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diff --git a/old/atcor10.txt b/old/atcor10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1106a76 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/atcor10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6192 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core, by Burroughs +#11 in our series by Edgar Rice Burroughs + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting 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. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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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] + |