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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* +</pre> + + + + + +<p class="center">Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>At the Earth's Core</h1> + +<h2>By Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<h2><br /><br /><br />CONTENTS</h2> + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align='left'></td><td align='left'>PROLOGUE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#I">I</a></td><td align='left'>TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#II">II</a></td><td align='left'>A STRANGE WORLD</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#III">III</a></td><td align='left'>A CHANGE OF MASTERS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#IV">IV</a></td><td align='left'>DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#V">V</a></td><td align='left'>SLAVES</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VI">VI</a></td><td align='left'>THE BEGINNING OF HORROR</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VII">VII</a></td><td align='left'>FREEDOM</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#VIII">VIII</a></td><td align='left'>THE MAHAR TEMPLE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#IX">IX</a></td><td align='left'>THE FACE OF DEATH</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#X">X</a></td><td align='left'>PHUTRA AGAIN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XI">XI</a></td><td align='left'>FOUR DEAD MAHARS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XII">XII</a></td><td align='left'>PURSUIT</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XIII">XIII</a></td><td align='left'>THE SLY ONE</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XIV">XIV</a></td><td align='left'>THE GARDEN OF EDEN</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#XV">XV</a></td><td align='left'>BACK TO EARTH</td></tr></table> + + +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="PROLOGUE" id="PROLOGUE" />PROLOGUE</h2> + + +<p>In the first place please bear in mind that I do not expect you to +believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent +experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous +ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal +Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London.</p> + +<p>You would surely have thought that I had been detected in no less +a heinous crime than the purloining of the Crown Jewels from the +Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His Majesty the King.</p> + +<p>The erudite gentleman in whom I confided congealed before I was half +through!—it is all that saved him from exploding—and my dreams +of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, and a niche in the Hall of +Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic atmosphere.</p> + +<p>But I believe the story, and so would you, and so would the learned +Fellow of the Royal Geological Society, had you and he heard it +from the lips of the man who told it to me. Had you seen, as I +did, the fire of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring +of sincerity in that quiet voice; had you realized the pathos of it +all—you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final +ocular proof that I had—the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature +which he had brought back with him from the inner world.</p> + +<p>I came upon him quite suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the +rim of the great Sahara Desert. He was standing before a goat-skin +tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by +was an Arab douar of some eight or ten tents.</p> + +<p>I had come down from the north to hunt lion. My party consisted +of a dozen children of the desert—I was the only "white" man. As +we approached the little clump of verdure I saw the man come from +his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer intently at us. At sight +of me he advanced rapidly to meet us.</p> + +<p>"A white man!" he cried. "May the good Lord be praised! I have +been watching you for hours, hoping against hope that <b>this</b> time +there would be a white man. Tell me the date. What year is it?"</p> + +<p>And when I had told him he staggered as though he had been struck +full in the face, so that he was compelled to grasp my stirrup +leather for support.</p> + +<p>"It cannot be!" he cried after a moment. "It cannot be! Tell me +that you are mistaken, or that you are but joking."</p> + +<p>"I am telling you the truth, my friend," I replied. "Why should +I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a matter as the +date?"</p> + +<p>For some time he stood in silence, with bowed head.</p> + +<p>"Ten years!" he murmured, at last. "Ten years, and I thought that +at the most it could be scarce more than one!" That night he told +me his story—the story that I give you here as nearly in his own +words as I can recall them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I" />I</h2> + +<h3>TOWARD THE ETERNAL FIRES</h3> + + +<p>I was born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David +Innes. My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was nineteen +he died. All his property was to be mine when I had attained my +majority—provided that I had devoted the two years intervening in +close application to the great business I was to inherit.</p> + +<p>I did my best to fulfil the last wishes of my parent—not because +of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father. For +six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for I +wished to know every minute detail of the business.</p> + +<p>Then Perry interested me in his invention. He was an old fellow +who had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection +of a mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation he studied +paleontology. I looked over his plans, listened to his arguments, +inspected his working model—and then, convinced, I advanced the +funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practical prospector.</p> + +<p>I shall not go into the details of its construction—it lies out +there in the desert now—about two miles from here. Tomorrow you +may care to ride out and see it. Roughly, it is a steel cylinder +a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twist +through solid rock if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving +drill operated by an engine which Perry said generated more power +to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cubic foot. I +remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would +make us fabulously wealthy—we were going to make the whole thing +public after the successful issue of our first secret trial—but +Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten +years.</p> + +<p>I recall as it were but yesterday the night of that momentous +occasion upon which we were to test the practicality of that +wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we repaired to the +lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron mole" as he +was wont to call the thing. The great nose rested upon the bare +earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the outer +jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which +contained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched +on the electric lights.</p> + +<p>Perry looked to his generator; to the great tanks that held the +life-giving chemicals with which he was to manufacture fresh air +to replace that which we consumed in breathing; to his instruments +for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examining the +materials through which we were to pass.</p> + +<p>He tested the steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which +transmitted its marvelous velocity to the giant drill at the nose +of his strange craft.</p> + +<p>Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon +transverse bars that we would be upright whether the craft were +ploughing her way downward into the bowels of the earth, or running +horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically +toward the surface again.</p> + +<p>At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For +a moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand grasped the +starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us—the +giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. We were off!</p> + +<p>The noise was deafening. The sensation was frightful. For a full +minute neither of us could do aught but cling with the proverbial +desperation of the drowning man to the handrails of our swinging +seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermometer.</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he cried, "it cannot be possible—quick! What does the +distance meter read?"</p> + +<p>That and the speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I +turned to take a reading from the former I could see Perry muttering.</p> + +<p>"Ten degrees rise—it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug +frantically upon the steering wheel.</p> + +<p>As I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated +Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me. But when I +spoke I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred +feet, Perry," I said, "by the time you can turn her into the +horizontal."</p> + +<p>"You'd better lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot +budge her out of the vertical alone. God give that our combined +strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost."</p> + +<p>I wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that +the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young +and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always +had my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for +that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, +since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to care for +and develop my body and my muscles by every means within my power. +What with boxing, football, and baseball, I had been in training +since childhood.</p> + +<p>And so it was with the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the +huge iron rim; but though I threw every ounce of my strength into +it, my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been—the +thing would not budge—the grim, insensate, horrible thing that +was holding us upon the straight road to death!</p> + +<p>At length I gave up the useless struggle, and without a word +returned to my seat. There was no need for words—at least none +that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was +quite sure that he would, for he never left an opportunity neglected +where he might sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in +the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when he had finished +eating, and before he went to bed at night he prayed again. In +between he often found excuses to pray even when the provocation +seemed far-fetched to my worldly eyes—now that he was about to die +I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy of prayer—if +one may allude with such a simile to so solemn an act.</p> + +<p>But to my astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in +the face Abner Perry was transformed into a new being. From his +lips there flowed—not prayer—but a clear and limpid stream of +undiluted profanity, and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn +piece of unyielding mechanism.</p> + +<p>"I should think, Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed +religiousness would rather be at his prayers than cursing in the +presence of imminent death."</p> + +<p>"Death!" he cried. "Death is it that appalls you? That is nothing +by comparison with the loss the world must suffer. Why, David +within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that +science has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and +with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten thousand +men. That two lives will be snuffed out is nothing to the world +calamity that entombs in the bowels of the earth the discoveries +that I have made and proved in the successful construction of the +thing that is now carrying us farther and farther toward the eternal +central fires."</p> + +<p>I am frank to admit that for myself I was much more concerned with +our own immediate future than with any problematic loss which the +world might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant +of its bereavement, while to me it was a real and terrible actuality.</p> + +<p>"What can we do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask +of a low and level voice.</p> + +<p>"We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks +are empty," replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight +hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from +the vertical to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must +eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing +before we reach the higher internal temperature we may even yet +survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance in several +million that we shall succeed—otherwise we shall die more quickly +but no more surely than as though we sat supinely waiting for the +torture of a slow and horrible death."</p> + +<p>I glanced at the thermometer. It registered 110 degrees. While +we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile +into the rock of the earth's crust.</p> + +<p>"Let us continue on, then," I replied. "It should soon be over at +this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would +be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?"</p> + +<p>"No," he answered. "I could not figure the speed exactly, for I +had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. +I reasoned, however, that we should make about five hundred yards +an hour."</p> + +<p>"And we are making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, +as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter. "How thick is the +Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"There are almost as many conjectures as to that as there +are geologists," was his answer. "One estimates it thirty miles, +because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one +degree to each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to +fuse the most refractory substances at that distance beneath the +surface. Another finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation +require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have +a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. +So there you are. You may take your choice."</p> + +<p>"And if it should prove solid?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It will be all the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. +"At the best our fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four +days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, +then, is sufficient to bear us in the safety through eight thousand +miles of rock to the antipodes."</p> + +<p>"If the crust is of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final +stop between six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; +but during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall +be corpses. Am I correct?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Quite correct, David. Are you frightened?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know. It all has come so suddenly that I scarce believe +that either of us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel +that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I imagine that +the shock has been so great as to partially stun our sensibilities."</p> + +<p>Again I turned to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less +rapidity. It was now but 140 degrees, although we had penetrated +to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled.</p> + +<p>"We have shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and +then he returned to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing +the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his best +efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's +masterful and scientific imprecations.</p> + +<p>Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have +essayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped +the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength +into a supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth—but +the results were as barren as when we had been traveling at top +speed.</p> + +<p>I shook my head sadly, and motioned to the starting lever. Perry +pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward +toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my +eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury +was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost +unbearable within the narrow confines of our metal prison.</p> + +<p>About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate +journey, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which +point the mercury registered 153 degrees F.</p> + +<p>Perry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food +he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he +had turned to singing—I felt that the strain had at last affected +his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked +me for the readings of the instruments from time to time, and +I announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I +recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should have been +glad to have had a few more years to live down. There was the +affair in the Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put +gunpowder in the stove—and nearly killed one of the masters. And +then—but what was the use, I was about to die and atone for all +these things and several more. Already the heat was sufficient +to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and +I felt that I should lose consciousness.</p> + +<p>"What are the readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my +somber reflections.</p> + +<p>"Ninety miles and 153 degrees," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Gad, but we've knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked +hat!" he cried gleefully.</p> + +<p>"Precious lot of good it will do us," I growled back.</p> + +<p>"But my boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean +anything to you? Why it hasn't gone up in six miles. Think of +it, son!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'm thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will +it make when our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature +is 153 degrees or 153,000? We'll be just as dead, and no one +will know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some +unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning +hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. +The very fact, as Perry took pains to explain, of the blasting of +several very exact and learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent +that we could not know what lay before us within the bowels of +the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the best, at least +until we were dead—when hope would no longer be essential to +our happiness. It was very good, and logical reasoning, and so I +embraced it.</p> + +<p>At one hundred miles the temperature had <b>dropped to 152 1/2 degrees</b>! +When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me.</p> + +<p>From then on until noon of the second day, it continued to drop +until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had been unbearably hot +before. At the depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrils +were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the +temperature had dropped to <b>ten below zero</b>! We suffered nearly two +hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about two hundred +and forty-five miles from the surface of the earth we entered a +stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to 32 degrees. +During the next three hours we passed through ten miles of ice, +eventually emerging into another series of ammonia-impregnated +strata, where the mercury again fell to ten degrees below zero.</p> + +<p>Slowly it rose once more until we were convinced that at last we +were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred +miles the temperature had reached 153 degrees. Feverishly I watched +the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing and +was at last praying.</p> + +<p>Our hopes had received such a deathblow that the gradually +increasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater +than it really was. For another hour I saw that pitiless column +of mercury rise and rise until at four hundred and ten miles it +stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon those +readings in almost breathless anxiety.</p> + +<p>One hundred and fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature +above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again, or would +it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, +and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to hope +against practical certainty.</p> + +<p>Already the air tanks were at low ebb—there was barely enough of +the precious gases to sustain us for another twelve hours. But +would we be alive to know or care? It seemed incredible.</p> + +<p>At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading.</p> + +<p>"Perry!" I shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going +down! She's 152 degrees again."</p> + +<p>"Gad!" he cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the +center?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die +it shall not be by fire—that is all that I have feared. I can +face the thought of any death but that."</p> + +<p>Down, down went the mercury until it stood as low as it had seven +miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the +realization broke upon us that death was very near. Perry was the +first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate +the air supply. And at the same time I experienced difficulty in +breathing. My head felt dizzy—my limbs heavy.</p> + +<p>I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himself a shake and sat +erect again. Then he turned toward me.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, David," he said. "I guess this is the end," and then +he smiled and closed his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back +at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young—I +did not want to die.</p> + +<p>For an hour I battled against the cruelly enveloping death that +surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing +high into the framework above me I could find more of the precious +life-giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It must +have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came +to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal +struggle against the inevitable.</p> + +<p>With my last flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically +toward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles +from the earth's surface—and then of a sudden the huge thing that +bore us came to a stop. The rattle of hurtling rock through the +hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened +that it was running loose in <b>air</b>—and then another truth flashed +upon me. The point of the prospector was <b>above</b> us. Slowly it +dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been +above. We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's +crust. Thank God! We were safe!</p> + +<p>I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have +been taken during the passage of the prospector through the earth, +and my fondest hopes were realized—a flood of fresh air was pouring +into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in a state of collapse, +and I lost consciousness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II" />II</h2> + +<h3>A STRANGE WORLD</h3> + + +<p>I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged +forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell +with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to +myself.</p> + +<p>My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought +that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing +open his shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried +with relief—his heart was beating quite regularly.</p> + +<p>At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly +across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was +rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed +and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly +foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of +wonderment upon his face.</p> + +<p>"Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. +Why—why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has +happened?"</p> + +<p>"It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; +"but where, I don't know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too +busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!"</p> + +<p>"You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How +long have I been unconscious?"</p> + +<p>"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the +sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you +instead of below. We didn't notice it at the time; but I recall +it now."</p> + +<p>"You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? +That is not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose +is deflected from the outside—by some external force or resistance—the +steering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering +wheel has not budged, David, since we started. You know that."</p> + +<p>I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, +and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin.</p> + +<p>"We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well +as you," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we +are this minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going +out to see just where."</p> + +<p>"Better wait till morning, David—it must be midnight now."</p> + +<p>I glanced at the chronometer.</p> + +<p>"Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it +must be midnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the +blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," +and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it +open. There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, +and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door +in the outer shell.</p> + +<p>In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the +floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly +behind me as I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface +of the ground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked +at Perry—it was broad day-light without!</p> + +<p>"Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations +or the chronometer," I said. Perry shook his head—there was a +strange expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.</p> + +<p>Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a +landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level +shore stretched down to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach +the surface of the water was dotted with countless tiny isles—some +of towering, barren, granitic rock—others resplendent in gorgeous +trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent +splendor of vivid blooms.</p> + +<p>Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent +ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical +forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, +dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and +branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid +coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands, but +within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave.</p> + +<p>And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a +cloudless sky.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry.</p> + +<p>For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed +head, buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke.</p> + +<p>"David," he said, "I am not so sure that we are <b>on</b> earth."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, +and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose +of the prospector protruding from the ground at our backs.</p> + +<p>"But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to +the country beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theory +untenable—it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However +I am willing to concede that we actually may be in another world +from that which we have always known. If we are not <b>on</b> earth, +there is every reason to believe that we may be <b>in</b> it."</p> + +<p>"We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon +some tropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry +shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime +suppose we do a bit of exploring up and down the coast—we may find +a native who can enlighten us."</p> + +<p>As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across +the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem.</p> + +<p>"David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about +the horizon?"</p> + +<p>As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of +the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusive +suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural—<b>there was no horizon</b>! +As far as the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its +bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere +specks; but ever beyond them was the sea, until the impression became +quite real that one was <b>looking up</b> at the most distant point that +the eyes could fathom—the distance was lost in the distance. That +was all—there was no clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of +the globe below the line of vision.</p> + +<p>"A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, +taking out his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the +riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector +the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"</p> + +<p>I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center +of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. +Fully thrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, +and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction +that one might almost reach up and touch it.</p> + +<p>"My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginning +to get on my nerves."</p> + +<p>"I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, +"that we are—" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity +of the prospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring +roar that ever had fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned +to discover the author of that fearsome noise.</p> + +<p>Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight +that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging +from the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a +bear. It was fully as large as the largest elephant and with great +forepaws armed with huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly +a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary +trunk. The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.</p> + +<p>Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. +I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other +surroundings—the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, +for he was already a hundred paces away, and with each second his +prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what +latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.</p> + +<p>I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which +ran out toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, +and as the mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him +into such remarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I +set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It +was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for +speed, so all that I considered necessary was to gain the trees +sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of +some great branch before it came up.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's +frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches +of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance +of some fifteen feet—at least on those trees which Perry attempted +to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of +the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen +times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back +to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified +glance over his shoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously +emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim +forest.</p> + +<p>At length he spied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's +wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand +over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tree +from which the creeper depended when the thing parted beneath his +weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.</p> + +<p>The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already +too close to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged +him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree—one that he could +easily encircle with his arms and legs—I boosted him as far up +as I could, and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my +shoulder revealed the awful beast almost upon me.</p> + +<p>It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its +enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the +agility of my young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of +its way and run completely behind it before its slow wits could +direct it in pursuit.</p> + +<p>The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged +in the branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had +at last found a haven.</p> + +<p>Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, +and so did Perry. He was praying—raising his voice in thanksgiving +at our deliverance—and had just completed a sort of paeon of +gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning +it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and +reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which +he crouched.</p> + +<p>The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of +fright, and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws +beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the +dangerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him +gain a higher branch in safety.</p> + +<p>And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. +Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down +with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible +force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began +to bend toward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as +the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung +chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending +and swaying tree he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree +top inclining toward the ground.</p> + +<p>I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. +The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which +nature had intended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, +and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of +their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might easily be +accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as +that which the fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. +But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too frantic +with apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught other than +a means to save him from the death that loomed so close.</p> + +<p>Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, +I dropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the +thing's attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to +gain the safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which +not even the terrific strength of that titanic monster could bend.</p> + +<p>As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled +mass that matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping +unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. +My plan worked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast +I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility as he now +displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all +fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a +force that would have broken every bone in my body had it struck +me; but, fortunately, I had turned to flee at the very instant that +I felt my blow land upon the towering back.</p> + +<p>As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along +the edge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a +moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing +behind me was gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts +to extricate myself.</p> + +<p>A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it +I leaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able +to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But +the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy +handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me.</p> + +<p>Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing +barks—much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full +cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of +this new and menacing note with the result that I missed my footing +and went sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck.</p> + +<p>My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel +the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to +my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping +and barking of the new element which had been infused into the +melee now seemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised +myself upon my hands and glanced around I saw what it was that had +distracted the <i>Dyryth</i>, as I afterward learned the thing is called, +from my trail.</p> + +<p>It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures—wild +dogs they seemed—that rushed growling and snapping in upon it +from all sides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow +brute and were away again before it could reach them with its huge +paws or sweeping tail.</p> + +<p>But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering +and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company +of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were +to all appearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of +Africa. Their skins were very black, and their features much like +those of the more pronounced Negroid type except that the head +receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. +Their arms were rather longer and their legs shorter in proportion +to the torso than in man, and later I noticed that their great +toes protruded at right angles from their feet—because of their +arboreal habits, I presume. Behind them trailed long, slender +tails which they used in climbing quite as much as they did either +their hands or feet.</p> + +<p>I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the +wolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several +of the savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come +slinking with bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward +the trees again to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw +a number of the man-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of +the nearest tree.</p> + +<p>Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, +but at least there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque +parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was none as to +the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce +pursuers.</p> + +<p>And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that +which held the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; +but the wolf-dogs were very close behind me—so close that I had +despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree +above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, +and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his +fellows.</p> + +<p>There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement and +curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. They +turned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered +that I was not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their +teeth were very large and white and even, except for the upper +canines which were a trifle longer than the others—protruding just +a bit when the mouth was closed.</p> + +<p>When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered +that my clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment +by garment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. +Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their +ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse +of Perry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of +trees in which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was +much exercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though +I called his name aloud several times there was no response.</p> + +<p>Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to +the ground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started +off at a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I +experienced such a journey before or since—even now I oftentimes +awake from a deep sleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that +awful experience.</p> + +<p>From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, +while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the +depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either +of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was +occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of +Perry? Would I ever see him again? What were the intentions of +these half-human things into whose hands I had fallen? Were they +inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? No! It +could not be. But yet where else? I had not left that earth—of +that I was sure. Still neither could I reconcile the things which +I had seen to a belief that I was still in the world of my birth. +With a sigh I gave it up.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III" />III</h2> + +<h3>A CHANGE OF MASTERS</h3> + + +<p>We must have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal +wood when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among +the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke +into wild shouting which was immediately answered from within, and +a moment later a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as +those who had captured me poured out to meet us. Again I was the +center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way and +that. Pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was black and blue, +yet I do not think that their treatment was dictated by either +cruelty or malice—I was a curiosity, a freak, a new plaything, +and their childish minds required the added evidence of all their +senses to back up the testimony of their eyes.</p> + +<p>Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of +several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon +the branches of the trees.</p> + +<p>Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead +branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts +upon one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network +of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty +feet above the ground.</p> + +<p>I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges +between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of +half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized +the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same +vicious wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many +goatlike animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for +their presence.</p> + +<p>My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; +then two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance—to +prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped +to I certainly had not the remotest conception. I had no more than +entered the dark shadows of the interior than there fell upon my +ears the tones of a familiar voice, in prayer.</p> + +<p>"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe."</p> + +<p>"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man +stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.</p> + +<p>He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized +by a number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops +to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his +strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked +at each other we could not help but laugh.</p> + +<p>"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome +ape."</p> + +<p>"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite +the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing +with us, Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you +suppose they can be? You were about to tell me where we are when +that great hairy frigate bore down upon us—have you really any +idea at all?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have +made a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the +earth is hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the +inner world."</p> + +<p>"Perry, you are mad!"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector +bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point +it reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick +crust. Up to that point we had been descending—direction is, +of course, merely relative. Then at the moment that our seats +revolved—the thing that made you believe that we had turned about +and were speeding upward—we passed the center of gravity and, +though we did not alter the direction of our progress, yet we were +in reality moving upward—toward the surface of the inner world. +Does not the strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you +that you are not in the world of your birth? And the horizon—could +it present the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were +indeed standing upon the inside surface of a sphere?"</p> + +<p>"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine +through five hundred miles of solid crust?"</p> + +<p>"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It +is another sun—an entirely different sun—that casts its eternal +noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it +now, David—if you can see it from the doorway of this hut—and +you will see that it is still in the exact center of the heavens. +We have been here for many hours—yet it is still noon.</p> + +<p>"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous +mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin +crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface—a sort of +shell; but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded +gases. As it continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal +force burled the particles of the nebulous center toward the crust +as rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen the +same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator. +Presently there was only a small super-heated core of gaseous matter +remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the contraction of +the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the solid crust from +all directions maintained this luminous core in the exact center of +the hollow globe. What remains of it is the sun you saw today—a +relatively tiny thing at the exact center of the earth. Equally +to every part of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday +light and torrid heat.</p> + +<p>"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal +life long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that +the same agencies were at work here is evident from the similar +forms of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already +seen. Take the great beast which attacked us, for example. +Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene +period of the outer crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found +in South America."</p> + +<p>"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely +they have no counterpart in the earth's history."</p> + +<p>"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape +and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless +convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely +the result of evolution along slightly different lines—either is +quite possible."</p> + +<p>Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several +of our captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered +and dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding +trees were filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their +young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among +the lot.</p> + +<p>"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry.</p> + +<p>"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. +"Now what do you suppose they intend doing with us?"</p> + +<p>We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to +the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures +and whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our +wake raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black +ape-things.</p> + +<p>Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating +as we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. +But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and +found sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen +their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were +of no greater moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's +toe at a street crossing in the outer world—they but laughed +uproariously and sped on with me.</p> + +<p>For some time they continued through the forest—how long I could +not guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully +to my mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for +measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were +living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute +the period of time which had elapsed since we broke through the crust +of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be days—who +in the world could tell where it was always noon! By the sun, no +time had elapsed—but my judgment told me that we must have been +several hours in this strange world.</p> + +<p>Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. +A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward +these our captors urged us, and after a short time led us through +a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down +to work, and we were soon convinced that if we were not to die to +make a Roman holiday, we were to die for some other purpose. The +attitude of our captors altered immediately as they entered the +natural arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim +ferocity marked their bestial faces—bared fangs menaced us.</p> + +<p>We were placed in the center of the amphitheater—the thousand +creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was +brought—hyaenadon Perry called it—and turned loose with us inside +the circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown +mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad +and strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while +its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us it +presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled lips baring +its mighty fangs.</p> + +<p>Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small +stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced +circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. +The ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with +savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged +us.</p> + +<p>At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. +My speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I +made such a record during my senior year at college that overtures +were made to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; +but in the tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past +I had never been in such need for control as now.</p> + +<p>As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under +absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward +me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my +weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone +caught the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him +bowling over upon his back.</p> + +<p>At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from +the circle of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the +upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw +that I was mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all +directions toward the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished +the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming +through the pass which leads into the valley, came a swarm of +hairy men—gorilla-like creatures armed with spears and hatchets, +and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the +ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained +its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past us swept +the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us +more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its +former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to +have authority among them directed that we be brought with them.</p> + +<p>When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we +saw a caravan of men and women—human beings like ourselves—and +for the first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could +have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that +they were a half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at +least were fashioned along the same lines as ourselves—there was +nothing grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures +in this strange, weird world.</p> + +<p>But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered +that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, +and that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony +Perry and I were chained at the end of the line, and without further +ado the interrupted march was resumed.</p> + +<p>Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the +tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain +brought on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On +and on we stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell +we were prodded with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did +not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they +would exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. +They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect +physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the +women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses of +raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features +of both sexes were well proportioned—there was not a face among +them that would have been called even plain if judged by earthly +standards. They wore no ornaments; but this I later learned was +due to the fact that their captors had stripped them of everything +of value. As garmenture the women possessed a single robe of +some light-colored, spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to +a leopard's skin. This they wore either supported entirely about +the waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the +knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. +Their feet were shod with skin sandals. The men wore loin cloths of +the hide of some shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before +and behind nearly to the ground. In some instances these ends were +finished with the strong talons of the beast from which the hides +had been taken.</p> + +<p>Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, +were rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were +indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned +more in conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies +were covered with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as +brutal as those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which +I had seen in the museums at home.</p> + +<p>Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head +above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one +whit less human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of +light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore +only a loin cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod +with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world.</p> + +<p>Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal—silver +predominating—and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny +reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among +themselves as they marched along on either side of us, but in a +language which I perceived differed from that employed by our fellow +prisoners. When they addressed the latter they used what appeared +to be a third language, and which I later learned is a mongrel +tongue rather analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.</p> + +<p>How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us +were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called—then +we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one +measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced +the sun stood at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed +toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time +elapsed who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and +eleven months of the ten years that I spent in the inner world, +or it may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second—I +cannot tell. But this I do know that since you have told me that +ten years have elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost +all respect for time—I am commencing to doubt that such a thing +exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV" />IV</h2> + +<h3>DIAN THE BEAUTIFUL</h3> + + +<p>When our guards aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed. They +gave us food. Strips of dried meat it was, but it put new life and +strength into us, so that now we too marched with high-held heads, +and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and proud; +but poor Perry hated walking. On earth I had often seen him call +a cab to travel a square—he was paying for it now, and his old +legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him +through the balance of those frightful marches.</p> + +<p>The country began to change at last, and we wound up out of the +level plain through mighty mountains of virgin granite. The tropical +verdure of the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but +even here the effects of constant heat and light were apparent in +the immensity of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms. +Crystal streams roared through their rocky channels, fed by the +perpetual snows which we could see far above us. Above the snowcapped +heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It was these, Perry explained, +which evidently served the double purpose of replenishing the +melting snows and protecting them from the direct rays of the sun.</p> + +<p>By this time we had picked up a smattering of the bastard language +in which our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway +in the rather charming tongue of our co-captives. Directly ahead +of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain +linked us together in a forced companionship which I, at least, +soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, and from +her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the life and +customs of the inner world—at least that part of it with which +she was familiar.</p> + +<p>She told me that she was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she +belonged to the tribe of Amoz, which dwells in the cliffs above +the Darel Az, or shallow sea.</p> + +<p>"How came you here?" I asked her.</p> + +<p>"I was running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as +though that was explanation quite sufficient.</p> + +<p>"Who is Jubal the Ugly One?" I asked. "And why did you run away +from him?"</p> + +<p>She looked at me in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Why <b>does</b> a woman run away from a man?" she answered my question +with another.</p> + +<p>"They do not, where I come from," I replied. "Sometimes they run +after them."</p> + +<p>But she could not understand. Nor could I get her to grasp the +fact that I was of another world. She was quite as positive that +creation was originated solely to produce her own kind and the +world she lived in as are many of the outer world.</p> + +<p>"But Jubal," I insisted. "Tell me about him, and why you ran away +to be chained by the neck and scourged across the face of a world."</p> + +<p>"Jubal the Ugly One placed his trophy before my father's house. It +was the head of a mighty tandor. It remained there and no greater +trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One +would come and take me as his mate. None other so powerful wished +me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and thus have won me +from Jubal. My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was, but a +sadok tossed him, and never again had he the full use of his right +arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had gone to the land of +Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none, father, +brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran +away and hid among the hills that skirt the land of Amoz. And +there these Sagoths found me and made me captive."</p> + +<p>"What will they do with you?" I asked. "Where are they taking us?"</p> + +<p>Again she looked her incredulity.</p> + +<p>"I can almost believe that you are of another world," she said, +"for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable. Do you really +mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of +the Mahars—the mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all +that walks or grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, +or swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air? Next +you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!"</p> + +<p>I was loath to do it, and further incur her scorn; but there was +no alternative if I were to absorb knowledge, so I made a clean +breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty Mahars. She was +shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten me, though much +that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She described +the Mahars largely by comparisons. In this way they were like unto +thipdars, in that to the hairless lidi.</p> + +<p>About all I gleaned of them was that they were quite hideous, had +wings, and webbed feet; lived in cities built beneath the ground; +could swim under water for great distances, and were very, very +wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense, and +the races like herself were their hands and feet—they were the +slaves and servants who did all the manual labor. The Mahars were +the heads—the brains—of the inner world. I longed to see this +wondrous race of supermen.</p> + +<p>Perry learned the language with me. When we halted, as we +occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he +would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who +was chained just ahead of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was +Hooja the Sly One. He too entered the conversation occasionally. +Most of his remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It +didn't take half an eye to see that he had developed a bad case; but +the girl appeared totally oblivious to his thinly veiled advances. +Did I say thinly veiled? There is a race of men in New Zealand, +or Australia, I have forgotten which, who indicate their preference +for the lady of their affections by banging her over the head with +a bludgeon. By comparison with this method Hooja's lovemaking might +be called thinly veiled. At first it caused me to blush violently +although I have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in other +less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg.</p> + +<p>But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she +considered herself as entirely above and apart from her present +surroundings and company. She talked with me, and with Perry, and +with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she couldn't +even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him +furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths to move the girl up +ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with +his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for his own +property—that he would buy her from the Mahars as soon as they +reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our destination.</p> + +<p>After passing over the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt +sea, upon whose bosom swam countless horrid things. Seal-like +creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet +above their enormous bodies and whose snake heads were split with +gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There were huge +tortoises too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which +Perry said were Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question his +veracity—they might have been most anything.</p> + +<p>Dian told me they were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that +the other, and more fearsome reptiles, which occasionally rose from +the deep to do battle with them, were azdyryths, or sea-dyryths—Perry +called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of +an alligator.</p> + +<p>I had forgotten what little geology I had studied at school—about +all that remained was an impression of horror that the illustrations +of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and a well-defined +belief that any man with a pig's shank and a vivid imagination +could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic monster he saw fit, +and take rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these +sleek, shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged +from the ocean, shaking their giant heads; when I saw the waters +roll from their sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls as they glided +hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged; as I +saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their titanic +and interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak +imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius.</p> + +<p>And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself.</p> + +<p>"David," he remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside +that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, and I thought +that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe +it—that it is impossible for man to believe such things as these +unless he sees them with his own eyes. We take things for granted, +perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, and have no +way of disproving them—like religions, for example; but we don't +believe them, we only think we do. If you ever get back to the +outer world you will find that the geologists and paleontologists +will be the first to set you down a liar, for they know that no +such creatures as they restore ever existed. It is all right to +<b>imagine</b> them as existing in an equally imaginary epoch—but now? +poof!"</p> + +<p>At the next halt Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack +chain to permit him to worm himself back quite close to Dian. We +were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her +back upon him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could +scarce repress a smile; but it was a short-lived smile for on the +instant the Sly One's hand fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking +her roughly toward him.</p> + +<p>I was not then familiar with the customs or social ethics +which prevailed within Pellucidar; but even so I did not need the +appealing look which the girl shot to me from her magnificent eyes +to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was +I paused not to inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of +her with his other hand, I placed a right to the point of his jaw +that felled him in his tracks.</p> + +<p>A roar of approval went up from those of the other prisoners and +the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama; not, as I later +learned, because I had championed the girl, but for the neat and, +to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja.</p> + +<p>And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide, wondering +eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a +delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a moment she stood thus in +silence, and then her head went high, and she turned her back upon +me as she had upon Hooja. Some of the prisoners laughed, and I +saw the face of Ghak the Hairy One go very black as he looked at +me searchingly. And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly +from red to white.</p> + +<p>Immediately after we resumed the march, and though I realized that +in some way I had offended Dian the Beautiful I could not prevail +upon her to talk with me that I might learn wherein I had erred—in +fact I might quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all +the attention I got. At last my own foolish pride stepped in and +prevented my making any further attempts, and thus a companionship +that without my realizing it had come to mean a great deal to me was +cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation to Perry. Hooja +did not renew his advances toward the girl, nor did he again venture +near me.</p> + +<p>Again the weary and apparently interminable marching became a +perfect nightmare of horrors to me. The more firmly fixed became +the realization that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, +the more I came to miss it; and the more impregnable the barrier +of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask Ghak for +the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might have +made everything all right again.</p> + +<p>On the march, or during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice +me—when her eyes wandered in my direction she looked either over +my head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and +determined to swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me +how I had offended, and how I might make reparation. I made up my +mind that I should do this at the next halt. We were approaching +another range of mountains at the time, and when we reached them, +instead of winding across them through some high-flung pass we +entered a mighty natural tunnel—a series of labyrinthine grottoes, +dark as Erebus.</p> + +<p>The guards had no torches or light of any description. In fact we +had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered +Pellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no need of light +above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting +their way through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept +along at a snail's pace, with much stumbling and falling—the +guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us, interspersed with +certain high notes which I found always indicated rough places and +turns.</p> + +<p>Halts were now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian +until I could see from the expression of her face how she was +receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned us +of the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. +Then at a sudden turn we emerged into the full light of the noonday +sun.</p> + +<p>But with it came a sudden realization of what meant to me a +real catastrophe—Dian was gone, and with her a half-dozen other +prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the ferocity of their rage +was terrible to behold. Their awesome, bestial faces were contorted +in the most diabolical expressions, as they accused each other of +responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating +us with their spear shafts, and hatchets. They had already killed +two near the head of the line, and were like to have finished the +balance of us when their leader finally put a stop to the brutal +slaughter. Never in all my life had I witnessed a more horrible +exhibition of bestial rage—I thanked God that Dian had not been +one of those left to endure it.</p> + +<p>Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each +alternate one had been freed commencing with Dian. Hooja was gone. +Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? +The commander of the guards was investigating. Soon he discovered +that the rude locks which had held the neckbands in place had been +deftly picked.</p> + +<p>"Hooja the Sly One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. +"He has taken the girl that you would not have," he continued, +glancing at me.</p> + +<p>"That I would not have!" I cried. "What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>He looked at me closely for a moment.</p> + +<p>"I have doubted your story that you are from another world," he +said at last, "but yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance +of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you really mean that +you do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know, Ghak," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Then shall I tell you. When a man of Pellucidar intervenes +between another man and the woman the other man would have, the +woman belongs to the victor. Dian the Beautiful belongs to you. +You should have claimed her or released her. Had you taken her +hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your mate, +and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, +it would have meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that +you released her from all obligation to you. By doing neither you +have put upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a +woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or +may take her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat, +and men do not choose slave women as their mates—at least not the +men of Pellucidar."</p> + +<p>"I did not know, Ghak," I cried. "I did not know. Not for all +Pellucidar would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, +or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her +as my—" but here I stopped. The vision of that sweet and innocent +face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and +where I had on the second believed that I clung only to the memory +of a gentle friendship I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would +have been disloyalty to her to have said that I did not want Dian +the Beautiful as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a +welcome friend in a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think +that I loved her.</p> + +<p>I believe Ghak must have read the truth more in my expression than +in my words, for presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Man of another world," he said, "I believe you. Lips may lie, +but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells only the truth. +Your heart has spoken to me. I know now that you meant no affront +to Dian the Beautiful. She is not of my tribe; but her mother is +my sister. She does not know it—her mother was stolen by Dian's +father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle +with us for our women—the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. +Then was her father king of Amoz, and her mother was daughter of +the king of Sari—to whose power I, his son, have succeeded. Dian +is the daughter of kings, though her father is no longer king since +the sadok tossed him and Jubal the Ugly One wrested his kingship +from him. Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly +magnified in the eyes of all who saw it. She will never forgive +you."</p> + +<p>I asked Ghak if there was not some way in which I could release the +girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon +her.</p> + +<p>"If ever you find her, yes," he answered. "Merely to raise her hand +above her head and drop it in the presence of others is sufficient +to release her; but how may you ever find her, you who are doomed +to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of Phutra?"</p> + +<p>"Is there no escape?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Hooja the Sly One escaped and took the others with him," replied +Ghak. "But there are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, +and once there it is not so easy—the Mahars are very wise. Even +if one escaped from Phutra there are the thipdars—they would find +you, and then—" the Hairy One shuddered. "No, you will never +escape the Mahars."</p> + +<p>It was a cheerful prospect. I asked Perry what he thought about +it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded +prayer he had been at for some time. He was wont to say that the +only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample time it gave +him for the improvisation of prayers—it was becoming an obsession +with him. The Sagoths had begun to take notice of his habit of +declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked him what +he was saying—to whom he was talking. The question gave me an +idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything.</p> + +<p>"Do not interrupt him," I said. "He is a very holy man in the world +from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you cannot +see—do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon +you and rend you limb from limb—like that," and I jumped toward +the great brute with a loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward.</p> + +<p>I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital +out of Perry's harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making +was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated us both with +marked respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed +the word along to their masters, the Mahars.</p> + +<p>Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra. The +entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which +guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths +were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other towers +scattered about over a large plain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V" />V</h2> + +<h3>SLAVES</h3> + + +<p>As we descended the broad staircase which led to the main avenue of +Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner +world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached +to inspect us. A more hideous thing it would be impossible to +imagine. The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, +some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great +round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white +fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated +into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails. +Their feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore +feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just in +front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees toward +the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies.</p> + +<p>I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The old +man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. +When it passed on, he turned to me.</p> + +<p>"A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, +gad, how enormous! The largest remains we ever have discovered have +never indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary +crow."</p> + +<p>As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many +thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties. +They paid but little attention to us. Phutra is laid out underground +with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill. It +is hewn from solid limestone strata. The streets are broad and +of a uniform height of twenty feet. At intervals tubes pierce the +roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors +transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would +otherwise be Cimmerian darkness. In like manner air is introduced.</p> + +<p>Perry and I were taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, +where one of the Sagoths who had formed our guard explained to a +Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture. The +method of communication between these two was remarkable in that +no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species of sign +language. As I was to learn later, the Mahars have no ears, not +any spoken language. Among themselves they communicate by means +of what Perry says must be a sixth sense which is cognizant of a +fourth dimension.</p> + +<p>I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it +to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy, but he said +no, that it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when +in each others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or +the other inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used +to converse with one another.</p> + +<p>"What they do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the +fourth dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense +of their listener. Do I make myself quite clear?"</p> + +<p>"You do not, Perry," I replied. He shook his head in despair, +and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great +accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, +and there arranging it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we +were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced +to discover the key to their written language, he assured me that +we were handling the ancient archives of the race.</p> + +<p>During this period my thoughts were continually upon Dian the +Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had escaped the Mahars, +and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had threatened +to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if +the little party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who +had returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not so sure but +that I should have been more contented to know that Dian was here +in Phutra, than to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. +Ghak, Perry, and I often talked together of possible escape, but +the Sarian was so steeped in his lifelong belief that no one could +escape from the Mahars except by a miracle, that he was not much +aid to us—his attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to +come to him.</p> + +<p>At my suggestion Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of +iron which we discovered among some rubbish in the cells where we +slept, for we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action +within the limits of the building to which we had been assigned. +So great were the number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants +of Phutra that none of us was apt to be overburdened with work, +nor were our masters unkind to us.</p> + +<p>We hid our new weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and +then Perry conceived the idea of making bows and arrows—weapons +apparently unknown within Pellucidar. Next came shields; but these +I found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom +of the building.</p> + +<p>We had completed these arrangements for our protection after leaving +Phutra when the Sagoths who had been sent to recapture the escaped +prisoners returned with four of them, of whom Hooja was one. Dian +and two others had eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was +confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not +seen Dian or the others after releasing them within the dark grotto. +What had become of them he had not the faintest conception—they +might be wandering yet, lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if +not dead from starvation.</p> + +<p>I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at +this time, I imagine, came the first realization that my affection +for the girl might be prompted by more than friendship. During +my waking hours she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and +when I slept her dear face haunted my dreams. More than ever was +I determined to escape the Mahars.</p> + +<p>"Perry," I confided to the old man, "if I have to search every +inch of this diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful +and right the wrong I unintentionally did her." That was the excuse +I made for Perry's benefit.</p> + +<p>"Diminutive world!" he scoffed. "You don't know what you are +talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar +which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was +arranging.</p> + +<p>"Look," he cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and +all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of the two +areas? Where the oceans are upon the outer crust, is land here. +These relatively small areas of ocean follow the general lines of +the continents of the outer world.</p> + +<p>"We know that the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; +then the inside diameter of Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the +superficial area 165,480,000 square miles. Three-fourths of this +is land. Think of it! A land area of 124,110,000 square miles! +Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the +balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as we often +compare nations by their relative land areas, so if we compare +these two worlds in the same way we have the strange anomaly of a +larger world within a smaller one!</p> + +<p>"Where within vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian? +Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even +though you knew where she might be found?"</p> + +<p>The proposition was a corker. It quite took my breath away; but +I found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it.</p> + +<p>"If Ghak will accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested.</p> + +<p>Perry and I sought him out and put the question straight to him.</p> + +<p>"Ghak," I said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. +Will you accompany us?"</p> + +<p>"They will set the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall +be killed; but—" he hesitated—"I would take the chance if I +thought that I might possibly escape and return to my own people."</p> + +<p>"Could you find your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And +could you aid David in his search for Dian?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"But how," persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country +without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you?"</p> + +<p>Ghak didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, +but he assured us that you might blindfold any man of Pellucidar +and carry him to the farthermost corner of the world, yet he would +be able to come directly to his own home again by the shortest route. +He seemed surprised to think that we found anything wonderful in +it. Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is +possessed by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of +course, but it gave me an idea.</p> + +<p>"Then Dian could have found her way directly to her own people?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>"Surely," replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed +her."</p> + +<p>I was for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry and +Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would +insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident +could befall a whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where +the inhabitants had no fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am sure that +some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, +crawl into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up +in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake for +three years he will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's +snooze. That may be all true, but I never saw but three of them +asleep, and it was the sight of these three that gave me a suggestion +for our means of escape.</p> + +<p>I had been searching about far below the levels that we slaves were +supposed to frequent—possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor +of the building—among a network of corridors and apartments, when +I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed of skins. At +first I thought they were dead, but later their regular breathing +convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of +the marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means +of eluding the watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards.</p> + +<p>Hastening back to Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to +me, meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan to him. To my +surprise he was horrified.</p> + +<p>"It would be murder, David," he cried.</p> + +<p>"Murder to kill a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Here they are not monsters, David," he replied. "Here they are +the dominant race—we are the 'monsters'—the lower orders. In +Pellucidar evolution has progressed along different lines than +upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature time +and time again wiped out the existing species—but for this fact +some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own +world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own history +had conditions been what they have been here.</p> + +<p>"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. +Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of +our own world's history, but for countless millions of years these +reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense +which I am sure they possess that has given them an advantage over +the other and more frightfully armed of their fellows; but this +we may never know. They look upon us as we look upon the beasts +of our fields, and I learn from their written records that other +races of Mahars feed upon men—they keep them in great droves, as +we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, and when they are +quite fat, they kill and eat them."</p> + +<p>I shuddered.</p> + +<p>"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They +understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our +own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions +of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means +of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason—that +our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race +of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among +themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it +is beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that +we reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know +that the Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend +it, or how it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. +They believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. +That the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to +them.</p> + +<p>"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out +your plan."</p> + +<p>"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer."</p> + +<p>He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some +reason which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very +careful description of the apartments and corridors I had just +explored.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to +carry out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something +of very real and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar +at the same time. Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising +nature from these archives of the Mahars. That you may not appreciate +my plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race.</p> + +<p>"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little +by little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change +took place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under +the intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took +vast strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we +know as biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist +announced the fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs +might be fertilized by chemical means after they were laid—all +true reptiles, you know, are hatched from eggs.</p> + +<p>"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to +exist—the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed +until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively +of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical +formula is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of +Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description +of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden +in the cellar of this building.</p> + +<p>"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First, +because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and second, +owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first so +many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population +became very grave.</p> + +<p>"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this +great secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race +within Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. +Why, we two would be the means of placing the men of the inner world +in their rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths +would then stand between them and absolute supremacy, and I was +not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all their power to the +greater intelligence of the Mahars—I could not believe that these +gorilla-like beasts were the mental superiors of the human race of +Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! +Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance +into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may +carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's +marvelous—absolutely marvelous just to think about it."</p> + +<p>"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just +that purpose—it shall be my life work to teach them His word—to +lead them into the light of His mercy while we are training their +hearts and hands in the ways of culture and civilization."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them +to pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make +a race of men that will be an honor to us both."</p> + +<p>Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our +conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited +about. Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I +only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined +it to him, he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but +for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible +fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed +upon him to accept my plan as the only feasible one, and when I had +assured him that I would take all the responsibility for it were +we captured, he accorded a reluctant assent.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI" />VI</h2> + +<h3>THE BEGINNING OF HORROR</h3> + + +<p>Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no +nights to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad +day-light—all but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the +building. So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test +lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before I reached +them; but we were doomed to disappointment, for no sooner had +we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the pits +beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hastened +under strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond.</p> + +<p>Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other +slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and +hustled into the line of marching humans.</p> + +<p>What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, +but presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two +escaped slaves had been recaptured—a man and a woman—and that we +were marching to witness their punishment, for the man had killed +a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them.</p> + +<p>At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure +that the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with +Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought +so too, as did Perry.</p> + +<p>"Is there naught that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak.</p> + +<p>"Naught," he replied.</p> + +<p>Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual +cruelty toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the +murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson +to all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, +and the fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, +and so I imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the +entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible.</p> + +<p>They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets +at the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a +most uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally +herded through a low entrance into a huge building the center of +which was given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this +open space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge +bowlders which rose in receding tiers toward the roof.</p> + +<p>At first I couldn't make out the purpose of this mighty pile of +rock, unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background +for the scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but +presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by +slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for +then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure.</p> + +<p>They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the +opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose +above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders +above. These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect.</p> + +<p>Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is +to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking +their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in +their sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language.</p> + +<p>For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the +others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in +fact all Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena +after the balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, +she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever +had seen, and on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while +behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.</p> + +<p>At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly +apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her +wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled +down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of +that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant +race. Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; +though doubtless quite as well assured of her beauty and divine +right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer world.</p> + +<p>And then the music started—music without sound! The Mahars cannot +hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown +among them. The "band" consists of a score or more Mahars. It +filed out in the center of the arena where the creatures upon the +rocks might see it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty +minutes.</p> + +<p>Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their +heads in a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a +cadence which evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence +of our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band +took measured steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward +and again forward—it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, +but at the end of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed +the first indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by +the dominant race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up +and down, and smote their rocky perches with their mighty tails +until the ground shook. Then the band started another piece, and +all was again as silent as the grave. That was one great beauty +about Mahar music—if you didn't happen to like a piece that was +being played all you had to do was shut your eyes.</p> + +<p>When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled +upon the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of +the day was on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a +couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize +the female—hoping against hope that she might prove to be another +than Dian the Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and +the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head +filled me with alarm.</p> + +<p>Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit +a huge, shaggy, bull-like creature.</p> + +<p>"A Bos," whispered Perry, excitedly. "His kind roamed the outer +crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We +have been carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of +a planet—is it not wondrous?"</p> + +<p>But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart +stood still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes +for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should +have leaped to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay +in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age.</p> + +<p>With the advent of the Bos—they call the thing a thag within +Pellucidar—two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of +the prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been +as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.</p> + +<p>As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground +with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly +beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar +that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first +see the beast from which emanated this fearsome challenge, but +the sound had the effect of bringing the two victims around with +a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face—she was not Dian! +I could have wept for relief.</p> + +<p>And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of +that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge +tiger—such as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval +when the world was young. In contour and markings it was not unlike +the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions +were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings +exaggerated. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites +were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite +coal, and its coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it +is a beautiful animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size and +colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of +its disposition. It is not the occasional member of its species +that is a man hunter—all are man hunters; but they do not confine +their foraging to man alone, for there is no flesh or fish within +Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in the constant efforts +which they make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient +sustenance to maintain their mighty thews.</p> + +<p>Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, +and upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with +gaping mouth and dripping fangs.</p> + +<p>The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At +the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became +a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard +such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was +all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged!</p> + +<p>The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the +other. The two puny things standing between them seemed already +lost, but at the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man +grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped to one +side, while the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives +in collision.</p> + +<p>There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful +ferocity transcends the power of imagination or description. Time +and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the +air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned +to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly +increased ire.</p> + +<p>For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping +out of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate +and each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger +was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with +powerful fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide +into shreds and ribbons.</p> + +<p>For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and +rage, its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from +side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening +about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. +It was with difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of +the wounded animal.</p> + +<p>All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until +in desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and +over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its +breath from it I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick +as a cat, the great thag was up again and had buried those mighty +horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the +arena.</p> + +<p>The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were +gone, and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained +upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment +the thag still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and +then the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the +least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag's heart.</p> + +<p>As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, +sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the +arena. With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the +arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried +him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into +the midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging +his bloody horns from side to side the beast cut a wide swath +before him straight upward toward our seats. Before him slaves +and gorilla-men fought in mad stampede to escape the menace of the +creature's death agonies, for such only could that frightful charge +have been.</p> + +<p>Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the +exits, many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind +us. Perry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned +for a few moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, +each intent upon saving his own hide.</p> + +<p>I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad +mob that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an +entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single +blinded, dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII" />VII</h2> + +<h3>FREEDOM</h3> + + +<p>Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, +but another emotion as quickly gripped me—hope of escape that the +demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant.</p> + +<p>I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass +his release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom +from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching +for an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I +found it—a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.</p> + +<p>Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the +shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for +some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and +fainter until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint +light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting +tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope +with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, +feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside +me.</p> + +<p>Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, +I came upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which +the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in +the ground.</p> + +<p>Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering +out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, +granite towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean +city were all in front of me—behind, the plain stretched level +and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, +then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much +enhanced.</p> + +<p>My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross +the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a +sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelopes +Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light.</p> + +<p>Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra—the gorgeous +flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which +is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom—brilliant little stars +of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still +another charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape.</p> + +<p>But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills +in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling +the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the +force of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than +upon that of the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I +was never particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it +has escaped me. As I recall it the difference is due in some part +to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust +directly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which +one's calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always +seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within +Pellucidar than upon the outer surface—there was a certain airy +lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily +detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced +in dreams.</p> + +<p>And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I +seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to +Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. +The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found +freedom. There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless +the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find +some way to encompass his release kept me from turning back to +Phutra.</p> + +<p>Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped +that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. +It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could +aid me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked +and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to +Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were +that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far +I wandered?</p> + +<p>The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet +with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. +Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living +thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world.</p> + +<p>I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit +of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty +little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a +laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent +sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or +five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to +size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. +As I watched them playing about I discovered, not only that they +suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface +to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange, +scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.</p> + +<p>It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved +to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans—that is what Perry +calls them—and make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded +fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the eating of +food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and +entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed +these delicacies.</p> + +<p>Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive +purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung +the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I +sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled +to escape.</p> + +<p>Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face +continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered +a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep +declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet +surface of which lay several beautiful islands.</p> + +<p>The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was +to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over +the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into +the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a +haven of peace and security.</p> + +<p>The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn +with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still +housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn +out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian +seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself +with the first man of that other world, so complete the solitude +which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders +and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second Adam +wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching +for my Eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the +exquisite outlines of a perfect face surmounted by a loose pile of +wondrous, raven hair.</p> + +<p>As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not +until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered +all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal +overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, +and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle.</p> + +<p>The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some +new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of +loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes +in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great +copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me.</p> + +<p>There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite +sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence +of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no +safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.</p> + +<p>The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping +him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative—the +rude skiff—and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing +into the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in +over the end.</p> + +<p>A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an +instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and +buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the +paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing +out upon the surface of the sea.</p> + +<p>A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one +had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His +mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in +short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with my +unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubbornly in every direction but +that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was +expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.</p> + +<p>I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident +that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next +half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather +of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper +giant behind me gained and gained.</p> + +<p>His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, +sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and +the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need +have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain death +was in his look.</p> + +<p>And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster +of that prehistoric deep—a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged +jaws, and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony +protuberances upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns.</p> + +<p>As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the +doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression +of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through +me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, +and that he might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me +was forgotten in the extremity of his danger.</p> + +<p>Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage +my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. +The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he +closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark +den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body +coiled and uncoiled about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws +snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like, +ran in and out upon the copper skin.</p> + +<p>Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet +against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but +for all the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with +his open palm.</p> + +<p>At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman +was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. +Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast +after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I +tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with +all the strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of +the hydrophidian.</p> + +<p>With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, +but the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing +me though it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts +to reach me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII" />VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE MAHAR TEMPLE</h3> + + +<p>The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, +and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated +creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the +waters about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became +evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently +its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive +movements it turned upon its back quite dead.</p> + +<p>And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament +in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of +the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the +spear I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, +and there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously +to the weapon the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other.</p> + +<p>What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the +question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities.</p> + +<p>Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to +translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance +of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard +tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of +the Mahars.</p> + +<p>To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon.</p> + +<p>"What do you want of my spear?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Only to keep you from running it through me," I replied.</p> + +<p>"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," +and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in +the bottom of the skiff.</p> + +<p>"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?"</p> + +<p>I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain +how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible +for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear +it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence +of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine +that there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings +similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought +upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the +scope of our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be—our +finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance +with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the +insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the +bowlders of the universe—the speck of moist dirt we so proudly +call the World.</p> + +<p>So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a +Mezop, and that his name was Ja.</p> + +<p>"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?"</p> + +<p>He looked at me in surprise.</p> + +<p>"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said, +"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon +the islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop +lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but +of course it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not +know. At any rate in this sea and those near by it is true that +only people of my race inhabit the islands.</p> + +<p>"We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going +to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but +the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added proudly. +"Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar +was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they +do the other men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to +son among us that this is so; but we fought so desperately and slew +so many Sagoths, and those of us that were captured killed so many +Mahars in their own cities that at last they learned that it were +better to leave us alone, and later came the time that the Mahars +became too indolent even to catch their own fish, except for +amusement, and then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a +truce was made between the races. Now they give us certain things +which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch, +and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace.</p> + +<p>"The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from +the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their +religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our +assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the manner +of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for +the poor slaves they bring to take part in it."</p> + +<p>As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more +closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six +or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that +of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar +to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher +tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his +mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive +and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable +makeshift language we were compelled to use.</p> + +<p>During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling +the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some +half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his +crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it +had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work +of it.</p> + +<p>As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed +him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that +grew beyond the sand.</p> + +<p>"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana +are always at war with us and would steal them if they found them," +he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a +distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The +upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing +the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see +land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to +stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel +that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head +required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning +faculties as almost to stupefy one.</p> + +<p>No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, +presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which +wound hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of +all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop +trail which I was later to find distinguished them from all other +trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth.</p> + +<p>It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly +in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn +directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a +tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, +leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail +which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly +about and retrace his steps until after a mile or less this new +pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. +Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no +spoor, to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond.</p> + +<p>As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could +not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of +the Mezops who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from +his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him +to his deep-buried cities.</p> + +<p>To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method +of traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you +would realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. +So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the +connecting links and the distances which one must retrace one's +steps from the paths' ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches +man's estate before he is familiar even with those which lead from +his own city to the sea.</p> + +<p>In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop +consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and +the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of trails +which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn +them, since from birth to death they never leave the clearing +in which the village of their nativity is situated except they be +taken to mate by a male from another village, or captured in war +by the enemies of their tribe.</p> + +<p>After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward +of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the +exact center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one +might well imagine.</p> + +<p>Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the +ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven +twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was +surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated +the identity of the owner.</p> + +<p>Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served +to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were +through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward +by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The +houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that +I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments.</p> + +<p>All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully +cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, +and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working +in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja +they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest +attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated +area were many warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the +points of their spears to the ground directly before them.</p> + +<p>Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village—the +house with eight rooms—and taking me up into it gave me food and +drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in +her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was +thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting +me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me +would one day rule the tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of +the community.</p> + +<p>We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, +for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man +proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which +lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it," +he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of +sight they need never know that we have been there. For my part I +hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of the island +think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations +which exist between the two races; otherwise I should like nothing +better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and +exterminate them—Pellucidar would be a better place to live were +there none of them."</p> + +<p>I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be +a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. +Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, +which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees +similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust +during the carboniferous age.</p> + +<p>Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough +oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No +doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor +was there need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, +as Ja explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, +entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the +roof.</p> + +<p>"But," added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even +the Mahars know nothing. Come," and he led me across the clearing +and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the +foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, +revealing a small opening which led straight within the building, +or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered myself +in a narrow place of extreme darkness.</p> + +<p>"We are within the outer wall," said Ja. "It is hollow. Follow +me closely."</p> + +<p>The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend +a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to +the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet +when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow +lighter and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner +wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire interior of +the temple.</p> + +<p>The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous +hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of +granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them +I saw men and women like myself.</p> + +<p>"What are the human beings doing here?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Wait and you shall see," replied Ja. "They are to take a leading +part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. +You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall +as they."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above +and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of +Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central +opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple.</p> + +<p>There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring +pterodactyls—thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind +these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been +when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra.</p> + +<p>Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to +settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer +edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was +reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by +her terrible guard.</p> + +<p>All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. +One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves +upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide +eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with +folded arms, awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung +to one another, hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking +race, these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as +they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than +improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. +We have opportunity, and little else.</p> + +<p>Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; +then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid +noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, +turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their +tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface.</p> + +<p>Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained +at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. +Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round +eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been +brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in +droves, and bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle.</p> + +<p>The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried +to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a +woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such +fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, +and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of her brain.</p> + +<p>Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but the +eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the +victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the +Mahar queen, slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged +by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance straight toward +the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To +the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, but stepped +into the shallows beside the little island. On she moved toward +the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim +on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and still she advanced, +chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was at her waist; now +her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, +helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their +own.</p> + +<p>The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were +exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced +until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from +her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile.</p> + +<p>Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose—her eyes +and forehead all that showed—yet still she walked on after the +retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath +the surface and after it went the eyes of her victim—only a slow +ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished.</p> + +<p>For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were +motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water +for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of +the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward +the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she +dragged the helpless girl to her doom.</p> + +<p>And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the +maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the +reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On +and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely +to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient +time to have drowned her thrice over there was no indication, +other than her dripping hair and glistening body, that she had been +submerged at all.</p> + +<p>Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out +again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves +so that I could have leaped into the tank to the child's rescue +had I not taken a firm hold of myself.</p> + +<p>Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came +to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms +was gone—gnawed completely off at the shoulder—but the poor thing +gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set +eyes seemed intensified.</p> + +<p>The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then +the breasts, and then a part of the face—it was awful. The poor +creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their +eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that +they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that +they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon the +terrible thing that was transpiring before them.</p> + +<p>Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when +she rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The +moment she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars +to enter the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a +repetition of the uncanny performance through which the queen had +led her victim.</p> + +<p>Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars—they being the +weakest and most tender—and when they had satisfied their appetite +for human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, +there were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that +for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the +case, for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipdars +darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like +steam engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves.</p> + +<p>There was no hypnotism here—just the plain, brutal ferocity of +the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at +that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. +By the time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves +the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later +the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the queen, +and themselves dropped into slumber.</p> + +<p>"I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja.</p> + +<p>"They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," +he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human +flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always +you will find Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they +do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the +practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced +of their race; but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle +that there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get +it."</p> + +<p>"Why should they object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is +true that they look upon us as lower animals?"</p> + +<p>"It is not because they consider us their equals that they are +supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," +replied Ja; "it is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They +would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider +such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As +a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this sentiment +should exist among them."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far +out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. +Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, +there being a break in the bowlders at this point as there was at +several other places about the side of the temple.</p> + +<p>My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed +a part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for +it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save +myself and I plunged headforemost into the water below.</p> + +<p>Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no +injury from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind +filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible +doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon +the creature that had disturbed their slumber.</p> + +<p>As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly +in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to +the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast +a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars +I was almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon +the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple +with my eyes could I discern any within it.</p> + +<p>For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized +that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by +the noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is +no such thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how +long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to +attempt to figure out by earthly standards—this matter of elapsed +time—but when I set myself to it I began to realize that I might +have been submerged a second or a month or not at all. You have +no conception of the strange contradictions and impossibilities +which arise when all methods of measuring time, as we know them +upon earth, are non-existent.</p> + +<p>I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved +me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the +Mahars filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their +uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was +alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me +from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one of the +tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf—you cannot imagine the +awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars +of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that you are +in their power—that they are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to +drag you down beneath the waters and devour you! It is frightful.</p> + +<p>But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that +I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone +was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once +more in search of a means to escape.</p> + +<p>Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled +into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless +he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our +hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had +hastened from the temple and back to his village.</p> + +<p>I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the +doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe +that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the +Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried through +the air, and so I continued my search until at last it was rewarded +by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at +one end of the temple.</p> + +<p>A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones +to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later +I had scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle +beyond.</p> + +<p>Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath +the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning +fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers +lay hidden in this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome +as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death +bravely enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast +or man—anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX" />IX</h2> + +<h3>THE FACE OF DEATH</h3> + + +<p>I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very +hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, +I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the +island was not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I +did but move in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as +there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, +the sun, of course, being always directly above my head, and the +trees so thickly set that I could see no distant object which might +serve to guide me in a straight line.</p> + +<p>As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four +times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did +so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the +chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which +I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach.</p> + +<p>I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft +down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience +with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must +be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as +possible.</p> + +<p>I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that +at which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in +sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well +out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of +it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long +since made up my mind to return to Phutra and give myself up that +I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One.</p> + +<p>I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, +especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well +formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I +realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture +were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom +without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that +the probability that I might find him was less than slight.</p> + +<p>Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and +wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. +I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I +had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the +Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose image had now +become the constant companion of my waking hours, and the central +and beloved figure of my dreams.</p> + +<p>But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my +duty and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers +and vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, +too; the great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us +both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, +and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete +twentieth-century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, +chivalrous, and loveable.</p> + +<p>Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered +Ja's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep +bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles +came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found +that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the +divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the pass I could +not for the life of me remember.</p> + +<p>It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which +seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that +many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out +the course of our lives, and again learned that it is not always +best to follow the line of least resistance.</p> + +<p>By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced +that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland +sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace +my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon +seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and +levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was +about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery +strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther +before I turned back.</p> + +<p>The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before +me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the +side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying +to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, +where it formed a broad level beach.</p> + +<p>Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost +to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the +nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the +ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it +seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the +restless waters advanced and retreated.</p> + +<p>Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene +was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled +vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the +ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not +repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate +the dense foliage to discern it.</p> + +<p>Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and +lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet +ventured, to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, +or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. +What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very +instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! +How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar +were small in comparison with those of the outer crust, but even +so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands +of miles. For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless +miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown beyond the +tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.</p> + +<p>The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as +though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer +world to look upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed +either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called to me to +explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which +lay before us could Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, +a slight noise I imagine, drew my attention behind me.</p> + +<p>As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took +wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form +that I beheld advancing upon me.</p> + +<p>A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty +jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, +and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand +was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the +fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind +lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the center of the +narrow way that led to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible +and menacing flesh.</p> + +<p>A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I +was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose +fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back +as the Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I +was, unarmed, and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as +I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor +felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first +time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered +now beside the restless, mysterious sea.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within +Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had +handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I +have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct +of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so +close before me today.</p> + +<p>To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar +to jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. +The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, +carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me +would pursue me into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility.</p> + +<p>There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. +I thought of Perry—how he would wonder what had become of me. I +thought of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all +would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange +and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird +surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of +my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how +unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the existence +of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an instant's +warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued +voices. The following morning, while the first worm is busily +engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they are teeing +up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced ball +than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon +was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for +me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged +jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was +it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp +between those formidable teeth?</p> + +<p>He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to +me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could +have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there +stood Ja, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to +the cliff's base.</p> + +<p>I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked +me for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human +eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet +I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.</p> + +<p>To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable +cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, +crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small +projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here +and there.</p> + +<p>The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double +his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to +the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely +trotted along behind me.</p> + +<p>As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, +but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come +down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with +one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously +upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he +lowered the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet +above the ground.</p> + +<p>To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and +precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored +one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I +came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to +try to save myself.</p> + +<p>But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger +himself.</p> + +<p>"The danger is still yours," he called, "for unless you move much +more rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag +you back before ever you are halfway up the spear—he can rear up +and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand."</p> + +<p>Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped +the spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I +could—being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I +imagine the slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized +our intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal +instead of having it doubled as he had hoped.</p> + +<p>When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that +fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific +rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; +another six inches would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt +a sudden wrench from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the +mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon.</p> + +<p>I made a frantic effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a +tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on +the surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and +still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner.</p> + +<p>At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand +the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when +I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point +yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end +transfixed his lower jaw.</p> + +<p>With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, +lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and +head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to +the ground.</p> + +<p>Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing +madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A +glance over my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at +the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did +he remain in this occupation that I had gained the safety of the +cliff top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did +not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, hissing into +the rank vegetation of the swamp and that was the last I saw of +him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="X" id="X" />X</h2> + +<h3>PHUTRA AGAIN</h3> + + +<p>I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure +footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save +me, which had come so near miscarrying.</p> + +<p>"I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," +he said, "for not even I could save you from their clutches, and +you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon +the beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the +sand beside it.</p> + +<p>"I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you +must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers +which lurk upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and +reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to +this point. It is well that I arrived when I did."</p> + +<p>"But why did you do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship +on the part of a man of another world and a different race and +color.</p> + +<p>"You saved my life," he replied; "from that moment it became my +duty to protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop +had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance +for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You +shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best of +hunting and fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate from, +the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come?"</p> + +<p>I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty +was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him—if I +could ever find his island.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is easy, my friend," he said. "You need merely to come +to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. +There you will find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly +opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large islands +far out, so far that they are barely discernible, the one to the +extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, +where I rule the tribe of Anoroc."</p> + +<p>"But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men +say that they are visible from half Pellucidar," he replied.</p> + +<p>"How large is Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory +these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their +world.</p> + +<p>"The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he +answered, "but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should +fall back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters +of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar +is quite flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. +At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, +is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping +over into the burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never +have been so far from Anoroc as to have seen this wall with my +own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is +true, whereas there is no reason at all in the foolish belief of +the Mahars. According to them Pellucidarians who live upon the +opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward!" and +Ja laughed uproariously at the very thought.</p> + +<p>It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had +not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars +had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered +how many ages it would take to lift these people out of their +ignorance even were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly +we would be killed for our pains as were those men of the outer +world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions +of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the +opportunity ever presented itself.</p> + +<p>And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity—that I +might make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus +note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian.</p> + +<p>"Ja," I said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so +far as the Mahars' theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned +it is correct?"</p> + +<p>"I would say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me +for one."</p> + +<p>"But, Ja," I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you +account for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from +the outer crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a +sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet +I come from a great world that is covered with human beings, and +beasts, and birds, and fishes in mighty oceans."</p> + +<p>"You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with +your head pointed downward?" he scoffed. "And were I to believe +that, my friend, I should indeed be mad."</p> + +<p>I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means +of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for +a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened +so intently that I thought I had made an impression, and started +the train of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding +of the truth. But I was mistaken.</p> + +<p>"Your own illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity +of your theory." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. +"See," he said, "without support even this tiny fruit falls until +it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported +upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls—you have +proven it yourself!" He had me, that time—you could see it in his +eye.</p> + +<p>It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for +when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system +and the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to +picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the +planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner +world could no more conceive of such things than can we of the +outer crust reduce to factors appreciable to our finite minds such +terms as space and eternity.</p> + +<p>"Well, Ja," I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or +down, here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not +so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part +I wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself +up to the Mahars once more that my friends and I may work out the +plan of escape which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us +together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the +slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not left +the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good +our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our +plans, which depended for their consummation upon the continued +sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the building +in which we were confined."</p> + +<p>"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.</p> + +<p>"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I have in Pellucidar, +except yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances?"</p> + +<p>He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head +sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet +it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn +you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing +nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have +I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. +There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would +rather die than be recaptured."</p> + +<p>"I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that +I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, +Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that +I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality."</p> + +<p>Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, +he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which +Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go +there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the +little demons who dwell there. We know this because when graves +are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely +borne off. That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees +where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the Dead +World above the Land of Awful Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place +his body in the ground that it may go to Molop Az."</p> + +<p>As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come +to the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me +from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to +do so, he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see +the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but +short from the beach where I had again met Ja. It was evident that +I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canon, +while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Phutra near to which +I must have come several times.</p> + +<p>As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the +flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me +to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was +firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his +own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time.</p> + +<p>I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much +indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, +and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished +much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful +in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.</p> + +<p>There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first—at +least it was the great thing to me—the finding of Dian the Beautiful. +I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my +ignorance, and I wanted to—well, I wanted to see her again, and +to be with her.</p> + +<p>Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, +and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns +that guard the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the +nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an +instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me.</p> + +<p>Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches +I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward +them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect +upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together +they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had +expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that +which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast +their spears.</p> + +<p>"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, +"Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world—he who +escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why +do you return, having once made good your escape?"</p> + +<p>"I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, +as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused +and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I +found my way back."</p> + +<p>"And you come of your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of +the guardsmen.</p> + +<p>"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar +and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to +be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? +What better lot could man desire?"</p> + +<p>The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, +and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they +felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for +riddle they still considered it.</p> + +<p>I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing +them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they +thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that +I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an +opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that +I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon +my return to the city.</p> + +<p>So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within +the large room that was the thing's office. With cold, reptilian +eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my +deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the +Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's +lips and fingers during the recital. Then it questioned me through +one of the Sagoths.</p> + +<p>"You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because +you think yourself better off here than elsewhere—do you not know +that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests +of the wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones +are continually occupied with?"</p> + +<p>I hadn't heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not +to admit it.</p> + +<p>"I could be in no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed +in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I +was fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I +barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am +sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such +as rule Phutra. At least such would be the case in my own world, +where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races +of man extend protection and hospitality to the stranger within +their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally assumed that a +like courtesy would be accorded me."</p> + +<p>The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased +speaking and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The +creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some +message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow +him, left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side +of me marched the balance of the guard.</p> + +<p>"What are they going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right.</p> + +<p>"You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you +regarding this strange world from which you say you come."</p> + +<p>After a moment's silence he turned to me again.</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves +who lie to them?"</p> + +<p>"No," I replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention +of lying to the Mahars."</p> + +<p>"Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you +told Sol-to-to just now—another world, indeed, where human beings +rule!" he concluded in fine scorn.</p> + +<p>"But it is the truth," I insisted. "From where else then did I +come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see +that."</p> + +<p>"It is your misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not +be judged by one with but half an eye."</p> + +<p>"What will they do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind +to believe me?"</p> + +<p>"You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used +in research work by the learned ones," he replied.</p> + +<p>"And what will they do with me there?" I persisted.</p> + +<p>"No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with +them, but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them +but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their +subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. +However I should not imagine that it would prove very useful to +him who was being cut up; but of course this is all but conjecture. +The chances are that ere long you will know much more about it than +I," and he grinned as he spoke. The Sagoths have a well-developed +sense of humor.</p> + +<p>"And suppose it is the arena," I continued; "what then?"</p> + +<p>"You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you +escaped?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for +them," he explained, "though of course the same kinds of animals +might not be employed."</p> + +<p>"It is sure death in either event?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not +know, nor does any other," he replied; "but those who go to the +arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the +two whom you saw."</p> + +<p>"They gained their liberty? And how?"</p> + +<p>"It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive +within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it +has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, +whom we have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes +turned in upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. +In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, +but the result was the same—the man and woman were liberated, +furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. +Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was burned—the mark of the +Mahars—which will forever protect these two from slaving parties."</p> + +<p>"There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, +and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?"</p> + +<p>"You are quite right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself +too quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce +one in a thousand who comes out alive."</p> + +<p>To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which +I had been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the +doorway I was turned over to the guards there.</p> + +<p>"He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," +said he who had brought me back, "so have him in readiness."</p> + +<p>The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I +had returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it +would be safe to give me liberty within the building as had been +the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to +whatever duty had been mine formerly.</p> + +<p>My first act was to hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual +over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and +rearranging upon new shelves.</p> + +<p>As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, +only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. +I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think +that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of +duty and affection!</p> + +<p>"Why, Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long +absence?"</p> + +<p>"Long absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed +me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within +the arena?"</p> + +<p>"'That time'," he repeated. "Why man, I have but just returned +from the arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you +been much later I should indeed have been worried, and as it is I +had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as +I had completed the translation of this most interesting passage."</p> + +<p>"Perry, you <b>are</b> mad," I exclaimed. "Why, the Lord only knows how +long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered +a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their +worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life +from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, +following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. +I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look up +from your work when I return and insist that we have been separated +but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I'm surprised +at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you cared no +more for me than this I should not have returned to chance death +at the hands of the Mahars for your sake."</p> + +<p>The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There +was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt +sorrow in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"David, my boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love +for you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. +I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; +but how in the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations +that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time +since last we saw each other. You are positive that months have +gone by, while to me it seems equally certain that not more than +an hour ago I sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that +both of us are right and at the same time both are wrong? First +tell me what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do +you catch my meaning?"</p> + +<p>I didn't and said so.</p> + +<p>"Yes," continued the old man, "we are both right. To me, bent over +my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little +or nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food +nor sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and +wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment +and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you +saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. +As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction +that there is no such thing as time—surely there can be no time +here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring +or recording time. Why, the Mahars themselves take no account of +such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works but +a single tense, the present. There seems to be neither past nor +future with them. Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly +minds to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem +to demonstrate its existence."</p> + +<p>It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to +enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening +with interest to my account of the adventures through which I had +passed he returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging +upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the +entrance of a Sagoth.</p> + +<p>"Come!" commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. "The investigators +would speak with you."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may +be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel +that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall +never return. If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you +to promise me that you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her +that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional +affront I put upon her, and that my one wish was to be spared long +enough to right the wrong that I had done her."</p> + +<p>Tears came to Perry's eyes.</p> + +<p>"I cannot believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It +would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without +you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken +away I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as +I should be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy, +good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he +hid his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly +by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI" />XI</h2> + +<h3>FOUR DEAD MAHARS</h3> + + +<p>A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars—the social +investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a +Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed +particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the +strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I +thought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence +for a long time following my examination, I expected to be ordered +returned to my quarters.</p> + +<p>During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium +of strange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the +head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference +to the officer in charge of the Sagoth guard.</p> + +<p>"Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits +for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with +the ridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally +astonished.</p> + +<p>"Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected +any one to believe so impossible a lie?"</p> + +<p>It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down +through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At +a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we +saw many Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these +chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me +to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon +a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. +Several Mahars stood about the poor creature holding him down so +that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her +three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. +No anesthetic had been administered and the shrieks and groans of +the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection +with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that +soon my turn would come. And to think that where there was no such +thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring +for months before death finally released me!</p> + +<p>The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been +brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work +that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered +with me. The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But +those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about +for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between +me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrument which one of them +must have dropped. It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was +much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my +boyhood days had I picked locks with a button-hook. Could I but +reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect at least +a temporary escape.</p> + +<p>Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one +hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of +the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber +of my being as I would, I could not quite make it.</p> + +<p>At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. +My heart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But +suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally +shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold +sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I +made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually +I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my +hand and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing +was in my grasp.</p> + +<p>Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. +It was pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment +later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their +work at the table. One already turned away and was examining other +victims, evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject.</p> + +<p>Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creature +walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the +thing approached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge +slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped +and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as it did +so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant I +gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the +corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the speed I could +command.</p> + +<p>Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought +was to place as much distance as possible between me and that +frightful chamber of torture.</p> + +<p>Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing +the danger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, +I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to +a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and +presently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the +corridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of +skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the +same corridor and the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead +so important a role in our escape from Phutra. Providence had +indeed been kind to me, for the reptiles still slept.</p> + +<p>My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in +search of Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, +and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions +of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and +these I lifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends +and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. +Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where +we had been wont to eat and sleep.</p> + +<p>Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course +they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by +my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before +attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope +to remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry +that bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. +However it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely +through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, +and so I set out with Perry and Ghak—the stench of the illy cured +pelts fairly choking me.</p> + +<p>Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the +main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await +me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. +There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The +rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again +oval in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and +not always straight. The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight +reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are +lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the +corridors are entirely unlighted. The Mahars can see quite well +in semidarkness.</p> + +<p>Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and +slaves; but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of +the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance +leading from the place into the avenue and this was well guarded +by Sagoths—this doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is +true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors and +apartments except on special occasions when we were instructed to +do so; but as we were considered a lower order without intelligence +there was little reason to fear that we could accomplish any harm +by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor +which led below.</p> + +<p>Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and +the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore +skin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where +I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and +so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance +of the weapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels.</p> + +<p>Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept +I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were +without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart +I disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, +so that before I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled +itself against the third, who sprang quickly up, facing me with +wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which the +race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already had +dispatched two of its companions, and that my sword was red with +their blood, it made a dash to escape me. But I was too quick for +it, and so, half hopping, half flying, it scurried down another +corridor with me close upon its heels.</p> + +<p>Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability +my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at +my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing +before me.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, +and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of +the Mahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been +occupied with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put +powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing +about upon the bench where it had been working. In an instant I +realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very room for the +finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It was the +buried chamber in which was hidden the Great Secret of the race +of Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin-bound +book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought, +after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep.</p> + +<p>There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which +I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew +that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to +fight if fight they must. Together they launched themselves upon +me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant, +the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the +elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about +the body, evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it +was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that powerful, +viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body. +The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to spur me to +greater efforts to overcome my antagonist.</p> + +<p>Back and forth across the floor we struggled—the Mahar dealing me +terrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted to +protect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for +an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand +to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with +what seemed to me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through +the ugly body of my foe.</p> + +<p>Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain +and loss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that +I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up +the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it +was the very thing that Perry had described to me.</p> + +<p>And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race +of Pellucidar—did there flash through my mind the thought that +countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason +to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I +did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid +eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red +lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, +standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of +Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII" />XII</h2> + +<h3>PURSUIT</h3> + + +<p>For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a +sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, +and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor +which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance +with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak +that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, +and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.</p> + +<p>"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The +fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of +our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let +you decide whether he might accompany us."</p> + +<p>I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure +that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I +saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars +instead of only the three I had expected to, made it possible to +include the fellow in our scheme of escape.</p> + +<p>"Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first +intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you +understand?"</p> + +<p>He said that he did.</p> + +<p>Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and +so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed +an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was +not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split +them along the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by +remaining out until the others had all been sewed in with my help, +and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through +which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were enabled +to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had +hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by passing our swords +up through the necks, and by the same means were enabled to move +them about in a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty +with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, +so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes +punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were thrust +permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.</p> + +<p>Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak +headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, +while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had +so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the head of my +disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering.</p> + +<p>As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the +busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. +It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened—never +before in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of +soulsearing fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible +to sweat blood, I sweat it then.</p> + +<p>Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when +they are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busy +slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we +reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. +Many Sagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as +he padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it +was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized +that the warm blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through +the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale +mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's +attention to it.</p> + +<p>The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke +to me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means +of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not +have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen +a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed +my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my +sword so that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes +upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, +eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head +and started slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but +before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed +on out into the avenue.</p> + +<p>On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very +numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, +there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake +which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge +their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying +the cool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, +and free from the larger reptiles which make the use of the great +seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind.</p> + +<p>In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the +plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that was +traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little +gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and +we were alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly +away from Phutra.</p> + +<p>The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our +horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, +and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar +skins that had brought us thus far in safety.</p> + +<p>I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling +flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in our +tracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How +we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of +which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines +of the outer world.</p> + +<p>On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between +ourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own +land—the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and +yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were +dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their +quarry until they had captured it or themselves been turned back +by a superior force.</p> + +<p>Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite +strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of +Sagoths.</p> + +<p>At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have +been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed +the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who +looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could +see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. +It was the long-expected pursuit.</p> + +<p>I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them.</p> + +<p>"We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move +with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they +are doubtless much fresher than we. Then—" he paused, glancing +at Perry.</p> + +<p>I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of the +period of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on the +march. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths +might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights +which confronted us.</p> + +<p>"You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it +if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there +is no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be +helped—we have simply to face it."</p> + +<p>"I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't +known that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility +of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but +now to my liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love.</p> + +<p>But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could +reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force +to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself.</p> + +<p>No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but +he suggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the +king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja—the +naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the +foothills which we now had reached.</p> + +<p>Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the +old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew +that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought +of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the +problem, in part, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying +him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel +faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII" />XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE SLY ONE</h3> + + +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted +us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled +up the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights +of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, +parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass +formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the +canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing +to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would reach the +now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should +be overtaken.</p> + +<p>Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the +success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the +outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage +cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their +king's appeal for succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs +ahead should be black with primeval warriors. But nothing of the +kind happened—as a matter of fact the Sly One had betrayed us. +At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to +our relief at Hooja's back, the craven traitor was sneaking around +the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village, that he might come up +from the other side when it was too late to save us, claiming that +he had become lost among the mountains.</p> + +<p>Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had +struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal +to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me.</p> + +<p>As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians +appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the +sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called +to me over his shoulder that we were lost.</p> + +<p>A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at +the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we +had just passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature +from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind +us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us.</p> + +<p>Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another +branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so +that appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. +The Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind +us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other +than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, +and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.</p> + +<p>Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. +Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, +and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I +turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, +and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one +canyon while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other.</p> + +<p>Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when +my very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I +ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running +had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful +cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab."</p> + +<p>The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular, +fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had +become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what +seemed a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could +not even guess—possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the +corresponding valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had +plunged into a cul-de-sac?</p> + +<p>Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the +top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to +check them temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made +bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my +shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and +wheeled toward the gorilla-man.</p> + +<p>In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our +escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game +by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed +a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had +restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger +which Ghak and I had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, +spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough +and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave +me unwonted confidence in my weapon.</p> + +<p>Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then—never were my +nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully +and deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never +before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over +his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort +of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously +swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in +which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they +achieve, even under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little +short of miraculous.</p> + +<p>My shaft was drawn back its full length—my eye had centered +its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then +he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant +that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang +forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the +swish of the hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same instant +my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan +he lunged almost at my feet—stone dead. Close behind him were two +more—fifty yards perhaps—but the distance gave me time to snatch +up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had +just given me had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. +Those which I had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring +along because their size precluded our concealing them within the +skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely from the city.</p> + +<p>With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with +another arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his +fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and +fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. +Instead, he turned and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. +Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.</p> + +<p>Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently +overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested +I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two +or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the +left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. +Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond +the canyon's end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening +to a large cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from +sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.</p> + +<p>Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could +advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting +him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About +me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were +of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions +for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a +number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave +I waited the advance of the Sagoths.</p> + +<p>As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint +sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight +noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. +It might have been produced by the moving of the great body of some +huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the +same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals +upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few seconds my +attention was considerably divided.</p> + +<p>And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes +glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet +above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be +standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing +up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of +Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful +Titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had +seen before.</p> + +<p>Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the +cave, and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous +growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with +the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud—I +doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all—but the suggestion of latent +possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate +from a gigantic and ferocious beast.</p> + +<p>As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the +cave, where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but +an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth +as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of +the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge +in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could +crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged +from the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon +that narrow ledge.</p> + +<p>The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully +eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the +end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it +sighted the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open +mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost +gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his +on-rushing companions.</p> + +<p>The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth +nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and +leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three +hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered +in the next—there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and +the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the +mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along the ledge.</p> + +<p>Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to +escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing +the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I +could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the +screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds +dwindled and disappeared in the distance.</p> + +<p>Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen +and returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is +called, pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire +band. Ghak was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the +terrible creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of +beasts.</p> + +<p>Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall +prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along +the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I could +reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I evidently +became confused by the twisting and turning of the canyons and +gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sari then, nor for a +long time thereafter.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV" />XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE GARDEN OF EDEN</h3> + + +<p>With no heavenly guide, it is little wonder that I became confused +and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, +in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and come out +above the valley upon the farther side. I know that I wandered +for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a small cave +in the face of the limestone formation which had taken the place +of the granite farther back.</p> + +<p>The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side +of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely +formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make +a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. +Yet it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark +interior.</p> + +<p>Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft +in the rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient +quantities partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had +expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of +its having been recently occupied. The opening was comparatively +small, so that after considerable effort I was able to lug up a +bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it.</p> + +<p>Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and +on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the +diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of +a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, +with food and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal +of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged +the bowlder before the entrance and curled myself upon a bed of +grasses—a naked, primeval, cave man, as savagely primitive as my +prehistoric progenitors.</p> + +<p>I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled +out upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before +me spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which +a clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, +the blue waters of which were just visible between the two mountain +ranges which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the +opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest clothed +them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper green of the towering +crags which formed their summit. The valley itself was carpeted +with a luxuriant grass, while here and there patches of wild flowers +made great splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green.</p> + +<p>Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike +trees—three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood +antelope, while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully +to a nearby ford to drink. There were several species of this +beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant +eland of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete +curve backward over their ears and then forward again beneath +them, ending in sharp and formidable points some two feet before +the face and above the eyes. In size they remind one of a pure +bred Hereford bull, yet they are very agile and fast. The broad +yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take +them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they are handsome +animals, and added the finishing touch to the strange and lovely +landscape that spread before my new home.</p> + +<p>I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as +a base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in +search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the +carcass of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I +hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled +the bowlder before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and +shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley.</p> + +<p>The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the +little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to +safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, +and after moving to what they considered a safe distance stood +contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one +of the old bull antelopes of the striped species lowered his head +and bellowed angrily—even taking a few steps in my direction, +so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed, he +resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him.</p> + +<p>Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and +across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned +progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the +cliffs upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around +them as I desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of +a ledge along which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet +from the base I came upon a projection which formed a natural path +along the face of the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea +toward the cliff's end.</p> + +<p>Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the +cliffs—the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up +at this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I +climbed carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted +aloft by the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the +flapping of wings.</p> + +<p>And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the +most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a +giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of +earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, +while the bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a spread of +fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, +and its claw equipped with horrible talons.</p> + +<p>The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing +from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond +and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood +terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the +end I saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.</p> + +<p>Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this +point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped +down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation +of my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly +as did the end upon which I stood.</p> + +<p>And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break +in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack—a girl +cowering upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as +though to shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered +just above her.</p> + +<p>The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon +its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which +to weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed +creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called +out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection +of the other sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of +self-preservation in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like +an irresistible magnet.</p> + +<p>Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of +the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. +At the same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my +sudden advent upon the scene must have startled him for he veered +to one side, and then rose above us once more.</p> + +<p>The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the +end had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when +no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. +As they fell upon me the expression that came into them would be +difficult to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been +one whit more complicated than my own—for the wide eyes that looked +into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful.</p> + +<p>"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."</p> + +<p>"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could +I tell whether she were glad or angry that I had come.</p> + +<p>Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I +had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch +up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim +was true, and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once +more and soared away.</p> + +<p>Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the +next attack, and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I +surprised her in a surreptitious glance which she was stealing at +me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her hands.</p> + +<p>"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?"</p> + +<p>She looked straight into my eyes.</p> + +<p>"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair +hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she +said, and I turned again to meet the reptile.</p> + +<p>So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound +of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. +But this time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I +had selected my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent +the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of +my left hand, and then as the great creature darted toward us I +let drive straight for that tough breast.</p> + +<p>Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature +fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried +completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was +looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die.</p> + +<p>"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I +have found you?"</p> + +<p>"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less +vehemence in it than before—yet it might have been but my imagination.</p> + +<p>"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you +since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"</p> + +<p>At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but +finally she thought better of it.</p> + +<p>"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. +"After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my +own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages +or let any of my friends know that I had returned for fear that +Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I found that my +brother had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a cave +beside a valley which my race seldom frequents, awaiting the time +that he should come back and free me from Jubal.</p> + +<p>"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward +my father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave +the alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me +across many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes +he will kill you and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible +man. I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape," and +she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge twenty +feet above us.</p> + +<p>"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. +"The sea is there"—she pointed over the edge of the cliff—"and +the sea shall have me rather than Jubal."</p> + +<p>"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other +have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift +it above her head and let it fall in token of release.</p> + +<p>She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes +with level gaze.</p> + +<p>"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would +have done this when the others were present to witness it—then I +should truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you +do it, for you know that without witnesses your act does not bind +you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away.</p> + +<p>I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't +forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other +occasion.</p> + +<p>"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove +it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your +power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of +your intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell +you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you +again."</p> + +<p>Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact +I found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic +of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make +some attempt to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching +Jubal, for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire to +meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess +Dian had told me when I first met her. He it was who, armed with +a puny knife, had met and killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand +struggle. It was Jubal who could cast his spear entirely through +the armored carcass of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who +had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of +his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it +was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him; but +the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often the +way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face.</p> + +<p>This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the +way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the +top of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the +edge of my own little valley, where I felt certain we should find +a means of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the +ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against +the chance of something happening to me. I knew that she would be +quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter +of my lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance.</p> + +<p>Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was +sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting +that something terrible might happen to me—that I might, in fact, +be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I +could perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders +of hers, and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid +of trouble so easily as that.</p> + +<p>For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think +that I had twice protected her from attack—the last time risking +my life to save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of +the Stone Age could be so ungrateful—so heartless; but maybe her +heart partook of the qualities of her epoch.</p> + +<p>Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and +extended by the action of the water draining through it from the +plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, +but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for +several miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland +sea, curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the +blue of the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the +sea lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond +the distant mountains at our backs—the weird and uncanny aspect +of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description.</p> + +<p>At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was +open and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this +direction that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey +when Dian touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was +about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken.</p> + +<p>"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.</p> + +<p>I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect +whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned +accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features.</p> + +<p>"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good +start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," +and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly +One. I had hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me +before she went, for she must have known that I was going to my death +for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it +was with a heavy heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled +grass to my doom.</p> + +<p>When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features +I understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly +One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire +side of his face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, +so that his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through +the horrible scar.</p> + +<p>Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of +his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this +encounter had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. +However this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty +sight, and now that his features, or what remained of them, were +distorted in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was +indeed most terrible to see—and much more terrible to meet.</p> + +<p>He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his +mighty spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took +as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I +must confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my +nerves to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady. +What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the +fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I hope to best one who +slaughtered the sadok and dyryth single-handed! I shuddered; but, +in fairness to myself, my fear was more for Dian than for my own +fate.</p> + +<p>And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, +and I raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. +The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the +missile and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the +only remaining weapon that he carried—a murderous-looking knife. +He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as +he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of +his thigh, inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then +he was upon me.</p> + +<p>My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised +arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's +point in his face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of +it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more +warily.</p> + +<p>It was a duel of strategy now—the great, hairy man maneuvering +to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to +play, while my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at +arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife +blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found his body—once +penetrating to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time, +and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that +brought the red stream through the hideous mouth and nose, covering +his face and breast with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely +spectacle, but he was far from dead.</p> + +<p>As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be +perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of +that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think +that Jubal, from utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling +of respect, and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed +the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master, and was +facing his end.</p> + +<p>At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for +his next act, which was in the nature of a last resort—a sort of +forlorn hope, which could only have been born of the belief that +if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on +the occasion of his fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me +with his knife, he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade +in both his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as +from a babe.</p> + +<p>Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant +glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph +as to almost unnerve me—then he sprang for me with his bare hands. +But it was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the +first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had +he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do +with his bare fists.</p> + +<p>As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his +outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon +his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of +flesh sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed +that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt to +rise, and I stood over him with another dose ready when he should +gain his knees.</p> + +<p>Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; +but he didn't stay up—I let him have a left fair on the point of +the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I +think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come +back for more as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled +him over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the last he +lay longer on the ground between blows, and each time came up weaker +than before.</p> + +<p>He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and +presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily +to the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once +that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I +looked upon that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in +death, I could not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this +slayer of fearful beasts—this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.</p> + +<p>Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead +body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought +and won a great idea was born in my brain—the outcome of this and +the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If +skill and science could render a comparative pygmy the master of +this mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish +with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at +their feet—and I would be their king and Dian their queen.</p> + +<p>Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within +the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. +She was quite the most superior person I ever had met—with the most +convincing way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, +I could go to the cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and +then she might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her +of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave easily—it +would be terrible had I lost her again, and I turned to gather up +my shield and bow to hurry after her, when to my astonishment I +found her standing not ten paces behind me.</p> + +<p>"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had +gone to the cave, as I told you to do."</p> + +<p>Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty +out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor—if +palaces have janitors.</p> + +<p>"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I +do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I +hate you."</p> + +<p>I was dumbfounded—this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! +I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from +a worse fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, +for she never seemed to notice it at all.</p> + +<p>"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."</p> + +<p>She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I +was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the +lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly +felt that at least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for +I knew that even by her own standards, I must have done a very +wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand +encounter.</p> + +<p>We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into +the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the +steep ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence. +Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing +at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would +cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise +I found that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman +of my acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish +rapture at the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.</p> + +<p>After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed +our hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to +the cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, +curling up, was soon asleep.</p> + +<p>When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across +the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, +but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. +Every time I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that +I nearly choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not +need any aid in diagnosing my case—I certainly had it and had it +bad. God, how I loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, +prehistoric girl!</p> + +<p>After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to +her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, +and said that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother +to be considered—his oldest brother.</p> + +<p>"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or +has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on +down from generation to generation?"</p> + +<p>She was not quite sure as to what I meant.</p> + +<p>"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for +the death of Jubal—there are seven of them—seven terrible men. +Someone may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people."</p> + +<p>It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large +for me—about seven sizes, in fact.</p> + +<p>"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the +worst at once.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count—they all have mates. +Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for +himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him—some have +even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az +rather than mate with the Ugly One."</p> + +<p>"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look +of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid +on a little thicker than the circumstance warranted—as though to +make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she +continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until all his +older brothers have done so, unless the older brother waives his +prerogative, which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as +he kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding him to +secure a mate."</p> + +<p>Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain +hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon +what slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered.</p> + +<p>"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of +you since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you +see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get +along very well alone."</p> + +<p>I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even +a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. +Then I arose.</p> + +<p>"I shall leave you <b>now</b>," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough +of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode +majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps +in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke.</p> + +<p>"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke—in rage, I thought.</p> + +<p>I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began +to realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, +to hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She +might hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity +upon me, as she already had, until I should have hated her; but +the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave +her there alone.</p> + +<p>The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time +I reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that +I turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I +had come down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within +the cave, but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her +face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she +heard me enter she sprang to her feet like a tigress.</p> + +<p>"I hate you!" she cried.</p> + +<p>Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the +semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was +rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have +read there.</p> + +<p>I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the +cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put +my arm around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She +fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand and pushed her head +back—I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone +back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable cave man +taking my mate by force—and then I kissed that beautiful mouth +again and again.</p> + +<p>"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you +understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else +in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love +like mine cannot be denied?"</p> + +<p>I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes +became accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling—a very +contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, +very gently, she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened +my grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and +stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down to hers once +more and held them there for a long time. At last she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so +long."</p> + +<p>"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!"</p> + +<p>"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you +before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love +speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say +what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me +in your arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's +heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?"</p> + +<p>"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment +that I saw you, although I did not know it until that time you +struck down Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me."</p> + +<p>"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your +ways—I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have +reviled me so, and yet have cared for me all the time."</p> + +<p>"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from +you that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were +battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, +and when I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a +simple thing to have eluded you and returned to my own people."</p> + +<p>"But Jubal's brothers—and cousins—" I reminded her, "how about +them?"</p> + +<p>She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I had to tell you <b>something</b>, David," she whispered. "I must needs +have <b>some</b> excuse for remaining near you."</p> + +<p>"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this +anguish for nothing!"</p> + +<p>"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought +that you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come +to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just come +to me. Just now when you went away hope went with you. I was +wretched, terrified, miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, +and I have not done that before since my mother died," and now I +saw that there was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was +near to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor child +had been through. Motherless and unprotected; hunted across a +savage, primeval world by that hideous brute of a man; exposed to +the attacks of the countless fearsome denizens of its mountains, +its plains, and its jungles—it was a miracle that she had survived +it all.</p> + +<p>To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must +have endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. +It made me very proud to think that I had won the love of such +a woman. Of course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing +cultured or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; +but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, for she was +good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous. And she was all these +things in spite of the fact that their observance entailed suffering +and danger and possible death.</p> + +<p>How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the +first place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have +been queen in her own land—and it meant just as much to the cave +woman to be a queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of +today to be a queen now; it's all comparative glory any way you +look at it, and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer +crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory to be +the wife a Dahomey chief.</p> + +<p>I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid +young woman I had known in New York—I mean splendid to look at +and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum +of mine—a clean, manly chap—but she had married a broken-down, +disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky +little European principality that was not even accorded a distinctive +color by Rand McNally.</p> + +<p>Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.</p> + +<p>After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to +see Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told +Dian about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, +and she was fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her +brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and +that then he and Ghak could form an alliance. That would give us +a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very +powerful tribes. Once they had been armed with swords, and bows +and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident that they +could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great +army of federated states with which we were planning to march upon +the Mahars.</p> + +<p>I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry +and I could construct after a little experimentation—gunpowder, +rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and +throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing +I was. She was beginning to think that I was omnipotent although +I really hadn't done anything but talk—but that is the way with +women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was +one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he would +have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag.</p> + +<p>The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous +vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on +the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that +I mustn't exercise, or it might prove fatal—if it had been a +full-grown snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a +single pace from the nest—I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent +is the poison. As it was I must have been laid up for quite a +while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and leaves finally reduced +the swelling and drew out the poison.</p> + +<p>The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea +which added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles +of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, +I sought out some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, +and having killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon +the tips of several arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of +these, and though my arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound +the beast crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit.</p> + +<p>We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with +feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful +Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we +had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been +there I did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to +exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun—it may have been an +hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not know.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV" />XV</h2> + +<h3>BACK TO EARTH</h3> + + +<p>We crossed the river and passed through the mountains beyond, and +finally we came out upon a great level plain which stretched away +as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction +it stretched even if you would care to know, for all the while that +I was within Pellucidar I never discovered any but local methods +of indicating direction—there is no north, no south, no east, no +west. <b>Up</b> is about the only direction which is well defined, and +that, of course, is <b>down</b> to you of the outer crust. Since the sun +neither rises nor sets there is no method of indicating direction +beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes, and +seas.</p> + +<p>The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel +Az upon the shore nearest the Mountains of the Clouds is about +as near to any direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you +happen not to have heard of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or +the Mountains of the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking, +and long for the good old understandable northeast and southwest +of the outer world.</p> + +<p>We had barely entered the great plain when we discovered two enormous +animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were they +that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, +but as they came closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, +eighty or a hundred feet long, with tiny heads perched at the top +of very long necks. Their heads must have been quite forty feet +from the ground. The beasts moved very slowly—that is their action +was slow—but their strides covered such a great distance that in +reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks.</p> + +<p>As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the back of each +sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though she never +before had seen one.</p> + +<p>"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried. "Thoria +lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow. The Thorians +alone of all the races of Pellucidar ride the lidi, for nowhere +else than beside the dark country are they found."</p> + +<p>"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; +"the Dead World which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar +above the Land of Awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes +the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar."</p> + +<p>I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do +yet, for I have never been to that part of Pellucidar from which +the Dead World is visible; but Perry says that it is the moon of +Pellucidar—a tiny planet within a planet—and that it revolves +around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is +always above the same spot within Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I remember that Perry was very much excited when I told him about +this Dead World, for he seemed to think that it explained the +hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of +the equinoxes.</p> + +<p>When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that +one was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his +two hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him +in kind, when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, +and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, +throwing his arms about her.</p> + +<p>In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; +since Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was +David, her mate.</p> + +<p>"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to +me.</p> + +<p>It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none +to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to +the land of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this +very lovely Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own +people.</p> + +<p>When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany +us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative +to an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed +annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I.</p> + +<p>After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we +came to the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between +one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great +cliff. Here to our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. +The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since +given me up as dead.</p> + +<p>When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to +say, but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I +could not have done better.</p> + +<p>Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at +a council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the +eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, +the various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there +was to be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I +should be the first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and +poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided +the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned +the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from +one tribe to another until representatives from nations so far +distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to +take the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the +art of making the new weapons and using them.</p> + +<p>We sent our young men out as instructors to every nation of the +federation, and the movement had reached colossal proportions before +the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when +three of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid +succession. They could not comprehend that the lower orders had +suddenly developed a power which rendered them really formidable.</p> + +<p>In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians +took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who had +been members of the guards within the building where we had been +confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frantic with +rage when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars of +the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something very terrible had +befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been most careful to +see that no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction +reached beyond their own race. How long it would take for the race +to become extinct it was impossible even to guess; but that this +must eventually happen seemed inevitable.</p> + +<p>The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one +of us alive, and at the same time had threatened to inflict the +direst punishment upon whomever should harm us. The Sagoths could +not understand these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though +their purpose was quite evident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great +Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them.</p> + +<p>Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning +of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped—there was +a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know. We were +both assured that the solution of these problems would advance +the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of years at +a single stroke. Then there were various other arts and sciences +which we wished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of them +did not embrace the mechanical details which alone could render +them of commercial, or practical value.</p> + +<p>"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce +gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must return to the +outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here we have +all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has +been produced above—what we lack is knowledge. Let us go back +and get that knowledge in the shape of books—then this world will +indeed be at our feet."</p> + +<p>And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector, +which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point where we +had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Dian would +not listen to any arrangement for my going which did not include +her, and I was not sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I +wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my world to see her.</p> + +<p>With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole, which +Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nose pointed back +toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully. +He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine. +At last everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our +pickets, a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all +times, reported that a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths +and Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra.</p> + +<p>Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to witness the +first clash between two fair-sized armies of the opposing races of +Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning +of a mighty struggle for possession of a world, and as the first +emperor of Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty, but my +right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle.</p> + +<p>As the opposing army approached we saw that there were many Mahars +with the Sagoth troops—an indication of the vast importance which +the dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign, for +it was not customary with them to take active part in the sorties +which their creatures made for slaves—the only form of warfare +which they waged upon the lower orders.</p> + +<p>Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily to view the +prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right of +our battle line. Dacor took the left, while I commanded the center. +Behind us I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's +head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and +I let them come until they were within easy bowshot before I gave +the word to fire.</p> + +<p>At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the +gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but those behind charged over +the prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon +us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant, +and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line +to engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the +Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite, +who turned the spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped +to close quarters with their lighter, handier weapons.</p> + +<p>Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while the +swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after volley into +their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, and +were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of +them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian.</p> + +<p>The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our +men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords they were already +so demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued +them for some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a +hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja the Sly One.</p> + +<p>He told me that he had been captured while on his way to his own +land; but that his life had been spared in hope that through him +the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak +and I were inclined to think that the Sly One had been guiding +this expedition to the land of Sari, where he thought that the book +might be found in Perry's possession; but we had no proof of this +and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, although none +liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently +learn.</p> + +<p>There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful +were our own people of them that they would not approach them +unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece +of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the +evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though +I laughed at her fears I was willing enough to humor them if it +would relieve her apprehension in any degree, and so she sat apart +from the prospector, near which the Mahars had been chained, while +Perry and I again inspected every portion of the mechanism.</p> + +<p>At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of +the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite +close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, +without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in +accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless +there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, +since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short +work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he +had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly +that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse, +aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring +at precisely the right moment.</p> + +<p>All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, +still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion +which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into +camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all +ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had +grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the +outer and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, +and pulled the starting lever.</p> + +<p>As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial +of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us—the +giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the +loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner +and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing +was off.</p> + +<p>But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by +the sudden lurching of the prospector. At first I did not realize +what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just +before entering the crust the towering body had fallen through its +supporting scaffolding, and that instead of entering the ground +vertically we were plunging into it at a different angle. Where it +would bring us out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. +And then I turned to note the effect of this strange experience +upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin.</p> + +<p>"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar +eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over and snatched the lion +skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror.</p> + +<p>The thing beneath the skin was not Dian—it was a hideous Mahar. +Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja had played upon me, and +the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thought, +Dian would be at his mercy. Frantically I tore at the steering +wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; +but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair.</p> + +<p>It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. +It varied but little from the former one which had brought us from +the outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we +had entered the ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and +brought me out here upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the +United States as I had hoped.</p> + +<p>For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come. I +dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to +find it again—the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover +it, and then my only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar +would be gone forever.</p> + +<p>That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible, for +how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my return journey may +terminate—and how, without a north or south or an east or a west +may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world to the tiny +spot where my lost love lies grieving for me?</p> + + +<p>That is the story as David Innes told it to me in the goat-skin tent +upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me +out to see the prospector—it was precisely as he had described it. +So huge was it that it could have been brought to this inaccessible +part of the world by no means of transportation that existed there—it +could only have come in the way that David Innes said it came—up +through the crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned +directly to the coast and hurried to London where I purchased a +great quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to Pellucidar +with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, +chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more +books—books upon every subject under the sun. He said he wanted +a library with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth +century in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anything I got +it for him.</p> + +<p>I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to +the end of the railroad; but from here I was recalled to America +upon important business. However, I was able to employ a very +trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan—the same guide, +in fact, who had accompanied me on the previous trip into the +Sahara—and after writing a long letter to Innes in which I gave +him my American address, I saw the expedition head south.</p> + +<p>Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred +miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I had +it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea +that he could fasten one end here before he left and by paying it +out through the end of the prospector lay a telegraph line between +the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to +mark the terminus of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in +case I was not able to reach him before he set out, so that I might +easily find and communicate with him should he be so fortunate as +to reach Pellucidar.</p> + +<p>I received several letters from him after I returned to America—in +fact he took advantage of every northward-passing caravan to drop +me word of some sort. His last letter was written the day before +he intended to depart. Here it is.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>My Dear Friend:</p> + +<p> Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian. That is + if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I + don't know the cause, but on two occasions they have threatened my + life. One, more friendly than the rest, told me today that they + intended attacking me tonight. It would be unfortunate should + anything of that sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to + depart.</p> + +<p> However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer the hour + approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear.</p> + +<p> Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter north for me, + so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me.</p> + +<p> The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to the + south—he thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he + doesn't want to be found with me. So good-bye again.</p> + +<p> Yours,</p> + +<p> David Innes.</p> +</div> + +<p>A year later found me at the end of the railroad once more, headed +for the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was +when I discovered that my old guide had died within a few weeks +of my return, nor could I find any member of my former party who +could lead me to the same spot.</p> + +<p>For months I searched that scorching land, interviewing countless +desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might find one who had +heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes +scanned the blinding waste of sand for the ricky cairn beneath +which I was to find the wires leading to Pellucidar—but always +was I unsuccessful.</p> + +<p>And always do these awful questions harass me when I think of David +Innes and his strange adventures.</p> + +<p>Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? +Or, did he again turn the nose of his iron monster toward the inner +world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere buried in the heart +of the great crust? And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it +to break through into the bottom of one of her great island seas, +or among some savage race far, far from the land of his heart's +desire?</p> + +<p>Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, +at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? I wonder.</p> + + +<pre> +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of At the Earth's Core +by Edgar Rice Burroughs</pre> + + +</body> +</html> |