few +more degrees and I felt that I should lose consciousness. + +"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my +somber reflections. + +"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied. + +"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked +hat!" he cried gleefully. + +"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back. + +"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean +anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of it, +son!" + +"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will it +make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature is 153 +degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one will know the +difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some unaccountable +reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. What I +hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. The very fact, as +Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of several very exact and +learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent that we could not know +what lay before us within the bowels of the earth, and so we might +continue to hope for the best, at least until we were dead--when hope +would no longer be essential to our happiness. It was very good, and +logical reasoning, and so I embraced it. + +At one hundred miles the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 DEGREES! +When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me. + +From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop until +it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot before. +At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils were assailed +by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperature had dropped +to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly two hours of this intense and +bitter cold, until at about two hundred and forty-five miles from the +surface of the earth we entered a stratum of solid ice, when the +mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. During the next three hours we +passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging into another +series of ammonia-impregnated strata, where the mercury again fell to +ten degrees below zero. + +Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we were +nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred miles the +temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched the +thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and was at last +praying. + +Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually increasing +heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater than it really +was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column of mercury rise and +rise until at four hundred and ten miles it stood at 153 degrees. Now +it was that we began to hang upon those readings in almost breathless +anxiety. + +One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature +above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would it +continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet +with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope against +practical certainty. + +Already the air tanks were at low ebb--there was barely enough of the +precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But would we be +alive to know or care? It seemed incredible. + +At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading. + +"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! +She's 152 degrees again." + +"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the +center?" + +"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die it +shall not be by fire--that is all that I have feared. I can face the +thought of any death but that." + +Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles +from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization +broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the first to +discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate the air +supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in breathing. +My head felt dizzy--my limbs heavy. + +I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat erect +again. Then he turned toward me. + +"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then he +smiled and closed his eyes. + +"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back at +him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young--I did +not want to die. + +For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that +surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing high +into the framework above me I could find more of the precious +life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must have +been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came to the +realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal struggle +against the inevitable. + +With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically +toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles from +the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the huge thing that bore us +came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket +ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it was +running loose in AIR--and then another truth flashed upon me. The +point of the prospector was ABOVE us. Slowly it dawned on me that +since passing through the ice strata it had been above. We had turned +in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We +were safe! + +I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have +been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, and +my fondest hopes were realized--a flood of fresh air was pouring into +the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I +lost consciousness. + + + + +II + +A STRANGE WORLD + + +I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward +from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell with a crash +to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself. + +My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought that +upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing open +his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried with +relief--his heart was beating quite regularly. + +At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across +his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was rewarded by the +raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed and quite +uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he +sat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his face. + +"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. Why--why +what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?" + +"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too busy +reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!" + +"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How long +have I been unconscious?" + +"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden +whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you instead of +below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall it now." + +"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? That +is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose is +deflected from the outside--by some external force or resistance--the +steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering wheel +has not budged, David, since we started. You know that." + +I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, and +copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. + +"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as +you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we are +this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going out to +see just where." + +"Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now." + +I glanced at the chronometer. + +"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it must be +midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky +that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," and so saying I +lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it open. There was +quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I had to +remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell. + +In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor +of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly behind me +as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface of the +ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at +Perry--it was broad day-light without! + +"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations or the +chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head--there was a strange +expression in his eyes. + +"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried. + +Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscape +at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level shore stretched +down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach the surface of the +water was dotted with countless tiny isles--some of towering, barren, +granitic rock--others resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical +vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent splendor of vivid +blooms. + +Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent ferns +intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical forest. +Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, dense +under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches. +Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid coloring of +countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but within the dense +shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave. + +And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a cloudless +sky. + +"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry. + +For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed head, +buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke. + +"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth." + +"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, and +this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose of the +prospector protruding from the ground at our backs. + +"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to the +country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory +untenable--it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However I +am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world from +that which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, there is +every reason to believe that we may be IN it." + +"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon some +tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry shook +his head. + +"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime suppose +we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast--we may find a native +who can enlighten us." + +As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across the +water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem. + +"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about the +horizon?" + +As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the +landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive +suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far +as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated +tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever +beyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real that +one was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes could +fathom--the distance was lost in the distance. That was all--there was +no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the +line of vision. + +"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking +out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle. It +is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun was +directly above us. Where is it now?" + +I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center of +the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully +thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, and +apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one +might almost reach up and touch it. + +"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning +to get on my nerves." + +"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "that +we are--" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity of the +prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever +had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned to discover the +author of that fearsome noise. + +Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that +met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging from the +forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It was +fully as large as the largest elephant and with great forepaws armed +with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its +lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giant +body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair. + +Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. I +turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other +surroundings--the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, for +he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his +prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what +latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed. + +I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which ran +out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, and as the +mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into such +remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I set off after +Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident that +the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that I +considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to +enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up. + +Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches +of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of +some fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted to +ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the +forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he +scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the ground +once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his +shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken +shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest. + +At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, +and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand over hand. +He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree from which the +creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell +sprawling at my feet. + +The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already too +close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged him +to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could easily +encircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up as I could, +and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my shoulder revealed +the awful beast almost upon me. + +It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its enormous +bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the agility of my +young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of its way and run +completely behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit. + +The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged in +the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had at last +found a haven. + +Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, and +so did Perry. He was praying--raising his voice in thanksgiving at our +deliverance--and had just completed a sort of paeon of gratitude that +the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning it reared up +beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and reached those +fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which he crouched. + +The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of fright, +and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him, so +precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb. It +was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain a higher branch in +safety. + +And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. +Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down with +all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force of +those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to bend +toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as the tree leaned +more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in a +panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending and swaying tree +he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward +the ground. + +I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. The +use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which nature had +intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, and to feed +that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of their foliage. +The reason for its attacking us might easily be accounted for on the +supposition of an ugly disposition such as that which the fierce and +stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. But these were later +reflections. At the moment I was too frantic with apprehension on +Perry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to save him from +the death that loomed so close. + +Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, I +dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the thing's +attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to gain the +safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which not even the +terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend. + +As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled mass +that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping unnoticed +behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. My plan +worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast I had been +led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed. +Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours and at the +same time swung his great, wicked tail with a force that would have +broken every bone in my body had it struck me; but, fortunately, I had +turned to flee at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon the +towering back. + +As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along the +edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a moment +I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind me +was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate +myself. + +A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it I +leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able to +keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But the +zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap +upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me. + +Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing +barks--much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full cry. +Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of this new and +menacing note with the result that I missed my footing and went +sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck. + +My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel the +weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to my +surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping and +barking of the new element which had been infused into the melee now +seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon my +hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had distracted the +DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the thing is called, from my trail. + +It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures--wild +dogs they seemed--that rushed growling and snapping in upon it from all +sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow brute and were +away again before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping +tail. + +But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering and +gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company of +manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were to all +appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa. Their +skins were very black, and their features much like those of the more +pronounced Negroid type except that the head receded more rapidly above +the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were rather longer +and their legs shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, and +later I noticed that their great toes protruded at right angles from +their feet--because of their arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them +trailed long, slender tails which they used in climbing quite as much +as they did either their hands or feet. + +I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the +wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several of +the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come slinking +with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward the trees +again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw a number of the +man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of the nearest tree. + +Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, but at +least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque parodies on +humanity would accord me, while there was none as to the fate which +awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce pursuers. + +And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that which +held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; but the +wolf-dogs were very close behind me--so close that I had despaired of +escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree above swung down +headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, and grasping me +beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his fellows. + +There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They +turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered that I +was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their teeth were +very large and white and even, except for the upper canines which were +a trifle longer than the others--protruding just a bit when the mouth +was closed. + +When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered that +my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment by +garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. +Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their +ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up. + +In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of +Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of trees +in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was much +exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though I called +his name aloud several times there was no response. + +Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to the +ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started off at +a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I experienced +such a journey before or since--even now I oftentimes awake from a deep +sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience. + +From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, +while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depths +beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either of my +bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was occupied +with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of Perry? Would +I ever see him again? What were the intentions of these half-human +things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they inhabitants of the +same world into which I had been born? No! It could not be. But yet +where else? I had not left that earth--of that I was sure. Still +neither could I reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief that +I was still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up. + + + + +III + +A CHANGE OF MASTERS + + +We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal wood +when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among the +branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke into wild +shouting which was immediately answered from within, and a moment later +a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured +me poured out to meet us. Again I was the center of a wildly +chattering horde. I was pulled this way and that. Pinched, pounded, +and thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not think that their +treatment was dictated by either cruelty or malice--I was a curiosity, +a freak, a new plaything, and their childish minds required the added +evidence of all their senses to back up the testimony of their eyes. + +Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon the +branches of the trees. + +Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead +branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts upon +one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network of huts and +pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty feet above the +ground. + +I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized the +necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same vicious +wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike +animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for their presence. + +My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; then +two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance--to prevent my +escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped to I certainly +had not the remotest conception. I had no more than entered the dark +shadows of the interior than there fell upon my ears the tones of a +familiar voice, in prayer. + +"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe." + +"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man stumbled +toward me and threw his arms about me. + +He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a +number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops to their +village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange +clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other +we could not help but laugh. + +"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome +ape." + +"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite the +thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, +Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can +be? You were about to tell me where we are when that great hairy +frigate bore down upon us--have you really any idea at all?" + +"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have made +a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the earth is +hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world." + +"Perry, you are mad!" + +"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector +bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point it +reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up +to that point we had been descending--direction is, of course, merely +relative. Then at the moment that our seats revolved--the thing that +made you believe that we had turned about and were speeding upward--we +passed the center of gravity and, though we did not alter the direction +of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward--toward the +surface of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora which +we have seen convince you that you are not in the world of your birth? +And the horizon--could it present the strange aspects which we both +noted unless we were indeed standing upon the inside surface of a +sphere?" + +"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine +through five hundred miles of solid crust?" + +"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It is another +sun--an entirely different sun--that casts its eternal noonday +effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it now, David--if +you can see it from the doorway of this hut--and you will see that it +is still in the exact center of the heavens. We have been here for +many hours--yet it is still noon. + +"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous +mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin crust +of solid matter formed upon its outer surface--a sort of shell; but +within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. As it +continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal force burled the +particles of the nebulous center toward the crust as rapidly as they +approached a solid state. You have seen the same principle practically +applied in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only a +small super-heated core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge +vacant interior left by the contraction of the cooling gases. The +equal attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this +luminous core in the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of +it is the sun you saw today--a relatively tiny thing at the exact +center of the earth. Equally to every part of this inner world it +diffuses its perpetual noonday light and torrid heat. + +"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal life +long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that the same +agencies were at work here is evident from the similar forms of both +animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen. Take the +great beast which attacked us, for example. Unquestionably a +counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene period of the outer +crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found in South America." + +"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely they +have no counterpart in the earth's history." + +"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape +and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless +convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely +the result of evolution along slightly different lines--either is quite +possible." + +Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several of our +captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and +dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees were +filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their young. There +was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among the lot. + +"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry. + +"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. "Now +what do you suppose they intend doing with us?" + +We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to the +village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures and +whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our wake +raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black +ape-things. + +Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as +we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. +But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and found +sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen their grasp +upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater +moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's toe at a street +crossing in the outer world--they but laughed uproariously and sped on +with me. + +For some time they continued through the forest--how long I could not +guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully to my +mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for measuring it +cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were living beneath a +stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute the period of time +which had elapsed since we broke through the crust of the inner world. +It might be hours, or it might be days--who in the world could tell +where it was always noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed--but my +judgment told me that we must have been several hours in this strange +world. + +Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. A +short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward these our +captors urged us, and after a short time led us through a narrow pass +into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we were +soon convinced that if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday, we +were to die for some other purpose. The attitude of our captors +altered immediately as they entered the natural arena within the rocky +hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial +faces--bared fangs menaced us. + +We were placed in the center of the amphitheater--the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought--hyaenodon Perry called it--and turned loose with us inside the +circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown mastiff, +its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark, +shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast and belly were +quite white. As it slunk toward us it presented a most formidable +aspect with its upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs. + +Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The +ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with savage +cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged us. + +At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. My +speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I made +such a record during my senior year at college that overtures were made +to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; but in the +tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past I had never been +in such need for control as now. + +As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under +absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward me at +terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my weight and +muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone caught the +hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon +his back. + +At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle +of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the upsetting of +their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw that I was +mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions toward +the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished the real cause of their +perturbation. Behind them, streaming through the pass which leads into +the valley, came a swarm of hairy men--gorilla-like creatures armed +with spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons +they set upon the ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had +now regained its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past +us swept the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its +former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to have +authority among them directed that we be brought with them. + +When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw +a caravan of men and women--human beings like ourselves--and for the +first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried +out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that they were a +half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were +fashioned along the same lines as ourselves--there was nothing +grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures in this +strange, weird world. + +But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered +that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, and +that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony Perry and +I were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the +interrupted march was resumed. + +Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain brought +on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we +stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded +with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They +strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words +with one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a +noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The +men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and +more gracefully molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into +loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well +proportioned--there was not a face among them that would have been +called even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no +ornaments; but this I later learned was due to the fact that their +captors had stripped them of everything of value. As garmenture the +women possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted hide, +rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore +either supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, so that +it hung partially below the knee on one side, or possibly looped +gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin +sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy beast, +long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to the ground. In +some instances these ends were finished with the strong talons of the +beast from which the hides had been taken. + +Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, were +rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were indeed +mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned more in +conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered +with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those +of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the +museums at home. + +Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above +and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit less +human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth +which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin cloth +of the same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of +some mammoth creature of this inner world. + +Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal--silver +predominating--and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles +in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among themselves as +they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I +perceived differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When +they addressed the latter they used what appeared to be a third +language, and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue rather +analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie. + +How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us +were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called--then +we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one measure +time where time does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood +at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed toward nadir. +Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time elapsed who may say. +That march may have occupied nine years and eleven months of the ten +years that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been accomplished +in the fraction of a second--I cannot tell. But this I do know that +since you have told me that ten years have elapsed since I departed +from this earth I have lost all respect for time--I am commencing to +doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of +man. + + + + +IV + +DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL + + +When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They +gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and +strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, and +took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; but +poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call a cab to +travel a square--he was paying for it now, and his old legs wobbled so +that I put my arm about him and half carried him through the balance of +those frightful marches. + +The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the level +plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical verdure +of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but even here the +effects of constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity of +the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. Crystal streams +roared through their rocky channels, fed by the perpetual snows which +we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped heights hung masses of +heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, which evidently served +the double purpose of replenishing the melting snows and protecting +them from the direct rays of the sun. + +By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language in +which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway in the +rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead of me in the +chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain linked us together +in a forced companionship which I, at least, soon rejoiced in. For I +found her a willing teacher, and from her I learned the language of her +tribe, and much of the life and customs of the inner world--at least +that part of it with which she was familiar. + +She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above the +Darel Az, or shallow sea. + +"How came you here?" I asked her. + +"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as though +that was explanation quite sufficient. + +"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away from +him?" + +She looked at me in surprise. + +"Why DOES a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question with +another. + +"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run after +them." + +But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the fact +that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that creation +was originated solely to produce her own kind and the world she lived +in as are many of the outer world. + +"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away to +be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world." + +"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It was +the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater trophy +was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One would come and +take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished me, or they would +have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me from Jubal. My father +is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a sadok tossed him, and never +again had he the full use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the +Strong One, had gone to the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. +Thus there was none, father, brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal +the Ugly One, and I ran away and hid among the hills that skirt the +land of Amoz. And there these Sagoths found me and made me captive." + +"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?" + +Again she looked her incredulity. + +"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, "for +otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really mean that +you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of the Mahars--the +mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows +upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims within its +lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next you will be telling +me that you never before heard of the Mahars!" + +I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was no +alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean breast of +my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was shocked. But +she did her very best to enlighten me, though much that she said was as +Greek would have been to her. She described the Mahars largely by +comparisons. In this way they were like unto thipdars, in that to the +hairless lidi. + +About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; could +swim under water for great distances, and were very, very wise. The +Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and the races like +herself were their hands and feet--they were the slaves and servants +who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were the heads--the +brains--of the inner world. I longed to see this wondrous race of +supermen. + +Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we occasionally +did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he would join in the +conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who was chained just +ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was Hooja the Sly One. He +too entered the conversation occasionally. Most of his remarks were +directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It didn't take half an eye to see +that he had developed a bad case; but the girl appeared totally +oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. Did I say thinly veiled? +There is a race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, I have forgotten +which, who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections +by banging her over the head with a bludgeon. By comparison with this +method Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly veiled. At first it +caused me to blush violently although I have seen several Old Years out +at Rectors, and in other less fashionable places off Broadway, and in +Vienna, and Hamburg. + +But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and with +the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't even see +Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him furious. He +tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up ahead of him in the +slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with his spear and told him +that he had selected the girl for his own property--that he would buy +her from the Mahars as soon as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, +was the city of our destination. + +After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt sea, +upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like creatures +there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet above their +enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with gaping mouths +bristling with countless fangs. There were huge tortoises too, +paddling about among these other reptiles, which Perry said were +Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his veracity--they might +have been most anything. + +Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that the +other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from the +deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths--Perry +called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of an +alligator. + +I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school--about all +that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations of +restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined +belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination could +"restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, and take +rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek, +shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from the +ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters roll from their +sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided hither and +thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I saw them meet, +open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic and interminable +warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak imagination by +comparison with Nature's incredible genius. + +And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself. + +"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside that +awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought that I +believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe it--that +it is impossible for man to believe such things as these unless he sees +them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, perhaps, because +we are told them over and over again, and have no way of disproving +them--like religions, for example; but we don't believe them, we only +think we do. If you ever get back to the outer world you will find +that the geologists and paleontologists will be the first to set you +down a liar, for they know that no such creatures as they restore ever +existed. It is all right to IMAGINE them as existing in an equally +imaginary epoch--but now? poof!" + +At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack chain +to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We were all +standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her back upon him in +such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could scarce repress a +smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the instant the Sly One's +hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly toward him. + +I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics which +prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the appealing +look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes to influence +my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was I paused not to +inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of her with his other +hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw that felled him in his +tracks. + +A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and the +Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later learned, +because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, to them, +astounding method by which I had bested Hooja. + +And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering eyes, and +then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a delicate flush +suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in silence, and then +her head went high, and she turned her back upon me as she had upon +Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face of Ghak the +Hairy One go very black as he looked at me searchingly. And what I +could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly from red to white. + +Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that in +some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail upon her +to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred--in fact I might +quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all the attention I +got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and prevented my making +any further attempts, and thus a companionship that without my +realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was cut off. +Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja did not renew +his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture near me. + +Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a perfect +nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became the +realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, the +more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier of silly +pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for the explanation +which I was sure he could give, and that might have made everything all +right again. + +On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice +me--when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over my +head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and +determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me how +I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my mind +that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching another +range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, instead of +winding across them through some high-flung pass we entered a mighty +natural tunnel--a series of labyrinthine grottoes, dark as Erebus. + +The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we had +seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered +Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light +above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting their +way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept along at a +snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling--the guards keeping up a +singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with certain high notes which +I found always indicated rough places and turns. + +Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian until +I could see from the expression of her face how she was receiving my +apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us of the end of the +tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. Then at a sudden +turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday sun. + +But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a real +catastrophe--Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other prisoners. +The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage was terrible to +behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most +diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of responsibility +for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating us with their spear +shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed two near the head of the +line, and were like to have finished the balance of us when their +leader finally put a stop to the brutal slaughter. Never in all my +life had I witnessed a more horrible exhibition of bestial rage--I +thanked God that Dian had not been one of those left to endure it. + +Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each alternate +one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. Ghak +remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? The +commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered that the +rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been deftly picked. + +"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. +"He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, glancing +at me. + +"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?" + +He looked at me closely for a moment. + +"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he said at +last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance of the ways +of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that you do not know +that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?" + +"I do not know, Ghak," I replied. + +"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes between +another man and the woman the other man would have, the woman belongs +to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. You should have +claimed her or released her. Had you taken her hand, it would have +indicated your desire to make her your mate, and had you raised her +hand above her head and then dropped it, it would have meant that you +did not wish her for a mate and that you released her from all +obligation to you. By doing neither you have put upon her the greatest +affront that a man may put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. No +man will take her as mate, or may take her honorably, until he shall +have overcome you in combat, and men do not choose slave women as their +mates--at least not the men of Pellucidar." + +"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, or +act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her as +my--" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent face +floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and where I had +on the second believed that I clung only to the memory of a gentle +friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would have been +disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian the Beautiful +as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a welcome friend in a +strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think that I loved her. + +I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than in +my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder. + +"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, but +when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. Your +heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront to Dian +the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is my sister. +She does not know it--her mother was stolen by Dian's father who came +with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle with us for our +women--the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. Then was her father +king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of the king of Sari--to whose +power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian is the daughter of kings, +though her father is no longer king since the sadok tossed him and +Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him. Because of her +lineage the wrong you did her was greatly magnified in the eyes of all +who saw it. She will never forgive you." + +I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the +girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon her. + +"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand +above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient to +release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed to a +life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?" + +"Is there no escape?" I asked. + +"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied Ghak. +"But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, and once there +it is not so easy--the Mahars are very wise. Even if one escaped from +Phutra there are the thipdars--they would find you, and then--" the +Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never escape the Mahars." + +It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about it; +but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded prayer he +had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the only redeeming +feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave him for the +improvisation of prayers--it was becoming an obsession with him. The +Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of declaiming throughout +entire marches. One of them asked him what he was saying--to whom he +was talking. The question gave me an idea, so I answered quickly +before Perry could say anything. + +"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world +from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot see--do +not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon you and rend +you limb from limb--like that," and I jumped toward the great brute +with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward. + +I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital out +of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making was +prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with marked +respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed the word +along to their masters, the Mahars. + +Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The +entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which guarded +a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths were on guard +here as well as at a hundred or more other towers scattered about over +a large plain. + + + + +V + +SLAVES + + +As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of +Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner world. +Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached to +inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine. +The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, some six or +eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great round eyes. +Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white fangs, and the backs +of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their +necks to the end of their long tails. Their feet are equipped with +three webbed toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are +attached to their bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude at an +angle of 45 degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points several +feet above their bodies. + +I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old man +was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. When it +passed on, he turned to me. + +"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, gad, +how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have never +indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary crow." + +As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many +thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. +They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground +with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It is +hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and of a +uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the roof of +this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors transmit +the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would otherwise be +Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced. + +Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, where +one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a Maharan +official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The method of +communication between these two was remarkable in that no spoken words +were exchanged. They employed a species of sign language. As I was to +learn later, the Mahars have no ears, nor any spoken language. Among +themselves they communicate by means of what Perry says must be a sixth +sense which is cognizant of a fourth dimension. + +I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it to me +upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said no, that +it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when in each +others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or the other +inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used to converse with +one another. + +"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the +fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense of +their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?" + +"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, and +returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great accumulation +of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, and there +arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we were in the +public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced to discover the +key to their written language, he assured me that we were handling the +ancient archives of the race. + +During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, and +the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened to +purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the +little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who had +returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but that I +should have been more contented to know that Dian was here in Phutra, +than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, +and I often talked together of possible escape, but the Sarian was so +steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could escape from the Mahars +except by a miracle, that he was not much aid to us--his attitude was +of one who waits for the miracle to come to him. + +At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of iron +which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we slept, for +we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action within the +limits of the building to which we had been assigned. So great were +the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants of Phutra that +none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters +unkind to us. + +We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and +then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows--weapons +apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these I +found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom of the +building. + +We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving +Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped +prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian and +two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was confined in +the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not seen Dian or +the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. What had +become of them he had not the faintest conception--they might be +wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead from +starvation. + +I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at +this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection for +the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During my waking +hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and when I slept +her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was I determined to +escape the Mahars. + +"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every inch of +this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful and right +the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse I made for +Perry's benefit. + +"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are talking +about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar which he had +recently discovered among the manuscript he was arranging. + +"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and all +this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two areas? +Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. These +relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of the +continents of the outer world. + +"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; then +the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the +superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this is +land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! Our own +world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the balance of its +surface being covered by water. Just as we often compare nations by +their relative land areas, so if we compare these two worlds in the +same way we have the strange anomaly of a larger world within a smaller +one! + +"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? Without +stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even though you +knew where she might be found?" + +The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but I +found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it. + +"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested. + +Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him. + +"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. Will +you accompany us?" + +"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall be +killed; but--" he hesitated--"I would take the chance if I thought that +I might possibly escape and return to my own people." + +"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And +could you aid David in his search for Dian?" + +"Yes." + +"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country +without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?" + +Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, but +he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar and carry +him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would be able to +come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. He seemed +surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in it. Perry said +it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is possessed by certain +breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of course, but it gave me an +idea. + +"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" I +asked. + +"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed her." + +I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and Ghak +counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would insure us +some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident could befall +a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where the +inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of +the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, crawl into +the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up in protracted +slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for three years he +will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be +all true, but I never saw but three of them asleep, and it was the +sight of these three that gave me a suggestion for our means of escape. + +I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were +supposed to frequent--possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor of the +building--among a network of corridors and apartments, when I came +suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At first I +thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing convinced me +of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of the marvelous +opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means of eluding the +watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards. + +Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to me, +meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my surprise +he was horrified. + +"It would be murder, David," he cried. + +"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment. + +"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are the +dominant race--we are the 'monsters'--the lower orders. In Pellucidar +evolution has progressed along different lines than upon the outer +earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time and time again wiped +out the existing species--but for this fact some monster of the +Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own world. We see here what +might well have occurred in our own history had conditions been what +they have been here. + +"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. Here +man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of our own +world's history, but for countless millions of years these reptiles +have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense which I am sure +they possess that has given them an advantage over the other and more +frightfully armed of their fellows; but this we may never know. They +look upon us as we look upon the beasts of our fields, and I learn from +their written records that other races of Mahars feed upon men--they +keep them in great droves, as we keep cattle. They breed them most +carefully, and when they are quite fat, they kill and eat them." + +I shuddered. + +"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They +understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our own +world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the +question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of +communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason--that our +every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of +Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among +themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it is +beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that we +reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know that the +Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how +it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They +believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. That +the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them. + +"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out your +plan." + +"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer." + +He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some reason +which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very careful +description of the apartments and corridors I had just explored. + +"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to carry +out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something of very real +and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar at the same time. +Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising nature from these +archives of the Mahars. That you may appreciate my plan I shall +briefly outline the history of the race. + +"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little by +little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change took +place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under the +intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took vast +strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we know as +biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist announced the +fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized +by chemical means after they were laid--all true reptiles, you know, +are hatched from eggs. + +"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed +until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively of +females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula +is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and +unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description of the +vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in the cellar +of this building. + +"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and +second, owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first +so many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population +became very grave. + +"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this great +secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race within +Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. Why, we two +would be the means of placing the men of the inner world in their +rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths would then stand +between them and absolute supremacy, and I was not quite sure but that +the Sagoths owed all their power to the greater intelligence of the +Mahars--I could not believe that these gorilla-like beasts were the +mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar. + +"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance +into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may +carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's +marvelous--absolutely marvelous just to think about it." + +"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just +that purpose--it shall be my life work to teach them His word--to lead +them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and +hands in the ways of culture and civilization." + +"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them to +pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race +of men that will be an honor to us both." + +Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our +conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited about. +Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I only +explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him, +he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but for a different +reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible fate that would be +ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed upon him to accept my +plan as the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I would +take all the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a +reluctant assent. + + + + +VI + +THE BEGINNING OF HORROR + + +Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no nights +to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad day-light--all +but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the building. So we +determined to put our plan to an immediate test lest the Mahars who +made it possible should awake before I reached them; but we were doomed +to disappointment, for no sooner had we reached the main floor of the +building on our way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying +bands of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of the +edifice to the avenue beyond. + +Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other +slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and +hustled into the line of marching humans. + +What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, but +presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two escaped +slaves had been recaptured--a man and a woman--and that we were +marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth +of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them. + +At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure that +the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly +One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did +Perry. + +"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak. + +"Naught," he replied. + +Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty +toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the murder of +their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson to all +other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the +fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, and so I +imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the entire +proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible. + +They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets at +the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a most +uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally herded +through a low entrance into a huge building the center of which was +given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this open space +upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge bowlders which +rose in receding tiers toward the roof. + +At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of rock, +unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background for the +scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but presently, after +the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by slaves and Sagoths, I +discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then the Mahars began to +file into the enclosure. + +They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the +opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose above +the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders above. These +were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect. + +Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is to them +as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking their hideous +eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in their +sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language. + +For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the others +in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in fact all +Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena after the +balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, she was +preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, and +on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while behind came another +score of Sagoth guardsmen. + +At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her +wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled down +upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of that side +of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant race. Here she +squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; though doubtless +quite as well assured of her beauty and divine right to rule as the +proudest monarch of the outer world. + +And then the music started--music without sound! The Mahars cannot +hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown +among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It filed +out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the rocks might +see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes. + +Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their heads in +a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a cadence which +evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence of our own +instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured +steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward and again +forward--it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, but at the end +of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed the first +indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by the dominant +race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up and down, and smote +their rocky perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook. +Then the band started another piece, and all was again as silent as the +grave. That was one great beauty about Mahar music--if you didn't +happen to like a piece that was being played all you had to do was shut +your eyes. + +When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled upon +the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of the day was +on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth +guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize the +female--hoping against hope that she might prove to be another than +Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and the sight +of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head filled me with +alarm. + +Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit a +huge, shaggy, bull-like creature. + +"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer crust +with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We have been +carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of a planet--is +it not wondrous?" + +But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart stood +still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes for the +wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should have +leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store +for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age. + +With the advent of the Bos--they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar--two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of the +prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been as +effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons. + +As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with +the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly beneath us +was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar that ever had +fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see the beast from +which emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect of +bringing the two victims around with a sudden start, and then I saw the +girl's face--she was not Dian! I could have wept for relief. + +And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of that +fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge +tiger--such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval when +the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike the +noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions were +exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings +exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites were +as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its +coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it is a beautiful animal +there is no gainsaying, but if its size and colors are magnified here +within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not +the occasional member of its species that is a man hunter--all are man +hunters; but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, for there +is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they will not eat with +relish in the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge +carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. + +Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, and +upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with gaping +mouth and dripping fangs. + +The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At the +sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became a +veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard such +an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was all lost +upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged! + +The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the other. +The two puny things standing between them seemed already lost, but at +the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man grasped his +companion by the arm and together they leaped to one side, while the +frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision. + +There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful ferocity +transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again the +colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but each +time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter +with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire. + +For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping out +of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate and +each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger was now +upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with powerful +fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds +and ribbons. + +For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage, +its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from side to +side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening about the +arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. It was with +difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded +animal. + +All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in +desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and over. A +little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its breath from it I +imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great thag +was up again and had buried those mighty horns deep in the tarag's +abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the arena. + +The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were gone, +and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the +skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment the thag +still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and then the man +leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least formidable +enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart. + +As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the arena. +With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the arena wall +directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried him, in one of +his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the midst of the +slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging his bloody horns from +side to side the beast cut a wide swath before him straight upward +toward our seats. Before him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad +stampede to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies, for such +only could that frightful charge have been. + +Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the exits, +many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind us. Perry, +Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few +moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, each intent upon +saving his own hide. + +I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad mob +that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an entire +herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single blinded, +dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd. + + + + +VII + +FREEDOM + + +Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, but +another emotion as quickly gripped me--hope of escape that the +demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant. + +I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass his +release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom from me +at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching for an +exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it--a +low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor. + +Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows +of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for some +distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter +until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered +from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it +was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with the +darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my way +along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside me. + +Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, I came +upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which the +brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in the +ground. + +Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out +saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, granite +towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city were +all in front of me--behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken to +the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, then, beyond the +city, and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced. + +My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross the +plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a sudden I +recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes +Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light. + +Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra--the gorgeous +flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which is +tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom--brilliant little stars of +varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still another +charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape. + +But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in +which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the +myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of +gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of +the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I was never +particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped +me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part to the +counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust directly +opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which one's +calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always seemed to me +that I moved with greater speed and agility within Pellucidar than upon +the outer surface--there was a certain airy lightness of step that was +most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only +compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams. + +And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I seemed +almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Perry's +suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. The more +I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom. +There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man +shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find some way to +encompass his release kept me from turning back to Phutra. + +Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that +some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. It was +quite evident however that little less than a miracle could aid me, for +what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It +was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Phutra should I once +pass beyond view of the plain, and even were that possible, what aid +could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered? + +The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with +a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. Behind me +no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living thing. It was +as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world. + +I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit of +the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty +little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a +laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. +In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or +five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to size +and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I +watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they suckled +their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe +as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, scarlet lichen +which grew upon the rocks just above the water line. + +It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture +one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that is what Perry calls them--and +make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had +become rather used, by this time, to the eating of food in its natural +state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the +amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these delicacies. + +Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive purple +whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water, and +then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my +victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape. + +Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face +continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered a +rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep +declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet surface +of which lay several beautiful islands. + +The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be +seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over the edge of +the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into the delightful +valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace and +security. + +The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with +strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still housing as +varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their +sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the +outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first +man of that other world, so complete the solitude which surrounded me, +so primal and untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent +nature. I felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the +childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought there +rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face +surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair. + +As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not until +I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered all my +beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal +overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and +in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle. + +The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form +of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of loose stones +from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes in that direction +I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man, +running rapidly toward me. + +There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence of +brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe +position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question. + +The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping +him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative--the rude +skiff--and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing into +the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the +end. + +A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and +buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the +paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing out +upon the surface of the sea. + +A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one had +plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His mighty +strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order, +for at best I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, +which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to +follow, so that fully half my energy was expended in turning its blunt +prow back into the course. + +I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that +my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next half-dozen +strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather of all +paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant +behind me gained and gained. + +His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous +body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and the look of +terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further +concern as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look. + +And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster +of that prehistoric deep--a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged +jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony +protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns. + +As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed +man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression of hopeless +appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden +compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, and that he +might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in +the extremity of his danger. + +Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my +pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. The +monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his +awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the +surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled +about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. +The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out upon the copper skin. + +Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet +against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but for all +the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with his open palm. + +At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman +was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. +Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast +after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I tore +it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the +strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the +hydrophidian. + +With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, but +the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing me though +it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me. + + + + +VIII + +THE MAHAR TEMPLE + + +The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, +and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated +creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters +about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became evident that I +had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us +ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its +back quite dead. + +And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in +which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of the +savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear I +looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, and there we +stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon +the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. + +What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. + +Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to +translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance of +his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard tongue +that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars. + +To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. + +"What do you want of my spear?" he asked. + +"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied. + +"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," and +with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom +of the skiff. + +"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?" + +I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain how I +came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to +grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear it is for you +upon the outer crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. +To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another +world far beneath his feet peopled by beings similar to himself, and he +laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever +thus. That which has never come within the scope of our really +pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our finite minds cannot +grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which +obtain about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust +which wends its tiny way among the bowlders of the universe--the speck +of moist dirt we so proudly call the World. + +So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a Mezop, +and that his name was Ja. + +"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?" + +He looked at me in surprise. + +"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, +"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon the +islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop lives +elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course +it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. At any +rate in this sea and those near by it is true that only people of my +race inhabit the islands. + +"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to +the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but the +larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. "Even +the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar was young, +the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they do the other men +of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to son among us that this +is so; but we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those +of us that were captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that +at last they learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later +came the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to catch their +own fish, except for amusement, and then they needed us to supply their +wants, and so a truce was made between the races. Now they give us +certain things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish +that we catch, and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace. + +"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from the +prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their religious +rites in the temples they have builded there with our assistance. If +you live among us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship, +which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they +bring to take part in it." + +As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six or +seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that of +our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to +theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher +tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his +mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive +and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable +makeshift language we were compelled to use. + +During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the +skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some +half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his crude +and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been so +short a time before that I had made such pitiful work of it. + +As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed him. +Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond +the sand. + +"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana are +always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," he +nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance +that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve +of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible to +the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see land and water curving +upward in the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted +into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung +suspended directly above one's head required such a complete reversal +of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to stupefy one. + +No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, +presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which wound +hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of all +primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop trail +which I was later to find distinguished them from all other trails that +I ever have seen within or without the earth. + +It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly in +the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn directly +back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree, climb +through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low +bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow +back for a short distance only to turn directly about and retrace his +steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and +mysteriously as the former section. Then he would pass again across +some media which would reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of +the trail beyond. + +As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but +admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops +who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his track and +delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried +cities. + +To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of +traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you would +realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. So +labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting +links and the distances which one must retrace one's steps from the +paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches man's estate before +he is familiar even with those which lead from his own city to the sea. + +In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop consists +in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and the status of +an adult is largely determined by the number of trails which he can +follow upon his own island. The females never learn them, since from +birth to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of +their nativity is situated except they be taken to mate by a male from +another village, or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe. + +After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward of +five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the exact +center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one might well +imagine. + +Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the +ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven twigs, +mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by +some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of +the owner. + +Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served to +admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were through +small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude +ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses +varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that I entered +was divided into two floors and eight apartments. + +All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and +vegetables as they required. Women and children were working in these +gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted +deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest attention. Among +them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area were many +warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the points of their spears +to the ground directly before them. + +Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village--the +house with eight rooms--and taking me up into it gave me food and +drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her +arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter +most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold and +amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day rule +the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of the community. + +We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, for +it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man proposed +that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which lay not far from +his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," he said; "but the +great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of sight they need never +know that we have been there. For my part I hate them and always have, +but the other chieftains of the island think it best that we continue +to maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races; +otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst +the hideous creatures and exterminate them--Pellucidar would be a +better place to live were there none of them." + +I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be a +difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus +conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we +came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to +those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the +carboniferous age. + +Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough +oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No doors +or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there +need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja +explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the roof. + +"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even the +Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing and +about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of the +wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, revealing a small +opening which led straight within the building, or so it seemed, though +as I entered after Ja I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme +darkness. + +"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow me +closely." + +The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a +primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to the +upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet when the +interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter and +presently we came opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us +an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple. + +The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous +hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of granite +rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and +women like myself. + +"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked. + +"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading part +in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. You may +be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall as they." + +Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above +and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of +Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central +opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple. + +There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring +pterodactyls--thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind +these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been when +she entered the amphitheater at Phutra. + +Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to +settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer edge +of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was reserved +for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible +guard. + +All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. One +might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the +diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. The +men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with folded arms, +awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung to one another, +hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking race, these cave men +of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of +the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of +the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and +little else. + +Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; then +very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid noiselessly +into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, turning at the +ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning +upon their backs and diving below the surface. + +Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained at +rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. +Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round eyes +upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought +from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, and +bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle. + +The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried +to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a woman; +but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity that +I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, and the girl's arms +to reach at last the very center of her brain. + +Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the eyes +never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the victim +responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen, +slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen +power she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her +glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To the water's edge she +came, nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the +little island. On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated +as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, +and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was +at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on +in horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of +their own. + +The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed +above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced until the end +of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from her face, her +horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile. + +Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose--her eyes and +forehead all that showed--yet still she walked on after the retreating +Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface and +after it went the eyes of her victim--only a slow ripple widened toward +the shores to mark where the two vanished. + +For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water for +the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of the tank +her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, +her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the +helpless girl to her doom. + +And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the reptile +just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came +the girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and +though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned +her thrice over there was no indication, other than her dripping hair +and glistening body, that she had been submerged at all. + +Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out again, +until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so that I +could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue had I not taken a +firm hold of myself. + +Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came to the +surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms was +gone--gnawed completely off at the shoulder--but the poor thing gave no +indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set eyes seemed +intensified. + +The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then the +breasts, and then a part of the face--it was awful. The poor creatures +on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their +hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under +the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in +terror with their eyes fixed upon the terrible thing that was +transpiring before them. + +Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when she +rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The moment +she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter +the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition of the +uncanny performance through which the queen had led her victim. + +Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars--they being the +weakest and most tender--and when they had satisfied their appetite for +human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, there +were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that for some +reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the case, for as +the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars darted into the +air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like steam engines, +swooped down upon the remaining slaves. + +There was no hypnotism here--just the plain, brutal ferocity of the +beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it +was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the time +the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves the Mahars were all +asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls +swung back to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into +slumber. + +"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja. + +"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," he +replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human flesh, +yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always you will +find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring +their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is +supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race; but I +would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no Mahar but +eats human flesh whenever she can get it." + +"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is true +that they look upon us as lower animals?" + +"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are supposed +to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," replied Ja; "it +is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They would not think of +eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy, any more +than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is +difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them." + +"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far out of +the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. Directly +below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, there being a +break in the bowlders at this point as there was at several other +places about the side of the temple. + +My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed a part +of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for it. It +slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save myself and I +plunged headforemost into the water below. + +Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury +from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind filled with +the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible doom which +awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature +that had disturbed their slumber. + +As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in +the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to the +utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a +terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was +almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon the rocks +where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple with my eyes +could I discern any within it. + +For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized +that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the +noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is no such +thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had +been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to +figure out by earthly standards--this matter of elapsed time--but when +I set myself to it I began to realize that I might have been submerged +a second or a month or not at all. You have no conception of the +strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods +of measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are non-existent. + +I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me +for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars +filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their uncanny art +upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was alone in the +temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, +and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was +trembling like a leaf--you cannot imagine the awful horror which even +the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the +human mind, and to feel that you are in their power--that they are +crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag you down beneath the waters and +devour you! It is frightful. + +But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was +indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone was the +next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in +search of a means to escape. + +Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled +into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless he +had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our hiding +place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from +the temple and back to his village. + +I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the +doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that +the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Mahars the +human flesh they craved would all be carried through the air, and so I +continued my search until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of +several loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple. + +A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to +permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later I had +scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. + +Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the +giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning fangs of +death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden +in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome as those which I +had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely enough if it +but came in the form of some familiar beast or man--anything other than +the hideous and uncanny Mahars. + + + + +IX + +THE FACE OF DEATH + + +I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very +hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, I set +off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the island was +not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move in +a straight line, but there came the difficulty as there was no way in +which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun, of course, being +always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I +could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight +line. + +As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four +times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did so, +and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the chance +discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had +stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach. + +I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft +down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience with +Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick +about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible. + +I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that at +which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. +For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well out, before I +saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in +directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to +return to Phutra and give myself up that I might be once more with +Perry and Ghak the Hairy One. + +I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I realized +that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim +indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so +long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability that +I might find him was less than slight. + +Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit +against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. I +could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had found +the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and +then set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant +companion of my waking hours, and the central and beloved figure of my +dreams. + +But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my duty +and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers and +vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, too; +the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for +he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, +too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete twentieth-century +civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable. + +Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered Ja's +canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to +retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles came when I +entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found that several of +them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I +had traversed to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember. + +It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which seemed +the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that many of us +do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out the course of +our lives, and again learned that it is not always best to follow the +line of least resistance. + +By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced +that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland sea +I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps to +the summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only +solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the +canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was about to open into +a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I +decided to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back. + +The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I +saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of +the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, +and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a +broad level beach. + +Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to +the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of +the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the +foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough +all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced +and retreated. + +Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very +beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled vegetation of +the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, but +though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if anything +lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern +it. + +Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and lonely +sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet ventured, to +discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its +invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. What savage +faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant +watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! How far did +it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in +comparison with those of the outer crust, but even so this great ocean +might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. For countless +ages it had rolled up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet +today it remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible +from its beaches. + +The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I +had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer world to look +upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was +a new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. I was +dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay before us could +Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, a slight noise I +imagine, drew my attention behind me. + +As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took +wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form that +I beheld advancing upon me. + +A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty jaws +of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet +it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff +that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp +from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty +untracked sea, and before me in the center of the narrow way that led +to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh. + +A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was +facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose +fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back as the +Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, +unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had +come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that +distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first time the +terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the +restless, mysterious sea. + +Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had handed +down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited +from him, the specific application of the instinct of self-preservation +which saved him from the fate which loomed so close before me today. + +To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to +jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. The sea +and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous +amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue me +into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility. + +There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I +thought of Perry--how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought +of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all would go on +living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate +that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had +witnessed the last frightful agony of my extinction. And with these +thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life and +happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. We may be +snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for a brief day our +friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while +the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our +coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute +sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely +demise. The labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to +realize that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that +his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my +predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would +so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth? + +He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from +the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could have shouted +in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving +frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base. + +I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me for +his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would +watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some +slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it. + +To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable +cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, +crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small +projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here and +there. + +The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his +portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff +and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along +behind me. + +As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, but +I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come down to +within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with one hand to +a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously upon tiny bushes +that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his +long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground. + +To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored one +was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I came near +the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to try to save +myself. + +But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger +himself. + +"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much more +rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag you back +before ever you are halfway up the spear--he can rear up and reach you +with ease anywhere below where I stand." + +Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the +spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I could--being +so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I imagine the +slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions +and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it +doubled as he had hoped. + +When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly +shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific rate. I had +reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; another six +inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench +from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws of the +monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. + +I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on the +surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and still +clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner. + +At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand the +creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when I came +down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point yet +rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end +transfixed his lower jaw. + +With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost +my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and head, across +his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground. + +Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly +for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance +over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear +stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in +this occupation that I had gained the safety of the cliff top before he +was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight +within the valley he dashed, hissing into the rank vegetation of the +swamp and that was the last I saw of him. + + + + +X + +PHUTRA AGAIN + + +I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure +footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save me, +which had come so near miscarrying. + +"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," +he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and you +may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the +beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the sand +beside it. + +"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must +be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk +upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and +men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. It is +well that I arrived when I did." + +"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on +the part of a man of another world and a different race and color. + +"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my duty to +protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop had I evaded +my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. +I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member +of my tribe. Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing, and +you shall have, to choose a mate from, the most beautiful girls of +Pellucidar. Will you come?" + +I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty +was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him--if I could +ever find his island. + +"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come to +the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. There you +will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly opposite the +mouth of the river you will see three large islands far out, so far +that they are barely discernible, the one to the extreme left as you +face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I rule the tribe +of Anoroc." + +"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men say +that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied. + +"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory these +primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their world. + +"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should fall +back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters of +Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite +flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges, +so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, is a great wall +that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the burning +sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never have been so far from Anoroc +as to have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite +reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at +all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them +Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with their +heads pointed downward!" and Ja laughed uproariously at the very +thought. + +It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had not +advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars had so +outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many +ages it would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even +were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly we would be +killed for our pains as were those men of the outer world who dared +challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger +days. But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever presented +itself. + +And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity--that I might +make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus note the +effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. + +"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as +the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is +correct?" + +"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me for +one." + +"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you account +for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer +crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a sea of flame +beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a +great world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, and birds, +and fishes in mighty oceans." + +"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with your +head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe that, my +friend, I should indeed be mad." + +I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means of +the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a body +to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened so intently +that I thought I had made an impression, and started the train of +thought that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth. +But I was mistaken. + +"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity of your +theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. "See," he +said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes +something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported upon the +flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls--you have proven it +yourself!" He had me, that time--you could see it in his eye. + +It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for +when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and +the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to picture to +Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the planets, and the +countless stars. Those born within the inner world could no more +conceive of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce to +factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and +eternity. + +"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or down, +here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not so much +where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that +you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars +once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which +the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to +the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the +guardsman. I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time +my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay +may mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their +consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in +the pit beneath the building in which we were confined." + +"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja. + +"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in +Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I do under the +circumstances?" + +He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully. + +"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet it +seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to +death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for +your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a +prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. There are but +few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be +recaptured." + +"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that I would +rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, Perry is much +too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be +called upon to rescue him from the former locality." + +Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he +said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which +Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there. +Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demons +who dwell there. We know this because when graves are opened we find +that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. That is why +we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them +and bear them bit by bit to the Dead World above the Land of Awful +Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it +may go to Molop Az." + +As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come to +the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me from +returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so, he +consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where +lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach +where I had again met Ja. It was evident that I had spent much time +following the windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge +lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come several times. + +As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the +flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me to +abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in +my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind +that he was looking upon me for the last time. + +I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much +indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, and +his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished much +in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful in our +effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later. + +There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first--at least +it was the great thing to me--the finding of Dian the Beautiful. I +wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my +ignorance, and I wanted to--well, I wanted to see her again, and to be +with her. + +Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and +then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard +the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance +I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four of the +gorilla-men were dashing toward me. + +Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches +I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them +as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon +them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they ceased +their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to +turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most +enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears. + +"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, "Ho! It +is the slave who claims to be from another world--he who escaped when +the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why do you return, +having once made good your escape?" + +"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, as +did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost +my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way +back." + +"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of the +guardsmen. + +"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar +and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to be in +Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What +better lot could man desire?" + +The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so +being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt would +be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they +still considered it. + +I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them +off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I +was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily +return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they +would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in +arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city. + +So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within +the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian eyes +the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and +read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of +my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's lips and fingers during +the recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Sagoths. + +"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because you +think yourself better off here than elsewhere--do you not know that you +may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests of the +wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are +continually occupied with?" + +I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not to +admit it. + +"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed in +the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was +fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I barely +escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am sure that I +am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule Phutra. At +least such would be the case in my own world, where human beings like +myself rule supreme. There the higher races of man extend protection +and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a +stranger here I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be +accorded me." + +The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking +and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The creature +seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some message to the +Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow him, left the +presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me marched the +balance of the guard. + +"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right. + +"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you +regarding this strange world from which you say you come." + +After a moment's silence he turned to me again. + +"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves who +lie to them?" + +"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of +lying to the Mahars." + +"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you told +Sol-to-to just now--another world, indeed, where human beings rule!" he +concluded in fine scorn. + +"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I come? +I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that." + +"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not be +judged by one with but half an eye." + +"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind to +believe me?" + +"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in +research work by the learned ones," he replied. + +"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted. + +"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with them, +but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them but little +good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their subjects while +they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However I should +not imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was being cut +up; but of course this is all but conjecture. The chances are that ere +long you will know much more about it than I," and he grinned as he +spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor. + +"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?" + +"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you +escaped?" he said. + +"Yes." + +"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for them," +he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals might not be +employed." + +"It is sure death in either event?" I asked. + +"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not +know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the arena +may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom +you saw." + +"They gained their liberty? And how?" + +"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive +within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it has +happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, whom we +have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in +upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the +instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, but the +result was the same--the man and woman were liberated, furnished with +weapons, and started on their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder +of each a mark was burned--the mark of the Mahars--which will forever +protect these two from slaving parties." + +"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, and +none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?" + +"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself too +quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce one in a +thousand who comes out alive." + +To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I had +been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the doorway I +was turned over to the guards there. + +"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," said he +who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness." + +The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I had +returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it would be +safe to give me liberty within the building as had been the custom +before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to whatever duty had +been mine formerly. + +My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual over +the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and +rearranging upon new shelves. + +As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only +to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I was both +astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think that I was +risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty and +affection! + +"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long +absence?" + +"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?" + +"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed me +since that time we were separated by the charging thag within the +arena?" + +"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned from +the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much +later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I had intended +asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as I had completed +the translation of this most interesting passage." + +"Perry, you ARE mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how long +I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of +humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their +hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them and from a +great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious +wanderings across an unknown world. I must have been away for months, +Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and +insist that we have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to +treat a friend? I'm surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a +moment that you cared no more for me than this I should not have +returned to chance death at the hands of the Mahars for your sake." + +The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There was a +puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt sorrow in +his eyes. + +"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love for +you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I know +that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in +the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations that each of +us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time since last we saw +each other. You are positive that months have gone by, while to me it +seems equally certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you +in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and at the +same time both are wrong? First tell me what time is, and then maybe I +can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning?" + +I didn't and said so. + +"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over my +book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or +nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food nor +sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted +strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food, +and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you saw me you +naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. As a matter +of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no +such thing as time--surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar, +where there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why, the +Mahars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here +in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. There +seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it is +impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such a condition, but +our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence." + +It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to +enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening with +interest to my account of the adventures through which I had passed he +returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with +considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a +Sagoth. + +"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators +would speak with you." + +"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may be +nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel that I am +about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall never +return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you to promise +me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her that with my last +words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon +her, and that my one wish was to be spared long enough to right the +wrong that I had done her." + +Tears came to Perry's eyes. + +"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It would +be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without you +among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken away I +shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as I should +be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and +then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face in his +hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly by the shoulder and +hustled me from the chamber. + + + + +XI + +FOUR DEAD MAHARS + + +A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars--the social +investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a +Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed +particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the +strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I +thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence +for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered +returned to my quarters. + +During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium of +strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the head of +the tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officer +in charge of the Sagoth guard. + +"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits for +having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with the +ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them." + +"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally astonished. + +"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected any +one to believe so impossible a lie?" + +It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a low +level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many +Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers my +guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side wall. +There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a +victim even as I was ushered into the room. Several Mahars stood about +the poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another, +grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed fore foot, was laying open +the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered +and the shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. +This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out +upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think that +where there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that my +suffering was enduring for months before death finally released me! + +The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been +brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work that +I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me. +The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But those heavy +chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some means +of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay +a tiny surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. It +looked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point +was sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood days had I picked locks +with a button-hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished +steel I might yet effect at least a temporary escape. + +Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one hand as +far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted +instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being as I +would, I could not quite make it. + +At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. My +heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But suppose +that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove it +still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold sweat broke +out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort. +My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked it toward me +until I felt that it was within reach of my hand and a moment later I +had turned about and the precious thing was in my grasp. + +Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. It +was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment later +I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their work at the +table. One already turned away and was examining other victims, +evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject. + +Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature +walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thing +approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge slave chained +a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped and commenced to go +over the poor devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned toward +me for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps that +carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I +raced with all the speed I could command. + +Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought was +to place as much distance as possible between me and that frightful +chamber of torture. + +Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing the +danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, I +moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to a +passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and +presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the +corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins. +I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the same corridor +and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead so important a +role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me, +for the reptiles still slept. + +My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in search +of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, and so I +hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions of the +building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and these I +lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends and corners +fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. Thus disguised +I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where we had been wont +to eat and sleep. + +Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course they +had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by my +judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before +attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope +to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that +bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However +it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through the +crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, and so I set out +with Perry and Ghak--the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking +me. + +Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the main +floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await me. +The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. There is +nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The rooms are +sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape. +The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight. +The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes +similar to those by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers +of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. +The Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness. + +Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and slaves; +but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of the domestic +life of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from the +place into the avenue and this was well guarded by Sagoths--this +doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were not +supposed to enter the deeper corridors and apartments except on special +occasions when we were instructed to do so; but as we were considered a +lower order without intelligence there was little reason to fear that +we could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not hindered +as we entered the corridor which led below. + +Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and the +arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where I +left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and so I +withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of the +weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels. + +Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept I entered +silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without the +sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I disposed of +the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, so that before I +could kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the +third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. But +fighting is not the occupation which the race of Mahars loves, and when +the thing saw that I already had dispatched two of its companions, and +that my sword was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me. +But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it +scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels. + +Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability my +instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at my best +I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before me. + +Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, +and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of the +Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been occupied +with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put powders and +liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the +bench where it had been working. In an instant I realized what I had +stumbled upon. It was the very room for the finding of which Perry had +given me minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was +hidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench beside +the flasks lay the skin-bound book which held the only copy of the +thing I was to have sought, after dispatching the three Mahars in their +sleep. + +There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I now +stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew that they +would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to fight if fight +they must. Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ran +one of them through the heart on the instant, the other fastened its +gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then with her +sharp talons commenced to rake me about the body, evidently intent upon +disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I might +release my arm from that powerful, viselike grip which seemed to be +severing my arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it +only served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist. + +Back and forth across the floor we struggled--the Mahar dealing me +terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to +protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for an +opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand to its +rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with what seemed +to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through the ugly body +of my foe. + +Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain and +loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that I +stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up the most +potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it was the very +thing that Perry had described to me. + +And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race of +Pellucidar--did there flash through my mind the thought that countless +generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason to worship me +for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. I thought +of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid eyes, through a waving +mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God-made for +kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, standing there alone in +the secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized that I loved +Dian the Beautiful. + + + + +XII + +PURSUIT + + +For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a sigh, I +tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, and turned +to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which leads +aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the +prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak that I had +been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, and to my +surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them. + +"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The fellow +is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of our chance +now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you decide +whether he might accompany us." + +I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure that if +he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I saw no way out +of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of only +the three I had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow in +our scheme of escape. + +"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first +intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you +understand?" + +He said that he did. + +Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and so +succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed an +excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an +easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them along +the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining out +until the others had all been sewed in with my help, and then leaving +an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which he could pass +his hands to sew me up, we were enabled to accomplish our design to +really much better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the +heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same +means were enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We had +our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that problem was +finally solved, so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. +Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were +thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress. + +Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak headed +the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, while I +brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged my +sword that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into his +vitals were he to show any indication of faltering. + +As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busy +corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. It is +with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened--never before +in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearing +fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood, I +sweat it then. + +Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when +they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy +slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we reached +the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many +Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he padded +between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it was my turn, +and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warm +blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot of +the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, +for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's attention to it. + +The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke to +me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means of +communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not have +replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a great +Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my only +hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword so +that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the +gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing the +fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started +slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but before I touched +him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue. + +On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, +there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake +which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge +their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying the +cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, and free +from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great seas of +Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind. + +In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the +plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was +traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little gully +he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we were +alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly away from +Phutra. + +The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horrible +prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, and entering a +sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar skins that had +brought us thus far in safety. + +I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling +flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our +tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How we +barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of which +would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the +outer world. + +On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between +ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own +land--the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and yet we +were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were dogging our +tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their quarry until +they had captured it or themselves been turned back by a superior force. + +Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite +strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of +Sagoths. + +At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have been +years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the +foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked ever +quite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body of +men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. It was the +long-expected pursuit. + +I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them. + +"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move with +incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they are +doubtless much fresher than we. Then--" he paused, glancing at Perry. + +I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the +period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the +march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths +might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which +confronted us. + +"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it if we +are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no +reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be helped--we +have simply to face it." + +"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't +known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility of +character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now to +my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love. + +But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reach +his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force to drive +off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself. + +No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but he +suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the king's +danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja--the naked idea +was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which +we now had reached. + +Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the +old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew that +he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought of falling +into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, in +part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. While +the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel faster thus than +when half supporting the stumbling old man. + + + + +XIII + +THE SLY ONE + + +The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us +they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled up the +narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On +either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock, +while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and +noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we had had no +glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope that they had +lost our trail and that we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs +in time to scale them before we should be overtaken. + +Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the success +of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the outposts of the +Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen +as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor. +In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with +primeval warriors. But nothing of the kind happened--as a matter of +fact the Sly One had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to +see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back, the craven +traitor was sneaking around the outskirts of the nearest Sarian +village, that he might come up from the other side when it was too late +to save us, claiming that he had become lost among the mountains. + +Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had +struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to +sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me. + +As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians +appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the sound +of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called to me over +his shoulder that we were lost. + +A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at the +far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we had just +passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view; +but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind us was evidence +that the gorilla-man had sighted us. + +Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another +branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so that +appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. The +Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I +saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a +ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I +reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. + +Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak +and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, and as +the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I turned and +fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the entire +party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak +bore Perry to safety up the other. + +Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when my +very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I ran any +better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running had called +down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice +Wagon," and "Call a cab." + +The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, +fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had +become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed +a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could not even +guess--possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding +valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had plunged into a +cul-de-sac? + +Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the top +of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to check them +temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked +an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder. As I +fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the +gorilla-man. + +In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our +escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game by +means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed a fair +degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my +bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I +had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The +hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this, with the strength +and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwonted confidence in my +weapon. + +Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never were my +nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and +deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never before +seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull +intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine of +destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his +hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in which they +employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, even +under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous. + +My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered its sharp +point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then he launched his +hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that our missiles flew +I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his +attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet at it +grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's +savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my +feet--stone dead. Close behind him were two more--fifty yards +perhaps--but the distance gave me time to snatch up the dead +guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me +had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I had +purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along because their +size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars which +had brought us safely from the city. + +With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another +arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his fellow's +hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and fitted another +shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned +and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he had +seen enough of me for the moment. + +Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested I +reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or +three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a +narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along this +I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's +end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large +cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight about +another projecting buttress of the mountain. + +Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting him +until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About me lay +scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various +sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions for use as +ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones +into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of +the Sagoths. + +As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound +that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight noise from +within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might have +been produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising +from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant I thought +that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the +turn. For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided. + +And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes +glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet above +my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be standing +upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its +hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know +that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose dimensions +and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before. + +Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave, +and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl. I +waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing +which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud--I doubt if the +Sagoths heard it at all--but the suggestion of latent possibilities +behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a gigantic +and ferocious beast. + +As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave, +where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but an instant +later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily +advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. +As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after +him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other's +heels. At the same time the beast emerged from the cave, so that he +and the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge. + +The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully +eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the end +of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it sighted +the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth +charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man +turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing +companions. + +The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped +deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet +below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the +next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the mangled +corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast +even pause in his steady advance along the ledge. + +Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape +him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing the +demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I could hear +the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and +shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and +disappeared in the distance. + +Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen and +returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is called, +pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak +was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible +creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts. + +Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall prey +either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along the ledge, +believing that by following around the mountain I could reach the land +of Sari from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the +twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to +the land of Sari then, nor for a long time thereafter. + + + + +XIV + +THE GARDEN OF EDEN + + +With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused and +lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, in reality, +I did was to pass entirely through them and come out above the valley +upon the farther side. I know that I wandered for a long time, until +tired and hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone +formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back. + +The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side of a +lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely +formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make a +comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet +it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark interior. + +Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in the +rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient quantities +partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave +was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been +recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small, so that after +considerable effort I was able to lug up a bowlder from the valley +below which entirely blocked it. + +Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and on +this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the diminutive +horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of a fox terrier, +which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food and +bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to which +I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the +entrance and curled myself upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval, +cave man, as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors. + +I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled out +upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before me spread +a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a clear and +sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters of +which were just visible between the two mountain ranges which embraced +this little paradise. The sides of the opposite hills were green with +verdure, for a great forest clothed them to the foot of the red and +yellow and copper green of the towering crags which formed their +summit. The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, while +here and there patches of wild flowers made great splashes of vivid +color against the prevailing green. + +Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike +trees--three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood antelope, +while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully to a nearby +ford to drink. There were several species of this beautiful animal, +the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland of Africa, +except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward over +their ears and then forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and +formidable points some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In +size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, yet they are very +agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of +their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. All in +all they are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch to the +strange and lovely landscape that spread before my new home. + +I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as a +base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in search +of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass of +the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid the Great +Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder +before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled +down into the peaceful valley. + +The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the +little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to safest +distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, and after +moving to what they considered a safe distance stood contemplating me +with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull +antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and bellowed +angrily--even taking a few steps in my direction, so that I thought he +meant to charge; but after I had passed, he resumed feeding as though +nothing had disturbed him. + +Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the cliffs +upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I +desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along +which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet from the base I +came upon a projection which formed a natural path along the face of +the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end. + +Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up at +this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I climbed +carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by +the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings. + +And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the most +frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a giant +dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of earth +folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, while the +bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of fully +thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, and its +claw equipped with horrible talons. + +The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing +from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond and +below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood +terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I +saw the cause of the reptile's agitation. + +Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped +down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of +my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did +the end upon which I stood. + +And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break in +the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack--a girl cowering +upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as though to +shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her. + +The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its +prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which to +weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed +creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out to +all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other +sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation +in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet. + +Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of the +ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the +same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent +upon the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and +then rose above us once more. + +The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the end +had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when no cruel +fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. As they +fell upon me the expression that came into them would be difficult to +describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been one whit more +complicated than my own--for the wide eyes that looked into mine were +those of Dian the Beautiful. + +"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time." + +"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell +whether she were glad or angry that I had come. + +Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had +no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch up a +rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim was true, +and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and +soared away. + +Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the next attack, +and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I surprised her in a +surreptitious glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately, she +again covered her face with her hands. + +"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?" + +She looked straight into my eyes. + +"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair +hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she said, +and I turned again to meet the reptile. + +So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound of +the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. But this +time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I had selected +my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent the bow until the +very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand, and then +as the great creature darted toward us I let drive straight for that +tough breast. + +Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature +fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried +completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was looking +past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die. + +"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I have +found you?" + +"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less +vehemence in it than before--yet it might have been but my imagination. + +"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me. + +"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you since +Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?" + +At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it. + +"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. "After I +escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my own land; but +on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages or let any of my +friends know that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out. +By watching for a long time I found that my brother had not yet +returned, and so I continued to live in a cave beside a valley which my +race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he should come back and +free me from Jubal. + +"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward my +father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave the +alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me across many +lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you +and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man. I have gone as +far as I can go, and there is no escape," and she looked hopelessly up +at the continuation of the ledge twenty feet above us. + +"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. +"The sea is there"--she pointed over the edge of the cliff--"and the +sea shall have me rather than Jubal." + +"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other +have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift it +above her head and let it fall in token of release. + +She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes with +level gaze. + +"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would have +done this when the others were present to witness it--then I should +truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you do it, for +you know that without witnesses your act does not bind you to me," and +she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away. + +I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't +forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other occasion. + +"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove it," +she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your power, +and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of your +intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I +hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you again." + +Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact I +found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic of the +cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make some attempt +to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am +free to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable +and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I +first met her. He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and +killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who could +cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass of the sadok at +fifty paces. It was he who had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth +with a single blow of his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the +Ugly One-and it was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for +him; but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often +the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face. + +This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the way +she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the top of the +cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the edge of my own +little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means of ingress +from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the ledge I gave Dian minute +directions for finding my cave against the chance of something +happening to me. I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away +from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair, and the valley +would afford her ample means of sustenance. + +Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was sad +and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting that +something terrible might happen to me--that I might, in fact, be +killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I could +perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers, +and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of trouble so +easily as that. + +For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think that +I had twice protected her from attack--the last time risking my life to +save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age +could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her heart partook of +the qualities of her epoch. + +Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and +extended by the action of the water draining through it from the +plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, but +finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for several +miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland sea, +curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the blue of +the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the sea lapped +back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond the distant +mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny aspect of the seascapes +of Pellucidar balk description. + +At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was open +and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this direction +that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey when Dian +touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make +peace overtures; but I was mistaken. + +"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest. + +I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect whale +of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned +accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features. + +"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good start. +Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," and then, +without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had +hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me before she went, +for she must have known that I was going to my death for her sake; but +she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it was with a heavy +heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom. + +When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features I +understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly One. +Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire side of his +face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws +and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through the horrible scar. + +Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of his +handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this encounter +had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. However +this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now +that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at +the sight of Dian with another male, he was indeed most terrible to +see--and much more terrible to meet. + +He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his mighty +spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took as steady aim +as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that +the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves to such an +extent that my knees were anything but steady. What chance had I +against this mighty warrior for whom even the fiercest cave bear had no +terrors! Could I hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth +single-handed! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself, my fear was +more for Dian than for my own fate. + +And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, and I +raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. The +impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the missile +and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only +remaining weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife. He was +too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as he came, +without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of his thigh, +inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me. + +My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised arm, +and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's point in his +face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of it in the muscles +of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more warily. + +It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man maneuvering to get +inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to play, while +my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at arm's length. +Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield. +Each time my sword found his body--once penetrating to his lung. He +was covered with blood by this time, and the internal hemorrhage +induced paroxysms of coughing that brought the red stream through the +hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth. +He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead. + +As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be perfectly +candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of that monstrous +engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from +utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, and then +in his primitive mind there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps +at last he had met his master, and was facing his end. + +At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for his +next act, which was in the nature of a last resort--a sort of forlorn +hope, which could only have been born of the belief that if he did not +kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his +fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife, he +dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both his hands +wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as from a babe. + +Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant +glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to +almost unnerve me--then he sprang for me with his bare hands. But it +was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time he +had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had he beheld a +sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do with his bare +fists. + +As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his +outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon his jaw +as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of flesh +sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay +there for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, and I +stood over him with another dose ready when he should gain his knees. + +Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; but +he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the point of the jaw +that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I think Jubal +had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come back for more +as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled him over as fast as +he could stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the ground +between blows, and each time came up weaker than before. + +He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and +presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily to +the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once that +Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I looked upon +that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could +not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer of fearful +beasts--this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age. + +Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead body of +my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought and won a +great idea was born in my brain--the outcome of this and the suggestion +that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science +could render a comparative pygmy the master of this mighty brute, what +could not the brute's fellows accomplish with the same skill and +science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their feet--and I would be +their king and Dian their queen. + +Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within the +possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. She was +quite the most superior person I ever had met--with the most convincing +way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the +cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel +more kindly toward me, since I had freed her of her tormentor. I hoped +that she had found the cave easily--it would be terrible had I lost her +again, and I turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, +when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces behind me. + +"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had gone +to the cave, as I told you to do." + +Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty +out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor--if palaces +have janitors. + +"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I do as +I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I hate you." + +I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! I +turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from a worse +fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never +seemed to notice it at all. + +"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry." + +She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I was too +angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the lower orders. +I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly felt that at least a +word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own +standards, I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed the +redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter. + +We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into the +valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the steep +ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. +Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing +at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would cause +a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise I found +that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman of my +acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at +the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love. + +After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed our +hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to the +cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, curling +up, was soon asleep. + +When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across the +valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, but she +had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. Every time +I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that I nearly +choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not need any aid in +diagnosing my case--I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I +loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl! + +After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to her +tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, and said +that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother to be +considered--his oldest brother. + +"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or has +the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on down from +generation to generation?" + +She was not quite sure as to what I meant. + +"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for the +death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven terrible men. Someone +may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people." + +It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large for +me--about seven sizes, in fact. + +"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once. + +"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for +himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him--some have even +thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than +mate with the Ugly One." + +"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked. + +"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look of +pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid on a +little thicker than the circumstance warranted--as though to make quite +certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a +younger brother may not take a mate until all his older brothers have +done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, which Jubal +would not do, knowing that as long as he kept them single they would be +all the keener in aiding him to secure a mate." + +Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain +hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon what +slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered. + +"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of you +since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?" + +"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you see +fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get along very +well alone." + +I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even a +prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then +I arose. + +"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough of +your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode +majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps in +absolute silence, and then Dian spoke. + +"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, I thought. + +I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began to +realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, to +hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She might +hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as +she already had, until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact +remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave her there alone. + +The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time I +reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that I +turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come +down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but +I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her face on the pile +of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she heard me enter she +sprang to her feet like a tigress. + +"I hate you!" she cried. + +Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was rather +glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have read there. + +I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the cave and +grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put my arm around +her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, +but I took my free hand and pushed her head back--I imagine that I had +suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand million years, +and was again a veritable cave man taking my mate by force--and then I +kissed that beautiful mouth again and again. + +"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else in +this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love like +mine cannot be denied?" + +I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes became +accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling--a very contented, +happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently, +she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them +so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and stole about my neck, +and then she drew my lips down to hers once more and held them there +for a long time. At last she spoke. + +"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so long." + +"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!" + +"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you +before I knew that you loved me?" she asked. + +"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say what +you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me in your +arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's heart +understands. What a silly man you are, David?" + +"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked. + +"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment that I +saw you, although I did not know it until that time you struck down +Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me." + +"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your ways--I +doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have reviled me +so, and yet have cared for me all the time." + +"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from you +that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were battling +with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, and when I +learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a simple thing to +have eluded you and returned to my own people." + +"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, "how about them?" + +She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder. + +"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. "I must needs +have SOME excuse for remaining near you." + +"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this +anguish for nothing!" + +"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought that +you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come to you and +demand that my love be returned, as you have just come to me. Just now +when you went away hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, +miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done that +before since my mother died," and now I saw that there was the moisture +of tears about her eyes. It was near to making me cry myself when I +thought of all that poor child had been through. Motherless and +unprotected; hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous +brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless fearsome +denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its jungles--it was a +miracle that she had survived it all. + +To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must have +endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. It made +me very proud to think that I had won the love of such a woman. Of +course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured or +refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; but she was the +essence of all that is best in woman, for she was good, and brave, and +noble, and virtuous. And she was all these things in spite of the fact +that their observance entailed suffering and danger and possible death. + +How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the first +place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have been queen +in her own land--and it meant just as much to the cave woman to be a +queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen +now; it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, and if there +were only half-naked savages on the outer crust today, you'd find that +it would be considerable glory to be the wife a Dahomey chief. + +I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid young +woman I had known in New York--I mean splendid to look at and to talk +to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum of mine--a clean, +manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, disreputable old +debauchee because he was a count in some dinky little European +principality that was not even accorded a distinctive color by Rand +McNally. + +Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian. + +After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to see +Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told Dian about +our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was +fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only +return he could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak could +form an alliance. That would give us a flying start, for the Sarians +and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. Once they had been +armed with swords, and bows and arrows, and trained in their use we +were confident that they could overcome any tribe that seemed +disinclined to join the great army of federated states with which we +were planning to march upon the Mahars. + +I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry and I +could construct after a little experimentation--gunpowder, rifles, +cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms +about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was +beginning to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't done +anything but talk--but that is the way with women when they love. +Perry used to say that if a fellow was one-tenth as remarkable as his +wife or mother thought him, he would have the world by the tail with a +down-hill drag. + +The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous +vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on the +ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't +exercise, or it might prove fatal--if it had been a full-grown snake +that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a single pace from the +nest--I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent is the poison. As it was +I must have been laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of +herbs and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison. + +The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea which +added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles of offense +and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out +some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and having killed +them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon the tips of several +arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my +arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast crumpled in +death almost immediately after he was hit. + +We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with +feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful +Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we had +lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been there I +did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me +beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may have been an hour, or a month +of earthly time; I do not know. + + + + +XV + +BACK TO EARTH + + +We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and +finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away as +far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction it +stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that I was +within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods of +indicating direction--there is no north, no south, no east, no west. +UP is about the only direction which is well defined, and that, of +course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust. Since the sun neither rises +nor sets there is no method of indicating direction beyond visible +objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and seas. + +The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel Az +upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about as near to +any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not to have +heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountains of the +Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, and long for the good +old understandable northeast and southwest of the outer world. + +We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous +animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they that we +could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, but as they +came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a +hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top of very long +necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground. +The beasts moved very slowly--that is their action was slow--but their +strides covered such a great distance that in reality they traveled +considerably faster than a man walks. + +As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each sat +a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never before +had seen one. + +"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria +lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians +alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere else +than beside the dark country are they found." + +"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked. + +"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; "the +Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar above the +Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes the great +shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar." + +I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do yet, +for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which the Dead +World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar--a +tiny planet within a planet--and that it revolves around the earth's +axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is always above the same +spot within Pellucidar. + +I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about this +Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the hitherto +inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes. + +When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that one +was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his two hands, +palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, when +he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and slipping from +his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, throwing his arms about her. + +In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; since +Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was David, her +mate. + +"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to me. + +It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none to his +liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to the land of +the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this very lovely +Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people. + +When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany +us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative to +an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed +annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I. + +After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we came to +the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between one and two +hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great cliff. Here to +our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was +quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since given me up as dead. + +When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to say, +but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I could not +have done better. + +Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a +council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the +eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the +various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was to +be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I should be the +first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar. + +We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and poison +pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus, and +it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned the swords under +Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another +until representatives from nations so far distant that the Sarians had +never even heard of them came in to take the oath of allegiance which +we required, and to learn the art of making the new weapons and using +them. + +We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the +federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before +the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when three +of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. +They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly developed +a power which rendered them really formidable. + +In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians took a +number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had been +members of the guards within the building where we had been confined at +Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with rage when they +discovered what had taken place in the cellars of the buildings. The +Sagoths knew that something very terrible had befallen their masters, +but the Mahars had been most careful to see that no inkling of the true +nature of their vital affliction reached beyond their own race. How +long it would take for the race to become extinct it was impossible +even to guess; but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable. + +The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one of +us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the direst +punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could not +understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though their +purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great Secret, +and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them. + +Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning +of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped--there was a +whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were both +assured that the solution of these problems would advance the cause of +civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. +Then there were various other arts and sciences which we wished to +introduce, but our combined knowledge of them did not embrace the +mechanical details which alone could render them of commercial, or +practical value. + +"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce +gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the outer +world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have all the +labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has been +produced above--what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back and get that +knowledge in the shape of books--then this world will indeed be at our +feet." + +And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, which +still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we had first +penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would not listen to +any arrangement for my going which did not include her, and I was not +sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my +world, and I wanted my world to see her. + +With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which +Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back toward +the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. He +replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. At +last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our +pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all +times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths and +Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra. + +Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the first +clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of +Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning of +a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first emperor +of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my right, to be +in the thick of that momentous struggle. + +As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars with +the Sagoth troops--an indication of the vast importance which the +dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for it was not +customary with them to take active part in the sorties which their +creatures made for slaves--the only form of warfare which they waged +upon the lower orders. + +Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the +prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of our +battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. +Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head +men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and I let +them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave the word to +fire. + +At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the +gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over the +prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon us +with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, and +then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line to +engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the Sagoths +were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, who turned the +spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped to close quarters +with their lighter, handier weapons. + +Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the swordsmen +engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into their +unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and were more +in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of them would fasten +its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian. + +The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our men +in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already so +demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued them for +some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred +slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One. + +He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own land; +but that his life had been spared in hope that through him the Mahars +would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak and I were +inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding this expedition to +the land of Sari, where he thought that the book might be found in +Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this and so we took him in +and treated him as one of us, although none liked him. And how he +rewarded my generosity you will presently learn. + +There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful were +our own people of them that they would not approach them unless +completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece of skin. +Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the evil effects of +exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though I laughed at her fears +I was willing enough to humor them if it would relieve her apprehension +in any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector, near which the +Mahars had been chained, while Perry and I again inspected every +portion of the mechanism. + +At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of the +men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite close to +the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, without my +knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the +fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there were others in the +plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, since all my people were +loyal to me and would have made short work of Hooja had he suggested +the heartless scheme, even had he had time to acquaint another with it. +It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that it was the +result of sudden impulse, aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous +circumstances occurring at precisely the right moment. + +All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, +still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion +which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into camp. +He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all ready to get +under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had grasped my hand in +the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the outer and inner +doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulled the +starting lever. + +As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial of +the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us--the giant +frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the loose +earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner and outer +jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing was off. + +But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by the +sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize what had +happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just before entering the +crust the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, +and that instead of entering the ground vertically we were plunging +into it at a different angle. Where it would bring us out upon the +upper crust I could not even conjecture. And then I turned to note the +effect of this strange experience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in +the great skin. + +"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar +eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion skin +from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror. + +The thing beneath the skin was not Dian--it was a hideous Mahar. +Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and the +purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would +be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effort +to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as on that other +occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair. + +It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. +It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from the +outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we had entered +the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me out +here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States as I +had hoped. + +For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I dared +not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to find it +again--the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover it, and then +my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone +forever. + +That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for how +may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate--and how, without a north or south or an east or a west may I +hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny spot where +my lost love lies grieving for me? + + +That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me out +to see the prospector--it was precisely as he had described it. So +huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible part +of the world by no means of transportation that existed there--it could +only have come in the way that David Innes said it came--up through the +crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar. + +I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned +directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a great +quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar with him. +There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, chemicals, +telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more books--books +upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted a library with +which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth century in the +Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got it for him. + +I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to the +end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America upon +important business. However, I was able to employ a very trustworthy +man to take charge of the caravan--the same guide, in fact, who had +accompanied me on the previous trip into the Sahara--and after writing +a long letter to Innes in which I gave him my American address, I saw +the expedition head south. + +Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred +miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had it packed +on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea that he could +fasten one end here before he left and by paying it out through the end +of the prospector lay a telegraph line between the outer and inner +worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to mark the terminus of the +line very plainly with a high cairn, in case I was not able to reach +him before he set out, so that I might easily find and communicate with +him should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. + +I received several letters from him after I returned to America--in +fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop me +word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before he +intended to depart. Here it is. + + My Dear Friend: + + Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is + if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I + don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my + life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they + intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should + anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to + depart. + + However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour + approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear. + + Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, + so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me. + + The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the + south--he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he + doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again. + + Yours, + David Innes. + + +A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed for +the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was when I +discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks of my return, +nor could I find any member of my former party who could lead me to the +same spot. + +For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had heard +of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes scanned the +blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find +the wires leading to Pellucidar--but always was I unsuccessful. + +And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David +Innes and his strange adventures. + +Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? +Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner +world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of +the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to +break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, or among +some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's desire? + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at +the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder. + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's At the Earth's Core, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AT THE EARTH'S CORE *** + +***** This file should be named 545.txt or 545.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/545/ + +Produced by Judith Boss. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +In the first place please bear in mind that I do not +expect you to believe this story. Nor could you wonder +had you witnessed a recent experience of mine when, +in the armor of blissful and stupendous ignorance, +I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London. + +You would surely have thought that I had been detected +in no less a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown +Jewels from the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee +of His Majesty the King. + +The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed +before I was half through!--it is all that saved him +from exploding--and my dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, +gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of Fame faded into +the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere. + +But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would +the learned Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you +and he heard it from the lips of the man who told it to me. +Had you seen, as I did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; +had you felt the ring of sincerity in that quiet voice; +had you realized the pathos of it all--you, too, would believe. +You would not have needed the final ocular proof that I +had--the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he +had brought back with him from the inner world. + +I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing +before a goat-skin tent amidst a clump of date palms within +a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab douar of some eight +or ten tents. + +I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party +consisted of a dozen children of the desert--I was the only +"white" man. As we approached the little clump of verdure +I saw the man come from his tent and with hand-shaded eyes +peer intently at us. At sight of me he advanced rapidly +to meet us. + +"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I +have been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that +THIS time there would be a white man. Tell me the date. +What year is it?" + +And when I had told him he staggered as though he had +been struck full in the face, so that he was compelled +to grasp my stirrup leather for support. + +"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! +Tell me that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking." + +"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. +"Why should I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so +simple a matter as the date?" + +For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head. + +"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I +thought that at the most it could be scarce more than one!" +That night he told me his story--the story that I give you +here as nearly in his own words as I can recall them. + + + + +I + +TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES + + +I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. +My name is David Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. +When I was nineteen he died. All his property was to be +mine when I had attained my majority--provided that I +had devoted the two years intervening in close application +to the great business I was to inherit. + +I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent-- +not because of the inheritance, but because I loved +and honored my father. For six months I toiled in the +mines and in the counting-rooms, for I wished to know +every minute detail of the business. + +Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old +fellow who had devoted the better part of a long life +to the perfection of a mechanical subterranean prospector. +As relaxation he studied paleontology. I looked over +his plans, listened to his arguments, inspected his working +model--and then, convinced, I advanced the funds necessary +to construct a full-sized, practical prospector. + +I shall not go into the details of its construction--it lies +out there in the desert now--about two miles from here. +Tomorrow you may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is +a steel cylinder a hundred feet long, and jointed so that +it may turn and twist through solid rock if need be. +At one end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an +engine which Perry said generated more power to the cubic +inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. +I remember that he used to claim that that invention +alone would make us fabulously wealthy--we were going +to make the whole thing public after the successful issue +of our first secret trial--but Perry never returned +from that trial trip, and I only after ten years. + +I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous +occasion upon which we were to test the practicality +of that wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we +repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry had constructed +his "iron mole" as he was wont to call the thing. +The great nose rested upon the bare earth of the floor. +We passed through the doors into the outer jacket, +secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, +which contained the controlling mechanism within the +inner tube, switched on the electric lights. + +Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held +the life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture +fresh air to replace that which we consumed in breathing; +to his instruments for recording temperatures, speed, distance, +and for examining the materials through which we were to pass. + +He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty +cogs which transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant +drill at the nose of his strange craft. + +Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged +upon transverse bars that we would be upright whether +the craft were ploughing her way downward into the bowels +of the earth, or running horizontally along some great +seam of coal, or rising vertically toward the surface again. + +At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. +For a moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand +grasped the starting lever. There was a frightful roaring +beneath us--the giant frame trembled and vibrated--there +was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up through +the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets +to be deposited in our wake. We were off! + +The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. +For a full minute neither of us could do aught but cling +with the proverbial desperation of the drowning man to +the handrails of our swinging seats. Then Perry glanced +at the thermometer. + +"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does +the distance meter read?" + +That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, +and as I turned to take a reading from the former I could +see Perry muttering. + +"Ten degrees rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I +saw him tug frantically upon the steering wheel. + +As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I +translated Perry's evident excitement, and my heart +sank within me. But when I spoke I hid the fear which +haunted me. "It will be seven hundred feet, Perry," I said, +"by the time you can turn her into the horizontal." + +"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, +"for I cannot budge her out of the vertical alone. +God give that our combined strength may be equal to the task, +for else we are lost." + +I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt +but that the great wheel would yield on the instant +to the power of my young and vigorous muscles. Nor was +my belief mere vanity, for always had my physique been +the envy and despair of my fellows. And for that very +reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, +since my natural pride in my great strength had led me +to care for and develop my body and my muscles by every +means within my power. What with boxing, football, +and baseball, I had been in training since childhood. + +And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold +of the huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my +strength into it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's +had been--the thing would not budge--the grim, insensate, +horrible thing that was holding us upon the straight +road to death! + +At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word +returned to my seat. There was no need for words--at least +none that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. +And I was quite sure that he would, for he never left an +opportunity neglected where he might sandwich in a prayer. +He prayed when he arose in the morning, he prayed +before he ate, he prayed when he had finished eating, +and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. +In between he often found excuses to pray even when the +provocation seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes--now +that he was about to die I felt positive that I should +witness a perfect orgy of prayer--if one may allude +with such a simile to so solemn an act. + +But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring +him in the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. +From his lips there flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid +stream of undiluted profanity, and it was all directed +at that quietly stubborn piece of unyielding mechanism. + +"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your +professed religiousness would rather be at his prayers +than cursing in the presence of imminent death." + +"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? +That is nothing by comparison with the loss the world +must suffer. Why, David within this iron cylinder we have +demonstrated possibilities that science has scarce dreamed. +We have harnessed a new principle, and with it animated +a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand men. +That two lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world +calamity that entombs in the bowels of the earth the +discoveries that I have made and proved in the successful +construction of the thing that is now carrying us farther +and farther toward the eternal central fires." + +I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more +concerned with our own immediate future than with any +problematic loss which the world might be about to suffer. +The world was at least ignorant of its bereavement, +while to me it was a real and terrible actuality. + +"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath +the mask of a low and level voice. + +"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere +tanks are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue +on with the slight hope that we may later sufficiently +deflect the prospector from the vertical to carry us along +the arc of a great circle which must eventually return us +to the surface. If we succeed in so doing before we reach +the higher internal temperature we may even yet survive. +There would seem to me to be about one chance in several +million that we shall succeed--otherwise we shall die +more quickly but no more surely than as though we sat +supinely waiting for the torture of a slow and horrible death." + +I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. +While we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way +over a mile into the rock of the earth's crust. + +"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon +be over at this rate. You never intimated that the speed +of this thing would be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?" + +"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, +for I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power +of my generator. I reasoned, however, that we should make +about five hundred yards an hour." + +"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded +for him, as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. +"How thick is the Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked. + +"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there +are geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it +thirty miles, because the internal heat, increasing at +the rate of about one degree to each sixty to seventy +feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the most refractory +substances at that distance beneath the surface. +Another finds that the phenomena of precession and +nutation require that the earth, if not entirely solid, +must at least have a shell not less than eight hundred +to a thousand miles in thickness. So there you are. +You may take your choice." + +"And if it should prove solid?" I asked. + +"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," +replied Perry. "At the best our fuel will suffice to carry +us but three or four days, while our atmosphere cannot +last to exceed three. Neither, then, is sufficient to bear +us in the safety through eight thousand miles of rock to +the antipodes." + +"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come +to a final stop between six and seven hundred miles +beneath the earth's surface; but during the last hundred +and fifty miles of our journey we shall be corpses. +Am I correct?" I asked. + +"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?" + +"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce +believe that either of us realizes the real terrors of +our position. I feel that I should be reduced to panic; +but yet I am not. I imagine that the shock has been +so great as to partially stun our sensibilities." + +Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was +rising with less rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, +although we had penetrated to a depth of nearly four miles. +I told Perry, and he smiled. + +"We have shattered one theory at least," was his +only comment, and then he returned to his self-assumed +occupation of fluently cursing the steering wheel. +I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts would +have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's +masterful and scientific imprecations. + +Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might +as well have essayed to swing the earth itself. At my +suggestion Perry stopped the generator, and as we came +to rest I again threw all my strength into a supreme effort +to move the thing even a hair's breadth--but the results +were as barren as when we had been traveling at top speed. + +I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. +Perry pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging +downward toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. +I sat with my eyes glued to the thermometer and the +distance meter. The mercury was rising very slowly now, +though even at 145 degrees it was almost unbearable within +the narrow confines of our metal prison. + +About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this +unfortunate journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four +miles, at which point the mercury registered 153 degrees F. + +Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager +food he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. +From cursing he had turned to singing--I felt that the +strain had at last affected his mind. For several hours +we had not spoken except as he asked me for the readings +of the instruments from time to time, and I announced them. +My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I recalled +numerous acts of my past life which I should have been glad +to have had a few more years to live down. There was the +affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I +had put gunpowder in the stove--and nearly killed one of +the masters. And then--but what was the use, I was about +to die and atone for all these things and several more. +Already the heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste +of the hereafter. A few more degrees and I felt that I +should lose consciousness. + +"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke +in upon my somber reflections. + +"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied. + +"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory +into a cocked hat!" he cried gleefully. + +"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back. + +"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading +mean anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. +Think of it, son!" + +"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference +will it make when our air supply is exhausted whether +the temperature is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just +as dead, and no one will know the difference, anyhow." +But I must admit that for some unaccountable reason +the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. +What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did +I try. The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, +of the blasting of several very exact and learned +scientific hypotheses made it apparent that we could not +know what lay before us within the bowels of the earth, +and so we might continue to hope for the best, at least +until we were dead--when hope would no longer be essential +to our happiness. It was very good, and logical reasoning, +and so I embraced it. + +At one hundred miles the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 +DEGREES! When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me. + +From then on until noon of the second day, it continued +to drop until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had +been unbearably hot before. At the depth of two hundred +and forty miles our nostrils were assailed by almost +overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperature had dropped +to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly two hours of this +intense and bitter cold, until at about two hundred +and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we +entered a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly +rose to 32 degrees. During the next three hours we +passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging +into another series of ammonia-impregnated strata, +where the mercury again fell to ten degrees below zero. + +Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at +last we were nearing the molten interior of the earth. +At four hundred miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. +Feverishly I watched the thermometer. Slowly it rose. +Perry had ceased singing and was at last praying. + +Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually +increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations +much greater than it really was. For another hour I +saw that pitiless column of mercury rise and rise until +at four hundred and ten miles it stood at 153 degrees. +Now it was that we began to hang upon those readings +in almost breathless anxiety. + +One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum +temperature above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this +point again, or would it continue its merciless climb? We +knew that there was no hope, and yet with the persistence +of life itself we continued to hope against practical certainty. + +Already the air tanks were at low ebb--there was barely +enough of the precious gases to sustain us for another +twelve hours. But would we be alive to know or care? +It seemed incredible. + +At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading. + +"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's +going down! She's 152 degrees again." + +"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth +be cold at the center?" + +"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, +if I am to die it shall not be by fire--that is all that I +have feared. I can face the thought of any death but that." + +Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it +had seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then +of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was +very near. Perry was the first to discover it. I saw him +fussing with the valves that regulate the air supply. +And at the same time I experienced difficulty in breathing. +My head felt dizzy--my limbs heavy. + +I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake +and sat erect again. Then he turned toward me. + +"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," +and then he smiled and closed his eyes. + +"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, +smiling back at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. +I was very young--I did not want to die. + +For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping +death that surrounded me upon all sides. At first I +found that by climbing high into the framework above me +I could find more of the precious life-giving elements, +and for a while these sustained me. It must have been +an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came +to the realization that I could no longer carry on this +unequal struggle against the inevitable. + +With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned +mechanically toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly +five hundred miles from the earth's surface--and then +of a sudden the huge thing that bore us came to a stop. +The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket ceased. +The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it +was running loose in AIR--and then another truth flashed +upon me. The point of the prospector was ABOVE us. +Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the ice +strata it had been above. We had turned in the ice +and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We +were safe! + +I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were +to have been taken during the passage of the prospector +through the earth, and my fondest hopes were realized--a +flood of fresh air was pouring into the iron cabin. +The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I +lost consciousness. + + + +II + +A STRANGE WORLD + + +I was unconscious little more than an instant, +for as I lunged forward from the crossbeam to which I +had been clinging, and fell with a crash to the floor +of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself. + +My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought +that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. +Tearing open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. +I could have cried with relief--his heart was beating +quite regularly. + +At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it +smartly across his forehead and face several times. +In a moment I was rewarded by the raising of his lids. +For a time he lay wide-eyed and quite uncomprehending. +Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he sat +up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon +his face. + +"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. +Why--why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? +What has happened?" + +"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. +Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!" + +"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can +that be? How long have I been unconscious?" + +"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. +Don't you recall the sudden whirling of our seats? +After that the drill was above you instead of below. +We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall it now." + +"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, +David? That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn +unless its nose is deflected from the outside--by some +external force or resistance--the steering wheel within +would have moved in response. The steering wheel has +not budged, David, since we started. You know that." + +I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in +pure air, and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. + +"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know +as well as you," I replied; "but the fact remains +that we did, for here we are this minute at the surface +of the earth again, and I am going out to see just where." + +"Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now." + +I glanced at the chronometer. + +"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, +so it must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have +a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope +of ever seeing again," and so saying I lifted the bars +from the inner door, and swung it open. There was quite +a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I +had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door +in the outer shell. + +In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock +to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. +Perry was directly behind me as I threw it open. +The upper half was above the surface of the ground. +With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at +Perry--it was broad daylight without! + +"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our +calculations or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook +his head--there was a strange expression in his eyes. + +"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried. + +Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation +of a landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us +a low and level shore stretched down to a silent sea. +As far as the eye could reach the surface of the water +was dotted with countless tiny isles--some of towering, +barren, granitic rock--others resplendent in gorgeous +trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with +the magnificent splendor of vivid blooms. + +Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant +arborescent ferns intermingled with the commoner types +of a primeval tropical forest. Huge creepers depended +in great loops from tree to tree, dense under-brush +overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches. +Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid +coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, +but within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy +as the grave. + +And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays +out of a cloudless sky. + +"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry. + +For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood +with bowed head, buried in deep thought. But at last +he spoke. + +"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth." + +"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we +are dead, and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, +pointing to the nose of the prospector protruding from +the ground at our backs. + +"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed +come to the country beyond the Styx. The prospector +renders that theory untenable--it, certainly, could never +have gone to heaven. However I am willing to concede +that we actually may be in another world from that +which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, +there is every reason to believe that we may be IN it." + +"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come +out upon some tropical island of the West Indies," +I suggested. Again Perry shook his head. + +"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the +meantime suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down +the coast--we may find a native who can enlighten us." + +As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and +earnestly across the water. Evidently he was wrestling +with a mighty problem. + +"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything +unusual about the horizon?" + +As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the +strangeness of the landscape that had haunted me from +the first with an illusive suggestion of the bizarre +and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As far as the eye +could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom +floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced +to mere specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, +until the impression became quite real that one was +LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes +could fathom--the distance was lost in the distance. +That was all--there was no clear-cut horizontal +line marking the dip of the globe below the line of vision. + +"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, +taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially +solved the riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged +from the prospector the sun was directly above us. +Where is it now?" + +I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless +in the center of the heaven. And such a sun! I had +scarcely noticed it before. Fully thrice the size of +the sun I had known throughout my life, and apparently +so near that the sight of it carried the conviction +that one might almost reach up and touch it. + +"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing +is beginning to get on my nerves." + +"I think that I may state quite positively, David," +he commenced, "that we are--" but he got no further. +From behind us in the vicinity of the prospector there +came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever +had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned +to discover the author of that fearsome noise. + +Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the +sight that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. +Emerging from the forest was a colossal beast which closely +resembled a bear. It was fully as large as the largest +elephant and with great forepaws armed with huge claws. +Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its +lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. +The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair. + +Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, +shuffling trot. I turned to Perry to suggest that it +might be wise to seek other surroundings--the idea had +evidently occurred to Perry previously, for he was already +a hundred paces away, and with each second his prodigious +bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed +what latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed. + +I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the +forest which ran out toward the sea not far from where we +had been standing, and as the mighty creature, the sight +of which had galvanized him into such remarkable action, +was forging steadily toward me. I set off after Perry, +though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident +that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, +so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees +sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety +of some great branch before it came up. + +Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at +Perry's frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety +of the lower branches of the trees he now had reached. +The stems were bare for a distance of some fifteen feet--at +least on those trees which Perry attempted to ascend, +for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of +the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. +A dozen times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat +only to fall back to the ground once more, and with each +failure he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at +the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken +shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest. + +At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness +of one's wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing +madly up it, hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest +branch of the tree from which the creeper depended when +the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell sprawling +at my feet. + +The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast +was already too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry +by the shoulder I dragged him to his feet, and rushing +to a smaller tree--one that he could easily encircle with +his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up as I could, +and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my +shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me. + +It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. +Its enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet +to cope with the agility of my young muscles, and so I was +enabled to dodge out of its way and run completely behind +it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit. + +The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me +safely lodged in the branches of a tree a few paces +from that in which Perry had at last found a haven. + +Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were +quite safe, and so did Perry. He was praying--raising +his voice in thanksgiving at our deliverance--and had +just completed a sort of paeon of gratitude that the thing +couldn't climb a tree when without warning it reared up +beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and reached +those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon +which he crouched. + +The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's +scream of fright, and he came near tumbling headlong +into the gaping jaws beneath him, so precipitate was +his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb. +It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain +a higher branch in safety. + +And then the brute did that which froze us both anew +with horror. Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful +paws he dragged down with all the great weight of his +huge bulk and all the irresistible force of those +mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to +bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward +as the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. +Perry clung chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and +higher into the bending and swaying tree he clambered. +More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward +the ground. + +I saw now why the great brute was armed with such +enormous paws. The use that he was putting them to was +precisely that for which nature had intended them. +The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, and to feed that mighty +carcass entire trees must be stripped of their foliage. +The reason for its attacking us might easily be accounted +for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as that +which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. +But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too +frantic with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught +other than a means to save him from the death that loomed so close. + +Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in +the open, I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on +distracting the thing's attention from Perry long enough +to enable the old man to gain the safety of a larger tree. +There were many close by which not even the terrific +strength of that titanic monster could bend. + +As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from +the tangled mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the +forest and, leaping unnoticed behind the shaggy back, +dealt the brute a terrific blow. My plan worked like magic. +From the previous slowness of the beast I had been led +to look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed. +Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours +and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a +force that would have broken every bone in my body had it +struck me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the +very instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back. + +As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running +along the edge of the forest rather than making for the +open beach. In a moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, +and the awful thing behind me was gaining rapidly +as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate myself. + +A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing +upon it I leaped to another a few paces farther on, +and in this way was able to keep clear of the mush that +carpeted the surrounding ground. But the zigzag course +that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap +upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me. + +Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, +piercing barks--much the sound that a pack of wolves +raises when in full cry. Involuntarily I glanced +backward to discover the origin of this new and menacing +note with the result that I missed my footing and went +sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck. + +My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I +must feel the weight of one of his terrible paws before I +could rise, but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. +The howling and snapping and barking of the new element +which had been infused into the melee now seemed centered +quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon my hands +and glanced around I saw what it was that had distracted +the DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the thing is called, +from my trail. + +It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like +creatures--wild dogs they seemed--that rushed growling +and snapping in upon it from all sides, so that they sank +their white fangs into the slow brute and were away again +before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping tail. + +But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. +Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of +the trees came a company of manlike creatures evidently +urging on the dog pack. They were to all appearances +strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa. +Their skins were very black, and their features much +like those of the more pronounced Negroid type except +that the head receded more rapidly above the eyes, +leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were rather +longer and their legs shorter in proportion to the torso +than in man, and later I noticed that their great toes +protruded at right angles from their feet--because of their +arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them trailed long, +slender tails which they used in climbing quite as much as +they did either their hands or feet. + +I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered +that the wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. +At sight of me several of the savage creatures left off +worrying the great brute to come slinking with bared fangs +toward me, and as I turned to run toward the trees again +to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw a number +of the man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage +of the nearest tree. + +Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, +but at least there was a doubt as to the reception +these grotesque parodies on humanity would accord me, +while there was none as to the fate which awaited me +beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce pursuers. + +And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass +beneath that which held the man-things and take refuge +in another farther on; but the wolf-dogs were very close +behind me--so close that I had despaired of escaping them, +when one of the creatures in the tree above swung +down headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, +and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up +among his fellows. + +There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement +and curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, +and my flesh. They turned me about to see if I had a tail, +and when they discovered that I was not so equipped they +fell into roars of laughter. Their teeth were very large +and white and even, except for the upper canines which were +a trifle longer than the others--protruding just a bit +when the mouth was closed. + +When they had examined me for a few moments one of them +discovered that my clothing was not a part of me, with the +result that garment by garment they tore it from me amidst +peals of the wildest laughter. Apelike, they essayed +to don the apparel themselves, but their ingenuity +was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up. + +In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch +a glimpse of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, +although the clump of trees in which he had first taken +refuge was in full view. I was much exercised by fear +that something had befallen him, and though I called his +name aloud several times there was no response. + +Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures +threw it to the ground, and catching me, one on either side, +by an arm, started off at a most terrifying pace through +the tree tops. Never have I experienced such a journey +before or since--even now I oftentimes awake from a deep +sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience. + +From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying +squirrels, while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I +glimpsed the depths beneath, into which a single misstep +on the part of either of my bearers would hurl me. +As they bore me along, my mind was occupied with a thousand +bewildering thoughts. What had become of Perry? Would +I ever see him again? What were the intentions of these +half-human things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they +inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? +No! It could not be. But yet where else? I had not left +that earth--of that I was sure. Still neither could I +reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief that +I was still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up. + + + +III + +A CHANGE OF MASTERS + + +We must have traveled several miles through the dark +and dismal wood when we came suddenly upon a dense +village built high among the branches of the trees. +As we approached it my escort broke into wild shouting +which was immediately answered from within, and a moment +later a swarm of creatures of the same strange race +as those who had captured me poured out to meet us. +Again I was the center of a wildly chattering horde. +I was pulled this way and that. Pinched, pounded, +and thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not +think that their treatment was dictated by either cruelty +or malice--I was a curiosity, a freak, a new plaything, +and their childish minds required the added evidence of all +their senses to back up the testimony of their eyes. + +Presently they dragged me within the village, +which consisted of several hundred rude shelters +of boughs and leaves supported upon the branches of the trees. + +Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, +were dead branches and the trunks of small trees which connected +the huts upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; +the whole network of huts and pathways forming an almost +solid flooring a good fifty feet above the ground. + +I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting +bridges between the trees, but later when I saw the motley +aggregation of half-savage beasts which they kept within +their village I realized the necessity for the pathways. +There were a number of the same vicious wolf-dogs +which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike +animals whose distended udders explained the reasons +for their presence. + +My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; +then two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance--to +prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have +escaped to I certainly had not the remotest conception. +I had no more than entered the dark shadows of the interior +than there fell upon my ears the tones of a familiar voice, +in prayer. + +"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you +are safe." + +"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old +man stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me. + +He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been +seized by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through +the tree tops to their village. His captors had been +as inquisitive as to his strange clothing as had mine, +with the same result. As we looked at each other we +could not help but laugh. + +"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make +a very handsome ape." + +"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem +to be quite the thing this season. I wonder what the +creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They don't seem +really savage. What do you suppose they can be? You +were about to tell me where we are when that great hairy +frigate bore down upon us--have you really any idea at all?" + +"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. +We have made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have +proved that the earth is hollow. We have passed entirely +through its crust to the inner world." + +"Perry, you are mad!" + +"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our +prospector bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. +At that point it reached the center of gravity of the +five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up to that point we had been +descending--direction is, of course, merely relative. +Then at the moment that our seats revolved--the thing +that made you believe that we had turned about and were +speeding upward--we passed the center of gravity and, +though we did not alter the direction of our progress, +yet we were in reality moving upward--toward the surface +of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora +which we have seen convince you that you are not in the +world of your birth? And the horizon--could it present +the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were +indeed standing upon the inside surface of a sphere?" + +"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can +the sun shine through five hundred miles of solid crust?" + +"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. +It is another sun--an entirely different sun--that +casts its eternal noonday effulgence upon the face +of the inner world. Look at it now, David--if you can +see it from the doorway of this hut--and you will see +that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. +We have been here for many hours--yet it is still noon. + +"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once +a nebulous mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. +At length a thin crust of solid matter formed upon +its outer surface--a sort of shell; but within it was +partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. +As it continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal +force burled the particles of the nebulous center toward +the crust as rapidly as they approached a solid state. +You have seen the same principle practically applied +in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only +a small super-heated core of gaseous matter remaining +within a huge vacant interior left by the contraction +of the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the solid +crust from all directions maintained this luminous core +in the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains +of it is the sun you saw today--a relatively tiny thing +at the exact center of the earth. Equally to every part +of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday light +and torrid heat. + +"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to +support animal life long ages after life appeared upon +the outer crust, but that the same agencies were at work +here is evident from the similar forms of both animal +and vegetable creation which we have already seen. +Take the great beast which attacked us, for example. +Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the +post-Pliocene period of the outer crust, whose fossilized +skeleton has been found in South America." + +"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. +"Surely they have no counterpart in the earth's history." + +"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the +link between ape and man, all traces of which have been +swallowed by the countless convulsions which have racked +the outer crust, or they may be merely the result of evolution +along slightly different lines--either is quite possible." + +Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance +of several of our captors before the entrance of the hut. +Two of them entered and dragged us forth. The perilous +pathways and the surrounding trees were filled with +the black ape-men, their females, and their young. +There was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among +the lot. + +"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry. + +"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," +I replied. "Now what do you suppose they intend doing +with us?" + +We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our +trip to the village we were seized by a couple of the +powerful creatures and whirled away through the tree tops, +while about us and in our wake raced a chattering, +jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black ape-things. + +Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased +beating as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled +deadwood beneath. But on both occasions those lithe, +powerful tails reached out and found sustaining branches, +nor did either of the creatures loosen their grasp upon me. +In fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater +moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's toe +at a street crossing in the outer world--they but laughed +uproariously and sped on with me. + +For some time they continued through the forest--how long +I could not guess for I was learning, what was later +borne very forcefully to my mind, that time ceases to be +a factor the moment means for measuring it cease to exist. +Our watches were gone, and we were living beneath a +stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute the period +of time which had elapsed since we broke through the crust +of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be +days--who in the world could tell where it was always +noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed--but my judgment +told me that we must have been several hours in this +strange world. + +Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon +a level plain. A short distance before us rose a few low, +rocky hills. Toward these our captors urged us, and after +a short time led us through a narrow pass into a tiny, +circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we +were soon convinced that if we were not to die to make +a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other purpose. +The attitude of our captors altered immediately as they +entered the natural arena within the rocky hills. +Their laughter ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial +faces--bared fangs menaced us. + +We were placed in the center of the amphitheater--the +thousand creatures forming a great ring about us. +Then a wolf-dog was brought--hyaenadon Perry called it--and +turned loose with us inside the circle. The thing's +body was as large as that of a full-grown mastiff, +its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad +and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and sides, +while its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk +toward us it presented a most formidable aspect with its +upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs. + +Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked +up a small stone. At my movement the beast veered off +a bit and commenced circling us. Evidently it had been +a target for stones before. The ape-things were dancing +up and down urging the brute on with savage cries, +until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged us. + +At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning +ball teams. My speed and control must both have been +above the ordinary, for I made such a record during +my senior year at college that overtures were made +to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; +but in the tightest pitch that ever had confronted me +in the past I had never been in such need for control +as now. + +As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles +under absolute command, though the grinning jaws were +hurtling toward me at terrific speed. And then I let go, +with every ounce of my weight and muscle and science in back +of that throw. The stone caught the hyaenodon full upon +the end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon his back. + +At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose +from the circle of spectators, so that for a moment +I thought that the upsetting of their champion was +the cause; but in this I soon saw that I was mistaken. +As I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions +toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished +the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, +streaming through the pass which leads into the valley, +came a swarm of hairy men--gorilla-like creatures armed +with spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. +Like demons they set upon the ape-things, and before +them the hyaenodon, which had now regained its senses +and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept +the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord +us more than a passing glance until the arena had been +emptied of its former occupants. Then they returned to us, +and one who seemed to have authority among them directed +that we be brought with them. + +When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the +great plain we saw a caravan of men and women--human +beings like ourselves--and for the first time hope +and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried +out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true +that they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; +but they at least were fashioned along the same lines +as ourselves--there was nothing grotesque or horrible about +them as about the other creatures in this strange, +weird world. + +But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we +discovered that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck +in a long line, and that the gorilla-men were their guards. +With little ceremony Perry and I were chained at the end +of the line, and without further ado the interrupted +march was resumed. + +Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; +but now the tiresome monotony of the long march +across the sun-baked plain brought on all the agonies +consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we stumbled +beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were +prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains +did not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. +Occasionally they would exchange words with one another +in a monosyllabic language. They were a noble-appearing +race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. +The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, +smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses +of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. +The features of both sexes were well proportioned--there +was not a face among them that would have been called +even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore +no ornaments; but this I later learned was due to the +fact that their captors had stripped them of everything +of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single +robe of some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar +in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore either +supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, +so that it hung partially below the knee on one side, +or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. +Their feet were shod with skin sandals. The men wore +loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy beast, long ends +of which depended before and behind nearly to the ground. +In some instances these ends were finished with the +strong talons of the beast from which the hides had +been taken. + +Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, +were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so +they were indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs +were proportioned more in conformity with human standards, +but their entire bodies were covered with shaggy, brown hair, +and their faces were quite as brutal as those of the few stuffed +specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the museums at home. + +Their only redeeming feature lay in the development +of the head above and back of the ears. In this +respect they were not one whit less human than we. +They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth which +reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin +cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod +with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world. + +Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of +metal--silver predominating--and on their tunics were sewn +the heads of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. +They talked among themselves as they marched along on +either side of us, but in a language which I perceived +differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. +When they addressed the latter they used what appeared +to be a third language, and which I later learned is +a mongrel tongue rather analogous to the Pidgin-English +of the Chinese coolie. + +How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. +Both of us were asleep much of the time for hours before +a halt was called--then we dropped in our tracks. +I say "for hours," but how may one measure time where time +does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood +at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed +toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of +earthly time elapsed who may say. That march may have +occupied nine years and eleven months of the ten years +that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been +accomplished in the fraction of a second--I cannot tell. +But this I do know that since you have told me that ten +years have elapsed since I departed from this earth +I have lost all respect for time--I am commencing to +doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, +finite mind of man. + + + +IV + +DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL + + +When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. +They gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it +put new life and strength into us, so that now we too +marched with high-held heads, and took noble strides. +At least I did, for I was young and proud; but poor Perry +hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call a cab +to travel a square--he was paying for it now, and his old +legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried +him through the balance of those frightful marches. + +The country began to change at last, and we wound up +out of the level plain through mighty mountains of +virgin granite. The tropical verdure of the lowlands was +replaced by hardier vegetation, but even here the effects +of constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity +of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. +Crystal streams roared through their rocky channels, +fed by the perpetual snows which we could see far above us. +Above the snowcapped heights hung masses of heavy clouds. +It was these, Perry explained, which evidently served +the double purpose of replenishing the melting snows and +protecting them from the direct rays of the sun. + +By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard +language in which our guards addressed us, as well +as making good headway in the rather charming tongue +of our co-captives. Directly ahead of me in the chain +gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain linked us +together in a forced companionship which I, at least, +soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, +and from her I learned the language of her tribe, +and much of the life and customs of the inner world--at +least that part of it with which she was familiar. + +She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, +and that she belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells +in the cliffs above the Darel Az, or shallow sea. + +"How came you here?" I asked her. + +"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, +as though that was explanation quite sufficient. + +"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you +run away from him?" + +She looked at me in surprise. + +"Why DOES a woman run away from a man?" she answered +my question with another. + +"They do not, where I come from," I replied. +"Sometimes they run after them." + +But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp +the fact that I was of another world. She was quite as +positive that creation was originated solely to produce her +own kind and the world she lived in as are many of the outer world. + +"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you +ran away to be chained by the neck and scourged across +the face of a world." + +"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. +It was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there +and no greater trophy was placed beside it. So I knew +that Jubal the Ugly One would come and take me as his mate. +None other so powerful wished me, or they would have +slain a mightier beast and thus have won me from Jubal. +My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, +but a sadok tossed him, and never again had he the full +use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, +had gone to the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. +Thus there was none, father, brother, or lover, to save +me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran away and hid among +the hills that skirt the land of Amoz. And there these +Sagoths found me and made me captive." + +"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they +taking us?" + +Again she looked her incredulity. + +"I can almost believe that you are of another world," +she said, "for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. +Do you really mean that you do not know that the Sagoths +are the creatures of the Mahars--the mighty Mahars who +think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows +upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims +within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? +Next you will be telling me that you never before heard +of the Mahars!" + +I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; +but there was no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, +so I made a clean breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the +mighty Mahars. She was shocked. But she did her very best +to enlighten me, though much that she said was as Greek +would have been to her. She described the Mahars largely +by comparisons. In this way they were like unto thipdars, +in that to the hairless lidi. + +About all I gleaned of them was that they were +quite hideous, had wings, and webbed feet; lived in +cities built beneath the ground; could swim under +water for great distances, and were very, very wise. +The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, +and the races like herself were their hands and feet--they +were the slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. +The Mahars were the heads--the brains--of the inner world. +I longed to see this wondrous race of supermen. + +Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, +as we occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed +ages apart, he would join in the conversation, as would +Ghak the Hairy One, he who was chained just ahead of Dian +the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was Hooja the Sly One. +He too entered the conversation occasionally. Most of +his remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. +It didn't take half an eye to see that he had developed +a bad case; but the girl appeared totally oblivious +to his thinly veiled advances. Did I say thinly veiled? +There is a race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, +I have forgotten which, who indicate their preference +for the lady of their affections by banging her over +the head with a bludgeon. By comparison with this method +Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly veiled. +At first it caused me to blush violently although I +have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other +less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, +and Hamburg. + +But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see +that she considered herself as entirely above and apart from +her present surroundings and company. She talked with me, +and with Perry, and with the taciturn Ghak because we +were respectful; but she couldn't even see Hooja the +Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him furious. +He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up +ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked +him with his spear and told him that he had selected the +girl for his own property--that he would buy her from the +Mahars as soon as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, +was the city of our destination. + +After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted +a salt sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. +Seal-like creatures there were with long necks stretching +ten and more feet above their enormous bodies and whose +snake heads were split with gaping mouths bristling +with countless fangs. There were huge tortoises too, +paddling about among these other reptiles, which Perry +said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his +veracity--they might have been most anything. + +Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, +and that the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally +rose from the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, +or sea-dyryths--Perry called them Ichthyosaurs. +They resembled a whale with the head of an alligator. + +I had forgotten what little geology I had studied +at school--about all that remained was an impression +of horror that the illustrations of restored prehistoric +monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined belief +that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination +could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he +saw fit, and take rank as a first class paleontologist. +But when I saw these sleek, shiny carcasses shimmering in +the sunlight as they emerged from the ocean, shaking their +giant heads; when I saw the waters roll from their sinuous +bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided hither +and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; +as I saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, +in their titanic and interminable warring I realized +how futile is man's poor, weak imagination by comparison +with Nature's incredible genius. + +And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said +so himself. + +"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time +beside that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, +and I thought that I believed what I taught; but now I +see that I did not believe it--that it is impossible +for man to believe such things as these unless he sees +them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, +perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, +and have no way of disproving them--like religions, +for example; but we don't believe them, we only think +we do. If you ever get back to the outer world you +will find that the geologists and paleontologists will +be the first to set you down a liar, for they know +that no such creatures as they restore ever existed. +It is all right to IMAGINE them as existing in an equally +imaginary epoch--but now? poof!" + +At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough +slack chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close +to Dian. We were all standing, and as he edged near the +girl she turned her back upon him in such a truly earthly +feminine manner that I could scarce repress a smile; but it +was a short-lived smile for on the instant the Sly One's +hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly +toward him. + +I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics +which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did +not need the appealing look which the girl shot to me +from her magnificent eyes to influence my subsequent act. +What the Sly One's intention was I paused not to inquire; +but instead, before he could lay hold of her with his +other hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw that +felled him in his tracks. + +A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners +and the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I +later learned, because I had championed the girl, but for +the neat and, to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja. + +And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering eyes, +and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, +and a delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment +she stood thus in silence, and then her head went high, +and she turned her back upon me as she had upon Hooja. +Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face of Ghak +the Hairy One go very black as he looked at me searchingly. +And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly from red +to white. + +Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized +that in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could +not prevail upon her to talk with me that I might learn +wherein I had erred--in fact I might quite as well have +been addressing a sphinx for all the attention I got. +At last my own foolish pride stepped in and prevented +my making any further attempts, and thus a companionship +that without my realizing it had come to mean a great deal +to me was cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation +to Perry. Hooja did not renew his advances toward the girl, +nor did he again venture near me. + +Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became +a perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly +fixed became the realization that the girl's friendship +had meant so much to me, the more I came to miss it; +and the more impregnable the barrier of silly pride. +But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for the +explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might +have made everything all right again. + +On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently +to notice me--when her eyes wandered in my direction +she looked either over my head or directly through me. +At last I became desperate, and determined to swallow +my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me how I +had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made +up my mind that I should do this at the next halt. +We were approaching another range of mountains at the time, +and when we reached them, instead of winding across +them through some high-flung pass we entered a mighty +natural tunnel--a series of labyrinthine grottoes, +dark as Erebus. + +The guards had no torches or light of any description. +In fact we had seen no artificial light or sign of +fire since we had entered Pellucidar. In a land of +perpetual noon there is no need of light above ground, +yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting +their way through these dark, subterranean passages. +So we crept along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling +and falling--the guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead +of us, interspersed with certain high notes which I found +always indicated rough places and turns. + +Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak +to Dian until I could see from the expression of her face +how she was receiving my apologies. At last a faint +glow ahead forewarned us of the end of the tunnel, +for which I for one was devoutly thankful. Then at a sudden +turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday sun. + +But with it came a sudden realization of what meant +to me a real catastrophe--Dian was gone, and with her +a half-dozen other prisoners. The guards saw it too, +and the ferocity of their rage was terrible to behold. +Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most +diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of +responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, +beating us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. +They had already killed two near the head of the line, +and were like to have finished the balance of us when +their leader finally put a stop to the brutal slaughter. +Never in all my life had I witnessed a more horrible +exhibition of bestial rage--I thanked God that Dian had not +been one of those left to endure it. + +Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me +each alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. +Hooja was gone. Ghak remained. What could it mean? How +had it been accomplished? The commander of the guards +was investigating. Soon he discovered that the rude +locks which had held the neckbands in place had been +deftly picked. + +"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me +in line. "He has taken the girl that you would not have," +he continued, glancing at me. + +"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?" + +He looked at me closely for a moment. + +"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," +he said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could +your ignorance of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. +Do you really mean that you do not know that you offended +the Beautiful One, and how?" + +"I do not know, Ghak," I replied. + +"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar +intervenes between another man and the woman the other +man would have, the woman belongs to the victor. +Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. You should have claimed +her or released her. Had you taken her hand, it would +have indicated your desire to make her your mate, and had +you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, +it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate +and that you released her from all obligation to you. +By doing neither you have put upon her the greatest affront +that a man may put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. +No man will take her as mate, or may take her honorably, +until he shall have overcome you in combat, and men do not +choose slave women as their mates--at least not the men +of Pellucidar." + +"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. +Not for all Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful +by word, or look, or act of mine. I do not want her as +my slave. I do not want her as my--" but here I stopped. +The vision of that sweet and innocent face floated before +me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and where I had +on the second believed that I clung only to the memory +of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed +that it would have been disloyalty to her to have said +that I did not want Dian the Beautiful as my mate. +I had not thought of her except as a welcome friend +in a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think +that I loved her. + +I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my +expression than in my words, for presently he laid +his hand upon my shoulder. + +"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. +Lips may lie, but when the heart speaks through the eyes +it tells only the truth. Your heart has spoken to me. +I know now that you meant no affront to Dian the Beautiful. +She is not of my tribe; but her mother is my sister. +She does not know it--her mother was stolen by Dian's +father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz +to battle with us for our women--the most beautiful women +of Pellucidar. Then was her father king of Amoz, and her +mother was daughter of the king of Sari--to whose power I, +his son, have succeeded. Dian is the daughter of kings, +though her father is no longer king since the sadok tossed +him and Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him. +Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly +magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. She will never +forgive you." + +I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I +could release the girl from the bondage and ignominy +I had unwittingly placed upon her. + +"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to +raise her hand above her head and drop it in the presence +of others is sufficient to release her; but how may you +ever find her, you who are doomed to a life of slavery +yourself in the buried city of Phutra?" + +"Is there no escape?" I asked. + +"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," +replied Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on +the way to Phutra, and once there it is not so easy--the +Mahars are very wise. Even if one escaped from Phutra +there are the thipdars--they would find you, and then--" +the Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never escape +the Mahars." + +It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought +about it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued +a longwinded prayer he had been at for some time. +He was wont to say that the only redeeming feature of our +captivity was the ample time it gave him for the improvisation +of prayers--it was becoming an obsession with him. +The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit +of declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them +asked him what he was saying--to whom he was talking. +The question gave me an idea, so I answered quickly +before Perry could say anything. + +"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy +man in the world from which we come. He is speaking +to spirits which you cannot see--do not interrupt him +or they will spring out of the air upon you and rend you +limb from limb--like that," and I jumped toward the great +brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward. + +I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make +any capital out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make +it while the making was prime. It worked splendidly. +The Sagoths treated us both with marked respect during +the balance of the journey, and then passed the word along +to their masters, the Mahars. + +Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. +The entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, +which guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. +Sagoths were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more +other towers scattered about over a large plain. + + + +V + +SLAVES + + +As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main +avenue of Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant +race of the inner world. Involuntarily I shrank back +as one of the creatures approached to inspect us. +A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine. +The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, +some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads +and great round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined +with sharp, white fangs, and the backs of their huge, +lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their +necks to the end of their long tails. Their feet are +equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore feet +membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just +in front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 +degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points several +feet above their bodies. + +I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. +The old man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide +astonished eyes. When it passed on, he turned to me. + +"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, +"but, gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever +have discovered have never indicated a size greater than +that attained by an ordinary crow." + +As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we +saw many thousand of the creatures coming and going upon +their daily duties. They paid but little attention to us. +Phutra is laid out underground with a regularity that +indicates remarkable engineering skill. It is hewn from +solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and of a +uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce +the roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses +and reflectors transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, +to dispel what would otherwise be Cimmerian darkness. +In like manner air is introduced. + +Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, +where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained +to a Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. +The method of communication between these two was remarkable +in that no spoken words were exchanged. They employed +a species of sign language. As I was to learn later, +the Mahars have no ears, not any spoken language. +Among themselves they communicate by means of what Perry +says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a fourth dimension. + +I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain +it to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, +but he said no, that it was not telepathy since they could +only communicate when in each others' presence, nor could +they talk with the Sagoths or the other inhabitants +of Pellucidar by the same method they used to converse +with one another. + +"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts +into the fourth dimension, when they become appreciable +to the sixth sense of their listener. Do I make myself +quite clear?" + +"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head +in despair, and returned to his work. They had set us +to carrying a great accumulation of Maharan literature +from one apartment to another, and there arranging it +upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we were in the +public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced +to discover the key to their written language, he assured +me that we were handling the ancient archives of the race. + +During this period my thoughts were continually upon +Dian the Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had +escaped the Mahars, and the fate that had been suggested +by the Sagoth who had threatened to purchase her upon our +arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the little party +of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who had returned +to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but that I +should have been more contented to know that Dian was here +in Phutra, than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja +the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, and I often talked together +of possible escape, but the Sarian was so steeped in his +lifelong belief that no one could escape from the Mahars +except by a miracle, that he was not much aid to us--his +attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to come to him. + +At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps +of iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells +where we slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained +freedom of action within the limits of the building to which +we had been assigned. So great were the number of slaves +who waited upon the inhabitants of Phutra that none of us +was apt to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters +unkind to us. + +We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed +our beds, and then Perry conceived the idea of making bows +and arrows--weapons apparently unknown within Pellucidar. +Next came shields; but these I found it easier to steal +from the walls of the outer guardroom of the building. + +We had completed these arrangements for our protection +after leaving Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent +to recapture the escaped prisoners returned with four +of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian and two others +had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was confined +in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had +not seen Dian or the others after releasing them within +the dark grotto. What had become of them he had not +the faintest conception--they might be wandering yet, +lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead +from starvation. + +I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate +of Dian, and at this time, I imagine, came the first +realization that my affection for the girl might be +prompted by more than friendship. During my waking +hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, +and when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. +More than ever was I determined to escape the Mahars. + +"Perry, " I confided to the old man, "if I have to search +every inch of this diminutive world I am going to find +Dian the Beautiful and right the wrong I unintentionally +did her." That was the excuse I made for Perry's benefit. + +"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you +are talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map +of Pellucidar which he had recently discovered among +the manuscript he was arranging. + +"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, +and all this land. Do you notice the general configuration +of the two areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, +is land here. These relatively small areas of ocean follow +the general lines of the continents of the outer world. + +"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; +then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, +and the superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. +Three-fourths of this is land. Think of it! A land area +of 124,110,000 square miles! Our own world contains +but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the balance of its +surface being covered by water. Just as we often compare +nations by their relative land areas, so if we compare +these two worlds in the same way we have the strange +anomaly of a larger world within a smaller one! + +"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your +Dian? Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could +you find her even though you knew where she might be found?" + +The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; +but I found that it left me all the more determined +to attempt it. + +"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," +I suggested. + +Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight +to him. + +"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from +this bondage. Will you accompany us?" + +"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then +we shall be killed; but--" he hesitated--"I would take +the chance if I thought that I might possibly escape +and return to my own people." + +"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. +"And could you aid David in his search for Dian?" + +"Yes." + +"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange +country without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?" + +Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies +or a compass, but he assured us that you might blindfold +any man of Pellucidar and carry him to the farthermost +corner of the world, yet he would be able to come directly +to his own home again by the shortest route. He seemed +surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in it. +Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such +as is possessed by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. +I didn't know, of course, but it gave me an idea. + +"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her +own people?" I asked. + +"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey +killed her." + +I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry +and Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident +which would insure us some small degree of success. +I didn't see what accident could befall a whole community +in a land of perpetual daylight where the inhabitants had +no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of the +Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, +crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and +curl up in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar +stays awake for three years he will make up all his lost +sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be all true, but I +never saw but three of them asleep, and it was the sight +of these three that gave me a suggestion for our means of escape. + +I had been searching about far below the levels that we +slaves were supposed to frequent--possibly fifty feet +beneath the main floor of the building--among a network +of corridors and apartments, when I came suddenly upon +three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At first I +thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing +convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought +came to me of the marvelous opportunity these sleeping +reptiles offered as a means of eluding the watchfulness +of our captors and the Sagoth guards. + +Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, +to me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. +To my surprise he was horrified. + +"It would be murder, David," he cried. + +"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment. + +"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. +"Here they are the dominant race--we are the 'monsters'--the +lower orders. In Pellucidar evolution has progressed +along different lines than upon the outer earth. +These terrible convulsions of nature time and time again +wiped out the existing species--but for this fact some +monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon +our own world. We see here what might well have occurred +in our own history had conditions been what they have been here. + +"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. +Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone +Age of our own world's history, but for countless millions +of years these reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it +is the sixth sense which I am sure they possess that has +given them an advantage over the other and more frightfully +armed of their fellows; but this we may never know. +They look upon us as we look upon the beasts of our fields, +and I learn from their written records that other races +of Mahars feed upon men--they keep them in great droves, +as we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, +and when they are quite fat, they kill and eat them." + +I shuddered. + +"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. +"They understand us no better than we understand +the lower animals of our own world. Why, I have come +across here very learned discussions of the question +as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means +of communication. One writer claims that we do not even +reason--that our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. +The dominant race of Pellucidar, David, have not yet +learned that men converse among themselves, or reason. +Because we do not converse as they do it is beyond them +to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that we +reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. +They know that the Sagoths have a spoken language, +but they cannot comprehend it, or how it manifests itself, +since they have no auditory apparatus. They believe +that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. +That the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible +to them. + +"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder +to carry out your plan." + +"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become +a murderer." + +He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, +and for some reason which was not at the time clear to me +insisted upon a very careful description of the apartments +and corridors I had just explored. + +"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined +to carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish +something of very real and lasting benefit for the human +race of Pellucidar at the same time. Listen, I have +learned much of a most surprising nature from these +archives of the Mahars. That you may not appreciate +my plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race. + +"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, +little by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages +no noticeable change took place in the race of Mahars. +It continued to progress under the intelligent and +beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took vast strides. +This was especially true of the sciences which we know +as biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female +scientist announced the fact that she had discovered +a method whereby eggs might be fertilized by chemical +means after they were laid--all true reptiles, you know, +are hatched from eggs. + +"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased +to exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. +More ages elapsed until at the present time we find a race +consisting exclusively of females. But here is the point. +The secret of this chemical formula is kept by a single +race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and unless I +am greatly in error I judge from your description of the +vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden +in the cellar of this building. + +"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. +First, because upon it depends the very life of the race +of Mahars, and second, owing to the fact that when it +was public property as at first so many were experimenting +with it that the danger of over-population became very grave. + +"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with +us this great secret what will we not have accomplished +for the human race within Pellucidar!" The very thought +of it fairly overpowered me. Why, we two would be the +means of placing the men of the inner world in their +rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths +would then stand between them and absolute supremacy, +and I was not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all +their power to the greater intelligence of the Mahars--I +could not believe that these gorilla-like beasts +were the mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar. + +"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim +a whole world! Together we can lead the races of men +out of the darkness of ignorance into the light of +advancement and civilization. At one step we may carry +them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. +It's marvelous--absolutely marvelous just to think about it." + +"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us +here for just that purpose--it shall be my life work +to teach them His word--to lead them into the light +of His mercy while we are training their hearts and hands +in the ways of culture and civilization." + +"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching +them to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between +us we'll make a race of men that will be an honor to us both." + +Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we +concluded our conversation, and now he wanted to know +what we were so excited about. Perry thought we had best +not tell him too much, and so I only explained that I +had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him, +he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; +but for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered +the horrible fate that would be ours were we discovered; +but at last I prevailed upon him to accept my plan as +the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I +would take all the responsibility for it were we captured, +he accorded a reluctant assent. + + + +VI + +THE BEGINNING OF HORROR + + +Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. +There were no nights to mask our attempted escape. +All must be done in broad daylight--all but the work +I had to do in the apartment beneath the building. +So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test +lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before +I reached them; but we were doomed to disappointment, +for no sooner had we reached the main floor of the building +on our way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying +bands of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard +out of the edifice to the avenue beyond. + +Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search +of other slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were +pounced upon and hustled into the line of marching humans. + +What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did +not know, but presently through the line of captives ran +the rumor that two escaped slaves had been recaptured--a +man and a woman--and that we were marching to witness +their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth +of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them. + +At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, +for I was sure that the two were of those who escaped +in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian +must be the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did Perry. + +"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak. + +"Naught," he replied. + +Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing +unusual cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been +implicated in the murder of their fellow. The occasion +was to serve as an object-lesson to all other slaves of +the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the fatal +consequences of taking the life of a superior being, +and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making +the entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to +us as possible. + +They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the +hatchets at the least provocation, and at no provocation +at all. It was a most uncomfortable half-hour that we +spent before we were finally herded through a low entrance +into a huge building the center of which was given up +to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this open +space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped +huge bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the roof. + +At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty +pile of rock, unless it were intended as a rough and +picturesque background for the scenes which were enacted +in the arena before it, but presently, after the wooden +benches had been pretty well filled by slaves and Sagoths, +I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then +the Mahars began to file into the enclosure. + +They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon +the opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, +they rose above the high wall of the pit, settling down +upon the bowlders above. These were the reserved seats, +the boxes of the elect. + +Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone +is to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, +blinking their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with +one another in their sixth-sense- fourth-dimension language. + +For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed +from the others in no feature that was appreciable +to my earthly eyes, in fact all Mahars look alike to me: +but when she crossed the arena after the balance of her +female subjects had found their bowlders, she was preceded +by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, +and on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, +while behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen. + +At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side +with truly apelike agility, while behind them the haughty +queen rose upon her wings with her two frightful dragons +close beside her, and settled down upon the largest +bowlder of them all in the exact center of that side of +the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant race. +Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; +though doubtless quite as well assured of her beauty +and divine right to rule as the proudest monarch of the +outer world. + +And then the music started--music without sound! The Mahars +cannot hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly +bands are unknown among them. The "band" consists of a +score or more Mahars. It filed out in the center of the +arena where the creatures upon the rocks might see it, +and there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes. + +Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving +their heads in a regular succession of measured movements +resulting in a cadence which evidently pleased the eye +of the Mahar as the cadence of our own instrumental music +pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured steps +in unison to one side or the other, or backward and again +forward--it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, +but at the end of the first piece the Mahars upon the +rocks showed the first indications of enthusiasm that I +had seen displayed by the dominant race of Pellucidar. +They beat their great wings up and down, and smote their rocky +perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook. +Then the band started another piece, and all was again +as silent as the grave. That was one great beauty about +Mahar music--if you didn't happen to like a piece that was +being played all you had to do was shut your eyes. + +When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing +and settled upon the rocks above and behind the queen. +Then the business of the day was on. A man and woman were +pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth guardsmen. +I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize the female--hoping +against hope that she might prove to be another than Dian +the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, +and the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high +upon her head filled me with alarm. + +Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened +to admit a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature. + +"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed +the outer crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages +and ages ago. We have been carried back a million years, +David, to the childhood of a planet--is it not wondrous?" + +But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, +and my heart stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, +nor had I any eyes for the wonders of natural history. +But for Perry and Ghak I should have leaped to the floor +of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store for this +priceless treasure of the Stone Age. + +With the advent of the Bos--they call the thing a thag +within Pellucidar--two spears were tossed into the arena +at the feet of the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean +shooter would have been as effective against the mighty +monster as these pitiful weapons. + +As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing +the ground with the strength of many earthly bulls, +another door directly beneath us was opened, and from +it issued the most terrific roar that ever had fallen +upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see +the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, +but the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims +around with a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's +face--she was not Dian! I could have wept for relief. + +And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author +of that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. +It was a huge tiger--such as hunted the great Bos +through the jungles primeval when the world was young. +In contour and markings it was not unlike the noblest +of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions +were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were +its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly +screamed aloud; its whites were as eider down; its blacks +glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its coat long +and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it is a beautiful +animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size and colors +are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity +of its disposition. It is not the occasional member +of its species that is a man hunter--all are man hunters; +but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, +for there is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they +will not eat with relish in the constant efforts which they +make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient +sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. + +Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed +and advanced, and upon the other tarag, the frightful, +crept toward them with gaping mouth and dripping fangs. + +The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. +At the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's +bellowing became a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. +Never in my life had I heard such an infernal din as +the two brutes made, and to think it was all lost upon +the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged! + +The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag +from the other. The two puny things standing between them +seemed already lost, but at the very moment that the beasts +were upon them the man grasped his companion by the arm +and together they leaped to one side, while the frenzied +creatures came together like locomotives in collision. + +There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful +ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. +Time and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger +high into the air, but each time that the huge cat touched +the ground he returned to the encounter with apparently +undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire. + +For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with +keeping out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I +saw them separate and each creep stealthily toward one of +the combatants. The tiger was now upon the bull's broad back, +clinging to the huge neck with powerful fangs while its long, +strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons. + +For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering +with pain and rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, +its tail lashing viciously from side to side, and then, +in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening about the +arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. +It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad +rush of the wounded animal. + +All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, +until in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, +rolling over and over. A little of this so disconcerted +the tiger, knocking its breath from it I imagine, +that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great +thag was up again and had buried those mighty horns +deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor +of the arena. + +The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and +ears were gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, +bloody flesh remained upon the skull. Yet through all +the agony of that fearful punishment the thag still stood +motionless pinning down his adversary, and then the man +leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least +formidable enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart. + +As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised +his gory, sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran +headlong across the arena. With great leaps and bounds +he came, straight toward the arena wall directly beneath +where we sat, and then accident carried him, in one +of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into +the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. +Swinging his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut +a wide swath before him straight upward toward our seats. +Before him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede +to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies, +for such only could that frightful charge have been. + +Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general +rush for the exits, many of which pierced the wall +of the amphitheater behind us. Perry, Ghak, and I +became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few +moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, +each intent upon saving his own hide. + +I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the +fear mad mob that were battling to escape. One would +have thought that an entire herd of thags was loose +behind them, rather than a single blinded, dying beast; +but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd. + + + +VII + +FREEDOM + + +Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it +left me, but another emotion as quickly gripped me--hope +of escape that the demoralized condition of the guards +made possible for the instant. + +I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better +encompass his release if myself free I should have put +the thought of freedom from me at once. As it was I +hastened on toward the right searching for an exit toward +which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it--a low, +narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor. + +Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into +the shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through +the gloom for some distance. The noises of the amphitheater +had grown fainter and fainter until now all was as silent +as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered from above +through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it +was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with +the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, +feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon the +wall beside me. + +Presently the light increased and a moment later, +to my delight, I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, +at the top of which the brilliant light of the noonday +sun shone through an opening in the ground. + +Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, +and peering out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. +The numerous lofty, granite towers which mark the several +entrances to the subterranean city were all in front +of me--behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken +to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, +then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed +much enhanced. + +My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting +to cross the plain, so deeply implanted are habits +of thought; but of a sudden I recollected the perpetual +noonday brilliance which envelopes Pellucidar, +and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light. + +Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of +Phutra--the gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world, +each particular blade of which is tipped with a tiny, +five-pointed blossom--brilliant little stars of varying +colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still +another charm to the weird, yet lovely, land-scape. + +But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant +hills in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, +trampling the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. +Perry says that the force of gravity is less upon the +surface of the inner world than upon that of the outer. +He explained it all to me once, but I was never particularly +brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped me. +As I recall it the difference is due in some part to the +counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust +directly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar +at which one's calculations are being made. Be that as +it may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greater +speed and agility within Pellucidar than upon the outer +surface--there was a certain airy lightness of step that was +most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which +I can only compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams. + +And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time +I seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation +was due to Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality +I am sure I do not know. The more I thought of Perry +the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom. +There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless +the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I +might find some way to encompass his release kept me +from turning back to Phutra. + +Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, +but I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might solve +the problem for me. It was quite evident however that +little less than a miracle could aid me, for what could +I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? +It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps +to Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, +and even were that possible, what aid could I bring +to Perry no matter how far I wandered? + +The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, +yet with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward +the foothills. Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, +before me I saw no living thing. It was as though I +moved through a dead and forgotten world. + +I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach +the limit of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, +following a pretty little canyon upward toward +the mountains. Beside me frolicked a laughing brooklet, +hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. +In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four- +or five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, +except as to size and color, they were not unlike the +whale of our own seas. As I watched them playing about +I discovered, not only that they suckled their young, +but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe +as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, +scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the +water line. + +It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I +craved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that +is what Perry calls them--and make as good a meal as one can +on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used, +by this time, to the eating of food in its natural state, +though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, +much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed +these delicacies. + +Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the +diminutive purple whales rose to nibble at the long +grasses which overhung the water, and then, like the beast +of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my victim, +appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape. + +Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands +and face continued my flight. Above the source of the brook +I encountered a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. +Beyond was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid, +inland sea, upon the quiet surface of which lay several +beautiful islands. + +The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast +was to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, +I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, +half falling, dropped into the delightful valley, +the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace +and security. + +The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly +strewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, +others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks +as ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along the +silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the outer crust. +As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first +man of that other world, so complete the solitude which +surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders +and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second +Adam wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, +searching for my Eve, and at the thought there rose +before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect +face surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair. + +As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it +was not until I had come quite upon it that I discovered +that which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude +and safety and peace and primal overlordship. The thing +was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom +of it lay a crude paddle. + +The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove +some new form of danger was still upon me when I heard +a rattling of loose stones from the direction of the bluff, +and turning my eyes in that direction I beheld the +author of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man, +running rapidly toward me. + +There was that in the haste with which he came which +seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I did +not need the added evidence of brandishing spear and +scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe position, +but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question. + +The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility +of escaping him upon the open beach. There was but a +single alternative--the rude skiff--and with a celerity +which equaled his, I pushed the thing into the sea and +as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the end. + +A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, +and an instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed +my shoulder and buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. +Then I grasped the paddle, and with feverish haste urged +the awkward, wobbly thing out upon the surface of the sea. + +A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored +one had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly +in pursuit. His mighty strokes bade fair to close up +the distance between us in short order, for at best I +could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, +which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I +desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was +expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course. + +I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became +evident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff +within the next half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, +I bent to the grandfather of all paddles in a hopeless +effort to escape, and still the copper giant behind me +gained and gained. + +His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, +sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw +it too, and the look of terror that overspread his face +assured me that I need have no further concern as to him, +for the fear of certain death was in his look. + +And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a +hideous monster of that prehistoric deep--a mighty serpent +of the sea, with fanged jaws, and darting forked tongue, +with bulging eyes, and bony protuberances upon head +and snout that formed short, stout horns. + +As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met +those of the doomed man, and I could have sworn +that in his I saw an expression of hopeless appeal. +But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden +compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, +and that he might have killed me with pleasure +had he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his danger. + +Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose +to engage my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close +beside the two. The monster seemed to be but playing with his +victim before he closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged +him down to his dark den beneath the surface to devour him. +The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled about its prey. +The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. +The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out upon +the copper skin. + +Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his +stone hatchet against the bony armor that covered that +frightful carcass; but for all the damage he inflicted +he might as well have struck with his open palm. + +At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while +a fellowman was dragged down to a horrible death by that +repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay +the spear that had been cast after me by him whom I suddenly +desired to save. With a wrench I tore it loose, and standing +upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the strength +of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the hydrophidian. + +With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to +turn upon me, but the spear, imbedded in its throat, +prevented it from seizing me though it came near +to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me. + + + +VIII + +THE MAHAR TEMPLE + + +The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into +the skiff, and seizing the spear with me helped to hold +off the infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded +reptile was now crimsoning the waters about us and soon +from the weakening struggles it became evident that I +had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its +efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few +convulsive movements it turned upon its back quite dead. + +And then there came to me a sudden realization of the +predicament in which I had placed myself. I was entirely +within the power of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. +Still clinging to the spear I looked into his face to find +him scrutinizing me intently, and there we stood for some +several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon +the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. + +What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was +merely the question as to how soon the fellow would +recommence hostilities. + +Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was +unable to translate. I shook my head in an effort to +indicate my ignorance of his language, at the same time +addressing him in the bastard tongue that the Sagoths +use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars. + +To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. + +"What do you want of my spear?" he asked. + +"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied. + +"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved +my life," and with that he released his hold upon it +and squatted down in the bottom of the skiff. + +"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country +do you come?" + +I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried +to explain how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it +was as impossible for him to grasp or believe the strange +tale I told him as I fear it is for you upon the outer +crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. +To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there +was another world far beneath his feet peopled by +beings similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously +the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus. +That which has never come within the scope of our really +pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our finite +minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance +with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside +of the insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny +way among the bowlders of the universe--the speck of moist +dirt we so proudly call the World. + +So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he +was a Mezop, and that his name was Ja. + +"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?" + +He looked at me in surprise. + +"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," +he said, "for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The +Mezops live upon the islands of the seas. In so far as I +ever have heard no Mezop lives elsewhere, and no others +than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course it may be +different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. +At any rate in this sea and those near by it is true that +only people of my race inhabit the islands. + +"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, +often going to the mainland in search of the game +that is scarce upon all but the larger islands. And we +are warriors also," he added proudly. "Even the Sagoths +of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar was young, +the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they +do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from +father to son among us that this is so; but we fought +so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those of us +that were captured killed so many Mahars in their own +cities that at last they learned that it were better +to leave us alone, and later came the time that the +Mahars became too indolent even to catch their own fish, +except for amusement, and then they needed us to supply +their wants, and so a truce was made between the races. +Now they give us certain things which we are unable +to produce in return for the fish that we catch, +and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace. + +"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, +far from the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they +practice their religious rites in the temples they have +builded there with our assistance. If you live among +us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship, +which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor +slaves they bring to take part in it." + +As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him +more closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say +six feet six or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery +red not unlike that of our own North American Indian, +nor were his features dissimilar to theirs. He had +the aquiline nose found among many of the higher tribes, +the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, +but his mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, +Ja was an impressive and handsome creature, and he talked +well too, even in the miserable makeshift language we +were compelled to use. + +During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was +propelling the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large +island that lay some half-mile from the mainland. +The skill with which he handled his crude and awkward +craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been +so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work +of it. + +As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out +and I followed him. Together we dragged the skiff +far up into the bushes that grew beyond the sand. + +"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops +of Luana are always at war with us and would steal them +if they found them," he nodded toward an island farther +out at sea, and at so great a distance that it seemed +but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve +of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the +impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To +see land and water curving upward in the distance until it +seemed to stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, +and to feel that seas and mountains hung suspended directly +above one's head required such a complete reversal +of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to +stupefy one. + +No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged +into the jungle, presently emerging into a narrow but +well-defined trail which wound hither and thither much +after the manner of the highways of all primitive folk, +but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop trail +which I was later to find distinguished them from all +other trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth. + +It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end +suddenly in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja +would turn directly back in his tracks for a little distance, +spring into a tree, climb through it to the other side, +drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low bush and alight +once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow back +for a short distance only to turn directly about and retrace +his steps until after a mile or less this new pathway +ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. +Then he would pass again across some media which would +reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of the +trail beyond. + +As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I +could not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient +progenitor of the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to +throw his enemies from his track and delay or thwart them +in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried cities. + +To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow +and tortuous method of traveling through the jungle, +but were you of Pellucidar you would realize that time +is no factor where time does not exist. So labyrinthine +are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting +links and the distances which one must retrace one's +steps from the paths' ends to find them that a Mezop +often reaches man's estate before he is familiar +even with those which lead from his own city to the sea. + +In fact three-fourths of the education of the young +male Mezop consists in familiarizing himself with these +jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely +determined by the number of trails which he can follow +upon his own island. The females never learn them, +since from birth to death they never leave the clearing +in which the village of their nativity is situated except +they be taken to mate by a male from another village, +or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe. + +After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been +upward of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large +clearing in the exact center of which stood as strange +an appearing village as one might well imagine. + +Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet +above the ground, and upon the tops of them spherical +habitations of woven twigs, mud covered, had been built. +Each ball-like house was surmounted by some manner +of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity +of the owner. + +Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three +feet wide, served to admit light and ventilation. +The entrances to the house were through small apertures +in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude +ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. +The houses varied in size from two to several rooms. +The largest that I entered was divided into two floors and +eight apartments. + +All about the village, between it and the jungle, +lay beautifully cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised +such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required. +Women and children were working in these gardens as we crossed +toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted deferentially, +but to me they paid not the slightest attention. +Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area +were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching +the points of their spears to the ground directly before them. + +Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the +village--the house with eight rooms--and taking me up +into it gave me food and drink. There I met his mate, +a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms. Ja told +her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter +most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me +to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja +told me would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, +was the chief of the community. + +We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's +amusement, for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, +and then the red man proposed that I accompany him to the +temple of the Mahars which lay not far from his village. +"We are not supposed to visit it," he said; "but the great +ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of sight they need +never know that we have been there. For my part I hate them +and always have, but the other chieftains of the island +think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable +relations which exist between the two races; otherwise I +should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst +the hideous creatures and exterminate them--Pellucidar +would be a better place to live were there none of them." + +I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it +might be a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race +of Pellucidar. Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail +toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing +surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must +have flourished upon the outer crust during the carboniferous age. + +Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape +of a rough oval with rounded roof in which were several +large openings. No doors or windows were visible in +the sides of the structure, nor was there need of any, +except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja explained, +the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures +in the roof. + +"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base +of which even the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he +led me across the clearing and about the end to a pile +of loose rock which lay against the foot of the wall. +Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, revealing a +small opening which led straight within the building, +or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered +myself in a narrow place of extreme darkness. + +"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. +Follow me closely." + +The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began +to ascend a primitive ladder similar to that which leads +from the ground to the upper stories of his house. +We ascended for some forty feet when the interior of +the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter +and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner +wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire +interior of the temple. + +The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in +which numerous hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. +Artificial islands of granite rock dotted this artificial sea, +and upon several of them I saw men and women like myself. + +"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked. + +"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take +a leading part in the ceremonies which will follow +the advent of the queen. You may be thankful that you +are not upon the same side of the wall as they." + +Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering +of wings above and a moment later a long procession +of the frightful reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly +and majestically through the large central opening +in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple. + +There were several Mahars first, and then at least +twenty awe-inspiring pterodactyls--thipdars, they are +called within Pellucidar. Behind these came the queen, +flanked by other thipdars as she had been when she +entered the amphitheater at Phutra. + +Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval +chamber, to settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders +that fringe the outer edge of the pool. In the center +of one side the largest rock was reserved for the queen, +and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible guard. + +All lay quiet for several minutes after settling +to their places. One might have imagined them in +silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the diminutive +islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. +The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately +with folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and +children clung to one another, hiding behind the males. +They are a noble-looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar, +and if our progenitors were as they, the human race +of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved +with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. +We have opportunity, and little else. + +Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, +looking about; then very slowly she crawled to the edge +of her throne and slid noiselessly into the water. +Up and down the long tank she swam, turning at the ends +as you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, +turning upon their backs and diving below the surface. + +Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she +remained at rest before the largest, which was directly +opposite her throne. Raising her hideous head from the +water she fixed her great, round eyes upon the slaves. +They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought from +a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, +and bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle. + +The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. +Her victim tried to turn away, hiding her face in her +hands and kneeling behind a woman; but the reptile, +with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity that I +could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, +and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of +her brain. + +Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, +but the eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, +and then the victim responded. She turned wide, +fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen, slowly she rose +to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen power +she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, +her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. +To the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, +but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. +On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though +leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, +and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. +Now the water was at her waist; now her armpits. +Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, +helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast +of their own. + +The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes +were exposed above the surface of the water, and the +girl had advanced until the end of that repulsive beak +was but an inch or two from her face, her horror-filled +eyes riveted upon those of the reptile. + +Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose--her +eyes and forehead all that showed--yet still she walked +on after the retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly +disappeared beneath the surface and after it went the +eyes of her victim--only a slow ripple widened toward +the shores to mark where the two vanished. + +For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves +were motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface +of the water for the reappearance of their queen, +and presently at one end of the tank her head rose +slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, +her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she +dragged the helpless girl to her doom. + +And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead +and eyes of the maiden come slowly out of the depths, +following the gaze of the reptile just as when she had +disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came the girl +until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, +and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time +to have drowned her thrice over there was no indication, +other than her dripping hair and glistening body, +that she had been submerged at all. + +Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths +and out again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing +got on my nerves so that I could have leaped into the tank +to the child's rescue had I not taken a firm hold of myself. + +Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came +to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's +arms was gone--gnawed completely off at the shoulder--but +the poor thing gave no indication of realizing pain, +only the horror in her set eyes seemed intensified. + +The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, +and then the breasts, and then a part of the face--it +was awful. The poor creatures on the islands awaiting +their fate tried to cover their eyes with their hands +to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too +were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that +they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed +upon the terrible thing that was transpiring before them. + +Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, +and when she rose she came alone and swam sleepily +toward her bowlder. The moment she mounted it seemed +to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter the tank, +and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition +of the uncanny performance through which the queen had led +her victim. + +Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars--they +being the weakest and most tender--and when they had satisfied +their appetite for human flesh, some of them devouring +two and three of the slaves, there were only a score +of full-grown men left, and I thought that for some reason +these were to be spared, but such was far from the case, +for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars +darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, +hissing like steam engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves. + +There was no hypnotism here--just the plain, brutal ferocity +of the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, +but at that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of +the Mahars. By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last +of the slaves the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, +and a moment later the great pterodactyls swung back +to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped +into slumber. + +"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said +to Ja. + +"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," +he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat +human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and +almost always you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. +I imagine that they do not bring their Sagoths here, +because they are ashamed of the practice, which is supposed +to obtain only among the least advanced of their race; +but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that +there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get it." + +"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, +"if it is true that they look upon us as lower animals?" + +"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are +supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," +replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. +They would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we +consider such a delicacy, any more than I would think +of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is difficult +to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them." + +"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, +leaning far out of the opening in the rocky wall to +inspect the temple better. Directly below me the water +lapped the very side of the wall, there being a break +in the bowlders at this point as there was at several +other places about the side of the temple. + +My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite +which formed a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it +proved too much for it. It slipped and I lunged forward. +There was nothing to save myself and I plunged headforemost +into the water below. + +Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered +no injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface +my mind filled with the horrors of my position as I thought +of the terrible doom which awaited me the moment the eyes +of the reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed +their slumber. + +As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, +swimming rapidly in the direction of the islands that I +might prolong my life to the utmost. At last I was +forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified glance +in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was +almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon +the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched +the temple with my eyes could I discern any within it. + +For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, +until I realized that the reptiles, being deaf, could not +have been disturbed by the noise my body made when it hit +the water, and that as there is no such thing as time +within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had been +beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt +to figure out by earthly standards--this matter of elapsed +time--but when I set myself to it I began to realize +that I might have been submerged a second or a month +or not at all. You have no conception of the strange +contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all +methods of measuring time, as we know them upon earth, +are non-existent. + +I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had +saved me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic +powers of the Mahars filled me with apprehension lest +they be practicing their uncanny art upon me to the end +that I merely imagined that I was alone in the temple. +At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, +and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny +islands I was trembling like a leaf--you cannot imagine +the awful horror which even the simple thought of the +repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, +and to feel that you are in their power--that they +are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag you down +beneath the waters and devour you! It is frightful. + +But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion +that I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I +should be alone was the next question to assail me as I +swam frantically about once more in search of a means +to escape. + +Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left +after I tumbled into the tank, for I received no response +to my cries. Doubtless he had felt as certain of my doom +when he saw me topple from our hiding place as I had, +and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from +the temple and back to his village. + +I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside +the doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable +to believe that the thousands of slaves which were brought +here to feed the Mahars the human flesh they craved would +all be carried through the air, and so I continued my search +until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of several +loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple. + +A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough +of these stones to permit me to crawl through into +the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across +the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. + +Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses +beneath the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped +from the grinning fangs of death out of the depths of my +own grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden in this island jungle, +there could be none so fearsome as those which I had +just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely +enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast +or man--anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars. + + + +IX + +THE FACE OF DEATH + + +I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke +I was very hungry, and after busying myself searching +for fruit for a while, I set off through the jungle to +find the beach. I knew that the island was not so large +but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move +in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as there +was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, +the sun, of course, being always directly above my head, +and the trees so thickly set that I could see no distant +object which might serve to guide me in a straight line. + +As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I +ate four times and slept twice before I reached the sea, +but at last I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it +was greatly enhanced by the chance discovery of a hidden +canoe among the bushes through which I had stumbled just +prior to coming upon the beach. + +I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull +that awkward craft down to the water and shove it far +out from shore. My experience with Ja had taught me that +if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick about +it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible. + +I must have come out upon the opposite side of the +island from that at which Ja and I had entered it, +for the mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time I +paddled around the shore, though well out, before I saw +the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost +no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long +since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give myself +up that I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One. + +I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to +escape alone, especially in view of the fact that our +plans were already well formulated to make a break for +freedom together. Of course I realized that the chances +of the success of our proposed venture were slim indeed, +but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without +Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned +that the probability that I might find him was less than slight. + +Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my +strength and wit against the savage and primordial world +in which I found myself. I could have lived in seclusion +within some rocky cave until I had found the means to +outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, +and then set out in search of her whose image had now +become the constant companion of my waking hours, +and the central and beloved figure of my dreams. + +But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived +and it was my duty and wish to be again with him, that we +might share the dangers and vicissitudes of the strange +world we had discovered. And Ghak, too; the great, +shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, +for he was indeed every inch a man and king. +Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, too, if judged too harshly +by the standards of effete twentieth- century civilization, +but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable. + +Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I +had discovered Ja's canoe, and a short time later I +was scrambling up the steep bank to retrace my steps +from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles came when I +entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found +that several of them centered at the point where I +crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed +to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember. + +It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down +that which seemed the easiest going, and in this I made +the same mistake that many of us do in selecting the path +along which we shall follow out the course of our lives, +and again learned that it is not always best to follow +the line of least resistance. + +By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice +I was convinced that I was upon the wrong trail, +for between Phutra and the inland sea I had not slept +at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps +to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon +seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden +widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed +to suggest that it was about to open into a level country, +and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided +to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back. + +The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, +and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. +At my right the side of the canyon continued to the +water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot +of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed +a broad level beach. + +Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there +almost to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. +From the nature of the vegetation I was convinced that +the land between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, +though directly before me it seemed dry enough all the +way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters +advanced and retreated. + +Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, +for the scene was very beautiful. As I passed along +beside the deep and tangled vegetation of the swamp I +thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, +but though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, +and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate +the dense foliage to discern it. + +Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the +wide and lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no +human being had yet ventured, to discover what strange +and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its invisible +islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. +What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were +this very instant watching the lapping of the waves upon +its farther shore! How far did it extend? Perry had told +me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison +with those of the outer crust, but even so this great ocean +might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. +For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless +miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown +beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches. + +The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. +It was as though I had been carried back to the birth +time of our own outer world to look upon its lands and +seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was a +new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. +I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay +before us could Perry and I but escape the Mahars, +when something, a slight noise I imagine, drew my attention +behind me. + +As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the +abstract took wing before the terrible embodiment of all +three in concrete form that I beheld advancing upon me. + +A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the +mighty jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have +weighed tons, and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. +Upon one hand was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, +on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature +had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked sea, +and before me in the center of the narrow way that led +to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh. + +A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me +that I was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric +creatures whose fossilized remains are found within +the outer crust as far back as the Triassic formation, +a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, unarmed, and, +with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had come +into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor +felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered +for the first time the terrifying progenitor of the thing +that had me cornered now beside the restless, mysterious sea. + +Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been +within Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment +that he had handed down to me with the various attributes +that I presumed I have inherited from him, the specific +application of the instinct of self-preservation which saved +him from the fate which loomed so close before me today. + +To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been +similar to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon +the outside. The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive +with these mighty, carnivorous amphibians, and if not, +the individual that menaced me would pursue me into either +the sea or the swamp with equal facility. + +There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. +I thought of Perry--how he would wonder what had become of me. +I thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they +all would go on living their lives in total ignorance +of the strange and terrible fate that had overtaken me, +or unguessing the weird surroundings which had witnessed +the last frightful agony of my extinction. And with these +thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life +and happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. +We may be snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for +a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued voices. +The following morning, while the first worm is busily +engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, +they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more +acute sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, +to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon was coming +more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for me +was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, +fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of +my predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy +morsel which would so soon be pulp between those +formidable teeth? + +He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice +calling to me from the direction of the bluff at my left. +I looked and could have shouted in delight at the sight +that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving frantically +to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base. + +I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had +marked me for his breakfast, but at least I should not +die alone. Human eyes would watch me end. It was cold +comfort I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace +of mind from the contemplation of it. + +To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep +and unscalable cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I +saw Ja, agile as a monkey, crawl down the precipitous +face of the rocks, clinging to small projections, and the +tough creepers that had found root-hold here and there. + +The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming +to double his portion of human flesh, so he was in no +haste to pursue me to the cliff and frighten away this +other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along behind me. + +As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended +doing, but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. +He had come down to within twenty feet of the bottom, +and there, clinging with one hand to a small ledge, +and with his feet resting, precariously upon tiny bushes +that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered +the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet +above the ground. + +To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down +and precipitating both to the same doom from which the +copper-colored one was attempting to save me seemed +utterly impossible, and as I came near the spear I told +Ja so, and that I could not risk him to try to save myself. + +But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was +in no danger himself. + +"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you +move much more rapidly than you are now, the sithic +will be upon you and drag you back before ever you +are halfway up the spear--he can rear up and reach +you with ease anywhere below where I stand." + +Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I +grasped the spear and clambered up toward the red man +as rapidly as I could--being so far removed from my simian +ancestors as I am. I imagine the slow-witted sithic, +as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions and +that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead +of having it doubled as he had hoped. + +When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss +that fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me +at a terrific rate. I had reached the top of the spear +by this time, or almost; another six inches would give +me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench from +below and glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws +of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. + +I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic +gave a tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja +from his frail hold on the surface of the rock, +the spear slipped from his fingers, and still clinging +to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner. + +At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's +hand the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, +for when I came down, still clinging to the butt end +of the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth and the +result was that the sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw. + +With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. +I fell upon his snout, lost my hold upon the spear, +rolled the length of his face and head, across his +short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground. + +Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, +dashing madly for the path by which I had entered this +horrible valley. A glance over my shoulder showed me +the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear stuck through +his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in this +occupation that I had gained the safety of the cliff top +before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did +not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, +hissing into the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was +the last I saw of him. + + + +X + +PHUTRA AGAIN + + +I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him +to a secure footing. He would not listen to any thanks +for his attempt to save me, which had come so near miscarrying. + +"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the +Mahar temple," he said, "for not even I could save you from +their clutches, and you may imagine my surprise when on +seeing a canoe dragged up upon the beach of the mainland +I discovered your own footprints in the sand beside it. + +"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did +that you must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against +the many dangers which lurk upon the mainland both in the +form of savage beasts and reptiles, and men as well. +I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. +It is well that I arrived when I did." + +"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show +of friendship on the part of a man of another world +and a different race and color. + +"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it +became my duty to protect and befriend you. I would +have been no true Mezop had I evaded my plain duty; +but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. +I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall +become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best +of hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose +a mate from, the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. +Will you come?" + +I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, +and how my duty was to them first. Afterward I should +return and visit him--if I could ever find his island. + +"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely +to come to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains +of the Clouds. There you will find a river which flows +into the Lural Az. Directly opposite the mouth of the +river you will see three large islands far out, so far +that they are barely discernible, the one to the extreme +left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, +where I rule the tribe of Anoroc." + +"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. +"Men say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," +he replied. + +"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort +of theory these primitive men had concerning the form +and substance of their world. + +"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," +he answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, +we should fall back were we to travel far in any direction, +and all the waters of Pellucidar would run to one spot +and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite flat and extends +no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges, +so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, +is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from +escaping over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; +but I never have been so far from Anoroc as to have +seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite +reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there +is no reason at all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. +According to them Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite +side walk always with their heads pointed downward!" and Ja +laughed uproariously at the very thought. + +It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner +world had not advanced far in learning, and the thought +that the ugly Mahars had so outstripped them was a +very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many ages it +would take to lift these people out of their ignorance +even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. +Possibly we would be killed for our pains as were those +men of the outer world who dared challenge the dense +ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger days. +But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever +presented itself. + +And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity--that +I might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, +and thus note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. + +"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you +that in so far as the Mahars' theory of the shape +of Pellucidar is concerned it is correct?" + +"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, +or took me for one." + +"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect +how do you account for the fact that I was able to pass +through the earth from the outer crust to Pellucidar. +If your theory is correct all is a sea of flame beneath us, +where in no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a +great world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, +and birds, and fishes in mighty oceans." + +"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk +always with your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. +"And were I to believe that, my friend, I should indeed +be mad." + +I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, +and by the means of the dropped fruit to illustrate how +impossible it would be for a body to fall off the earth +under any circumstances. He listened so intently that I +thought I had made an impression, and started the train +of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding +of the truth. But I was mistaken. + +"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the +falsity of your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand +to the ground. "See," he said, "without support even this +tiny fruit falls until it strikes something that stops it. +If Pellucidar were not supported upon the flaming sea it too +would fall as the fruit falls--you have proven it yourself!" +He had me, that time--you could see it in his eye. + +It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, +for when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our +solar system and the universe I realized how futile it would +be to attempt to picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian +the sun, the moon, the planets, and the countless stars. +Those born within the inner world could no more conceive +of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce +to factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms +as space and eternity. + +"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet +up or down, here we are, and the question of greatest +importance is not so much where we came from as where we +are going now. For my part I wish that you could guide +me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars +once more that my friends and I may work out the plan +of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they +gathered us together and drove us to the arena to witness +the punishment of the slaves who killed the guardsman. +I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this +time my friends and I might have made good our escape, +whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans, +which depended for their consummation upon the continued +sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath +the building in which we were confined." + +"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja. + +"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I +have in Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I +do under the circumstances?" + +He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his +head sorrowfully. + +"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," +he said; "yet it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will +most certainly condemn you to death for running away, +and so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends +by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a +prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. +There are but few who escape them, though some do, +and these would rather die than be recaptured." + +"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure +you that I would rather go to Sheol after Perry +than to Phutra. However, Perry is much too pious +to make the probability at all great that I should +ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality." + +Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best +I could, he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming +sea upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried +in the ground go there. Piece by piece they are carried +down to Molop Az by the little demons who dwell there. +We know this because when graves are opened we find that +the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. +That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees +where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit +to the Dead World above the Land of Awful Shadow. +If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it +may go to Molop Az." + +As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down +which I had come to the great ocean and the sithic. +Ja did his best to dissuade me from returning to Phutra, +but when he saw that I was determined to do so, +he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see +the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance +was but short from the beach where I had again met Ja. +It was evident that I had spent much time following the +windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge +lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come +several times. + +As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers +dotting the flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final +effort to persuade me to abandon my mad purpose and +return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in my resolve, +and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind +that he was looking upon me for the last time. + +I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him +very much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island +of Anoroc as a base, and his savage warriors as escort +Perry and I could have accomplished much in the line +of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful +in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later. + +There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished +first--at least it was the great thing to me--the finding +of Dian the Beautiful. I wanted to make amends for the +affront I had put upon her in my ignorance, and I wanted +to--well, I wanted to see her again, and to be with her. + +Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field +of flowers, and then across the rolling land toward the +shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra. +At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance I was +discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four +of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me. + +Though they brandished their long spears and yelled +like wild Comanches I paid not the slightest attention +to them, walking quietly toward them as though unaware +of their existence. My manner had the effect upon them +that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they +ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they +had expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, +thus presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving +human target at which to cast their spears. + +"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, +"Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world--he +who escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. +But why do you return, having once made good your escape?" + +"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid +the thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage +I became confused and lost my way in the foothills +beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way back." + +"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" +exclaimed one of the guardsmen. + +"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger +within Pellucidar and know no other where than Phutra. +Why should I not desire to be in Phutra? Am I not well fed +and well treated? Am I not happy? What better lot could +man desire?" + +The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one +on them, and so being stupid brutes they took me to their +masters whom they felt would be better fitted to solve +the riddle of my return, for riddle they still considered it. + +I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose +of throwing them off the scent of my purposed attempt +at escape. If they thought that I was so satisfied +with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily return +when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, +they would never for an instant imagine that I could +be occupied in arranging another escape immediately +upon my return to the city. + +So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy +rock within the large room that was the thing's office. +With cold, reptilian eyes the creature seemed to bore through +the thin veneer of my deceit and read my inmost thoughts. +It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of my return +to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's lips and fingers +during the recital. Then it questioned me through one of +the Sagoths. + +"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, +because you think yourself better off here than elsewhere--do +you not know that you may be the next chosen to give up +your life in the interests of the wonderful scientific +investigations that our learned ones are continually +occupied with?" + +I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought +best not to admit it. + +"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked +and unarmed in the savage jungles or upon the lonely +plains of Pellucidar. I was fortunate, I think, to return +to Phutra at all. As it was I barely escaped death within +the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am sure that I am safer +in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule Phutra. +At least such would be the case in my own world, where human +beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races +of man extend protection and hospitality to the stranger +within their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally +assumed that a like courtesy would be accorded me." + +The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I +ceased speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words +to his master. The creature seemed deep in thought. +Presently he communicated some message to the Sagoth. +The latter turned, and motioning me to follow him, left the +presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me +marched the balance of the guard. + +"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow +at my right. + +"You are to appear before the learned ones who will +question you regarding this strange world from which you +say you come." + +After a moment's silence he turned to me again. + +"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars +do to slaves who lie to them?" + +"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have +no intention of lying to the Mahars." + +"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible +tale you told Sol-to-to just now--another world, indeed, +where human beings rule!" he concluded in fine scorn. + +"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then +did I come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half +an eye could see that." + +"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you +may not be judged by one with but half an eye." + +"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not +have a mind to believe me?" + +"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits +to be used in research work by the learned ones," +he replied. + +"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted. + +"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits +with them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge +does them but little good. It is said that the learned +ones cut up their subjects while they are yet alive, +thus learning many useful things. However I should not +imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was +being cut up; but of course this is all but conjecture. +The chances are that ere long you will know much +more about it than I," and he grinned as he spoke. +The Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor. + +"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?" + +"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time +that you escaped?" he said. + +"Yes. " + +"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was +intended for them," he explained, "though of course +the same kinds of animals might not be employed." + +"It is sure death in either event?" I asked. + +"What becomes of those who go below with the learned +ones I do not know, nor does any other," he replied; +"but those who go to the arena may come out alive and thus +regain their liberty, as did the two whom you saw." + +"They gained their liberty? And how?" + +"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who +remain alive within the arena after the beasts depart +or are killed. Thus it has happened that several mighty +warriors from far distant lands, whom we have captured +on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in upon +them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. +In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed +each other, but the result was the same--the man and woman +were liberated, furnished with weapons, and started +on their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder +of each a mark was burned--the mark of the Mahars--which +will forever protect these two from slaving parties." + +"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent +to the arena, and none at all if the learned ones drag +me to the pits?" + +"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate +yourself too quickly should you be sent to the arena, +for there is scarce one in a thousand who comes out alive." + +To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I +had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. +At the doorway I was turned over to the guards there. + +"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," +said he who had brought me back," so have him in readiness." + +The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing +that I had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently +felt that it would be safe to give me liberty within +the building as had been the custom before I had escaped, +and so I was told to return to whatever duty had been +mine formerly. + +My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring +as usual over the great tomes that he was supposed to be +merely dusting and rearranging upon new shelves. + +As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly +to me, only to resume his work as though I had never +been away at all. I was both astonished and hurt at +his indifference. And to think that I was risking death +to return to him purely from a sense of duty and affection! + +"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me +after my long absence?" + +"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. +"What do you mean?" + +"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you +have not missed me since that time we were separated +by the charging thag within the arena?" + +"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just +returned from the arena! You reached here almost +as soon as I. Had you been much later I should indeed +have been worried, and as it is I had intended +asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon +as I had completed the translation of this most +interesting passage." + +"Perry, you ARE mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows +how long I have been away. I have been to other lands, +discovered a new race of humans within Pellucidar, +seen the Mahars at their worship in their hidden temple, +and barely escaped with my life from them and from a +great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my +long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. +I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely +look up from your work when I return and insist that we +have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to treat +a friend? I'm surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought +for a moment that you cared no more for me than this I +should not have returned to chance death at the hands +of the Mahars for your sake." + +The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. +There was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, +and a look of hurt sorrow in his eyes. + +"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment +doubt my love for you? There is something strange here +that I cannot understand. I know that I am not mad, +and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in the +world are we to account for the strange hallucinations +that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage +of time since last we saw each other. You are positive +that months have gone by, while to me it seems equally +certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you +in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are +right and at the same time both are wrong? First tell me +what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. +Do you catch my meaning?" + +I didn't and said so. + +"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, +bent over my book here, there has been no lapse of time. +I have done little or nothing to waste my energies +and so have required neither food nor sleep, but you, +on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted strength +and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment +and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times +since last you saw me you naturally measure the lapse +of time largely by these acts. As a matter of fact, +David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there +is no such thing as time--surely there can be no time here +within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring +or recording time. Why, the Mahars themselves take +no account of such a thing as time. I find here in all +their literary works but a single tense, the present. +There seems to be neither past nor future with them. +Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly minds +to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem +to demonstrate its existence." + +It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry +seemed to enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, +and after listening with interest to my account of the +adventures through which I had passed he returned once more +to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with considerable +fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a Sagoth. + +"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. +"The investigators would speak with you." + +"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. +"There may be nothing but the present and no such thing +as time, but I feel that I am about to take a trip +into the hereafter from which I shall never return. +If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you to +promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell +her that with my last words I asked her forgiveness +for the unintentional affront I put upon her, and that my +one wish was to be spared long enough to right the wrong +that I had done her." + +Tears came to Perry's eyes. + +"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. +"It would be awful to think of living out the balance of my +life without you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. +If you are taken away I shall never escape, for I feel +that I am as well off here as I should be anywhere within +this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and then +his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face +in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly +by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber. + + + +XI + +FOUR DEAD MAHARS + + +A moment later I was standing before a dozen +Mahars--the social investigators of Phutra. They asked +me many questions, through a Sagoth interpreter. +I answered them all truthfully. They seemed particularly +interested in my account of the outer earth and the strange +vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. +I thought that I had convinced them, and after they had +sat in silence for a long time following my examination, +I expected to be ordered returned to my quarters. + +During this apparent silence they were debating through +the medium of strange, unspoken language the merits of +my tale. At last the head of the tribunal communicated +the result of their conference to the officer in charge +of the Sagoth guard. + +"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the +experimental pits for having dared to insult the +intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous +tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them." + +"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, +totally astonished. + +"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you +expected any one to believe so impossible a lie?" + +It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my +guard down through the dark corridors and runways toward +my awful doom. At a low level we came upon a number +of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engaged +in various occupations. To one of these chambers my guard +escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a +side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. +Upon a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered +into the room. Several Mahars stood about the poor +creature holding him down so that he could not move. +Another, grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed +fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. +No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks +and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. +This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance. +Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that soon my turn +would come. And to think that where there was no such +thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering +was enduring for months before death finally released me! + +The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me +as I had been brought into the room. So deeply immersed +were they in their work that I am sure they did +not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me. +The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! +But those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. +I looked about for some means of escape from my bonds. +Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay a tiny +surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. +It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, +and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood +days had I picked locks with a buttonhook. Could I but +reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect +at least a temporary escape. + +Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by +reaching one hand as far out as I could my fingers +still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument. +It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being +as I would, I could not quite make it. + +At last I turned about and extended one foot toward +the object. My heart came to my throat! I could just +touch the thing! But suppose that in my effort to drag it +toward me I should accidentally shove it still farther +away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold sweat broke +out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I +made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. +Gradually I worked it toward me until I felt that it was +within reach of my hand and a moment later I had turned +about and the precious thing was in my grasp. + +Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held +my chain. It was pitifully simple. A child might have +picked it, and a moment later I was free. The Mahars +were now evidently completing their work at the table. +One already turned away and was examining other victims, +evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject. + +Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the +creature walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. +Slowly the thing approached me, when its attention was +attracted by a huge slave chained a few yards to my right. +Here the reptile stopped and commenced to go over the poor +devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned toward me +for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps +that carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, +down which I raced with all the speed I could command. + +Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. +My only thought was to place as much distance as possible +between me and that frightful chamber of torture. + +Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later +realizing the danger of running into some new predicament, +were I not careful, I moved still more slowly and cautiously. +After a time I came to a passage that seemed in some +mysterious way familiar to me, and presently, chancing to +glance within a chamber which led from the corridor I saw +three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins. +I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was +the same corridor and the same Mahars that I had intended +to have lead so important a role in our escape from Phutra. +Providence had indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles +still slept. + +My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper +levels in search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing +else to be done, and so I hastened upward. When I came +to the frequented portions of the building, I found a large +burden of skins in a corner and these I lifted to my head, +carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell +down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. +Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the +chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep. + +Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of +course they had known nothing of the fate that had been +meted out to me by my judges. It was decided that no time +should now be lost before attempting to put our plan of +escape to the test, as I could not hope to remain hidden +from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that bale +of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. +However it seemed likely that it would carry me once +more safely through the crowded passages and chambers +of the upper levels, and so I set out with Perry and +Ghak--the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking me. + +Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath +the main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak +halted to await me. The buildings are cut out of the solid +limestone formation. There is nothing at all remarkable about +their architecture. The rooms are sometimes rectangular, +sometimes circular, and again oval in shape. The corridors +which connect them are narrow and not always straight. +The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected +through tubes similar to those by which the avenues +are lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. +Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars +can see quite well in semidarkness. + +Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, +Sagoths, and slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we +had become a part of the domestic life of the building. +There was but a single entrance leading from the place +into the avenue and this was well guarded by Sagoths--this +doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true +that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors +and apartments except on special occasions when we were +instructed to do so; but as we were considered a lower +order without intelligence there was little reason +to fear that we could accomplish any harm by so doing, +and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor +which led below. + +Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, +and the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. +As many slaves bore skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load +attracted no comment. Where I left Ghak and Perry there +were no other creatures in sight, and so I withdrew one sword +from the package, and leaving the balance of the weapons +with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels. + +Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept +I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures +were without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust +through the heart I disposed of the first but my second +thrust was not so fortunate, so that before I could kill +the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the third, +who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. +But fighting is not the occupation which the race +of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already +had dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword +was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me. +But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, +half flying, it scurried down another corridor with me +close upon its heels. + +Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all +probability my instant death. This thought lent wings +to my feet; but even at my best I could do no more than +hold my own with the leaping thing before me. + +Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right +of the corridor, and an instant later as I rushed +in I found myself facing two of the Mahars. The one +who had been there when we entered had been occupied +with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put +powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks +standing about upon the bench where it had been working. +In an instant I realized what I had stumbled upon. +It was the very room for the finding of which Perry had +given me minute directions. It was the buried chamber +in which was hidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. +And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin-bound book +which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought, +after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep. + +There was no exit from the room other than the doorway +in which I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. +Cornered, I knew that they would fight like demons, +and they were well equipped to fight if fight they must. +Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ran +one of them through the heart on the instant, the other +fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above +the elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake +me about the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. +I saw that it was useless to hope that I might release +my arm from that powerful, viselike grip which seemed +to be severing my arm from my body. The pain I suffered +was intense, but it only served to spur me to greater +efforts to overcome my antagonist. + +Back and forth across the floor we struggled--the Mahar +dealing me terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, +while I attempted to protect my body with my left hand, +at the same time watching for an opportunity to transfer +my blade from my now useless sword hand to its rapidly +weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with what +seemed to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade +through the ugly body of my foe. + +Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from +pain and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant +pride that I stepped across its convulsively stiffening +corpse to snatch up the most potent secret of a world. +A single glance assured me it was the very thing that +Perry had described to me. + +And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the +human race of Pellucidar--did there flash through my +mind the thought that countless generations of my own +kind yet unborn would have reason to worship me for the +thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. +I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of +limpid eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. +I thought of red, red lips, God-made for kissing. +And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, standing there +alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, +I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful. + + + +XII + +PURSUIT + + +For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, +with a sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported +my loin cloth, and turned to leave the apartment. +At the bottom of the corridor which leads aloft from +the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the +prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak +that I had been successful. A moment later they stood +beside me, and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly +One accompanied them. + +"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. +The fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than +be thwarted of our chance now I told him that I would +bring him to you, and let you decide whether he might +accompany us." + +I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. +I was sure that if he thought it would profit him he would +betray us; but I saw no way out of it now, and the fact +that I had killed four Mahars instead of only the three I +had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow +in our scheme of escape. + +"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at +the first intimation of treachery I shall run my sword +through you. Do you understand?" + +He said that he did. + +Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, +and so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves +that there seemed an excellent chance for us to pass +unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an easy thing to fasten +the hides together where we had split them along the belly +to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining +out until the others had all been sewed in with my help, +and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's +skin through which he could pass his hands to sew me up, +we were enabled to accomplish our design to really much +better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the +heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, +and by the same means were enabled to move them about in +a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty with +the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, +so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. +Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our +heads were thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide +our progress. + +Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. +Ghak headed the strange procession, then came Perry, +followed by Hooja, while I brought up the rear, +after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged my sword +that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into +his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering. + +As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were +entering the busy corridors of the main level, my heart +came up into my mouth. It is with no sense of shame that I +admit that I was frightened--never before in my life, +nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearing +fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible +to sweat blood, I sweat it then. + +Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to +the Mahars, when they are not using their wings, we crept +through throngs of busy slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. +After what seemed an eternity we reached the outer door +which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths +loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he +padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. +Now it was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing +terror I realized that the warm blood from my wounded arm +was trickling down through the dead foot of the Mahar skin +I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, +for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's attention to it. + +The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding +foot spoke to me in the sign language which these two +races employ as a means of communication. Even had I +known what he was saying I could not have replied +with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen +a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. +It seemed my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in +my tracks I moved my sword so that it made the dead head +appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the gorilla-man. For +a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow +with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started +slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, +but before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, +and I passed on out into the avenue. + +On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe +for the very numbers of our enemies that surrounded us +on all sides. Fortunately, there was a great concourse +of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake which lies a mile +or more from the city. They go there to indulge their +amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying +the cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, +shallow, and free from the larger reptiles which make the use +of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their +own kind. + +In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out +onto the plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the +stream that was traveling toward the lake, but finally, +at the bottom of a little gully he halted, and there we +remained until all had passed and we were alone. Then, +still in our disguises, we set off directly away from Phutra. + +The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast +making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that after +passing a low divide, and entering a sheltering forest, +we finally discarded the Mahar skins that had brought +us thus far in safety. + +I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter +and galling flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until +we dropped in our tracks. How we were beset by strange +and terrible beasts. How we barely escaped the cruel fangs +of lions and tigers the size of which would dwarf into +pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the outer world. + +On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much +distance between ourselves and Phutra as possible. +Ghak was leading us to his own land--the land of Sari. +No sign of pursuit had developed, and yet we were sure +that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were dogging +our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down +their quarry until they had captured it or themselves been +turned back by a superior force. + +Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe +which was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness +to beat off any number of Sagoths. + +At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, +have been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment +which buttressed the foothills of Sari. At almost +the same instant, Hooja, who looked ever quite as much +behind as before, announced that he could see a body +of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. +It was the long-expected pursuit. + +I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them. + +"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the +Sagoths can move with incredible swiftness, and as they +are almost tireless they are doubtless much fresher +than we. Then--" he paused, glancing at Perry. + +I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. +For much of the period of our flight either Ghak or I had +half supported him on the march. With such a handicap, +less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths might easily +overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights +which confronted us. + +"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make +it if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, +and there is no reason why all should be lost because +of that. It can't be helped--we have simply to face it." + +"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. +I hadn't known that this great, hairy, primeval man had +any such nobility of character stowed away inside him. +I had always liked him, but now to my liking was added honor +and respect. Yes, and love. + +But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he +could reach his people he might be able to bring out +a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue +Perry and myself. + +No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, +but he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn +the Sarians of the king's danger. It didn't require much +urging to start Hooja--the naked idea was enough to send +him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which we +now had reached. + +Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine +and the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, +although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish +of terror at the thought of falling into the hands of +the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, in part, +by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. +While the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel +faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling +old man. + + + +XIII + +THE SLY ONE + + +The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they +had sighted us they had greatly increased their speed. +On and on we stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghak had +chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On either side +rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock, +while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft +and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we +had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing +to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would +reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them +before we should be overtaken. + +Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might +betoken the success of Hooja's mission. By now he +should have reached the outposts of the Sarians, and we +should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen +as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal +for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead +should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing +of the kind happened--as a matter of fact the Sly One +had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to see +Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back, +the craven traitor was sneaking around the outskirts +of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up +from the other side when it was too late to save us, +claiming that he had become lost among the mountains. + +Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow +I had struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit +was equal to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me. + +As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing +Sarians appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, +and presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit +fell upon our ears, he called to me over his shoulder +that we were lost. + +A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of +the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable stretch +of canyon through which we had just passed, and then +a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view; +but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind +us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us. + +Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the +right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from +the general direction, so that appeared more like the main +canyon than the lefthand branch. The Sagoths were now +not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw +that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than +by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, +and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. + +Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove +into sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend +in the left-hand canyon, and as the Sagoth's savage +yell announced that he had seen me I turned and fled +up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, +and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after +me up one canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other. + +Running has never been my particular athletic forte, +and now when my very life depended upon fleetness of foot +I cannot say that I ran any better than on the occasions +when my pitiful base running had called down upon my head +the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice Wagon," +and "Call a cab." + +The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was +one in particular, fleeter than his fellows, who was +perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit, +rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a pass +between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could +not even guess--possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet +into the corresponding valley upon the other side. +Could it be that I had plunged into a cul-de-sac? + +Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths +to the top of the canyon I had determined to risk all +in an attempt to check them temporarily, and to this +end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked an arrow +from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder. +As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped +and wheeled toward the gorilla-man. + +In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, +but since our escape from Phutra I had kept the party +supplied with small game by means of my arrows, and so, +through necessity, had developed a fair degree of accuracy. +During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my bow with a piece +of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I had +worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. +The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this, +with the strength and elasticity of my new string, +gave me unwonted confidence in my weapon. + +Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never +were my nerves and muscles under better control. +I sighted as carefully and deliberately as though at +a straw target. The Sagoth had never before seen a bow +and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull +intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort +of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt, +simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw. +It is one of the many methods in which they employ +this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, +even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little +short of miraculous. + +My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered +its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; +and then he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. +At the instant that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, +but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his attack +with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet +at it grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft +pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan +he lunged almost at my feet--stone dead. Close behind +him were two more--fifty yards perhaps--but the distance +gave me time to snatch up the dead guardsman's shield, +for the close call his hatchet had just given me had borne +in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I +had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along +because their size precluded our concealing them within +the skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from +the city. + +With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly +with another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, +and then as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught +it upon the shield, and fitted another shaft for him; +but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned and +retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he +had seen enough of me for the moment. + +Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths +apparently overanxious to press their pursuit so closely +as before. Unmolested I reached the top of the canyon +where I found a sheer drop of two or three hundred feet +to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a narrow +ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. +Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, +a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened, +and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave. +Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight +about another projecting buttress of the mountain. + +Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single +foeman could advance upon me at a time, nor could he know +that I was awaiting him until he came full upon me around +the corner of the turn. About me lay scattered stones +crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various +sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions +for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. +Gathering a number of stones into a little pile beside +the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of the Sagoths. + +As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the +first faint sound that should announce the approach +of my enemies, a slight noise from within the cave's +black depths attracted my attention. It might have +been produced by the moving of the great body of some +huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. +At almost the same instant I thought that I caught the +scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the turn. +For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided. + +And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two +flaming eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level +that was over two feet above my head. It is true that the +beast who owned them might be standing upon a ledge within +the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs; +but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know +that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose +dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before. + +Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance +of the cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low +and ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession +of the ledge with the thing which owned that voice. +The noise had not been loud--I doubt if the Sagoths heard +it at all--but the suggestion of latent possibilities +behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate +from a gigantic and ferocious beast. + +As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth +of the cave, where I no longer could see those fearful +flaming eyes, but an instant later I caught sight of the +fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond +the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. +As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, +and after him came as many of his companions as could +crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast +emerged from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came +face to face upon that narrow ledge. + +The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal +bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip +of its nose to the end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve +feet in length. As it sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most +frightful roar, and with open mouth charged full upon them. +With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man turned to escape, +but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing companions. + +The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. +The Sagoth nearest the cave bear, finding his escape +blocked, turned and leaped deliberately to an awful +death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet below. +Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the +next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, +and the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. +Nor did the mighty beast even pause in his steady advance +along the ledge. + +Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice +to escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still +pursuing the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. +For a long time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute +intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims, +until finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared +in the distance. + +Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his +tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me, +that the ryth, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths until +it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was, of course, +positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature, +which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts. + +Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I +might fall prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I +continued on along the ledge, believing that by following +around the mountain I could reach the land of Sari from +another direction. But I evidently became confused by the +twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did +not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a long time thereafter. + + + +XIV + +THE GARDEN OF EDEN + + +With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused +and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. +What, in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them +and come out above the valley upon the farther side. +I know that I wandered for a long time, until tired and +hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone +formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back. + +The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous +side of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I +knew no extremely formidable beast could frequent it, +nor was it large enough to make a comfortable habitat +for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet it +was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its +dark interior. + +Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a +narrow cleft in the rock above which let the sunlight +filter in in sufficient quantities partially to dispel +the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave was +entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been +recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small, +so that after considerable effort I was able to lug +up a bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it. + +Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses +and on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over +an orthopi, the diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little +animal about the size of a fox terrier, which abounds +in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food +and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal +of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed, +I dragged the bowlder before the entrance and curled +myself upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval, cave man, +as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors. + +I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside +crawled out upon the little rocky shelf which was my +front porch. Before me spread a small but beautiful valley, +through the center of which a clear and sparkling river +wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters +of which were just visible between the two mountain ranges +which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the +opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest +clothed them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper +green of the towering crags which formed their summit. +The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, +while here and there patches of wild flowers made great +splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green. + +Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters +of palmlike trees--three or four together as a rule. +Beneath these stood antelope, while others grazed in the open, +or wandered gracefully to a near-by ford to drink. +There were several species of this beautiful animal, +the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland +of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete +curve backward over their ears and then forward again +beneath them, ending in sharp and formidable points +some two feet before the face and above the eyes. +In size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, +yet they are very agile and fast. The broad yellow bands +that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take +them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they +are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch +to the strange and lovely landscape that spread before my +new home. + +I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, +and with it as a base make a systematic exploration +of the surrounding country in search of the land +of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass +of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. +Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back +of my cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door, +and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down +into the peaceful valley. + +The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, +the little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and +galloping to safest distances. All the animals stopped +feeding as I approached, and after moving to what they +considered a safe distance stood contemplating me with +serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull +antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and +bellowed angrily--even taking a few steps in my direction, +so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed, +he resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him. + +Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, +and across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous +double-horned progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. +At the valley's end the cliffs upon the left ran +out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I +desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search +of a ledge along which I might continue my journey. +Some fifty feet from the base I came upon a projection +which formed a natural path along the face of the cliff, +and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end. + +Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top +of the cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having +been forced up at this steep angle when the mountains +behind it were born. As I climbed carefully up the ascent +my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by the sound +of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings. + +And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision +the most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. +It was a giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends +and fairy tales of earth folk. Its huge body must have +measured forty feet in length, while the batlike wings +that supported it in midair had a spread of fully thirty. +Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, +and its claw equipped with horrible talons. + +The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention +was issuing from its throat, and seemed to be directed +at something beyond and below me which I could not see. +The ledge upon which I stood terminated abruptly a few +paces farther on, and as I reached the end I saw the cause +of the reptile's agitation. + +Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault +at this point, so that beyond the spot where I stood +the strata had slipped down a matter of twenty feet. +The result was that the continuation of my ledge lay twenty +feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did the end +upon which I stood. + +And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable +break in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's +attack--a girl cowering upon the narrow platform, +her face buried in her arms, as though to shut out the +sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her. + +The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart +in upon its prey. There was no time to be lost, +scarce an instant in which to weigh the possible +chances that I had against the awfully armed creature; +but the sight of that frightened girl below me called +out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for +protection of the other sex, which nearly must have +equaled the instinct of self-preservation in primeval man, +drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet. + +Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from +the end of the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny +shelf twenty feet below. At the same instant the dragon +darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent upon the +scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, +and then rose above us once more. + +The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl +that the end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; +but finally when no cruel fangs closed upon her she +raised her eyes in astonishment. As they fell upon me +the expression that came into them would be difficult +to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been +one whit more complicated than my own--for the wide eyes +that looked into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful. + +"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time." + +"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; +nor could I tell whether she were glad or angry that I +had come. + +Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly +that I had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could +do was to snatch up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's +hideous face. Again my aim was true, and with a hiss +of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and soared away. + +Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready +at the next attack, and as I did so I looked down at +the girl, so that I surprised her in a surreptitious +glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately, +she again covered her face with her hands. + +"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?" + +She looked straight into my eyes. + +"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg +for a fair hearing she pointed over my shoulder. +"The thipdar comes," she said, and I turned again to meet +the reptile. + +So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel +bloodhound of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl +of the outer world. But this time I met it with a weapon it +never had faced before. I had selected my longest arrow, +and with all my strength had bent the bow until the very +tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand, +and then as the great creature darted toward us I let +drive straight for that tough breast. + +Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, +the mighty creature fell turning and twisting into the +sea below, my arrow buried completely in its carcass. +I turned toward the girl. She was looking past me. +It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die. + +"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry +that I have found you?" + +"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined +that there was less vehemence in it than before--yet +it might have been but my imagination. + +"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not +answer me. + +"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened +to you since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?" + +At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, +but finally she thought better of it. + +"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," +she said. "After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way +alone back to my own land; but on account of Jubal I did +not dare enter the villages or let any of my friends know +that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out. +By watching for a long time I found that my brother +had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a +cave beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, +awaiting the time that he should come back and free me +from Jubal. + +"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping +toward my father's cave to see if my brother had yet +returned and he gave the alarm and Jubal set out after me. +He has been pursuing me across many lands. He cannot +be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you +and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man. +I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape," +and she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge +twenty feet above us. + +"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, +with great vehemence. "The sea is there"--she pointed over +the edge of the cliff--"and the sea shall have me rather than Jubal." + +"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, +nor any other have you, for you are mine," and I seized +her hand, nor did I lift it above her head and let it fall +in token of release. + +She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight +into my eyes with level gaze. + +"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it +you would have done this when the others were present +to witness it--then I should truly have been your mate; +now there is no one to see you do it, for you know that +without witnesses your act does not bind you to me," +and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away. + +I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she +simply couldn't forget the humiliation that I had put +upon her on that other occasion. + +"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to +prove it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. +I am in your power, and the treatment you accord me +will be the best proof of your intentions toward me. +I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I hate you, +and that I should be glad if I never saw you again." + +Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. +In fact I found candor and directness to be quite +a marked characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar. +Finally I suggested that we make some attempt to gain +my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, +for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire +to meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose +mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first met her. +He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and killed +a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who +could cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass +of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who had crushed +the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of his +war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it +was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him; +but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, +as is often the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face +to face. + +This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along +the ledge the way she had come, searching for a path +that would lead us to the top of the cliff, for I knew +that we could then cross over to the edge of my own +little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means +of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along +the ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my +cave against the chance of something happening to me. +I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away +from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair, +and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance. + +Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. +My heart was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel +badly by suggesting that something terrible might happen +to me--that I might, in fact, be killed. But it didn't +work worth a cent, at least as far as I could perceive. +Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers, +and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of +trouble so easily as that. + +For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. +And to think that I had twice protected her from +attack--the last time risking my life to save hers. +It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age +could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her heart +partook of the qualities of her epoch. + +Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened +and extended by the action of the water draining through it +from the plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb +to the summit, but finally we stood upon the level mesa +which stretched back for several miles to the mountain range. +Behind us lay the broad inland sea, curving upward in the +horizonless distance to merge into the blue of the sky, +so that for all the world it looked as though the sea +lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond +the distant mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny +aspect of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description. + +At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country +was open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. +It was in this direction that our way led, and we had +turned to resume our journey when Dian touched my arm. +I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make +peace overtures; but I was mistaken. + +"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest. + +I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, +came a perfect whale of a man. He must have been seven +feet tall, and proportioned accordingly. He still was +too far off to distinguish his features. + +"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get +a good start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten +entirely away," and then, without a backward glance, +I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had hoped that Dian +would have a kind word to say to me before she went, +for she must have known that I was going to my death +for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me +good-bye, and it was with a heavy heart that I strode +through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom. + +When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish +his features I understood how it was that he had earned +the sobriquet of Ugly One. Apparently some fearful +beast had ripped away one entire side of his face. +The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that +his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning +through the horrible scar. + +Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others +of his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible +result of this encounter had tended to sour an already +strong and brutal character. However this may be it +is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now +that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted +in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was +indeed most terrible to see--and much more terrible to meet. + +He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he +raised his mighty spear, while I halted and fitting +an arrow to my bow took as steady aim as I could. +I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that +the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves +to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. +What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom +even the fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I +hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth +singlehanded! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself, +my fear was more for Dian than for my own fate. + +And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped +spear, and I raised my shield to break the force of its +terrific velocity. The impact hurled me to my knees, +but the shield had deflected the missile and I was unscathed. +Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only remaining +weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife. +He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive +at him as he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced +the fleshy part of his thigh, inflicting a painful +but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me. + +My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath +his raised arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he +found a sword's point in his face. And a moment later he +felt an inch or two of it in the muscles of his knife arm, +so that thereafter he went more warily. + +It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man maneuvering +to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant +thews to play, while my wits were directed to the task +of keeping him at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, +and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield. +Each time my sword found his body--once penetrating +to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time, +and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing +that brought the red stream through the hideous mouth +and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth. +He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead. + +As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, +to be perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive +the first rush of that monstrous engine of ungoverned +rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from utter +contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, +and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed +the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master, +and was facing his end. + +At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can +account for his next act, which was in the nature of a last +resort--a sort of forlorn hope, which could only have been +born of the belief that if he did not kill me quickly +I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his +fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife, +he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both +his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as +from a babe. + +Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just +an instant glaring into my face with such a horrid leer +of malignant triumph as to almost unnerve me--then he +sprang for me with his bare hands. But it was Jubal's +day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time +he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel +had he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man +who knows may do with his bare fists. + +As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again +beneath his outstretched arm, and as I came up planted +as clean a blow upon his jaw as ever you have seen. +Down went that great mountain of flesh sprawling upon +the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay there +for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, +and I stood over him with another dose ready when he +should gain his knees. + +Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; +but he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the +point of the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. +By this time I think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane +man would have come back for more as many times as he did. +Time after time I bowled him over as fast as he could +stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the +ground between blows, and each time came up weaker than before. + +He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, +and presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him +reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still, +and somehow I knew at once that Jubal the Ugly One would +never get up again. But even as I looked upon that massive +body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could +not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer +of fearful beasts--this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age. + +Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on +the dead body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle +I had just fought and won a great idea was born in my +brain--the outcome of this and the suggestion that Perry +had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science +could render a comparative pygmy the master of this +mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish +with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would +be at their feet--and I would be their king and Dian their queen. + +Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite +within the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even +were I king. She was quite the most superior person I +ever had met--with the most convincing way of letting you +know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the cave, +and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she +might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her +of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave +easily--it would be terrible had I lost her again, and I +turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, +when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces +behind me. + +"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought +that you had gone to the cave, as I told you to do." + +Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took +all the majesty out of me, and left me feeling more +like the palace janitor--if palaces have janitors. + +"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. +"I do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, +and furthermore, I hate you." + +I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving +her from Jubal! I turned and looked at the corpse. +"May be that I saved you from a worse fate, old man," +I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never +seemed to notice it at all. + +"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry." + +She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. +I was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse +with the lower orders. I was mad all the way through, +as I had certainly felt that at least a word of thanks should +have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own standards, +I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed +the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter. + +We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went +down into the valley and bowled over a small antelope, +which I dragged up the steep ascent to the ledge before +the door. Here we ate in silence. Occasionally I glanced +at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing at raw +flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal +would cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; +but to my surprise I found that she ate quite as daintily +as the most civilized woman of my acquaintance, and finally +I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at the beauties +of her strong, white teeth. Such is love. + +After our repast we went down to the river together +and bathed our hands and faces, and then after drinking +our fill went back to the cave. Without a word I crawled +into the farthest corner and, curling up, was soon asleep. + +When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out +across the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let +me pass, but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, +but I couldn't. Every time I looked at her something came +up in my throat, so that I nearly choked. I had never been +in love before, but I did not need any aid in diagnosing +my case--I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I +loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl! + +After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended +returning to her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she +shook her head sadly, and said that she did not dare, +for there was still Jubal's brother to be considered--his +oldest brother. + +"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, +or has the option on you become a family heirloom, +to be passed on down from generation to generation?" + +She was not quite sure as to what I meant. + +"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge +for the death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven +terrible men. Someone may have to kill them all, +if I am to return to my people." + +It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much +too large for me--about seven sizes, in fact. + +"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well +to know the worst at once. + +"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get +none for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away +from him--some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs +of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than mate with the Ugly One." + +"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked. + +"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, +with a look of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt +seemed to be laid on a little thicker than the circumstance +warranted--as though to make quite certain that I shouldn't +overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a younger brother +may not take a mate until all his older brothers have +done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, +which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as he +kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding +him to secure a mate." + +Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I +began to entertain hopes that she might be warming up +toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread +I hung my hopes I soon discovered. + +"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is +to become of you since you cannot be happy here with me, +hating me as you do?" + +"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, +"until you see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, +then I shall get along very well alone." + +I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed +incredible that even a prehistoric woman could +be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then I arose. + +"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite +enough of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I +turned and strode majestically down toward the valley. +I had taken a hundred steps in absolute silence, and then +Dian spoke. + +"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, +I thought. + +I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far +when I began to realize that I couldn't leave her alone +there without protection, to hunt her own food amid +the dangers of that savage world. She might hate me, +and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, +as she already had, until I should have hated her; +but the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I +couldn't leave her there alone. + +The more I thought about it the madder I got, +so that by the time I reached the valley I was furious, +and the result of it was that I turned right around +and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come down. +I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, +but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her +face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. +When she heard me enter she sprang to her feet like +a tigress. + +"I hate you!" she cried. + +Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into +the semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, +and I was rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate +that I should have read there. + +I never said a word to her at first. I just strode +across the cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when +she struggled, I put my arm around her so as to pinion her +hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, but I took +my free hand and pushed her head back--I imagine that I +had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand +million years, and was again a veritable cave man taking +my mate by force--and then I kissed that beautiful mouth +again and again. + +"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. +Can't you understand that I love you? That I love you +better than all else in this world or my own? That I am +going to have you? That love like mine cannot be denied?" + +I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, +and as my eyes became accustomed to the light I saw +that she was smiling--a very contented, happy smile. +I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently, +she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my +grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came +up and stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down +to hers once more and held them there for a long time. +At last she spoke. + +"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been +waiting so long." + +"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!" + +"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I +loved you before I knew that you loved me?" she asked. + +"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. +"Love speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made +your mouth say what you wished it to say, but just now +when you came and took me in your arms your heart spoke +to mine in the language that a woman's heart understands. +What a silly man you are, David?" + +"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked. + +"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the +first moment that I saw you, although I did not know +it until that time you struck down Hooja the Sly One, +and then spurned me." + +"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know +your ways--I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible +that you could have reviled me so, and yet have cared +for me all the time." + +"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away +from you that it was not hate which chained me to you. +While you were battling with Jubal, I could have run +to the edge of the forest, and when I learned the outcome +of the combat it would have been a simple thing to have +eluded you and returned to my own people." + +"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, +"how about them?" + +She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder. + +"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. +"I must needs have SOME excuse for remaining near you." + +"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused +me all this anguish for nothing!" + +"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I +thought that you did not love me, and I was helpless. +I couldn't come to you and demand that my love be returned, +as you have just come to me. Just now when you went away +hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, miserable, +and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done +that before since my mother died," and now I saw that there +was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was near +to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor +child had been through. Motherless and unprotected; +hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous +brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless +fearsome denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its +jungles--it was a miracle that she had survived it all. + +To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears +must have endured that the human race of the outer +crust might survive. It made me very proud to think +that I had won the love of such a woman. Of course +she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured +or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; +but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, +for she was good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. +And she was all these things in spite of the fact +that their observance entailed suffering and danger +and possible death. + +How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal +in the first place! She would have been his lawful mate. +She would have been queen in her own land--and it meant +just as much to the cave woman to be a queen in the Stone +Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen now; +it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, +and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer +crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory +to be the wife a Dahomey chief. + +I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that +of a splendid young woman I had known in New York--I +mean splendid to look at and to talk to. She had been +head over heels in love with a chum of mine--a clean, +manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, disreputable +old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky +little European principality that was not even accorded +a distinctive color by Rand McNally. + +Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian. + +After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious +to see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. +I had told Dian about our plan of emancipating the human +race of Pellucidar, and she was fairly wild over it. +She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only return he +could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak +could form an alliance. That would give us a flying start, +for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. +Once they had been armed with swords, and bows and arrows, +and trained in their use we were confident that they +could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join +the great army of federated states with which we were +planning to march upon the Mahars. + +I explained the various destructive engines of war +which Perry and I could construct after a little +experimentation--gunpowder, rifles, cannon, and the like, +and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms about my neck, +and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was beginning +to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't +done anything but talk--but that is the way with women +when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was +one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, +he would have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag. + +The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest +of poisonous vipers before we reached the valley. +A little fellow stung me on the ankle, and Dian made me +come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't exercise, +or it might prove fatal--if it had been a full-grown +snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved +a single pace from the nest--I'd have died in my tracks, +so virulent is the poison. As it was I must have been laid +up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of herbs +and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out +the poison. + +The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave +me an idea which added a thousand-fold to the value +of my arrows as missiles of offense and defense. +As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out +some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, +and having killed them, I extracted their virus, +smearing it upon the tips of several arrows. Later I +shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my arrow +inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast +crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit. + +We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, +and it was with feelings of sincere regret that we bade +good-bye to our beautiful Garden of Eden, in the comparative +peace and harmony of which we had lived the happiest moments +of our lives. How long we had been there I did not know, +for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me +beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may have been an hour, +or a month of earthly time; I do not know. + + + +XV + +BACK TO EARTH + + +We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, +and finally we came out upon a great level plain which +stretched away as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell +you in what direction it stretched even if you would care +to know, for all the while that I was within Pellucidar +I never discovered any but local methods of indicating +direction--there is no north, no south, no east, no west. +UP is about the only direction which is well defined, +and that, of course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust. +Since the sun neither rises nor sets there is no method +of indicating direction beyond visible objects such as +high mountains, forests, lakes, and seas. + +The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank +the Darel Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains +of the Clouds is about as near to any direction as any +Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not to have heard +of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountains +of the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, +and long for the good old understandable northeast +and southwest of the outer world. + +We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered +two enormous animals approaching us from a great distance. +So far were they that we could not distinguish what manner +of beasts they might be, but as they came closer, I saw that +they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long, +with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks. +Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground. +The beasts moved very slowly--that is their action was +slow--but their strides covered such a great distance +that in reality they traveled considerably faster than +a man walks. + +As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back +of each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, +though she never before had seen one. + +"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. +"Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. +The Thorians alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride +the lidi, for nowhere else than beside the dark country +are they found." + +"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked. + +"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," +replied Dian; "the Dead World which hangs forever between +the sun and Pellucidar above the Land of Awful Shadow. +It is the Dead World which makes the great shadow upon this +portion of Pellucidar." + +I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I +sure that I do yet, for I have never been to that part +of Pellucidar from which the Dead World is visible; +but Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar--a tiny +planet within a planet--and that it revolves around +the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus +is always above the same spot within Pellucidar. + +I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told +him about this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it +explained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation +and the precession of the equinoxes. + +When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us +we saw that one was a man and the other a woman. +The former had held up his two hands, palms toward us, +in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, +when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, +and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, +throwing his arms about her. + +In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for +an instant; since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, +telling him that I was David, her mate. + +"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," +she said to me. + +It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had +found none to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on +until he had come to the land of the Thoria, and there +he had found and fought for this very lovely Thorian +maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people. + +When they had heard our story and our plans they decided +to accompany us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come +to an agreement relative to an alliance, as Dacor was +quite as enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation +of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I. + +After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, +we came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists +of between one and two hundred artificial caves cut into +the face of a great cliff. Here to our immense delight, +we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was quite +overcome at sight of me for he had long since given me +up as dead. + +When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know +what to say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick +of two worlds I could not have done better. + +Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, +and it was at a council of the head men of the various +tribes of the Sari that the eventual form of government +was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the various +kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, +but there was to be one great overlord, or emperor. +It was decided that I should be the first of the dynasty +of the emperors of Pellucidar. + +We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, +and poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which +provided the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, +and fashioned the swords under Perry's direction. +Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another until +representatives from nations so far distant that the +Sarians had never even heard of them came in to take +the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn +the art of making the new weapons and using them. + +We sent our young men out as instructors to every +nation of the federation, and the movement had reached +colossal proportions before the Mahars discovered it. +The first intimation they had was when three of their great +slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. +They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly +developed a power which rendered them really formidable. + +In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our +Sarians took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among +them were two who had been members of the guards within +the building where we had been confined at Phutra. +They told us that the Mahars were frantic with rage +when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars +of the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something very +terrible had befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been +most careful to see that no inkling of the true nature +of their vital affliction reached beyond their own race. +How long it would take for the race to become extinct +it was impossible even to guess; but that this must +eventually happen seemed inevitable. + +The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture +of any one of us alive, and at the same time had threatened +to inflict the direst punishment upon whomever should +harm us. The Sagoths could not understand these seemingly +paradoxical instructions, though their purpose was quite +evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great Secret, +and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them. + +Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the +fashioning of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we +had hoped--there was a whole lot about these two arts which +Perry didn't know. We were both assured that the solution +of these problems would advance the cause of civilization +within Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. +Then there were various other arts and sciences which we +wished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of them +did not embrace the mechanical details which alone +could render them of commercial, or practical value. + +"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to +produce gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return +to the outer world and bring back the information we lack. +Here we have all the labor and materials for reproducing +anything that ever has been produced above--what we lack +is knowledge. Let us go back and get that knowledge +in the shape of books--then this world will indeed be at our feet." + +And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, +which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where +we had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. +Dian would not listen to any arrangement for my going +which did not include her, and I was not sorry that she +wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my world, +and I wanted my world to see her. + +With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, +which Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose +pointed back toward the outer crust. He went over all +the machinery carefully. He replenished the air tanks, +and manufactured oil for the engine. At last everything +was ready, and we were about to set out when our pickets, +a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at +all times, reported that a great body of what appeared +to be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching from the direction +of Phutra. + +Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious +to witness the first clash between two fair-sized armies +of the opposing races of Pellucidar. I realized that this +was to mark the historic beginning of a mighty struggle +for possession of a world, and as the first emperor +of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, +but my right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle. + +As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many +Mahars with the Sagoth troops--an indication of the vast +importance which the dominant race placed upon the outcome +of this campaign, for it was not customary with them to take +active part in the sorties which their creatures made for +slaves--the only form of warfare which they waged upon the +lower orders. + +Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to +view the prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians +on the right of our battle line. Dacor took the left, +while I commanded the center. Behind us I stationed +a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head men. +The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, +and I let them come until they were within easy bowshot +before I gave the word to fire. + +At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front +ranks of the gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those +behind charged over the prostrate forms of their comrades +in a wild, mad rush to be upon us with their spears. +A second volley stopped them for an instant, and then +my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line +to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears +of the Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian +and Amozite, who turned the spear thrusts aside with their +shields and leaped to close quarters with their lighter, +handier weapons. + +Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while +the swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after +volley into their unprotected left. The Mahars did little +real fighting, and were more in the way than otherwise, +though occasionally one of them would fasten its powerful +jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian. + +The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor +and I led our men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked +swords they were already so demoralized that they turned +and fled before us. We pursued them for some time, +taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred slaves, +among whom was Hooja the Sly One. + +He told me that he had been captured while on his way +to his own land; but that his life had been spared +in hope that through him the Mahars would learn the +whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak and I were +inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding +this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought +that the book might be found in Perry's possession; +but we had no proof of this and so we took him in and +treated him as one of us, although none liked him. +And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently learn. + +There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, +and so fearful were our own people of them that they +would not approach them unless completely covered +from the sight of the reptiles by a piece of skin. +Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding +the evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, +and though I laughed at her fears I was willing enough +to humor them if it would relieve her apprehension +in any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector, +near which the Mahars had been chained, while Perry and I +again inspected every portion of the mechanism. + +At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called +to one of the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that +Hooja stood quite close to the doorway of the prospector, +so that it was he who, without my knowledge, went to +bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the +fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there were +others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, +since all my people were loyal to me and would have made +short work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, +even had he had time to acquaint another with it. +It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that it +was the result of sudden impulse, aided by a number of, +to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring at precisely +the right moment. + +All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian +to the prospector, still wrapped from head to toe +in the skin of an enormous cave lion which covered her +since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into camp. +He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all +ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. +Perry had grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. +I closed and barred the outer and inner doors, +took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulled +the starting lever. + +As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our +first trial of the iron monster, there was a frightful +roaring beneath us--the giant frame trembled and vibrated-- +there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up +through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets +to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing was off. + +But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown +from my seat by the sudden lurching of the prospector. +At first I did not realize what had happened, but presently +it dawned upon me that just before entering the crust the +towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, +and that instead of entering the ground vertically we were +plunging into it at a different angle. Where it would bring +us out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. +And then I turned to note the effect of this strange +experience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin. + +"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. +No Mahar eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and +snatched the lion skin from her. And then I shrank back +upon my seat in utter horror. + +The thing beneath the skin was not Dian--it was a +hideous Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja +had played upon me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me, +forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would be at his mercy. +Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effort +to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as on +that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair. + +It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony +of that journey. It varied but little from the former one +which had brought us from the outer to the inner world. +Because of the angle at which we had entered the ground +the trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me out +here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United +States as I had hoped. + +For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. +I dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never +be able to find it again--the shifting sands of the desert +would soon cover it, and then my only hope of returning +to my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone forever. + +That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, +for how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return +journey may terminate--and how, without a north or south +or an east or a west may I hope ever to find my way across +that vast world to the tiny spot where my lost love lies +grieving for me? + + +That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the +goat-skin tent upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. +The next day he took me out to see the prospector--it +was precisely as he had described it. So huge was it +that it could have been brought to this inaccessible part +of the world by no means of transportation that existed +there--it could only have come in the way that David +Innes said it came--up through the crust of the earth +from the inner world of Pellucidar. + +I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my +lion hunt, returned directly to the coast and hurried +to London where I purchased a great quantity of stuff +which he wished to take back to Pellucidar with him. +There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, +chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, +tool and more books--books upon every subject under +the sun. He said he wanted a library with which they +could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth century +in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything +I got it for him. + +I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied +them to the end of the railroad; but from here I +was recalled to America upon important business. +However, I was able to employ a very trustworthy man +to take charge of the caravan--the same guide, in fact, +who had accompanied me on the previous trip into the +Sahara--and after writing a long letter to Innes in which +I gave him my American address, I saw the expedition head south. + +Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five +hundred miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. +I had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it +was his idea that he could fasten one end here before he +left and by paying it out through the end of the prospector +lay a telegraph line between the outer and inner worlds. +In my letter I told him to be sure to mark the terminus +of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in case I +was not able to reach him before he set out, so that I +might easily find and communicate with him should he +be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. + +I received several letters from him after I returned +to America--in fact he took advantage of every +northward-passing caravan to drop me word of some sort. +His last letter was written the day before he intended +to depart. Here it is. + + +My Dear Friend: + +Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. +That is if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty +of late. I don't know the cause, but on two occasions they +have threatened my life. One, more friendly than the rest, +told me today that they intended attacking me tonight. +It would be unfortunate should anything of that sort happen +now that I am so nearly ready to depart. + +However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the +hour approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear. + +Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north +for me, so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness +to me. + +The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand +to the south--he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, +and he doesn't want to be found with me. So goodbye again. + +Yours, + +David Innes. + + +A year later found me at the end of the railroad +once more, headed for the spot where I had left Innes. +My first disappointment was when I discovered that my +old guide had died within a few weeks of my return, +nor could I find any member of my former party who could +lead me to the same spot. + +For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing +countless desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find +one who had heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. +Constantly my eyes scanned the blinding waste of sand +for the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find the wires +leading to Pellucidar--but always was I unsuccessful. + +And always do these awful questions harass me when I +think of David Innes and his strange adventures. + +Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve +of his departure? Or, did he again turn the nose of his +iron monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it, +or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust? +And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to break +through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, +or among some savage race far, far from the land of his +heart's desire? + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the +broad Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath +a lost cairn? I wonder. + + +[End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core] + diff --git a/old/atcor10.zip b/old/atcor10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a7ec9d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10.zip diff --git a/old/atcor10h.htm b/old/atcor10h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db4092 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5779 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>New File</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- +body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} +blockquote {font-size:14pt} +P {font-size:14pt} +--> +</style> +</head> +<body> + + + +<p>The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core, by Burroughs +#11 in our series by Edgar Rice Burroughs <br> +<p>Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to +check the copyright laws for your country before posting these +files!!<br> +</p> + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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If you don't derive profits, no +royalty is due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College" within the 60 days +following each date you prepare (or were legally required to +prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. <br> +<p>WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution you +can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College".<br> +</p> + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* +<br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<br> +<br><br> +<h1>At the Earth's Core</h1> +<br><br> +<h2>by Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2> +<br><br><br> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_1">PROLOGUE</h1> + +<br> +In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you +to believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a +recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and +stupendous ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow +of the Royal Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip +to London. <br> +<p>You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no +less a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from +the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the +King.<br> +</p> + +The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was +half through!--it is all that saved him from exploding--and my +dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the +Hall of Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic +atmosphere. <br> +<p>But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the +learned Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he +heard it from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you +seen, as I did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you +felt the ring of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized +the pathos of it all--you, too, would believe. You would not have +needed the final ocular proof that I had--the weird +rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brought back with him +from the inner world.<br> +</p> + +I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon +the rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a +goat-skin tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. +Close by was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents. <br> +<p>I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party +consisted of a dozen children of the desert--I was the only +"white" man. As we approached the little clump of verdure I saw +the man come from his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer +intently at us. At sight of me he advanced rapidly to meet +us.<br> +</p> + +"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have +been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that THIS time +there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?" +<br> +<p>And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been +struck full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my +stirrup leather for support.<br> +</p> + +"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me +that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking." <br> +<p>"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why +should I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter +as the date?"<br> +</p> + +For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head. <br> +<p>"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought +that at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he +told me his story--the story that I give you here as nearly in +his own words as I can recall them.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_2">CHAPTER I</h1> + +<br> +TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES <br> +<p>I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is +David Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was +nineteen he died. All his property was to be mine when I had +attained my majority--provided that I had devoted the two years +intervening in close application to the great business I was to +inherit.<br> +</p> + +I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent-not because +of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. +For six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, +for I wished to know every minute detail of the business. <br> +<p>Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old +fellow who had devoted the better part of a long life to the +perfection of a mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation +he studied paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his +arguments, inspected his working model--and then, convinced, I +advanced the funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practical +prospector.<br> +</p> + +I shall not go into the details of its construction--it lies out +there in the desert now--about two miles from here. Tomorrow you +may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder +a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist +through solid rock if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving +drill operated by an engine which Perry said generated more power +to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. I +remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would +make us fabulously wealthy--we were going to make the whole thing +public after the successful issue of our first secret trial--but +Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten +years. <br> +<p>I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous +occasion upon which we were to test the practicality of that +wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we repaired to the +lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron mole" as he +was wont to call the thing. The great nose rested upon the bare +earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the outer +jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which +contained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, +switched on the electric lights.<br> +</p> + +Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air +to replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his +instruments for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for +examining the materials through which we were to pass. <br> +<p>He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs +which transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at +the nose of his strange craft.<br> +</p> + +Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged +upon transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft +were ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or +running horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising +vertically toward the surface again. <br> +<p>At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a +moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the +starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us--the +giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as +the loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the +inner and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We were +off!<br> +</p> + +The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging +seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer. <br> +<p>"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does the +distance meter read?"<br> +</p> + +That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and +as I turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry +muttering. <br> +<p>"Ten degrees rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him +tug frantically upon the steering wheel.<br> +</p> + +As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when +I spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven +hundred feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into +the horizontal." <br> +<p>"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I +cannot budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our +combined strength may be equal to the task, for else we are +lost."<br> +</p> + +I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that +the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my +young and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for +always had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. +And for that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature +had intended, since my natural pride in my great strength had led +me to care for and develop my body and my muscles by every means +within my power. What with boxing, football, and baseball, I had +been in training since childhood. <br> +<p>And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of +the huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength +into it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had +been--the thing would not budge--the grim, insensate, horrible +thing that was holding us upon the straight road to death!<br> +</p> + +At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word +returned to my seat. There was no need for words--at least none +that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was +quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity +neglected where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he +arose in the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he +had finished eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed +again. In between he often found excuses to pray even when the +provocation seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes--now that he +was about to die I felt positive that I should witness a perfect +orgy of prayer--if one may allude with such a simile to so solemn +an act. <br> +<p>But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring +him in the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. +From his lips there flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid +stream of undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that +quietly stubborn piece of unyielding mechanism.<br> +</p> + +"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death." <br> +<p>"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is +nothing by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, +David within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated +possibilities that science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed +a new principle, and with it animated a piece of steel with the +power of ten thousand men. That two lives will be snuffed out is +nothing to the world calamity that entombs in the bowels of the +earth the discoveries that I have made and proved in the +successful construction of the thing that is now carrying us +farther and farther toward the eternal central fires."<br> +</p> + +I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned +with our own immediate future than with any problematic loss +which the world might be about to suffer. The world was at least +ignorant of its bereavement, while to me it was a real and +terrible actuality. <br> +<p>"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the +mask of a low and level voice.<br> +</p> + +"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere +tanks are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the +slight hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector +from the vertical to carry us along the arc of a great circle +which must eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in +so doing before we reach the higher internal temperature we may +even yet survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance +in several million that we shall succeed--otherwise we shall die +more quickly but no more surely than as though we sat supinely +waiting for the torture of a slow and horrible death." <br> +<p>I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While +we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a +mile into the rock of the earth's crust.<br> +</p> + +"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at +this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would +be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?" <br> +<p>"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for +I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my +generator. I reasoned, however, that we should make about five +hundred yards an hour."<br> +</p> + +"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, as +I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the +Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked. <br> +<p>"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there are +geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, +because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one +degree to each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient +to fuse the most refractory substances at that distance beneath +the surface. Another finds that the phenomena of precession and +nutation require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at +least have a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand +miles in thickness. So there you are. You may take your +choice."<br> +</p> + +"And if it should prove solid?" I asked. <br> +<p>"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied +Perry. "At the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three +or four days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. +Neither, then, is sufficient to bear us in the safety through +eight thousand miles of rock to the antipodes."<br> +</p> + +"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final +stop between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's +surface; but during the last hundred and fifty miles of our +journey we shall be corpses. Am I correct?" I asked. <br> +<p>"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?"<br> +</p> + +"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe +that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I +feel that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I +imagine that the shock has been so great as to partially stun our +sensibilities." <br> +<p>Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with +less rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had +penetrated to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he +smiled.<br> +</p> + +"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, +and then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently +cursing the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his +best efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of +Perry's masterful and scientific imprecations. <br> +<p>Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well +have essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry +stopped the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all +my strength into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's +breadth--but the results were as barren as when we had been +traveling at top speed.<br> +</p> + +I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward +toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my +eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury +was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was +almost unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison. +<br> +<p>About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this +unfortunate journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four +miles, at which point the mercury registered 153 degrees F.<br> +</p> + +Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food +he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he +had turned to singing--I felt that the strain had at last +affected his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as +he asked me for the readings of the instruments from time to +time, and I announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain +regrets. I recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should +have been glad to have had a few more years to live down. There +was the affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I +had put gunpowder in the stove--and nearly killed one of the +masters. And then--but what was the use, I was about to die and +atone for all these things and several more. Already the heat was +sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more +degrees and I felt that I should lose consciousness. <br> +<p>"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in +upon my somber reflections.<br> +</p> + +"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied. <br> +<p>"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a +cocked hat!" he cried gleefully.<br> +</p> + +"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back. <br> +<p>"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading +mean anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think +of it, son!"<br> +</p> + +"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will +it make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature +is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one will +know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some +unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my +waning hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did +I try. The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, of the +blasting of several very exact and learned scientific hypotheses +made it apparent that we could not know what lay before us within +the bowels of the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the +best, at least until we were dead--when hope would no longer be +essential to our happiness. It was very good, and logical +reasoning, and so I embraced it. <br> +<p>At one hundred miles the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 +DEGREES! When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged +me.<br> +</p> + +From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop +until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably +hot before. At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our +nostrils were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and +the temperature had dropped to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly +two hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about two +hundred and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we +entered a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to +32 degrees. During the next three hours we passed through ten +miles of ice, eventually emerging into another series of +ammonia-impregnated strata, where the mercury again fell to ten +degrees below zero. <br> +<p>Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last +we were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred +miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I +watched the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing +and was at last praying.<br> +</p> + +Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually +increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater +than it really was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column +of mercury rise and rise until at four hundred and ten miles it +stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon those +readings in almost breathless anxiety. <br> +<p>One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum +temperature above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point +again, or would it continue its merciless climb? We knew that +there was no hope, and yet with the persistence of life itself we +continued to hope against practical certainty.<br> +</p> + +Already the air tanks were at low ebb--there was barely enough of +the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But +would we be alive to know or care? It seemed incredible. <br> +<p>At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading.<br> +</p> + +"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going +down! She's 152 degrees again." <br> +<p>"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at +the center?"<br> +</p> + +"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to +die it shall not be by fire--that is all that I have feared. I +can face the thought of any death but that." <br> +<p>Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had +seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden +the realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was +the first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that +regulate the air supply. And at the same time I experienced +difficulty in breathing. My head felt dizzy--my limbs heavy.<br> +</p> + +I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat +erect again. Then he turned toward me. <br> +<p>"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and +then he smiled and closed his eyes.<br> +</p> + +"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back +at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young--I +did not want to die. <br> +<p>For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death +that surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by +climbing high into the framework above me I could find more of +the precious life-giving elements, and for a while these +sustained me. It must have been an hour after Perry had succumbed +that I at last came to the realization that I could no longer +carry on this unequal struggle against the inevitable.<br> +</p> + +With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned +mechanically toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five +hundred miles from the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the +huge thing that bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling +rock through the hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the +giant drill betokened that it was running loose in AIR--and then +another truth flashed upon me. The point of the prospector was +ABOVE us. Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the +ice strata it had been above. We had turned in the ice and sped +upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We were safe! <br> +<p>I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to +have been taken during the passage of the prospector through the +earth, and my fondest hopes were realized--a flood of fresh air +was pouring into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state +of collapse, and I lost consciousness.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_3">CHAPTER II</h1> + +A STRANGE WORLD <br> +I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged +forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell +with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to +myself. <br> +<p>My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the +thought that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be +dead. Tearing open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I +could have cried with relief--his heart was beating quite +regularly.<br> +</p> + +At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly +across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was +rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed +and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly +foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression +of wonderment upon his face. <br> +<p>"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. +Why--why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has +happened?"<br> +</p> + +"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I +cried; "but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. +Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close +squeak!" <br> +<p>"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? +How long have I been unconscious?"<br> +</p> + +"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the +sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you +instead of below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall +it now." <br> +<p>"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, +David? That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless +its nose is deflected from the outside--by some external force or +resistance--the steering wheel within would have moved in +response. The steering wheel has not budged, David, since we +started. You know that."<br> +</p> + +I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure +air, and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. <br> +<p>"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as +well as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for +here we are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I +am going out to see just where."<br> +</p> + +"Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now." <br> +<p>I glanced at the chronometer.<br> +</p> + +"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it +must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the +blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," +and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it +open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, +and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite +door in the outer shell. <br> +<p>In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to +the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was +directly behind me as I threw it open. The upper half was above +the surface of the ground. With an expression of surprise I +turned and looked at Perry--it was broad daylight without!<br> +</p> + +"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations +or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head--there was a +strange expression in his eyes. <br> +<p>"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.<br> +</p> + +Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a +landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level +shore stretched down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could +reach the surface of the water was dotted with countless tiny +isles--some of towering, barren, granitic rock--others +resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad +starred with the magnificent splendor of vivid blooms. <br> +<p>Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent +ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical +forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, +dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and +branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid +coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but +within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the +grave.<br> +</p> + +And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a +cloudless sky. <br> +<p>"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry.<br> +</p> + +For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed +head, buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke. <br> +<p>"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth."<br> +</p> + +"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are +dead, and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to +the nose of the prospector protruding from the ground at our +backs. <br> +<p>"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come +to the country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that +theory untenable--it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. +However I am willing to concede that we actually may be in +another world from that which we have always known. If we are not +ON earth, there is every reason to believe that we may be IN +it."<br> +</p> + +"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out +upon some tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again +Perry shook his head. <br> +<p>"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime +suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast--we may +find a native who can enlighten us."<br> +</p> + +As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly +across the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty +problem. <br> +<p>"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual +about the horizon?"<br> +</p> + +As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness +of the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an +illusive suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural--THERE WAS NO +HORIZON! As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and +upon its bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance +reduced to mere specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until +the impression became quite real that one was LOOKING UP at the +most distant point that the eyes could fathom--the distance was +lost in the distance. That was all--there was no clear-cut +horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the line of +vision. <br> +<p>"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, +taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the +riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the +prospector the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"<br> +</p> + +I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center +of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. +Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, +and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the +conviction that one might almost reach up and touch it. <br> +<p>"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is +beginning to get on my nerves."<br> +</p> + +"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, +"that we are--" but he got no further. From behind us in the +vicinity of the prospector there came the most thunderous, +awe-inspiring roar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one +accord we turned to discover the author of that fearsome noise. +<br> +<p>Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the +sight that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. +Emerging from the forest was a colossal beast which closely +resembled a bear. It was fully as large as the largest elephant +and with great forepaws armed with huge claws. Its nose, or +snout, depended nearly a foot below its lower jaw, much after the +manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giant body was covered by a +coat of thick, shaggy hair.<br> +</p> + +Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling +trot. I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek +other surroundings--the idea had evidently occurred to Perry +previously, for he was already a hundred paces away, and with +each second his prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had +never guessed what latent speed possibilities the old gentleman +possessed. <br> +<p>I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest +which ran out toward the sea not far from where we had been +standing, and as the mighty creature, the sight of which had +galvanized him into such remarkable action, was forging steadily +toward me. I set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more +decorous pace. It was evident that the massive beast pursuing us +was not built for speed, so all that I considered necessary was +to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb +to the safety of some great branch before it came up.<br> +</p> + +Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower +branches of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for +a distance of some fifteen feet--at least on those trees which +Perry attempted to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried +by the larger of the forest giants had evidently attracted him to +them. A dozen times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat +only to fall back to the ground once more, and with each failure +he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at the oncoming +brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke +the echoes of the grim forest. <br> +<p>At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of +one's wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up +it, hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of +the tree from which the creeper depended when the thing parted +beneath his weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.<br> +</p> + +The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was +already too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the +shoulder I dragged him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller +tree--one that he could easily encircle with his arms and legs--I +boosted him as far up as I could, and then left him to his fate, +for a glance over my shoulder revealed the awful beast almost +upon me. <br> +<p>It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its +enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the +agility of my young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of +its way and run completely behind it before its slow wits could +direct it in pursuit.<br> +</p> + +The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged +in the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry +had at last found a haven. <br> +<p>Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite +safe, and so did Perry. He was praying--raising his voice in +thanksgiving at our deliverance--and had just completed a sort of +paeon of gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree when +without warning it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and +hind feet, and reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the +branch upon which he crouched.<br> +</p> + +The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of +fright, and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws +beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the +dangerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him +gain a higher branch in safety. <br> +<p>And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with +horror. Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he +dragged down with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all +the irresistible force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but +surely, the stem began to bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked +his paws upward as the tree leaned more and more from the +perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in a panic of terror. +Higher and higher into the bending and swaying tree he clambered. +More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward the +ground.<br> +</p> + +I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. +The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which +nature had intended them. The sloth-like creature was +herbivorous, and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must be +stripped of their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might +easily be accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition +such as that which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa +possesses. But these were later reflections. At the moment I was +too frantic with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught +other than a means to save him from the death that loomed so +close. <br> +<p>Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the +open, I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on +distracting the thing's attention from Perry long enough to +enable the old man to gain the safety of a larger tree. There +were many close by which not even the terrific strength of that +titanic monster could bend.<br> +</p> + +As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled +mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping +unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific +blow. My plan worked like magic. From the previous slowness of +the beast I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility as +he now displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on +all fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with +a force that would have broken every bone in my body had it +struck me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the very +instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back. <br> +<p>As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running +along the edge of the forest rather than making for the open +beach. In a moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the +awful thing behind me was gaining rapidly as I floundered and +fell in my efforts to extricate myself.<br> +</p> + +A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it +I leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was +able to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding +ground. But the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing +such a heavy handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily +gaining upon me. <br> +<p>Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, +piercing barks--much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when +in full cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the +origin of this new and menacing note with the result that I +missed my footing and went sprawling once more upon my face in +the deep muck.<br> +</p> + +My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must +feel the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, +but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and +snapping and barking of the new element which had been infused +into the melee now seemed centered quite close behind me, and as +I raised myself upon my hands and glanced around I saw what it +was that had distracted the DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the +thing is called, from my trail. <br> +<p>It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like +creatures--wild dogs they seemed--that rushed growling and +snapping in upon it from all sides, so that they sank their white +fangs into the slow brute and were away again before it could +reach them with its huge paws or sweeping tail.<br> +</p> + +But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. +Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees +came a company of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog +pack. They were to all appearances strikingly similar in aspect +to the Negro of Africa. Their skins were very black, and their +features much like those of the more pronounced Negroid type +except that the head receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving +little or no forehead. Their arms were rather longer and their +legs shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, and later I +noticed that their great toes protruded at right angles from +their feet--because of their arboreal habits, I presume. Behind +them trailed long, slender tails which they used in climbing +quite as much as they did either their hands or feet. <br> +<p>I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that +the wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me +several of the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute +to come slinking with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to +run toward the trees again to seek safety among the lower +branches, I saw a number of the man-apes leaping and chattering +in the foliage of the nearest tree.<br> +</p> + +Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, +but at least there was a doubt as to the reception these +grotesque parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was +none as to the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs +of my fierce pursuers. <br> +<p>And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath +that which held the man-things and take refuge in another farther +on; but the wolf-dogs were very close behind me--so close that I +had despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the +tree above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great +limb, and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up +among his fellows.<br> +</p> + +There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. +They turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they +discovered that I was not so equipped they fell into roars of +laughter. Their teeth were very large and white and even, except +for the upper canines which were a trifle longer than the +others--protruding just a bit when the mouth was closed. <br> +<p>When they had examined me for a few moments one of them +discovered that my clothing was not a part of me, with the result +that garment by garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the +wildest laughter. Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel +themselves, but their ingenuity was not sufficient to the task +and so they gave it up.<br> +</p> + +In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse +of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump +of trees in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I +was much exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and +though I called his name aloud several times there was no +response. <br> +<p>Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw +it to the ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, +started off at a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. +Never have I experienced such a journey before or since--even now +I oftentimes awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid +remembrance of that awful experience.<br> +</p> + +From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying +squirrels, while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed +the depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of +either of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my +mind was occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had +become of Perry? Would I ever see him again? What were the +intentions of these half-human things into whose hands I had +fallen? Were they inhabitants of the same world into which I had +been born? No! It could not be. But yet where else? I had not +left that earth--of that I was sure. Still neither could I +reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief that I was +still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_4">CHAPTER III</h1> + +A CHANGE OF MASTERS <br> +<p>We must have traveled several miles through the dark and +dismal wood when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high +among the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort +broke into wild shouting which was immediately answered from +within, and a moment later a swarm of creatures of the same +strange race as those who had captured me poured out to meet us. +Again I was the center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled +this way and that. Pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was +black and blue, yet I do not think that their treatment was +dictated by either cruelty or malice--I was a curiosity, a freak, +a new plaything, and their childish minds required the added +evidence of all their senses to back up the testimony of their +eyes.<br> +</p> + +Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon +the branches of the trees. <br> +<p>Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were +dead branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the +huts upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole +network of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring a +good fifty feet above the ground.<br> +</p> + +I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I +realized the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of +the same vicious wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, +and many goatlike animals whose distended udders explained the +reasons for their presence. <br> +<p>My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was +pushed; then two of the creatures squatted down before the +entrance--to prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should +have escaped to I certainly had not the remotest conception. I +had no more than entered the dark shadows of the interior than +there fell upon my ears the tones of a familiar voice, in +prayer.<br> +</p> + +"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe." +<br> +<p>"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man +stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.<br> +</p> + +He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been +seized by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the +tree tops to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive +as to his strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As +we looked at each other we could not help but laugh. <br> +<p>"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very +handsome ape."<br> +</p> + +"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be +quite the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend +doing with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you +suppose they can be? You were about to tell me where we are when +that great hairy frigate bore down upon us--have you really any +idea at all?" <br> +<p>"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We +have made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that +the earth is hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to +the inner world."<br> +</p> + +"Perry, you are mad!" <br> +<p>"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our +prospector bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At +that point it reached the center of gravity of the +five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up to that point we had been +descending--direction is, of course, merely relative. Then at the +moment that our seats revolved--the thing that made you believe +that we had turned about and were speeding upward--we passed the +center of gravity and, though we did not alter the direction of +our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward--toward the +surface of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora +which we have seen convince you that you are not in the world of +your birth? And the horizon--could it present the strange aspects +which we both noted unless we were indeed standing upon the +inside surface of a sphere?"<br> +</p> + +"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun +shine through five hundred miles of solid crust?" <br> +<p>"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It is +another sun--an entirely different sun--that casts its eternal +noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it +now, David--if you can see it from the doorway of this hut--and +you will see that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. +We have been here for many hours--yet it is still noon.<br> +</p> + +"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a +nebulous mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a +thin crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface--a sort +of shell; but within it was partially molten matter and highly +expanded gases. As it continued to cool, what happened? +Centrifugal force burled the particles of the nebulous center +toward the crust as rapidly as they approached a solid state. You +have seen the same principle practically applied in the modern +cream separator. Presently there was only a small super-heated +core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge vacant interior +left by the contraction of the cooling gases. The equal +attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this +luminous core in the exact center of the hollow globe. What +remains of it is the sun you saw today--a relatively tiny thing +at the exact center of the earth. Equally to every part of this +inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday light and torrid +heat. <br> +<p>"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support +animal life long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, +but that the same agencies were at work here is evident from the +similar forms of both animal and vegetable creation which we have +already seen. Take the great beast which attacked us, for +example. Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the +post-Pliocene period of the outer crust, whose fossilized +skeleton has been found in South America."<br> +</p> + +"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely +they have no counterpart in the earth's history." <br> +<p>"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link +between ape and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by +the countless convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or +they may be merely the result of evolution along slightly +different lines--either is quite possible."<br> +</p> + +Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several +of our captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them +entered and dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the +surrounding trees were filled with the black ape-men, their +females, and their young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or +a garment among the lot. <br> +<p>"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry.<br> +</p> + +"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. +"Now what do you suppose they intend doing with us?" <br> +<p>We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip +to the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful +creatures and whirled away through the tree tops, while about us +and in our wake raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of +sleek, black ape-things.<br> +</p> + +Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased +beating as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled +deadwood beneath. But on both occasions those lithe, powerful +tails reached out and found sustaining branches, nor did either +of the creatures loosen their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed +that the incidents were of no greater moment to them than would +be the stubbing of one's toe at a street crossing in the outer +world--they but laughed uproariously and sped on with me. <br> +<p>For some time they continued through the forest--how long I +could not guess for I was learning, what was later borne very +forcefully to my mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment +means for measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and +we were living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to +compute the period of time which had elapsed since we broke +through the crust of the inner world. It might be hours, or it +might be days--who in the world could tell where it was always +noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed--but my judgment told me +that we must have been several hours in this strange world.<br> +</p> + +Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level +plain. A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. +Toward these our captors urged us, and after a short time led us +through a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got +down to work, and we were soon convinced that if we were not to +die to make a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other +purpose. The attitude of our captors altered immediately as they +entered the natural arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter +ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial faces--bared fangs +menaced us. <br> +<p>We were placed in the center of the amphitheater--the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought--hyaenadon Perry called it--and turned loose with us +inside the circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a +full-grown mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its +jaws broad and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and +sides, while its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk +toward us it presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled +lips baring its mighty fangs.<br> +</p> + +Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. +The ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with +savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he +charged us. <br> +<p>At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball +teams. My speed and control must both have been above the +ordinary, for I made such a record during my senior year at +college that overtures were made to me in behalf of one of the +great major-league teams; but in the tightest pitch that ever had +confronted me in the past I had never been in such need for +control as now.<br> +</p> + +As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles +under absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling +toward me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce +of my weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The +stone caught the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and +sent him bowling over upon his back. <br> +<p>At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from +the circle of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the +upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw +that I was mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all +directions toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished +the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming +through the pass which leads into the valley, came a swarm of +hairy men--gorilla-like creatures armed with spears and hatchets, +and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the +ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained +its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept +the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of +its former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who +seemed to have authority among them directed that we be brought +with them.<br> +</p> + +When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain +we saw a caravan of men and women--human beings like +ourselves--and for the first time hope and relief filled my +heart, until I could have cried out in the exuberance of my +happiness. It is true that they were a half-naked, wild-appearing +aggregation; but they at least were fashioned along the same +lines as ourselves--there was nothing grotesque or horrible about +them as about the other creatures in this strange, weird world. +<br> +<p>But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we +discovered that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a +long line, and that the gorilla-men were their guards. With +little ceremony Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, +and without further ado the interrupted march was resumed.<br> +</p> + +Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain +brought on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On +and on we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell +we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did +not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they +would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. +They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and +perfect physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and +muscular; the women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with +great masses of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their +heads. The features of both sexes were well proportioned--there +was not a face among them that would have been called even plain +if judged by earthly standards. They wore no ornaments; but this +I later learned was due to the fact that their captors had +stripped them of everything of value. As garmenture the women +possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted hide, +rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore +either supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, so +that it hung partially below the knee on one side, or possibly +looped gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with +skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy +beast, long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to +the ground. In some instances these ends were finished with the +strong talons of the beast from which the hides had been taken. +<br> +<p>Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, +were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they +were indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were +proportioned more in conformity with human standards, but their +entire bodies were covered with shaggy, brown hair, and their +faces were quite as brutal as those of the few stuffed specimens +of the gorilla which I had seen in the museums at home.<br> +</p> + +Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head +above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one +whit less human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of +light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore +only a loin cloth of the same material, while their feet were +shod with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner +world. <br> +<p>Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of +metal--silver predominating--and on their tunics were sewn the +heads of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They +talked among themselves as they marched along on either side of +us, but in a language which I perceived differed from that +employed by our fellow prisoners. When they addressed the latter +they used what appeared to be a third language, and which I later +learned is a mongrel tongue rather analogous to the +Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.<br> +</p> + +How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of +us were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was +called--then we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how +may one measure time where time does not exist! When our march +commenced the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows +still pointed toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of +earthly time elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied +nine years and eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the +inner world, or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of +a second--I cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have +told me that ten years have elapsed since I departed from this +earth I have lost all respect for time--I am commencing to doubt +that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of +man. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_5">CHAPTER IV</h1> + +DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL <br> +<p>When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. +They gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new +life and strength into us, so that now we too marched with +high-held heads, and took noble strides. At least I did, for I +was young and proud; but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had +often seen him call a cab to travel a square--he was paying for +it now, and his old legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him +and half carried him through the balance of those frightful +marches.<br> +</p> + +The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the +level plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The +tropical verdure of the lowlands was replaced by hardier +vegetation, but even here the effects of constant heat and light +were apparent in the immensity of the trees and the profusion of +foliage and blooms. Crystal streams roared through their rocky +channels, fed by the perpetual snows which we could see far above +us. Above the snowcapped heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It +was these, Perry explained, which evidently served the double +purpose of replenishing the melting snows and protecting them +from the direct rays of the sun. <br> +<p>By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard +language in which our guards addressed us, as well as making good +headway in the rather charming tongue of our co-captives. +Directly ahead of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three +feet of chain linked us together in a forced companionship which +I, at least, soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, +and from her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the +life and customs of the inner world--at least that part of it +with which she was familiar.<br> +</p> + +She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above +the Darel Az, or shallow sea. <br> +<p>"How came you here?" I asked her.<br> +</p> + +"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as +though that was explanation quite sufficient. <br> +<p>"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run +away from him?"<br> +</p> + +She looked at me in surprise. <br> +<p>"Why DOES a woman run away from a man?" she answered my +question with another.<br> +</p> + +"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run +after them." <br> +<p>But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the +fact that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that +creation was originated solely to produce her own kind and the +world she lived in as are many of the outer world.<br> +</p> + +"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away +to be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a +world." <br> +<p>"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's +house. It was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and +no greater trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the +Ugly One would come and take me as his mate. None other so +powerful wished me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and +thus have won me from Jubal. My father is not a mighty hunter. +Once he was, but a sadok tossed him, and never again had he the +full use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had +gone to the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there +was none, father, brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the +Ugly One, and I ran away and hid among the hills that skirt the +land of Amoz. And there these Sagoths found me and made me +captive."<br> +</p> + +"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking +us?" <br> +<p>Again she looked her incredulity.<br> +</p> + +"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, +"for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really +mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of +the Mahars--the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and +all that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows +beneath, or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through +its air? Next you will be telling me that you never before heard +of the Mahars!" <br> +<p>I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there +was no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a +clean breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She +was shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten me, though +much that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She +described the Mahars largely by comparisons. In this way they +were like unto thipdars, in that to the hairless lidi.<br> +</p> + +About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; +could swim under water for great distances, and were very, very +wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and +the races like herself were their hands and feet--they were the +slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were +the heads--the brains--of the inner world. I longed to see this +wondrous race of supermen. <br> +<p>Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we +occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, +he would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, +he who was chained just ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of +Ghak was Hooja the Sly One. He too entered the conversation +occasionally. Most of his remarks were directed toward Dian the +Beautiful. It didn't take half an eye to see that he had +developed a bad case; but the girl appeared totally oblivious to +his thinly veiled advances. Did I say thinly veiled? There is a +race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, I have forgotten which, +who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections by +banging her over the head with a bludgeon. By comparison with +this method Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly veiled. At +first it caused me to blush violently although I have seen +several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other less fashionable +places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg.<br> +</p> + +But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and +with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she +couldn't even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that +made him furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the +girl up ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked +him with his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for +his own property--that he would buy her from the Mahars as soon +as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our +destination. <br> +<p>After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a +salt sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. +Seal-like creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and +more feet above their enormous bodies and whose snake heads were +split with gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There +were huge tortoises too, paddling about among these other +reptiles, which Perry said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't +question his veracity--they might have been most anything.<br> +</p> + +Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and +that the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally +rose from the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or +sea-dyryths--Perry called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a +whale with the head of an alligator. <br> +<p>I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at +school--about all that remained was an impression of horror that +the illustrations of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon +me, and a well-defined belief that any man with a pig's shank and +a vivid imagination could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic +monster he saw fit, and take rank as a first class +paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek, shiny carcasses +shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from the ocean, +shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters roll from their +sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided hither and +thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I saw them +meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic and +interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak +imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius.<br> +</p> + +And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself. +<br> +<p>"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time +beside that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I +thought that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did +not believe it--that it is impossible for man to believe such +things as these unless he sees them with his own eyes. We take +things for granted, perhaps, because we are told them over and +over again, and have no way of disproving them--like religions, +for example; but we don't believe them, we only think we do. If +you ever get back to the outer world you will find that the +geologists and paleontologists will be the first to set you down +a liar, for they know that no such creatures as they restore ever +existed. It is all right to IMAGINE them as existing in an +equally imaginary epoch--but now? poof!"<br> +</p> + +At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack +chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We +were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her +back upon him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I +could scarce repress a smile; but it was a short-lived smile for +on the instant the Sly One's hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, +jerking her roughly toward him. <br> +<p>I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics +which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the +appealing look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent +eyes to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention +was I paused not to inquire; but instead, before he could lay +hold of her with his other hand, I placed a right to the point of +his jaw that felled him in his tracks.<br> +</p> + +A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and +the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later +learned, because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, +to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja. <br> +<p>And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering +eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a +delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in +silence, and then her head went high, and she turned her back +upon me as she had upon Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and +I saw the face of Ghak the Hairy One go very black as he looked +at me searchingly. And what I could see of Dian's cheek went +suddenly from red to white.<br> +</p> + +Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized +that in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not +prevail upon her to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had +erred--in fact I might quite as well have been addressing a +sphinx for all the attention I got. At last my own foolish pride +stepped in and prevented my making any further attempts, and thus +a companionship that without my realizing it had come to mean a +great deal to me was cut off. Thereafter I confined my +conversation to Perry. Hooja did not renew his advances toward +the girl, nor did he again venture near me. <br> +<p>Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a +perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became +the realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to +me, the more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the +barrier of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask +Ghak for the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that +might have made everything all right again.<br> +</p> + +On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to +notice me--when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked +either over my head or directly through me. At last I became +desperate, and determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again +beg her to tell me how I had offended, and how I might make +reparation. I made up my mind that I should do this at the next +halt. We were approaching another range of mountains at the time, +and when we reached them, instead of winding across them through +some high-flung pass we entered a mighty natural tunnel--a series +of labyrinthine grottoes, dark as Erebus. <br> +<p>The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact +we had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had +entered Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need +of light above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of +lighting their way through these dark, subterranean passages. So +we crept along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling and +falling--the guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us, +interspersed with certain high notes which I found always +indicated rough places and turns.<br> +</p> + +Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian +until I could see from the expression of her face how she was +receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us +of the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly +thankful. Then at a sudden turn we emerged into the full light of +the noonday sun. <br> +<p>But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a +real catastrophe--Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other +prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage +was terrible to behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were +contorted in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused +each other of responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon +us, beating us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. They had +already killed two near the head of the line, and were like to +have finished the balance of us when their leader finally put a +stop to the brutal slaughter. Never in all my life had I +witnessed a more horrible exhibition of bestial rage--I thanked +God that Dian had not been one of those left to endure it.<br> +</p> + +Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each +alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was +gone. Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been +accomplished? The commander of the guards was investigating. Soon +he discovered that the rude locks which had held the neckbands in +place had been deftly picked. <br> +<p>"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in +line. "He has taken the girl that you would not have," he +continued, glancing at me.<br> +</p> + +"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?" <br> +<p>He looked at me closely for a moment.<br> +</p> + +"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he +said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance +of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that +you do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?" +<br> +<p>"I do not know, Ghak," I replied.<br> +</p> + +"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes +between another man and the woman the other man would have, the +woman belongs to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. +You should have claimed her or released her. Had you taken her +hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your mate, +and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, +it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that +you released her from all obligation to you. By doing neither you +have put upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a +woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or +may take her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in +combat, and men do not choose slave women as their mates--at +least not the men of Pellucidar." <br> +<p>"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or +look, or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not +want her as my--" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet +and innocent face floated before me amidst the soft mists of +imagination, and where I had on the second believed that I clung +only to the memory of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it +seemed that it would have been disloyalty to her to have said +that I did not want Dian the Beautiful as my mate. I had not +thought of her except as a welcome friend in a strange, cruel +world. Even now I did not think that I loved her.<br> +</p> + +I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression +than in my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my +shoulder. <br> +<p>"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, +but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the +truth. Your heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no +affront to Dian the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her +mother is my sister. She does not know it--her mother was stolen +by Dian's father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz +to battle with us for our women--the most beautiful women of +Pellucidar. Then was her father king of Amoz, and her mother was +daughter of the king of Sari--to whose power I, his son, have +succeeded. Dian is the daughter of kings, though her father is no +longer king since the sadok tossed him and Jubal the Ugly One +wrested his kingship from him. Because of her lineage the wrong +you did her was greatly magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. +She will never forgive you."<br> +</p> + +I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release +the girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed +upon her. <br> +<p>"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her +hand above her head and drop it in the presence of others is +sufficient to release her; but how may you ever find her, you who +are doomed to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of +Phutra?"<br> +</p> + +"Is there no escape?" I asked. <br> +<p>"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," +replied Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on the way to +Phutra, and once there it is not so easy--the Mahars are very +wise. Even if one escaped from Phutra there are the +thipdars--they would find you, and then--" the Hairy One +shuddered. "No, you will never escape the Mahars."<br> +</p> + +It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about +it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded +prayer he had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the +only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample time it +gave him for the improvisation of prayers--it was becoming an +obsession with him. The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his +habit of declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked +him what he was saying--to whom he was talking. The question gave +me an idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say +anything. <br> +<p>"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the +world from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you +cannot see--do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the +air upon you and rend you limb from limb--like that," and I +jumped toward the great brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him +stumbling backward.<br> +</p> + +I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any +capital out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while +the making was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated +us both with marked respect during the balance of the journey, +and then passed the word along to their masters, the Mahars. <br> +<p>Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. +The entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, +which guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. +Sagoths were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other +towers scattered about over a large plain.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_6">CHAPTER V</h1> + +SLAVES <br> +As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue +of Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the +inner world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures +approached to inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be +impossible to imagine. The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are +great reptiles, some six or eight feet in length, with long +narrow heads and great round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are +lined with sharp, white fangs, and the backs of their huge, +lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their necks to +the end of their long tails. Their feet are equipped with three +webbed toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are +attached to their bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude +at an angle of 45 degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points +several feet above their bodies. <br> +<p>I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The +old man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished +eyes. When it passed on, he turned to me.<br> +</p> + +"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, +gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered +have never indicated a size greater than that attained by an +ordinary crow." <br> +<p>As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw +many thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily +duties. They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out +underground with a regularity that indicates remarkable +engineering skill. It is hewn from solid limestone strata. The +streets are broad and of a uniform height of twenty feet. At +intervals tubes pierce the roof of this underground city, and by +means of lenses and reflectors transmit the sunlight, softened +and diffused, to dispel what would otherwise be Cimmerian +darkness. In like manner air is introduced.<br> +</p> + +Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, +where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a +Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The +method of communication between these two was remarkable in that +no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species of sign +language. As I was to learn later, the Mahars have no ears, not +any spoken language. Among themselves they communicate by means +of what Perry says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a +fourth dimension. <br> +<p>I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain +it to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he +said no, that it was not telepathy since they could only +communicate when in each others' presence, nor could they talk +with the Sagoths or the other inhabitants of Pellucidar by the +same method they used to converse with one another.<br> +</p> + +"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into +the fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth +sense of their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?" <br> +<p>"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, +and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great +accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, +and there arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we +were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced +to discover the key to their written language, he assured me that +we were handling the ancient archives of the race.<br> +</p> + +During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the +Mahars, and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who +had threatened to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I +often wondered if the little party of fugitives had been +overtaken by the guards who had returned to search for them. +Sometimes I was not so sure but that I should have been more +contented to know that Dian was here in Phutra, than to think of +her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, and I often +talked together of possible escape, but the Sarian was so steeped +in his lifelong belief that no one could escape from the Mahars +except by a miracle, that he was not much aid to us--his attitude +was of one who waits for the miracle to come to him. <br> +<p>At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps +of iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where +we slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of +action within the limits of the building to which we had been +assigned. So great were the number of slaves who waited upon the +inhabitants of Phutra that none of us was apt to be overburdened +with work, nor were our masters unkind to us.<br> +</p> + +We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, +and then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and +arrows--weapons apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came +shields; but these I found it easier to steal from the walls of +the outer guardroom of the building. <br> +<p>We had completed these arrangements for our protection after +leaving Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture +the escaped prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja +was one. Dian and two others had eluded them. It so happened that +Hooja was confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak +that he had not seen Dian or the others after releasing them +within the dark grotto. What had become of them he had not the +faintest conception--they might be wandering yet, lost within the +labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead from starvation.<br> +</p> + +I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and +at this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my +affection for the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. +During my waking hours she was constantly the subject of my +thoughts, and when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. More +than ever was I determined to escape the Mahars. <br> +<p>"Perry, " I confided to the old man, "if I have to search +every inch of this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the +Beautiful and right the wrong I unintentionally did her." That +was the excuse I made for Perry's benefit.<br> +</p> + +"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are +talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar +which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was +arranging. <br> +<p>"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, +and all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the +two areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land +here. These relatively small areas of ocean follow the general +lines of the continents of the outer world.<br> +</p> + +"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; +then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and +the superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of +this is land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square +miles! Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of +land, the balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as +we often compare nations by their relative land areas, so if we +compare these two worlds in the same way we have the strange +anomaly of a larger world within a smaller one! <br> +<p>"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? +Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her +even though you knew where she might be found?"<br> +</p> + +The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but I +found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it. <br> +<p>"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I +suggested.<br> +</p> + +Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him. +<br> +<p>"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this +bondage. Will you accompany us?"<br> +</p> + +"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall +be killed; but--" he hesitated--"I would take the chance if I +thought that I might possibly escape and return to my own +people." <br> +<p>"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. +"And could you aid David in his search for Dian?"<br> +</p> + +"Yes." <br> +<p>"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange +country without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?"<br> +</p> + +Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a +compass, but he assured us that you might blindfold any man of +Pellucidar and carry him to the farthermost corner of the world, +yet he would be able to come directly to his own home again by +the shortest route. He seemed surprised to think that we found +anything wonderful in it. Perry said it must be some sort of +homing instinct such as is possessed by certain breeds of earthly +pigeons. I didn't know, of course, but it gave me an idea. <br> +<p>"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own +people?" I asked.<br> +</p> + +"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed +her." <br> +<p>I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry +and Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which +would insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what +accident could befall a whole community in a land of perpetual +daylight where the inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, +I am sure that some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, +at long intervals, crawl into the dark recesses beneath their +dwellings and curl up in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a +Mahar stays awake for three years he will make up all his lost +sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be all true, but I never +saw but three of them asleep, and it was the sight of these three +that gave me a suggestion for our means of escape.<br> +</p> + +I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves +were supposed to frequent--possibly fifty feet beneath the main +floor of the building--among a network of corridors and +apartments, when I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon +a bed of skins. At first I thought they were dead, but later +their regular breathing convinced me of my error. Like a flash +the thought came to me of the marvelous opportunity these +sleeping reptiles offered as a means of eluding the watchfulness +of our captors and the Sagoth guards. <br> +<p>Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, +to me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To +my surprise he was horrified.<br> +</p> + +"It would be murder, David," he cried. <br> +<p>"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in +astonishment.<br> +</p> + +"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are +the dominant race--we are the 'monsters'--the lower orders. In +Pellucidar evolution has progressed along different lines than +upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time +and time again wiped out the existing species--but for this fact +some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own +world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own +history had conditions been what they have been here. <br> +<p>"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer +crust. Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone +Age of our own world's history, but for countless millions of +years these reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the +sixth sense which I am sure they possess that has given them an +advantage over the other and more frightfully armed of their +fellows; but this we may never know. They look upon us as we look +upon the beasts of our fields, and I learn from their written +records that other races of Mahars feed upon men--they keep them +in great droves, as we keep cattle. They breed them most +carefully, and when they are quite fat, they kill and eat +them."<br> +</p> + +I shuddered. <br> +<p>"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. +"They understand us no better than we understand the lower +animals of our own world. Why, I have come across here very +learned discussions of the question as to whether gilaks, that is +men, have any means of communication. One writer claims that we +do not even reason--that our every act is mechanical, or +instinctive. The dominant race of Pellucidar, David, have not yet +learned that men converse among themselves, or reason. Because we +do not converse as they do it is beyond them to imagine that we +converse at all. It is thus that we reason in relation to the +brutes of our own world. They know that the Sagoths have a spoken +language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how it manifests +itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They believe that +the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. That the +Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them.<br> +</p> + +"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out +your plan." <br> +<p>"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a +murderer."<br> +</p> + +He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some +reason which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very +careful description of the apartments and corridors I had just +explored. <br> +<p>"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined +to carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish +something of very real and lasting benefit for the human race of +Pellucidar at the same time. Listen, I have learned much of a +most surprising nature from these archives of the Mahars. That +you may not appreciate my plan I shall briefly outline the +history of the race.<br> +</p> + +"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, +little by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no +noticeable change took place in the race of Mahars. It continued +to progress under the intelligent and beneficent rule of the +ladies. Science took vast strides. This was especially true of +the sciences which we know as biology and eugenics. Finally a +certain female scientist announced the fact that she had +discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized by chemical +means after they were laid--all true reptiles, you know, are +hatched from eggs. <br> +<p>"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages +elapsed until at the present time we find a race consisting +exclusively of females. But here is the point. The secret of this +chemical formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the +city of Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from +your description of the vaults through which you passed today +that it lies hidden in the cellar of this building.<br> +</p> + +"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and +second, owing to the fact that when it was public property as at +first so many were experimenting with it that the danger of +over-population became very grave. <br> +<p>"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us +this great secret what will we not have accomplished for the +human race within Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly +overpowered me. Why, we two would be the means of placing the men +of the inner world in their rightful place among created things. +Only the Sagoths would then stand between them and absolute +supremacy, and I was not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all +their power to the greater intelligence of the Mahars--I could +not believe that these gorilla-like beasts were the mental +superiors of the human race of Pellucidar.<br> +</p> + +"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of +ignorance into the light of advancement and civilization. At one +step we may carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth +century. It's marvelous--absolutely marvelous just to think about +it." <br> +<p>"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here +for just that purpose--it shall be my life work to teach them His +word--to lead them into the light of His mercy while we are +training their hearts and hands in the ways of culture and +civilization."<br> +</p> + +"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them +to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make +a race of men that will be an honor to us both." <br> +<p>Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded +our conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so +excited about. Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, +and so I only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had +outlined it to him, he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had +been; but for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered +the horrible fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at +last I prevailed upon him to accept my plan as the only feasible +one, and when I had assured him that I would take all the +responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a reluctant +assent.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_7">CHAPTER VI</h1> + +THE BEGINNING OF HORROR <br> +Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no +nights to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad +daylight--all but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath +the building. So we determined to put our plan to an immediate +test lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before I +reached them; but we were doomed to disappointment, for no sooner +had we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the +pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being +hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the +avenue beyond. <br> +<p>Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of +other slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced +upon and hustled into the line of marching humans.<br> +</p> + +What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, +but presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two +escaped slaves had been recaptured--a man and a woman--and that +we were marching to witness their punishment, for the man had +killed a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken +them. <br> +<p>At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was +sure that the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto +with Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak +thought so too, as did Perry.<br> +</p> + +"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak. <br> +<p>"Naught," he replied.<br> +</p> + +Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual +cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the +murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an +object-lesson to all other slaves of the danger and futility of +attempted escape, and the fatal consequences of taking the life +of a superior being, and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply +justified in making the entire proceeding as uncomfortable and +painful to us as possible. <br> +<p>They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the +hatchets at the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. +It was a most uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we +were finally herded through a low entrance into a huge building +the center of which was given up to a good-sized arena. Benches +surrounded this open space upon three sides, and along the fourth +were heaped huge bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the +roof.<br> +</p> + +At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of +rock, unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque +background for the scenes which were enacted in the arena before +it, but presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well +filled by slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the +bowlders, for then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure. +<br> +<p>They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon +the opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they +rose above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the +bowlders above. These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the +elect.<br> +</p> + +Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is to +them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking +their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in +their sixth-sense- fourth-dimension language. <br> +<p>For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the +others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in +fact all Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena +after the balance of her female subjects had found their +bowlders, she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the +largest I ever had seen, and on either side of her waddled a huge +thipdar, while behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.<br> +</p> + +At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon +her wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and +settled down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact +center of that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the +dominant race. Here she squatted, a most repulsive and +uninteresting queen; though doubtless quite as well assured of +her beauty and divine right to rule as the proudest monarch of +the outer world. <br> +<p>And then the music started--music without sound! The Mahars +cannot hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands +are unknown among them. The "band" consists of a score or more +Mahars. It filed out in the center of the arena where the +creatures upon the rocks might see it, and there it performed for +fifteen or twenty minutes.<br> +</p> + +Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their +heads in a regular succession of measured movements resulting in +a cadence which evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the +cadence of our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes +the band took measured steps in unison to one side or the other, +or backward and again forward--it all seemed very silly and +meaningless to me, but at the end of the first piece the Mahars +upon the rocks showed the first indications of enthusiasm that I +had seen displayed by the dominant race of Pellucidar. They beat +their great wings up and down, and smote their rocky perches with +their mighty tails until the ground shook. Then the band started +another piece, and all was again as silent as the grave. That was +one great beauty about Mahar music--if you didn't happen to like +a piece that was being played all you had to do was shut your +eyes. <br> +<p>When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and +settled upon the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the +business of the day was on. A man and woman were pushed into the +arena by a couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my +seat to scrutinize the female--hoping against hope that she might +prove to be another than Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward +me for a while, and the sight of the great mass of raven hair +piled high upon her head filled me with alarm.<br> +</p> + +Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to +admit a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature. <br> +<p>"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the +outer crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. +We have been carried back a million years, David, to the +childhood of a planet--is it not wondrous?"<br> +</p> + +But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart +stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any +eyes for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I +should have leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever +fate lay in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age. +<br> +<p>With the advent of the Bos--they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar--two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of +the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have +been as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful +weapons.<br> +</p> + +As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground +with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly +beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar +that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first +see the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, but +the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims around with +a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face--she was not Dian! +I could have wept for relief. <br> +<p>And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author +of that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a +huge tiger--such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles +primeval when the world was young. In contour and markings it was +not unlike the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as +its dimensions were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too +were its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed +aloud; its whites were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the +finest anthracite coal, and its coat long and shaggy as a +mountain goat. That it is a beautiful animal there is no +gainsaying, but if its size and colors are magnified here within +Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not the +occasional member of its species that is a man hunter--all are +man hunters; but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, +for there is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they will +not eat with relish in the constant efforts which they make to +furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient sustenance to +maintain their mighty thews.<br> +</p> + +Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, +and upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with +gaping mouth and dripping fangs. <br> +<p>The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. +At the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing +became a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had +I heard such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think +it was all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was +staged!<br> +</p> + +The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the +other. The two puny things standing between them seemed already +lost, but at the very moment that the beasts were upon them the +man grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped to +one side, while the frenzied creatures came together like +locomotives in collision. <br> +<p>There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful +ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. Time +and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into +the air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he +returned to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, +and seemingly increased ire.<br> +</p> + +For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping +out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them +separate and each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. +The tiger was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the +huge neck with powerful fangs while its long, strong talons +ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons. <br> +<p>For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain +and rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously +from side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went +careening about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its +rending rider. It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the +first mad rush of the wounded animal.<br> +</p> + +All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until +in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and +over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its +breath from it I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick +as a cat, the great thag was up again and had buried those mighty +horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor of +the arena. <br> +<p>The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears +were gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh +remained upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that +fearful punishment the thag still stood motionless pinning down +his adversary, and then the man leaped in, seeing that the blind +bull would be the least formidable enemy, and ran his spear +through the tarag's heart.<br> +</p> + +As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the +arena. With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the +arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then accident +carried him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the +barrier into the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of +us. Swinging his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a +wide swath before him straight upward toward our seats. Before +him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede to escape the +menace of the creature's death agonies, for such only could that +frightful charge have been. <br> +<p>Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the +exits, many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind +us. Perry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which +reigned for a few moments after the beast cleared the wall of the +arena, each intent upon saving his own hide.<br> +</p> + +I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear +mad mob that were battling to escape. One would have thought that +an entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a +single blinded, dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon +a crowd. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_8">CHAPTER VII</h1> + +FREEDOM <br> +<p>Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, +but another emotion as quickly gripped me--hope of escape that +the demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the +instant.<br> +</p> + +I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better +encompass his release if myself free I should have put the +thought of freedom from me at once. As it was I hastened on +toward the right searching for an exit toward which no Sagoths +were fleeing, and at last I found it--a low, narrow aperture +leading into a dark corridor. <br> +<p>Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the +shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for +some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter +and fainter until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. +Faint light filtered from above through occasional ventilating +and lighting tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my +human eyes to cope with the darkness, and so I was forced to move +with extreme care, feeling my way along step by step with a hand +upon the wall beside me.<br> +</p> + +Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, +I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which +the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening +in the ground. <br> +<p>Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and +peering out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous +lofty, granite towers which mark the several entrances to the +subterranean city were all in front of me--behind, the plain +stretched level and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come +to the surface, then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape +seemed much enhanced.<br> +</p> + +My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross +the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a +sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which +envelopes Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the +day-light. <br> +<p>Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra--the +gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world, each particular +blade of which is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed +blossom--brilliant little stars of varying colors that twinkle in +the green foliage to add still another charm to the weird, yet +lovely, land-scape.<br> +</p> + +But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills +in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, +trampling the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry +says that the force of gravity is less upon the surface of the +inner world than upon that of the outer. He explained it all to +me once, but I was never particularly brilliant in such matters +and so most of it has escaped me. As I recall it the difference +is due in some part to the counter-attraction of that portion of +the earth's crust directly opposite the spot upon the face of +Pellucidar at which one's calculations are being made. Be that as +it may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greater speed +and agility within Pellucidar than upon the outer surface--there +was a certain airy lightness of step that was most pleasing, and +a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only compare with that +occasionally experienced in dreams. <br> +<p>And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I +seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to +Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not +know. The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my +new-found freedom. There could be no liberty for me within +Pellucidar unless the old man shared it with me, and only the +hope that I might find some way to encompass his release kept me +from turning back to Phutra.<br> +</p> + +Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped +that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. +It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle +could aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, +naked and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my +steps to Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and +even were that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no +matter how far I wandered? <br> +<p>The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, +yet with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the +foothills. Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I +saw no living thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and +forgotten world.<br> +</p> + +I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit +of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a +pretty little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me +frolicked a laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down +to the silent sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small +fish, of fouror five-pound weight I should imagine. In +appearance, except as to size and color, they were not unlike the +whale of our own seas. As I watched them playing about I +discovered, not only that they suckled their young, but that at +intervals they rose to the surface to breathe as well as to feed +upon certain grasses and a strange, scarlet lichen which grew +upon the rocks just above the water line. <br> +<p>It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved +to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that is what Perry +calls them--and make as good a meal as one can on raw, +warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to +the eating of food in its natural state, though I still balked on +the eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I +always passed these delicacies.<br> +</p> + +Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive +purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung +the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I +sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled +to escape. <br> +<p>Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands +and face continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I +encountered a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond +was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon +the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands.<br> +</p> + +The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was +to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over +the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped +into the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to +offer a haven of peace and security. <br> +<p>The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly +strewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others +still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might +have drawn out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of +the antediluvian seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not +but compare myself with the first man of that other world, so +complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and +untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I +felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the +childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought +there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a +perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven +hair.<br> +</p> + +As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not +until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which +shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace +and primal overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon +the sands, and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle. <br> +<p>The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some +new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of +loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes +in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great +copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me.<br> +</p> + +There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence +of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in +no safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous +question. <br> +<p>The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of +escaping him upon the open beach. There was but a single +alternative--the rude skiff--and with a celerity which equaled +his, I pushed the thing into the sea and as it floated gave a +final shove and clambered in over the end.<br> +</p> + +A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder +and buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped +the paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly +thing out upon the surface of the sea. <br> +<p>A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored +one had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. +His mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us +in short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with +my unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubbornly in every direction +but that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy +was expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.<br> +</p> + +I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became +evident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within +the next half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to +the grandfather of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, +and still the copper giant behind me gained and gained. <br> +<p>His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, +sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and +the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I +need have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain +death was in his look.<br> +</p> + +And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous +monster of that prehistoric deep--a mighty serpent of the sea, +with fanged jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, +and bony protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, +stout horns. <br> +<p>As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the +doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an +expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there +swept through me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was +indeed a brother-man, and that he might have killed me with +pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his +danger.<br> +</p> + +Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage +my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. +The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he +closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark +den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body +coiled and uncoiled about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws +snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like, +ran in and out upon the copper skin. <br> +<p>Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone +hatchet against the bony armor that covered that frightful +carcass; but for all the damage he inflicted he might as well +have struck with his open palm.<br> +</p> + +At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a +fellowman was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive +reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had +been cast after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a +wrench I tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log +drove it with all the strength of my two arms straight into the +gaping jaws of the hydrophidian. <br> +<p>With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon +me, but the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from +seizing me though it came near to overturning the skiff in its +mad efforts to reach me.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_9">CHAPTER VIII</h1> + +THE MAHAR TEMPLE <br> +The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the +skiff, and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the +infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now +crimsoning the waters about us and soon from the weakening +struggles it became evident that I had inflicted a death wound +upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and +with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its back quite +dead. <br> +<p>And then there came to me a sudden realization of the +predicament in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within +the power of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still +clinging to the spear I looked into his face to find him +scrutinizing me intently, and there we stood for some several +minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon the while we +gazed in stupid wonderment at each other.<br> +</p> + +What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. +<br> +<p>Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable +to translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my +ignorance of his language, at the same time addressing him in the +bastard tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human +slaves of the Mahars.<br> +</p> + +To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. +<br> +<p>"What do you want of my spear?" he asked.<br> +</p> + +"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied. <br> +<p>"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my +life," and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted +down in the bottom of the skiff.<br> +</p> + +"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?" +<br> +<p>I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to +explain how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as +impossible for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told +him as I fear it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in +the existence of the inner world. To him it seemed quite +ridiculous to imagine that there was another world far beneath +his feet peopled by beings similar to himself, and he laughed +uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus. +That which has never come within the scope of our really +pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our finite minds +cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the +conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the +insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the +bowlders of the universe--the speck of moist dirt we so proudly +call the World.<br> +</p> + +So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a +Mezop, and that his name was Ja. <br> +<p>"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?"<br> +</p> + +He looked at me in surprise. <br> +<p>"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he +said, "for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops +live upon the islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard +no Mezop lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon +islands, but of course it may be different in other far-distant +lands. I do not know. At any rate in this sea and those near by +it is true that only people of my race inhabit the islands.<br> +</p> + +"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often +going to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon +all but the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added +proudly. "Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when +Pellucidar was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for +slaves as they do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down +from father to son among us that this is so; but we fought so +desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those of us that were +captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that at last +they learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later +came the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to catch +their own fish, except for amusement, and then they needed us to +supply their wants, and so a truce was made between the races. +Now they give us certain things which we are unable to produce in +return for the fish that we catch, and the Mezops and the Mahars +live in peace. <br> +<p>"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far +from the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice +their religious rites in the temples they have builded there with +our assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the +manner of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most +unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to take part in +it."<br> +</p> + +As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six +or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike +that of our own North American Indian, nor were his features +dissimilar to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many +of the higher tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair +and eyes, but his mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, +Ja was an impressive and handsome creature, and he talked well +too, even in the miserable makeshift language we were compelled +to use. <br> +<p>During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was +propelling the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island +that lay some half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which +he handled his crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest +admiration, since it had been so short a time before that I had +made such pitiful work of it.<br> +</p> + +As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I +followed him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the +bushes that grew beyond the sand. <br> +<p>"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of +Luana are always at war with us and would steal them if they +found them," he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and +at so great a distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the +distant sky. The upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was +constantly revealing the impossible to the surprised eyes of the +outer-earthly. To see land and water curving upward in the +distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted into +the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung +suspended directly above one's head required such a complete +reversal of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to +stupefy one.<br> +</p> + +No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the +jungle, presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail +which wound hither and thither much after the manner of the +highways of all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity +about this Mezop trail which I was later to find distinguished +them from all other trails that I ever have seen within or +without the earth. <br> +<p>It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end +suddenly in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would +turn directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring +into a tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a +fallen log, leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a +distinct trail which he would follow back for a short distance +only to turn directly about and retrace his steps until after a +mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously +as the former section. Then he would pass again across some media +which would reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of the +trail beyond.<br> +</p> + +As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could +not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of +the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from +his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow +him to his deep-buried cities. <br> +<p>To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous +method of traveling through the jungle, but were you of +Pellucidar you would realize that time is no factor where time +does not exist. So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, +so varied the connecting links and the distances which one must +retrace one's steps from the paths' ends to find them that a +Mezop often reaches man's estate before he is familiar even with +those which lead from his own city to the sea.<br> +</p> + +In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop +consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and +the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of +trails which he can follow upon his own island. The females never +learn them, since from birth to death they never leave the +clearing in which the village of their nativity is situated +except they be taken to mate by a male from another village, or +captured in war by the enemies of their tribe. <br> +<p>After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been +upward of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in +the exact center of which stood as strange an appearing village +as one might well imagine.<br> +</p> + +Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above +the ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of +woven twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house +was surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me +indicated the identity of the owner. <br> +<p>Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, +served to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house +were through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence +upward by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms +above. The houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The +largest that I entered was divided into two floors and eight +apartments.<br> +</p> + +All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, +fruits, and vegetables as they required. Women and children were +working in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At +sight of Ja they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not +the slightest attention. Among them and about the outer verge of +the cultivated area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by +touching the points of their spears to the ground directly before +them. <br> +<p>Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the +village--the house with eight rooms--and taking me up into it +gave me food and drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with +a nursing baby in her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his +life, and she was thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, +even permitting me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity +whom Ja told me would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, +was the chief of the community.<br> +</p> + +We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, +for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man +proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which +lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," +he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out +of sight they need never know that we have been there. For my +part I hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of the +island think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable +relations which exist between the two races; otherwise I should +like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous +creatures and exterminate them--Pellucidar would be a better +place to live were there none of them." <br> +<p>I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might +be a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of +Pellucidar. Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail +toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing +surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must have +flourished upon the outer crust during the carboniferous age.<br> +</p> + +Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a +rough oval with rounded roof in which were several large +openings. No doors or windows were visible in the sides of the +structure, nor was there need of any, except one entrance for the +slaves, since, as Ja explained, the Mahars flew to and from their +place of ceremonial, entering and leaving the building by means +of the apertures in the roof. <br> +<p>"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which +even the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the +clearing and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay +against the foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large +bowlders, revealing a small opening which led straight within the +building, or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I +discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme darkness.<br> +</p> + +"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow me +closely." <br> +<p>The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend +a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to +the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet +when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to +grow lighter and presently we came opposite an opening in the +inner wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire +interior of the temple.<br> +</p> + +The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which +numerous hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial +islands of granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon +several of them I saw men and women like myself. <br> +<p>"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked.<br> +</p> + +"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading +part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. +You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the +wall as they." <br> +<p>Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of +wings above and a moment later a long procession of the frightful +reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the +large central opening in the roof and circled in stately manner +about the temple.<br> +</p> + +There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty +awe-inspiring pterodactyls--thipdars, they are called within +Pellucidar. Behind these came the queen, flanked by other +thipdars as she had been when she entered the amphitheater at +Phutra. <br> +<p>Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval +chamber, to settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that +fringe the outer edge of the pool. In the center of one side the +largest rock was reserved for the queen, and here she took her +place surrounded by her terrible guard.<br> +</p> + +All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. +One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves +upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with +wide eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately +with folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and children +clung to one another, hiding behind the males. They are a +noble-looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our +progenitors were as they, the human race of the outer crust has +deteriorated rather than improved with the march of the ages. All +they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and little else. +<br> +<p>Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; +then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid +noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, +turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their +tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the +surface.<br> +</p> + +Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she +remained at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite +her throne. Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her +great, round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for +they had been brought from a distant Mahar city where human +beings are kept in droves, and bred and fattened, as we breed and +fatten beef cattle. <br> +<p>The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim +tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling +behind a woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on +with such fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated +the woman, and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center +of her brain.<br> +</p> + +Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the +eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then +the victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward +the Mahar queen, slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though +dragged by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance +straight toward the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of +her captor. To the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, +but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. On she +moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though +leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and +still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was +at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked +on in horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a +forecast of their own. <br> +<p>The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were +exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced +until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from +her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the +reptile.<br> +</p> + +Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose--her eyes +and forehead all that showed--yet still she walked on after the +retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the +surface and after it went the eyes of her victim--only a slow +ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished. +<br> +<p>For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water +for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of +the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward +the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she +dragged the helpless girl to her doom.<br> +</p> + +And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the +reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On +and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely +to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface +sufficient time to have drowned her thrice over there was no +indication, other than her dripping hair and glistening body, +that she had been submerged at all. <br> +<p>Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out +again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves +so that I could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue +had I not taken a firm hold of myself.<br> +</p> + +Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came +to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms +was gone--gnawed completely off at the shoulder--but the poor +thing gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in +her set eyes seemed intensified. <br> +<p>The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then +the breasts, and then a part of the face--it was awful. The poor +creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their +eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw +that they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so +that they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon +the terrible thing that was transpiring before them.<br> +</p> + +Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and +when she rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her +bowlder. The moment she mounted it seemed to be the signal for +the other Mahars to enter the tank, and then commenced, upon a +larger scale, a repetition of the uncanny performance through +which the queen had led her victim. <br> +<p>Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars--they +being the weakest and most tender--and when they had satisfied +their appetite for human flesh, some of them devouring two and +three of the slaves, there were only a score of full-grown men +left, and I thought that for some reason these were to be spared, +but such was far from the case, for as the last Mahar crawled to +her rock the queen's thipdars darted into the air, circled the +temple once and then, hissing like steam engines, swooped down +upon the remaining slaves.<br> +</p> + +There was no hypnotism here--just the plain, brutal ferocity of +the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at +that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. +By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves +the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later +the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the +queen, and themselves dropped into slumber. <br> +<p>"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to +Ja.<br> +</p> + +"They do many things in this temple which they do not do +elsewhere," he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to +eat human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and +almost always you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I +imagine that they do not bring their Sagoths here, because they +are ashamed of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only +among the least advanced of their race; but I would wager my +canoe against a broken paddle that there is no Mahar but eats +human flesh whenever she can get it." <br> +<p>"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if +it is true that they look upon us as lower animals?"<br> +</p> + +"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are +supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," +replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They +would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider +such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. +As a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this +sentiment should exist among them." <br> +<p>"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning +far out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple +better. Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the +wall, there being a break in the bowlders at this point as there +was at several other places about the side of the temple.<br> +</p> + +My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed +a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for +it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save +myself and I plunged headforemost into the water below. <br> +<p>Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no +injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind +filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the +terrible doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the +reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed their +slumber.<br> +</p> + +As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming +rapidly in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my +life to the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as +I cast a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the +thipdars I was almost stunned to see that not a single one +remained upon the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I +searched the temple with my eyes could I discern any within it. +<br> +<p>For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I +realized that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been +disturbed by the noise my body made when it hit the water, and +that as there is no such thing as time within Pellucidar there +was no telling how long I had been beneath the surface. It was a +difficult thing to attempt to figure out by earthly +standards--this matter of elapsed time--but when I set myself to +it I began to realize that I might have been submerged a second +or a month or not at all. You have no conception of the strange +contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods +of measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are +non-existent.<br> +</p> + +I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had +saved me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers +of the Mahars filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing +their uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that +I was alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out +upon me from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one +of the tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf--you cannot +imagine the awful horror which even the simple thought of the +repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to +feel that you are in their power--that they are crawling, slimy, +and abhorrent, to drag you down beneath the waters and devour +you! It is frightful. <br> +<p>But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion +that I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be +alone was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically +about once more in search of a means to escape.<br> +</p> + +Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I +tumbled into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. +Doubtless he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple +from our hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be +discovered, had hastened from the temple and back to his village. +<br> +<p>I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside +the doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to +believe that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to +feed the Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried +through the air, and so I continued my search until at last it +was rewarded by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in +the masonry at one end of the temple.<br> +</p> + +A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these +stones to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a +moment later I had scurried across the intervening space to the +dense jungle beyond. <br> +<p>Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses +beneath the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the +grinning fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. +Whatever dangers lay hidden in this island jungle, there could be +none so fearsome as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I +could meet death bravely enough if it but came in the form of +some familiar beast or man--anything other than the hideous and +uncanny Mahars.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_10">CHAPTER IX</h1> + +THE FACE OF DEATH <br> +I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was +very hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a +while, I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew +that the island was not so large but that I could easily find the +sea if I did but move in a straight line, but there came the +difficulty as there was no way in which I could direct my course +and hold it, the sun, of course, being always directly above my +head, and the trees so thickly set that I could see no distant +object which might serve to guide me in a straight line. <br> +<p>As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate +four times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last +I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced +by the chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes +through which I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the +beach.<br> +</p> + +I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward +craft down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My +experience with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another +canoe I must be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's +reach as soon as possible. <br> +<p>I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from +that at which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was +nowhere in sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, +though well out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At +the sight of it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, +for I had long since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give +myself up that I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy +One.<br> +</p> + +I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I +realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture +were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom +without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned +that the probability that I might find him was less than slight. +<br> +<p>Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength +and wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found +myself. I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave +until I had found the means to outfit myself with the crude +weapons of the Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose +image had now become the constant companion of my waking hours, +and the central and beloved figure of my dreams.<br> +</p> + +But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my +duty and wish to be again with him, that we might share the +dangers and vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. +And Ghak, too; the great, shaggy man had found a place in the +hearts of us both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king. +Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the +standards of effete twentieth- century civilization, but withal +noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable. <br> +<p>Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had +discovered Ja's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up +the steep bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But +my troubles came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, for +here I found that several of them centered at the point where I +crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the +pass I could not for the life of me remember.<br> +</p> + +It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which +seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake +that many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall +follow out the course of our lives, and again learned that it is +not always best to follow the line of least resistance. <br> +<p>By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was +convinced that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and +the inland sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To +retrace my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another +canyon seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden +widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to +suggest that it was about to open into a level country, and with +the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided to proceed but a +short distance farther before I turned back.<br> +</p> + +The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before +me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the +side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley +lying to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the +sea, where it formed a broad level beach. <br> +<p>Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there +almost to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From +the nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land +between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly +before me it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip +along which the restless waters advanced and retreated.<br> +</p> + +Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene +was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled +vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the +ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was +not repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not +penetrate the dense foliage to discern it. <br> +<p>Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and +lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet +ventured, to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay +beyond, or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or +adventure. What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts +were this very instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its +farther shore! How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the +seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison with those of the +outer crust, but even so this great ocean might stretch its broad +expanse for thousands of miles. For countless ages it had rolled +up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet today it +remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible from +its beaches.<br> +</p> + +The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as +though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer +world to look upon its lands and seas ages before man had +traversed either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called +to me to explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and +adventure which lay before us could Perry and I but escape the +Mahars, when something, a slight noise I imagine, drew my +attention behind me. <br> +<p>As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract +took wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete +form that I beheld advancing upon me.<br> +</p> + +A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the +mighty jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have +weighed tons, and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. +Upon one hand was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, +on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature had +sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked sea, and before +me in the center of the narrow way that led to safety stood this +huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh. <br> +<p>A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that +I was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures +whose fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far +back as the Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And +there I was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as +naked as I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first +ancestor felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered +for the first time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that +had me cornered now beside the restless, mysterious sea.<br> +</p> + +Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had +handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I +have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct +of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed +so close before me today. <br> +<p>To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been +similar to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the +outside. The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these +mighty, carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that +menaced me would pursue me into either the sea or the swamp with +equal facility.<br> +</p> + +There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I +thought of Perry--how he would wonder what had become of me. I +thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all +would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange +and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird +surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of my +extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how +unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the +existence of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an +instant's warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us +with subdued voices. The following morning, while the first worm +is busily engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they +are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over +a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The +labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize +that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that +his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my +predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which +would so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth? <br> +<p>He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling +to me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and +could have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for +there stood Ja, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run +for it to the cliff's base.<br> +</p> + +I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me +for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human +eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I +derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it. +<br> +<p>To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and +unscalable cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile +as a monkey, crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, +clinging to small projections, and the tough creepers that had +found root-hold here and there.<br> +</p> + +The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double +his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to +the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely +trotted along behind me. <br> +<p>As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended +doing, but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had +come down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, +clinging with one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet +resting, precariously upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid +face of the rock, he lowered the point of his long spear until it +hung some six feet above the ground.<br> +</p> + +To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored +one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I +came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him +to try to save myself. <br> +<p>But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no +danger himself.<br> +</p> + +"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much +more rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and +drag you back before ever you are halfway up the spear--he can +rear up and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand." +<br> +<p>Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I +grasped the spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly +as I could--being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I +am. I imagine the slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly +realized our intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all +his meal instead of having it doubled as he had hoped.<br> +</p> + +When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that +fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific +rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; +another six inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt +a sudden wrench from below and glancing fearfully downward saw +the mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the +weapon. <br> +<p>I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold +on the surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, +and still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my +executioner.<br> +</p> + +At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand +the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when +I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the +point yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the +sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw. <br> +<p>With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his +snout, lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face +and head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from +there to the ground.<br> +</p> + +Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing +madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A +glance over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at +the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did +he remain in this occupation that I had gained the safety of the +cliff top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did +not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, hissing +into the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was the last I saw +of him. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_11">CHAPTER X</h1> + +PHUTRA AGAIN <br> +<p>I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a +secure footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt +to save me, which had come so near miscarrying.<br> +</p> + +"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar +temple," he said, "for not even I could save you from their +clutches, and you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe +dragged up upon the beach of the mainland I discovered your own +footprints in the sand beside it. <br> +<p>"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that +you must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many +dangers which lurk upon the mainland both in the form of savage +beasts and reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in +tracking you to this point. It is well that I arrived when I +did."<br> +</p> + +"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of +friendship on the part of a man of another world and a different +race and color. <br> +<p>"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became +my duty to protect and befriend you. I would have been no true +Mezop had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this +instance for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with +me. You shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the +best of hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate +from, the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come?"<br> +</p> + +I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my +duty was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit +him--if I could ever find his island. <br> +<p>"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to +come to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the +Clouds. There you will find a river which flows into the Lural +Az. Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three +large islands far out, so far that they are barely discernible, +the one to the extreme left as you face them from the mouth of +the river is Anoroc, where I rule the tribe of Anoroc."<br> +</p> + +"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men +say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied. <br> +<p>"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of +theory these primitive men had concerning the form and substance +of their world.<br> +</p> + +"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should +fall back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the +waters of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, +Pellucidar is quite flat and extends no man knows how far in all +directions. At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and +handed down to me, is a great wall that prevents the earth and +waters from escaping over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar +floats; but I never have been so far from Anoroc as to have seen +this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to +believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at all in +the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them +Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with +their heads pointed downward!" and Ja laughed uproariously at the +very thought. <br> +<p>It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world +had not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly +Mahars had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I +wondered how many ages it would take to lift these people out of +their ignorance even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. +Possibly we would be killed for our pains as were those men of +the outer world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and +superstitions of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the +effort if the opportunity ever presented itself.<br> +</p> + +And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity--that I +might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus +note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. <br> +<p>"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in +so far as the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is +concerned it is correct?"<br> +</p> + +"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took +me for one." <br> +<p>"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do +you account for the fact that I was able to pass through the +earth from the outer crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is +correct all is a sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples +could exist, and yet I come from a great world that is covered +with human beings, and beasts, and birds, and fishes in mighty +oceans."<br> +</p> + +"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with +your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe +that, my friend, I should indeed be mad." <br> +<p>I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the +means of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would +be for a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He +listened so intently that I thought I had made an impression, and +started the train of thought that would lead him to a partial +understanding of the truth. But I was mistaken.<br> +</p> + +"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity of +your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. +"See," he said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until +it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not +supported upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit +falls--you have proven it yourself!" He had me, that time--you +could see it in his eye. <br> +<p>It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at +least, for when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our +solar system and the universe I realized how futile it would be +to attempt to picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, +the moon, the planets, and the countless stars. Those born within +the inner world could no more conceive of such things than can we +of the outer crust reduce to factors appreciable to our finite +minds such terms as space and eternity.<br> +</p> + +"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or +down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not +so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part +I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself +up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the +plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered +us together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment +of the slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not +left the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made +good our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all +our plans, which depended for their consummation upon the +continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath +the building in which we were confined." <br> +<p>"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.<br> +</p> + +"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in +Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I do under the +circumstances?" <br> +<p>He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head +sorrowfully.<br> +</p> + +"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; +"yet it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly +condemn you to death for running away, and so you will be +accomplishing nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all +my life have I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his +own free will. There are but few who escape them, though some do, +and these would rather die than be recaptured." <br> +<p>"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you +that I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. +However, Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all +great that I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the +former locality."<br> +</p> + +Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I +could, he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea +upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the +ground go there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az +by the little demons who dwell there. We know this because when +graves are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or +entirely borne off. That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in +high trees where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit +to the Dead World above the Land of Awful Shadow. If we kill an +enemy we place his body in the ground that it may go to Molop +Az." <br> +<p>As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I +had come to the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to +dissuade me from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was +determined to do so, he consented to guide me to a point from +which I could see the plain where lay the city. To my surprise +the distance was but short from the beach where I had again met +Ja. It was evident that I had spent much time following the +windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge lay the +city of Phutra near to which I must have come several times.<br> +</p> + +As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting +the flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade +me to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I +was firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured +in his own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time. +<br> +<p>I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very +much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a +base, and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have +accomplished much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that +were we successful in our effort to escape we might return to +Anoroc later.<br> +</p> + +There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first--at +least it was the great thing to me--the finding of Dian the +Beautiful. I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon +her in my ignorance, and I wanted to--well, I wanted to see her +again, and to be with her. <br> +<p>Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of +flowers, and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless +columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile +from the nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, +and in an instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward +me.<br> +</p> + +Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild +Comanches I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking +quietly toward them as though unaware of their existence. My +manner had the effect upon them that I had hoped, and as we came +quite near together they ceased their savage shouting. It was +evident that they had expected me to turn and flee at sight of +them, thus presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving +human target at which to cast their spears. <br> +<p>"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, +"Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world--he who +escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why +do you return, having once made good your escape?"<br> +</p> + +"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the +thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage I became +confused and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now +have I found my way back." <br> +<p>"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one +of the guardsmen.<br> +</p> + +"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within +Pellucidar and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not +desire to be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I +not happy? What better lot could man desire?" <br> +<p>The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, +and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom +they felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my +return, for riddle they still considered it.<br> +</p> + +I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing +them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they +thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I +would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an +opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine +that I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately +upon my return to the city. <br> +<p>So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock +within the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, +reptilian eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin +veneer of my deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the +story which the Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the +gorilla-men's lips and fingers during the recital. Then it +questioned me through one of the Sagoths.<br> +</p> + +"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, +because you think yourself better off here than elsewhere--do you +not know that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in +the interests of the wonderful scientific investigations that our +learned ones are continually occupied with?" <br> +<p>I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best +not to admit it.<br> +</p> + +"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and +unarmed in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of +Pellucidar. I was fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. +As it was I barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge +sithic. No, I am sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent +creatures such as rule Phutra. At least such would be the case in +my own world, where human beings like myself rule supreme. There +the higher races of man extend protection and hospitality to the +stranger within their gates, and being a stranger here I +naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be accorded me." +<br> +<p>The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased +speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. +The creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated +some message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me +to follow him, left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on +either side of me marched the balance of the guard.<br> +</p> + +"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my +right. <br> +<p>"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question +you regarding this strange world from which you say you +come."<br> +</p> + +After a moment's silence he turned to me again. <br> +<p>"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to +slaves who lie to them?"<br> +</p> + +"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention +of lying to the Mahars." <br> +<p>"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you +told Sol-to-to just now--another world, indeed, where human +beings rule!" he concluded in fine scorn.<br> +</p> + +"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I +come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see +that." <br> +<p>"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may +not be judged by one with but half an eye."<br> +</p> + +"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind +to believe me?" <br> +<p>"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be +used in research work by the learned ones," he replied.<br> +</p> + +"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted. <br> +<p>"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits +with them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge does +them but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up +their subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many +useful things. However I should not imagine that it would prove +very useful to him who was being cut up; but of course this is +all but conjecture. The chances are that ere long you will know +much more about it than I," and he grinned as he spoke. The +Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor.<br> +</p> + +"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?" <br> +<p>"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that +you escaped?" he said.<br> +</p> + +"Yes. " <br> +<p>"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended +for them," he explained, "though of course the same kinds of +animals might not be employed."<br> +</p> + +"It is sure death in either event?" I asked. <br> +<p>"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do +not know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to +the arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as +did the two whom you saw."<br> +</p> + +"They gained their liberty? And how?" <br> +<p>"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain +alive within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. +Thus it has happened that several mighty warriors from far +distant lands, whom we have captured on our slave raids, have +battled the brutes turned in upon them and slain them, thereby +winning their freedom. In the instance which you witnessed the +beasts killed each other, but the result was the same--the man +and woman were liberated, furnished with weapons, and started on +their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was +burned--the mark of the Mahars--which will forever protect these +two from slaving parties."<br> +</p> + +"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, +and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?" <br> +<p>"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate +yourself too quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there +is scarce one in a thousand who comes out alive."<br> +</p> + +To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I +had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the +doorway I was turned over to the guards there. <br> +<p>"He will doubtless be called before the investigators +shortly," said he who had brought me back," so have him in +readiness."<br> +</p> + +The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I +had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it +would be safe to give me liberty within the building as had been +the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to +whatever duty had been mine formerly. <br> +<p>My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as +usual over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely +dusting and rearranging upon new shelves.<br> +</p> + +As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, +only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I +was both astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think +that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of +duty and affection! <br> +<p>"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my +long absence?"<br> +</p> + +"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?" <br> +<p>"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not +missed me since that time we were separated by the charging thag +within the arena?"<br> +</p> + +"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned +from the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you +been much later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I +had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon +as I had completed the translation of this most interesting +passage." <br> +<p>"Perry, you ARE mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows +how long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered +a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their +worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life +from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, +following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. +I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look +up from your work when I return and insist that we have been +separated but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm +surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you +cared no more for me than this I should not have returned to +chance death at the hands of the Mahars for your sake."<br> +</p> + +The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There +was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of +hurt sorrow in his eyes. <br> +<p>"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my +love for you? There is something strange here that I cannot +understand. I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that +you are not; but how in the world are we to account for the +strange hallucinations that each of us seems to harbor relative +to the passage of time since last we saw each other. You are +positive that months have gone by, while to me it seems equally +certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you in the +amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and at the same +time both are wrong? First tell me what time is, and then maybe I +can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning?"<br> +</p> + +I didn't and said so. <br> +<p>"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent +over my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done +little or nothing to waste my energies and so have required +neither food nor sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and +fought and wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt +by nutriment and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times +since last you saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time +largely by these acts. As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly +coming to the conviction that there is no such thing as +time--surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar, where +there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why, the +Mahars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find +here in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. +There seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it +is impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such a +condition, but our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its +existence."<br> +</p> + +It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed +to enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after +listening with interest to my account of the adventures through +which I had passed he returned once more to the subject, which he +was enlarging upon with considerable fluency when he was +interrupted by the entrance of a Sagoth. <br> +<p>"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The +investigators would speak with you."<br> +</p> + +"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There +may be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I +feel that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which +I shall never return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I +want you to promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and +tell her that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the +unintentional affront I put upon her, and that my one wish was to +be spared long enough to right the wrong that I had done her." +<br> +<p>Tears came to Perry's eyes.<br> +</p> + +"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It +would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life +without you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you +are taken away I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well +off here as I should be anywhere within this buried world. +Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and +broke, and as he hid his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman +grasped me roughly by the shoulder and hustled me from the +chamber. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_12">CHAPTER XI</h1> + +FOUR DEAD MAHARS <br> +<p>A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars--the +social investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, +through a Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. +They seemed particularly interested in my account of the outer +earth and the strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to +Pellucidar. I thought that I had convinced them, and after they +had sat in silence for a long time following my examination, I +expected to be ordered returned to my quarters.<br> +</p> + +During this apparent silence they were debating through the +medium of strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At +last the head of the tribunal communicated the result of their +conference to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard. <br> +<p>"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental +pits for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty +ones with the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold +to them."<br> +</p> + +"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally +astonished. <br> +<p>"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you +expected any one to believe so impossible a lie?"<br> +</p> + +It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a +low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we +saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these +chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me +to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a +long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. +Several Mahars stood about the poor creature holding him down so +that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her +three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and +abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks and +groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, +was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as +I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think that where +there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that my +suffering was enduring for months before death finally released +me! <br> +<p>The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had +been brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their +work that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had +entered with me. The door was close by. Would that I could reach +it! But those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I +looked about for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the +floor between me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrument +which one of them must have dropped. It looked not unlike a +button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A +hundred times in my boyhood days had I picked locks with a +buttonhook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel I +might yet effect at least a temporary escape.<br> +</p> + +Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one +hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of +the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber +of my being as I would, I could not quite make it. <br> +<p>At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the +object. My heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! +But suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should +accidentally shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of +reach! Cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and +cautiously I made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold +metal. Gradually I worked it toward me until I felt that it was +within reach of my hand and a moment later I had turned about and +the precious thing was in my grasp.<br> +</p> + +Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my +chain. It was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and +a moment later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently +completing their work at the table. One already turned away and +was examining other victims, evidently with the intention of +selecting the next subject. <br> +<p>Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the +creature walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. +Slowly the thing approached me, when its attention was attracted +by a huge slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile +stopped and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as +it did so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that +instant I gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the +chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the +speed I could command.<br> +</p> + +Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought +was to place as much distance as possible between me and that +frightful chamber of torture. <br> +<p>Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later +realizing the danger of running into some new predicament, were I +not careful, I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a +time I came to a passage that seemed in some mysterious way +familiar to me, and presently, chancing to glance within a +chamber which led from the corridor I saw three Mahars curled up +in slumber upon a bed of skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy +and relief. It was the same corridor and the same Mahars that I +had intended to have lead so important a role in our escape from +Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles +still slept.<br> +</p> + +My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in +search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, +and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions +of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and +these I lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends +and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my +face. Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the +chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep. <br> +<p>Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of +course they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out +to me by my judges. It was decided that no time should now be +lost before attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as +I could not hope to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor +could I forever carry that bale of skins about upon my head +without arousing suspicion. However it seemed likely that it +would carry me once more safely through the crowded passages and +chambers of the upper levels, and so I set out with Perry and +Ghak--the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking me.<br> +</p> + +Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the +main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to +await me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone +formation. There is nothing at all remarkable about their +architecture. The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes +circular, and again oval in shape. The corridors which connect +them are narrow and not always straight. The chambers are lighted +by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to those by +which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, +the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. The +Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness. <br> +<p>Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, +and slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we had become a +part of the domestic life of the building. There was but a single +entrance leading from the place into the avenue and this was well +guarded by Sagoths--this doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. +It is true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper +corridors and apartments except on special occasions when we were +instructed to do so; but as we were considered a lower order +without intelligence there was little reason to fear that we +could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not +hindered as we entered the corridor which led below.<br> +</p> + +Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and +the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. +Where I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in +sight, and so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving +the balance of the weapons with Perry, started on alone toward +the lower levels. <br> +<p>Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept I +entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were +without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the +heart I disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so +fortunate, so that before I could kill the next of my victims it +had hurled itself against the third, who sprang quickly up, +facing me with wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the +occupation which the race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw +that I already had dispatched two of its companions, and that my +sword was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me. But +I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it +scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels.<br> +</p> + +Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all +probability my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; +but even at my best I could do no more than hold my own with the +leaping thing before me. <br> +<p>Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the +corridor, and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself +facing two of the Mahars. The one who had been there when we +entered had been occupied with a number of metal vessels, into +which had been put powders and liquids as I judged from the array +of flasks standing about upon the bench where it had been +working. In an instant I realized what I had stumbled upon. It +was the very room for the finding of which Perry had given me +minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was hidden +the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench beside +the flasks lay the skin-bound book which held the only copy of +the thing I was to have sought, after dispatching the three +Mahars in their sleep.<br> +</p> + +There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I +now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew +that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to +fight if fight they must. Together they launched themselves upon +me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the +instant, the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm +above the elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake +me about the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw +that it was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that +powerful, viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from +my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to +spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist. <br> +<p>Back and forth across the floor we struggled--the Mahar +dealing me terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I +attempted to protect my body with my left hand, at the same time +watching for an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now +useless sword hand to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was +successful, and with what seemed to me my last ounce of strength +I ran the blade through the ugly body of my foe.<br> +</p> + +Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain +and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride +that I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to +snatch up the most potent secret of a world. A single glance +assured me it was the very thing that Perry had described to me. +<br> +<p>And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human +race of Pellucidar--did there flash through my mind the thought +that countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have +reason to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for +them? I did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out +of limpid eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I +thought of red, red lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, +apropos of nothing, standing there alone in the secret chamber of +the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the +Beautiful.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_13">CHAPTER XII</h1> + +PURSUIT <br> +For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a +sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin +cloth, and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the +corridor which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in +accordance with the prearranged signal which was to announce to +Perry and Ghak that I had been successful. A moment later they +stood beside me, and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One +accompanied them. <br> +<p>"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The +fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of +our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let +you decide whether he might accompany us."<br> +</p> + +I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure +that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I +saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four +Mahars instead of only the three I had expected to, made it +possible to include the fellow in our scheme of escape. <br> +<p>"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the +first intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. +Do you understand?"<br> +</p> + +He said that he did. <br> +<p>Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, +and so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there +seemed an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. +It was not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we +had split them along the belly to remove them from their +carcasses, but by remaining out until the others had all been +sewed in with my help, and then leaving an aperture in the breast +of Perry's skin through which he could pass his hands to sew me +up, we were enabled to accomplish our design to really much +better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the heads +erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same +means were enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We +had our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that +problem was finally solved, so that when we moved about we did so +quite naturally. Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into +which our heads were thrust permitted us to see well enough to +guide our progress.<br> +</p> + +Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak +headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by +Hooja, while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that +I had so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the +head of my disguise into his vitals were he to show any +indication of faltering. <br> +<p>As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering +the busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my +mouth. It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was +frightened--never before in my life, nor since, did I experience +any such agony of soulsearing fear and suspense as enveloped me. +If it be possible to sweat blood, I sweat it then.<br> +</p> + +Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, +when they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of +busy slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity +we reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of +Phutra. Many Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at +Ghak as he padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then +Hooja. Now it was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing +terror I realized that the warm blood from my wounded arm was +trickling down through the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and +leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth +call a companion's attention to it. <br> +<p>The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot +spoke to me in the sign language which these two races employ as +a means of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I +could not have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I +once had seen a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a +look. It seemed my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my +tracks I moved my sword so that it made the dead head appear to +turn inquiring eyes upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I +stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. +Then I lowered the head and started slowly on. For a moment all +hung in the balance, but before I touched him the guard stepped +to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue.<br> +</p> + +On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. +Fortunately, there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to +the shallow lake which lies a mile or more from the city. They go +there to indulge their amphibian proclivities in diving for small +fish, and enjoying the cool depths of the water. It is a +fresh-water lake, shallow, and free from the larger reptiles +which make the use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for +any but their own kind. <br> +<p>In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto +the plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that +was traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a +little gully he halted, and there we remained until all had +passed and we were alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set +off directly away from Phutra.<br> +</p> + +The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our +horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, +and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar +skins that had brought us thus far in safety. <br> +<p>I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and +galling flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped +in our tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. +How we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the +size of which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the +greatest felines of the outer world.<br> +</p> + +On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance +between ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to +his own land--the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, +and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths +were dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down +their quarry until they had captured it or themselves been turned +back by a superior force. <br> +<p>Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was +quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any +number of Sagoths.<br> +</p> + +At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have +been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which +buttressed the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, +Hooja, who looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced +that he could see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge +in our wake. It was the long-expected pursuit. <br> +<p>I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them.<br> +</p> + +"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can +move with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless +they are doubtless much fresher than we. Then--" he paused, +glancing at Perry. <br> +<p>I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of +the period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him +on the march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the +Sagoths might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged +heights which confronted us.<br> +</p> + +"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it if +we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is +no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be +helped--we have simply to face it." <br> +<p>"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I +hadn't known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such +nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked +him, but now to my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and +love.<br> +</p> + +But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could +reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force +to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself. <br> +<p>No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, +but he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians +of the king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start +Hooja--the naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of +us into the foothills which we now had reached.<br> +</p> + +Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and +the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I +knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the +thought of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally +solved the problem, in part, by lifting Perry in his powerful +arms and carrying him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he +still could travel faster thus than when half supporting the +stumbling old man. <br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_14">CHAPTER XIII</h1> + +THE SLY ONE <br> +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had +sighted us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we +stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach +the heights of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of +gorgeous, parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick +mountain grass formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had +entered the canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I +was commencing to hope that they had lost our trail and that we +would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them +before we should be overtaken.<br> +</p> + +Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the +success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the +outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage +cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their +king's appeal for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs +ahead should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing of the +kind happened--as a matter of fact the Sly One had betrayed us. +At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to +our relief at Hooja's back, the craven traitor was sneaking +around the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village, that he might +come up from the other side when it was too late to save us, +claiming that he had become lost among the mountains. <br> +<p>Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I +had struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was +equal to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon +me.<br> +</p> + +As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing +Sarians appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and +presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon +our ears, he called to me over his shoulder that we were lost. +<br> +<p>A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the +Sagoths at the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon +through which we had just passed, and then a sudden turning shut +the ugly creature from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant +rage which rose behind us was evidence that the gorilla-man had +sighted us.<br> +</p> + +Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right +another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general +direction, so that appeared more like the main canyon than the +lefthand branch. The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and +fifty yards behind us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to +expect to escape other than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of +saving Ghak and Perry, and as I reached the branching of the +canyon I took the chance. <br> +<p>Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into +sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the +left-hand canyon, and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that +he had seen me I turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My +ruse was successful, and the entire party of man-hunters raced +headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety +up the other.<br> +</p> + +Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when +my very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I +ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running +had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful +cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab." <br> +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in +particular, fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. +The canyon had become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep +angle toward what seemed a pass between two abutting peaks. What +lay beyond I could not even guess--possibly a sheer drop of +hundreds of feet into the corresponding valley upon the other +side. Could it be that I had plunged into a cul-de-sac?<br> +</p> + +Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the +top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to +check them temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely +made bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung +behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I +stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla-man. <br> +<p>In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since +our escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small +game by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had +developed a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from +Phutra I had restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from +a huge tiger which Ghak and I had worried and finally dispatched +with arrows, spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was +extremely tough and this, with the strength and elasticity of my +new string, gave me unwonted confidence in my weapon.<br> +</p> + +Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never were +my nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as +carefully and deliberately as though at a straw target. The +Sagoth had never before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it +must have swept over his dull intellect that the thing I held +toward him was some sort of engine of destruction, for he too +came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw. +It is one of the many methods in which they employ this weapon, +and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, even under the most +unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous. <br> +<p>My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered +its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then he +launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that +our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang +forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the +swish of the hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same +instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a +single groan he lunged almost at my feet--stone dead. Close +behind him were two more--fifty yards perhaps--but the distance +gave me time to snatch up the dead guardsman's shield, for the +close call his hatchet had just given me had borne in upon me the +urgent need I had for one. Those which I had purloined at Phutra +we had not been able to bring along because their size precluded +our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars which had +brought us safely from the city.<br> +</p> + +With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with +another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as +his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, +and fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive +it. Instead, he turned and retreated toward the main body of +gorilla-men. Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment. +<br> +<p>Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. +Unmolested I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer +drop of two or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; +but on the left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the +overhanging cliff. Along this I advanced, and at a sudden +turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened, +and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave. Before, the +ledge continued until it passed from sight about another +projecting buttress of the mountain.<br> +</p> + +Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting +him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. +About me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They +were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy +dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. +Gathering a number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth +of the cave I waited the advance of the Sagoths. <br> +<p>As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first +faint sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a +slight noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my +attention. It might have been produced by the moving of the great +body of some huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. +At almost the same instant I thought that I caught the scraping +of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few +seconds my attention was considerably divided.<br> +</p> + +And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming +eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two +feet above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them +might be standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might +be rearing up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the +monsters of Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new +and frightful Titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those +of any I had seen before. <br> +<p>Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of +the cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and +ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the +ledge with the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not +been loud--I doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all--but the +suggestion of latent possibilities behind it was such that I knew +it would only emanate from a gigantic and ferocious beast.<br> +</p> + +As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the +cave, where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but +an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth +as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of +the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge +in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could +crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged +from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon +that narrow ledge. <br> +<p>The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk +fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose +to the end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. +As it sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and +with open mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the +foremost gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full +upon his on-rushing companions.<br> +</p> + +The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and +leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three +hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and +gathered in the next--there was a sickening sound of crushing +bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. +Nor did the mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along +the ledge. <br> +<p>Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to +escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing +the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I +could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the +screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful +sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance.<br> +</p> + +Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen +and returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is +called, pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire +band. Ghak was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the +terrible creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of +beasts. <br> +<p>Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall +prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along +the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I +could reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I +evidently became confused by the twisting and turning of the +canyons and gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sari then, +nor for a long time thereafter.<br> +</p> + +<br> +<h1 id="ref_15">CHAPTER XIV</h1> + +THE GARDEN OF EDEN <br> +With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became +confused and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. +What, in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and +come out above the valley upon the farther side. I know that I +wandered for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a +small cave in the face of the limestone formation which had taken +the place of the granite farther back. <br> +<p>The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous +side of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no +extremely formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large +enough to make a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller +mammals or reptiles. Yet it was with the utmost caution that I +crawled within its dark interior.<br> +</p> + +Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in +the rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient +quantities partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had +expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there any signs +of its having been recently occupied. The opening was +comparatively small, so that after considerable effort I was able +to lug up a bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked +it. <br> +<p>Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses +and on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, +the diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the +size of a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner +world. Thus, with food and bedding I returned to my lair, where +after a meal of raw meat, to which I had now become quite +accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the entrance and curled +myself upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval, cave man, as +savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors.<br> +</p> + +I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled +out upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before +me spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of +which a clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an inland +sea, the blue waters of which were just visible between the two +mountain ranges which embraced this little paradise. The sides of +the opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest +clothed them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper green +of the towering crags which formed their summit. The valley +itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, while here and there +patches of wild flowers made great splashes of vivid color +against the prevailing green. <br> +<p>Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of +palmlike trees--three or four together as a rule. Beneath these +stood antelope, while others grazed in the open, or wandered +gracefully to a near-by ford to drink. There were several species +of this beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat +resembling the giant eland of Africa, except that their spiral +horns form a complete curve backward over their ears and then +forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and formidable points +some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In size they +remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, yet they are very agile +and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of +their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. +All in all they are handsome animals, and added the finishing +touch to the strange and lovely landscape that spread before my +new home.<br> +</p> + +I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as +a base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country +in search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of +the carcass of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. +Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my +cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, +arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down into the peaceful +valley. <br> +<p>The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, +the little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping +to safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I +approached, and after moving to what they considered a safe +distance stood contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked +ears. Once one of the old bull antelopes of the striped species +lowered his head and bellowed angrily--even taking a few steps in +my direction, so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I +had passed, he resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed +him.<br> +</p> + +Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the +cliffs upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around +them as I desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search +of a ledge along which I might continue my journey. Some fifty +feet from the base I came upon a projection which formed a +natural path along the face of the cliff, and this I followed out +over the sea toward the cliff's end. <br> +<p>Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced +up at this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As +I climbed carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was +attracted aloft by the sound of strange hissing, and what +resembled the flapping of wings.<br> +</p> + +And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the +most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a +giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales +of earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in +length, while the batlike wings that supported it in midair had a +spread of fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, +sharp teeth, and its claw equipped with horrible talons. <br> +<p>The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was +issuing from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something +beyond and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I +stood terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I +reached the end I saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.<br> +</p> + +Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had +slipped down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the +continuation of my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended +as abruptly as did the end upon which I stood. <br> +<p>And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable +break in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack--a +girl cowering upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her +arms, as though to shut out the sight of the frightful death +which hovered just above her.<br> +</p> + +The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon +its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in +which to weigh the possible chances that I had against the +awfully armed creature; but the sight of that frightened girl +below me called out to all that was best in me, and the instinct +for protection of the other sex, which nearly must have equaled +the instinct of self-preservation in primeval man, drew me to the +girl's side like an irresistible magnet. <br> +<p>Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end +of the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet +below. At the same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, +but my sudden advent upon the scene must have startled him for he +veered to one side, and then rose above us once more.<br> +</p> + +The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that +the end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally +when no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in +astonishment. As they fell upon me the expression that came into +them would be difficult to describe; but her feelings could +scarcely have been one whit more complicated than my own--for the +wide eyes that looked into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful. +<br> +<p>"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."<br> +</p> + +"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could +I tell whether she were glad or angry that I had come. <br> +<p>Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly +that I had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to +snatch up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again +my aim was true, and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile +wheeled once more and soared away.<br> +</p> + +Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the next +attack, and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I +surprised her in a surreptitious glance which she was stealing at +me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her hands. +<br> +<p>"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see +me?"<br> +</p> + +She looked straight into my eyes. <br> +<p>"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a +fair hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," +she said, and I turned again to meet the reptile.<br> +</p> + +So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel +bloodhound of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the +outer world. But this time I met it with a weapon it never had +faced before. I had selected my longest arrow, and with all my +strength had bent the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested +upon the thumb of my left hand, and then as the great creature +darted toward us I let drive straight for that tough breast. <br> +<p>Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty +creature fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow +buried completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She +was looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar +die.<br> +</p> + +"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I +have found you?" <br> +<p>"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there +was less vehemence in it than before--yet it might have been but +my imagination.<br> +</p> + +"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me. +<br> +<p>"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to +you since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"<br> +</p> + +At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it. <br> +<p>"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. +"After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my +own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the +villages or let any of my friends know that I had returned for +fear that Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I +found that my brother had not yet returned, and so I continued to +live in a cave beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, +awaiting the time that he should come back and free me from +Jubal.<br> +</p> + +"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping +toward my father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and +he gave the alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been +pursuing me across many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. +When he comes he will kill you and carry me back to his cave. He +is a terrible man. I have gone as far as I can go, and there is +no escape," and she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of +the ledge twenty feet above us. <br> +<p>"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great +vehemence. "The sea is there"--she pointed over the edge of the +cliff--"and the sea shall have me rather than Jubal."<br> +</p> + +"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any +other have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did +I lift it above her head and let it fall in token of release. +<br> +<p>She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my +eyes with level gaze.<br> +</p> + +"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would +have done this when the others were present to witness it--then I +should truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you +do it, for you know that without witnesses your act does not bind +you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away. +<br> +<p>I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply +couldn't forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that +other occasion.<br> +</p> + +"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove +it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in +your power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best +proof of your intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again +I tell you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never +saw you again." <br> +<p>Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In +fact I found candor and directness to be quite a marked +characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested +that we make some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape +the searching Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no +considerable desire to meet the formidable and ferocious +creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first +met her. He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and +killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who +could cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass of the +sadok at fifty paces. It was he who had crushed the skull of a +charging dyryth with a single blow of his war club. No, I was not +pining to meet the Ugly One-and it was quite certain that I +should not go out and hunt for him; but the matter was taken out +of my hands very quickly, as is often the way, and I did meet +Jubal the Ugly One face to face.<br> +</p> + +This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the +way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the +top of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the +edge of my own little valley, where I felt certain we should find +a means of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the +ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against +the chance of something happening to me. I knew that she would be +quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter +of my lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of +sustenance. <br> +<p>Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart +was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by +suggesting that something terrible might happen to me--that I +might, in fact, be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at +least as far as I could perceive. Dian simply shrugged those +magnificent shoulders of hers, and murmured something to the +effect that one was not rid of trouble so easily as that.<br> +</p> + +For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think +that I had twice protected her from attack--the last time risking +my life to save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of +the Stone Age could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her +heart partook of the qualities of her epoch. <br> +<p>Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened +and extended by the action of the water draining through it from +the plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, +but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for +several miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad +inland sea, curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge +into the blue of the sky, so that for all the world it looked as +though the sea lapped back to arch completely over us and +disappear beyond the distant mountains at our backs--the weird +and uncanny aspect of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk +description.<br> +</p> + +At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was +open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this +direction that our way led, and we had turned to resume our +journey when Dian touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that +she was about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken. <br> +<p>"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.<br> +</p> + +I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect +whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and +proportioned accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish +his features. <br> +<p>"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good +start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," +and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly +One. I had hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me +before she went, for she must have known that I was going to my +death for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me +good-bye, and it was with a heavy heart that I strode through the +flower-bespangled grass to my doom.<br> +</p> + +When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features +I understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly +One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire +side of his face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, +so that his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning +through the horrible scar. <br> +<p>Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others +of his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of +this encounter had tended to sour an already strong and brutal +character. However this may be it is quite certain that he was +not a pretty sight, and now that his features, or what remained +of them, were distorted in rage at the sight of Dian with another +male, he was indeed most terrible to see--and much more terrible +to meet.<br> +</p> + +He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his +mighty spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took +as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I +must confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my +nerves to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. +What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the +fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I hope to best one who +slaughtered the sadok and dyryth singlehanded! I shuddered; but, +in fairness to myself, my fear was more for Dian than for my own +fate. <br> +<p>And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped +spear, and I raised my shield to break the force of its terrific +velocity. The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had +deflected the missile and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon +me now with the only remaining weapon that he carried--a +murderous-looking knife. He was too close for a careful bowshot, +but I let drive at him as he came, without taking aim. My arrow +pierced the fleshy part of his thigh, inflicting a painful but +not disabling wound. And then he was upon me.<br> +</p> + +My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised +arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's +point in his face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of +it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went +more warily. <br> +<p>It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man +maneuvering to get inside my guard where he could bring those +giant thews to play, while my wits were directed to the task of +keeping him at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I +caught his knife blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found +his body--once penetrating to his lung. He was covered with blood +by this time, and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of +coughing that brought the red stream through the hideous mouth +and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth. He was +a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead.<br> +</p> + +As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be +perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of +that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think +that Jubal, from utter contempt of me, began to change to a +feeling of respect, and then in his primitive mind there +evidently loomed the thought that perhaps at last he had met his +master, and was facing his end. <br> +<p>At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account +for his next act, which was in the nature of a last resort--a +sort of forlorn hope, which could only have been born of the +belief that if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him. It +happened on the occasion of his fourth charge, when, instead of +striking at me with his knife, he dropped that weapon, and +seizing my sword blade in both his hands wrenched the weapon from +my grasp as easily as from a babe.<br> +</p> + +Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an +instant glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant +triumph as to almost unnerve me--then he sprang for me with his +bare hands. But it was Jubal's day to learn new methods of +warfare. For the first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never +before that duel had he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a +man who knows may do with his bare fists. <br> +<p>As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath +his outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow +upon his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain +of flesh sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed +that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt +to rise, and I stood over him with another dose ready when he +should gain his knees.<br> +</p> + +Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; +but he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the point of +the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I +think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have +come back for more as many times as he did. Time after time I +bowled him over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the +last he lay longer on the ground between blows, and each time +came up weaker than before. <br> +<p>He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his +lungs, and presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him +reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still, and +somehow I knew at once that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up +again. But even as I looked upon that massive body lying there so +grim and terrible in death, I could not believe that I, +single-handed, had bested this slayer of fearful beasts--this +gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.<br> +</p> + +Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead +body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just +fought and won a great idea was born in my brain--the outcome of +this and the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of +Phutra. If skill and science could render a comparative pygmy the +master of this mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows +accomplish with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar +would be at their feet--and I would be their king and Dian their +queen. <br> +<p>Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite +within the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I +king. She was quite the most superior person I ever had met--with +the most convincing way of letting you know that she was +superior. Well, I could go to the cave, and tell her that I had +killed Jubal, and then she might feel more kindly toward me, +since I had freed her of her tormentor. I hoped that she had +found the cave easily--it would be terrible had I lost her again, +and I turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, +when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces behind +me.<br> +</p> + +"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had +gone to the cave, as I told you to do." <br> +<p>Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the +majesty out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace +janitor--if palaces have janitors.<br> +</p> + +"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I +do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I +hate you." <br> +<p>I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving her from +Jubal! I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved +you from a worse fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost +on Dian, for she never seemed to notice it at all.<br> +</p> + +"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry." <br> +<p>She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I +was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the +lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly +felt that at least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for +I knew that even by her own standards, I must have done a very +wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable Jubal in a +hand-to-hand encounter.<br> +</p> + +We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down +into the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged +up the steep ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in +silence. Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight +of her tearing at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some +wild animal would cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; +but to my surprise I found that she ate quite as daintily as the +most civilized woman of my acquaintance, and finally I found +myself gazing in foolish rapture at the beauties of her strong, +white teeth. Such is love. <br> +<p>After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed +our hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back +to the cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner +and, curling up, was soon asleep.<br> +</p> + +When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out +across the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me +pass, but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I +couldn't. Every time I looked at her something came up in my +throat, so that I nearly choked. I had never been in love before, +but I did not need any aid in diagnosing my case--I certainly had +it and had it bad. God, how I loved that beautiful, disdainful, +tantalizing, prehistoric girl! <br> +<p>After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended +returning to her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her +head sadly, and said that she did not dare, for there was still +Jubal's brother to be considered--his oldest brother.<br> +</p> + +"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or +has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on +down from generation to generation?" <br> +<p>She was not quite sure as to what I meant.<br> +</p> + +"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for +the death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven terrible men. +Someone may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my +people." <br> +<p>It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too +large for me--about seven sizes, in fact.<br> +</p> + +"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once. <br> +<p>"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have +mates. Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get +none for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from +him--some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz +into the Darel Az rather than mate with the Ugly One."<br> +</p> + +"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked. <br> +<p>"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a +look of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be +laid on a little thicker than the circumstance warranted--as +though to make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You +see," she continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until +all his older brothers have done so, unless the older brother +waives his prerogative, which Jubal would not do, knowing that as +long as he kept them single they would be all the keener in +aiding him to secure a mate."<br> +</p> + +Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to +entertain hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, +although upon what slender thread I hung my hopes I soon +discovered. <br> +<p>"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to +become of you since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me +as you do?"<br> +</p> + +"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you +see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get +along very well alone." <br> +<p>I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that +even a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and +ungrateful. Then I arose.<br> +</p> + +"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite +enough of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned +and strode majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a +hundred steps in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke. <br> +<p>"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, I +thought.<br> +</p> + +I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I +began to realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without +protection, to hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage +world. She might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after +indignity upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated +her; but the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I +couldn't leave her there alone. <br> +<p>The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the +time I reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was +that I turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast +as I had come down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone +within the cave, but I bolted right in after her. She was lying +upon her face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. +When she heard me enter she sprang to her feet like a +tigress.<br> +</p> + +"I hate you!" she cried. <br> +<p>Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was +rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should +have read there.<br> +</p> + +I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the +cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put +my arm around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She +fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand and pushed her +head back--I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, that I had +gone back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable +cave man taking my mate by force--and then I kissed that +beautiful mouth again and again. <br> +<p>"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else +in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love +like mine cannot be denied?"<br> +</p> + +I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes +became accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling--a very +contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized +that, very gently, she was trying to disengage her arms, and I +loosened my grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they +came up and stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down +to hers once more and held them there for a long time. At last +she spoke. <br> +<p>"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting +so long."<br> +</p> + +"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!" <br> +<p>"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved +you before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.<br> +</p> + +"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say +what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me +in your arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a +woman's heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?" <br> +<p>"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.<br> +</p> + +"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment +that I saw you, although I did not know it until that time you +struck down Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me." <br> +<p>"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your +ways--I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could +have reviled me so, and yet have cared for me all the time."<br> +</p> + +"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from +you that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were +battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, +and when I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a +simple thing to have eluded you and returned to my own people." +<br> +<p>"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, "how +about them?"<br> +</p> + +She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder. <br> +<p>"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. "I must +needs have SOME excuse for remaining near you."<br> +</p> + +"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all +this anguish for nothing!" <br> +<p>"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I +thought that you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't +come to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just +come to me. Just now when you went away hope went with you. I was +wretched, terrified, miserable, and my heart was breaking. I +wept, and I have not done that before since my mother died," and +now I saw that there was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It +was near to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor +child had been through. Motherless and unprotected; hunted across +a savage, primeval world by that hideous brute of a man; exposed +to the attacks of the countless fearsome denizens of its +mountains, its plains, and its jungles--it was a miracle that she +had survived it all.<br> +</p> + +To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must +have endured that the human race of the outer crust might +survive. It made me very proud to think that I had won the love +of such a woman. Of course she couldn't read or write; there was +nothing cultured or refined about her as you judge culture and +refinement; but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, +for she was good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. And she was +all these things in spite of the fact that their observance +entailed suffering and danger and possible death. <br> +<p>How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in +the first place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would +have been queen in her own land--and it meant just as much to the +cave woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman +of today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way +you look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the +outer crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory +to be the wife a Dahomey chief.<br> +</p> + +I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid +young woman I had known in New York--I mean splendid to look at +and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum +of mine--a clean, manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, +disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky +little European principality that was not even accorded a +distinctive color by Rand McNally. <br> +<p>Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.<br> +</p> + +After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to +see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told +Dian about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, +and she was fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her +brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and +that then he and Ghak could form an alliance. That would give us +a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very +powerful tribes. Once they had been armed with swords, and bows +and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident that they +could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the +great army of federated states with which we were planning to +march upon the Mahars. <br> +<p>I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry +and I could construct after a little experimentation--gunpowder, +rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and +throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing +I was. She was beginning to think that I was omnipotent although +I really hadn't done anything but talk--but that is the way with +women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was +one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he +would have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag.<br> +</p> + +The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of +poisonous vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow +stung me on the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. +She said that I mustn't exercise, or it might prove fatal--if it +had been a full-grown snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't +have moved a single pace from the nest--I'd have died in my +tracks, so virulent is the poison. As it was I must have been +laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and +leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison. <br> +<p>The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an +idea which added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as +missiles of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be +about again, I sought out some adult vipers of the species which +had stung me, and having killed them, I extracted their virus, +smearing it upon the tips of several arrows. Later I shot a +hyaenodon with one of these, and though my arrow inflicted but a +superficial flesh wound the beast crumpled in death almost +immediately after he was hit.<br> +</p> + +We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was +with feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our +beautiful Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of +which we had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we +had been there I did not know, for as I have told you, time had +ceased to exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may +have been an hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not know. +<br> +<p><br> +</p> + +<h1 id="ref_16">CHAPTER XV</h1> + +BACK TO EARTH <br> +<p>We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, +and finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched +away as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what +direction it stretched even if you would care to know, for all +the while that I was within Pellucidar I never discovered any but +local methods of indicating direction--there is no north, no +south, no east, no west. UP is about the only direction which is +well defined, and that, of course, is DOWN to you of the outer +crust. Since the sun neither rises nor sets there is no method of +indicating direction beyond visible objects such as high +mountains, forests, lakes, and seas.<br> +</p> + +The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the +Darel Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is +about as near to any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If +you happen not to have heard of the Darel Az, or the white +cliffs, or the Mountains of the Clouds you feel that there is +something lacking, and long for the good old understandable +northeast and southwest of the outer world. <br> +<p>We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two +enormous animals approaching us from a great distance. So far +were they that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts +they might be, but as they came closer, I saw that they were +enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long, with tiny +heads perched at the top of very long necks. Their heads must +have been quite forty feet from the ground. The beasts moved very +slowly--that is their action was slow--but their strides covered +such a great distance that in reality they traveled considerably +faster than a man walks.<br> +</p> + +As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of +each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she +never before had seen one. <br> +<p>"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. +"Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The +Thorians alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for +nowhere else than beside the dark country are they found."<br> +</p> + +"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked. <br> +<p>"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied +Dian; "the Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and +Pellucidar above the Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World +which makes the great shadow upon this portion of +Pellucidar."<br> +</p> + +I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I +do yet, for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from +which the Dead World is visible; but Perry says that it is the +moon of Pellucidar--a tiny planet within a planet--and that it +revolves around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and +thus is always above the same spot within Pellucidar. <br> +<p>I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him +about this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained +the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the +precession of the equinoxes.<br> +</p> + +When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw +that one was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up +his two hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had +answered him in kind, when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment +and pleasure, and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward +toward Dian, throwing his arms about her. <br> +<p>In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an +instant; since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him +that I was David, her mate.<br> +</p> + +"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said +to me. <br> +<p>It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none +to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to +the land of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for +this very lovely Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his +own people.<br> +</p> + +When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to +accompany us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an +agreement relative to an alliance, as Dacor was quite as +enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation of the Mahars and +Sagoths as either Dian or I. <br> +<p>After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, +we came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists of +between one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of +a great cliff. Here to our immense delight, we found both Perry +and Ghak. The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he +had long since given me up as dead.<br> +</p> + +When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to +say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I +could not have done better. <br> +<p>Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was +at a council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari +that the eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. +Roughly, the various kingdoms were to remain virtually +independent, but there was to be one great overlord, or emperor. +It was decided that I should be the first of the dynasty of the +emperors of Pellucidar.<br> +</p> + +We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and +poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided +the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned +the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from +one tribe to another until representatives from nations so far +distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to +take the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the +art of making the new weapons and using them. <br> +<p>We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of +the federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions +before the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had +was when three of their great slave caravans were annihilated in +rapid succession. They could not comprehend that the lower orders +had suddenly developed a power which rendered them really +formidable.<br> +</p> + +In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians +took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who +had been members of the guards within the building where we had +been confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were +frantic with rage when they discovered what had taken place in +the cellars of the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something +very terrible had befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been +most careful to see that no inkling of the true nature of their +vital affliction reached beyond their own race. How long it would +take for the race to become extinct it was impossible even to +guess; but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable. +<br> +<p>The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any +one of us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict +the direst punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths +could not understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, +though their purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted +the Great Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to +them.<br> +</p> + +Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the +fashioning of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had +hoped--there was a whole lot about these two arts which Perry +didn't know. We were both assured that the solution of these +problems would advance the cause of civilization within +Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. Then there were +various other arts and sciences which we wished to introduce, but +our combined knowledge of them did not embrace the mechanical +details which alone could render them of commercial, or practical +value. <br> +<p>"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to +produce gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to +the outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here we +have all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that +ever has been produced above--what we lack is knowledge. Let us +go back and get that knowledge in the shape of books--then this +world will indeed be at our feet."<br> +</p> + +And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, +which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we +had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian +would not listen to any arrangement for my going which did not +include her, and I was not sorry that she wished to accompany me, +for I wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my world to see +her. <br> +<p>With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, +which Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed +back toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery +carefully. He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for +the engine. At last everything was ready, and we were about to +set out when our pickets, a long, thin line of which had +surrounded our camp at all times, reported that a great body of +what appeared to be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching from the +direction of Phutra.<br> +</p> + +Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the +first clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races +of Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic +beginning of a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as +the first emperor of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my +duty, but my right, to be in the thick of that momentous +struggle. <br> +<p>As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many +Mahars with the Sagoth troops--an indication of the vast +importance which the dominant race placed upon the outcome of +this campaign, for it was not customary with them to take active +part in the sorties which their creatures made for slaves--the +only form of warfare which they waged upon the lower orders.<br> +</p> + +Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view +the prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the +right of our battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded +the center. Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one +of Ghak's head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing +spears, and I let them come until they were within easy bowshot +before I gave the word to fire. <br> +<p>At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of +the gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged +over the prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to +be upon us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an +instant, and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the +firing line to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy +spears of the Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian +and Amozite, who turned the spear thrusts aside with their +shields and leaped to close quarters with their lighter, handier +weapons.<br> +</p> + +Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the +swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley +into their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, +and were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one +of them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a +Sarian. <br> +<p>The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I +led our men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they +were already so demoralized that they turned and fled before us. +We pursued them for some time, taking many prisoners and +recovering nearly a hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly +One.<br> +</p> + +He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own +land; but that his life had been spared in hope that through him +the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. +Ghak and I were inclined to think that the Sly One had been +guiding this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought +that the book might be found in Perry's possession; but we had no +proof of this and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, +although none liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity you +will presently learn. <br> +<p>There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so +fearful were our own people of them that they would not approach +them unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by +a piece of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition +regarding the evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry +Mahars, and though I laughed at her fears I was willing enough to +humor them if it would relieve her apprehension in any degree, +and so she sat apart from the prospector, near which the Mahars +had been chained, while Perry and I again inspected every portion +of the mechanism.<br> +</p> + +At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of +the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite +close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, +without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in +accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless +there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, +since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short +work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he +had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly +that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse, +aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances +occurring at precisely the right moment. <br> +<p>All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the +prospector, still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an +enormous cave lion which covered her since the Mahar prisoners +had been brought into camp. He deposited his burden in the seat +beside me. I was all ready to get under way. The good-byes had +been said. Perry had grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. +I closed and barred the outer and inner doors, took my seat again +at the driving mechanism, and pulled the starting lever.<br> +</p> + +As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first +trial of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath +us--the giant frame trembled and vibrated-there was a rush of +sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow space +between the inner and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. +Once more the thing was off. <br> +<p>But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my +seat by the sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not +realize what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that +just before entering the crust the towering body had fallen +through its supporting scaffolding, and that instead of entering +the ground vertically we were plunging into it at a different +angle. Where it would bring us out upon the upper crust I could +not even conjecture. And then I turned to note the effect of this +strange experience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great +skin.<br> +</p> + +"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No +Mahar eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched +the lion skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in +utter horror. <br> +<p>The thing beneath the skin was not Dian--it was a hideous +Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon +me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless +thought, Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the +steering wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward +Pellucidar; but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the +thing a hair.<br> +</p> + +It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that +journey. It varied but little from the former one which had +brought us from the outer to the inner world. Because of the +angle at which we had entered the ground the trip required nearly +a day longer, and brought me out here upon the sand of the Sahara +instead of in the United States as I had hoped. <br> +<p>For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I +dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to +find it again--the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover +it, and then my only hope of returning to my Dian and her +Pellucidar would be gone forever.<br> +</p> + +That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for +how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate--and how, without a north or south or an east or a west +may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny +spot where my lost love lies grieving for me? <br> +<p>That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the +goat-skin tent upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next +day he took me out to see the prospector--it was precisely as he +had described it. So huge was it that it could have been brought +to this inaccessible part of the world by no means of +transportation that existed there--it could only have come in the +way that David Innes said it came--up through the crust of the +earth from the inner world of Pellucidar.<br> +</p> + +I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, +returned directly to the coast and hurried to London where I +purchased a great quantity of stuff which he wished to take back +to Pellucidar with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, +ammunition, cameras, chemicals, telephones, telegraph +instruments, wire, tool and more books--books upon every subject +under the sun. He said he wanted a library with which they could +reproduce the wonders of the twentieth century in the Stone Age +and if quantity counts for anything I got it for him. <br> +<p>I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them +to the end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to +America upon important business. However, I was able to employ a +very trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan--the same +guide, in fact, who had accompanied me on the previous trip into +the Sahara--and after writing a long letter to Innes in which I +gave him my American address, I saw the expedition head +south.<br> +</p> + +Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five +hundred miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I +had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his +idea that he could fasten one end here before he left and by +paying it out through the end of the prospector lay a telegraph +line between the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him +to be sure to mark the terminus of the line very plainly with a +high cairn, in case I was not able to reach him before he set +out, so that I might easily find and communicate with him should +he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. <br> +<p>I received several letters from him after I returned to +America--in fact he took advantage of every northward-passing +caravan to drop me word of some sort. His last letter was written +the day before he intended to depart. Here it is.<br> +</p> + +My Dear Friend: <br> +<p>Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That +is if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. +I don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened +my life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that +they intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate +should anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready +to depart.<br> +</p> + +However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour +approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear. <br> +<p>Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for +me, so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me.<br> +</p> + +The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the +south--he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he +doesn't want to be found with me. So goodbye again. <br> +<p>Yours,<br> +</p> + +David Innes. <br> +<p>A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, +headed for the spot where I had left Innes. My first +disappointment was when I discovered that my old guide had died +within a few weeks of my return, nor could I find any member of +my former party who could lead me to the same spot.<br> +</p> + +For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had +heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes +scanned the blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath +which I was to find the wires leading to Pellucidar--but always +was I unsuccessful. <br> +<p>And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of +David Innes and his strange adventures.<br> +</p> + +Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his +departure? Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster +toward the inner world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere +buried in the heart of the great crust? And if he did come again +to Pellucidar was it to break through into the bottom of one of +her great island seas, or among some savage race far, far from +the land of his heart's desire? <br> +<p>Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad +Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost +cairn? I wonder.<br> +</p> + +[End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core] <br> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/atcor10h.zip b/old/atcor10h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..19d372b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10h.zip diff --git a/old/atcor10l.lit b/old/atcor10l.lit Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c864953 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10l.lit diff --git a/old/atcor10l.zip b/old/atcor10l.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..eed7771 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10l.zip diff --git a/old/atcor10p.prc b/old/atcor10p.prc Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ff84b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10p.prc diff --git a/old/atcor10p.zip b/old/atcor10p.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..43ba0d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10p.zip diff --git a/old/atcor11.txt b/old/atcor11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9fa2246 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5730 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs +(#1 in the At the Earth's Core series) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + +Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska + + + + + +At the Earth's Core + +By Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PROLOGUE + I TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES + II A STRANGE WORLD + III A CHANGE OF MASTERS + IV DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL + V SLAVES + VI THE BEGINNING OF HORROR + VII FREEDOM +VIII THE MAHAR TEMPLE + IX THE FACE OF DEATH + X PHUTRA AGAIN + XI FOUR DEAD MAHARS + XII PURSUIT +XIII THE SLY ONE + XIV THE GARDEN OF EDEN + XV BACK TO EARTH + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to +believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent +experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous +ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London. + +You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less +a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the +Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King. + +The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half +through!--it is all that saved him from exploding--and my dreams +of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of +Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere. + +But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned +Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it +from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I +did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring +of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it +all--you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final +ocular proof that I had--the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature +which he had brought back with him from the inner world. + +I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the +rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin +tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by +was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents. + +I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted +of a dozen children of the desert--I was the only "white" man. As +we approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from +his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight +of me he advanced rapidly to meet us. + +"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have +been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that THIS time +there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?" + +And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck +full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup +leather for support. + +"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me +that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking." + +"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should +I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the +date?" + +For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head. + +"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that +at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told +me his story--the story that I give you here as nearly in his own +words as I can recall them. + + + + +I + +TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES + + +I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David +Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen +he died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my +majority--provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in +close application to the great business I was to inherit. + +I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent--not because +of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For +six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I +wished to know every minute detail of the business. + +Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow +who had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection +of a mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied +paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, +inspected his working model--and then, convinced, I advanced the +funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector. + +I shall not go into the details of its construction--it lies out +there in the desert now--about two miles from here. Tomorrow you +may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder +a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist +through solid rock if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving +drill operated by an engine which Perry said generated more power +to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. I +remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would +make us fabulously wealthy--we were going to make the whole thing +public after the successful issue of our first secret trial--but +Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten +years. + +I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous +occasion upon which we were to test the practicality of that +wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we repaired to the +lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron mole" as he +was wont to call the thing. The great nose rested upon the bare +earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the outer +jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which +contained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched +on the electric lights. + +Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air +to replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments +for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the +materials through which we were to pass. + +He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which +transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose +of his strange craft. + +Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon +transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were +ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running +horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically +toward the surface again. + +At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For +a moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the +starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us--the +giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We were off! + +The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging +seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer. + +"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible--quick! What does the +distance meter read?" + +That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I +turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering. + +"Ten degrees rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug +frantically upon the steering wheel. + +As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I +spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred +feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the +horizontal." + +"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot +budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined +strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost." + +I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that +the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young +and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always +had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for +that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, +since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for +and develop my body and my muscles by every means within my power. +What with boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training +since childhood. + +And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the +huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into +it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been--the +thing would not budge--the grim, insensate, horrible thing that +was holding us upon the straight road to death! + +At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word +returned to my seat. There was no need for words--at least none +that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was +quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity neglected +where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in +the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished +eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. In +between he often found excuses to pray even when the provocation +seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes--now that he was about to die +I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy of prayer--if +one may allude with such a simile to so solemn an act. + +But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in +the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his +lips there flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid stream of +undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn +piece of unyielding mechanism. + +"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death." + +"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing +by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David +within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that +science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and +with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand +men. That two lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world +calamity that entombs in the bowels of the earth the discoveries +that I have made and proved in the successful construction of the +thing that is now carrying us farther and farther toward the eternal +central fires." + +I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with +our own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the +world might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant +of its bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality. + +"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask +of a low and level voice. + +"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks +are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight +hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from +the vertical to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must +eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing +before we reach the higher internal temperature we may even yet +survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance in several +million that we shall succeed--otherwise we shall die more quickly +but no more surely than as though we sat supinely waiting for the +torture of a slow and horrible death." + +I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While +we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile +into the rock of the earth's crust. + +"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at +this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would +be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?" + +"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I +had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. +I reasoned, however, that we should make about five hundred yards +an hour." + +"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, +as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the +Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked. + +"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there +are geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, +because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one +degree to each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to +fuse the most refractory substances at that distance beneath the +surface. Another finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation +require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have +a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. +So there you are. You may take your choice." + +"And if it should prove solid?" I asked. + +"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. +"At the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four +days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, +then, is sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand +miles of rock to the antipodes." + +"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final +stop between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; +but during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall +be corpses. Am I correct?" I asked. + +"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?" + +"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe +that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel +that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that +the shock has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities." + +Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less +rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated +to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled. + +"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and +then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing +the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best +efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's +masterful and scientific imprecations. + +Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have +essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped +the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength +into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth--but +the results were as barren as when we had been traveling at top +speed. + +I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward +toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my +eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury +was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost +unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison. + +About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate +journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which +point the mercury registered 153 degrees F. + +Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food +he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he +had turned to singing--I felt that the strain had at last affected +his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked +me for the readings of the instruments from time to time, and +I announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I +recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should have been +glad to have had a few more years to live down. There was the +affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put +gunpowder in the stove--and nearly killed one of the masters. And +then--but what was the use, I was about to die and atone for all +these things and several more. Already the heat was sufficient +to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and +I felt that I should lose consciousness. + +"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my +somber reflections. + +"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied. + +"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked +hat!" he cried gleefully. + +"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back. + +"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean +anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of +it, son!" + +"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will +it make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature +is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one +will know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some +unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning +hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. +The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of +several very exact and learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent +that we could not know what lay before us within the bowels of +the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the best, at least +until we were dead--when hope would no longer be essential to +our happiness. It was very good, and logical reasoning, and so I +embraced it. + +At one hundred miles the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 DEGREES! +When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me. + +From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop +until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot +before. At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils +were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the +temperature had dropped to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly two +hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about two hundred +and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we entered a +stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. +During the next three hours we passed through ten miles of ice, +eventually emerging into another series of ammonia-impregnated +strata, where the mercury again fell to ten degrees below zero. + +Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we +were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred +miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched +the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and +was at last praying. + +Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually +increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater +than it really was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column +of mercury rise and rise until at four hundred and ten miles it +stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon those +readings in almost breathless anxiety. + +One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature +above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would +it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, +and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope +against practical certainty. + +Already the air tanks were at low ebb--there was barely enough of +the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But +would we be alive to know or care? It seemed incredible. + +At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading. + +"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going +down! She's 152 degrees again." + +"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the +center?" + +"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die +it shall not be by fire--that is all that I have feared. I can +face the thought of any death but that." + +Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven +miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the +realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the +first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate +the air supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in +breathing. My head felt dizzy--my limbs heavy. + +I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat +erect again. Then he turned toward me. + +"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then +he smiled and closed his eyes. + +"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back +at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young--I +did not want to die. + +For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that +surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing +high into the framework above me I could find more of the precious +life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must +have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came +to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal +struggle against the inevitable. + +With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically +toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles +from the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the huge thing that +bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the +hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened +that it was running loose in AIR--and then another truth flashed +upon me. The point of the prospector was ABOVE us. Slowly it +dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been +above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's +crust. Thank God! We were safe! + +I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have +been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, +and my fondest hopes were realized--a flood of fresh air was pouring +into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, +and I lost consciousness. + + + + +II + +A STRANGE WORLD + + +I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged +forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell +with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to +myself. + +My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought +that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing +open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried +with relief--his heart was beating quite regularly. + +At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly +across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was +rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed +and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly +foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of +wonderment upon his face. + +"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. +Why--why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has +happened?" + +"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too +busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!" + +"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How +long have I been unconscious?" + +"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the +sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you +instead of below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall +it now." + +"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? +That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose +is deflected from the outside--by some external force or resistance--the +steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering +wheel has not budged, David, since we started. You know that." + +I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, +and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. + +"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well +as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we +are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going +out to see just where." + +"Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now." + +I glanced at the chronometer. + +"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it +must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the +blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," +and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it +open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, +and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door +in the outer shell. + +In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the +floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly +behind me as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface +of the ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked +at Perry--it was broad day-light without! + +"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations +or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head--there was a +strange expression in his eyes. + +"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried. + +Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a +landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level +shore stretched down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach +the surface of the water was dotted with countless tiny isles--some +of towering, barren, granitic rock--others resplendent in gorgeous +trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent +splendor of vivid blooms. + +Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent +ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical +forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, +dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and +branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid +coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but +within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave. + +And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a +cloudless sky. + +"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry. + +For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed +head, buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke. + +"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth." + +"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, +and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose +of the prospector protruding from the ground at our backs. + +"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to +the country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory +untenable--it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However +I am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world +from that which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, +there is every reason to believe that we may be IN it." + +"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon +some tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry +shook his head. + +"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime +suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast--we may find +a native who can enlighten us." + +As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across +the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem. + +"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about +the horizon?" + +As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of +the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive +suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! +As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its +bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere +specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until the impression became +quite real that one was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that +the eyes could fathom--the distance was lost in the distance. That +was all--there was no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of +the globe below the line of vision. + +"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, +taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the +riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector +the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?" + +I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center +of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. +Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, +and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction +that one might almost reach up and touch it. + +"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning +to get on my nerves." + +"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, +"that we are--" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity +of the prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring +roar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned +to discover the author of that fearsome noise. + +Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight +that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging +from the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a +bear. It was fully as large as the largest elephant and with great +forepaws armed with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly +a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary +trunk. The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair. + +Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. +I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other +surroundings--the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, +for he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his +prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what +latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed. + +I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which +ran out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, +and as the mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him +into such remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I +set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It +was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for +speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees +sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of +some great branch before it came up. + +Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches +of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance +of some fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted +to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of +the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen +times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back +to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified +glance over his shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously +emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim +forest. + +At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's +wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand +over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree +from which the creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his +weight and he fell sprawling at my feet. + +The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already +too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged +him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could +easily encircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up +as I could, and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my +shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me. + +It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its +enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the +agility of my young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of +its way and run completely behind it before its slow wits could +direct it in pursuit. + +The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged +in the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had +at last found a haven. + +Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, +and so did Perry. He was praying--raising his voice in thanksgiving +at our deliverance--and had just completed a sort of paeon of +gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning +it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and +reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which +he crouched. + +The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of +fright, and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws +beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the +dangerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him +gain a higher branch in safety. + +And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. +Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down +with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible +force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began +to bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as +the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung +chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending +and swaying tree he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree +top inclining toward the ground. + +I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. +The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which +nature had intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, +and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of +their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might easily be +accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as +that which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. +But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too frantic +with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught other than +a means to save him from the death that loomed so close. + +Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, +I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the +thing's attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to +gain the safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which +not even the terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend. + +As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled +mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping +unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. +My plan worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast +I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now +displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all +fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a +force that would have broken every bone in my body had it struck +me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the very instant that +I felt my blow land upon the towering back. + +As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along +the edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a +moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing +behind me was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts +to extricate myself. + +A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it +I leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able +to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But +the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy +handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me. + +Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing +barks--much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full +cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of +this new and menacing note with the result that I missed my footing +and went sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck. + +My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel +the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to +my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping +and barking of the new element which had been infused into the +melee now seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised +myself upon my hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had +distracted the DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the thing is called, +from my trail. + +It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures--wild +dogs they seemed--that rushed growling and snapping in upon it +from all sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow +brute and were away again before it could reach them with its huge +paws or sweeping tail. + +But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering +and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company +of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were +to all appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of +Africa. Their skins were very black, and their features much like +those of the more pronounced Negroid type except that the head +receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. +Their arms were rather longer and their legs shorter in proportion +to the torso than in man, and later I noticed that their great +toes protruded at right angles from their feet--because of their +arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them trailed long, slender +tails which they used in climbing quite as much as they did either +their hands or feet. + +I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the +wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several +of the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come +slinking with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward +the trees again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw +a number of the man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of +the nearest tree. + +Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, +but at least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque +parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was none as to +the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce +pursuers. + +And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that +which held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; +but the wolf-dogs were very close behind me--so close that I had +despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree +above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, +and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his +fellows. + +There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They +turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered +that I was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their +teeth were very large and white and even, except for the upper +canines which were a trifle longer than the others--protruding just +a bit when the mouth was closed. + +When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered +that my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment +by garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. +Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their +ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up. + +In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse +of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of +trees in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was +much exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though +I called his name aloud several times there was no response. + +Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to +the ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started +off at a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I +experienced such a journey before or since--even now I oftentimes +awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that +awful experience. + +From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, +while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the +depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either +of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was +occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of +Perry? Would I ever see him again? What were the intentions of +these half-human things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they +inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? No! It +could not be. But yet where else? I had not left that earth--of +that I was sure. Still neither could I reconcile the things which +I had seen to a belief that I was still in the world of my birth. +With a sigh I gave it up. + + + + +III + +A CHANGE OF MASTERS + + +We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal +wood when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among +the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke +into wild shouting which was immediately answered from within, and +a moment later a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as +those who had captured me poured out to meet us. Again I was the +center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way and +that. Pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was black and blue, +yet I do not think that their treatment was dictated by either +cruelty or malice--I was a curiosity, a freak, a new plaything, +and their childish minds required the added evidence of all their +senses to back up the testimony of their eyes. + +Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon +the branches of the trees. + +Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead +branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts +upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network +of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty +feet above the ground. + +I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized +the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same +vicious wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many +goatlike animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for +their presence. + +My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; +then two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance--to +prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped +to I certainly had not the remotest conception. I had no more than +entered the dark shadows of the interior than there fell upon my +ears the tones of a familiar voice, in prayer. + +"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe." + +"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man +stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me. + +He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized +by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops +to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his +strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked +at each other we could not help but laugh. + +"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome +ape." + +"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite +the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing +with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you +suppose they can be? You were about to tell me where we are when +that great hairy frigate bore down upon us--have you really any +idea at all?" + +"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have +made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the +earth is hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the +inner world." + +"Perry, you are mad!" + +"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector +bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point +it reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick +crust. Up to that point we had been descending--direction is, +of course, merely relative. Then at the moment that our seats +revolved--the thing that made you believe that we had turned about +and were speeding upward--we passed the center of gravity and, +though we did not alter the direction of our progress, yet we were +in reality moving upward--toward the surface of the inner world. +Does not the strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you +that you are not in the world of your birth? And the horizon--could +it present the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were +indeed standing upon the inside surface of a sphere?" + +"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine +through five hundred miles of solid crust?" + +"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It +is another sun--an entirely different sun--that casts its eternal +noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it +now, David--if you can see it from the doorway of this hut--and +you will see that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. +We have been here for many hours--yet it is still noon. + +"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous +mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin +crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface--a sort of +shell; but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded +gases. As it continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal +force burled the particles of the nebulous center toward the crust +as rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen the +same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator. +Presently there was only a small super-heated core of gaseous matter +remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the contraction of +the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the solid crust from +all directions maintained this luminous core in the exact center of +the hollow globe. What remains of it is the sun you saw today--a +relatively tiny thing at the exact center of the earth. Equally +to every part of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday +light and torrid heat. + +"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal +life long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that +the same agencies were at work here is evident from the similar +forms of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already +seen. Take the great beast which attacked us, for example. +Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene +period of the outer crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found +in South America." + +"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely +they have no counterpart in the earth's history." + +"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape +and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless +convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely +the result of evolution along slightly different lines--either is +quite possible." + +Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several +of our captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered +and dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding +trees were filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their +young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among +the lot. + +"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry. + +"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. +"Now what do you suppose they intend doing with us?" + +We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to +the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures +and whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our +wake raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black +ape-things. + +Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating +as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. +But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and +found sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen +their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were +of no greater moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's +toe at a street crossing in the outer world--they but laughed +uproariously and sped on with me. + +For some time they continued through the forest--how long I could +not guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully +to my mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for +measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were +living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute +the period of time which had elapsed since we broke through the crust +of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be days--who +in the world could tell where it was always noon! By the sun, no +time had elapsed--but my judgment told me that we must have been +several hours in this strange world. + +Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. +A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward +these our captors urged us, and after a short time led us through +a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down +to work, and we were soon convinced that if we were not to die to +make a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other purpose. The +attitude of our captors altered immediately as they entered the +natural arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim +ferocity marked their bestial faces--bared fangs menaced us. + +We were placed in the center of the amphitheater--the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought--hyaenadon Perry called it--and turned loose with us inside +the circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown +mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad +and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while +its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us it +presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled lips baring +its mighty fangs. + +Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. +The ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with +savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged +us. + +At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. +My speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I +made such a record during my senior year at college that overtures +were made to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; +but in the tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past +I had never been in such need for control as now. + +As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under +absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward +me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my +weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone +caught the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him +bowling over upon his back. + +At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from +the circle of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the +upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw +that I was mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all +directions toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished +the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming +through the pass which leads into the valley, came a swarm of +hairy men--gorilla-like creatures armed with spears and hatchets, +and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the +ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained +its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept +the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its +former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to +have authority among them directed that we be brought with them. + +When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we +saw a caravan of men and women--human beings like ourselves--and +for the first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could +have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that +they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at +least were fashioned along the same lines as ourselves--there was +nothing grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures +in this strange, weird world. + +But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered +that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, +and that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony +Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, and without further +ado the interrupted march was resumed. + +Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain +brought on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On +and on we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell +we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did +not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they +would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. +They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect +physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the +women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses of +raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features +of both sexes were well proportioned--there was not a face among +them that would have been called even plain if judged by earthly +standards. They wore no ornaments; but this I later learned was +due to the fact that their captors had stripped them of everything +of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single robe of +some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to +a leopard's skin. This they wore either supported entirely about +the waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the +knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. +Their feet were shod with skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of +the hide of some shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before +and behind nearly to the ground. In some instances these ends were +finished with the strong talons of the beast from which the hides +had been taken. + +Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, +were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were +indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned +more in conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies +were covered with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as +brutal as those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which +I had seen in the museums at home. + +Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head +above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one +whit less human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of +light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore +only a loin cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod +with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world. + +Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal--silver +predominating--and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny +reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among +themselves as they marched along on either side of us, but in a +language which I perceived differed from that employed by our fellow +prisoners. When they addressed the latter they used what appeared +to be a third language, and which I later learned is a mongrel +tongue rather analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie. + +How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us +were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called--then +we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one +measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced +the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed +toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time +elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and +eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the inner world, +or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second--I +cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have told me that +ten years have elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost +all respect for time--I am commencing to doubt that such a thing +exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man. + + + + +IV + +DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL + + +When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They +gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and +strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, +and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; +but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call +a cab to travel a square--he was paying for it now, and his old +legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him +through the balance of those frightful marches. + +The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the +level plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical +verdure of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but +even here the effects of constant heat and light were apparent in +the immensity of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. +Crystal streams roared through their rocky channels, fed by the +perpetual snows which we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped +heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, +which evidently served the double purpose of replenishing the +melting snows and protecting them from the direct rays of the sun. + +By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language +in which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway +in the rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead +of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain +linked us together in a forced companionship which I, at least, +soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, and from +her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the life and +customs of the inner world--at least that part of it with which +she was familiar. + +She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above +the Darel Az, or shallow sea. + +"How came you here?" I asked her. + +"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as +though that was explanation quite sufficient. + +"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away +from him?" + +She looked at me in surprise. + +"Why DOES a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question +with another. + +"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run +after them." + +But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the +fact that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that +creation was originated solely to produce her own kind and the +world she lived in as are many of the outer world. + +"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away +to be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world." + +"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It +was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater +trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One +would come and take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished +me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me +from Jubal. My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a +sadok tossed him, and never again had he the full use of his right +arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had gone to the land of +Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none, father, +brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran +away and hid among the hills that skirt the land of Amoz. And +there these Sagoths found me and made me captive." + +"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?" + +Again she looked her incredulity. + +"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, +"for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really +mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of +the Mahars--the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all +that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, +or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next +you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!" + +I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was +no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean +breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was +shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten me, though much +that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She described +the Mahars largely by comparisons. In this way they were like unto +thipdars, in that to the hairless lidi. + +About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; +could swim under water for great distances, and were very, very +wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and +the races like herself were their hands and feet--they were the +slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were +the heads--the brains--of the inner world. I longed to see this +wondrous race of supermen. + +Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we +occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he +would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who +was chained just ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was +Hooja the Sly One. He too entered the conversation occasionally. +Most of his remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It +didn't take half an eye to see that he had developed a bad case; but +the girl appeared totally oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. +Did I say thinly veiled? There is a race of men in New Zealand, +or Australia, I have forgotten which, who indicate their preference +for the lady of their affections by banging her over the head with +a bludgeon. By comparison with this method Hooja's lovemaking might +be called thinly veiled. At first it caused me to blush violently +although I have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other +less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg. + +But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and +with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't +even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him +furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up +ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with +his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for his own +property--that he would buy her from the Mahars as soon as they +reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our destination. + +After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt +sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like +creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet +above their enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with +gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There were huge +tortoises too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which +Perry said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his +veracity--they might have been most anything. + +Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that +the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from +the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths--Perry +called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of +an alligator. + +I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school--about +all that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations +of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined +belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination +could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, +and take rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these +sleek, shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged +from the ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters +roll from their sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided +hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I +saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic +and interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak +imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius. + +And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself. + +"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside +that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought +that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe +it--that it is impossible for man to believe such things as these +unless he sees them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, +perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, and have no +way of disproving them--like religions, for example; but we don't +believe them, we only think we do. If you ever get back to the +outer world you will find that the geologists and paleontologists +will be the first to set you down a liar, for they know that no +such creatures as they restore ever existed. It is all right to +IMAGINE them as existing in an equally imaginary epoch--but now? +poof!" + +At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack +chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We +were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her +back upon him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could +scarce repress a smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the +instant the Sly One's hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking +her roughly toward him. + +I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics +which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the +appealing look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes +to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was +I paused not to inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of +her with his other hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw +that felled him in his tracks. + +A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and +the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later +learned, because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, +to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja. + +And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering +eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a +delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in +silence, and then her head went high, and she turned her back upon +me as she had upon Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I +saw the face of Ghak the Hairy One go very black as he looked at +me searchingly. And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly +from red to white. + +Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that +in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail +upon her to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred--in +fact I might quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all +the attention I got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and +prevented my making any further attempts, and thus a companionship +that without my realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was +cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja +did not renew his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture +near me. + +Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a +perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became +the realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, +the more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier +of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for +the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might have +made everything all right again. + +On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice +me--when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over +my head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and +determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me +how I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my +mind that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching +another range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, +instead of winding across them through some high-flung pass we +entered a mighty natural tunnel--a series of labyrinthine grottoes, +dark as Erebus. + +The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we +had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered +Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light +above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting +their way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept +along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling--the +guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with +certain high notes which I found always indicated rough places and +turns. + +Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian +until I could see from the expression of her face how she was +receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us +of the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. +Then at a sudden turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday +sun. + +But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a +real catastrophe--Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other +prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage +was terrible to behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted +in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of +responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating +us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed +two near the head of the line, and were like to have finished the +balance of us when their leader finally put a stop to the brutal +slaughter. Never in all my life had I witnessed a more horrible +exhibition of bestial rage--I thanked God that Dian had not been +one of those left to endure it. + +Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each +alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. +Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? +The commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered +that the rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been +deftly picked. + +"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. +"He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, +glancing at me. + +"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?" + +He looked at me closely for a moment. + +"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he +said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance +of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that +you do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?" + +"I do not know, Ghak," I replied. + +"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes +between another man and the woman the other man would have, the +woman belongs to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. +You should have claimed her or released her. Had you taken her +hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your mate, +and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, +it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that +you released her from all obligation to you. By doing neither you +have put upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a +woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or +may take her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat, +and men do not choose slave women as their mates--at least not the +men of Pellucidar." + +"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, +or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her +as my--" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent +face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and +where I had on the second believed that I clung only to the memory +of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would +have been disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian +the Beautiful as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a +welcome friend in a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think +that I loved her. + +I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than +in my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder. + +"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, +but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. +Your heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront +to Dian the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is +my sister. She does not know it--her mother was stolen by Dian's +father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle +with us for our women--the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. +Then was her father king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of +the king of Sari--to whose power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian +is the daughter of kings, though her father is no longer king since +the sadok tossed him and Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship +from him. Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly +magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. She will never forgive +you." + +I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the +girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon +her. + +"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand +above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient +to release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed +to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?" + +"Is there no escape?" I asked. + +"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied +Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, +and once there it is not so easy--the Mahars are very wise. Even +if one escaped from Phutra there are the thipdars--they would find +you, and then--" the Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never +escape the Mahars." + +It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about +it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded +prayer he had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the +only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave +him for the improvisation of prayers--it was becoming an obsession +with him. The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of +declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked him what +he was saying--to whom he was talking. The question gave me an +idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything. + +"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world +from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot +see--do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon +you and rend you limb from limb--like that," and I jumped toward +the great brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward. + +I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital +out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making +was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with +marked respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed +the word along to their masters, the Mahars. + +Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The +entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which +guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths +were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other towers +scattered about over a large plain. + + + + +V + +SLAVES + + +As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of +Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner +world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached +to inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to +imagine. The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, +some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great +round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white +fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated +into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails. +Their feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore +feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just in +front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees toward +the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies. + +I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old +man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. +When it passed on, he turned to me. + +"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, +gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have +never indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary +crow." + +As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many +thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. +They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground +with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It +is hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and +of a uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the +roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors +transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would +otherwise be Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced. + +Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, +where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a +Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The +method of communication between these two was remarkable in that +no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species of sign +language. As I was to learn later, the Mahars have no ears, not +any spoken language. Among themselves they communicate by means +of what Perry says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a +fourth dimension. + +I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it +to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said +no, that it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when +in each others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or +the other inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used +to converse with one another. + +"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the +fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense +of their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?" + +"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, +and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great +accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, +and there arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we +were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced +to discover the key to their written language, he assured me that +we were handling the ancient archives of the race. + +During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, +and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened +to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if +the little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who +had returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but +that I should have been more contented to know that Dian was here +in Phutra, than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. +Ghak, Perry, and I often talked together of possible escape, but +the Sarian was so steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could +escape from the Mahars except by a miracle, that he was not much +aid to us--his attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to +come to him. + +At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of +iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we +slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action +within the limits of the building to which we had been assigned. +So great were the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants +of Phutra that none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, +nor were our masters unkind to us. + +We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and +then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows--weapons +apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these +I found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom +of the building. + +We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving +Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped +prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian +and two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was +confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not +seen Dian or the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. +What had become of them he had not the faintest conception--they +might be wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if +not dead from starvation. + +I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at +this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection +for the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During +my waking hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and +when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was +I determined to escape the Mahars. + +"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every +inch of this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful +and right the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse +I made for Perry's benefit. + +"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are +talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar +which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was +arranging. + +"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and +all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two +areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. +These relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of +the continents of the outer world. + +"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; +then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the +superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this +is land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! +Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the +balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as we often +compare nations by their relative land areas, so if we compare +these two worlds in the same way we have the strange anomaly of a +larger world within a smaller one! + +"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? +Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even +though you knew where she might be found?" + +The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but +I found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it. + +"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested. + +Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him. + +"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. +Will you accompany us?" + +"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall +be killed; but--" he hesitated--"I would take the chance if I +thought that I might possibly escape and return to my own people." + +"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And +could you aid David in his search for Dian?" + +"Yes." + +"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country +without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?" + +Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, +but he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar +and carry him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would +be able to come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. +He seemed surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in +it. Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is +possessed by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of +course, but it gave me an idea. + +"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" +I asked. + +"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed +her." + +I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and +Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would +insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident +could befall a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where +the inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that +some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, +crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up +in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for +three years he will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's +snooze. That may be all true, but I never saw but three of them +asleep, and it was the sight of these three that gave me a suggestion +for our means of escape. + +I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were +supposed to frequent--possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor +of the building--among a network of corridors and apartments, when +I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At +first I thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing +convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of +the marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means +of eluding the watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards. + +Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to +me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my +surprise he was horrified. + +"It would be murder, David," he cried. + +"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment. + +"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are +the dominant race--we are the 'monsters'--the lower orders. In +Pellucidar evolution has progressed along different lines than +upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time +and time again wiped out the existing species--but for this fact +some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own +world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own history +had conditions been what they have been here. + +"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. +Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of +our own world's history, but for countless millions of years these +reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense +which I am sure they possess that has given them an advantage over +the other and more frightfully armed of their fellows; but this +we may never know. They look upon us as we look upon the beasts +of our fields, and I learn from their written records that other +races of Mahars feed upon men--they keep them in great droves, as +we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, and when they are +quite fat, they kill and eat them." + +I shuddered. + +"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They +understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our +own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions +of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means +of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason--that +our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race +of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among +themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it +is beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that +we reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know +that the Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend +it, or how it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. +They believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. +That the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to +them. + +"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out +your plan." + +"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer." + +He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some +reason which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very +careful description of the apartments and corridors I had just +explored. + +"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to +carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something +of very real and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar +at the same time. Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising +nature from these archives of the Mahars. That you may not appreciate +my plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race. + +"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little +by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change +took place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under +the intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took +vast strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we +know as biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist +announced the fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs +might be fertilized by chemical means after they were laid--all +true reptiles, you know, are hatched from eggs. + +"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed +until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively +of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical +formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of +Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description +of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden +in the cellar of this building. + +"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and second, +owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first so +many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population +became very grave. + +"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this +great secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race +within Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. +Why, we two would be the means of placing the men of the inner world +in their rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths +would then stand between them and absolute supremacy, and I was +not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all their power to the +greater intelligence of the Mahars--I could not believe that these +gorilla-like beasts were the mental superiors of the human race of +Pellucidar. + +"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance +into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may +carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's +marvelous--absolutely marvelous just to think about it." + +"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just +that purpose--it shall be my life work to teach them His word--to +lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their +hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization." + +"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them +to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make +a race of men that will be an honor to us both." + +Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our +conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited +about. Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I +only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined +it to him, he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but +for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible +fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed +upon him to accept my plan as the only feasible one, and when I had +assured him that I would take all the responsibility for it were +we captured, he accorded a reluctant assent. + + + + +VI + +THE BEGINNING OF HORROR + + +Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no +nights to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad +day-light--all but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the +building. So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test +lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before I reached +them; but we were doomed to disappointment, for no sooner had +we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the pits +beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hastened +under strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond. + +Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other +slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and +hustled into the line of marching humans. + +What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, +but presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two +escaped slaves had been recaptured--a man and a woman--and that we +were marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed +a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them. + +At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure +that the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with +Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought +so too, as did Perry. + +"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak. + +"Naught," he replied. + +Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual +cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the +murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson +to all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, +and the fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, +and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the +entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible. + +They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets +at the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a +most uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally +herded through a low entrance into a huge building the center of +which was given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this +open space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge +bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the roof. + +At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of +rock, unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background +for the scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but +presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by +slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for +then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure. + +They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the +opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose +above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders +above. These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect. + +Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is +to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking +their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in +their sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language. + +For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the +others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in +fact all Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena +after the balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, +she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever +had seen, and on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while +behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen. + +At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her +wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled +down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of +that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant +race. Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; +though doubtless quite as well assured of her beauty and divine +right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer world. + +And then the music started--music without sound! The Mahars cannot +hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown +among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It +filed out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the +rocks might see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty +minutes. + +Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their +heads in a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a +cadence which evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence +of our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band +took measured steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward +and again forward--it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, +but at the end of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed +the first indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by +the dominant race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up +and down, and smote their rocky perches with their mighty tails +until the ground shook. Then the band started another piece, and +all was again as silent as the grave. That was one great beauty +about Mahar music--if you didn't happen to like a piece that was +being played all you had to do was shut your eyes. + +When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled +upon the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of +the day was on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a +couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize +the female--hoping against hope that she might prove to be another +than Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and +the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head +filled me with alarm. + +Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit +a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature. + +"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer +crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We +have been carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of +a planet--is it not wondrous?" + +But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart +stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes +for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should +have leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay +in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age. + +With the advent of the Bos--they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar--two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of +the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been +as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons. + +As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground +with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly +beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar +that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first +see the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, but +the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims around with +a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face--she was not Dian! +I could have wept for relief. + +And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of +that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge +tiger--such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval +when the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike +the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions +were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings +exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites +were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite +coal, and its coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it +is a beautiful animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size and +colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of +its disposition. It is not the occasional member of its species +that is a man hunter--all are man hunters; but they do not confine +their foraging to man alone, for there is no flesh or fish within +Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in the constant efforts +which they make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient +sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. + +Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, +and upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with +gaping mouth and dripping fangs. + +The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At +the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became +a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard +such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was +all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged! + +The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the +other. The two puny things standing between them seemed already +lost, but at the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man +grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped to one +side, while the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives +in collision. + +There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful +ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. Time +and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the +air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned +to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly +increased ire. + +For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping +out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate +and each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger +was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with +powerful fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide +into shreds and ribbons. + +For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and +rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from +side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening +about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. +It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of +the wounded animal. + +All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until +in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and +over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its +breath from it I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick +as a cat, the great thag was up again and had buried those mighty +horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the +arena. + +The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were +gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained +upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment +the thag still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and +then the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the +least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart. + +As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the +arena. With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the +arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried +him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into +the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging +his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a wide swath +before him straight upward toward our seats. Before him slaves +and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede to escape the menace of the +creature's death agonies, for such only could that frightful charge +have been. + +Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the +exits, many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind +us. Perry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned +for a few moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, +each intent upon saving his own hide. + +I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad +mob that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an +entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single +blinded, dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd. + + + + +VII + +FREEDOM + + +Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, +but another emotion as quickly gripped me--hope of escape that the +demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant. + +I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass +his release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom +from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching +for an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I +found it--a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor. + +Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the +shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for +some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and +fainter until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint +light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting +tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope +with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, +feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside +me. + +Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, +I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which +the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in +the ground. + +Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering +out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, +granite towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean +city were all in front of me--behind, the plain stretched level +and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, +then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much +enhanced. + +My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross +the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a +sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes +Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light. + +Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra--the gorgeous +flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which +is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom--brilliant little stars +of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still +another charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape. + +But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills +in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling +the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the +force of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than +upon that of the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I +was never particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it +has escaped me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part +to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust +directly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which +one's calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always +seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within +Pellucidar than upon the outer surface--there was a certain airy +lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily +detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced +in dreams. + +And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I +seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to +Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. +The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found +freedom. There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless +the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find +some way to encompass his release kept me from turning back to +Phutra. + +Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped +that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. +It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could +aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked +and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to +Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were +that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far +I wandered? + +The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet +with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. +Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living +thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world. + +I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit +of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty +little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a +laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent +sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or +five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to +size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. +As I watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they +suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface +to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, +scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line. + +It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved +to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--that is what Perry +calls them--and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded +fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of +food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and +entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed +these delicacies. + +Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive +purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung +the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I +sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled +to escape. + +Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face +continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered +a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep +declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet +surface of which lay several beautiful islands. + +The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was +to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over +the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into +the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a +haven of peace and security. + +The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn +with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still +housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn +out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian +seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself +with the first man of that other world, so complete the solitude +which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders +and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second Adam +wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching +for my Eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the +exquisite outlines of a perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of +wondrous, raven hair. + +As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not +until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered +all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal +overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, +and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle. + +The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some +new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of +loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes +in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great +copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me. + +There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence +of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no +safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question. + +The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping +him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative--the +rude skiff--and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing +into the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in +over the end. + +A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and +buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the +paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing +out upon the surface of the sea. + +A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one +had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His +mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in +short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with my +unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubbornly in every direction but +that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was +expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course. + +I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident +that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next +half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather +of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper +giant behind me gained and gained. + +His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, +sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and +the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need +have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain death +was in his look. + +And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster +of that prehistoric deep--a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged +jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony +protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns. + +As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the +doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression +of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through +me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, +and that he might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me +was forgotten in the extremity of his danger. + +Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage +my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. +The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he +closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark +den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body +coiled and uncoiled about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws +snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like, +ran in and out upon the copper skin. + +Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet +against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but +for all the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with +his open palm. + +At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman +was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. +Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast +after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I +tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with +all the strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of +the hydrophidian. + +With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, +but the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing +me though it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts +to reach me. + + + + +VIII + +THE MAHAR TEMPLE + + +The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, +and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated +creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the +waters about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became +evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently +its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive +movements it turned upon its back quite dead. + +And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament +in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of +the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the +spear I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, +and there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously +to the weapon the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. + +What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. + +Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to +translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance +of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard +tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of +the Mahars. + +To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. + +"What do you want of my spear?" he asked. + +"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied. + +"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," +and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in +the bottom of the skiff. + +"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?" + +I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain +how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible +for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear +it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence +of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine +that there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings +similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought +upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the +scope of our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our +finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance +with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the +insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the +bowlders of the universe--the speck of moist dirt we so proudly +call the World. + +So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a +Mezop, and that his name was Ja. + +"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?" + +He looked at me in surprise. + +"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, +"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon +the islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop +lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but +of course it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not +know. At any rate in this sea and those near by it is true that +only people of my race inhabit the islands. + +"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going +to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but +the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. +"Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar +was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they +do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to +son among us that this is so; but we fought so desperately and slew +so many Sagoths, and those of us that were captured killed so many +Mahars in their own cities that at last they learned that it were +better to leave us alone, and later came the time that the Mahars +became too indolent even to catch their own fish, except for +amusement, and then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a +truce was made between the races. Now they give us certain things +which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch, +and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace. + +"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from +the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their +religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our +assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the manner +of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for +the poor slaves they bring to take part in it." + +As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six +or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that +of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar +to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher +tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his +mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive +and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable +makeshift language we were compelled to use. + +During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling +the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some +half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his +crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it +had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work +of it. + +As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed +him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that +grew beyond the sand. + +"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana +are always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," +he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a +distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The +upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing +the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see +land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to +stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel +that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head +required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning +faculties as almost to stupefy one. + +No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, +presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which +wound hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of +all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop +trail which I was later to find distinguished them from all other +trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth. + +It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly +in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn +directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a +tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, +leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail +which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly +about and retrace his steps until after a mile or less this new +pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. +Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no +spoor, to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond. + +As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could +not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of +the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from +his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him +to his deep-buried cities. + +To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method +of traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you +would realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. +So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the +connecting links and the distances which one must retrace one's +steps from the paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches +man's estate before he is familiar even with those which lead from +his own city to the sea. + +In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop +consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and +the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of trails +which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn +them, since from birth to death they never leave the clearing +in which the village of their nativity is situated except they be +taken to mate by a male from another village, or captured in war +by the enemies of their tribe. + +After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward +of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the +exact center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one +might well imagine. + +Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the +ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven +twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was +surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated +the identity of the owner. + +Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served +to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were +through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward +by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The +houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that +I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments. + +All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, +and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working +in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja +they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest +attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated +area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the +points of their spears to the ground directly before them. + +Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village--the +house with eight rooms--and taking me up into it gave me food and +drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in +her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was +thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting +me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me +would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of +the community. + +We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, +for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man +proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which +lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," +he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of +sight they need never know that we have been there. For my part I +hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of the island +think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations +which exist between the two races; otherwise I should like nothing +better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and +exterminate them--Pellucidar would be a better place to live were +there none of them." + +I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be +a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. +Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, +which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees +similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust +during the carboniferous age. + +Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough +oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No +doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor +was there need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, +as Ja explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the +roof. + +"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even +the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing +and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the +foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, +revealing a small opening which led straight within the building, +or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered myself +in a narrow place of extreme darkness. + +"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow +me closely." + +The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend +a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to +the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet +when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow +lighter and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner +wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire interior of +the temple. + +The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous +hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of +granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them +I saw men and women like myself. + +"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked. + +"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading +part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. +You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall +as they." + +Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above +and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of +Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central +opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple. + +There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring +pterodactyls--thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind +these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been +when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra. + +Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to +settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer +edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was +reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by +her terrible guard. + +All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. +One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves +upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide +eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with +folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung +to one another, hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking +race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as +they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than +improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. +We have opportunity, and little else. + +Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; +then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid +noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, +turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their +tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface. + +Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained +at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. +Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round +eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been +brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in +droves, and bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle. + +The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried +to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a +woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such +fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, +and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of her brain. + +Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the +eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the +victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the +Mahar queen, slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged +by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance straight toward +the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To +the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, but stepped +into the shallows beside the little island. On she moved toward +the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim +on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and still she advanced, +chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was at her waist; now +her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, +helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their +own. + +The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were +exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced +until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from +her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile. + +Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose--her eyes +and forehead all that showed--yet still she walked on after the +retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath +the surface and after it went the eyes of her victim--only a slow +ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished. + +For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water +for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of +the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward +the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she +dragged the helpless girl to her doom. + +And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the +reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On +and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely +to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient +time to have drowned her thrice over there was no indication, +other than her dripping hair and glistening body, that she had been +submerged at all. + +Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out +again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves +so that I could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue +had I not taken a firm hold of myself. + +Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came +to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms +was gone--gnawed completely off at the shoulder--but the poor thing +gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set +eyes seemed intensified. + +The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then +the breasts, and then a part of the face--it was awful. The poor +creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their +eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that +they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that +they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon the +terrible thing that was transpiring before them. + +Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when +she rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The +moment she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars +to enter the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a +repetition of the uncanny performance through which the queen had +led her victim. + +Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars--they being the +weakest and most tender--and when they had satisfied their appetite +for human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, +there were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that +for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the +case, for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars +darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like +steam engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves. + +There was no hypnotism here--just the plain, brutal ferocity of +the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at +that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. +By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves +the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later +the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the queen, +and themselves dropped into slumber. + +"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja. + +"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," +he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human +flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always +you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they +do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the +practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced +of their race; but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle +that there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get +it." + +"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is +true that they look upon us as lower animals?" + +"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are +supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," +replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They +would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider +such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As +a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this sentiment +should exist among them." + +"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far +out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. +Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, +there being a break in the bowlders at this point as there was at +several other places about the side of the temple. + +My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed +a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for +it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save +myself and I plunged headforemost into the water below. + +Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no +injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind +filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible +doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon +the creature that had disturbed their slumber. + +As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly +in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to +the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast +a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars +I was almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon +the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple +with my eyes could I discern any within it. + +For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized +that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by +the noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is +no such thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how +long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to +attempt to figure out by earthly standards--this matter of elapsed +time--but when I set myself to it I began to realize that I might +have been submerged a second or a month or not at all. You have +no conception of the strange contradictions and impossibilities +which arise when all methods of measuring time, as we know them +upon earth, are non-existent. + +I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved +me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the +Mahars filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their +uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was +alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me +from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one of the +tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf--you cannot imagine the +awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars +of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that you are +in their power--that they are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to +drag you down beneath the waters and devour you! It is frightful. + +But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that +I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone +was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once +more in search of a means to escape. + +Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled +into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless +he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our +hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had +hastened from the temple and back to his village. + +I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the +doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe +that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the +Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried through +the air, and so I continued my search until at last it was rewarded +by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at +one end of the temple. + +A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones +to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later +I had scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle +beyond. + +Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath +the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning +fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers +lay hidden in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome +as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death +bravely enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast +or man--anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars. + + + + +IX + +THE FACE OF DEATH + + +I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very +hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, +I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the +island was not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I +did but move in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as +there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, +the sun, of course, being always directly above my head, and the +trees so thickly set that I could see no distant object which might +serve to guide me in a straight line. + +As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four +times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did +so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the +chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which +I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach. + +I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft +down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience +with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must +be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as +possible. + +I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that +at which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in +sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well +out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of +it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long +since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give myself up that +I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One. + +I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I +realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture +were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom +without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that +the probability that I might find him was less than slight. + +Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and +wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. +I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I +had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the +Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose image had now +become the constant companion of my waking hours, and the central +and beloved figure of my dreams. + +But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my +duty and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers +and vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, +too; the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us +both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, +and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete +twentieth-century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, +chivalrous, and loveable. + +Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered +Ja's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep +bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles +came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found +that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the +divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the pass I could +not for the life of me remember. + +It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which +seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that +many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out +the course of our lives, and again learned that it is not always +best to follow the line of least resistance. + +By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced +that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland +sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace +my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon +seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and +levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was +about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery +strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther +before I turned back. + +The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before +me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the +side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying +to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, +where it formed a broad level beach. + +Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost +to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the +nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the +ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it +seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the +restless waters advanced and retreated. + +Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene +was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled +vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the +ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not +repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate +the dense foliage to discern it. + +Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and +lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet +ventured, to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, +or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. +What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very +instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! +How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar +were small in comparison with those of the outer crust, but even +so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands +of miles. For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless +miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown beyond the +tiny strip that was visible from its beaches. + +The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as +though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer +world to look upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed +either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called to me to +explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which +lay before us could Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, +a slight noise I imagine, drew my attention behind me. + +As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took +wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form +that I beheld advancing upon me. + +A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty +jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, +and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand +was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the +fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind +lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the center of the +narrow way that led to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible +and menacing flesh. + +A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I +was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose +fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back +as the Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I +was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as +I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor +felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first +time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered +now beside the restless, mysterious sea. + +Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had +handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I +have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct +of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so +close before me today. + +To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar +to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. +The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, +carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me +would pursue me into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility. + +There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. +I thought of Perry--how he would wonder what had become of me. I +thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all +would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange +and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird +surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of +my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how +unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the existence +of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an instant's +warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued +voices. The following morning, while the first worm is busily +engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they are teeing +up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced ball +than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon +was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for +me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged +jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was +it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp +between those formidable teeth? + +He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to +me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could +have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there +stood Ja, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to +the cliff's base. + +I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked +me for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human +eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet +I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it. + +To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable +cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, +crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small +projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here +and there. + +The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double +his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to +the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely +trotted along behind me. + +As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, +but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come +down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with +one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously +upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he +lowered the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet +above the ground. + +To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored +one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I +came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to +try to save myself. + +But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger +himself. + +"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much +more rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag +you back before ever you are halfway up the spear--he can rear up +and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand." + +Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped +the spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I +could--being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I +imagine the slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized +our intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal +instead of having it doubled as he had hoped. + +When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that +fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific +rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; +another six inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt +a sudden wrench from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the +mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. + +I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on +the surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and +still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner. + +At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand +the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when +I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point +yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end +transfixed his lower jaw. + +With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, +lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and +head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to +the ground. + +Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing +madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A +glance over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at +the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did +he remain in this occupation that I had gained the safety of the +cliff top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did +not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, hissing into +the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was the last I saw of +him. + + + + +X + +PHUTRA AGAIN + + +I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure +footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save +me, which had come so near miscarrying. + +"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," +he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and +you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon +the beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the +sand beside it. + +"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you +must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers +which lurk upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and +reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to +this point. It is well that I arrived when I did." + +"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship +on the part of a man of another world and a different race and +color. + +"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my +duty to protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop +had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance +for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You +shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best of +hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate from, +the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come?" + +I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty +was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him--if I +could ever find his island. + +"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come +to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. +There you will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly +opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large islands +far out, so far that they are barely discernible, the one to the +extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, +where I rule the tribe of Anoroc." + +"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men +say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied. + +"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory +these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their +world. + +"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should +fall back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters +of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar +is quite flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. +At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, +is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping +over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never +have been so far from Anoroc as to have seen this wall with my +own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is +true, whereas there is no reason at all in the foolish belief of +the Mahars. According to them Pellucidarians who live upon the +opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward!" and +Ja laughed uproariously at the very thought. + +It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had +not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars +had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered +how many ages it would take to lift these people out of their +ignorance even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly +we would be killed for our pains as were those men of the outer +world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions +of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the +opportunity ever presented itself. + +And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity--that I +might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus +note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. + +"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so +far as the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned +it is correct?" + +"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me +for one." + +"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you +account for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from +the outer crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a +sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet +I come from a great world that is covered with human beings, and +beasts, and birds, and fishes in mighty oceans." + +"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with +your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe +that, my friend, I should indeed be mad." + +I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means +of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for +a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened +so intently that I thought I had made an impression, and started +the train of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding +of the truth. But I was mistaken. + +"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity +of your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. +"See," he said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until +it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported +upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls--you have +proven it yourself!" He had me, that time--you could see it in his +eye. + +It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for +when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system +and the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to +picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the +planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner +world could no more conceive of such things than can we of the +outer crust reduce to factors appreciable to our finite minds such +terms as space and eternity. + +"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or +down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not +so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part +I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself +up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the +plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us +together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the +slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not left +the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good +our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our +plans, which depended for their consummation upon the continued +sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the building +in which we were confined." + +"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja. + +"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in Pellucidar, +except yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances?" + +He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head +sorrowfully. + +"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet +it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn +you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing +nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have +I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. +There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would +rather die than be recaptured." + +"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that +I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, +Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that +I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality." + +Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, +he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which +Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go +there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the +little demons who dwell there. We know this because when graves +are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely +borne off. That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees +where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the Dead +World above the Land of Awful Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place +his body in the ground that it may go to Molop Az." + +As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come +to the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me +from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to +do so, he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see +the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but +short from the beach where I had again met Ja. It was evident that +I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canon, +while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Phutra near to which +I must have come several times. + +As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the +flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me +to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was +firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his +own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time. + +I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much +indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, +and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished +much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful +in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later. + +There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first--at +least it was the great thing to me--the finding of Dian the Beautiful. +I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my +ignorance, and I wanted to--well, I wanted to see her again, and +to be with her. + +Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, +and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns +that guard the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the +nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an +instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me. + +Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches +I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward +them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect +upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together +they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had +expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that +which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast +their spears. + +"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, +"Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world--he who +escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why +do you return, having once made good your escape?" + +"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, +as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused +and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I +found my way back." + +"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of +the guardsmen. + +"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar +and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to +be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? +What better lot could man desire?" + +The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, +and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they +felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for +riddle they still considered it. + +I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing +them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they +thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that +I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an +opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that +I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon +my return to the city. + +So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within +the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian +eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my +deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the +Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's +lips and fingers during the recital. Then it questioned me through +one of the Sagoths. + +"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because +you think yourself better off here than elsewhere--do you not know +that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests +of the wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones +are continually occupied with?" + +I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not +to admit it. + +"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed +in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I +was fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I +barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am +sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such +as rule Phutra. At least such would be the case in my own world, +where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races +of man extend protection and hospitality to the stranger within +their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally assumed that a +like courtesy would be accorded me." + +The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased +speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The +creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some +message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow +him, left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side +of me marched the balance of the guard. + +"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right. + +"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you +regarding this strange world from which you say you come." + +After a moment's silence he turned to me again. + +"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves +who lie to them?" + +"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention +of lying to the Mahars." + +"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you +told Sol-to-to just now--another world, indeed, where human beings +rule!" he concluded in fine scorn. + +"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I +come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see +that." + +"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not +be judged by one with but half an eye." + +"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind +to believe me?" + +"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used +in research work by the learned ones," he replied. + +"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted. + +"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with +them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them +but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their +subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. +However I should not imagine that it would prove very useful to +him who was being cut up; but of course this is all but conjecture. +The chances are that ere long you will know much more about it than +I," and he grinned as he spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed +sense of humor. + +"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?" + +"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you +escaped?" he said. + +"Yes." + +"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for +them," he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals +might not be employed." + +"It is sure death in either event?" I asked. + +"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not +know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the +arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the +two whom you saw." + +"They gained their liberty? And how?" + +"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive +within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it +has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, +whom we have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes +turned in upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. +In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, +but the result was the same--the man and woman were liberated, +furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. +Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was burned--the mark of the +Mahars--which will forever protect these two from slaving parties." + +"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, +and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?" + +"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself +too quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce +one in a thousand who comes out alive." + +To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which +I had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the +doorway I was turned over to the guards there. + +"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," +said he who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness." + +The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I +had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it +would be safe to give me liberty within the building as had been +the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to +whatever duty had been mine formerly. + +My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual +over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and +rearranging upon new shelves. + +As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, +only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. +I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think +that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of +duty and affection! + +"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long +absence?" + +"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?" + +"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed +me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within +the arena?" + +"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned +from the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you +been much later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I +had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as +I had completed the translation of this most interesting passage." + +"Perry, you ARE mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how +long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered +a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their +worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life +from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, +following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. +I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look up +from your work when I return and insist that we have been separated +but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm surprised +at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you cared no +more for me than this I should not have returned to chance death +at the hands of the Mahars for your sake." + +The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There +was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt +sorrow in his eyes. + +"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love +for you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. +I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; +but how in the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations +that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time +since last we saw each other. You are positive that months have +gone by, while to me it seems equally certain that not more than +an hour ago I sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that +both of us are right and at the same time both are wrong? First +tell me what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do +you catch my meaning?" + +I didn't and said so. + +"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over +my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little +or nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food +nor sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and +wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment +and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you +saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. +As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction +that there is no such thing as time--surely there can be no time +here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring +or recording time. Why, the Mahars themselves take no account of +such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works but +a single tense, the present. There seems to be neither past nor +future with them. Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly +minds to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem +to demonstrate its existence." + +It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to +enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening +with interest to my account of the adventures through which I had +passed he returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging +upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the +entrance of a Sagoth. + +"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators +would speak with you." + +"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may +be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel +that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall +never return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you +to promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her +that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional +affront I put upon her, and that my one wish was to be spared long +enough to right the wrong that I had done her." + +Tears came to Perry's eyes. + +"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It +would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without +you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken +away I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as +I should be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, +good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he +hid his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly +by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber. + + + + +XI + +FOUR DEAD MAHARS + + +A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars--the social +investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a +Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed +particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the +strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I +thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence +for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered +returned to my quarters. + +During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium +of strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the +head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference +to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard. + +"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits +for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with +the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them." + +"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally +astonished. + +"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected +any one to believe so impossible a lie?" + +It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At +a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we +saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these +chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me +to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon +a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. +Several Mahars stood about the poor creature holding him down so +that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her +three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. +No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks and groans of +the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection +with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that +soon my turn would come. And to think that where there was no such +thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring +for months before death finally released me! + +The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been +brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work +that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered +with me. The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But +those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about +for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between +me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrument which one of them +must have dropped. It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was +much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my +boyhood days had I picked locks with a button-hook. Could I but +reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect at least +a temporary escape. + +Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one +hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of +the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber +of my being as I would, I could not quite make it. + +At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. +My heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But +suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally +shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold +sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I +made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually +I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my +hand and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing +was in my grasp. + +Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. +It was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment +later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their +work at the table. One already turned away and was examining other +victims, evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject. + +Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature +walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the +thing approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge +slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped +and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as it did +so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant I +gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the +corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the speed I could +command. + +Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought +was to place as much distance as possible between me and that +frightful chamber of torture. + +Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing +the danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, +I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to +a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and +presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the +corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of +skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the +same corridor and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead +so important a role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had +indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles still slept. + +My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in +search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, +and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions +of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and +these I lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends +and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. +Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where +we had been wont to eat and sleep. + +Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course +they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by +my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before +attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope +to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry +that bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. +However it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely +through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, +and so I set out with Perry and Ghak--the stench of the illy cured +pelts fairly choking me. + +Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the +main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await +me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. +There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The +rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again +oval in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and +not always straight. The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight +reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are +lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the +corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars can see quite well +in semidarkness. + +Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and +slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of +the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance +leading from the place into the avenue and this was well guarded +by Sagoths--this doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is +true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors and +apartments except on special occasions when we were instructed to +do so; but as we were considered a lower order without intelligence +there was little reason to fear that we could accomplish any harm +by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor +which led below. + +Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and +the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where +I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and +so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance +of the weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels. + +Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept +I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were +without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart +I disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, +so that before I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled +itself against the third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with +wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which the +race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already had +dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword was red with +their blood, it made a dash to escape me. But I was too quick for +it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another +corridor with me close upon its heels. + +Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability +my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at +my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing +before me. + +Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, +and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of +the Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been +occupied with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put +powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing +about upon the bench where it had been working. In an instant I +realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very room for the +finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It was the +buried chamber in which was hidden the Great Secret of the race +of Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin-bound +book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought, +after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep. + +There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which +I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew +that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to +fight if fight they must. Together they launched themselves upon +me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant, +the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the +elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about +the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it +was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that powerful, +viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body. +The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to spur me to +greater efforts to overcome my antagonist. + +Back and forth across the floor we struggled--the Mahar dealing me +terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to +protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for +an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand +to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with +what seemed to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through +the ugly body of my foe. + +Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain +and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that +I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up +the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it +was the very thing that Perry had described to me. + +And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race +of Pellucidar--did there flash through my mind the thought that +countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason +to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I +did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid +eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red +lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, +standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of +Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful. + + + + +XII + +PURSUIT + + +For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a +sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, +and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor +which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance +with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak +that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, +and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them. + +"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The +fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of +our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let +you decide whether he might accompany us." + +I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure +that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I +saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars +instead of only the three I had expected to, made it possible to +include the fellow in our scheme of escape. + +"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first +intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you +understand?" + +He said that he did. + +Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and +so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed +an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was +not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split +them along the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by +remaining out until the others had all been sewed in with my help, +and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through +which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were enabled +to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had +hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by passing our swords +up through the necks, and by the same means were enabled to move +them about in a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty +with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, +so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes +punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were thrust +permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress. + +Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak +headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, +while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had +so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the head of my +disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering. + +As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the +busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. +It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened--never +before in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of +soulsearing fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible +to sweat blood, I sweat it then. + +Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when +they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy +slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we +reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. +Many Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as +he padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it +was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized +that the warm blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through +the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale +mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's +attention to it. + +The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke +to me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means +of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not +have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen +a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed +my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my +sword so that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes +upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, +eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head +and started slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but +before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed +on out into the avenue. + +On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, +there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake +which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge +their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying +the cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, +and free from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great +seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind. + +In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the +plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was +traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little +gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and +we were alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly +away from Phutra. + +The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our +horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, +and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar +skins that had brought us thus far in safety. + +I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling +flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our +tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How +we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of +which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines +of the outer world. + +On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between +ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own +land--the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and +yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were +dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their +quarry until they had captured it or themselves been turned back +by a superior force. + +Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite +strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of +Sagoths. + +At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have +been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed +the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who +looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could +see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. +It was the long-expected pursuit. + +I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them. + +"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move +with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they +are doubtless much fresher than we. Then--" he paused, glancing +at Perry. + +I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the +period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the +march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths +might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights +which confronted us. + +"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it +if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there +is no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be +helped--we have simply to face it." + +"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't +known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility +of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but +now to my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love. + +But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could +reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force +to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself. + +No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but +he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the +king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja--the +naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the +foothills which we now had reached. + +Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the +old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew +that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought +of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the +problem, in part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying +him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel +faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man. + + + + +XIII + +THE SLY ONE + + +The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted +us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled +up the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights +of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, +parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass +formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the +canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing +to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would reach the +now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should +be overtaken. + +Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the +success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the +outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage +cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their +king's appeal for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs +ahead should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing of the +kind happened--as a matter of fact the Sly One had betrayed us. +At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to +our relief at Hooja's back, the craven traitor was sneaking around +the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up +from the other side when it was too late to save us, claiming that +he had become lost among the mountains. + +Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had +struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal +to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me. + +As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians +appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the +sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called +to me over his shoulder that we were lost. + +A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at +the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we +had just passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature +from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind +us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us. + +Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another +branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so +that appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. +The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind +us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other +than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, +and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. + +Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. +Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, +and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I +turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, +and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one +canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other. + +Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when +my very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I +ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running +had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful +cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab." + +The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, +fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had +become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what +seemed a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could +not even guess--possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the +corresponding valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had +plunged into a cul-de-sac? + +Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the +top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to +check them temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made +bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my +shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and +wheeled toward the gorilla-man. + +In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our +escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game +by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed +a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had +restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger +which Ghak and I had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, +spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough +and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave +me unwonted confidence in my weapon. + +Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never were my +nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully +and deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never +before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over +his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort +of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously +swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in +which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they +achieve, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little +short of miraculous. + +My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered +its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then +he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant +that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang +forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the +swish of the hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same instant +my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan +he lunged almost at my feet--stone dead. Close behind him were two +more--fifty yards perhaps--but the distance gave me time to snatch +up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had +just given me had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. +Those which I had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring +along because their size precluded our concealing them within the +skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from the city. + +With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with +another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his +fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and +fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. +Instead, he turned and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. +Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment. + +Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested +I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two +or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the +left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. +Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond +the canyon's end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening +to a large cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from +sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain. + +Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting +him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About +me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were +of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions +for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a +number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave +I waited the advance of the Sagoths. + +As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint +sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight +noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. +It might have been produced by the moving of the great body of some +huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the +same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals +upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few seconds my +attention was considerably divided. + +And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes +glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet +above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be +standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing +up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of +Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful +Titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had +seen before. + +Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the +cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous +growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with +the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud--I +doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all--but the suggestion of latent +possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate +from a gigantic and ferocious beast. + +As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the +cave, where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but +an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth +as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of +the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge +in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could +crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged +from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon +that narrow ledge. + +The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully +eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the +end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it +sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open +mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost +gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his +on-rushing companions. + +The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and +leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three +hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered +in the next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and +the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the +mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along the ledge. + +Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to +escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing +the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I +could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the +screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds +dwindled and disappeared in the distance. + +Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen +and returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is +called, pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire +band. Ghak was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the +terrible creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of +beasts. + +Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall +prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along +the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I could +reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I evidently +became confused by the twisting and turning of the canyons and +gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a +long time thereafter. + + + + +XIV + +THE GARDEN OF EDEN + + +With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused +and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, +in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and come out +above the valley upon the farther side. I know that I wandered +for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a small cave +in the face of the limestone formation which had taken the place +of the granite farther back. + +The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side +of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely +formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make +a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. +Yet it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark +interior. + +Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft +in the rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient +quantities partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had +expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of +its having been recently occupied. The opening was comparatively +small, so that after considerable effort I was able to lug up a +bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it. + +Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and +on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the +diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of +a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, +with food and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal +of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged +the bowlder before the entrance and curled myself upon a bed of +grasses--a naked, primeval, cave man, as savagely primitive as my +prehistoric progenitors. + +I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled +out upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before +me spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which +a clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, +the blue waters of which were just visible between the two mountain +ranges which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the +opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest clothed +them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper green of the towering +crags which formed their summit. The valley itself was carpeted +with a luxuriant grass, while here and there patches of wild flowers +made great splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green. + +Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike +trees--three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood +antelope, while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully +to a nearby ford to drink. There were several species of this +beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant +eland of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete +curve backward over their ears and then forward again beneath +them, ending in sharp and formidable points some two feet before +the face and above the eyes. In size they remind one of a pure +bred Hereford bull, yet they are very agile and fast. The broad +yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take +them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they are handsome +animals, and added the finishing touch to the strange and lovely +landscape that spread before my new home. + +I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as +a base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in +search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the +carcass of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I +hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled +the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and +shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley. + +The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the +little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to +safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, +and after moving to what they considered a safe distance stood +contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one +of the old bull antelopes of the striped species lowered his head +and bellowed angrily--even taking a few steps in my direction, +so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed, he +resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him. + +Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the +cliffs upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around +them as I desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of +a ledge along which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet +from the base I came upon a projection which formed a natural path +along the face of the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea +toward the cliff's end. + +Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up +at this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I +climbed carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted +aloft by the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the +flapping of wings. + +And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the +most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a +giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of +earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, +while the bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of +fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, +and its claw equipped with horrible talons. + +The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing +from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond +and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood +terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the +end I saw the cause of the reptile's agitation. + +Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped +down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation +of my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly +as did the end upon which I stood. + +And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break +in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack--a girl +cowering upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as +though to shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered +just above her. + +The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon +its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which +to weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed +creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called +out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection +of the other sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of +self-preservation in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like +an irresistible magnet. + +Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of +the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. +At the same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my +sudden advent upon the scene must have startled him for he veered +to one side, and then rose above us once more. + +The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the +end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when +no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. +As they fell upon me the expression that came into them would be +difficult to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been +one whit more complicated than my own--for the wide eyes that looked +into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful. + +"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time." + +"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could +I tell whether she were glad or angry that I had come. + +Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I +had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch +up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim +was true, and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once +more and soared away. + +Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the +next attack, and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I +surprised her in a surreptitious glance which she was stealing at +me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her hands. + +"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?" + +She looked straight into my eyes. + +"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair +hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she +said, and I turned again to meet the reptile. + +So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound +of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. +But this time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I +had selected my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent +the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of +my left hand, and then as the great creature darted toward us I +let drive straight for that tough breast. + +Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature +fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried +completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was +looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die. + +"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I +have found you?" + +"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less +vehemence in it than before--yet it might have been but my imagination. + +"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me. + +"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you +since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?" + +At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it. + +"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. +"After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my +own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages +or let any of my friends know that I had returned for fear that +Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I found that my +brother had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a cave +beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, awaiting the time +that he should come back and free me from Jubal. + +"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward +my father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave +the alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me +across many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes +he will kill you and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible +man. I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape," and +she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge twenty +feet above us. + +"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. +"The sea is there"--she pointed over the edge of the cliff--"and +the sea shall have me rather than Jubal." + +"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other +have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift +it above her head and let it fall in token of release. + +She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes +with level gaze. + +"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would +have done this when the others were present to witness it--then I +should truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you +do it, for you know that without witnesses your act does not bind +you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away. + +I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't +forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other +occasion. + +"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove +it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your +power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of +your intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell +you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you +again." + +Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact +I found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic +of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make +some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching +Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire to +meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess +Dian had told me when I first met her. He it was who, armed with +a puny knife, had met and killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand +struggle. It was Jubal who could cast his spear entirely through +the armored carcass of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who +had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of +his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it +was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him; but +the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often the +way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face. + +This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the +way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the +top of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the +edge of my own little valley, where I felt certain we should find +a means of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the +ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against +the chance of something happening to me. I knew that she would be +quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter +of my lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance. + +Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was +sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting +that something terrible might happen to me--that I might, in fact, +be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I +could perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders +of hers, and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid +of trouble so easily as that. + +For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think +that I had twice protected her from attack--the last time risking +my life to save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of +the Stone Age could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her +heart partook of the qualities of her epoch. + +Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and +extended by the action of the water draining through it from the +plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, +but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for +several miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland +sea, curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the +blue of the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the +sea lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond +the distant mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny aspect +of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description. + +At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was +open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this +direction that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey +when Dian touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was +about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken. + +"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest. + +I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect +whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned +accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features. + +"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good +start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," +and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly +One. I had hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me +before she went, for she must have known that I was going to my death +for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it +was with a heavy heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled +grass to my doom. + +When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features +I understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly +One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire +side of his face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, +so that his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through +the horrible scar. + +Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of +his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this +encounter had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. +However this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty +sight, and now that his features, or what remained of them, were +distorted in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was +indeed most terrible to see--and much more terrible to meet. + +He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his +mighty spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took +as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I +must confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my +nerves to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. +What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the +fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I hope to best one who +slaughtered the sadok and dyryth single-handed! I shuddered; but, +in fairness to myself, my fear was more for Dian than for my own +fate. + +And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, +and I raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. +The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the +missile and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the +only remaining weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife. +He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as +he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of +his thigh, inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then +he was upon me. + +My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised +arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's +point in his face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of +it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more +warily. + +It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man maneuvering +to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to +play, while my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at +arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife +blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found his body--once +penetrating to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time, +and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that +brought the red stream through the hideous mouth and nose, covering +his face and breast with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely +spectacle, but he was far from dead. + +As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be +perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of +that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think +that Jubal, from utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling +of respect, and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed +the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master, and was +facing his end. + +At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for +his next act, which was in the nature of a last resort--a sort of +forlorn hope, which could only have been born of the belief that +if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on +the occasion of his fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me +with his knife, he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade +in both his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as +from a babe. + +Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant +glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph +as to almost unnerve me--then he sprang for me with his bare hands. +But it was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the +first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had +he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do +with his bare fists. + +As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his +outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon +his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of +flesh sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed +that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt to +rise, and I stood over him with another dose ready when he should +gain his knees. + +Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; +but he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the point of +the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I +think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come +back for more as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled +him over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the last he +lay longer on the ground between blows, and each time came up weaker +than before. + +He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and +presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily +to the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once +that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I +looked upon that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in +death, I could not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this +slayer of fearful beasts--this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age. + +Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead +body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought +and won a great idea was born in my brain--the outcome of this and +the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If +skill and science could render a comparative pygmy the master of +this mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish +with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at +their feet--and I would be their king and Dian their queen. + +Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within +the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. +She was quite the most superior person I ever had met--with the most +convincing way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, +I could go to the cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and +then she might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her +of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave easily--it +would be terrible had I lost her again, and I turned to gather up +my shield and bow to hurry after her, when to my astonishment I +found her standing not ten paces behind me. + +"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had +gone to the cave, as I told you to do." + +Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty +out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor--if +palaces have janitors. + +"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I +do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I +hate you." + +I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! +I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from +a worse fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, +for she never seemed to notice it at all. + +"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry." + +She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I +was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the +lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly +felt that at least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for +I knew that even by her own standards, I must have done a very +wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand +encounter. + +We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into +the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the +steep ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. +Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing +at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would +cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise +I found that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman +of my acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish +rapture at the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love. + +After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed +our hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to +the cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, +curling up, was soon asleep. + +When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across +the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, +but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. +Every time I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that +I nearly choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not +need any aid in diagnosing my case--I certainly had it and had it +bad. God, how I loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, +prehistoric girl! + +After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to +her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, +and said that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother +to be considered--his oldest brother. + +"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or +has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on +down from generation to generation?" + +She was not quite sure as to what I meant. + +"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for +the death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven terrible men. +Someone may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people." + +It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large +for me--about seven sizes, in fact. + +"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once. + +"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for +himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him--some have +even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az +rather than mate with the Ugly One." + +"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked. + +"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look +of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid +on a little thicker than the circumstance warranted--as though to +make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she +continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until all his +older brothers have done so, unless the older brother waives his +prerogative, which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as +he kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding him to +secure a mate." + +Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain +hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon +what slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered. + +"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of +you since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?" + +"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you +see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get +along very well alone." + +I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even +a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. +Then I arose. + +"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough +of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode +majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps +in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke. + +"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, I thought. + +I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began +to realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, +to hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She +might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity +upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated her; but +the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave +her there alone. + +The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time +I reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that +I turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I +had come down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within +the cave, but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her +face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she +heard me enter she sprang to her feet like a tigress. + +"I hate you!" she cried. + +Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was +rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have +read there. + +I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the +cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put +my arm around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She +fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand and pushed her head +back--I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone +back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable cave man +taking my mate by force--and then I kissed that beautiful mouth +again and again. + +"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else +in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love +like mine cannot be denied?" + +I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes +became accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling--a very +contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, +very gently, she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened +my grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and +stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down to hers once +more and held them there for a long time. At last she spoke. + +"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so +long." + +"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!" + +"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you +before I knew that you loved me?" she asked. + +"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say +what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me +in your arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's +heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?" + +"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked. + +"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment +that I saw you, although I did not know it until that time you +struck down Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me." + +"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your +ways--I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have +reviled me so, and yet have cared for me all the time." + +"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from +you that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were +battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, +and when I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a +simple thing to have eluded you and returned to my own people." + +"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, "how about +them?" + +She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder. + +"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. "I must needs +have SOME excuse for remaining near you." + +"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this +anguish for nothing!" + +"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought +that you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come +to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just come +to me. Just now when you went away hope went with you. I was +wretched, terrified, miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, +and I have not done that before since my mother died," and now I +saw that there was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was +near to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor child +had been through. Motherless and unprotected; hunted across a +savage, primeval world by that hideous brute of a man; exposed to +the attacks of the countless fearsome denizens of its mountains, +its plains, and its jungles--it was a miracle that she had survived +it all. + +To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must +have endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. +It made me very proud to think that I had won the love of such +a woman. Of course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing +cultured or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; +but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, for she was +good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. And she was all these +things in spite of the fact that their observance entailed suffering +and danger and possible death. + +How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the +first place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have +been queen in her own land--and it meant just as much to the cave +woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of +today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way you +look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer +crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory to be +the wife a Dahomey chief. + +I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid +young woman I had known in New York--I mean splendid to look at +and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum +of mine--a clean, manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, +disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky +little European principality that was not even accorded a distinctive +color by Rand McNally. + +Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian. + +After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to +see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told +Dian about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, +and she was fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her +brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and +that then he and Ghak could form an alliance. That would give us +a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very +powerful tribes. Once they had been armed with swords, and bows +and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident that they +could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great +army of federated states with which we were planning to march upon +the Mahars. + +I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry +and I could construct after a little experimentation--gunpowder, +rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and +throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing +I was. She was beginning to think that I was omnipotent although +I really hadn't done anything but talk--but that is the way with +women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was +one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he would +have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag. + +The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous +vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on +the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that +I mustn't exercise, or it might prove fatal--if it had been a +full-grown snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a +single pace from the nest--I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent +is the poison. As it was I must have been laid up for quite a +while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and leaves finally reduced +the swelling and drew out the poison. + +The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea +which added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles +of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, +I sought out some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, +and having killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon +the tips of several arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of +these, and though my arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound +the beast crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit. + +We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with +feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful +Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we +had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been +there I did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to +exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may have been an +hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not know. + + + + +XV + +BACK TO EARTH + + +We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and +finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away +as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction +it stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that +I was within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods +of indicating direction--there is no north, no south, no east, no +west. UP is about the only direction which is well defined, and +that, of course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust. Since the sun +neither rises nor sets there is no method of indicating direction +beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and +seas. + +The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel +Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about +as near to any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you +happen not to have heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or +the Mountains of the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, +and long for the good old understandable northeast and southwest +of the outer world. + +We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous +animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they +that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, +but as they came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, +eighty or a hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top +of very long necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet +from the ground. The beasts moved very slowly--that is their action +was slow--but their strides covered such a great distance that in +reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks. + +As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each +sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never +before had seen one. + +"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria +lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians +alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere +else than beside the dark country are they found." + +"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked. + +"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; +"the Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar +above the Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes +the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar." + +I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do +yet, for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which +the Dead World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of +Pellucidar--a tiny planet within a planet--and that it revolves +around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is +always above the same spot within Pellucidar. + +I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about +this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the +hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of +the equinoxes. + +When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that +one was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his +two hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him +in kind, when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, +and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, +throwing his arms about her. + +In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; +since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was +David, her mate. + +"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to +me. + +It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none +to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to +the land of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this +very lovely Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own +people. + +When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany +us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative +to an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed +annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I. + +After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we +came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between +one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great +cliff. Here to our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. +The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since +given me up as dead. + +When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to +say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I +could not have done better. + +Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at +a council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the +eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, +the various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there +was to be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I +should be the first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar. + +We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and +poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided +the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned +the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from +one tribe to another until representatives from nations so far +distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to +take the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the +art of making the new weapons and using them. + +We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the +federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before +the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when +three of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid +succession. They could not comprehend that the lower orders had +suddenly developed a power which rendered them really formidable. + +In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians +took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had +been members of the guards within the building where we had been +confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with +rage when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars of +the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something very terrible had +befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been most careful to +see that no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction +reached beyond their own race. How long it would take for the race +to become extinct it was impossible even to guess; but that this +must eventually happen seemed inevitable. + +The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one +of us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the +direst punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could +not understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though +their purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great +Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them. + +Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning +of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped--there was +a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were +both assured that the solution of these problems would advance +the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at +a single stroke. Then there were various other arts and sciences +which we wished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of them +did not embrace the mechanical details which alone could render +them of commercial, or practical value. + +"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce +gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the +outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have +all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has +been produced above--what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back +and get that knowledge in the shape of books--then this world will +indeed be at our feet." + +And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, +which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we +had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would +not listen to any arrangement for my going which did not include +her, and I was not sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I +wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my world to see her. + +With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which +Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back +toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. +He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. +At last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our +pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all +times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths +and Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra. + +Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the +first clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of +Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning +of a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first +emperor of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my +right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle. + +As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars +with the Sagoth troops--an indication of the vast importance which +the dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for +it was not customary with them to take active part in the sorties +which their creatures made for slaves--the only form of warfare +which they waged upon the lower orders. + +Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the +prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of +our battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. +Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's +head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and +I let them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave +the word to fire. + +At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the +gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over +the prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon +us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, +and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line +to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the +Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, +who turned the spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped +to close quarters with their lighter, handier weapons. + +Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the +swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into +their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and +were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of +them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian. + +The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our +men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already +so demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued +them for some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a +hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One. + +He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own +land; but that his life had been spared in hope that through him +the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak +and I were inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding +this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought that the book +might be found in Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this +and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, although none +liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently +learn. + +There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful +were our own people of them that they would not approach them +unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece +of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the +evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though +I laughed at her fears I was willing enough to humor them if it +would relieve her apprehension in any degree, and so she sat apart +from the prospector, near which the Mahars had been chained, while +Perry and I again inspected every portion of the mechanism. + +At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of +the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite +close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, +without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in +accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless +there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, +since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short +work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he +had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly +that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse, +aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring +at precisely the right moment. + +All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, +still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion +which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into +camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all +ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had +grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the +outer and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, +and pulled the starting lever. + +As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial +of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us--the +giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing +was off. + +But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by +the sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize +what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just +before entering the crust the towering body had fallen through its +supporting scaffolding, and that instead of entering the ground +vertically we were plunging into it at a different angle. Where it +would bring us out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. +And then I turned to note the effect of this strange experience +upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin. + +"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar +eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion +skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror. + +The thing beneath the skin was not Dian--it was a hideous Mahar. +Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and +the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, +Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering +wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; +but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair. + +It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. +It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from +the outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we +had entered the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and +brought me out here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the +United States as I had hoped. + +For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I +dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to +find it again--the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover +it, and then my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar +would be gone forever. + +That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for +how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate--and how, without a north or south or an east or a west +may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny +spot where my lost love lies grieving for me? + + +That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me +out to see the prospector--it was precisely as he had described it. +So huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible +part of the world by no means of transportation that existed there--it +could only have come in the way that David Innes said it came--up +through the crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar. + +I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned +directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a +great quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar +with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, +chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more +books--books upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted +a library with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth +century in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got +it for him. + +I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to +the end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America +upon important business. However, I was able to employ a very +trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan--the same guide, +in fact, who had accompanied me on the previous trip into the +Sahara--and after writing a long letter to Innes in which I gave +him my American address, I saw the expedition head south. + +Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred +miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had +it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea +that he could fasten one end here before he left and by paying it +out through the end of the prospector lay a telegraph line between +the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to +mark the terminus of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in +case I was not able to reach him before he set out, so that I might +easily find and communicate with him should he be so fortunate as +to reach Pellucidar. + +I received several letters from him after I returned to America--in +fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop +me word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before +he intended to depart. Here it is. + + My Dear Friend: + + Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is + if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I + don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my + life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they + intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should + anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to + depart. + + However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour + approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear. + + Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, + so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me. + + The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the + south--he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he + doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again. + + Yours, + + David Innes. + +A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed +for the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was +when I discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks +of my return, nor could I find any member of my former party who +could lead me to the same spot. + +For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had +heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes +scanned the blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath +which I was to find the wires leading to Pellucidar--but always +was I unsuccessful. + +And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David +Innes and his strange adventures. + +Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? +Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner +world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart +of the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it +to break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, +or among some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's +desire? + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, +at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder. + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs + diff --git a/old/atcor11.zip b/old/atcor11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a133bb0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11.zip diff --git a/old/atcor11h.htm b/old/atcor11h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..62e2eff --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5812 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs +(#1 in the At the Earth's Core series) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* +</pre> + + + + + +<p class="center">Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>At the Earth's Core</h1> + +<h2>By Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<h2><br /><br /><br />CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>PROLOGUE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#I">I</a></td><td align='left'>TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#II">II</a></td><td align='left'>A STRANGE WORLD</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#III">III</a></td><td align='left'>A CHANGE OF MASTERS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#IV">IV</a></td><td align='left'>DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#V">V</a></td><td align='left'>SLAVES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VI">VI</a></td><td align='left'>THE BEGINNING OF HORROR</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VII">VII</a></td><td align='left'>FREEDOM</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VIII">VIII</a></td><td align='left'>THE MAHAR TEMPLE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#IX">IX</a></td><td align='left'>THE FACE OF DEATH</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#X">X</a></td><td align='left'>PHUTRA AGAIN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XI">XI</a></td><td align='left'>FOUR DEAD MAHARS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XII">XII</a></td><td align='left'>PURSUIT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XIII">XIII</a></td><td align='left'>THE SLY ONE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XIV">XIV</a></td><td align='left'>THE GARDEN OF EDEN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XV">XV</a></td><td align='left'>BACK TO EARTH</td></tr></table> + + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PROLOGUE" id="PROLOGUE" />PROLOGUE</h2> + + +<p>In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to +believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent +experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous +ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London.</p> + +<p>You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less +a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the +Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King.</p> + +<p>The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half +through!—it is all that saved him from exploding—and my dreams +of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of +Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere.</p> + +<p>But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned +Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it +from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I +did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring +of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it +all—you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final +ocular proof that I had—the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature +which he had brought back with him from the inner world.</p> + +<p>I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the +rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin +tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by +was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents.</p> + +<p>I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted +of a dozen children of the desert—I was the only "white" man. As +we approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from +his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight +of me he advanced rapidly to meet us.</p> + +<p>"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have +been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that <b>this</b> time +there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?"</p> + +<p>And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck +full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup +leather for support.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me +that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking."</p> + +<p>"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should +I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the +date?"</p> + +<p>For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head.</p> + +<p>"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that +at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told +me his story—the story that I give you here as nearly in his own +words as I can recall them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I" />I</h2> + +<h3>TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES</h3> + + +<p>I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David +Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen +he died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my +majority—provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in +close application to the great business I was to inherit.</p> + +<p>I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent—not because +of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For +six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I +wished to know every minute detail of the business.</p> + +<p>Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow +who had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection +of a mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied +paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, +inspected his working model—and then, convinced, I advanced the +funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector.</p> + +<p>I shall not go into the details of its construction—it lies out +there in the desert now—about two miles from here. Tomorrow you +may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder +a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist +through solid rock if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving +drill operated by an engine which Perry said generated more power +to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. I +remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would +make us fabulously wealthy—we were going to make the whole thing +public after the successful issue of our first secret trial—but +Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten +years.</p> + +<p>I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous +occasion upon which we were to test the practicality of that +wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we repaired to the +lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron mole" as he +was wont to call the thing. The great nose rested upon the bare +earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the outer +jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which +contained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched +on the electric lights.</p> + +<p>Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air +to replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments +for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the +materials through which we were to pass.</p> + +<p>He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which +transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose +of his strange craft.</p> + +<p>Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon +transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were +ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running +horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically +toward the surface again.</p> + +<p>At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For +a moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the +starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us—the +giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We were off!</p> + +<p>The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging +seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible—quick! What does the +distance meter read?"</p> + +<p>That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I +turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering.</p> + +<p>"Ten degrees rise—it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug +frantically upon the steering wheel.</p> + +<p>As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I +spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred +feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the +horizontal."</p> + +<p>"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot +budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined +strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost."</p> + +<p>I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that +the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young +and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always +had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for +that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, +since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for +and develop my body and my muscles by every means within my power. +What with boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training +since childhood.</p> + +<p>And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the +huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into +it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been—the +thing would not budge—the grim, insensate, horrible thing that +was holding us upon the straight road to death!</p> + +<p>At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word +returned to my seat. There was no need for words—at least none +that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was +quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity neglected +where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in +the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished +eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. In +between he often found excuses to pray even when the provocation +seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes—now that he was about to die +I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy of prayer—if +one may allude with such a simile to so solemn an act.</p> + +<p>But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in +the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his +lips there flowed—not prayer—but a clear and limpid stream of +undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn +piece of unyielding mechanism.</p> + +<p>"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death."</p> + +<p>"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing +by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David +within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that +science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and +with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand +men. That two lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world +calamity that entombs in the bowels of the earth the discoveries +that I have made and proved in the successful construction of the +thing that is now carrying us farther and farther toward the eternal +central fires."</p> + +<p>I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with +our own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the +world might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant +of its bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality.</p> + +<p>"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask +of a low and level voice.</p> + +<p>"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks +are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight +hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from +the vertical to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must +eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing +before we reach the higher internal temperature we may even yet +survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance in several +million that we shall succeed—otherwise we shall die more quickly +but no more surely than as though we sat supinely waiting for the +torture of a slow and horrible death."</p> + +<p>I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While +we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile +into the rock of the earth's crust.</p> + +<p>"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at +this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would +be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?"</p> + +<p>"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I +had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. +I reasoned, however, that we should make about five hundred yards +an hour."</p> + +<p>"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, +as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the +Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there +are geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, +because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one +degree to each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to +fuse the most refractory substances at that distance beneath the +surface. Another finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation +require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have +a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. +So there you are. You may take your choice."</p> + +<p>"And if it should prove solid?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. +"At the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four +days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, +then, is sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand +miles of rock to the antipodes."</p> + +<p>"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final +stop between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; +but during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall +be corpses. Am I correct?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe +that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel +that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that +the shock has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities."</p> + +<p>Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less +rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated +to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled.</p> + +<p>"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and +then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing +the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best +efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's +masterful and scientific imprecations.</p> + +<p>Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have +essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped +the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength +into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth—but +the results were as barren as when we had been traveling at top +speed.</p> + +<p>I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward +toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my +eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury +was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost +unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison.</p> + +<p>About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate +journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which +point the mercury registered 153 degrees F.</p> + +<p>Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food +he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he +had turned to singing—I felt that the strain had at last affected +his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked +me for the readings of the instruments from time to time, and +I announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I +recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should have been +glad to have had a few more years to live down. There was the +affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put +gunpowder in the stove—and nearly killed one of the masters. And +then—but what was the use, I was about to die and atone for all +these things and several more. Already the heat was sufficient +to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and +I felt that I should lose consciousness.</p> + +<p>"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my +somber reflections.</p> + +<p>"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked +hat!" he cried gleefully.</p> + +<p>"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back.</p> + +<p>"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean +anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of +it, son!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will +it make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature +is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one +will know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some +unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning +hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. +The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of +several very exact and learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent +that we could not know what lay before us within the bowels of +the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the best, at least +until we were dead—when hope would no longer be essential to +our happiness. It was very good, and logical reasoning, and so I +embraced it.</p> + +<p>At one hundred miles the temperature had <b>dropped to 152 1/2 degrees</b>! +When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me.</p> + +<p>From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop +until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot +before. At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils +were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the +temperature had dropped to <b>ten below zero</b>! We suffered nearly two +hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about two hundred +and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we entered a +stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. +During the next three hours we passed through ten miles of ice, +eventually emerging into another series of ammonia-impregnated +strata, where the mercury again fell to ten degrees below zero.</p> + +<p>Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we +were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred +miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched +the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and +was at last praying.</p> + +<p>Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually +increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater +than it really was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column +of mercury rise and rise until at four hundred and ten miles it +stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon those +readings in almost breathless anxiety.</p> + +<p>One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature +above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would +it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, +and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope +against practical certainty.</p> + +<p>Already the air tanks were at low ebb—there was barely enough of +the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But +would we be alive to know or care? It seemed incredible.</p> + +<p>At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading.</p> + +<p>"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going +down! She's 152 degrees again."</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the +center?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die +it shall not be by fire—that is all that I have feared. I can +face the thought of any death but that."</p> + +<p>Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven +miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the +realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the +first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate +the air supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in +breathing. My head felt dizzy—my limbs heavy.</p> + +<p>I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat +erect again. Then he turned toward me.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then +he smiled and closed his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back +at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young—I +did not want to die.</p> + +<p>For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that +surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing +high into the framework above me I could find more of the precious +life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must +have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came +to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal +struggle against the inevitable.</p> + +<p>With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically +toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles +from the earth's surface—and then of a sudden the huge thing that +bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the +hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened +that it was running loose in <b>air</b>—and then another truth flashed +upon me. The point of the prospector was <b>above</b> us. Slowly it +dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been +above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's +crust. Thank God! We were safe!</p> + +<p>I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have +been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, +and my fondest hopes were realized—a flood of fresh air was pouring +into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, +and I lost consciousness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II" />II</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE WORLD</h3> + + +<p>I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged +forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell +with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to +myself.</p> + +<p>My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought +that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing +open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried +with relief—his heart was beating quite regularly.</p> + +<p>At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly +across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was +rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed +and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly +foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of +wonderment upon his face.</p> + +<p>"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. +Why—why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has +happened?"</p> + +<p>"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too +busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!"</p> + +<p>"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How +long have I been unconscious?"</p> + +<p>"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the +sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you +instead of below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall +it now."</p> + +<p>"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? +That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose +is deflected from the outside—by some external force or resistance—the +steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering +wheel has not budged, David, since we started. You know that."</p> + +<p>I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, +and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well +as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we +are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going +out to see just where."</p> + +<p>"Better wait till morning, David—it must be midnight now."</p> + +<p>I glanced at the chronometer.</p> + +<p>"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it +must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the +blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," +and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it +open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, +and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door +in the outer shell.</p> + +<p>In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the +floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly +behind me as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface +of the ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked +at Perry—it was broad day-light without!</p> + +<p>"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations +or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head—there was a +strange expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.</p> + +<p>Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a +landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level +shore stretched down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach +the surface of the water was dotted with countless tiny isles—some +of towering, barren, granitic rock—others resplendent in gorgeous +trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent +splendor of vivid blooms.</p> + +<p>Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent +ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical +forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, +dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and +branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid +coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but +within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave.</p> + +<p>And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a +cloudless sky.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry.</p> + +<p>For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed +head, buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke.</p> + +<p>"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are <b>on</b> earth."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, +and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose +of the prospector protruding from the ground at our backs.</p> + +<p>"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to +the country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory +untenable—it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However +I am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world +from that which we have always known. If we are not <b>on</b> earth, +there is every reason to believe that we may be <b>in</b> it."</p> + +<p>"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon +some tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry +shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime +suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast—we may find +a native who can enlighten us."</p> + +<p>As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across +the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem.</p> + +<p>"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about +the horizon?"</p> + +<p>As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of +the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive +suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural—<b>there was no horizon</b>! +As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its +bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere +specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until the impression became +quite real that one was <b>looking up</b> at the most distant point that +the eyes could fathom—the distance was lost in the distance. That +was all—there was no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of +the globe below the line of vision.</p> + +<p>"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, +taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the +riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector +the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"</p> + +<p>I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center +of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. +Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, +and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction +that one might almost reach up and touch it.</p> + +<p>"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning +to get on my nerves."</p> + +<p>"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, +"that we are—" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity +of the prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring +roar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned +to discover the author of that fearsome noise.</p> + +<p>Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight +that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging +from the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a +bear. It was fully as large as the largest elephant and with great +forepaws armed with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly +a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary +trunk. The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.</p> + +<p>Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. +I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other +surroundings—the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, +for he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his +prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what +latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.</p> + +<p>I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which +ran out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, +and as the mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him +into such remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I +set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It +was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for +speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees +sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of +some great branch before it came up.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches +of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance +of some fifteen feet—at least on those trees which Perry attempted +to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of +the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen +times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back +to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified +glance over his shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously +emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim +forest.</p> + +<p>At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's +wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand +over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree +from which the creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his +weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.</p> + +<p>The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already +too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged +him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree—one that he could +easily encircle with his arms and legs—I boosted him as far up +as I could, and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my +shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me.</p> + +<p>It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its +enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the +agility of my young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of +its way and run completely behind it before its slow wits could +direct it in pursuit.</p> + +<p>The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged +in the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had +at last found a haven.</p> + +<p>Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, +and so did Perry. He was praying—raising his voice in thanksgiving +at our deliverance—and had just completed a sort of paeon of +gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning +it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and +reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which +he crouched.</p> + +<p>The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of +fright, and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws +beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the +dangerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him +gain a higher branch in safety.</p> + +<p>And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. +Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down +with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible +force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began +to bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as +the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung +chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending +and swaying tree he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree +top inclining toward the ground.</p> + +<p>I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. +The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which +nature had intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, +and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of +their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might easily be +accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as +that which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. +But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too frantic +with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught other than +a means to save him from the death that loomed so close.</p> + +<p>Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, +I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the +thing's attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to +gain the safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which +not even the terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend.</p> + +<p>As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled +mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping +unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. +My plan worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast +I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now +displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all +fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a +force that would have broken every bone in my body had it struck +me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the very instant that +I felt my blow land upon the towering back.</p> + +<p>As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along +the edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a +moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing +behind me was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts +to extricate myself.</p> + +<p>A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it +I leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able +to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But +the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy +handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me.</p> + +<p>Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing +barks—much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full +cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of +this new and menacing note with the result that I missed my footing +and went sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck.</p> + +<p>My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel +the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to +my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping +and barking of the new element which had been infused into the +melee now seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised +myself upon my hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had +distracted the <i>Dyryth</i>, as I afterward learned the thing is called, +from my trail.</p> + +<p>It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures—wild +dogs they seemed—that rushed growling and snapping in upon it +from all sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow +brute and were away again before it could reach them with its huge +paws or sweeping tail.</p> + +<p>But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering +and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company +of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were +to all appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of +Africa. Their skins were very black, and their features much like +those of the more pronounced Negroid type except that the head +receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. +Their arms were rather longer and their legs shorter in proportion +to the torso than in man, and later I noticed that their great +toes protruded at right angles from their feet—because of their +arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them trailed long, slender +tails which they used in climbing quite as much as they did either +their hands or feet.</p> + +<p>I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the +wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several +of the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come +slinking with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward +the trees again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw +a number of the man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of +the nearest tree.</p> + +<p>Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, +but at least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque +parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was none as to +the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce +pursuers.</p> + +<p>And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that +which held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; +but the wolf-dogs were very close behind me—so close that I had +despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree +above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, +and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his +fellows.</p> + +<p>There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They +turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered +that I was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their +teeth were very large and white and even, except for the upper +canines which were a trifle longer than the others—protruding just +a bit when the mouth was closed.</p> + +<p>When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered +that my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment +by garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. +Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their +ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse +of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of +trees in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was +much exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though +I called his name aloud several times there was no response.</p> + +<p>Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to +the ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started +off at a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I +experienced such a journey before or since—even now I oftentimes +awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that +awful experience.</p> + +<p>From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, +while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the +depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either +of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was +occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of +Perry? Would I ever see him again? What were the intentions of +these half-human things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they +inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? No! It +could not be. But yet where else? I had not left that earth—of +that I was sure. Still neither could I reconcile the things which +I had seen to a belief that I was still in the world of my birth. +With a sigh I gave it up.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III" />III</h2> + +<h3>A CHANGE OF MASTERS</h3> + + +<p>We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal +wood when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among +the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke +into wild shouting which was immediately answered from within, and +a moment later a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as +those who had captured me poured out to meet us. Again I was the +center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way and +that. Pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was black and blue, +yet I do not think that their treatment was dictated by either +cruelty or malice—I was a curiosity, a freak, a new plaything, +and their childish minds required the added evidence of all their +senses to back up the testimony of their eyes.</p> + +<p>Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon +the branches of the trees.</p> + +<p>Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead +branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts +upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network +of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty +feet above the ground.</p> + +<p>I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized +the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same +vicious wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many +goatlike animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for +their presence.</p> + +<p>My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; +then two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance—to +prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped +to I certainly had not the remotest conception. I had no more than +entered the dark shadows of the interior than there fell upon my +ears the tones of a familiar voice, in prayer.</p> + +<p>"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe."</p> + +<p>"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man +stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.</p> + +<p>He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized +by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops +to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his +strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked +at each other we could not help but laugh.</p> + +<p>"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome +ape."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite +the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing +with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you +suppose they can be? You were about to tell me where we are when +that great hairy frigate bore down upon us—have you really any +idea at all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have +made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the +earth is hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the +inner world."</p> + +<p>"Perry, you are mad!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector +bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point +it reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick +crust. Up to that point we had been descending—direction is, +of course, merely relative. Then at the moment that our seats +revolved—the thing that made you believe that we had turned about +and were speeding upward—we passed the center of gravity and, +though we did not alter the direction of our progress, yet we were +in reality moving upward—toward the surface of the inner world. +Does not the strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you +that you are not in the world of your birth? And the horizon—could +it present the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were +indeed standing upon the inside surface of a sphere?"</p> + +<p>"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine +through five hundred miles of solid crust?"</p> + +<p>"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It +is another sun—an entirely different sun—that casts its eternal +noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it +now, David—if you can see it from the doorway of this hut—and +you will see that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. +We have been here for many hours—yet it is still noon.</p> + +<p>"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous +mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin +crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface—a sort of +shell; but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded +gases. As it continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal +force burled the particles of the nebulous center toward the crust +as rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen the +same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator. +Presently there was only a small super-heated core of gaseous matter +remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the contraction of +the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the solid crust from +all directions maintained this luminous core in the exact center of +the hollow globe. What remains of it is the sun you saw today—a +relatively tiny thing at the exact center of the earth. Equally +to every part of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday +light and torrid heat.</p> + +<p>"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal +life long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that +the same agencies were at work here is evident from the similar +forms of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already +seen. Take the great beast which attacked us, for example. +Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene +period of the outer crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found +in South America."</p> + +<p>"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely +they have no counterpart in the earth's history."</p> + +<p>"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape +and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless +convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely +the result of evolution along slightly different lines—either is +quite possible."</p> + +<p>Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several +of our captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered +and dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding +trees were filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their +young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among +the lot.</p> + +<p>"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry.</p> + +<p>"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. +"Now what do you suppose they intend doing with us?"</p> + +<p>We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to +the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures +and whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our +wake raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black +ape-things.</p> + +<p>Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating +as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. +But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and +found sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen +their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were +of no greater moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's +toe at a street crossing in the outer world—they but laughed +uproariously and sped on with me.</p> + +<p>For some time they continued through the forest—how long I could +not guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully +to my mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for +measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were +living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute +the period of time which had elapsed since we broke through the crust +of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be days—who +in the world could tell where it was always noon! By the sun, no +time had elapsed—but my judgment told me that we must have been +several hours in this strange world.</p> + +<p>Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. +A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward +these our captors urged us, and after a short time led us through +a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down +to work, and we were soon convinced that if we were not to die to +make a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other purpose. The +attitude of our captors altered immediately as they entered the +natural arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim +ferocity marked their bestial faces—bared fangs menaced us.</p> + +<p>We were placed in the center of the amphitheater—the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought—hyaenadon Perry called it—and turned loose with us inside +the circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown +mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad +and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while +its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us it +presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled lips baring +its mighty fangs.</p> + +<p>Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. +The ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with +savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged +us.</p> + +<p>At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. +My speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I +made such a record during my senior year at college that overtures +were made to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; +but in the tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past +I had never been in such need for control as now.</p> + +<p>As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under +absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward +me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my +weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone +caught the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him +bowling over upon his back.</p> + +<p>At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from +the circle of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the +upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw +that I was mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all +directions toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished +the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming +through the pass which leads into the valley, came a swarm of +hairy men—gorilla-like creatures armed with spears and hatchets, +and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the +ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained +its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept +the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its +former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to +have authority among them directed that we be brought with them.</p> + +<p>When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we +saw a caravan of men and women—human beings like ourselves—and +for the first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could +have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that +they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at +least were fashioned along the same lines as ourselves—there was +nothing grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures +in this strange, weird world.</p> + +<p>But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered +that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, +and that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony +Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, and without further +ado the interrupted march was resumed.</p> + +<p>Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain +brought on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On +and on we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell +we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did +not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they +would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. +They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect +physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the +women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses of +raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features +of both sexes were well proportioned—there was not a face among +them that would have been called even plain if judged by earthly +standards. They wore no ornaments; but this I later learned was +due to the fact that their captors had stripped them of everything +of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single robe of +some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to +a leopard's skin. This they wore either supported entirely about +the waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the +knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. +Their feet were shod with skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of +the hide of some shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before +and behind nearly to the ground. In some instances these ends were +finished with the strong talons of the beast from which the hides +had been taken.</p> + +<p>Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, +were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were +indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned +more in conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies +were covered with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as +brutal as those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which +I had seen in the museums at home.</p> + +<p>Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head +above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one +whit less human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of +light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore +only a loin cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod +with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world.</p> + +<p>Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal—silver +predominating—and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny +reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among +themselves as they marched along on either side of us, but in a +language which I perceived differed from that employed by our fellow +prisoners. When they addressed the latter they used what appeared +to be a third language, and which I later learned is a mongrel +tongue rather analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.</p> + +<p>How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us +were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called—then +we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one +measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced +the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed +toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time +elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and +eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the inner world, +or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second—I +cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have told me that +ten years have elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost +all respect for time—I am commencing to doubt that such a thing +exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV" />IV</h2> + +<h3>DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL</h3> + + +<p>When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They +gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and +strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, +and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; +but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call +a cab to travel a square—he was paying for it now, and his old +legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him +through the balance of those frightful marches.</p> + +<p>The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the +level plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical +verdure of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but +even here the effects of constant heat and light were apparent in +the immensity of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. +Crystal streams roared through their rocky channels, fed by the +perpetual snows which we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped +heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, +which evidently served the double purpose of replenishing the +melting snows and protecting them from the direct rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language +in which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway +in the rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead +of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain +linked us together in a forced companionship which I, at least, +soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, and from +her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the life and +customs of the inner world—at least that part of it with which +she was familiar.</p> + +<p>She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above +the Darel Az, or shallow sea.</p> + +<p>"How came you here?" I asked her.</p> + +<p>"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as +though that was explanation quite sufficient.</p> + +<p>"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away +from him?"</p> + +<p>She looked at me in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why <b>does</b> a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question +with another.</p> + +<p>"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run +after them."</p> + +<p>But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the +fact that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that +creation was originated solely to produce her own kind and the +world she lived in as are many of the outer world.</p> + +<p>"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away +to be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world."</p> + +<p>"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It +was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater +trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One +would come and take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished +me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me +from Jubal. My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a +sadok tossed him, and never again had he the full use of his right +arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had gone to the land of +Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none, father, +brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran +away and hid among the hills that skirt the land of Amoz. And +there these Sagoths found me and made me captive."</p> + +<p>"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?"</p> + +<p>Again she looked her incredulity.</p> + +<p>"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, +"for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really +mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of +the Mahars—the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all +that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, +or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next +you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!"</p> + +<p>I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was +no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean +breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was +shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten me, though much +that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She described +the Mahars largely by comparisons. In this way they were like unto +thipdars, in that to the hairless lidi.</p> + +<p>About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; +could swim under water for great distances, and were very, very +wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and +the races like herself were their hands and feet—they were the +slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were +the heads—the brains—of the inner world. I longed to see this +wondrous race of supermen.</p> + +<p>Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we +occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he +would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who +was chained just ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was +Hooja the Sly One. He too entered the conversation occasionally. +Most of his remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It +didn't take half an eye to see that he had developed a bad case; but +the girl appeared totally oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. +Did I say thinly veiled? There is a race of men in New Zealand, +or Australia, I have forgotten which, who indicate their preference +for the lady of their affections by banging her over the head with +a bludgeon. By comparison with this method Hooja's lovemaking might +be called thinly veiled. At first it caused me to blush violently +although I have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other +less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg.</p> + +<p>But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and +with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't +even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him +furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up +ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with +his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for his own +property—that he would buy her from the Mahars as soon as they +reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our destination.</p> + +<p>After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt +sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like +creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet +above their enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with +gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There were huge +tortoises too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which +Perry said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his +veracity—they might have been most anything.</p> + +<p>Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that +the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from +the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths—Perry +called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of +an alligator.</p> + +<p>I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school—about +all that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations +of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined +belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination +could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, +and take rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these +sleek, shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged +from the ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters +roll from their sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided +hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I +saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic +and interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak +imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius.</p> + +<p>And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself.</p> + +<p>"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside +that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought +that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe +it—that it is impossible for man to believe such things as these +unless he sees them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, +perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, and have no +way of disproving them—like religions, for example; but we don't +believe them, we only think we do. If you ever get back to the +outer world you will find that the geologists and paleontologists +will be the first to set you down a liar, for they know that no +such creatures as they restore ever existed. It is all right to +<b>imagine</b> them as existing in an equally imaginary epoch—but now? +poof!"</p> + +<p>At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack +chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We +were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her +back upon him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could +scarce repress a smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the +instant the Sly One's hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking +her roughly toward him.</p> + +<p>I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics +which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the +appealing look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes +to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was +I paused not to inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of +her with his other hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw +that felled him in his tracks.</p> + +<p>A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and +the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later +learned, because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, +to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja.</p> + +<p>And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering +eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a +delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in +silence, and then her head went high, and she turned her back upon +me as she had upon Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I +saw the face of Ghak the Hairy One go very black as he looked at +me searchingly. And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly +from red to white.</p> + +<p>Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that +in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail +upon her to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred—in +fact I might quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all +the attention I got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and +prevented my making any further attempts, and thus a companionship +that without my realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was +cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja +did not renew his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture +near me.</p> + +<p>Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a +perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became +the realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, +the more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier +of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for +the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might have +made everything all right again.</p> + +<p>On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice +me—when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over +my head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and +determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me +how I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my +mind that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching +another range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, +instead of winding across them through some high-flung pass we +entered a mighty natural tunnel—a series of labyrinthine grottoes, +dark as Erebus.</p> + +<p>The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we +had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered +Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light +above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting +their way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept +along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling—the +guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with +certain high notes which I found always indicated rough places and +turns.</p> + +<p>Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian +until I could see from the expression of her face how she was +receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us +of the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. +Then at a sudden turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday +sun.</p> + +<p>But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a +real catastrophe—Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other +prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage +was terrible to behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted +in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of +responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating +us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed +two near the head of the line, and were like to have finished the +balance of us when their leader finally put a stop to the brutal +slaughter. Never in all my life had I witnessed a more horrible +exhibition of bestial rage—I thanked God that Dian had not been +one of those left to endure it.</p> + +<p>Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each +alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. +Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? +The commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered +that the rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been +deftly picked.</p> + +<p>"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. +"He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, +glancing at me.</p> + +<p>"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>He looked at me closely for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he +said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance +of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that +you do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Ghak," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes +between another man and the woman the other man would have, the +woman belongs to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. +You should have claimed her or released her. Had you taken her +hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your mate, +and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, +it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that +you released her from all obligation to you. By doing neither you +have put upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a +woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or +may take her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat, +and men do not choose slave women as their mates—at least not the +men of Pellucidar."</p> + +<p>"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, +or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her +as my—" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent +face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and +where I had on the second believed that I clung only to the memory +of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would +have been disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian +the Beautiful as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a +welcome friend in a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think +that I loved her.</p> + +<p>I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than +in my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, +but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. +Your heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront +to Dian the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is +my sister. She does not know it—her mother was stolen by Dian's +father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle +with us for our women—the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. +Then was her father king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of +the king of Sari—to whose power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian +is the daughter of kings, though her father is no longer king since +the sadok tossed him and Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship +from him. Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly +magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. She will never forgive +you."</p> + +<p>I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the +girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon +her.</p> + +<p>"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand +above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient +to release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed +to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?"</p> + +<p>"Is there no escape?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied +Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, +and once there it is not so easy—the Mahars are very wise. Even +if one escaped from Phutra there are the thipdars—they would find +you, and then—" the Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never +escape the Mahars."</p> + +<p>It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about +it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded +prayer he had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the +only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave +him for the improvisation of prayers—it was becoming an obsession +with him. The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of +declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked him what +he was saying—to whom he was talking. The question gave me an +idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything.</p> + +<p>"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world +from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot +see—do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon +you and rend you limb from limb—like that," and I jumped toward +the great brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward.</p> + +<p>I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital +out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making +was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with +marked respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed +the word along to their masters, the Mahars.</p> + +<p>Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The +entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which +guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths +were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other towers +scattered about over a large plain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V" />V</h2> + +<h3>SLAVES</h3> + + +<p>As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of +Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner +world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached +to inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to +imagine. The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, +some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great +round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white +fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated +into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails. +Their feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore +feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just in +front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees toward +the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies.</p> + +<p>I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old +man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. +When it passed on, he turned to me.</p> + +<p>"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, +gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have +never indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary +crow."</p> + +<p>As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many +thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. +They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground +with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It +is hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and +of a uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the +roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors +transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would +otherwise be Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced.</p> + +<p>Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, +where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a +Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The +method of communication between these two was remarkable in that +no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species of sign +language. As I was to learn later, the Mahars have no ears, not +any spoken language. Among themselves they communicate by means +of what Perry says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a +fourth dimension.</p> + +<p>I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it +to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said +no, that it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when +in each others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or +the other inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used +to converse with one another.</p> + +<p>"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the +fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense +of their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?"</p> + +<p>"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, +and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great +accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, +and there arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we +were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced +to discover the key to their written language, he assured me that +we were handling the ancient archives of the race.</p> + +<p>During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, +and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened +to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if +the little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who +had returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but +that I should have been more contented to know that Dian was here +in Phutra, than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. +Ghak, Perry, and I often talked together of possible escape, but +the Sarian was so steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could +escape from the Mahars except by a miracle, that he was not much +aid to us—his attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to +come to him.</p> + +<p>At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of +iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we +slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action +within the limits of the building to which we had been assigned. +So great were the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants +of Phutra that none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, +nor were our masters unkind to us.</p> + +<p>We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and +then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows—weapons +apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these +I found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom +of the building.</p> + +<p>We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving +Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped +prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian +and two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was +confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not +seen Dian or the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. +What had become of them he had not the faintest conception—they +might be wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if +not dead from starvation.</p> + +<p>I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at +this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection +for the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During +my waking hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and +when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was +I determined to escape the Mahars.</p> + +<p>"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every +inch of this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful +and right the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse +I made for Perry's benefit.</p> + +<p>"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are +talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar +which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was +arranging.</p> + +<p>"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and +all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two +areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. +These relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of +the continents of the outer world.</p> + +<p>"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; +then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the +superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this +is land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! +Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the +balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as we often +compare nations by their relative land areas, so if we compare +these two worlds in the same way we have the strange anomaly of a +larger world within a smaller one!</p> + +<p>"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? +Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even +though you knew where she might be found?"</p> + +<p>The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but +I found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it.</p> + +<p>"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested.</p> + +<p>Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him.</p> + +<p>"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. +Will you accompany us?"</p> + +<p>"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall +be killed; but—" he hesitated—"I would take the chance if I +thought that I might possibly escape and return to my own people."</p> + +<p>"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And +could you aid David in his search for Dian?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country +without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?"</p> + +<p>Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, +but he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar +and carry him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would +be able to come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. +He seemed surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in +it. Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is +possessed by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of +course, but it gave me an idea.</p> + +<p>"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed +her."</p> + +<p>I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and +Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would +insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident +could befall a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where +the inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that +some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, +crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up +in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for +three years he will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's +snooze. That may be all true, but I never saw but three of them +asleep, and it was the sight of these three that gave me a suggestion +for our means of escape.</p> + +<p>I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were +supposed to frequent—possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor +of the building—among a network of corridors and apartments, when +I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At +first I thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing +convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of +the marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means +of eluding the watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards.</p> + +<p>Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to +me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my +surprise he was horrified.</p> + +<p>"It would be murder, David," he cried.</p> + +<p>"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are +the dominant race—we are the 'monsters'—the lower orders. In +Pellucidar evolution has progressed along different lines than +upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time +and time again wiped out the existing species—but for this fact +some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own +world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own history +had conditions been what they have been here.</p> + +<p>"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. +Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of +our own world's history, but for countless millions of years these +reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense +which I am sure they possess that has given them an advantage over +the other and more frightfully armed of their fellows; but this +we may never know. They look upon us as we look upon the beasts +of our fields, and I learn from their written records that other +races of Mahars feed upon men—they keep them in great droves, as +we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, and when they are +quite fat, they kill and eat them."</p> + +<p>I shuddered.</p> + +<p>"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They +understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our +own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions +of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means +of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason—that +our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race +of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among +themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it +is beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that +we reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know +that the Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend +it, or how it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. +They believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. +That the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to +them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out +your plan."</p> + +<p>"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer."</p> + +<p>He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some +reason which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very +careful description of the apartments and corridors I had just +explored.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to +carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something +of very real and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar +at the same time. Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising +nature from these archives of the Mahars. That you may not appreciate +my plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race.</p> + +<p>"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little +by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change +took place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under +the intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took +vast strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we +know as biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist +announced the fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs +might be fertilized by chemical means after they were laid—all +true reptiles, you know, are hatched from eggs.</p> + +<p>"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist—the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed +until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively +of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical +formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of +Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description +of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden +in the cellar of this building.</p> + +<p>"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and second, +owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first so +many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population +became very grave.</p> + +<p>"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this +great secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race +within Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. +Why, we two would be the means of placing the men of the inner world +in their rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths +would then stand between them and absolute supremacy, and I was +not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all their power to the +greater intelligence of the Mahars—I could not believe that these +gorilla-like beasts were the mental superiors of the human race of +Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance +into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may +carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's +marvelous—absolutely marvelous just to think about it."</p> + +<p>"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just +that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to +lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their +hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them +to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make +a race of men that will be an honor to us both."</p> + +<p>Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our +conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited +about. Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I +only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined +it to him, he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but +for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible +fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed +upon him to accept my plan as the only feasible one, and when I had +assured him that I would take all the responsibility for it were +we captured, he accorded a reluctant assent.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI" />VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNING OF HORROR</h3> + + +<p>Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no +nights to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad +day-light—all but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the +building. So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test +lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before I reached +them; but we were doomed to disappointment, for no sooner had +we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the pits +beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hastened +under strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond.</p> + +<p>Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other +slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and +hustled into the line of marching humans.</p> + +<p>What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, +but presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two +escaped slaves had been recaptured—a man and a woman—and that we +were marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed +a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them.</p> + +<p>At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure +that the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with +Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought +so too, as did Perry.</p> + +<p>"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak.</p> + +<p>"Naught," he replied.</p> + +<p>Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual +cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the +murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson +to all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, +and the fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, +and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the +entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible.</p> + +<p>They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets +at the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a +most uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally +herded through a low entrance into a huge building the center of +which was given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this +open space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge +bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the roof.</p> + +<p>At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of +rock, unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background +for the scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but +presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by +slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for +then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure.</p> + +<p>They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the +opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose +above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders +above. These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect.</p> + +<p>Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is +to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking +their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in +their sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language.</p> + +<p>For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the +others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in +fact all Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena +after the balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, +she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever +had seen, and on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while +behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.</p> + +<p>At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her +wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled +down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of +that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant +race. Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; +though doubtless quite as well assured of her beauty and divine +right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer world.</p> + +<p>And then the music started—music without sound! The Mahars cannot +hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown +among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It +filed out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the +rocks might see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty +minutes.</p> + +<p>Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their +heads in a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a +cadence which evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence +of our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band +took measured steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward +and again forward—it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, +but at the end of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed +the first indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by +the dominant race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up +and down, and smote their rocky perches with their mighty tails +until the ground shook. Then the band started another piece, and +all was again as silent as the grave. That was one great beauty +about Mahar music—if you didn't happen to like a piece that was +being played all you had to do was shut your eyes.</p> + +<p>When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled +upon the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of +the day was on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a +couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize +the female—hoping against hope that she might prove to be another +than Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and +the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head +filled me with alarm.</p> + +<p>Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit +a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature.</p> + +<p>"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer +crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We +have been carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of +a planet—is it not wondrous?"</p> + +<p>But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart +stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes +for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should +have leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay +in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age.</p> + +<p>With the advent of the Bos—they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar—two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of +the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been +as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.</p> + +<p>As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground +with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly +beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar +that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first +see the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, but +the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims around with +a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face—she was not Dian! +I could have wept for relief.</p> + +<p>And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of +that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge +tiger—such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval +when the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike +the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions +were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings +exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites +were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite +coal, and its coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it +is a beautiful animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size and +colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of +its disposition. It is not the occasional member of its species +that is a man hunter—all are man hunters; but they do not confine +their foraging to man alone, for there is no flesh or fish within +Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in the constant efforts +which they make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient +sustenance to maintain their mighty thews.</p> + +<p>Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, +and upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with +gaping mouth and dripping fangs.</p> + +<p>The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At +the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became +a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard +such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was +all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged!</p> + +<p>The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the +other. The two puny things standing between them seemed already +lost, but at the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man +grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped to one +side, while the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives +in collision.</p> + +<p>There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful +ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. Time +and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the +air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned +to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly +increased ire.</p> + +<p>For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping +out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate +and each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger +was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with +powerful fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide +into shreds and ribbons.</p> + +<p>For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and +rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from +side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening +about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. +It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of +the wounded animal.</p> + +<p>All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until +in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and +over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its +breath from it I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick +as a cat, the great thag was up again and had buried those mighty +horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the +arena.</p> + +<p>The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were +gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained +upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment +the thag still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and +then the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the +least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart.</p> + +<p>As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the +arena. With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the +arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried +him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into +the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging +his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a wide swath +before him straight upward toward our seats. Before him slaves +and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede to escape the menace of the +creature's death agonies, for such only could that frightful charge +have been.</p> + +<p>Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the +exits, many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind +us. Perry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned +for a few moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, +each intent upon saving his own hide.</p> + +<p>I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad +mob that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an +entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single +blinded, dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII" />VII</h2> + +<h3>FREEDOM</h3> + + +<p>Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, +but another emotion as quickly gripped me—hope of escape that the +demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant.</p> + +<p>I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass +his release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom +from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching +for an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I +found it—a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.</p> + +<p>Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the +shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for +some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and +fainter until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint +light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting +tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope +with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, +feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside +me.</p> + +<p>Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, +I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which +the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in +the ground.</p> + +<p>Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering +out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, +granite towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean +city were all in front of me—behind, the plain stretched level +and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, +then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much +enhanced.</p> + +<p>My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross +the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a +sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes +Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light.</p> + +<p>Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra—the gorgeous +flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which +is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom—brilliant little stars +of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still +another charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape.</p> + +<p>But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills +in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling +the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the +force of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than +upon that of the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I +was never particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it +has escaped me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part +to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust +directly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which +one's calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always +seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within +Pellucidar than upon the outer surface—there was a certain airy +lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily +detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced +in dreams.</p> + +<p>And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I +seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to +Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. +The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found +freedom. There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless +the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find +some way to encompass his release kept me from turning back to +Phutra.</p> + +<p>Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped +that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. +It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could +aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked +and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to +Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were +that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far +I wandered?</p> + +<p>The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet +with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. +Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living +thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world.</p> + +<p>I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit +of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty +little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a +laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent +sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or +five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to +size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. +As I watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they +suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface +to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, +scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.</p> + +<p>It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved +to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans—that is what Perry +calls them—and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded +fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of +food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and +entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed +these delicacies.</p> + +<p>Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive +purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung +the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I +sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled +to escape.</p> + +<p>Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face +continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered +a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep +declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet +surface of which lay several beautiful islands.</p> + +<p>The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was +to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over +the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into +the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a +haven of peace and security.</p> + +<p>The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn +with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still +housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn +out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian +seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself +with the first man of that other world, so complete the solitude +which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders +and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second Adam +wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching +for my Eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the +exquisite outlines of a perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of +wondrous, raven hair.</p> + +<p>As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not +until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered +all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal +overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, +and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle.</p> + +<p>The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some +new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of +loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes +in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great +copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me.</p> + +<p>There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence +of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no +safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.</p> + +<p>The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping +him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative—the +rude skiff—and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing +into the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in +over the end.</p> + +<p>A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and +buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the +paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing +out upon the surface of the sea.</p> + +<p>A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one +had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His +mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in +short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with my +unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubbornly in every direction but +that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was +expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.</p> + +<p>I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident +that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next +half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather +of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper +giant behind me gained and gained.</p> + +<p>His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, +sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and +the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need +have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain death +was in his look.</p> + +<p>And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster +of that prehistoric deep—a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged +jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony +protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns.</p> + +<p>As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the +doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression +of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through +me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, +and that he might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me +was forgotten in the extremity of his danger.</p> + +<p>Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage +my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. +The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he +closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark +den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body +coiled and uncoiled about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws +snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like, +ran in and out upon the copper skin.</p> + +<p>Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet +against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but +for all the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with +his open palm.</p> + +<p>At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman +was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. +Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast +after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I +tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with +all the strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of +the hydrophidian.</p> + +<p>With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, +but the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing +me though it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts +to reach me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII" />VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MAHAR TEMPLE</h3> + + +<p>The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, +and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated +creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the +waters about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became +evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently +its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive +movements it turned upon its back quite dead.</p> + +<p>And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament +in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of +the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the +spear I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, +and there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously +to the weapon the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other.</p> + +<p>What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities.</p> + +<p>Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to +translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance +of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard +tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of +the Mahars.</p> + +<p>To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon.</p> + +<p>"What do you want of my spear?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied.</p> + +<p>"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," +and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in +the bottom of the skiff.</p> + +<p>"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?"</p> + +<p>I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain +how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible +for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear +it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence +of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine +that there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings +similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought +upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the +scope of our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be—our +finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance +with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the +insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the +bowlders of the universe—the speck of moist dirt we so proudly +call the World.</p> + +<p>So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a +Mezop, and that his name was Ja.</p> + +<p>"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?"</p> + +<p>He looked at me in surprise.</p> + +<p>"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, +"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon +the islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop +lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but +of course it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not +know. At any rate in this sea and those near by it is true that +only people of my race inhabit the islands.</p> + +<p>"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going +to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but +the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. +"Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar +was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they +do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to +son among us that this is so; but we fought so desperately and slew +so many Sagoths, and those of us that were captured killed so many +Mahars in their own cities that at last they learned that it were +better to leave us alone, and later came the time that the Mahars +became too indolent even to catch their own fish, except for +amusement, and then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a +truce was made between the races. Now they give us certain things +which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch, +and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace.</p> + +<p>"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from +the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their +religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our +assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the manner +of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for +the poor slaves they bring to take part in it."</p> + +<p>As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six +or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that +of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar +to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher +tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his +mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive +and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable +makeshift language we were compelled to use.</p> + +<p>During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling +the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some +half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his +crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it +had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work +of it.</p> + +<p>As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed +him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that +grew beyond the sand.</p> + +<p>"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana +are always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," +he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a +distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The +upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing +the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see +land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to +stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel +that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head +required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning +faculties as almost to stupefy one.</p> + +<p>No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, +presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which +wound hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of +all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop +trail which I was later to find distinguished them from all other +trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth.</p> + +<p>It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly +in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn +directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a +tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, +leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail +which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly +about and retrace his steps until after a mile or less this new +pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. +Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no +spoor, to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond.</p> + +<p>As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could +not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of +the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from +his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him +to his deep-buried cities.</p> + +<p>To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method +of traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you +would realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. +So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the +connecting links and the distances which one must retrace one's +steps from the paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches +man's estate before he is familiar even with those which lead from +his own city to the sea.</p> + +<p>In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop +consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and +the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of trails +which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn +them, since from birth to death they never leave the clearing +in which the village of their nativity is situated except they be +taken to mate by a male from another village, or captured in war +by the enemies of their tribe.</p> + +<p>After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward +of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the +exact center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one +might well imagine.</p> + +<p>Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the +ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven +twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was +surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated +the identity of the owner.</p> + +<p>Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served +to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were +through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward +by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The +houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that +I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments.</p> + +<p>All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, +and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working +in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja +they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest +attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated +area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the +points of their spears to the ground directly before them.</p> + +<p>Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village—the +house with eight rooms—and taking me up into it gave me food and +drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in +her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was +thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting +me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me +would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of +the community.</p> + +<p>We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, +for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man +proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which +lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," +he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of +sight they need never know that we have been there. For my part I +hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of the island +think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations +which exist between the two races; otherwise I should like nothing +better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and +exterminate them—Pellucidar would be a better place to live were +there none of them."</p> + +<p>I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be +a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. +Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, +which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees +similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust +during the carboniferous age.</p> + +<p>Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough +oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No +doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor +was there need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, +as Ja explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the +roof.</p> + +<p>"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even +the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing +and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the +foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, +revealing a small opening which led straight within the building, +or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered myself +in a narrow place of extreme darkness.</p> + +<p>"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow +me closely."</p> + +<p>The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend +a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to +the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet +when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow +lighter and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner +wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire interior of +the temple.</p> + +<p>The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous +hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of +granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them +I saw men and women like myself.</p> + +<p>"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading +part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. +You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall +as they."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above +and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of +Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central +opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple.</p> + +<p>There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring +pterodactyls—thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind +these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been +when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra.</p> + +<p>Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to +settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer +edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was +reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by +her terrible guard.</p> + +<p>All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. +One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves +upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide +eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with +folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung +to one another, hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking +race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as +they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than +improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. +We have opportunity, and little else.</p> + +<p>Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; +then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid +noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, +turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their +tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained +at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. +Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round +eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been +brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in +droves, and bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle.</p> + +<p>The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried +to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a +woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such +fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, +and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of her brain.</p> + +<p>Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the +eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the +victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the +Mahar queen, slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged +by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance straight toward +the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To +the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, but stepped +into the shallows beside the little island. On she moved toward +the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim +on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and still she advanced, +chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was at her waist; now +her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, +helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their +own.</p> + +<p>The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were +exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced +until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from +her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile.</p> + +<p>Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose—her eyes +and forehead all that showed—yet still she walked on after the +retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath +the surface and after it went the eyes of her victim—only a slow +ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished.</p> + +<p>For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water +for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of +the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward +the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she +dragged the helpless girl to her doom.</p> + +<p>And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the +reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On +and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely +to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient +time to have drowned her thrice over there was no indication, +other than her dripping hair and glistening body, that she had been +submerged at all.</p> + +<p>Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out +again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves +so that I could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue +had I not taken a firm hold of myself.</p> + +<p>Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came +to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms +was gone—gnawed completely off at the shoulder—but the poor thing +gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set +eyes seemed intensified.</p> + +<p>The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then +the breasts, and then a part of the face—it was awful. The poor +creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their +eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that +they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that +they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon the +terrible thing that was transpiring before them.</p> + +<p>Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when +she rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The +moment she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars +to enter the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a +repetition of the uncanny performance through which the queen had +led her victim.</p> + +<p>Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars—they being the +weakest and most tender—and when they had satisfied their appetite +for human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, +there were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that +for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the +case, for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars +darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like +steam engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves.</p> + +<p>There was no hypnotism here—just the plain, brutal ferocity of +the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at +that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. +By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves +the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later +the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the queen, +and themselves dropped into slumber.</p> + +<p>"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja.</p> + +<p>"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," +he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human +flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always +you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they +do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the +practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced +of their race; but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle +that there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get +it."</p> + +<p>"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is +true that they look upon us as lower animals?"</p> + +<p>"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are +supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," +replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They +would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider +such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As +a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this sentiment +should exist among them."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far +out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. +Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, +there being a break in the bowlders at this point as there was at +several other places about the side of the temple.</p> + +<p>My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed +a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for +it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save +myself and I plunged headforemost into the water below.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no +injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind +filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible +doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon +the creature that had disturbed their slumber.</p> + +<p>As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly +in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to +the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast +a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars +I was almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon +the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple +with my eyes could I discern any within it.</p> + +<p>For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized +that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by +the noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is +no such thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how +long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to +attempt to figure out by earthly standards—this matter of elapsed +time—but when I set myself to it I began to realize that I might +have been submerged a second or a month or not at all. You have +no conception of the strange contradictions and impossibilities +which arise when all methods of measuring time, as we know them +upon earth, are non-existent.</p> + +<p>I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved +me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the +Mahars filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their +uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was +alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me +from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one of the +tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf—you cannot imagine the +awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars +of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that you are +in their power—that they are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to +drag you down beneath the waters and devour you! It is frightful.</p> + +<p>But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that +I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone +was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once +more in search of a means to escape.</p> + +<p>Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled +into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless +he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our +hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had +hastened from the temple and back to his village.</p> + +<p>I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the +doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe +that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the +Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried through +the air, and so I continued my search until at last it was rewarded +by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at +one end of the temple.</p> + +<p>A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones +to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later +I had scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle +beyond.</p> + +<p>Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath +the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning +fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers +lay hidden in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome +as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death +bravely enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast +or man—anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX" />IX</h2> + +<h3>THE FACE OF DEATH</h3> + + +<p>I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very +hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, +I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the +island was not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I +did but move in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as +there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, +the sun, of course, being always directly above my head, and the +trees so thickly set that I could see no distant object which might +serve to guide me in a straight line.</p> + +<p>As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four +times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did +so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the +chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which +I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach.</p> + +<p>I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft +down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience +with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must +be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as +possible.</p> + +<p>I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that +at which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in +sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well +out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of +it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long +since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give myself up that +I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One.</p> + +<p>I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I +realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture +were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom +without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that +the probability that I might find him was less than slight.</p> + +<p>Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and +wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. +I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I +had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the +Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose image had now +become the constant companion of my waking hours, and the central +and beloved figure of my dreams.</p> + +<p>But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my +duty and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers +and vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, +too; the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us +both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, +and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete +twentieth-century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, +chivalrous, and loveable.</p> + +<p>Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered +Ja's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep +bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles +came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found +that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the +divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the pass I could +not for the life of me remember.</p> + +<p>It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which +seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that +many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out +the course of our lives, and again learned that it is not always +best to follow the line of least resistance.</p> + +<p>By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced +that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland +sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace +my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon +seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and +levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was +about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery +strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther +before I turned back.</p> + +<p>The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before +me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the +side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying +to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, +where it formed a broad level beach.</p> + +<p>Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost +to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the +nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the +ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it +seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the +restless waters advanced and retreated.</p> + +<p>Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene +was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled +vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the +ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not +repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate +the dense foliage to discern it.</p> + +<p>Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and +lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet +ventured, to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, +or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. +What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very +instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! +How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar +were small in comparison with those of the outer crust, but even +so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands +of miles. For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless +miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown beyond the +tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.</p> + +<p>The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as +though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer +world to look upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed +either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called to me to +explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which +lay before us could Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, +a slight noise I imagine, drew my attention behind me.</p> + +<p>As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took +wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form +that I beheld advancing upon me.</p> + +<p>A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty +jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, +and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand +was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the +fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind +lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the center of the +narrow way that led to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible +and menacing flesh.</p> + +<p>A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I +was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose +fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back +as the Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I +was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as +I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor +felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first +time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered +now beside the restless, mysterious sea.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had +handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I +have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct +of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so +close before me today.</p> + +<p>To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar +to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. +The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, +carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me +would pursue me into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility.</p> + +<p>There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. +I thought of Perry—how he would wonder what had become of me. I +thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all +would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange +and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird +surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of +my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how +unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the existence +of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an instant's +warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued +voices. The following morning, while the first worm is busily +engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they are teeing +up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced ball +than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon +was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for +me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged +jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was +it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp +between those formidable teeth?</p> + +<p>He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to +me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could +have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there +stood Ja, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to +the cliff's base.</p> + +<p>I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked +me for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human +eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet +I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.</p> + +<p>To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable +cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, +crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small +projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here +and there.</p> + +<p>The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double +his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to +the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely +trotted along behind me.</p> + +<p>As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, +but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come +down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with +one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously +upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he +lowered the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet +above the ground.</p> + +<p>To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored +one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I +came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to +try to save myself.</p> + +<p>But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger +himself.</p> + +<p>"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much +more rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag +you back before ever you are halfway up the spear—he can rear up +and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand."</p> + +<p>Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped +the spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I +could—being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I +imagine the slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized +our intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal +instead of having it doubled as he had hoped.</p> + +<p>When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that +fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific +rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; +another six inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt +a sudden wrench from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the +mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon.</p> + +<p>I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on +the surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and +still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner.</p> + +<p>At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand +the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when +I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point +yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end +transfixed his lower jaw.</p> + +<p>With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, +lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and +head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to +the ground.</p> + +<p>Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing +madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A +glance over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at +the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did +he remain in this occupation that I had gained the safety of the +cliff top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did +not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, hissing into +the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was the last I saw of +him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X" />X</h2> + +<h3>PHUTRA AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure +footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save +me, which had come so near miscarrying.</p> + +<p>"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," +he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and +you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon +the beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the +sand beside it.</p> + +<p>"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you +must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers +which lurk upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and +reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to +this point. It is well that I arrived when I did."</p> + +<p>"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship +on the part of a man of another world and a different race and +color.</p> + +<p>"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my +duty to protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop +had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance +for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You +shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best of +hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate from, +the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come?"</p> + +<p>I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty +was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him—if I +could ever find his island.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come +to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. +There you will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly +opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large islands +far out, so far that they are barely discernible, the one to the +extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, +where I rule the tribe of Anoroc."</p> + +<p>"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men +say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied.</p> + +<p>"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory +these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their +world.</p> + +<p>"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should +fall back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters +of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar +is quite flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. +At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, +is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping +over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never +have been so far from Anoroc as to have seen this wall with my +own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is +true, whereas there is no reason at all in the foolish belief of +the Mahars. According to them Pellucidarians who live upon the +opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward!" and +Ja laughed uproariously at the very thought.</p> + +<p>It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had +not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars +had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered +how many ages it would take to lift these people out of their +ignorance even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly +we would be killed for our pains as were those men of the outer +world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions +of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the +opportunity ever presented itself.</p> + +<p>And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity—that I +might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus +note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian.</p> + +<p>"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so +far as the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned +it is correct?"</p> + +<p>"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me +for one."</p> + +<p>"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you +account for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from +the outer crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a +sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet +I come from a great world that is covered with human beings, and +beasts, and birds, and fishes in mighty oceans."</p> + +<p>"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with +your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe +that, my friend, I should indeed be mad."</p> + +<p>I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means +of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for +a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened +so intently that I thought I had made an impression, and started +the train of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding +of the truth. But I was mistaken.</p> + +<p>"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity +of your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. +"See," he said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until +it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported +upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls—you have +proven it yourself!" He had me, that time—you could see it in his +eye.</p> + +<p>It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for +when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system +and the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to +picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the +planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner +world could no more conceive of such things than can we of the +outer crust reduce to factors appreciable to our finite minds such +terms as space and eternity.</p> + +<p>"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or +down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not +so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part +I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself +up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the +plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us +together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the +slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not left +the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good +our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our +plans, which depended for their consummation upon the continued +sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the building +in which we were confined."</p> + +<p>"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.</p> + +<p>"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in Pellucidar, +except yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances?"</p> + +<p>He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head +sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet +it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn +you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing +nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have +I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. +There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would +rather die than be recaptured."</p> + +<p>"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that +I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, +Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that +I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality."</p> + +<p>Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, +he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which +Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go +there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the +little demons who dwell there. We know this because when graves +are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely +borne off. That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees +where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the Dead +World above the Land of Awful Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place +his body in the ground that it may go to Molop Az."</p> + +<p>As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come +to the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me +from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to +do so, he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see +the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but +short from the beach where I had again met Ja. It was evident that +I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canon, +while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Phutra near to which +I must have come several times.</p> + +<p>As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the +flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me +to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was +firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his +own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time.</p> + +<p>I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much +indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, +and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished +much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful +in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first—at +least it was the great thing to me—the finding of Dian the Beautiful. +I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my +ignorance, and I wanted to—well, I wanted to see her again, and +to be with her.</p> + +<p>Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, +and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns +that guard the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the +nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an +instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me.</p> + +<p>Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches +I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward +them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect +upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together +they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had +expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that +which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast +their spears.</p> + +<p>"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, +"Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world—he who +escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why +do you return, having once made good your escape?"</p> + +<p>"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, +as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused +and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I +found my way back."</p> + +<p>"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of +the guardsmen.</p> + +<p>"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar +and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to +be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? +What better lot could man desire?"</p> + +<p>The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, +and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they +felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for +riddle they still considered it.</p> + +<p>I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing +them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they +thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that +I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an +opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that +I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon +my return to the city.</p> + +<p>So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within +the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian +eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my +deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the +Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's +lips and fingers during the recital. Then it questioned me through +one of the Sagoths.</p> + +<p>"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because +you think yourself better off here than elsewhere—do you not know +that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests +of the wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones +are continually occupied with?"</p> + +<p>I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not +to admit it.</p> + +<p>"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed +in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I +was fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I +barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am +sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such +as rule Phutra. At least such would be the case in my own world, +where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races +of man extend protection and hospitality to the stranger within +their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally assumed that a +like courtesy would be accorded me."</p> + +<p>The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased +speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The +creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some +message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow +him, left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side +of me marched the balance of the guard.</p> + +<p>"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right.</p> + +<p>"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you +regarding this strange world from which you say you come."</p> + +<p>After a moment's silence he turned to me again.</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves +who lie to them?"</p> + +<p>"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention +of lying to the Mahars."</p> + +<p>"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you +told Sol-to-to just now—another world, indeed, where human beings +rule!" he concluded in fine scorn.</p> + +<p>"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I +come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see +that."</p> + +<p>"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not +be judged by one with but half an eye."</p> + +<p>"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind +to believe me?"</p> + +<p>"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used +in research work by the learned ones," he replied.</p> + +<p>"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted.</p> + +<p>"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with +them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them +but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their +subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. +However I should not imagine that it would prove very useful to +him who was being cut up; but of course this is all but conjecture. +The chances are that ere long you will know much more about it than +I," and he grinned as he spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed +sense of humor.</p> + +<p>"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?"</p> + +<p>"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you +escaped?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for +them," he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals +might not be employed."</p> + +<p>"It is sure death in either event?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not +know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the +arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the +two whom you saw."</p> + +<p>"They gained their liberty? And how?"</p> + +<p>"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive +within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it +has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, +whom we have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes +turned in upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. +In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, +but the result was the same—the man and woman were liberated, +furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. +Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was burned—the mark of the +Mahars—which will forever protect these two from slaving parties."</p> + +<p>"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, +and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?"</p> + +<p>"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself +too quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce +one in a thousand who comes out alive."</p> + +<p>To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which +I had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the +doorway I was turned over to the guards there.</p> + +<p>"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," +said he who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness."</p> + +<p>The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I +had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it +would be safe to give me liberty within the building as had been +the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to +whatever duty had been mine formerly.</p> + +<p>My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual +over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and +rearranging upon new shelves.</p> + +<p>As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, +only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. +I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think +that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of +duty and affection!</p> + +<p>"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long +absence?"</p> + +<p>"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed +me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within +the arena?"</p> + +<p>"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned +from the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you +been much later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I +had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as +I had completed the translation of this most interesting passage."</p> + +<p>"Perry, you <b>are</b> mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how +long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered +a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their +worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life +from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, +following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. +I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look up +from your work when I return and insist that we have been separated +but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm surprised +at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you cared no +more for me than this I should not have returned to chance death +at the hands of the Mahars for your sake."</p> + +<p>The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There +was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt +sorrow in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love +for you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. +I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; +but how in the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations +that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time +since last we saw each other. You are positive that months have +gone by, while to me it seems equally certain that not more than +an hour ago I sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that +both of us are right and at the same time both are wrong? First +tell me what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do +you catch my meaning?"</p> + +<p>I didn't and said so.</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over +my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little +or nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food +nor sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and +wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment +and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you +saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. +As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction +that there is no such thing as time—surely there can be no time +here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring +or recording time. Why, the Mahars themselves take no account of +such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works but +a single tense, the present. There seems to be neither past nor +future with them. Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly +minds to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem +to demonstrate its existence."</p> + +<p>It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to +enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening +with interest to my account of the adventures through which I had +passed he returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging +upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the +entrance of a Sagoth.</p> + +<p>"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators +would speak with you."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may +be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel +that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall +never return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you +to promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her +that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional +affront I put upon her, and that my one wish was to be spared long +enough to right the wrong that I had done her."</p> + +<p>Tears came to Perry's eyes.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It +would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without +you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken +away I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as +I should be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, +good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he +hid his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly +by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI" />XI</h2> + +<h3>FOUR DEAD MAHARS</h3> + + +<p>A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars—the social +investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a +Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed +particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the +strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I +thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence +for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered +returned to my quarters.</p> + +<p>During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium +of strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the +head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference +to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits +for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with +the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally +astonished.</p> + +<p>"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected +any one to believe so impossible a lie?"</p> + +<p>It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At +a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we +saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these +chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me +to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon +a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. +Several Mahars stood about the poor creature holding him down so +that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her +three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. +No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks and groans of +the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection +with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that +soon my turn would come. And to think that where there was no such +thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring +for months before death finally released me!</p> + +<p>The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been +brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work +that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered +with me. The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But +those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about +for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between +me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrument which one of them +must have dropped. It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was +much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my +boyhood days had I picked locks with a button-hook. Could I but +reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect at least +a temporary escape.</p> + +<p>Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one +hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of +the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber +of my being as I would, I could not quite make it.</p> + +<p>At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. +My heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But +suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally +shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold +sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I +made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually +I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my +hand and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing +was in my grasp.</p> + +<p>Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. +It was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment +later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their +work at the table. One already turned away and was examining other +victims, evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject.</p> + +<p>Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature +walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the +thing approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge +slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped +and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as it did +so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant I +gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the +corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the speed I could +command.</p> + +<p>Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought +was to place as much distance as possible between me and that +frightful chamber of torture.</p> + +<p>Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing +the danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, +I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to +a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and +presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the +corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of +skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the +same corridor and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead +so important a role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had +indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles still slept.</p> + +<p>My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in +search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, +and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions +of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and +these I lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends +and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. +Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where +we had been wont to eat and sleep.</p> + +<p>Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course +they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by +my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before +attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope +to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry +that bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. +However it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely +through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, +and so I set out with Perry and Ghak—the stench of the illy cured +pelts fairly choking me.</p> + +<p>Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the +main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await +me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. +There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The +rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again +oval in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and +not always straight. The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight +reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are +lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the +corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars can see quite well +in semidarkness.</p> + +<p>Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and +slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of +the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance +leading from the place into the avenue and this was well guarded +by Sagoths—this doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is +true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors and +apartments except on special occasions when we were instructed to +do so; but as we were considered a lower order without intelligence +there was little reason to fear that we could accomplish any harm +by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor +which led below.</p> + +<p>Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and +the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where +I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and +so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance +of the weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels.</p> + +<p>Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept +I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were +without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart +I disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, +so that before I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled +itself against the third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with +wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which the +race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already had +dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword was red with +their blood, it made a dash to escape me. But I was too quick for +it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another +corridor with me close upon its heels.</p> + +<p>Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability +my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at +my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing +before me.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, +and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of +the Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been +occupied with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put +powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing +about upon the bench where it had been working. In an instant I +realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very room for the +finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It was the +buried chamber in which was hidden the Great Secret of the race +of Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin-bound +book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought, +after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep.</p> + +<p>There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which +I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew +that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to +fight if fight they must. Together they launched themselves upon +me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant, +the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the +elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about +the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it +was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that powerful, +viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body. +The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to spur me to +greater efforts to overcome my antagonist.</p> + +<p>Back and forth across the floor we struggled—the Mahar dealing me +terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to +protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for +an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand +to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with +what seemed to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through +the ugly body of my foe.</p> + +<p>Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain +and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that +I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up +the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it +was the very thing that Perry had described to me.</p> + +<p>And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race +of Pellucidar—did there flash through my mind the thought that +countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason +to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I +did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid +eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red +lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, +standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of +Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII" />XII</h2> + +<h3>PURSUIT</h3> + + +<p>For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a +sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, +and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor +which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance +with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak +that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, +and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.</p> + +<p>"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The +fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of +our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let +you decide whether he might accompany us."</p> + +<p>I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure +that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I +saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars +instead of only the three I had expected to, made it possible to +include the fellow in our scheme of escape.</p> + +<p>"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first +intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you +understand?"</p> + +<p>He said that he did.</p> + +<p>Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and +so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed +an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was +not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split +them along the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by +remaining out until the others had all been sewed in with my help, +and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through +which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were enabled +to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had +hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by passing our swords +up through the necks, and by the same means were enabled to move +them about in a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty +with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, +so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes +punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were thrust +permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.</p> + +<p>Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak +headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, +while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had +so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the head of my +disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering.</p> + +<p>As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the +busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. +It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened—never +before in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of +soulsearing fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible +to sweat blood, I sweat it then.</p> + +<p>Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when +they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy +slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we +reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. +Many Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as +he padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it +was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized +that the warm blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through +the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale +mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's +attention to it.</p> + +<p>The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke +to me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means +of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not +have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen +a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed +my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my +sword so that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes +upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, +eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head +and started slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but +before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed +on out into the avenue.</p> + +<p>On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, +there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake +which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge +their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying +the cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, +and free from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great +seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind.</p> + +<p>In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the +plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was +traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little +gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and +we were alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly +away from Phutra.</p> + +<p>The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our +horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, +and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar +skins that had brought us thus far in safety.</p> + +<p>I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling +flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our +tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How +we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of +which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines +of the outer world.</p> + +<p>On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between +ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own +land—the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and +yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were +dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their +quarry until they had captured it or themselves been turned back +by a superior force.</p> + +<p>Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite +strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of +Sagoths.</p> + +<p>At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have +been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed +the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who +looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could +see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. +It was the long-expected pursuit.</p> + +<p>I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them.</p> + +<p>"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move +with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they +are doubtless much fresher than we. Then—" he paused, glancing +at Perry.</p> + +<p>I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the +period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the +march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths +might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights +which confronted us.</p> + +<p>"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it +if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there +is no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be +helped—we have simply to face it."</p> + +<p>"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't +known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility +of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but +now to my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love.</p> + +<p>But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could +reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force +to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself.</p> + +<p>No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but +he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the +king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja—the +naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the +foothills which we now had reached.</p> + +<p>Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the +old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew +that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought +of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the +problem, in part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying +him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel +faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII" />XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SLY ONE</h3> + + +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted +us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled +up the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights +of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, +parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass +formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the +canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing +to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would reach the +now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should +be overtaken.</p> + +<p>Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the +success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the +outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage +cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their +king's appeal for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs +ahead should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing of the +kind happened—as a matter of fact the Sly One had betrayed us. +At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to +our relief at Hooja's back, the craven traitor was sneaking around +the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up +from the other side when it was too late to save us, claiming that +he had become lost among the mountains.</p> + +<p>Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had +struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal +to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me.</p> + +<p>As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians +appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the +sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called +to me over his shoulder that we were lost.</p> + +<p>A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at +the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we +had just passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature +from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind +us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us.</p> + +<p>Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another +branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so +that appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. +The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind +us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other +than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, +and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.</p> + +<p>Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. +Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, +and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I +turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, +and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one +canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other.</p> + +<p>Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when +my very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I +ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running +had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful +cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab."</p> + +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, +fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had +become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what +seemed a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could +not even guess—possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the +corresponding valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had +plunged into a cul-de-sac?</p> + +<p>Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the +top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to +check them temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made +bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my +shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and +wheeled toward the gorilla-man.</p> + +<p>In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our +escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game +by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed +a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had +restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger +which Ghak and I had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, +spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough +and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave +me unwonted confidence in my weapon.</p> + +<p>Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then—never were my +nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully +and deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never +before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over +his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort +of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously +swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in +which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they +achieve, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little +short of miraculous.</p> + +<p>My shaft was drawn back its full length—my eye had centered +its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then +he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant +that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang +forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the +swish of the hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same instant +my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan +he lunged almost at my feet—stone dead. Close behind him were two +more—fifty yards perhaps—but the distance gave me time to snatch +up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had +just given me had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. +Those which I had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring +along because their size precluded our concealing them within the +skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from the city.</p> + +<p>With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with +another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his +fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and +fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. +Instead, he turned and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. +Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.</p> + +<p>Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested +I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two +or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the +left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. +Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond +the canyon's end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening +to a large cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from +sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.</p> + +<p>Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting +him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About +me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were +of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions +for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a +number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave +I waited the advance of the Sagoths.</p> + +<p>As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint +sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight +noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. +It might have been produced by the moving of the great body of some +huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the +same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals +upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few seconds my +attention was considerably divided.</p> + +<p>And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes +glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet +above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be +standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing +up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of +Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful +Titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had +seen before.</p> + +<p>Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the +cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous +growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with +the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud—I +doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all—but the suggestion of latent +possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate +from a gigantic and ferocious beast.</p> + +<p>As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the +cave, where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but +an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth +as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of +the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge +in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could +crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged +from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon +that narrow ledge.</p> + +<p>The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully +eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the +end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it +sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open +mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost +gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his +on-rushing companions.</p> + +<p>The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and +leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three +hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered +in the next—there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and +the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the +mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along the ledge.</p> + +<p>Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to +escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing +the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I +could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the +screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds +dwindled and disappeared in the distance.</p> + +<p>Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen +and returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is +called, pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire +band. Ghak was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the +terrible creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of +beasts.</p> + +<p>Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall +prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along +the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I could +reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I evidently +became confused by the twisting and turning of the canyons and +gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a +long time thereafter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV" />XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE GARDEN OF EDEN</h3> + + +<p>With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused +and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, +in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and come out +above the valley upon the farther side. I know that I wandered +for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a small cave +in the face of the limestone formation which had taken the place +of the granite farther back.</p> + +<p>The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side +of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely +formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make +a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. +Yet it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark +interior.</p> + +<p>Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft +in the rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient +quantities partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had +expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of +its having been recently occupied. The opening was comparatively +small, so that after considerable effort I was able to lug up a +bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it.</p> + +<p>Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and +on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the +diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of +a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, +with food and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal +of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged +the bowlder before the entrance and curled myself upon a bed of +grasses—a naked, primeval, cave man, as savagely primitive as my +prehistoric progenitors.</p> + +<p>I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled +out upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before +me spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which +a clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, +the blue waters of which were just visible between the two mountain +ranges which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the +opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest clothed +them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper green of the towering +crags which formed their summit. The valley itself was carpeted +with a luxuriant grass, while here and there patches of wild flowers +made great splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green.</p> + +<p>Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike +trees—three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood +antelope, while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully +to a nearby ford to drink. There were several species of this +beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant +eland of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete +curve backward over their ears and then forward again beneath +them, ending in sharp and formidable points some two feet before +the face and above the eyes. In size they remind one of a pure +bred Hereford bull, yet they are very agile and fast. The broad +yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take +them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they are handsome +animals, and added the finishing touch to the strange and lovely +landscape that spread before my new home.</p> + +<p>I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as +a base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in +search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the +carcass of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I +hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled +the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and +shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley.</p> + +<p>The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the +little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to +safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, +and after moving to what they considered a safe distance stood +contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one +of the old bull antelopes of the striped species lowered his head +and bellowed angrily—even taking a few steps in my direction, +so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed, he +resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him.</p> + +<p>Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the +cliffs upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around +them as I desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of +a ledge along which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet +from the base I came upon a projection which formed a natural path +along the face of the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea +toward the cliff's end.</p> + +<p>Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs—the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up +at this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I +climbed carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted +aloft by the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the +flapping of wings.</p> + +<p>And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the +most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a +giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of +earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, +while the bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of +fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, +and its claw equipped with horrible talons.</p> + +<p>The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing +from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond +and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood +terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the +end I saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.</p> + +<p>Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped +down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation +of my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly +as did the end upon which I stood.</p> + +<p>And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break +in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack—a girl +cowering upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as +though to shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered +just above her.</p> + +<p>The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon +its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which +to weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed +creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called +out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection +of the other sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of +self-preservation in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like +an irresistible magnet.</p> + +<p>Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of +the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. +At the same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my +sudden advent upon the scene must have startled him for he veered +to one side, and then rose above us once more.</p> + +<p>The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the +end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when +no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. +As they fell upon me the expression that came into them would be +difficult to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been +one whit more complicated than my own—for the wide eyes that looked +into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful.</p> + +<p>"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."</p> + +<p>"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could +I tell whether she were glad or angry that I had come.</p> + +<p>Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I +had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch +up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim +was true, and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once +more and soared away.</p> + +<p>Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the +next attack, and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I +surprised her in a surreptitious glance which she was stealing at +me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her hands.</p> + +<p>"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?"</p> + +<p>She looked straight into my eyes.</p> + +<p>"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair +hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she +said, and I turned again to meet the reptile.</p> + +<p>So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound +of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. +But this time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I +had selected my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent +the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of +my left hand, and then as the great creature darted toward us I +let drive straight for that tough breast.</p> + +<p>Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature +fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried +completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was +looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die.</p> + +<p>"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I +have found you?"</p> + +<p>"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less +vehemence in it than before—yet it might have been but my imagination.</p> + +<p>"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you +since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"</p> + +<p>At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it.</p> + +<p>"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. +"After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my +own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages +or let any of my friends know that I had returned for fear that +Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I found that my +brother had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a cave +beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, awaiting the time +that he should come back and free me from Jubal.</p> + +<p>"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward +my father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave +the alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me +across many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes +he will kill you and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible +man. I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape," and +she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge twenty +feet above us.</p> + +<p>"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. +"The sea is there"—she pointed over the edge of the cliff—"and +the sea shall have me rather than Jubal."</p> + +<p>"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other +have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift +it above her head and let it fall in token of release.</p> + +<p>She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes +with level gaze.</p> + +<p>"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would +have done this when the others were present to witness it—then I +should truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you +do it, for you know that without witnesses your act does not bind +you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away.</p> + +<p>I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't +forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other +occasion.</p> + +<p>"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove +it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your +power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of +your intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell +you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you +again."</p> + +<p>Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact +I found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic +of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make +some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching +Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire to +meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess +Dian had told me when I first met her. He it was who, armed with +a puny knife, had met and killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand +struggle. It was Jubal who could cast his spear entirely through +the armored carcass of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who +had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of +his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it +was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him; but +the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often the +way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face.</p> + +<p>This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the +way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the +top of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the +edge of my own little valley, where I felt certain we should find +a means of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the +ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against +the chance of something happening to me. I knew that she would be +quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter +of my lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance.</p> + +<p>Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was +sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting +that something terrible might happen to me—that I might, in fact, +be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I +could perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders +of hers, and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid +of trouble so easily as that.</p> + +<p>For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think +that I had twice protected her from attack—the last time risking +my life to save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of +the Stone Age could be so ungrateful—so heartless; but maybe her +heart partook of the qualities of her epoch.</p> + +<p>Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and +extended by the action of the water draining through it from the +plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, +but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for +several miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland +sea, curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the +blue of the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the +sea lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond +the distant mountains at our backs—the weird and uncanny aspect +of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description.</p> + +<p>At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was +open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this +direction that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey +when Dian touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was +about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken.</p> + +<p>"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.</p> + +<p>I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect +whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned +accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features.</p> + +<p>"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good +start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," +and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly +One. I had hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me +before she went, for she must have known that I was going to my death +for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it +was with a heavy heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled +grass to my doom.</p> + +<p>When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features +I understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly +One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire +side of his face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, +so that his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through +the horrible scar.</p> + +<p>Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of +his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this +encounter had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. +However this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty +sight, and now that his features, or what remained of them, were +distorted in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was +indeed most terrible to see—and much more terrible to meet.</p> + +<p>He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his +mighty spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took +as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I +must confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my +nerves to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. +What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the +fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I hope to best one who +slaughtered the sadok and dyryth single-handed! I shuddered; but, +in fairness to myself, my fear was more for Dian than for my own +fate.</p> + +<p>And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, +and I raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. +The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the +missile and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the +only remaining weapon that he carried—a murderous-looking knife. +He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as +he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of +his thigh, inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then +he was upon me.</p> + +<p>My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised +arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's +point in his face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of +it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more +warily.</p> + +<p>It was a duel of strategy now—the great, hairy man maneuvering +to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to +play, while my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at +arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife +blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found his body—once +penetrating to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time, +and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that +brought the red stream through the hideous mouth and nose, covering +his face and breast with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely +spectacle, but he was far from dead.</p> + +<p>As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be +perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of +that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think +that Jubal, from utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling +of respect, and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed +the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master, and was +facing his end.</p> + +<p>At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for +his next act, which was in the nature of a last resort—a sort of +forlorn hope, which could only have been born of the belief that +if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on +the occasion of his fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me +with his knife, he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade +in both his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as +from a babe.</p> + +<p>Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant +glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph +as to almost unnerve me—then he sprang for me with his bare hands. +But it was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the +first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had +he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do +with his bare fists.</p> + +<p>As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his +outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon +his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of +flesh sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed +that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt to +rise, and I stood over him with another dose ready when he should +gain his knees.</p> + +<p>Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; +but he didn't stay up—I let him have a left fair on the point of +the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I +think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come +back for more as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled +him over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the last he +lay longer on the ground between blows, and each time came up weaker +than before.</p> + +<p>He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and +presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily +to the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once +that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I +looked upon that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in +death, I could not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this +slayer of fearful beasts—this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.</p> + +<p>Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead +body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought +and won a great idea was born in my brain—the outcome of this and +the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If +skill and science could render a comparative pygmy the master of +this mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish +with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at +their feet—and I would be their king and Dian their queen.</p> + +<p>Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within +the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. +She was quite the most superior person I ever had met—with the most +convincing way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, +I could go to the cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and +then she might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her +of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave easily—it +would be terrible had I lost her again, and I turned to gather up +my shield and bow to hurry after her, when to my astonishment I +found her standing not ten paces behind me.</p> + +<p>"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had +gone to the cave, as I told you to do."</p> + +<p>Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty +out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor—if +palaces have janitors.</p> + +<p>"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I +do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I +hate you."</p> + +<p>I was dumbfounded—this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! +I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from +a worse fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, +for she never seemed to notice it at all.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."</p> + +<p>She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I +was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the +lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly +felt that at least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for +I knew that even by her own standards, I must have done a very +wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand +encounter.</p> + +<p>We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into +the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the +steep ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. +Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing +at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would +cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise +I found that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman +of my acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish +rapture at the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.</p> + +<p>After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed +our hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to +the cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, +curling up, was soon asleep.</p> + +<p>When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across +the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, +but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. +Every time I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that +I nearly choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not +need any aid in diagnosing my case—I certainly had it and had it +bad. God, how I loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, +prehistoric girl!</p> + +<p>After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to +her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, +and said that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother +to be considered—his oldest brother.</p> + +<p>"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or +has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on +down from generation to generation?"</p> + +<p>She was not quite sure as to what I meant.</p> + +<p>"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for +the death of Jubal—there are seven of them—seven terrible men. +Someone may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people."</p> + +<p>It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large +for me—about seven sizes, in fact.</p> + +<p>"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count—they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for +himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him—some have +even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az +rather than mate with the Ugly One."</p> + +<p>"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look +of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid +on a little thicker than the circumstance warranted—as though to +make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she +continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until all his +older brothers have done so, unless the older brother waives his +prerogative, which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as +he kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding him to +secure a mate."</p> + +<p>Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain +hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon +what slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered.</p> + +<p>"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of +you since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you +see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get +along very well alone."</p> + +<p>I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even +a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. +Then I arose.</p> + +<p>"I shall leave you <b>now</b>," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough +of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode +majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps +in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke.</p> + +<p>"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke—in rage, I thought.</p> + +<p>I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began +to realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, +to hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She +might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity +upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated her; but +the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave +her there alone.</p> + +<p>The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time +I reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that +I turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I +had come down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within +the cave, but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her +face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she +heard me enter she sprang to her feet like a tigress.</p> + +<p>"I hate you!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was +rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have +read there.</p> + +<p>I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the +cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put +my arm around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She +fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand and pushed her head +back—I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone +back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable cave man +taking my mate by force—and then I kissed that beautiful mouth +again and again.</p> + +<p>"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else +in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love +like mine cannot be denied?"</p> + +<p>I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes +became accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling—a very +contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, +very gently, she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened +my grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and +stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down to hers once +more and held them there for a long time. At last she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so +long."</p> + +<p>"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!"</p> + +<p>"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you +before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say +what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me +in your arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's +heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?"</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment +that I saw you, although I did not know it until that time you +struck down Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me."</p> + +<p>"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your +ways—I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have +reviled me so, and yet have cared for me all the time."</p> + +<p>"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from +you that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were +battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, +and when I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a +simple thing to have eluded you and returned to my own people."</p> + +<p>"But Jubal's brothers—and cousins—" I reminded her, "how about +them?"</p> + +<p>She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I had to tell you <b>something</b>, David," she whispered. "I must needs +have <b>some</b> excuse for remaining near you."</p> + +<p>"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this +anguish for nothing!"</p> + +<p>"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought +that you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come +to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just come +to me. Just now when you went away hope went with you. I was +wretched, terrified, miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, +and I have not done that before since my mother died," and now I +saw that there was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was +near to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor child +had been through. Motherless and unprotected; hunted across a +savage, primeval world by that hideous brute of a man; exposed to +the attacks of the countless fearsome denizens of its mountains, +its plains, and its jungles—it was a miracle that she had survived +it all.</p> + +<p>To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must +have endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. +It made me very proud to think that I had won the love of such +a woman. Of course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing +cultured or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; +but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, for she was +good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. And she was all these +things in spite of the fact that their observance entailed suffering +and danger and possible death.</p> + +<p>How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the +first place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have +been queen in her own land—and it meant just as much to the cave +woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of +today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way you +look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer +crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory to be +the wife a Dahomey chief.</p> + +<p>I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid +young woman I had known in New York—I mean splendid to look at +and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum +of mine—a clean, manly chap—but she had married a broken-down, +disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky +little European principality that was not even accorded a distinctive +color by Rand McNally.</p> + +<p>Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.</p> + +<p>After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to +see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told +Dian about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, +and she was fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her +brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and +that then he and Ghak could form an alliance. That would give us +a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very +powerful tribes. Once they had been armed with swords, and bows +and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident that they +could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great +army of federated states with which we were planning to march upon +the Mahars.</p> + +<p>I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry +and I could construct after a little experimentation—gunpowder, +rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and +throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing +I was. She was beginning to think that I was omnipotent although +I really hadn't done anything but talk—but that is the way with +women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was +one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he would +have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag.</p> + +<p>The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous +vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on +the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that +I mustn't exercise, or it might prove fatal—if it had been a +full-grown snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a +single pace from the nest—I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent +is the poison. As it was I must have been laid up for quite a +while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and leaves finally reduced +the swelling and drew out the poison.</p> + +<p>The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea +which added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles +of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, +I sought out some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, +and having killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon +the tips of several arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of +these, and though my arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound +the beast crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit.</p> + +<p>We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with +feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful +Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we +had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been +there I did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to +exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun—it may have been an +hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not know.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV" />XV</h2> + +<h3>BACK TO EARTH</h3> + + +<p>We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and +finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away +as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction +it stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that +I was within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods +of indicating direction—there is no north, no south, no east, no +west. <b>Up</b> is about the only direction which is well defined, and +that, of course, is <b>down</b> to you of the outer crust. Since the sun +neither rises nor sets there is no method of indicating direction +beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and +seas.</p> + +<p>The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel +Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about +as near to any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you +happen not to have heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or +the Mountains of the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, +and long for the good old understandable northeast and southwest +of the outer world.</p> + +<p>We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous +animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they +that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, +but as they came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, +eighty or a hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top +of very long necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet +from the ground. The beasts moved very slowly—that is their action +was slow—but their strides covered such a great distance that in +reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks.</p> + +<p>As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each +sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never +before had seen one.</p> + +<p>"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria +lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians +alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere +else than beside the dark country are they found."</p> + +<p>"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; +"the Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar +above the Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes +the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar."</p> + +<p>I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do +yet, for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which +the Dead World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of +Pellucidar—a tiny planet within a planet—and that it revolves +around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is +always above the same spot within Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about +this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the +hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of +the equinoxes.</p> + +<p>When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that +one was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his +two hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him +in kind, when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, +and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, +throwing his arms about her.</p> + +<p>In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; +since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was +David, her mate.</p> + +<p>"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to +me.</p> + +<p>It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none +to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to +the land of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this +very lovely Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own +people.</p> + +<p>When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany +us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative +to an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed +annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I.</p> + +<p>After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we +came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between +one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great +cliff. Here to our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. +The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since +given me up as dead.</p> + +<p>When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to +say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I +could not have done better.</p> + +<p>Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at +a council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the +eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, +the various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there +was to be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I +should be the first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and +poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided +the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned +the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from +one tribe to another until representatives from nations so far +distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to +take the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the +art of making the new weapons and using them.</p> + +<p>We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the +federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before +the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when +three of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid +succession. They could not comprehend that the lower orders had +suddenly developed a power which rendered them really formidable.</p> + +<p>In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians +took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had +been members of the guards within the building where we had been +confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with +rage when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars of +the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something very terrible had +befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been most careful to +see that no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction +reached beyond their own race. How long it would take for the race +to become extinct it was impossible even to guess; but that this +must eventually happen seemed inevitable.</p> + +<p>The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one +of us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the +direst punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could +not understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though +their purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great +Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them.</p> + +<p>Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning +of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped—there was +a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were +both assured that the solution of these problems would advance +the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at +a single stroke. Then there were various other arts and sciences +which we wished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of them +did not embrace the mechanical details which alone could render +them of commercial, or practical value.</p> + +<p>"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce +gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the +outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have +all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has +been produced above—what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back +and get that knowledge in the shape of books—then this world will +indeed be at our feet."</p> + +<p>And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, +which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we +had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would +not listen to any arrangement for my going which did not include +her, and I was not sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I +wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my world to see her.</p> + +<p>With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which +Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back +toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. +He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. +At last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our +pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all +times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths +and Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra.</p> + +<p>Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the +first clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of +Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning +of a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first +emperor of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my +right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle.</p> + +<p>As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars +with the Sagoth troops—an indication of the vast importance which +the dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for +it was not customary with them to take active part in the sorties +which their creatures made for slaves—the only form of warfare +which they waged upon the lower orders.</p> + +<p>Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the +prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of +our battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. +Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's +head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and +I let them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave +the word to fire.</p> + +<p>At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the +gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over +the prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon +us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, +and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line +to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the +Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, +who turned the spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped +to close quarters with their lighter, handier weapons.</p> + +<p>Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the +swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into +their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and +were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of +them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian.</p> + +<p>The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our +men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already +so demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued +them for some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a +hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One.</p> + +<p>He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own +land; but that his life had been spared in hope that through him +the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak +and I were inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding +this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought that the book +might be found in Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this +and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, although none +liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently +learn.</p> + +<p>There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful +were our own people of them that they would not approach them +unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece +of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the +evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though +I laughed at her fears I was willing enough to humor them if it +would relieve her apprehension in any degree, and so she sat apart +from the prospector, near which the Mahars had been chained, while +Perry and I again inspected every portion of the mechanism.</p> + +<p>At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of +the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite +close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, +without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in +accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless +there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, +since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short +work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he +had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly +that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse, +aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring +at precisely the right moment.</p> + +<p>All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, +still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion +which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into +camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all +ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had +grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the +outer and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, +and pulled the starting lever.</p> + +<p>As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial +of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us—the +giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing +was off.</p> + +<p>But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by +the sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize +what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just +before entering the crust the towering body had fallen through its +supporting scaffolding, and that instead of entering the ground +vertically we were plunging into it at a different angle. Where it +would bring us out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. +And then I turned to note the effect of this strange experience +upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar +eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion +skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror.</p> + +<p>The thing beneath the skin was not Dian—it was a hideous Mahar. +Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and +the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, +Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering +wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; +but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair.</p> + +<p>It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. +It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from +the outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we +had entered the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and +brought me out here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the +United States as I had hoped.</p> + +<p>For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I +dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to +find it again—the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover +it, and then my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar +would be gone forever.</p> + +<p>That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for +how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate—and how, without a north or south or an east or a west +may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny +spot where my lost love lies grieving for me?</p> + + +<p>That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me +out to see the prospector—it was precisely as he had described it. +So huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible +part of the world by no means of transportation that existed there—it +could only have come in the way that David Innes said it came—up +through the crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned +directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a +great quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar +with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, +chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more +books—books upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted +a library with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth +century in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got +it for him.</p> + +<p>I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to +the end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America +upon important business. However, I was able to employ a very +trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan—the same guide, +in fact, who had accompanied me on the previous trip into the +Sahara—and after writing a long letter to Innes in which I gave +him my American address, I saw the expedition head south.</p> + +<p>Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred +miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had +it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea +that he could fasten one end here before he left and by paying it +out through the end of the prospector lay a telegraph line between +the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to +mark the terminus of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in +case I was not able to reach him before he set out, so that I might +easily find and communicate with him should he be so fortunate as +to reach Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I received several letters from him after I returned to America—in +fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop +me word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before +he intended to depart. Here it is.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>My Dear Friend:</p> + +<p> Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is + if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I + don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my + life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they + intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should + anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to + depart.</p> + +<p> However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour + approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear.</p> + +<p> Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, + so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me.</p> + +<p> The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the + south—he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he + doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again.</p> + +<p> Yours,</p> + +<p> David Innes.</p> +</div> + +<p>A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed +for the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was +when I discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks +of my return, nor could I find any member of my former party who +could lead me to the same spot.</p> + +<p>For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had +heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes +scanned the blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath +which I was to find the wires leading to Pellucidar—but always +was I unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David +Innes and his strange adventures.</p> + +<p>Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? +Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner +world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart +of the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it +to break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, +or among some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's +desire?</p> + +<p>Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, +at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder.</p> + + +<pre> +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs</pre> + + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/atcor11h.zip b/old/atcor11h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcfeb3d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11h.zip diff --git a/old/atcor11l.lit b/old/atcor11l.lit Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cf92074 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11l.lit diff --git a/old/atcor11l.zip b/old/atcor11l.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e255cf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11l.zip diff --git a/old/atcor11p.prc b/old/atcor11p.prc Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b3540e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11p.prc diff --git a/old/atcor11p.zip b/old/atcor11p.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..aec1957 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor11p.zip |