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diff --git a/605-h/605-h.htm b/605-h/605-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03aa9a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/605-h/605-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8826 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Pellucidar</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July, 1996 [eBook #605]<br /> +[Most recently updated: July 16, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Judith Boss</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>PELLUCIDAR</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">By Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap00">PROLOGUE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. LOST ON PELLUCIDAR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. TRAVELING WITH TERROR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. SURPRISES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. A PENDENT WORLD</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. CAPTIVE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. ESCAPE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. KIDNAPED!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. RACING FOR LIFE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. GORE AND DREAMS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. CONQUEST AND PEACE</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap00"></a> +PROLOGUE</h2> + +<p> +Several years had elapsed since I had found the opportunity to do any big-game +hunting; for at last I had my plans almost perfected for a return to my old +stamping-grounds in northern Africa, where in other days I had had excellent +sport in pursuit of the king of beasts. +</p> + +<p> +The date of my departure had been set; I was to leave in two weeks. No +schoolboy counting the lagging hours that must pass before the beginning of +“long vacation” released him to the delirious joys of the summer camp could +have been filled with greater impatience or keener anticipation. +</p> + +<p> +And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead of my +schedule. +</p> + +<p> +Often am I in receipt of letters from strangers who have found something in a +story of mine to commend or to condemn. My interest in this department of my +correspondence is ever fresh. I opened this particular letter with all the zest +of pleasurable anticipation with which I had opened so many others. The +post-mark (Algiers) had aroused my interest and curiosity, especially at this +time, since it was Algiers that was presently to witness the termination of my +coming sea voyage in search of sport and adventure. +</p> + +<p> +Before the reading of that letter was completed lions and lion-hunting had fled +my thoughts, and I was in a state of excitement bordering upon frenzy. +</p> + +<p> +It—well, read it yourself, and see if you, too, do not find food for frantic +conjecture, for tantalizing doubts, and for a great hope. +</p> + +<p> +Here it is: +</p> + +<p> +DEAR SIR: I think that I have run across one of the most remarkable +coincidences in modern literature. But let me start at the beginning: +</p> + +<p> +I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of the earth. I have no trade—nor +any other occupation. +</p> + +<p> +My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter ancestors lust to roam. I +have combined the two and invested them carefully and without extravagance. +</p> + +<p> +I became interested in your story, At the Earth’s Core, not so much because of +the probability of the tale as of a great and abiding wonder that people should +be paid real money for writing such impossible trash. You will pardon my +candor, but it is necessary that you understand my mental attitude toward this +particular story—that you may credit that which follows. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly thereafter I started for the Sahara in search of a rather rare species +of antelope that is to be found only occasionally within a limited area at a +certain season of the year. My chase led me far from the haunts of man. +</p> + +<p> +It was a fruitless search, however, in so far as antelope is concerned; but one +night as I lay courting sleep at the edge of a little cluster of date-palms +that surround an ancient well in the midst of the arid, shifting sands, I +suddenly became conscious of a strange sound coming apparently from the earth +beneath my head. +</p> + +<p> +It was an intermittent ticking! +</p> + +<p> +No reptile or insect with which I am familiar reproduces any such notes. I lay +for an hour—listening intently. +</p> + +<p> +At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my lamp and +commenced to investigate. +</p> + +<p> +My bedding lay upon a rug stretched directly upon the warm sand. The noise +appeared to be coming from beneath the rug. I raised it, but found nothing—yet, +at intervals, the sound continued. +</p> + +<p> +I dug into the sand with the point of my hunting-knife. A few inches below the +surface of the sand I encountered a solid substance that had the feel of wood +beneath the sharp steel. +</p> + +<p> +Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From this receptacle +issued the strange sound that I had heard. +</p> + +<p> +How had it come here? +</p> + +<p> +What did it contain? +</p> + +<p> +In attempting to lift it from its burying place I discovered that it seemed to +be held fast by means of a very small insulated cable running farther into the +sand beneath it. +</p> + +<p> +My first impulse was to drag the thing loose by main strength; but fortunately +I thought better of this and fell to examining the box. I soon saw that it was +covered by a hinged lid, which was held closed by a simple screwhook and eye. +</p> + +<p> +It took but a moment to loosen this and raise the cover, when, to my utter +astonishment, I discovered an ordinary telegraph instrument clicking away +within. +</p> + +<p> +“What in the world,” thought I, “is this thing doing here?” +</p> + +<p> +That it was a French military instrument was my first guess; but really there +didn’t seem much likelihood that this was the correct explanation, when one +took into account the loneliness and remoteness of the spot. +</p> + +<p> +As I sat gazing at my remarkable find, which was ticking and clicking away +there in the silence of the desert night, trying to convey some message which I +was unable to interpret, my eyes fell upon a bit of paper lying in the bottom +of the box beside the instrument. I picked it up and examined it. Upon it were +written but two letters: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +D. I. +</p> + +<p> +They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. +</p> + +<p> +Once, in an interval of silence upon the part of the receiving instrument, I +moved the sending-key up and down a few times. Instantly the receiving +mechanism commenced to work frantically. +</p> + +<p> +I tried to recall something of the Morse Code, with which I had played as a +little boy—but time had obliterated it from my memory. I became almost frantic +as I let my imagination run riot among the possibilities for which this +clicking instrument might stand. +</p> + +<p> +Some poor devil at the unknown other end might be in dire need of succor. The +very franticness of the instrument’s wild clashing betokened something of the +kind. +</p> + +<p> +And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so powerless to help! +</p> + +<p> +It was then that the inspiration came to me. In a flash there leaped to my mind +the closing paragraphs of the story I had read in the club at Algiers: +</p> + +<p> +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at the ends +of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? +</p> + +<p> +The idea seemed preposterous. Experience and intelligence combined to assure me +that there could be no slightest grain of truth or possibility in your wild +tale—it was fiction pure and simple. +</p> + +<p> +And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires? +</p> + +<p> +What was this instrument—ticking away here in the great Sahara—but a travesty +upon the possible! +</p> + +<p> +Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with my own eyes? +</p> + +<p> +And the initials—D. I.—upon the slip of paper! +</p> + +<p> +David’s initials were these—David Innes. +</p> + +<p> +I smiled at my imaginings. I ridiculed the assumption that there was an inner +world and that these wires led downward through the earth’s crust to the +surface of Pellucidar. And yet— +</p> + +<p> +Well, I sat there all night, listening to that tantalizing clicking, now and +then moving the sending-key just to let the other end know that the instrument +had been discovered. In the morning, after carefully returning the box to its +hole and covering it over with sand, I called my servants about me, snatched a +hurried breakfast, mounted my horse, and started upon a forced march for +Algiers. +</p> + +<p> +I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel that I am making a fool +of myself. +</p> + +<p> +There is no David Innes. +</p> + +<p> +There is no Dian the Beautiful. +</p> + +<p> +There is no world within a world. +</p> + +<p> +Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination—nothing more. +</p> + +<p> +BUT— +</p> + +<p> +The incident of the finding of that buried telegraph instrument upon the lonely +Sahara is little short of uncanny, in view of your story of the adventures of +David Innes. +</p> + +<p> +I have called it one of the most remarkable coincidences in modern fiction. I +called it literature before, but—again pardon my candor—your story is not. +</p> + +<p> +And now—why am I writing you? +</p> + +<p> +Heaven knows, unless it is that the persistent clicking of that unfathomable +enigma out there in the vast silences of the Sahara has so wrought upon my +nerves that reason refuses longer to function sanely. +</p> + +<p> +I cannot hear it now, yet I know that far away to the south, all alone beneath +the sands, it is still pounding out its vain, frantic appeal. +</p> + +<p> +It is maddening. +</p> + +<p> +It is your fault—I want you to release me from it. +</p> + +<p> +Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no basis of fact for your +story, At the Earth’s Core. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Very respectfully yours, +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +COGDON NESTOR,<br/> + —— and —— Club,<br/> + Algiers.<br/> + June 1st, —. +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor as follows: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +Story true. Await me Algiers. +</p> + +<p> +As fast as train and boat would carry me, I sped toward my destination. For all +those dragging days my mind was a whirl of mad conjecture, of frantic hope, of +numbing fear. +</p> + +<p> +The finding of the telegraph-instrument practically assured me that David Innes +had driven Perry’s iron mole back through the earth’s crust to the buried world +of Pellucidar; but what adventures had befallen him since his return? +</p> + +<p> +Had he found Dian the Beautiful, his half-savage mate, safe among his friends, +or had Hooja the Sly One succeeded in his nefarious schemes to abduct her? +</p> + +<p> +Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and paleontologist, still live? +</p> + +<p> +Had the federated tribes of Pellucidar succeeded in overthrowing the mighty +Mahars, the dominant race of reptilian monsters, and their fierce, gorilla-like +soldiery, the savage Sagoths? +</p> + +<p> +I must admit that I was in a state bordering upon nervous prostration when I +entered the —— and —— Club, in Algiers, and inquired for Mr. Nestor. A moment +later I was ushered into his presence, to find myself clasping hands with the +sort of chap that the world holds only too few of. +</p> + +<p> +He was a tall, smooth-faced man of about thirty, clean-cut, straight, and +strong, and weather-tanned to the hue of a desert Arab. I liked him immensely +from the first, and I hope that after our three months together in the desert +country—three months not entirely lacking in adventure—he found that a man may +be a writer of “impossible trash” and yet have some redeeming qualities. +</p> + +<p> +The day following my arrival at Algiers we left for the south, Nestor having +made all arrangements in advance, guessing, as he naturally did, that I could +be coming to Africa for but a single purpose—to hasten at once to the buried +telegraph-instrument and wrest its secret from it. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to our native servants, we took along an English telegraph-operator +named Frank Downes. Nothing of interest enlivened our journey by rail and +caravan till we came to the cluster of date-palms about the ancient well upon +the rim of the Sahara. +</p> + +<p> +It was the very spot at which I first had seen David Innes. If he had ever +raised a cairn above the telegraph instrument no sign of it remained now. Had +it not been for the chance that caused Cogdon Nestor to throw down his sleeping +rug directly over the hidden instrument, it might still be clicking there +unheard—and this story still unwritten. +</p> + +<p> +When we reached the spot and unearthed the little box the instrument was quiet, +nor did repeated attempts upon the part of our telegrapher succeed in winning a +response from the other end of the line. After several days of futile endeavor +to raise Pellucidar, we had begun to despair. I was as positive that the other +end of that little cable protruded through the surface of the inner world as I +am that I sit here today in my study—when about midnight of the fourth day I +was awakened by the sound of the instrument. +</p> + +<p> +Leaping to my feet I grasped Downes roughly by the neck and dragged him out of +his blankets. He didn’t need to be told what caused my excitement, for the +instant he was awake he, too, heard the long-hoped for click, and with a whoop +of delight pounced upon the instrument. +</p> + +<p> +Nestor was on his feet almost as soon as I. The three of us huddled about that +little box as if our lives depended upon the message it had for us. +</p> + +<p> +Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending-key. The noise of the receiver +stopped instantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Ask who it is, Downes,” I directed. +</p> + +<p> +He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman’s translation of the reply, I +doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. +</p> + +<p> +“He says he’s David Innes,” said Downes. “He wants to know who we are.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell him,” said I; “and that we want to know how he is—and all that has +befallen him since I last saw him.” +</p> + +<p> +For two months I talked with David Innes almost every day, and as Downes +translated, either Nestor or I took notes. From these, arranged in +chronological order, I have set down the following account of the further +adventures of David Innes at the earth’s core, practically in his own words. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I<br/> +LOST ON PELLUCIDAR</h2> + +<p> +The Arabs, of whom I wrote you at the end of my last letter (Innes began), and +whom I thought to be enemies intent only upon murdering me, proved to be +exceedingly friendly—they were searching for the very band of marauders that +had threatened my existence. The huge rhamphorhynchus-like reptile that I had +brought back with me from the inner world—the ugly Mahar that Hooja the Sly One +had substituted for my dear Dian at the moment of my departure—filled them with +wonder and with awe. +</p> + +<p> +Nor less so did the mighty subterranean prospector which had carried me to +Pellucidar and back again, and which lay out in the desert about two miles from +my camp. +</p> + +<p> +With their help I managed to get the unwieldy tons of its great bulk into a +vertical position—the nose deep in a hole we had dug in the sand and the rest +of it supported by the trunks of date-palms cut for the purpose. +</p> + +<p> +It was a mighty engineering job with only wild Arabs and their wilder mounts to +do the work of an electric crane—but finally it was completed, and I was ready +for departure. +</p> + +<p> +For some time I hesitated to take the Mahar back with me. She had been docile +and quiet ever since she had discovered herself virtually a prisoner aboard the +“iron mole.” It had been, of course, impossible for me to communicate with her +since she had no auditory organs and I no knowledge of her fourth-dimension, +sixth-sense method of communication. +</p> + +<p> +Naturally I am kind-hearted, and so I found it beyond me to leave even this +hateful and repulsive thing alone in a strange and hostile world. The result +was that when I entered the iron mole I took her with me. +</p> + +<p> +That she knew that we were about to return to Pellucidar was evident, for +immediately her manner changed from that of habitual gloom that had pervaded +her, to an almost human expression of contentment and delight. +</p> + +<p> +Our trip through the earth’s crust was but a repetition of my two former +journeys between the inner and the outer worlds. This time, however, I imagine +that we must have maintained a more nearly perpendicular course, for we +accomplished the journey in a few minutes’ less time than upon the occasion of +my first journey through the five-hundred-mile crust. Just a trifle less than +seventy-two hours after our departure into the sands of the Sahara, we broke +through the surface of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +Fortune once again favored me by the slightest of margins, for when I opened +the door in the prospector’s outer jacket I saw that we had missed coming up +through the bottom of an ocean by but a few hundred yards. +</p> + +<p> +The aspect of the surrounding country was entirely unfamiliar to me—I had no +conception of precisely where I was upon the one hundred and twenty-four +million square miles of Pellucidar’s vast land surface. +</p> + +<p> +The perpetual midday sun poured down its torrid rays from zenith, as it had +done since the beginning of Pellucidarian time—as it would continue to do to +the end of it. Before me, across the wide sea, the weird, horizonless seascape +folded gently upward to meet the sky until it lost itself to view in the azure +depths of distance far above the level of my eyes. +</p> + +<p> +How strange it looked! How vastly different from the flat and puny area of the +circumscribed vision of the dweller upon the outer crust! +</p> + +<p> +I was lost. Though I wandered ceaselessly throughout a lifetime, I might never +discover the whereabouts of my former friends of this strange and savage world. +Never again might I see dear old Perry, nor Ghak the Hairy One, nor Dacor the +Strong One, nor that other infinitely precious one—my sweet and noble mate, +Dian the Beautiful! +</p> + +<p> +But even so I was glad to tread once more the surface of Pellucidar. Mysterious +and terrible, grotesque and savage though she is in many of her aspects, I can +not but love her. Her very savagery appealed to me, for it is the savagery of +unspoiled Nature. +</p> + +<p> +The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled me. Her mighty land areas +breathed unfettered freedom. +</p> + +<p> +Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders unsullied by the eye of man, +beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. +</p> + +<p> +Not for an instant did I regret the world of my nativity. I was in Pellucidar. +I was home. And I was content. +</p> + +<p> +As I stood dreaming beside the giant thing that had brought me safely through +the earth’s crust, my traveling companion, the hideous Mahar, emerged from the +interior of the prospector and stood beside me. For a long time she remained +motionless. +</p> + +<p> +What thoughts were passing through the convolutions of her reptilian brain? +</p> + +<p> +I do not know. +</p> + +<p> +She was a member of the dominant race of Pellucidar. By a strange freak of +evolution her kind had first developed the power of reason in that world of +anomalies. +</p> + +<p> +To her, creatures such as I were of a lower order. As Perry had discovered +among the writings of her kind in the buried city of Phutra, it was still an +open question among the Mahars as to whether man possessed means of intelligent +communication or the power of reason. +</p> + +<p> +Her kind believed that in the center of all-pervading solidity there was a +single, vast, spherical cavity, which was Pellucidar. This cavity had been left +there for the sole purpose of providing a place for the creation and +propagation of the Mahar race. Everything within it had been put there for the +uses of the Mahar. +</p> + +<p> +I wondered what this particular Mahar might think now. I found pleasure in +speculating upon just what the effect had been upon her of passing through the +earth’s crust, and coming out into a world that one of even less intelligence +than the great Mahars could easily see was a different world from her own +Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +What had she thought of the outer world’s tiny sun? +</p> + +<p> +What had been the effect upon her of the moon and myriad stars of the clear +African nights? +</p> + +<p> +How had she explained them? +</p> + +<p> +With what sensations of awe must she first have watched the sun moving slowly +across the heavens to disappear at last beneath the western horizon, leaving in +his wake that which the Mahar had never before witnessed—the darkness of night? +For upon Pellucidar there is no night. The stationary sun hangs forever in the +center of the Pellucidarian sky—directly overhead. +</p> + +<p> +Then, too, she must have been impressed by the wondrous mechanism of the +prospector which had bored its way from world to world and back again. And that +it had been driven by a rational being must also have occurred to her. +</p> + +<p> +Too, she had seen me conversing with other men upon the earth’s surface. She +had seen the arrival of the caravan of books and arms, and ammunition, and the +balance of the heterogeneous collection which I had crammed into the cabin of +the iron mole for transportation to Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +She had seen all these evidences of a civilization and brain-power transcending +in scientific achievement anything that her race had produced; nor once had she +seen a creature of her own kind. +</p> + +<p> +There could have been but a single deduction in the mind of the Mahar—there +were other worlds than Pellucidar, and the gilak was a rational being. +</p> + +<p> +Now the creature at my side was creeping slowly toward the near-by sea. At my +hip hung a long-barreled six-shooter—somehow I had been unable to find the same +sensation of security in the newfangled automatics that had been perfected +since my first departure from the outer world—and in my hand was a heavy +express rifle. +</p> + +<p> +I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitively that she was +escaping—but I did not. +</p> + +<p> +I felt that if she could return to her own kind with the story of her +adventures, the position of the human race within Pellucidar would be advanced +immensely at a single stride, for at once man would take his proper place in +the considerations of the reptilia. +</p> + +<p> +At the edge of the sea the creature paused and looked back at me. Then she slid +sinuously into the surf. +</p> + +<p> +For several minutes I saw no more of her as she luxuriated in the cool depths. +</p> + +<p> +Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there for another short while she +floated upon the surface. +</p> + +<p> +Finally she spread her giant wings, flapped them vigorously a score of times +and rose above the blue sea. A single time she circled far aloft—and then +straight as an arrow she sped away. +</p> + +<p> +I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her and she had disappeared. I +was alone. +</p> + +<p> +My first concern was to discover where within Pellucidar I might be—and in what +direction lay the land of the Sarians where Ghak the Hairy One ruled. +</p> + +<p> +But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari? +</p> + +<p> +And if I set out to search—what then? +</p> + +<p> +Could I find my way back to the prospector with its priceless freight of books, +firearms, ammunition, scientific instruments, and still more books—its great +library of reference works upon every conceivable branch of applied sciences? +</p> + +<p> +And if I could not, of what value was all this vast storehouse of potential +civilization and progress to be to the world of my adoption? +</p> + +<p> +Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with it, what could I accomplish +single-handed? +</p> + +<p> +Nothing. +</p> + +<p> +But where there was no east, no west, no north, no south, no stars, no moon, +and only a stationary midday sun, how was I to find my way back to this spot +should ever I get out of sight of it? +</p> + +<p> +I didn’t know. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time I stood buried in deep thought, when it occurred to me to try +out one of the compasses I had brought and ascertain if it remained steadily +fixed upon an unvarying pole. I reentered the prospector and fetched a compass +without. +</p> + +<p> +Moving a considerable distance from the prospector that the needle might not be +influenced by its great bulk of iron and steel I turned the delicate instrument +about in every direction. +</p> + +<p> +Always and steadily the needle remained rigidly fixed upon a point straight out +to sea, apparently pointing toward a large island some ten or twenty miles +distant. This then should be north. +</p> + +<p> +I drew my note-book from my pocket and made a careful topographical sketch of +the locality within the range of my vision. Due north lay the island, far out +upon the shimmering sea. +</p> + +<p> +The spot I had chosen for my observations was the top of a large, flat boulder +which rose six or eight feet above the turf. This spot I called Greenwich. The +boulder was the “Royal Observatory.” +</p> + +<p> +I had made a start! I cannot tell you what a sense of relief was imparted to me +by the simple fact that there was at least one spot within Pellucidar with a +familiar name and a place upon a map. +</p> + +<p> +It was with almost childish joy that I made a little circle in my note-book and +traced the word Greenwich beside it. +</p> + +<p> +Now I felt I might start out upon my search with some assurance of finding my +way back again to the prospector. +</p> + +<p> +I decided that at first I would travel directly south in the hope that I might +in that direction find some familiar landmark. It was as good a direction as +any. This much at least might be said of it. +</p> + +<p> +Among the many other things I had brought from the outer world were a number of +pedometers. I slipped three of these into my pockets with the idea that I might +arrive at a more or less accurate mean from the registrations of them all. +</p> + +<p> +On my map I would register so many paces south, so many east, so many west, and +so on. When I was ready to return I would then do so by any route that I might +choose. +</p> + +<p> +I also strapped a considerable quantity of ammunition across my shoulders, +pocketed some matches, and hooked an aluminum fry-pan and a small stew-kettle +of the same metal to my belt. +</p> + +<p> +I was ready—ready to go forth and explore a world! +</p> + +<p> +Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square miles for my friends, my +incomparable mate, and good old Perry! +</p> + +<p> +And so, after locking the door in the outer shell of the prospector, I set out +upon my quest. Due south I traveled, across lovely valleys thick-dotted with +grazing herds. +</p> + +<p> +Through dense primeval forests I forced my way and up the slopes of mighty +mountains searching for a pass to their farther sides. +</p> + +<p> +Ibex and musk-sheep fell before my good old revolver, so that I lacked not for +food in the higher altitudes. The forests and the plains gave plentifully of +fruits and wild birds, antelope, aurochsen, and elk. +</p> + +<p> +Occasionally, for the larger game animals and the gigantic beasts of prey, I +used my express rifle, but for the most part the revolver filled all my needs. +</p> + +<p> +There were times, too, when faced by a mighty cave bear, a saber-toothed tiger, +or huge felis spelaea, black-maned and terrible, even my powerful rifle seemed +pitifully inadequate—but fortune favored me so that I passed unscathed through +adventures that even the recollection of causes the short hairs to bristle at +the nape of my neck. +</p> + +<p> +How long I wandered toward the south I do not know, for shortly after I left +the prospector something went wrong with my watch, and I was again at the mercy +of the baffling timelessness of Pellucidar, forging steadily ahead beneath the +great, motionless sun which hangs eternally at noon. +</p> + +<p> +I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly months with +no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes. +</p> + +<p> +I saw no men nor signs of men. Nor is this strange, for Pellucidar, in its land +area, is immense, while the human race there is very young and consequently far +from numerous. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless upon that long search mine was the first human foot to touch the soil +in many places—mine the first human eye to rest upon the gorgeous wonders of +the landscape. +</p> + +<p> +It was a staggering thought. I could not but dwell upon it often as I made my +lonely way through this virgin world. Then, quite suddenly, one day I stepped +out of the peace of manless primality into the presence of man—and peace was +gone. +</p> + +<p> +It happened thus: +</p> + +<p> +I had been following a ravine downward out of a chain of lofty hills and had +paused at its mouth to view the lovely little valley that lay before me. At one +side was tangled wood, while straight ahead a river wound peacefully along +parallel to the cliffs in which the hills terminated at the valley’s edge. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, as I stood enjoying the lovely scene, as insatiate for Nature’s +wonders as if I had not looked upon similar landscapes countless times, a sound +of shouting broke from the direction of the woods. That the harsh, discordant +notes rose from the throats of men I could not doubt. +</p> + +<p> +I slipped behind a large boulder near the mouth of the ravine and waited. I +could hear the crashing of underbrush in the forest, and I guessed that whoever +came came quickly—pursued and pursuers, doubtless. +</p> + +<p> +In a short time some hunted animal would break into view, and a moment later a +score of half-naked savages would come leaping after with spears or club or +great stone-knives. +</p> + +<p> +I had seen the thing so many times during my life within Pellucidar that I felt +that I could anticipate to a nicety precisely what I was about to witness. I +hoped that the hunters would prove friendly and be able to direct me toward +Sari. +</p> + +<p> +Even as I was thinking these thoughts the quarry emerged from the forest. But +it was no terrified four-footed beast. Instead, what I saw was an old man—a +terrified old man! +</p> + +<p> +Staggering feebly and hopelessly from what must have been some very terrible +fate, if one could judge from the horrified expressions he continually cast +behind him toward the wood, he came stumbling on in my direction. +</p> + +<p> +He had covered but a short distance from the forest when I beheld the first of +his pursuers—a Sagoth, one of those grim and terrible gorilla-men who guard the +mighty Mahars in their buried cities, faring forth from time to time upon +slave-raiding or punitive expeditions against the human race of Pellucidar, of +whom the dominant race of the inner world think as we think of the bison or the +wild sheep of our own world. +</p> + +<p> +Close behind the foremost Sagoth came others until a full dozen raced, shouting +after the terror-stricken old man. They would be upon him shortly, that was +plain. +</p> + +<p> +One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-arm testifying +to his purpose. +</p> + +<p> +And then, quite with the suddenness of an unexpected blow, I realized a past +familiarity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. +</p> + +<p> +Simultaneously there swept over me the staggering fact that the old man +was—PERRY! That he was about to die before my very eyes with no hope that I +could reach him in time to avert the awful catastrophe—for to me it meant a +real catastrophe! +</p> + +<p> +Perry was my best friend. +</p> + +<p> +Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate—a part of +me. +</p> + +<p> +I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand and the revolvers at my belt; one +does not readily synchronize his thoughts with the stone age and the twentieth +century simultaneously. +</p> + +<p> +Now from past habit I still thought in the stone age, and in my thoughts of the +stone age there were no thoughts of firearms. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was almost upon Perry when the feel of the gun in my hand awoke me +from the lethargy of terror that had gripped me. From behind my boulder I threw +up the heavy express rifle—a mighty engine of destruction that might bring down +a cave bear or a mammoth at a single shot—and let drive at the Sagoth’s broad, +hairy breast. +</p> + +<p> +At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His spear dropped from his +hand. +</p> + +<p> +Then he lunged forward upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +The effect upon the others was little less remarkable. Perry alone could have +possibly guessed the meaning of the loud report or explained its connection +with the sudden collapse of the Sagoth. The other gorilla-men halted for but an +instant. Then with renewed shrieks of rage they sprang forward to finish Perry. +</p> + +<p> +At the same time I stepped from behind my boulder, drawing one of my revolvers +that I might conserve the more precious ammunition of the express rifle. +Quickly I fired again with the lesser weapon. +</p> + +<p> +Then it was that all eyes were directed toward me. Another Sagoth fell to the +bullet from the revolver; but it did not stop his companions. They were out for +revenge as well as blood now, and they meant to have both. +</p> + +<p> +As I ran forward toward Perry I fired four more shots, dropping three of our +antagonists. Then at last the remaining seven wavered. It was too much for +them, this roaring death that leaped, invisible, upon them from a great +distance. +</p> + +<p> +As they hesitated I reached Perry’s side. I have never seen such an expression +upon any man’s face as that upon Perry’s when he recognized me. I have no words +wherewith to describe it. There was not time to talk then—scarce for a +greeting. I thrust the full, loaded revolver into his hand, fired the last shot +in my own, and reloaded. There were but six Sagoths left then. +</p> + +<p> +They started toward us once more, though I could see that they were terrified +probably as much by the noise of the guns as by their effects. They never +reached us. Half-way the three that remained turned and fled, and we let them +go. +</p> + +<p> +The last we saw of them they were disappearing into the tangled undergrowth of +the forest. And then Perry turned and threw his arms about my neck and, burying +his old face upon my shoulder, wept like a child. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II<br/> +TRAVELING WITH TERROR</h2> + +<p> +We made camp there beside the peaceful river. There Perry told me all that had +befallen him since I had departed for the outer crust. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed that Hooja had made it appear that I had intentionally left Dian +behind, and that I did not purpose ever returning to Pellucidar. He told them +that I was of another world and that I had tired of this and of its +inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +To Dian he had explained that I had a mate in the world to which I was +returning; that I had never intended taking Dian the Beautiful back with me; +and that she had seen the last of me. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the camp, nor had Perry seen or +heard aught of her since. +</p> + +<p> +He had no conception of the time that had elapsed since I had departed, but +guessed that many years had dragged their slow way into the past. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja, too, had disappeared very soon after Dian had left. The Sarians, under +Ghak the Hairy One, and the Amozites under Dacor the Strong One, Dian’s +brother, had fallen out over my supposed defection, for Ghak would not believe +that I had thus treacherously deceived and deserted them. +</p> + +<p> +The result had been that these two powerful tribes had fallen upon one another +with the new weapons that Perry and I had taught them to make and to use. Other +tribes of the new federation took sides with the original disputants or set up +petty revolutions of their own. +</p> + +<p> +The result was the total demolition of the work we had so well started. +</p> + +<p> +Taking advantage of the tribal war, the Mahars had gathered their Sagoths in +force and fallen upon one tribe after another in rapid succession, wreaking +awful havoc among them and reducing them for the most part to as pitiable a +state of terror as that from which we had raised them. +</p> + +<p> +Alone of all the once-mighty federation the Sarians and the Amozites with a few +other tribes continued to maintain their defiance of the Mahars; but these +tribes were still divided among themselves, nor had it seemed at all probable +to Perry when he had last been among them that any attempt at re-amalgamation +would be made. +</p> + +<p> +“And thus, your majesty,” he concluded, “has faded back into the oblivion of +the Stone Age our wondrous dream and with it has gone the First Empire of +Pellucidar.” +</p> + +<p> +We both had to smile at the use of my royal title, yet I was indeed still +“Emperor of Pellucidar,” and some day I meant to rebuild what the vile act of +the treacherous Hooja had torn down. +</p> + +<p> +But first I would find my empress. To me she was worth forty empires. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“None whatever,” replied Perry. “It was in search of her that I came to the +pretty pass in which you discovered me, and from which, David, you saved me. +</p> + +<p> +“I knew perfectly well that you had not intentionally deserted either Dian or +Pellucidar. I guessed that in some way Hooja the Sly One was at the bottom of +the matter, and I determined to go to Amoz, where I guessed that Dian might +come to the protection of her brother, and do my utmost to convince her, and +through her Dacor the Strong One, that we had all been victims of a treacherous +plot to which you were no party. +</p> + +<p> +“I came to Amoz after a most trying and terrible journey, only to find that +Dian was not among her brother’s people and that they knew naught of her +whereabouts. +</p> + +<p> +“Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be fair and just, but so great were his grief and +anger over the disappearance of his sister that he could not listen to reason, +but kept repeating time and again that only your return to Pellucidar could +prove the honesty of your intentions. +</p> + +<p> +“Then came a stranger from another tribe, sent I am sure at the instigation of +Hooja. He so turned the Amozites against me that I was forced to flee their +country to escape assassination. +</p> + +<p> +“In attempting to return to Sari I became lost, and then the Sagoths discovered +me. For a long time I eluded them, hiding in caves and wading in rivers to +throw them off my trail. +</p> + +<p> +“I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that chance threw in my way. +</p> + +<p> +“I traveled on and on, in what directions I could not even guess; and at last I +could elude them no longer and the end came as I had long foreseen that it +would come, except that I had not foreseen that you would be there to save me.” +</p> + +<p> +We rested in our camp until Perry had regained sufficient strength to travel +again. We planned much, rebuilding all our shattered air-castles; but above all +we planned most to find Dian. +</p> + +<p> +I could not believe that she was dead, yet where she might be in this savage +world, and under what frightful conditions she might be living, I could not +guess. +</p> + +<p> +When Perry was rested we returned to the prospector, where he fitted himself +out fully like a civilized human being—under-clothing, socks, shoes, khaki +jacket and breeches and good, substantial puttees. +</p> + +<p> +When I had come upon him he was clothed in rough sadak sandals, a gee-string +and a tunic fashioned from the shaggy hide of a thag. Now he wore real clothing +again for the first time since the ape-folk had stripped us of our apparel that +long-gone day that had witnessed our advent within Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +With a bandoleer of cartridges across his shoulder, two six-shooters at his +hips, and a rifle in his hand he was a much rejuvenated Perry. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed he was quite a different person altogether from the rather shaky old man +who had entered the prospector with me ten or eleven years before, for the +trial trip that had plunged us into such wondrous adventures and into such a +strange and hitherto undreamed-of-world. +</p> + +<p> +Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied from disuse in +his former life, had filled out. +</p> + +<p> +He was still an old man of course, but instead of appearing ten years older +than he really was, as he had when we left the outer world, he now appeared +about ten years younger. The wild, free life of Pellucidar had worked wonders +for him. +</p> + +<p> +Well, it must need have done so or killed him, for a man of Perry’s former +physical condition could not long have survived the dangers and rigors of the +primitive life of the inner world. +</p> + +<p> +Perry had been greatly interested in my map and in the “royal observatory” at +Greenwich. By use of the pedometers we had retraced our way to the prospector +with ease and accuracy. +</p> + +<p> +Now that we were ready to set out again we decided to follow a different route +on the chance that it might lead us into more familiar territory. +</p> + +<p> +I shall not weary you with a repetition of the countless adventures of our long +search. Encounters with wild beasts of gigantic size were of almost daily +occurrence; but with our deadly express rifles we ran comparatively little risk +when one recalls that previously we had both traversed this world of frightful +dangers inadequately armed with crude, primitive weapons and all but naked. +</p> + +<p> +We ate and slept many times—so many that we lost count—and so I do not know how +long we roamed, though our map shows the distances and directions quite +accurately. We must have covered a great many thousand square miles of +territory, and yet we had seen nothing in the way of a familiar landmark, when +from the heights of a mountain-range we were crossing I descried far in the +distance great masses of billowing clouds. +</p> + +<p> +Now clouds are practically unknown in the skies of Pellucidar. The moment that +my eyes rested upon them my heart leaped. I seized Perry’s arm and, pointing +toward the horizonless distance, shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“The Mountains of the Clouds!” +</p> + +<p> +“They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our worst enemies, the Mahars,” +Perry remonstrated. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it,” I replied, “but they give us a starting-point from which to +prosecute our search intelligently. They are at least a familiar landmark. +</p> + +<p> +“They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not wandering far in the +wrong direction. +</p> + +<p> +“Furthermore, close to the Mountains of the Clouds dwells a good friend, Ja the +Mezop. You did not know him, but you know all that he did for me and all that +he will gladly do to aid me. +</p> + +<p> +“At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Mountains of the Clouds constitute a mighty range,” replied Perry. “They +must cover an enormous territory. How are you to find your friend in all the +great country that is visible from their rugged flanks?” +</p> + +<p> +“Easily,” I answered him, “for Ja gave me minute directions. I recall almost +his exact words: +</p> + +<p> +“‘You need merely come to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the +Clouds. There you will find a river that flows into the Lural Az. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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> +And so we hastened onward toward the great cloud-mass that was to be our guide +for several weary marches. At last we came close to the towering crags, +Alp-like in their grandeur. +</p> + +<p> +Rising nobly among its noble fellows, one stupendous peak reared its giant head +thousands of feet above the others. It was he whom we sought; but at its foot +no river wound down toward any sea. +</p> + +<p> +“It must rise from the opposite side,” suggested Perry, casting a rueful glance +at the forbidding heights that barred our further progress. “We cannot endure +the arctic cold of those high flung passes, and to traverse the endless miles +about this interminable range might require a year or more. The land we seek +must lie upon the opposite side of the mountains.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then we must cross them,” I insisted. +</p> + +<p> +Perry shrugged. +</p> + +<p> +“We can’t do it, David,” he repeated. “We are dressed for the tropics. We +should freeze to death among the snows and glaciers long before we had +discovered a pass to the opposite side.” +</p> + +<p> +“We must cross them,” I reiterated. “We will cross them.” +</p> + +<p> +I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took some time. +</p> + +<p> +First we made a permanent camp part way up the slopes where there was good +water. Then we set out in search of the great, shaggy cave bear of the higher +altitudes. +</p> + +<p> +He is a mighty animal—a terrible animal. He is but little larger than his +cousin of the lesser, lower hills; but he makes up for it in the awfulness of +his ferocity and in the length and thickness of his shaggy coat. It was his +coat that we were after. +</p> + +<p> +We came upon him quite unexpectedly. I was trudging in advance along a rocky +trail worn smooth by the padded feet of countless ages of wild beasts. At a +shoulder of the mountain around which the path ran I came face to face with the +Titan. +</p> + +<p> +I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down for breakfast. Each realized +that here was the very thing he sought. +</p> + +<p> +With a horrid roar the beast charged me. +</p> + +<p> +At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thousands of feet. +</p> + +<p> +At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal cañon. +</p> + +<p> +In front of me was the bear. +</p> + +<p> +Behind me was Perry. +</p> + +<p> +I shouted to him in warning, and then I raised my rifle and fired into the +broad breast of the creature. There was no time to take aim; the thing was too +close upon me. +</p> + +<p> +But that my bullet took effect was evident from the howl of rage and pain that +broke from the frothing jowls. It didn’t stop him, though. +</p> + +<p> +I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went beneath his ton of +maddened, clawing flesh and bone and sinew. +</p> + +<p> +I thought my time had come. I remember feeling sorry for poor old Perry, left +all alone in this inhospitable, savage world. +</p> + +<p> +And then of a sudden I realized that the bear was gone and that I was quite +unharmed. I leaped to my feet, my rifle still clutched in my hand, and looked +about for my antagonist. +</p> + +<p> +I thought that I should find him farther down the trail, probably finishing +Perry, and so I leaped in the direction I supposed him to be, to find Perry +perched upon a projecting rock several feet above the trail. My cry of warning +had given him time to reach this point of safety. +</p> + +<p> +There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, the picture of abject +terror and consternation. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is he?” he cried when he saw me. “Where is he?” +</p> + +<p> +“Didn’t he come this way?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing came this way,” replied the old man. “But I heard his roars—he must +have been as large as an elephant.” +</p> + +<p> +“He was,” I admitted; “but where in the world do you suppose he disappeared +to?” +</p> + +<p> +Then came a possible explanation to my mind. I returned to the point at which +the bear had hurled me down and peered over the edge of the cliff into the +abyss below. +</p> + +<p> +Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the bottom of the canon. It was +the bear. +</p> + +<p> +My second shot must have killed him, and so his dead body, after hurling me to +the path, had toppled over into the abyss. I shivered at the thought of how +close I, too, must have been to going over with him. +</p> + +<p> +It took us a long time to reach the carcass, and arduous labor to remove the +great pelt. But at last the thing was accomplished, and we returned to camp +dragging the heavy trophy behind us. +</p> + +<p> +Here we devoted another considerable period to scraping and curing it. When +this was done to our satisfaction we made heavy boots, trousers, and coats of +the shaggy skin, turning the fur in. +</p> + +<p> +From the scraps we fashioned caps that came down around our ears, with flaps +that fell about our shoulders and breasts. We were now fairly well equipped for +our search for a pass to the opposite side of the Mountains of the Clouds. +</p> + +<p> +Our first step now was to move our camp upward to the very edge of the +perpetual snows which cap this lofty range. Here we built a snug, secure little +hut, which we provisioned and stored with fuel for its diminutive fireplace. +</p> + +<p> +With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a pass across the range. +</p> + +<p> +Our every move was carefully noted upon our maps which we now kept in +duplicate. By this means we were saved tedious and unnecessary retracing of +ways already explored. +</p> + +<p> +Systematically we worked upward in both directions from our base, and when we +had at last discovered what seemed might prove a feasible pass we moved our +belongings to a new hut farther up. +</p> + +<p> +It was hard work—cold, bitter, cruel work. Not a step did we take in advance +but the grim reaper strode silently in our tracks. +</p> + +<p> +There were the great cave bears in the timber, and gaunt, lean wolves—huge +creatures twice the size of our Canadian timber-wolves. Farther up we were +assailed by enormous white bears—hungry, devilish fellows, who came roaring +across the rough glacier tops at the first glimpse of us, or stalked us +stealthily by scent when they had not yet seen us. +</p> + +<p> +It is one of the peculiarities of life within Pellucidar that man is more often +the hunted than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-bellied carnivora of this +primitive world. Never, from birth to death, are those great bellies +sufficiently filled, so always are their mighty owners prowling about in search +of meat. +</p> + +<p> +Terribly armed for battle as they are, man presents to them in his primal state +an easy prey, slow of foot, puny of strength, ill-equipped by nature with +natural weapons of defense. +</p> + +<p> +The bears looked upon us as easy meat. Only our heavy rifles saved us from +prompt extinction. Poor Perry never was a raging lion at heart, and I am +convinced that the terrors of that awful period must have caused him poignant +mental anguish. +</p> + +<p> +When we were abroad pushing our trail farther and farther toward the distant +break which, we assumed, marked a feasible way across the range, we never knew +at what second some great engine of clawed and fanged destruction might rush +upon us from behind, or lie in wait for us beyond an ice-hummock or a jutting +shoulder of the craggy steeps. +</p> + +<p> +The roar of our rifles was constantly shattering the world-old silence of +stupendous canons upon which the eye of man had never before gazed. And when in +the comparative safety of our hut we lay down to sleep the great beasts roared +and fought without the walls, clawed and battered at the door, or rushed their +colossal frames headlong against the hut’s sides until it rocked and trembled +to the impact. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, it was a gay life. +</p> + +<p> +Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each time we returned to the +hut. It became something of an obsession with him. +</p> + +<p> +He’d count our cartridges one by one and then try to figure how long it would +be before the last was expended and we must either remain in the hut until we +starved to death or venture forth, empty, to fill the belly of some hungry +bear. +</p> + +<p> +I must admit that I, too, felt worried, for our progress was indeed snail-like, +and our ammunition could not last forever. In discussing the problem, finally +we came to the decision to burn our bridges behind us and make one last supreme +effort to cross the divide. +</p> + +<p> +It would mean that we must go without sleep for a long period, and with the +further chance that when the time came that sleep could no longer be denied we +might still be high in the frozen regions of perpetual snow and ice, where +sleep would mean certain death, exposed as we would be to the attacks of wild +beasts and without shelter from the hideous cold. +</p> + +<p> +But we decided that we must take these chances and so at last we set forth from +our hut for the last time, carrying such necessities as we felt we could least +afford to do without. The bears seemed unusually troublesome and determined +that time, and as we clambered slowly upward beyond the highest point to which +we had previously attained, the cold became infinitely more intense. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps we entered a dense fog. +</p> + +<p> +We had reached the heights that are so often cloud-wrapped for long periods. We +could see nothing a few paces beyond our noses. +</p> + +<p> +We dared not turn back into the teeth of the bears which we could hear grunting +behind us. To meet them in this bewildering fog would have been to court +instant death. +</p> + +<p> +Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of our situation. He flopped down +on his knees and began to pray. +</p> + +<p> +It was the first time I had heard him at his old habit since my return to +Pellucidar, and I had thought that he had given up his little idiosyncrasy; but +he hadn’t. Far from it. +</p> + +<p> +I let him pray for a short time undisturbed, and then as I was about to suggest +that we had better be pushing along one of the bears in our rear let out a roar +that made the earth fairly tremble beneath our feet. +</p> + +<p> +It brought Perry to his feet as if he had been stung by a wasp, and sent him +racing ahead through the blinding fog at a gait that I knew must soon end in +disaster were it not checked. +</p> + +<p> +Crevasses in the glacier-ice were far too frequent to permit of reckless speed +even in a clear atmosphere, and then there were hideous precipices along the +edges of which our way often led us. I shivered as I thought of the poor old +fellow’s peril. +</p> + +<p> +At the top of my lungs I called to him to stop, but he did not answer me. And +then I hurried on in the direction he had gone, faster by far than safety +dictated. +</p> + +<p> +For a while I thought I heard him ahead of me, but at last, though I paused +often to listen and to call to him, I heard nothing more, not even the grunting +of the bears that had been behind us. All was deathly silence—the silence of +the tomb. About me lay the thick, impenetrable fog. +</p> + +<p> +I was alone. Perry was gone—gone forever, I had not the slightest doubt. +</p> + +<p> +Somewhere near by lay the mouth of a treacherous fissure, and far down at its +icy bottom lay all that was mortal of my old friend, Abner Perry. There would +his body be preserved in its icy sepulcher for countless ages, until on some +far distant day the slow-moving river of ice had wound its snail-like way down +to the warmer level, there to disgorge its grisly evidence of grim tragedy, and +what in that far future age, might mean baffling mystery. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III<br/> +SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER</h2> + +<p> +Through the fog I felt my way along by means of my compass. I no longer heard +the bears, nor did I encounter one within the fog. +</p> + +<p> +Experience has since taught me that these great beasts are as terror-stricken +by this phenomenon as a landsman by a fog at sea, and that no sooner does a fog +envelop them than they make the best of their way to lower levels and a clear +atmosphere. It was well for me that this was true. +</p> + +<p> +I felt very sad and lonely as I crawled along the difficult footing. My own +predicament weighed less heavily upon me than the loss of Perry, for I loved +the old fellow. +</p> + +<p> +That I should ever win the opposite slopes of the range I began to doubt, for +though I am naturally sanguine, I imagine that the bereavement which had +befallen me had cast such a gloom over my spirits that I could see no slightest +ray of hope for the future. +</p> + +<p> +Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of the cold, damp clouds through which +I wandered was distressing. Hope thrives best in sunlight, and I am sure that +it does not thrive at all in a fog. +</p> + +<p> +But the instinct of self-preservation is stronger than hope. It thrives, +fortunately, upon nothing. It takes root upon the brink of the grave, and +blossoms in the jaws of death. Now it flourished bravely upon the breast of +dead hope, and urged me onward and upward in a stern endeavor to justify its +existence. +</p> + +<p> +As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see nothing beyond my nose. Even +the snow and ice I trod were invisible. +</p> + +<p> +I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. I seemed to be floating +in a sea of vapor. +</p> + +<p> +To go forward over a dangerous glacier under such conditions was little short +of madness; but I could not have stopped going had I known positively that +death lay two paces before my nose. In the first place, it was too cold to +stop, and in the second, I should have gone mad but for the excitement of the +perils that beset each forward step. +</p> + +<p> +For some time the ground had been rougher and steeper, until I had been forced +to scale a considerable height that had carried me from the glacier entirely. I +was sure from my compass that I was following the right general direction, and +so I kept on. +</p> + +<p> +Once more the ground was level. From the wind that blew about me I guessed that +I must be upon some exposed peak of ridge. +</p> + +<p> +And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. Wildly I turned and clutched +at the ground that had slipped from beneath my feet. +</p> + +<p> +Only a smooth, icy surface was there. I found nothing to clutch or stay my +fall, and a moment later so great was my speed that nothing could have stayed +me. +</p> + +<p> +As suddenly as I had pitched into space, with equal suddenness did I emerge +from the fog, out of which I shot like a projectile from a cannon into clear +daylight. My speed was so great that I could see nothing about me but a blurred +and indistinct sheet of smooth and frozen snow, that rushed past me with +express-train velocity. +</p> + +<p> +I must have slid downward thousands of feet before the steep incline curved +gently on to a broad, smooth, snow-covered plateau. Across this I hurtled with +slowly diminishing velocity, until at last objects about me began to take +definite shape. +</p> + +<p> +Far ahead, miles and miles away, I saw a great valley and mighty woods, and +beyond these a broad expanse of water. In the nearer foreground I discerned a +small, dark blob of color upon the shimmering whiteness of the snow. +</p> + +<p> +“A bear,” thought I, and thanked the instinct that had impelled me to cling +tenaciously to my rifle during the moments of my awful tumble. +</p> + +<p> +At the rate I was going it would be but a moment before I should be quite +abreast the thing; nor was it long before I came to a sudden stop in soft snow, +upon which the sun was shining, not twenty paces from the object of my most +immediate apprehension. +</p> + +<p> +It was standing upon its hind legs waiting for me. As I scrambled to my feet to +meet it, I dropped my gun in the snow and doubled up with laughter. +</p> + +<p> +It was Perry. +</p> + +<p> +The expression upon his face, combined with the relief I felt at seeing him +again safe and sound, was too much for my overwrought nerves. +</p> + +<p> +“David!” he cried. “David, my boy! God has been good to an old man. He has +answered my prayer.” +</p> + +<p> +It seems that Perry in his mad flight had plunged over the brink at about the +same point as that at which I had stepped over it a short time later. Chance +had done for us what long periods of rational labor had failed to accomplish. +</p> + +<p> +We had crossed the divide. We were upon the side of the Mountains of the Clouds +that we had for so long been attempting to reach. +</p> + +<p> +We looked about. Below us were green trees and warm jungles. In the distance +was a great sea. +</p> + +<p> +“The Lural Az,” I said, pointing toward its blue-green surface. +</p> + +<p> +Somehow—the gods alone can explain it—Perry, too, had clung to his rifle during +his mad descent of the icy slope. For that there was cause for great rejoicing. +</p> + +<p> +Neither of us was worse for his experience, so after shaking the snow from our +clothing, we set off at a great rate down toward the warmth and comfort of the +forest and the jungle. +</p> + +<p> +The going was easy by comparison with the awful obstacles we had had to +encounter upon the opposite side of the divide. There were beasts, of course, +but we came through safely. +</p> + +<p> +Before we halted to eat or rest, we stood beside a little mountain brook +beneath the wondrous trees of the primeval forest in an atmosphere of warmth +and comfort. It reminded me of an early June day in the Maine woods. +</p> + +<p> +We fell to work with our short axes and cut enough small trees to build a rude +protection from the fiercer beasts. Then we lay down to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +How long we slept I do not know. Perry says that inasmuch as there is no means +of measuring time within Pellucidar, there can be no such thing as time here, +and that we may have slept an outer earthly year, or we may have slept but a +second. +</p> + +<p> +But this I know. We had stuck the ends of some of the saplings into the ground +in the building of our shelter, first stripping the leaves and branches from +them, and when we awoke we found that many of them had thrust forth sprouts. +</p> + +<p> +Personally, I think that we slept at least a month; but who may say? The sun +marked midday when we closed our eyes; it was still in the same position when +we opened them; nor had it varied a hair’s breadth in the interim. +</p> + +<p> +It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +Anyhow, I was famished when we awoke. I think that it was the pangs of hunger +that awoke me. Ptarmigan and wild boar fell before my revolver within a dozen +moments of my awakening. Perry soon had a roaring fire blazing by the brink of +the little stream. +</p> + +<p> +It was a good and delicious meal we made. Though we did not eat the entire +boar, we made a very large hole in him, while the ptarmigan was but a mouthful. +</p> + +<p> +Having satisfied our hunger, we determined to set forth at once in search of +Anoroc and my old friend, Ja the Mezop. We each thought that by following the +little stream downward, we should come upon the large river which Ja had told +me emptied into the Lural Az op-posite his island. +</p> + +<p> +We did so; nor were we disappointed, for at last after a pleasant journey—and +what journey would not be pleasant after the hardships we had endured among the +peaks of the Mountains of the Clouds—we came upon a broad flood that rushed +majestically onward in the direction of the great sea we had seen from the +snowy slopes of the mountains. +</p> + +<p> +For three long marches we followed the left bank of the growing river, until at +last we saw it roll its mighty volume into the vast waters of the sea. Far out +across the rippling ocean we descried three islands. The one to the left must +be Anoroc. +</p> + +<p> +At last we had come close to a solution of our problem—the road to Sari. +</p> + +<p> +But how to reach the islands was now the foremost question in our minds. We +must build a canoe. +</p> + +<p> +Perry is a most resourceful man. He has an axiom which carries the +thought-kernel that what man has done, man can do, and it doesn’t cut any +figure with Perry whether a fellow knows how to do it or not. +</p> + +<p> +He set out to make gunpowder once, shortly after our escape from Phutra and at +the beginning of the confederation of the wild tribes of Pellucidar. He said +that some one, without any knowledge of the fact that such a thing might be +concocted, had once stumbled upon it by accident, and so he couldn’t see why a +fellow who knew all about powder except how to make it couldn’t do as well. +</p> + +<p> +He worked mighty hard mixing all sorts of things together, until finally he +evolved a substance that looked like powder. He had been very proud of the +stuff, and had gone about the village of the Sarians exhibiting it to every one +who would listen to him, and explaining what its purpose was and what terrific +havoc it would work, until finally the natives became so terrified at the stuff +that they wouldn’t come within a rod of Perry and his invention. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, I suggested that we experiment with it and see what it would do, so +Perry built a fire, after placing the powder at a safe distance, and then +touched a glowing ember to a minute particle of the deadly explosive. It +extinguished the ember. +</p> + +<p> +Repeated experiments with it determined me that in searching for a high +explosive, Perry had stumbled upon a fire-extinguisher that would have made his +fortune for him back in our own world. +</p> + +<p> +So now he set himself to work to build a scientific canoe. I had suggested that +we construct a dugout, but Perry convinced me that we must build something more +in keeping with our positions of supermen in this world of the Stone Age. +</p> + +<p> +“We must impress these natives with our superiority,” he explained. “You must +not forget, David, that you are emperor of Pellucidar. As such you may not with +dignity approach the shores of a foreign power in so crude a vessel as a +dugout.” +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out to Perry that it wasn’t much more incongruous for the emperor to +cruise in a canoe, than it was for the prime minister to attempt to build one +with his own hands. +</p> + +<p> +He had to smile at that; but in extenuation of his act he assured me that it +was quite customary for prime ministers to give their personal attention to the +building of imperial navies; “and this,” he said, “is the imperial navy of his +Serene Highness, David I, Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar.” +</p> + +<p> +I grinned; but Perry was quite serious about it. It had always seemed rather +more or less of a joke to me that I should be addressed as majesty and all the +rest of it. Yet my imperial power and dignity had been a very real thing during +my brief reign. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty tribes had joined the federation, and their chiefs had sworn eternal +fealty to one another and to me. Among them were many powerful though savage +nations. Their chiefs we had made kings; their tribal lands kingdoms. +</p> + +<p> +We had armed them with bows and arrows and swords, in addition to their own +more primitive weapons. I had trained them in military discipline and in so +much of the art of war as I had gleaned from extensive reading of the campaigns +of Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, and the ancients. +</p> + +<p> +We had marked out as best we could natural boundaries dividing the various +kingdoms. We had warned tribes beyond these boundaries that they must not +trespass, and we had marched against and severely punished those who had. +</p> + +<p> +We had met and defeated the Mahars and the Sagoths. In short, we had +demonstrated our rights to empire, and very rapidly were we being recognized +and heralded abroad when my departure for the outer world and Hooja’s treachery +had set us back. +</p> + +<p> +But now I had returned. The work that fate had undone must be done again, and +though I must need smile at my imperial honors, I none the less felt the weight +of duty and obligation that rested upon my shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the imperial navy progressed toward completion. She was a wondrous +craft, but I had my doubts about her. When I voiced them to Perry, he reminded +me gently that my people for many generations had been mine-owners, not +ship-builders, and consequently I couldn’t be expected to know much about the +matter. +</p> + +<p> +I was minded to inquire into his hereditary fitness to design battleships; but +inasmuch as I already knew that his father had been a minister in a back-woods +village far from the coast, I hesitated lest I offend the dear old fellow. +</p> + +<p> +He was immensely serious about his work, and I must admit that in so far as +appearances went he did extremely well with the meager tools and assistance at +his command. We had only two short axes and our hunting-knives; yet with these +we hewed trees, split them into planks, surfaced and fitted them. +</p> + +<p> +The “navy” was some forty feet in length by ten feet beam. Her sides were quite +straight and fully ten feet high—“for the purpose,” explained Perry, “of adding +dignity to her appearance and rendering it less easy for an enemy to board +her.” +</p> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, I knew that he had had in mind the safety of her crew +under javelin-fire—the lofty sides made an admirable shelter. Inside she +reminded me of nothing so much as a floating trench. There was also some slight +analogy to a huge coffin. +</p> + +<p> +Her prow sloped sharply backward from the water-line—quite like a line of +battleship. Perry had designed her more for moral effect upon an enemy, I +think, than for any real harm she might inflict, and so those parts which were +to show were the most imposing. +</p> + +<p> +Below the water-line she was practically non-existent. She should have had +considerable draft; but, as the enemy couldn’t have seen it, Perry decided to +do away with it, and so made her flat-bottomed. It was this that caused my +doubts about her. +</p> + +<p> +There was another little idiosyncrasy of design that escaped us both until she +was about ready to launch—there was no method of propulsion. Her sides were far +too high to permit the use of sweeps, and when Perry suggested that we pole +her, I remonstrated on the grounds that it would be a most undignified and +awkward manner of sweeping down upon the foe, even if we could find or wield +poles that would reach to the bottom of the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +Finally I suggested that we convert her into a sailing vessel. When once the +idea took hold Perry was most enthusiastic about it, and nothing would do but a +four-masted, full-rigged ship. +</p> + +<p> +Again I tried to dissuade him, but he was simply crazy over the psychological +effect which the appearance of this strange and mighty craft would have upon +the natives of Pellucidar. So we rigged her with thin hides for sails and dried +gut for rope. +</p> + +<p> +Neither of us knew much about sailing a full-rigged ship; but that didn’t worry +me a great deal, for I was confident that we should never be called upon to do +so, and as the day of launching approached I was positive of it. +</p> + +<p> +We had built her upon a low bank of the river close to where it emptied into +the sea, and just above high tide. Her keel we had laid upon several rollers +cut from small trees, the ends of the rollers in turn resting upon parallel +tracks of long saplings. Her stern was toward the water. +</p> + +<p> +A few hours before we were ready to launch her she made quite an imposing +picture, for Perry had insisted upon setting every shred of “canvas.” I told +him that I didn’t know much about it, but I was sure that at launching the hull +only should have been completed, everything else being completed after she had +floated safely. +</p> + +<p> +At the last minute there was some delay while we sought a name for her. I +wanted her christened the Perry in honor both of her designer and that other +great naval genius of another world, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, of the United +States Navy. But Perry was too modest; he wouldn’t hear of it. +</p> + +<p> +We finally decided to establish a system in the naming of the fleet. +Battle-ships of the first-class should bear the names of kingdoms of the +federation; armored cruisers the names of kings; cruisers the names of cities, +and so on down the line. Therefore, we decided to name the first battle-ship +Sari, after the first of the federated kingdoms. +</p> + +<p> +The launching of the Sari proved easier than I contemplated. Perry wanted me to +get in and break something over the bow as she floated out upon the bosom of +the river, but I told him that I should feel safer on dry land until I saw +which side up the Sari would float. +</p> + +<p> +I could see by the expression of the old man’s face that my words had hurt him; +but I noticed that he didn’t offer to get in himself, and so I felt less +contrition than I might otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +When we cut the ropes and removed the blocks that held the Sari in place she +started for the water with a lunge. Before she hit it she was going at a +reckless speed, for we had laid our tracks quite down to the water, greased +them, and at intervals placed rollers all ready to receive the ship as she +moved forward with stately dignity. But there was no dignity in the Sari. +</p> + +<p> +When she touched the surface of the river she must have been going twenty or +thirty miles an hour. Her momentum carried her well out into the stream, until +she came to a sudden halt at the end of the long line which we had had the +foresight to attach to her bow and fasten to a large tree upon the bank. +</p> + +<p> +The moment her progress was checked she promptly capsized. Perry was +overwhelmed. I didn’t upbraid him, nor remind him that I had “told him so.” +</p> + +<p> +His grief was so genuine and so apparent that I didn’t have the heart to +reproach him, even were I inclined to that particular sort of meanness. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, come, old man!” I cried. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Give me a hand +with this rope, and we’ll drag her up as far as we can; and then when the tide +goes out we’ll try another scheme. I think we can make a go of her yet.” +</p> + +<p> +Well, we managed to get her up into shallow water. When the tide receded she +lay there on her side in the mud, quite a pitiable object for the premier +battle-ship of a world—“the terror of the seas” was the way Perry had +occasionally described her. +</p> + +<p> +We had to work fast; but before the tide came in again we had stripped her of +her sails and masts, righted her, and filled her about a quarter full of rock +ballast. If she didn’t stick too fast in the mud I was sure that she would +float this time right side up. +</p> + +<p> +I can tell you that it was with palpitating hearts that we sat upon the +river-bank and watched that tide come slowly in. The tides of Pellucidar don’t +amount to much by comparison with our higher tides of the outer world, but I +knew that it ought to prove ample to float the Sari. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was I mistaken. Finally we had the satisfaction of seeing the vessel rise +out of the mud and float slowly upstream with the tide. As the water rose we +pulled her in quite close to the bank and clambered aboard. +</p> + +<p> +She rested safely now upon an even keel; nor did she leak, for she was well +calked with fiber and tarry pitch. We rigged up a single short mast and light +sail, fastened planking down over the ballast to form a deck, worked her out +into midstream with a couple of sweeps, and dropped our primitive stone anchor +to await the turn of the tide that would bear us out to sea. +</p> + +<p> +While we waited we devoted the time to the construction of an upper deck, since +the one immediately above the ballast was some seven feet from the gunwale. The +second deck was four feet above this. In it was a large, commodious hatch, +leading to the lower deck. The sides of the ship rose three feet above the +upper deck, forming an excellent breastwork, which we loopholed at intervals +that we might lie prone and fire upon an enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Though we were sailing out upon a peaceful mission in search of my friend Ja, +we knew that we might meet with people of some other island who would prove +unfriendly. +</p> + +<p> +At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly we drifted down the great +river toward the sea. +</p> + +<p> +About us swarmed the mighty denizens of the primeval deep—plesiosauri and +ichthyosauria with all their horrid, slimy cousins whose names were as the +names of aunts and uncles to Perry, but which I have never been able to recall +an hour after having heard them. +</p> + +<p> +At last we were safely launched upon the journey to which we had looked forward +for so long, and the results of which meant so much to me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV<br/> +FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY</h2> + +<p> +The Sari proved a most erratic craft. She might have done well enough upon a +park lagoon if safely anchored, but upon the bosom of a mighty ocean she left +much to be desired. +</p> + +<p> +Sailing with the wind she did her best; but in quartering or when close-hauled +she drifted terribly, as a nautical man might have guessed she would. We +couldn’t keep within miles of our course, and our progress was pitifully slow. +</p> + +<p> +Instead of making for the island of Anoroc, we bore far to the right, until it +became evident that we should have to pass between the two right-hand islands +and attempt to return toward Anoroc from the opposite side. +</p> + +<p> +As we neared the islands Perry was quite overcome by their beauty. When we were +directly between two of them he fairly went into raptures; nor could I blame +him. +</p> + +<p> +The tropical luxuriance of the foliage that dripped almost to the water’s edge +and the vivid colors of the blooms that shot the green made a most gorgeous +spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +Perry was right in the midst of a flowery panegyric on the wonders of the +peaceful beauty of the scene when a canoe shot out from the nearest island. +There were a dozen warriors in it; it was quickly followed by a second and +third. +</p> + +<p> +Of course we couldn’t know the intentions of the strangers, but we could pretty +well guess them. +</p> + +<p> +Perry wanted to man the sweeps and try to get away from them, but I soon +convinced him that any speed of which the Sari was capable would be far too +slow to outdistance the swift, though awkward, dugouts of the Mezops. +</p> + +<p> +I waited until they were quite close enough to hear me, and then I hailed them. +I told them that we were friends of the Mezops, and that we were upon a visit +to Ja of Anoroc, to which they replied that they were at war with Ja, and that +if we would wait a minute they’d board us and throw our corpses to the +azdyryths. +</p> + +<p> +I warned them that they would get the worst of it if they didn’t leave us +alone, but they only shouted in derision and paddled swiftly toward us. It was +evident that they were considerably impressed by the appearance and dimensions +of our craft, but as these fellows know no fear they were not at all awed. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing that they were determined to give battle, I leaned over the rail of the +Sari and brought the imperial battle-squadron of the Emperor of Pellucidar into +action for the first time in the history of a world. In other and simpler +words, I fired my revolver at the nearest canoe. +</p> + +<p> +The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, threw his paddle aloft, +stiffened into rigidity for an instant, and then toppled overboard. +</p> + +<p> +The others ceased paddling, and, with wide eyes, looked first at me and then at +the battling sea-things which fought for the corpse of their comrade. To them +it must have seemed a miracle that I should be able to stand at thrice the +range of the most powerful javelin-thrower and with a loud noise and a smudge +of smoke slay one of their number with an invisible missile. +</p> + +<p> +But only for an instant were they paralyzed with wonder. Then, with savage +shouts, they fell once more to their paddles and forged rapidly toward us. +</p> + +<p> +Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank to the bottom of the canoe +or tumbled overboard. +</p> + +<p> +When the prow of the first craft touched the side of the Sari it contained only +dead and dying men. The other two dugouts were approaching rapidly, so I turned +my attention toward them. +</p> + +<p> +I think that they must have been commencing to have some doubts—those wild, +naked, red warriors—for when the first man fell in the second boat, the others +stopped paddling and commenced to jabber among themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The third boat pulled up alongside the second and its crews joined in the +conference. Taking advantage of the lull in the battle, I called out to the +survivors to return to their shore. +</p> + +<p> +“I have no fight with you,” I cried, and then I told them who I was and added +that if they would live in peace they must sooner or later join forces with me. +</p> + +<p> +“Go back now to your people,” I counseled them, “and tell them that you have +seen David I, Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar, and that +single-handed he has overcome you, just as he intends overcoming the Mahars and +the Sagoths and any other peoples of Pellucidar who threaten the peace and +welfare of his empire.” +</p> + +<p> +Slowly they turned the noses of their canoes toward land. It was evident that +they were impressed; yet that they were loath to give up without further +contesting my claim to naval supremacy was also apparent, for some of their +number seemed to be exhorting the others to a renewal of the conflict. +</p> + +<p> +However, at last they drew slowly away, and the Sari, which had not decreased +her snail-like speed during this, her first engagement, continued upon her +slow, uneven way. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me. +</p> + +<p> +“Have the scoundrels departed?” he asked. “Have you killed them all?” +</p> + +<p> +“Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry,” I replied. +</p> + +<p> +He came out on deck and, peering over the side, descried the lone canoe +floating a short distance astern with its grim and grisly freight. Farther his +eyes wandered to the retreating boats. +</p> + +<p> +“David,” said he at last, “this is a notable occasion. It is a great day in the +annals of Pellucidar. We have won a glorious victory. +</p> + +<p> +“Your majesty’s navy has routed a fleet of the enemy thrice its own size, +manned by ten times as many men. Let us give thanks.” +</p> + +<p> +I could scarce restrain a smile at Perry’s use of the pronoun “we,” yet I was +glad to share the rejoicing with him as I shall always be glad to share +everything with the dear old fellow. +</p> + +<p> +Perry is the only male coward I have ever known whom I could respect and love. +He was not created for fighting; but I think that if the occasion should ever +arise where it became necessary he would give his life cheerfully for me—yes, I +KNOW it. +</p> + +<p> +It took us a long time to work around the islands and draw in close to Anoroc. +In the leisure afforded we took turns working on our map, and by means of the +compass and a little guesswork we set down the shoreline we had left and the +three islands with fair accuracy. +</p> + +<p> +Crossed sabers marked the spot where the first great naval engagement of a +world had taken place. In a note-book we jotted down, as had been our custom, +details that would be of historical value later. +</p> + +<p> +Opposite Anoroc we came to anchor quite close to shore. I knew from my previous +experience with the tortuous trails of the island that I could never find my +way inland to the hidden tree-village of the Mezop chieftain, Ja; so we +remained aboard the Sari, firing our express rifles at intervals to attract the +attention of the natives. +</p> + +<p> +After some ten shots had been fired at considerable intervals a body of +copper-colored warriors appeared upon the shore. They watched us for a moment +and then I hailed them, asking the whereabouts of my old friend Ja. +</p> + +<p> +They did not reply at once, but stood with their heads together in serious and +animated discussion. Continually they turned their eyes toward our strange +craft. It was evident that they were greatly puzzled by our appearance as well +as unable to explain the source of the loud noises that had attracted their +attention to us. At last one of the warriors addressed us. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you who seek Ja?” he asked. “What would you of our chief?” +</p> + +<p> +“We are friends,” I replied. “I am David. Tell Ja that David, whose life he +once saved from a sithic, has come again to visit him. +</p> + +<p> +“If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring our great +warship closer in.” +</p> + +<p> +Again they talked for a considerable time. Then two of them entered a canoe +that several dragged from its hiding-place in the jungle and paddled swiftly +toward us. +</p> + +<p> +They were magnificent specimens of manhood. Perry had never seen a member of +this red race close to before. In fact, the dead men in the canoe we had left +astern after the battle and the survivors who were paddling rapidly toward +their shore were the first he ever had seen. He had been greatly impressed by +their physical beauty and the promise of superior intelligence which their +well-shaped skulls gave. +</p> + +<p> +The two who now paddled out received us into their canoe with dignified +courtesy. To my inquiries relative to Ja they explained that he had not been in +the village when our signals were heard, but that runners had been sent out +after him and that doubtless he was already upon his way to the coast. +</p> + +<p> +One of the men remembered me from the occasion of my former visit to the +island; he was extremely agree-able the moment that he came close enough to +recognize me. He said that Ja would be delighted to welcome me, and that all +the tribe of Anoroc knew of me by repute, and had received explicit +instructions from their chieftain that if any of them should ever come upon me +to show me every kindness and attention. +</p> + +<p> +Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stood conversing with +our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly from the jungle. +</p> + +<p> +It was Ja. As his eyes fell upon me his face lighted with pleasure. He came +quickly forward to greet me after the manner of his tribe. +</p> + +<p> +Toward Perry he was equally hospitable. The old man fell in love with the +savage giant as completely as had I. Ja conducted us along the maze-like trail +to his strange village, where he gave over one of the tree-houses for our +exclusive use. +</p> + +<p> +Perry was much interested in the unique habitation, which resembled nothing so +much as a huge wasp’s nest built around the bole of a tree well above the +ground. +</p> + +<p> +After we had eaten and rested Ja came to see us with a number of his head men. +They listened attentively to my story, which included a narrative of the events +leading to the formation of the federated kingdoms, the battle with the Mahars, +my journey to the outer world, and my return to Pellucidar and search for Sari +and my mate. +</p> + +<p> +Ja told me that the Mezops had heard something of the federation and had been +much interested in it. He had even gone so far as to send a party of warriors +toward Sari to investigate the reports, and to arrange for the entrance of +Anoroc into the empire in case it appeared that there was any truth in the +rumors that one of the aims of the federation was the overthrow of the Mahars. +</p> + +<p> +The delegation had met with a party of Sagoths. As there had been a truce +between the Mahars and the Mezops for many generations, they camped with these +warriors of the reptiles, from whom they learned that the federation had gone +to pieces. So the party returned to Anoroc. +</p> + +<p> +When I showed Ja our map and explained its purpose to him, he was much +interested. The location of Anoroc, the Mountains of the Clouds, the river, and +the strip of seacoast were all familiar to him. +</p> + +<p> +He quickly indicated the position of the inland sea and close beside it, the +city of Phutra, where one of the powerful Mahar nations had its seat. He +likewise showed us where Sari should be and carried his own coast-line as far +north and south as it was known to him. +</p> + +<p> +His additions to the map convinced us that Greenwich lay upon the verge of this +same sea, and that it might be reached by water more easily than by the arduous +crossing of the mountains or the dangerous approach through Phutra, which lay +almost directly in line between Anoroc and Greenwich to the northwest. +</p> + +<p> +If Sari lay upon the same water then the shore-line must bend far back toward +the southwest of Greenwich—an assumption which, by the way, we found later to +be true. Also, Sari was upon a lofty plateau at the southern end of a mighty +gulf of the Great Ocean. +</p> + +<p> +The location which Ja gave to distant Amoz puzzled us, for it placed it due +north of Greenwich, apparently in mid-ocean. As Ja had never been so far and +knew only of Amoz through hearsay, we thought that he must be mistaken; but he +was not. Amoz lies directly north of Greenwich across the mouth of the same +gulf as that upon which Sari is. +</p> + +<p> +The sense of direction and location of these primitive Pellucidarians is little +short of uncanny, as I have had occasion to remark in the past. You may take +one of them to the uttermost ends of his world, to places of which he has never +even heard, yet without sun or moon or stars to guide him, without map or +compass, he will travel straight for home in the shortest direction. +</p> + +<p> +Mountains, rivers, and seas may have to be gone around, but never once does his +sense of direction fail him—the homing instinct is supreme. +</p> + +<p> +In the same remarkable way they never forget the location of any place to which +they have ever been, and know that of many of which they have only heard from +others who have visited them. +</p> + +<p> +In short, each Pellucidarian is a walking geography of his own district and of +much of the country contiguous thereto. It always proved of the greatest aid to +Perry and me; nevertheless we were anxious to enlarge our map, for we at least +were not endowed with the homing instinct. +</p> + +<p> +After several long councils it was decided that, in order to expedite matters, +Perry should return to the prospector with a strong party of Mezops and fetch +the freight I had brought from the outer world. Ja and his warriors were much +impressed by our firearms, and were also anxious to build boats with sails. +</p> + +<p> +As we had arms at the prospector and also books on boat-building we thought +that it might prove an excellent idea to start these naturally maritime people +upon the construction of a well built navy of staunch sailing-vessels. I was +sure that with definite plans to go by Perry could oversee the construction of +an adequate flotilla. +</p> + +<p> +I warned him, however, not to be too ambitious, and to forget about +dreadnoughts and armored cruisers for a while and build instead a few small +sailing-boats that could be manned by four or five men. +</p> + +<p> +I was to proceed to Sari, and while prosecuting my search for Dian attempt at +the same time the rehabilitation of the federation. Perry was going as far as +possible by water, with the chances that the entire trip might be made in that +manner, which proved to be the fact. +</p> + +<p> +With a couple of Mezops as companions I started for Sari. In order to avoid +crossing the principal range of the Mountains of the Clouds we took a route +that passed a little way south of Phutra. We had eaten four times and slept +once, and were, as my companions told me, not far from the great Mahar city, +when we were suddenly confronted by a considerable band of Sagoths. +</p> + +<p> +They did not attack us, owing to the peace which exists between the Mahars and +the Mezops, but I could see that they looked upon me with considerable +suspicion. My friends told them that I was a stranger from a remote country, +and as we had previously planned against such a contingency I pretended +ignorance of the language which the human beings of Pellucidar employ in +conversing with the gorilla-like soldiery of the Mahars. +</p> + +<p> +I noticed, and not without misgivings, that the leader of the Sagoths eyed me +with an expression that betokened partial recognition. I was sure that he had +seen me before during the period of my incarceration in Phutra and that he was +trying to recall my identity. +</p> + +<p> +It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade them adieu +and continued upon our journey. +</p> + +<p> +Several times during the next few marches I became acutely conscious of the +sensation of being watched by unseen eyes, but I did not speak of my suspicions +to my companions. Later I had reason to regret my reticence, for— +</p> + +<p> +Well, this is how it happened: +</p> + +<p> +We had killed an antelope and after eating our fill I had lain down to sleep. +The Pellucidarians, who seem seldom if ever to require sleep, joined me in this +instance, for we had had a very trying march along the northern foothills of +the Mountains of the Clouds, and now with their bellies filled with meat they +seemed ready for slumber. +</p> + +<p> +When I awoke it was with a start to find a couple of huge Sagoths astride me. +They pinioned my arms and legs, and later chained my wrists behind my back. +Then they let me up. +</p> + +<p> +I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had slept, javelined +to death without a chance at self-defense. +</p> + +<p> +I was furious. I threatened the Sagoth leader with all sorts of dire reprisals; +but when he heard me speak the hybrid language that is the medium of +communication between his kind and the human race of the inner world he only +grinned, as much as to say, “I thought so!” +</p> + +<p> +They had not taken my revolvers or ammunition away from me because they did not +know what they were; but my heavy rifle I had lost. They simply left it where +it had lain beside me. +</p> + +<p> +So low in the scale of intelligence are they, that they had not sufficient +interest in this strange object even to fetch it along with them. +</p> + +<p> +I knew from the direction of our march that they were taking me to Phutra. Once +there I did not need much of an imagination to picture what my fate would be. +It was the arena and a wild thag or fierce tarag for me—unless the Mahars +elected to take me to the pits. +</p> + +<p> +In that case my end would be no more certain, though infinitely more horrible +and painful, for in the pits I should be subjected to cruel vivisection. From +what I had once seen of their methods in the pits of Phutra I knew them to be +the opposite of merciful, whereas in the arena I should be quickly despatched +by some savage beast. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at the underground city, I was taken immediately before a slimy Mahar. +When the creature had received the report of the Sagoth its cold eyes glistened +with malice and hatred as they were turned balefully upon me. +</p> + +<p> +I knew then that my identity had been guessed. With a show of excitement that I +had never before seen evinced by a member of the dominant race of Pellucidar, +the Mahar hustled me away, heavily guarded, through the main avenue of the city +to one of the principal buildings. +</p> + +<p> +Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Mahars gathered. +</p> + +<p> +In utter silence they conversed, for they have no oral speech since they are +without auditory nerves. Their method of communication Perry has likened to the +projection of a sixth sense into a fourth dimension, where it becomes +cognizable to the sixth sense of their audience. +</p> + +<p> +Be that as it may, however, it was evident that I was the subject of +discussion, and from the hateful looks bestowed upon me not a particularly +pleasant subject. +</p> + +<p> +How long I waited for their decision I do not know, but it must have been a +very long time. Finally one of the Sagoths addressed me. He was acting as +interpreter for his masters. +</p> + +<p> +“The Mahars will spare your life,” he said, “and release you on one condition.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what is that condition?” I asked, though I could guess its terms. +</p> + +<p> +“That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of Phutra when you +killed the four Mahars and escaped,” he replied. +</p> + +<p> +I had thought that that would be it. The great secret upon which depended the +continuance of the Mahar race was safely hid where only Dian and I knew. +</p> + +<p> +I ventured to imagine that they would have given me much more than my liberty +to have it safely in their keeping again; but after that—what? +</p> + +<p> +Would they keep their promises? +</p> + +<p> +I doubted it. With the secret of artificial propagation once more in their +hands their numbers would soon be made so to overrun the world of Pellucidar +that there could be no hope for the eventual supremacy of the human race, the +cause for which I so devoutly hoped, for which I had consecrated my life, and +for which I was not willing to give my life. +</p> + +<p> +Yes! In that moment as I stood before the heartless tribunal I felt that my +life would be a very little thing to give could it save to the human race of +Pellucidar the chance to come into its own by insuring the eventual extinction +of the hated, powerful Mahars. +</p> + +<p> +“Come!” exclaimed the Sagoths. “The mighty Mahars await your reply.” +</p> + +<p> +“You may say to them,” I answered, “that I shall not tell them where the great +secret is hid.” +</p> + +<p> +When this had been translated to them there was a great beating of reptilian +wings, gaping of sharp-fanged jaws, and hideous hissing. I thought that they +were about to fall upon me on the spot, and so I laid my hands upon my +revolvers; but at length they became more quiet and presently transmitted some +command to my Sagoth guard, the chief of which laid a heavy hand upon my arm +and pushed me roughly before him from the audience-chamber. +</p> + +<p> +They took me to the pits, where I lay carefully guarded. I was sure that I was +to be taken to the vivisection laboratory, and it required all my courage to +fortify myself against the terrors of so fearful a death. In Pellucidar, where +there is no time, death-agonies may endure for eternities. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which now stared me +in the face! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V<br/> +SURPRISES</h2> + +<p> +But at last the allotted moment arrived—the moment for which I had been trying +to prepare myself, for how long I could not even guess. A great Sagoth came and +spoke some words of command to those who watched over me. I was jerked roughly +to my feet and with little consideration hustled upward toward the higher +levels. +</p> + +<p> +Out into the broad avenue they conducted me, where, amid huge throngs of +Mahars, Sagoths, and heavily guarded slaves, I was led, or, rather, pushed and +shoved roughly, along in the same direction that the mob moved. I had seen such +a concourse of people once before in the buried city of Phutra; I guessed, and +rightly, that we were bound for the great arena where slaves who are condemned +to death meet their end. +</p> + +<p> +Into the vast amphitheater they took me, stationing me at the extreme end of +the arena. The queen came, with her slimy, sickening retinue. The seats were +filled. The show was about to commence. +</p> + +<p> +Then, from a little doorway in the opposite end of the structure, a girl was +led into the arena. She was at a considerable distance from me. I could not see +her features. +</p> + +<p> +I wondered what fate awaited this other poor victim and myself, and why they +had chosen to have us die together. My own fate, or rather, my thought of it, +was submerged in the natural pity I felt for this lone girl, doomed to die +horribly beneath the cold, cruel eyes of her awful captors. Of what crime could +she be guilty that she must expiate it in the dreaded arena? +</p> + +<p> +As I stood thus thinking, another door, this time at one of the long sides of +the arena, was thrown open, and into the theater of death slunk a mighty tarag, +the huge cave tiger of the Stone Age. At my sides were my revolvers. My captors +had not taken them from me, because they did not yet realize their nature. +Doubtless they thought them some strange manner of war-club, and as those who +are condemned to the arena are permitted weapons of defense, they let me keep +them. +</p> + +<p> +The girl they had armed with a javelin. A brass pin would have been almost as +effective against the ferocious monster they had loosed upon her. +</p> + +<p> +The tarag stood for a moment looking about him—first up at the vast audience +and then about the arena. He did not seem to see me at all, but his eyes fell +presently upon the girl. A hideous roar broke from his titanic lungs—a roar +which ended in a long-drawn scream that is more human than the death-cry of a +tortured woman—more human but more awesome. I could scarce restrain a shudder. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly the beast turned and moved toward the girl. Then it was that I came to +myself and to a realization of my duty. Quickly and as noiselessly as possible +I ran down the arena in pursuit of the grim creature. As I ran I drew one of my +pitifully futile weapons. Ah! Could I but have had my lost express-gun in my +hands at that moment! A single well-placed shot would have crumbled even this +great monster. The best I could hope to accomplish was to divert the thing from +the girl to myself and then to place as many bullets as possible in it before +it reached and mauled me into insensibility and death. +</p> + +<p> +There is a certain unwritten law of the arena that vouchsafes freedom and +immunity to the victor, be he beast or human being—both of whom, by the way, +are all the same to the Mahar. That is, they were accustomed to look upon man +as a lower animal before Perry and I broke through the Pellucidarian crust, but +I imagine that they were beginning to alter their views a trifle and to realize +that in the gilak—their word for human being—they had a highly organized, +reasoning being to contend with. +</p> + +<p> +Be that as it may, the chances were that the tarag alone would profit by the +law of the arena. A few more of his long strides, a prodigious leap, and he +would be upon the girl. I raised a revolver and fired. The bullet struck him in +the left hind leg. It couldn’t have damaged him much; but the report of the +shot brought him around, facing me. +</p> + +<p> +I think the snarling visage of a huge, enraged, saber-toothed tiger is one of +the most terrible sights in the world. Especially if he be snarling at you and +there be nothing between the two of you but bare sand. +</p> + +<p> +Even as he faced me a little cry from the girl carried my eyes beyond the brute +to her face. Hers was fastened upon me with an expression of incredulity that +baffles description. There was both hope and horror in them, too. +</p> + +<p> +“Dian!” I cried. “My Heavens, Dian!” +</p> + +<p> +I saw her lips form the name David, as with raised javelin she rushed forward +upon the tarag. She was a tigress then—a primitive savage female defending her +loved one. Before she could reach the beast with her puny weapon, I fired again +at the point where the tarag’s neck met his left shoulder. If I could get a +bullet through there it might reach his heart. The bullet didn’t reach his +heart, but it stopped him for an instant. +</p> + +<p> +It was then that a strange thing happened. I heard a great hissing from the +stands occupied by the Mahars, and as I glanced toward them I saw three mighty +thipdars—the winged dragons that guard the queen, or, as Perry calls them, +pterodactyls—rise swiftly from their rocks and dart lightning-like, toward the +center of the arena. They are huge, powerful reptiles. One of them, with the +advantage which his wings might give him, would easily be a match for a cave +bear or a tarag. +</p> + +<p> +These three, to my consternation, swooped down upon the tarag as he was +gathering himself for a final charge upon me. They buried their talons in his +back and lifted him bodily from the arena as if he had been a chicken in the +clutches of a hawk. +</p> + +<p> +What could it mean? +</p> + +<p> +I was baffled for an explanation; but with the tarag gone I lost no time in +hastening to Dian’s side. With a little cry of delight she threw herself into +my arms. So lost were we in the ecstasy of reunion that neither of us—to this +day—can tell what became of the tarag. +</p> + +<p> +The first thing we were aware of was the presence of a body of Sagoths about +us. Gruffly they commanded us to follow them. They led us from the arena and +back through the streets of Phutra to the audience chamber in which I had been +tried and sentenced. Here we found ourselves facing the same cold, cruel +tribunal. +</p> + +<p> +Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He explained that our lives had been +spared because at the last moment Tu-al-sa had returned to Phutra, and seeing +me in the arena had prevailed upon the queen to spare my life. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is Tu-al-sa?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“A Mahar whose last male ancestor was—ages ago—the last of the male rulers +among the Mahars,” he replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Why should she wish to have my life spared?” +</p> + +<p> +He shrugged his shoulders and then repeated my question to the Mahar spokesman. +When the latter had explained in the strange sign-language that passes for +speech between the Mahars and their fighting men the Sagoth turned again to me: +</p> + +<p> +“For a long time you had Tu-al-sa in your power,” he explained. “You might +easily have killed her or abandoned her in a strange world—but you did neither. +You did not harm her, and you brought her back with you to Pellucidar and set +her free to return to Phutra. This is your reward.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I understood. The Mahar who had been my involuntary companion upon my +return to the outer world was Tu-al-sa. This was the first time that I had +learned the lady’s name. I thanked fate that I had not left her upon the sands +of the Sahara—or put a bullet in her, as I had been tempted to do. I was +surprised to discover that gratitude was a characteristic of the dominant race +of Pellucidar. I could never think of them as aught but cold-blooded, brainless +reptiles, though Perry had devoted much time in explaining to me that owing to +a strange freak of evolution among all the genera of the inner world, this +species of the reptilia had advanced to a position quite analogous to that +which man holds upon the outer crust. +</p> + +<p> +He had often told me that there was every reason to believe from their +writings, which he had learned to read while we were incarcerated in Phutra, +that they were a just race, and that in certain branches of science and arts +they were quite well advanced, especially in genetics and metaphysics, +engineering and architecture. +</p> + +<p> +While it had always been difficult for me to look upon these things as other +than slimy, winged crocodiles—which, by the way, they do not at all resemble—I +was now forced to a realization of the fact that I was in the hands of +enlightened creatures—for justice and gratitude are certain hallmarks of +rationality and culture. +</p> + +<p> +But what they purposed for us further was of most imminent interest to me. They +might save us from the tarag and yet not free us. They looked upon us yet, to +some extent, I knew, as creatures of a lower order, and so as we are unable to +place ourselves in the position of the brutes we enslave—thinking that they are +happier in bondage than in the free fulfilment of the purposes for which nature +intended them—the Mahars, too, might consider our welfare better conserved in +captivity than among the dangers of the savage freedom we craved. Naturally, I +was next impelled to inquire their further intent. +</p> + +<p> +To my question, put through the Sagoth interpreter, I received the reply that +having spared my life they considered that Tu-al-sa’s debt of gratitude was +canceled. They still had against me, however, the crime of which I had been +guilty—the unforgivable crime of stealing the great secret. They, therefore, +intended holding Dian and me prisoners until the manuscript was returned to +them. +</p> + +<p> +They would, they said, send an escort of Sagoths with me to fetch the precious +document from its hiding-place, keeping Dian at Phutra as a hostage and +releasing us both the moment that the document was safely restored to their +queen. +</p> + +<p> +There was no doubt but that they had the upper hand. However, there was so much +more at stake than the liberty or even the lives of Dian and myself, that I did +not deem it expedient to accept their offer without giving the matter careful +thought. +</p> + +<p> +Without the great secret this maleless race must eventually become extinct. For +ages they had fertilized their eggs by an artificial process, the secret of +which lay hidden in the little cave of a far-off valley where Dian and I had +spent our honeymoon. I was none too sure that I could find the valley again, +nor that I cared to. So long as the powerful reptilian race of Pellucidar +continued to propagate, just so long would the position of man within the inner +world be jeopardized. There could not be two dominant races. +</p> + +<p> +I said as much to Dian. +</p> + +<p> +“You used to tell me,” she replied, “of the wonderful things you could +accomplish with the inventions of your own world. Now you have returned with +all that is necessary to place this great power in the hands of the men of +Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +“You told me of great engines of destruction which would cast a bursting ball +of metal among our enemies, killing hundreds of them at one time. +</p> + +<p> +“You told me of mighty fortresses of stone which a thousand men armed with big +and little engines such as these could hold forever against a million Sagoths. +</p> + +<p> +“You told me of great canoes which moved across the water without paddles, and +which spat death from holes in their sides. +</p> + +<p> +“All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. Why should we fear the +Mahars? +</p> + +<p> +“Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thousands. They will be helpless +before the power of the Emperor of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +“But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we accomplish? +</p> + +<p> +“What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to lead them? +</p> + +<p> +“They would fight among themselves, and while they fought the Mahars would fall +upon them, and even though the Mahar race should die out, of what value would +the emancipation of the human race be to them without the knowledge, which you +alone may wield, to guide them toward the wonderful civilization of which you +have told me so much that I long for its comforts and luxuries as I never +before longed for anything. +</p> + +<p> +“No, David; the Mahars cannot harm us if you are at liberty. Let them have +their secret that you and I may return to our people, and lead them to the +conquest of all Pellucidar.” +</p> + +<p> +It was plain that Dian was ambitious, and that her ambition had not dulled her +reasoning faculties. She was right. Nothing could be gained by remaining +bottled up in Phutra for the rest of our lives. +</p> + +<p> +It was true that Perry might do much with the contents of the prospector, or +iron mole, in which I had brought down the implements of outer-world +civilization; but Perry was a man of peace. He could never weld the warring +factions of the disrupted federation. He could never win new tribes to the +empire. He would fiddle around manufacturing gun-powder and trying to improve +upon it until some one blew him up with his own invention. He wasn’t practical. +He never would get anywhere without a balance-wheel—without some one to direct +his energies. +</p> + +<p> +Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything for +Pellucidar we must be free to do it together. +</p> + +<p> +The outcome of it all was that I agreed to the Mahars’ proposition. They +promised that Dian would be well treated and protected from every indignity +during my absence. So I set out with a hundred Sagoths in search of the little +valley which I had stumbled upon by accident, and which I might and might not +find again. +</p> + +<p> +We traveled directly toward Sari. Stopping at the camp where I had been +captured I recovered my express rifle, for which I was very thankful. I found +it lying where I had left it when I had been overpowered in my sleep by the +Sagoths who had captured me and slain my Mezop companions. +</p> + +<p> +On the way I added materially to my map, an occupation which did not elicit +from the Sagoths even a shadow of interest. I felt that the human race of +Pellucidar had little to fear from these gorilla-men. They were fighters—that +was all. We might even use them later ourselves in this same capacity. They had +not sufficient brain power to constitute a menace to the advancement of the +human race. +</p> + +<p> +As we neared the spot where I hoped to find the little valley I became more and +more confident of success. Every landmark was familiar to me, and I was sure +now that I knew the exact location of the cave. +</p> + +<p> +It was at about this time that I sighted a number of the half-naked warriors of +the human race of Pellucidar. They were marching across our front. At sight of +us they halted; that there would be a fight I could not doubt. These Sagoths +would never permit an opportunity for the capture of slaves for their Mahar +masters to escape them. +</p> + +<p> +I saw that the men were armed with bows and arrows, long lances and swords, so +I guessed that they must have been members of the federation, for only my +people had been thus equipped. Before Perry and I came the men of Pellucidar +had only the crudest weapons wherewith to slay one another. +</p> + +<p> +The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. With savage shouts they +rushed forward toward the human warriors. +</p> + +<p> +Then a strange thing happened. The leader of the human beings stepped forward +with upraised hands. The Sagoths ceased their war-cries and advanced slowly to +meet him. There was a long parley during which I could see that I was often the +subject of their discourse. The Sagoths’ leader pointed in the direction in +which I had told him the valley lay. Evidently he was explaining the nature of +our expedition to the leader of the warriors. It was all a puzzle to me. +</p> + +<p> +What human being could be upon such excellent terms with the gorilla-men? +</p> + +<p> +I couldn’t imagine. I tried to get a good look at the fellow, but the Sagoths +had left me in the rear with a guard when they had advanced to battle, and the +distance was too great for me to recognize the features of any of the human +beings. +</p> + +<p> +Finally the parley was concluded and the men continued on their way while the +Sagoths returned to where I stood with my guard. It was time for eating, so we +stopped where we were and made our meal. The Sagoths didn’t tell me who it was +they had met, and I did not ask, though I must confess that I was quite +curious. +</p> + +<p> +They permitted me to sleep at this halt. Afterward we took up the last leg of +our journey. I found the valley without difficulty and led my guard directly to +the cave. At its mouth the Sagoths halted and I entered alone. +</p> + +<p> +I noticed as I felt about the floor in the dim light that there was a pile of +fresh-turned rubble there. Presently my hands came to the spot where the great +secret had been buried. There was a cavity where I had carefully smoothed the +earth over the hiding-place of the document—the manuscript was gone! +</p> + +<p> +Frantically I searched the whole interior of the cave several times over, but +without other result than a complete confirmation of my worst fears. Someone +had been here ahead of me and stolen the great secret. +</p> + +<p> +The one thing within Pellucidar which might free Dian and me was gone, nor was +it likely that I should ever learn its whereabouts. If a Mahar had found it, +which was quite improbable, the chances were that the dominant race would never +divulge the fact that they had recovered the precious document. If a cave man +had happened upon it he would have no conception of its meaning or value, and +as a consequence it would be lost or destroyed in short order. +</p> + +<p> +With bowed head and broken hopes I came out of the cave and told the Sagoth +chieftain what I had discovered. It didn’t mean much to the fellow, who +doubt-less had but little better idea of the contents of the document I had +been sent to fetch to his masters than would the cave man who in all +probability had discovered it. +</p> + +<p> +The Sagoth knew only that I had failed in my mission, so he took advantage of +the fact to make the return journey to Phutra as disagreeable as possible. I +did not rebel, though I had with me the means to destroy them all. I did not +dare rebel because of the consequences to Dian. I intended demanding her +release on the grounds that she was in no way guilty of the theft, and that my +failure to recover the document had not lessened the value of the good faith I +had had in offering to do so. The Mahars might keep me in slavery if they +chose, but Dian should be returned safely to her people. +</p> + +<p> +I was full of my scheme when we entered Phutra and I was conducted directly to +the great audience-chamber. The Mahars listened to the report of the Sagoth +chieftain, and so difficult is it to judge their emotions from their almost +expressionless countenance, that I was at a loss to know how terrible might be +their wrath as they learned that their great secret, upon which rested the fate +of their race, might now be irretrievably lost. +</p> + +<p> +Presently I could see that she who presided was communicating something to the +Sagoth interpreter—doubt-less something to be transmitted to me which might +give me a forewarning of the fate which lay in store for me. One thing I had +decided definitely: If they would not free Dian I should turn loose upon Phutra +with my little arsenal. Alone I might even win to freedom, and if I could learn +where Dian was imprisoned it would be worth the attempt to free her. My +thoughts were interrupted by the interpreter. +</p> + +<p> +“The mighty Mahars,” he said, “are unable to reconcile your statement that the +document is lost with your action in sending it to them by a special messenger. +They wish to know if you have so soon forgotten the truth or if you are merely +ignoring it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I sent them no document,” I cried. “Ask them what they mean.” +</p> + +<p> +“They say,” he went on after conversing with the Mahar for a moment, “that just +before your return to Phutra, Hooja the Sly One came, bringing the great secret +with him. He said that you had sent him ahead with it, asking him to deliver it +and return to Sari where you would await him, bringing the girl with him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dian?” I gasped. “The Mahars have given over Dian into the keeping of Hooja.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely,” he replied. “What of it? She is only a gilak,” as you or I would say, +“She is only a cow.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI<br/> +A PENDENT WORLD</h2> + +<p> +The Mahars set me free as they had promised, but with strict injunctions never +to approach Phutra or any other Mahar city. They also made it perfectly plain +that they considered me a dangerous creature, and that having wiped the slate +clean in so far as they were under obligations to me, they now considered me +fair prey. Should I again fall into their hands, they intimated it would go ill +with me. +</p> + +<p> +They would not tell me in which direction Hooja had set forth with Dian, so I +departed from Phutra, filled with bitterness against the Mahars, and rage +toward the Sly One who had once again robbed me of my greatest treasure. +</p> + +<p> +At first I was minded to go directly back to Anoroc; but upon second thought +turned my face toward Sari, as I felt that somewhere in that direction Hooja +would travel, his own country lying in that general direction. +</p> + +<p> +Of my journey to Sari it is only necessary to say that it was fraught with the +usual excitement and adventure, incident to all travel across the face of +savage Pellucidar. The dangers, however, were greatly reduced through the +medium of my armament. I often wondered how it had happened that I had ever +survived the first ten years of my life within the inner world, when, naked and +primitively armed, I had traversed great areas of her beast-ridden surface. +</p> + +<p> +With the aid of my map, which I had kept with great care during my march with +the Sagoths in search of the great secret, I arrived at Sari at last. As I +topped the lofty plateau in whose rocky cliffs the principal tribe of Sarians +find their cave-homes, a great hue and cry arose from those who first +discovered me. +</p> + +<p> +Like wasps from their nests the hairy warriors poured from their caves. The +bows with their poison-tipped arrows, which I had taught them to fashion and to +use, were raised against me. Swords of hammered iron—another of my +innovations—menaced me, as with lusty shouts the horde charged down. +</p> + +<p> +It was a critical moment. Before I should be recognized I might be dead. It was +evident that all semblance of intertribal relationship had ceased with my +going, and that my people had reverted to their former savage, suspicious +hatred of all strangers. My garb must have puzzled them, too, for never before +of course had they seen a man clothed in khaki and puttees. +</p> + +<p> +Leaning my express rifle against my body I raised both hands aloft. It was the +peace-sign that is recognized everywhere upon the surface of Pellucidar. The +charging warriors paused and surveyed me. I looked for my friend Ghak, the +Hairy One, king of Sari, and presently I saw him coming from a distance. Ah, +but it was good to see his mighty, hairy form once more! A friend was Ghak—a +friend well worth the having; and it had been some time since I had seen a +friend. +</p> + +<p> +Shouldering his way through the throng of warriors, the mighty chieftain +advanced toward me. There was an expression of puzzlement upon his fine +features. He crossed the space between the warriors and myself, halting before +me. +</p> + +<p> +I did not speak. I did not even smile. I wanted to see if Ghak, my principal +lieutenant, would recognize me. For some time he stood there looking me over +carefully. His eyes took in my large pith helmet, my khaki jacket, and +bandoleers of cartridges, the two revolvers swinging at my hips, the large +rifle resting against my body. Still I stood with my hands above my head. He +examined my puttees and my strong tan shoes—a little the worse for wear now. +Then he glanced up once more to my face. As his gaze rested there quite +steadily for some moments I saw recognition tinged with awe creep across his +countenance. +</p> + +<p> +Presently without a word he took one of my hands in his and dropping to one +knee raised my fingers to his lips. Perry had taught them this trick, nor ever +did the most polished courtier of all the grand courts of Europe perform the +little act of homage with greater grace and dignity. +</p> + +<p> +Quickly I raised Ghak to his feet, clasping both his hands in mine. I think +there must have been tears in my eyes then—I know I felt too full for words. +The king of Sari turned toward his warriors. +</p> + +<p> +“Our emperor has come back,” he announced. “Come hither and—” +</p> + +<p> +But he got no further, for the shouts that broke from those savage throats +would have drowned the voice of heaven itself. I had never guessed how much +they thought of me. As they clustered around, almost fighting for the chance to +kiss my hand, I saw again the vision of empire which I had thought faded +forever. +</p> + +<p> +With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I <i>would</i> +conquer one! If the Sarians had remained loyal, so too would the Amozites be +loyal still, and the Kalians, and the Suvians, and all the great tribes who had +formed the federation that was to emancipate the human race of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was safe with the Sarians; now if Dian were +but safe with me the future would look bright indeed. +</p> + +<p> +It did not take long to outline to Ghak all that had befallen me since I had +departed from Pellucidar, and to get down to the business of finding Dian, +which to me at that moment was of even greater importance than the very empire +itself. +</p> + +<p> +When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in rage. +</p> + +<p> +“It is always the Sly One!” he cried. “It was Hooja who caused the first +trouble between you and the Beautiful One. +</p> + +<p> +“It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our recapture by the +Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra. +</p> + +<p> +“It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when you started +upon your return journey to your own world. +</p> + +<p> +“It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms one against +another and destroyed the federation. +</p> + +<p> +“When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. Next time—” +</p> + +<p> +Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. +</p> + +<p> +“He has become a very powerful enemy now,” I replied. “That he is allied in +some way with the Mahars is evidenced by the familiarity of his relations with +the Sagoths who were accompanying me in search of the great secret, for it must +have been Hooja whom I saw conversing with them just before we reached the +valley. Doubtless they told him of our quest and he hastened on ahead of us, +discovered the cave and stole the document. Well does he deserve his +appellation of the Sly One.” +</p> + +<p> +With Ghak and his head men I held a number of consultations. The upshot of them +was a decision to combine our search for Dian with an attempt to rebuild the +crumbled federation. To this end twenty warriors were despatched in pairs to +ten of the leading kingdoms, with instructions to make every effort to discover +the whereabouts of Hooja and Dian, while prosecuting their missions to the +chieftains to whom they were sent. +</p> + +<p> +Ghak was to remain at home to receive the various delegations which we invited +to come to Sari on the business of the federation. Four hundred warriors were +started for Anoroc to fetch Perry and the contents of the prospector, to the +capitol of the empire, which was also the principal settlements of the Sarians. +</p> + +<p> +At first it was intended that I remain at Sari, that I might be in readiness to +hasten forth at the first report of the discovery of Dian; but I found the +inaction in the face of my deep solicitude for the welfare of my mate so +galling that scarce had the several units departed upon their missions before +I, too, chafed to be actively engaged upon the search. +</p> + +<p> +It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the departure of the warriors, as I +recall, that I at last went to Ghak with the admission that I could no longer +support the intolerable longing to be personally upon the trail of my lost +love. +</p> + +<p> +Ghak tried to dissuade me, though I could tell that his heart was with me in my +wish to be away and really doing something. It was while we were arguing upon +the subject that a stranger, with hands above his head, entered the village. He +was immediately surrounded by warriors and conducted to Ghak’s presence. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was a typical cave man-squat muscular, and hairy, and of a type I +had not seen before. His features, like those of all the primeval men of +Pellucidar, were regular and fine. His weapons consisted of a stone ax and +knife and a heavy knobbed bludgeon of wood. His skin was very white. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” asked Ghak. “And whence come you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am Kolk, son of Goork, who is chief of the Thurians,” replied the stranger. +“From Thuria I have come in search of the land of Amoz, where dwells Dacor, the +Strong One, who stole my sister, Canda, the Grace-ful One, to be his mate. +</p> + +<p> +“We of Thuria had heard of a great chieftain who has bound together many +tribes, and my father has sent me to Dacor to learn if there be truth in these +stories, and if so to offer the services of Thuria to him whom we have heard +called emperor.” +</p> + +<p> +“The stories are true,” replied Ghak, “and here is the emperor of whom you have +heard. You need travel no farther.” +</p> + +<p> +Kolk was delighted. He told us much of the wonderful resources of Thuria, the +Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long journey in search of Amoz. +</p> + +<p> +“And why,” I asked, “does Goork, your father, desire to join his kingdom to the +empire?” +</p> + +<p> +“There are two reasons,” replied the young man. “Forever have the Mahars, who +dwell beyond the Lidi Plains which lie at the farther rim of the Land of Awful +Shadow, taken heavy toll of our people, whom they either force into lifelong +slavery or fatten for their feasts. We have heard that the great emperor makes +successful war upon the Mahars, against whom we should be glad to fight. +</p> + +<p> +“Recently has another reason come. Upon a great island which lies in the Sojar +Az, but a short distance from our shores, a wicked man has collected a great +band of outcast warriors of all tribes. Even are there many Sagoths among them, +sent by the Mahars to aid the Wicked One. +</p> + +<p> +“This band makes raids upon our villages, and it is constantly growing in size +and strength, for the Mahars give liberty to any of their male prisoners who +will promise to fight with this band against the enemies of the Mahars. It is +the purpose of the Mahars thus to raise a force of our own kind to combat the +growth and menace of the new empire of which I have come to seek information. +All this we learned from one of our own warriors who had pretended to +sympathize with this band and had then escaped at the first opportunity.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who could this man be,” I asked Ghak, “who leads so vile a movement against +his own kind?” +</p> + +<p> +“His name is Hooja,” spoke up Kolk, answering my question. +</p> + +<p> +Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was written upon his countenance and I +know that it was beating strongly in my heart. At last we had discovered a +tangible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja—and with the clue a guide! +</p> + +<p> +But when I broached the subject to Kolk he demurred. He had come a long way, he +explained, to see his sister and to confer with Dacor. Moreover, he had +instructions from his father which he could not ignore lightly. But even so he +would return with me and show me the way to the island of the Thurian shore if +by doing so we might accomplish anything. +</p> + +<p> +“But we cannot,” he urged. “Hooja is powerful. He has thousands of warriors. He +has only to call upon his Mahar allies to receive a countless horde of Sagoths +to do his bidding against his human enemies. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us wait until you may gather an equal horde from the kingdoms of your +empire. Then we may march against Hooja with some show of success. +</p> + +<p> +“But first must you lure him to the mainland, for who among you knows how to +construct the strange things that carry Hooja and his band back and forth +across the water? +</p> + +<p> +“We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We know nothing of such +things.” +</p> + +<p> +I couldn’t persuade him to do more than direct me upon the way. I showed him my +map, which now included a great area of country extending from Anoroc upon the +east to Sari upon the west, and from the river south of the Mountains of the +Clouds north to Amoz. As soon as I had explained it to him he drew a line with +his finger, showing a sea-coast far to the west and south of Sari, and a great +circle which he said marked the extent of the Land of Awful Shadow in which lay +Thuria. +</p> + +<p> +The shadow extended southeast of the coast out into the sea half-way to a large +island, which he said was the seat of Hooja’s traitorous government. The island +itself lay in the light of the noonday sun. Northwest of the coast and +embracing a part of Thuria lay the Lidi Plains, upon the northwestern verge of +which was situated the Mahar city which took such heavy toll of the Thurians. +</p> + +<p> +Thus were the unhappy people now between two fires, with Hooja upon one side +and the Mahars upon the other. I did not wonder that they sent out an appeal +for succor. +</p> + +<p> +Though Ghak and Kolk both attempted to dissuade me, I was determined to set out +at once, nor did I delay longer than to make a copy of my map to be given to +Perry that he might add to his that which I had set down since we parted. I +left a letter for him as well, in which among other things I advanced the +theory that the Sojar Az, or Great Sea, which Kolk mentioned as stretching +eastward from Thuria, might indeed be the same mighty ocean as that which, +swinging around the southern end of a continent ran northward along the shore +opposite Phutra, mingling its waters with the huge gulf upon which lay Sari, +Amoz, and Greenwich. +</p> + +<p> +Against this possibility I urged him to hasten the building of a fleet of small +sailing-vessels, which we might utilize should I find it impossible to entice +Hooja’s horde to the mainland. +</p> + +<p> +I told Ghak what I had written, and suggested that as soon as he could he +should make new treaties with the various kingdoms of the empire, collect an +army and march toward Thuria—this of course against the possibility of my +detention through some cause or other. +</p> + +<p> +Kolk gave me a sign to his father—a lidi, or beast of burden, crudely scratched +upon a bit of bone, and beneath the lidi a man and a flower; all very rudely +done perhaps, but none the less effective as I well knew from my long years +among the primitive men of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the man and the flower in the +combination in which they appeared bore a double significance, as they +constituted not only a message to the effect that the bearer came in peace, but +were also Kolk’s signature. +</p> + +<p> +And so, armed with my credentials and my small arsenal, I set out alone upon my +quest for the dearest girl in this world or yours. +</p> + +<p> +Kolk gave me explicit directions, though with my map I do not believe that I +could have gone wrong. As a matter of fact I did not need the map at all, since +the principal landmark of the first half of my journey, a gigantic +mountain-peak, was plainly visible from Sari, though a good hundred miles away. +</p> + +<p> +At the southern base of this mountain a river rose and ran in a westerly +direction, finally turning south and emptying into the Sojar Az some forty +miles northeast of Thuria. All that I had to do was follow this river to the +sea and then follow the coast to Thuria. +</p> + +<p> +Two hundred and forty miles of wild mountain and primeval jungle, of untracked +plain, of nameless rivers, of deadly swamps and savage forests lay ahead of me, +yet never had I been more eager for an adventure than now, for never had more +depended upon haste and success. +</p> + +<p> +I do not know how long a time that journey required, and only half did I +appreciate the varied wonders that each new march unfolded before me, for my +mind and heart were filled with but a single image—that of a perfect girl whose +great, dark eyes looked bravely forth from a frame of raven hair. +</p> + +<p> +It was not until I had passed the high peak and found the river that my eyes +first discovered the pendent world, the tiny satellite which hangs low over the +surface of Pellucidar casting its perpetual shadow always upon the same +spot—the area that is known here as the Land of Awful Shadow, in which dwells +the tribe of Thuria. +</p> + +<p> +From the distance and the elevation of the highlands where I stood the +Pellucidarian noonday moon showed half in sunshine and half in shadow, while +directly beneath it was plainly visible the round dark spot upon the surface of +Pellucidar where the sun has never shone. From where I stood the moon appeared +to hang so low above the ground as almost to touch it; but later I was to learn +that it floats a mile above the surface—which seems indeed quite close for a +moon. +</p> + +<p> +Following the river downward I soon lost sight of the tiny planet as I entered +the mazes of a lofty forest. Nor did I catch another glimpse of it for some +time—several marches at least. However, when the river led me to the sea, or +rather just before it reached the sea, of a sudden the sky became overcast and +the size and luxuriance of the vegetation diminished as by magic—as if an +omni-potent hand had drawn a line upon the earth, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Upon this side shall the trees and the shrubs, the grasses and the flowers, +riot in profusion of rich colors, gigantic size and bewildering abundance; and +upon that side shall they be dwarfed and pale and scant.” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so uncommon in the skies of +Pellucidar—they are practically unknown except above the mightiest mountain +ranges—that it had given me something of a start to discover the sun +obliterated. But I was not long in coming to a realization of the cause of the +shadow. +</p> + +<p> +Above me hung another world. I could see its mountains and valleys, oceans, +lakes, and rivers, its broad, grassy plains and dense forests. But too great +was the distance and too deep the shadow of its under side for me to +distinguish any movement as of animal life. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. The questions which the +sight of this planet, so tantalizingly close, raised in my mind were numerous +and unanswerable. +</p> + +<p> +Was it inhabited? +</p> + +<p> +If so, by what manner and form of creature? +</p> + +<p> +Were its people as relatively diminutive as their little world, or were they as +disproportionately huge as the lesser attraction of gravity upon the surface of +their globe would permit of their being? +</p> + +<p> +As I watched it, I saw that it was revolving upon an axis that lay parallel to +the surface of Pellucidar, so that during each revolution its entire surface +was once exposed to the world below and once bathed in the heat of the great +sun above. The little world had that which Pellucidar could not have—a day and +night, and—greatest of boons to one outer-earthly born—time. +</p> + +<p> +Here I saw a chance to give time to Pellucidar, using this mighty clock, +revolving perpetually in the heavens, to record the passage of the hours for +the earth below. Here should be located an observatory, from which might be +flashed by wireless to every corner of the empire the correct time once each +day. That this time would be easily measured I had no doubt, since so plain +were the landmarks upon the under surface of the satellite that it would be but +necessary to erect a simple instrument and mark the instant of passage of a +given landmark across the instrument. +</p> + +<p> +But then was not the time for dreaming; I must devote my mind to the purpose of +my journey. So I hastened onward beneath the great shadow. As I advanced I +could not but note the changing nature of the vegetation and the paling of its +hues. +</p> + +<p> +The river led me a short distance within the shadow before it emptied into the +Sojar Az. Then I continued in a southerly direction along the coast toward the +village of Thuria, where I hoped to find Goork and deliver to him my +credentials. +</p> + +<p> +I had progressed no great distance from the mouth of the river when I +discerned, lying some distance at sea, a great island. This I assumed to be the +stronghold of Hooja, nor did I doubt that upon it even now was Dian. +</p> + +<p> +The way was most difficult, since shortly after leaving the river I encountered +lofty cliffs split by numerous long, narrow fiords, each of which necessitated +a considerable detour. As the crow flies it is about twenty miles from the +mouth of the river to Thuria, but before I had covered half of it I was fagged. +There was no familiar fruit or vegetable growing upon the rocky soil of the +cliff-tops, and I would have fared ill for food had not a hare broken cover +almost beneath my nose. +</p> + +<p> +I carried bow and arrows to conserve my ammunition-supply, but so quick was the +little animal that I had no time to draw and fit a shaft. In fact my dinner was +a hundred yards away and going like the proverbial bat when I dropped my +six-shooter on it. It was a pretty shot and when coupled with a good dinner +made me quite contented with myself. +</p> + +<p> +After eating I lay down and slept. When I awoke I was scarcely so +self-satisfied, for I had not more than opened my eyes before I became aware of +the presence, barely a hundred yards from me, of a pack of some twenty huge +wolf-dogs—the things which Perry insisted upon calling hyaenodons—and almost +simultaneously I discovered that while I slept my revolvers, rifle, bow, +arrows, and knife had been stolen from me. +</p> + +<p> +And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII<br/> +FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT</h2> + +<p> +I have never been much of a runner; I hate running. But if ever a sprinter +broke into smithereens all world’s records it was I that day when I fled before +those hideous beasts along the narrow spit of rocky cliff between two narrow +fiords toward the Sojar Az. Just as I reached the verge of the cliff the +foremost of the brutes was upon me. He leaped and closed his massive jaws upon +my shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +The momentum of his flying body, added to that of my own, carried the two of us +over the cliff. It was a hideous fall. The cliff was almost perpendicular. At +its foot broke the sea against a solid wall of rock. +</p> + +<p> +We struck the cliff-face once in our descent and then plunged into the salt +sea. With the impact with the water the hyaenodon released his hold upon my +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +As I came sputtering to the surface I looked about for some tiny foot- or +hand-hold where I might cling for a moment of rest and recuperation. The cliff +itself offered me nothing, so I swam toward the mouth of the fiord. +</p> + +<p> +At the far end I could see that erosion from above had washed down sufficient +rubble to form a narrow ribbon of beach. Toward this I swam with all my +strength. Not once did I look behind me, since every unnecessary movement in +swimming detracts so much from one’s endurance and speed. Not until I had drawn +myself safely out upon the beach did I turn my eyes back toward the sea for the +hyaenodon. He was swimming slowly and apparently painfully toward the beach +upon which I stood. +</p> + +<p> +I watched him for a long time, wondering why it was that such a doglike animal +was not a better swimmer. As he neared me I realized that he was weakening +rapidly. I had gathered a handful of stones to be ready for his assault when he +landed, but in a moment I let them fall from my hands. It was evident that the +brute either was no swimmer or else was severely injured, for by now he was +making practically no headway. Indeed, it was with quite apparent difficulty +that he kept his nose above the surface of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +He was not more than fifty yards from shore when he went under. I watched the +spot where he had disappeared, and in a moment I saw his head reappear. The +look of dumb misery in his eyes struck a chord in my breast, for I love dogs. I +forgot that he was a vicious, primordial wolf-thing—a man-eater, a scourge, and +a terror. I saw only the sad eyes that looked like the eyes of Raja, my dead +collie of the outer world. +</p> + +<p> +I did not stop to weigh and consider. In other words, I did not stop to think, +which I believe must be the way of men who do things—in contradistinction to +those who think much and do nothing. Instead, I leaped back into the water and +swam out toward the drowning beast. At first he showed his teeth at my +approach, but just before I reached him he went under for the second time, so +that I had to dive to get him. +</p> + +<p> +I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and though he weighed as much as a +Shetland pony, I managed to drag him to shore and well up upon the beach. Here +I found that one of his forelegs was broken—the crash against the cliff-face +must have done it. +</p> + +<p> +By this time all the fight was out of him, so that when I had gathered a few +tiny branches from some of the stunted trees that grew in the crevices of the +cliff, and returned to him he permitted me to set his broken leg and bind it in +splints. I had to tear part of my shirt into bits to obtain a bandage, but at +last the job was done. Then I sat stroking the savage head and talking to the +beast in the man-dog talk with which you are familiar, if you ever owned and +loved a dog. +</p> + +<p> +When he is well, I thought, he probably will turn upon me and attempt to devour +me, and against that eventuality I gathered together a pile of rocks and set to +work to fashion a stone-knife. We were bottled up at the head of the fiord as +completely as if we had been behind prison bars. Before us spread the Sojar Az, +and elsewhere about us rose unscalable cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately a little rivulet trickled down the side of the rocky wall, giving +us ample supply of fresh water—some of which I kept constantly beside the +hyaenodon in a huge, bowl-shaped shell, of which there were countless numbers +among the rubble of the beach. +</p> + +<p> +For food we subsisted upon shellfish and an occasional bird that I succeeded in +knocking over with a rock, for long practice as a pitcher on prep-school and +varsity nines had made me an excellent shot with a hand-thrown missile. +</p> + +<p> +It was not long before the hyaenodon’s leg was sufficiently mended to permit +him to rise and hobble about on three legs. I shall never forget with what +intent interest I watched his first attempt. Close at my hand lay my pile of +rocks. Slowly the beast came to his three good feet. He stretched himself, +lowered his head, and lapped water from the drinking-shell at his side, turned +and looked at me, and then hobbled off toward the cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +Thrice he traversed the entire extent of our prison, seeking, I imagine, a +loop-hole for escape, but finding none he returned in my direction. Slowly he +came quite close to me, sniffed at my shoes, my puttees, my hands, and then +limped off a few feet and lay down again. +</p> + +<p> +Now that he was able to get around, I was a little uncertain as to the wisdom +of my impulsive mercy. +</p> + +<p> +How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling about the narrow confines +of our prison? +</p> + +<p> +Should I close my eyes it might be to open them again to the feel of those +mighty jaws at my throat. To say the least, I was uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +I have had too much experience with dumb animals to bank very strongly on any +sense of gratitude which may be attributed to them by inexperienced +sentimentalists. I believe that some animals love their masters, but I doubt +very much if their affection is the outcome of gratitude—a characteristic that +is so rare as to be only occasionally traceable in the seemingly unselfish acts +of man himself. +</p> + +<p> +But finally I was forced to sleep. Tired nature would be put off no longer. I +simply fell asleep, willy nilly, as I sat looking out to sea. I had been very +uncomfortable since my ducking in the ocean, for though I could see the +sunlight on the water half-way toward the island and upon the island itself, no +ray of it fell upon us. We were well within the Land of Awful Shadow. A +perpetual half-warmth pervaded the atmosphere, but clothing was slow in drying, +and so from loss of sleep and great physical discomfort, I at last gave way to +nature’s demands and sank into profound slumber. +</p> + +<p> +When I awoke it was with a start, for a heavy body was upon me. My first +thought was that the hyaenodon had at last attacked me, but as my eyes opened +and I struggled to rise, I saw that a man was astride me and three others +bending close above him. +</p> + +<p> +I am no weakling—and never have been. My experience in the hard life of the +inner world has turned my thews to steel. Even such giants as Ghak the Hairy +One have praised my strength; but to it is added another quality which they +lack—science. +</p> + +<p> +The man upon me held me down awkwardly, leaving me many openings—one of which I +was not slow in taking advantage of, so that almost before the fellow knew that +I was awake I was upon my feet with my arms over his shoulders and about his +waist and had hurled him heavily over my head to the hard rubble of the beach, +where he lay quite still. +</p> + +<p> +In the instant that I arose I had seen the hyaenodon lying asleep beside a +boulder a few yards away. So nearly was he the color of the rock that he was +scarcely discernible. Evidently the newcomers had not seen him. +</p> + +<p> +I had not more than freed myself from one of my antagonists before the other +three were upon me. They did not work silently now, but charged me with savage +cries—a mistake upon their part. The fact that they did not draw their weapons +against me convinced me that they desired to take me alive; but I fought as +desperately as if death loomed immediate and sure. +</p> + +<p> +The battle was short, for scarce had their first wild whoop reverberated +through the rocky fiord, and they had closed upon me, than a hairy mass of +demoniacal rage hurtled among us. +</p> + +<p> +It was the hyaenodon! +</p> + +<p> +In an instant he had pulled down one of the men, and with a single shake, +terrier-like, had broken his neck. Then he was upon another. In their efforts +to vanquish the wolf-dog the savages forgot all about me, thus giving me an +instant in which to snatch a knife from the loin-string of him who had first +fallen and account for another of them. Almost simultaneously the hyaenodon +pulled down the remaining enemy, crushing his skull with a single bite of those +fearsome jaws. +</p> + +<p> +The battle was over—unless the beast considered me fair prey, too. I waited, +ready for him with knife and bludgeon—also filched from a dead foeman; but he +paid no attention to me, falling to work instead to devour one of the corpses. +</p> + +<p> +The beast bad been handicapped but little by his splinted leg; but having eaten +he lay down and commenced to gnaw at the bandage. I was sitting some little +distance away devouring shellfish, of which, by the way, I was becoming +exceedingly tired. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, the hyaenodon arose and came toward me. I did not move. He stopped +in front of me and deliberately raised his bandaged leg and pawed my knee. His +act was as intelligible as words—he wished the bandage removed. +</p> + +<p> +I took the great paw in one hand and with the other hand untied and unwound the +bandage, removed the splints and felt of the injured member. As far as I could +judge the bone was completely knit. The joint was stiff; when I bent it a +little the brute winced—but he neither growled nor tried to pull away. Very +slowly and gently I rubbed the joint and applied pressure to it for a few +moments. +</p> + +<p> +Then I set it down upon the ground. The hyaenodon walked around me a few times, +and then lay down at my side, his body touching mine. I laid my hand upon his +head. He did not move. Slowly, I scratched about his ears and neck and down +beneath the fierce jaws. The only sign he gave was to raise his chin a trifle +that I might better caress him. +</p> + +<p> +That was enough! From that moment I have never again felt suspicion of Raja, as +I immediately named him. Somehow all sense of loneliness vanished, too—I had a +dog! I had never guessed precisely what it was that was lacking to life in +Pellucidar, but now I knew it was the total absence of domestic animals. +</p> + +<p> +Man here had not yet reached the point where he might take the time from +slaughter and escaping slaughter to make friends with any of the brute +creation. I must qualify this statement a trifle and say that this was true of +those tribes with which I was most familiar. The Thurians do domesticate the +colossal lidi, traversing the great Lidi Plains upon the backs of these +grotesque and stupendous monsters, and possibly there may also be other, +far-distant peoples within the great world, who have tamed others of the wild +things of jungle, plain or mountain. +</p> + +<p> +The Thurians practice agriculture in a crude sort of way. It is my opinion that +this is one of the earliest steps from savagery to civilization. The taming of +wild beasts and their domestication follows. +</p> + +<p> +Perry argues that wild dogs were first domesticated for hunting purposes; but I +do not agree with him. I believe that if their domestication were not purely +the result of an accident, as, for example, my taming of the hyaenodon, it came +about through the desire of tribes who had previously domesticated flocks and +herds to have some strong, ferocious beast to guard their roaming property. +However, I lean rather more strongly to the theory of accident. +</p> + +<p> +As I sat there upon the beach of the little fiord eating my unpalatable +shell-fish, I commenced to wonder how it had been that the four savages had +been able to reach me, though I had been unable to escape from my natural +prison. I glanced about in all directions, searching for an explanation. At +last my eyes fell upon the bow of a small dugout protruding scarce a foot from +behind a large boulder lying half in the water at the edge of the beach. +</p> + +<p> +At my discovery I leaped to my feet so suddenly that it brought Raja, growling +and bristling, upon all fours in an instant. For the moment I had forgotten +him. But his savage rumbling did not cause me any uneasiness. He glanced +quickly about in all directions as if searching for the cause of my excitement. +Then, as I walked rapidly down toward the dugout, he slunk silently after me. +</p> + +<p> +The dugout was similar in many respects to those which I had seen in use by the +Mezops. In it were four paddles. I was much delighted, as it promptly offered +me the escape I had been craving. +</p> + +<p> +I pushed it out into water that would float it, stepped in and called to Raja +to enter. At first he did not seem to understand what I wished of him, but +after I had paddled out a few yards he plunged through the surf and swam after +me. When he had come alongside I grasped the scruff of his neck, and after a +considerable struggle, in which I several times came near to overturning the +canoe, I managed to drag him aboard, where he shook himself vigorously and +squatted down before me. +</p> + +<p> +After emerging from the fiord, I paddled southward along the coast, where +presently the lofty cliffs gave way to lower and more level country. It was +here somewhere that I should come upon the principal village of the Thurians. +When, after a time, I saw in the distance what I took to be huts in a clearing +near the shore, I drew quickly into land, for though I had been furnished +credentials by Kolk, I was not sufficiently familiar with the tribal +characteristics of these people to know whether I should receive a friendly +welcome or not; and in case I should not, I wanted to be sure of having a canoe +hidden safely away so that I might undertake the trip to the island, in any +event—provided, of course, that I escaped the Thurians should they prove +belligerent. +</p> + +<p> +At the point where I landed the shore was quite low. A forest of pale, scrubby +ferns ran down almost to the beach. Here I dragged up the dugout, hiding it +well within the vegetation, and with some loose rocks built a cairn upon the +beach to mark my cache. Then I turned my steps toward the Thurian village. +</p> + +<p> +As I proceeded I began to speculate upon the possible actions of Raja when we +should enter the presence of other men than myself. The brute was padding +softly at my side, his sensitive nose constantly atwitch and his fierce eyes +moving restlessly from side to side—nothing would ever take Raja unawares! +</p> + +<p> +The more I thought upon the matter the greater became my perturbation. I did +not want Raja to attack any of the people upon whose friendship I so greatly +depended, nor did I want him injured or slain by them. +</p> + +<p> +I wondered if Raja would stand for a leash. His head as he paced beside me was +level with my hip. I laid my hand upon it caressingly. As I did so he turned +and looked up into my face, his jaws parting and his red tongue lolling as you +have seen your own dog’s beneath a love pat. +</p> + +<p> +“Just been waiting all your life to be tamed and loved, haven’t you, old man?” +I asked. “You’re nothing but a good pup, and the man who put the hyaeno in your +name ought to be sued for libel.” +</p> + +<p> +Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling lips and licked my hand. +</p> + +<p> +“You’re grinning, you old fraud, you!” I cried. “If you’re not, I’ll eat you. +I’ll bet a doughnut you’re nothing but some kid’s poor old Fido, masquerading +around as a real, live man-eater.” +</p> + +<p> +Raja whined. And so we walked on together toward Thuria—I talking to the beast +at my side, and he seeming to enjoy my company no less than I enjoyed his. If +you don’t think it’s lonesome wandering all by yourself through savage, unknown +Pellucidar, why, just try it, and you will not wonder that I was glad of the +company of this first dog—this living replica of the fierce and now extinct +hyaenodon of the outer crust that hunted in savage packs the great elk across +the snows of southern France, in the days when the mastodon roamed at will over +the broad continent of which the British Isles were then a part, and perchance +left his footprints and his bones in the sands of Atlantis as well. +</p> + +<p> +Thus I dreamed as we moved on toward Thuria. My dreaming was rudely shattered +by a savage growl from Raja. I looked down at him. He had stopped in his tracks +as one turned to stone. A thin ridge of stiff hair bristled along the entire +length of his spine. His yellow green eyes were fastened upon the scrubby +jungle at our right. +</p> + +<p> +I fastened my fingers in the bristles at his neck and turned my eyes in the +direction that his pointed. At first I saw nothing. Then a slight movement of +the bushes riveted my attention. I thought it must be some wild beast, and was +glad of the primitive weapons I had taken from the bodies of the warriors who +had attacked me. +</p> + +<p> +Presently I distinguished two eyes peering at us from the vegetation. I took a +step in their direction, and as I did so a youth arose and fled precipitately +in the direction we had been going. Raja struggled to be after him, but I held +tightly to his neck, an act which he did not seem to relish, for he turned on +me with bared fangs. +</p> + +<p> +I determined that now was as good a time as any to discover just how deep was +Raja’s affection for me. One of us could be master, and logically I was the +one. He growled at me. I cuffed him sharply across the nose. He looked it me +for a moment in surprised bewilderment, and then he growled again. I made +another feint at him, expecting that it would bring him at my throat; but +instead he winced and crouched down. +</p> + +<p> +Raja was subdued! +</p> + +<p> +I stooped and patted him. Then I took a piece of the rope that constituted a +part of my equipment and made a leash for him. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we resumed our journey toward Thuria. The youth who had seen us was +evidently of the Thurians. That he had lost no time in racing homeward and +spreading the word of my coming was evidenced when we had come within sight of +the clearing, and the village—the first real village, by the way, that I had +ever seen constructed by human Pellucidarians. There was a rude rectangle +walled with logs and boulders, in which were a hundred or more thatched huts of +similar construction. There was no gate. Ladders that could be removed by night +led over the palisade. +</p> + +<p> +Before the village were assembled a great concourse of warriors. Inside I could +see the heads of women and children peering over the top of the wall; and also, +farther back, the long necks of lidi, topped by their tiny heads. Lidi, by the +way, is both the singular and plural form of the noun that describes the huge +beasts of burden of the Thurians. They are enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a +hundred feet long, with very small heads perched at the top of very long, +slender necks. Their heads are quite forty feet from the ground. Their gait is +slow and deliberate, but so enormous are their strides that, as a matter of +fact, they cover the ground quite rapidly. +</p> + +<p> +Perry has told me that they are almost identical with the fossilized remains of +the diplodocus of the outer crust’s Jurassic age. I have to take his word for +it—and I guess you will, unless you know more of such matters than I. +</p> + +<p> +As we came in sight of the warriors the men set up a great jabbering. Their +eyes were wide in astonishment—not only, I presume, because of my strange +garmenture, but as well from the fact that I came in company with a jalok, +which is the Pellucidarian name of the hyaenodon. +</p> + +<p> +Raja tugged at his leash, growling and showing his long white fangs. He would +have liked nothing better than to be at the throats of the whole aggregation; +but I held him in with the leash, though it took all my strength to do it. My +free hand I held above my head, palm out, in token of the peacefulness of my +mission. +</p> + +<p> +In the foreground I saw the youth who had discovered us, and I could tell from +the way he carried himself that he was quite overcome by his own importance. +The warriors about him were all fine looking fellows, though shorter and +squatter than the Sarians or the Amozites. Their color, too, was a bit lighter, +owing, no doubt, to the fact that much of their lives is spent within the +shadow of the world that hangs forever above their country. +</p> + +<p> +A little in advance of the others was a bearded fellow tricked out in many +ornaments. I didn’t need to ask to know that he was the chieftain—doubtless +Goork, father of Kolk. Now to him I addressed myself. +</p> + +<p> +“I am David,” I said, “Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. +Doubtless you have heard of me?” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded his head affirmatively. +</p> + +<p> +“I come from Sari,” I continued, “where I just met Kolk, the son of Goork. I +bear a token from Kolk to his father, which will prove that I am a friend.” +</p> + +<p> +Again the warrior nodded. “I am Goork,” he said. “Where is the token?” +</p> + +<p> +“Here,” I replied, and fished into the game-bag where I had placed it. +</p> + +<p> +Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand searched the inside of the bag. +</p> + +<p> +It was empty! +</p> + +<p> +The token had been stolen with my arms! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br/> +CAPTIVE</h2> + +<p> +When Goork and his people saw that I had no token they commenced to taunt me. +</p> + +<p> +“You do not come from Kolk, but from the Sly One!” they cried. “He has sent you +from the island to spy upon us. Go away, or we will set upon you and kill you.” +</p> + +<p> +I explained that all my belongings had been stolen from me, and that the robber +must have taken the token too; but they didn’t believe me. As proof that I was +one of Hooja’s people, they pointed to my weapons, which they said were +ornamented like those of the island clan. Further, they said that no good man +went in company with a jalok—and that by this line of reasoning I certainly was +a bad man. +</p> + +<p> +I saw that they were not naturally a war-like tribe, for they preferred that I +leave in peace rather than force them to attack me, whereas the Sarians would +have killed a suspicious stranger first and inquired into his purposes later. +</p> + +<p> +I think Raja sensed their antagonism, for he kept tugging at his leash and +growling ominously. They were a bit in awe of him, and kept at a safe distance. +It was evident that they could not comprehend why it was that this savage brute +did not turn upon me and rend me. +</p> + +<p> +I wasted a long time there trying to persuade Goork to accept me at my own +valuation, but he was too canny. The best he would do was to give us food, +which he did, and direct me as to the safest portion of the island upon which +to attempt a landing, though even as he told me I am sure that he thought my +request for information but a blind to deceive him as to my true knowledge of +the insular stronghold. +</p> + +<p> +At last I turned away from them—rather disheartened, for I had hoped to be able +to enlist a considerable force of them in an attempt to rush Hooja’s horde and +rescue Dian. Back along the beach toward the hidden canoe we made our way. +</p> + +<p> +By the time we came to the cairn I was dog-tired. Throwing myself upon the sand +I soon slept, and with Raja stretched out beside me I felt a far greater +security than I had enjoyed for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +I awoke much refreshed to find Raja’s eyes glued upon me. The moment I opened +mine he rose, stretched himself, and without a backward glance plunged into the +jungle. For several minutes I could hear him crashing through the brush. Then +all was silent. +</p> + +<p> +I wondered if he had left me to return to his fierce pack. A feeling of +loneliness overwhelmed me. With a sigh I turned to the work of dragging the +canoe down to the sea. As I entered the jungle where the dugout lay a hare +darted from beneath the boat’s side, and a well-aimed cast of my javelin +brought it down. I was hungry—I had not realized it before—so I sat upon the +edge of the canoe and devoured my repast. The last remnants gone, I again +busied myself with preparations for my expedition to the island. +</p> + +<p> +I did not know for certain that Dian was there; but I surmised as much. Nor +could I guess what obstacles might confront me in an effort to rescue her. For +a time I loitered about after I had the canoe at the water’s edge, hoping +against hope that Raja would return; but he did not, so I shoved the awkward +craft through the surf and leaped into it. +</p> + +<p> +I was still a little downcast by the desertion of my new-found friend, though I +tried to assure myself that it was nothing but what I might have expected. +</p> + +<p> +The savage brute had served me well in the short time that we had been +together, and had repaid his debt of gratitude to me, since he had saved my +life, or at least my liberty, no less certainly than I had saved his life when +he was injured and drowning. +</p> + +<p> +The trip across the water to the island was uneventful. I was mighty glad to be +in the sunshine again when I passed out of the shadow of the dead world about +half-way between the mainland and the island. The hot rays of the noonday sun +did a great deal toward raising my spirits, and dispelling the mental gloom in +which I had been shrouded almost continually since entering the Land of Awful +Shadow. There is nothing more dispiriting to me than absence of sunshine. +</p> + +<p> +I had paddled to the southwestern point, which Goork said he believed to be the +least frequented portion of the island, as he had never seen boats put off from +there. I found a shallow reef running far out into the sea and rather +precipitous cliffs running almost to the surf. It was a nasty place to land, +and I realized now why it was not used by the natives; but at last I managed, +after a good wetting, to beach my canoe and scale the cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +The country beyond them appeared more open and park-like than I had +anticipated, since from the mainland the entire coast that is visible seems +densely clothed with tropical jungle. This jungle, as I could see from the +vantage-point of the cliff-top, formed but a relatively narrow strip between +the sea and the more open forest and meadow of the interior. Farther back there +was a range of low but apparently very rocky hills, and here and there all +about were visible flat-topped masses of rock—small mountains, in fact—which +reminded me of pictures I had seen of landscapes in New Mexico. Altogether, the +country was very much broken and very beautiful. From where I stood I counted +no less than a dozen streams winding down from among the table-buttes and +emptying into a pretty river which flowed away in a northeasterly direction +toward the op-posite end of the island. +</p> + +<p> +As I let my eyes roam over the scene I suddenly became aware of figures moving +upon the flat top of a far-distant butte. Whether they were beast or human, +though, I could not make out; but at least they were alive, so I determined to +prosecute my search for Hooja’s stronghold in the general direction of this +butte. +</p> + +<p> +To descend to the valley required no great effort. As I swung along through the +lush grass and the fragrant flowers, my cudgel swinging in my hand and my +javelin looped across my shoulders with its aurochs-hide strap, I felt equal to +any emergency, ready for any danger. +</p> + +<p> +I had covered quite a little distance, and I was passing through a strip of +wood which lay at the foot of one of the flat-topped hills, when I became +conscious of the sensation of being watched. My life within Pellucidar has +rather quickened my senses of sight, hearing, and smell, and, too, certain +primitive intuitive or instinctive qualities that seem blunted in civilized +man. But, though I was positive that eyes were upon me, I could see no sign of +any living thing within the wood other than the many, gay-plumaged birds and +little monkeys which filled the trees with life, color, and action. +</p> + +<p> +To you it may seem that my conviction was the result of an overwrought +imagination, or to the actual reality of the prying eyes of the little monkeys +or the curious ones of the birds; but there is a difference which I cannot +explain between the sensation of casual observation and studied espionage. A +sheep might gaze at you without transmitting a warning through your subjective +mind, because you are in no danger from a sheep. But let a tiger gaze fixedly +at you from ambush, and unless your primitive instincts are completely +calloused you will presently commence to glance furtively about and be filled +with vague, unreasoning terror. +</p> + +<p> +Thus was it with me then. I grasped my cudgel more firmly and unslung my +javelin, carrying it in my left hand. I peered to left and right, but I saw +nothing. Then, all quite suddenly, there fell about my neck and shoulders, +around my arms and body, a number of pliant fiber ropes. +</p> + +<p> +In a jiffy I was trussed up as neatly as you might wish. One of the nooses +dropped to my ankles and was jerked up with a suddenness that brought me to my +face upon the ground. Then something heavy and hairy sprang upon my back. I +fought to draw my knife, but hairy hands grasped my wrists and, dragging them +behind my back, bound them securely. +</p> + +<p> +Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over upon my back to look up into +the faces of my captors. +</p> + +<p> +And what faces! Imagine if you can a cross between a sheep and a gorilla, and +you will have some conception of the physiognomy of the creature that bent +close above me, and of those of the half-dozen others that clustered about. +There was the facial length and great eyes of the sheep, and the bull-neck and +hideous fangs of the gorilla. The bodies and limbs were both man and +gorilla-like. +</p> + +<p> +As they bent over me they conversed in a mono-syllabic tongue that was +perfectly intelligible to me. It was something of a simplified language that +had no need for aught but nouns and verbs, but such words as it included were +the same as those of the human beings of Pellucidar. It was amplified by many +gestures which filled in the speech-gaps. +</p> + +<p> +I asked them what they intended doing with me; but, like our own North American +Indians when questioned by a white man, they pretended not to understand me. +One of them swung me to his shoulder as lightly as if I had been a shoat. He +was a huge creature, as were his fellows, standing fully seven feet upon his +short legs and weighing considerably more than a quarter of a ton. +</p> + +<p> +Two went ahead of my bearer and three behind. In this order we cut to the right +through the forest to the foot of the hill where precipitous cliffs appeared to +bar our farther progress in this direction. But my escort never paused. Like +ants upon a wall, they scaled that seemingly unscalable barrier, clinging, +Heaven knows how, to its ragged perpendicular face. During most of the short +journey to the summit I must admit that my hair stood on end. Presently, +however, we topped the thing and stood upon the level mesa which crowned it. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately from all about, out of burrows and rough, rocky lairs, poured a +perfect torrent of beasts similar to my captors. They clustered about, +jabbering at my guards and attempting to get their hands upon me, whether from +curiosity or a desire to do me bodily harm I did not know, since my escort with +bared fangs and heavy blows kept them off. +</p> + +<p> +Across the mesa we went, to stop at last before a large pile of rocks in which +an opening appeared. Here my guards set me upon my feet and called out a word +which sounded like “Gr-gr-gr!” and which I later learned was the name of their +king. +</p> + +<p> +Presently there emerged from the cavernous depths of the lair a monstrous +creature, scarred from a hundred battles, almost hairless and with an empty +socket where one eye had been. The other eye, sheeplike in its mildness, gave +the most startling appearance to the beast, which but for that single timid orb +was the most fearsome thing that one could imagine. +</p> + +<p> +I had encountered the black, hairless, long-tailed ape—things of the +mainland—the creatures which Perry thought might constitute the link between +the higher orders of apes and man—but these brute-men of Gr-gr-gr seemed to set +that theory back to zero, for there was less similarity between the black +ape-men and these creatures than there was between the latter and man, while +both had many human attributes, some of which were better developed in one +species and some in the other. +</p> + +<p> +The black apes were hairless and built thatched huts in their arboreal +retreats; they kept domesticated dogs and ruminants, in which respect they were +farther advanced than the human beings of Pellucidar; but they appeared to have +only a meager language, and sported long, apelike tails. +</p> + +<p> +On the other hand, Gr-gr-gr’s people were, for the most part, quite hairy, but +they were tailless and had a language similar to that of the human race of +Pellucidar; nor were they arboreal. Their skins, where skin showed, were white. +</p> + +<p> +From the foregoing facts and others that I have noted during my long life +within Pellucidar, which is now passing through an age analogous to some +pre-glacial age of the outer crust, I am constrained to the belief that +evolution is not so much a gradual transition from one form to another as it is +an accident of breeding, either by crossing or the hazards of birth. In other +words, it is my belief that the first man was a freak of nature—nor would one +have to draw overstrongly upon his credulity to be convinced that Gr-gr-gr and +his tribe were also freaks. +</p> + +<p> +The great man-brute seated himself upon a flat rock—his throne, I imagine—just +before the entrance to his lair. With elbows on knees and chin in palms he +regarded me intently through his lone sheep-eye while one of my captors told of +my taking. +</p> + +<p> +When all had been related Gr-gr-gr questioned me. I shall not attempt to quote +these people in their own abbreviated tongue—you would have even greater +difficulty in interpreting them than did I. Instead, I shall put the words into +their mouths which will carry to you the ideas which they intended to convey. +</p> + +<p> +“You are an enemy,” was Gr-gr-gr’s initial declaration. “You belong to the +tribe of Hooja.” +</p> + +<p> +Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! Good! +</p> + +<p> +“I am an enemy of Hooja,” I replied. “He has stolen my mate and I have come +here to take her away from him and punish Hooja.” +</p> + +<p> +“How could you do that alone?” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” I answered, “but I should have tried had you not captured me. +What do you intend to do with me?” +</p> + +<p> +“You shall work for us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will not kill me?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“We do not kill except in self-defense,” he replied; “self-defense and +punishment. Those who would kill us and those who do wrong we kill. If we knew +you were one of Hooja’s people we might kill you, for all Hooja’s people are +bad people; but you say you are an enemy of Hooja. You may not speak the truth, +but until we learn that you have lied we shall not kill you. You shall work.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you hate Hooja,” I suggested, “why not let me, who hate him, too, go and +punish him?” +</p> + +<p> +For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised his head and addressed my +guard. +</p> + +<p> +“Take him to his work,” he ordered. +</p> + +<p> +His tone was final. As if to emphasize it he turned and entered his burrow. My +guard conducted me farther into the mesa, where we came presently to a tiny +depression or valley, at one end of which gushed a warm spring. +</p> + +<p> +The view that opened before me was the most surprising that I have ever seen. +In the hollow, which must have covered several hundred acres, were numerous +fields of growing things, and working all about with crude implements or with +no implements at all other than their bare hands were many of the brute-men +engaged in the first agriculture that I had seen within Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. +</p> + +<p> +I never was a farmer nor particularly keen for this sort of work, and I am free +to confess that time never had dragged so heavily as it did during the hour or +the year I spent there at that work. How long it really was I do not know, of +course; but it was all too long. +</p> + +<p> +The creatures that worked about me were quite simple and friendly. One of them +proved to be a son of Gr-gr-gr. He had broken some minor tribal law, and was +working out his sentence in the fields. He told me that his tribe had lived +upon this hilltop always, and that there were other tribes like them dwelling +upon other hilltops. They had no wars and had always lived in peace and +harmony, menaced only by the larger carnivora of the island, until my kind had +come under a creature called Hooja, and attacked and killed them when they +chanced to descend from their natural fortresses to visit their fellows upon +other lofty mesas. +</p> + +<p> +Now they were afraid; but some day they would go in a body and fall upon Hooja +and his people and slay them all. I explained to him that I was Hooja’s enemy, +and asked, when they were ready to go, that I be allowed to go with them, or, +better still, that they let me go ahead and learn all that I could about the +village where Hooja dwelt so that they might attack it with the best chance of +success. +</p> + +<p> +Gr-gr-gr’s son seemed much impressed by my suggestion. He said that when he was +through in the fields he would speak to his father about the matter. +</p> + +<p> +Some time after this Gr-gr-gr came through the fields where we were, and his +son spoke to him upon the subject, but the old gentleman was evidently in +anything but a good humor, for he cuffed the youngster and, turning upon me, +informed me that he was convinced that I had lied to him, and that I was one of +Hooja’s people. +</p> + +<p> +“Wherefore,” he concluded, “we shall slay you as soon as the melons are +cultivated. Hasten, therefore.” +</p> + +<p> +And hasten I did. I hastened to cultivate the weeds which grew among the +melon-vines. Where there had been one sickly weed before, I nourished two +healthy ones. When I found a particularly promising variety of weed growing +elsewhere than among my melons, I forthwith dug it up and transplanted it among +my charges. +</p> + +<p> +My masters did not seem to realize my perfidy. They saw me always laboring +diligently in the melon-patch, and as time enters not into the reckoning of +Pellucidarians—even of human beings and much less of brutes and half brutes—I +might have lived on indefinitely through this subterfuge had not that occurred +which took me out of the melon-patch for good and all. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX<br/> +HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR</h2> + +<p> +I had built a little shelter of rocks and brush where I might crawl in and +sleep out of the perpetual light and heat of the noonday sun. When I was tired +or hungry I retired to my humble cot. +</p> + +<p> +My masters never interposed the slightest objection. As a matter of fact, they +were very good to me, nor did I see aught while I was among them to indicate +that they are ever else than a simple, kindly folk when left to themselves. +Their awe-inspiring size, terrific strength, mighty fighting-fangs, and hideous +appearance are but the attributes necessary to the successful waging of their +constant battle for survival, and well do they employ them when the need +arises. The only flesh they eat is that of herbivorous animals and birds. When +they hunt the mighty thag, the prehistoric bos of the outer crust, a single +male, with his fiber rope, will catch and kill the greatest of the bulls. +</p> + +<p> +Well, as I was about to say, I had this little shelter at the edge of my +melon-patch. Here I was resting from my labors on a certain occasion when I +heard a great hub-bub in the village, which lay about a quarter of a mile away. +</p> + +<p> +Presently a male came racing toward the field, shouting excitedly. As he +approached I came from my shelter to learn what all the commotion might be +about, for the monotony of my existence in the melon-patch must have fostered +that trait of my curiosity from which it had always been my secret boast I am +peculiarly free. +</p> + +<p> +The other workers also ran forward to meet the messenger, who quickly +unburdened himself of his information, and as quickly turned and scampered back +toward the village. When running these beast-men often go upon all fours. Thus +they leap over obstacles that would slow up a human being, and upon the level +attain a speed that would make a thoroughbred look to his laurels. The result +in this instance was that before I had more than assimilated the gist of the +word which had been brought to the fields, I was alone, watching my co-workers +speeding villageward. +</p> + +<p> +I was alone! It was the first time since my capture that no beast-man had been +within sight of me. I was alone! And all my captors were in the village at the +op-posite edge of the mesa repelling an attack of Hooja’s horde! +</p> + +<p> +It seemed from the messenger’s tale that two of Gr-gr-gr’s great males had been +set upon by a half-dozen of Hooja’s cutthroats while the former were peaceably +returning from the thag hunt. The two had returned to the village unscratched, +while but a single one of Hooja’s half-dozen had escaped to report the outcome +of the battle to their leader. Now Hooja was coming to punish Gr-gr-gr’s +people. With his large force, armed with the bows and arrows that Hooja had +learned from me to make, with long lances and sharp knives, I feared that even +the mighty strength of the beastmen could avail them but little. +</p> + +<p> +At last had come the opportunity for which I waited! I was free to make for the +far end of the mesa, find my way to the valley below, and while the two forces +were engaged in their struggle, continue my search for Hooja’s village, which I +had learned from the beast-men lay farther on down the river that I had been +following when taken prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +As I turned to make for the mesa’s rim the sounds of battle came plainly to my +ears—the hoarse shouts of men mingled with the half-beastly roars and growls of +the brute-folk. +</p> + +<p> +Did I take advantage of my opportunity? +</p> + +<p> +I did not. Instead, lured by the din of strife and by the desire to deliver a +stroke, however feeble, against hated Hooja, I wheeled and ran directly toward +the village. +</p> + +<p> +When I reached the edge of the plateau such a scene met my astonished gaze as +never before had startled it, for the unique battle-methods of the half-brutes +were rather the most remarkable I had ever witnessed. Along the very edge of +the cliff-top stood a thin line of mighty males—the best rope-throwers of the +tribe. A few feet behind these the rest of the males, with the exception of +about twenty, formed a second line. Still farther in the rear all the women and +young children were clustered into a single group under the protection of the +remaining twenty fighting males and all the old males. +</p> + +<p> +But it was the work of the first two lines that interested me. The forces of +Hooja—a great horde of savage Sagoths and primeval cave men—were working their +way up the steep cliff-face, their agility but slightly less than that of my +captors who had clambered so nimbly aloft—even he who was burdened by my +weight. +</p> + +<p> +As the attackers came on they paused occasionally wherever a projection gave +them sufficient foothold and launched arrows and spears at the defenders above +them. During the entire battle both sides hurled taunts and insults at one +another—the human beings naturally excelling the brutes in the coarseness and +vileness of their vilification and invective. +</p> + +<p> +The “firing-line” of the brute-men wielded no weapon other than their long +fiber nooses. When a foeman came within range of them a noose would settle +unerringly about him and he would be dragged, fighting and yelling, to the +cliff-top, unless, as occasionally occurred, he was quick enough to draw his +knife and cut the rope above him, in which event he usually plunged down-ward +to a no less certain death than that which awaited him above. +</p> + +<p> +Those who were hauled up within reach of the powerful clutches of the defenders +had the nooses snatched from them and were catapulted back through the first +line to the second, where they were seized and killed by the simple expedient +of a single powerful closing of mighty fangs upon the backs of their necks. +</p> + +<p> +But the arrows of the invaders were taking a much heavier toll than the nooses +of the defenders and I foresaw that it was but a matter of time before Hooja’s +forces must conquer unless the brute-men changed their tactics, or the cave men +tired of the battle. +</p> + +<p> +Gr-gr-gr was standing in the center of the first line. All about him were +boulders and large fragments of broken rock. I approached him and without a +word toppled a large mass of rock over the edge of the cliff. It fell directly +upon the head of an archer, crushing him to instant death and carrying his +mangled corpse with it to the bottom of the declivity, and on its way brushing +three more of the attackers into the hereafter. +</p> + +<p> +Gr-gr-gr turned toward me in surprise. For an instant he appeared to doubt the +sincerity of my motives. I felt that perhaps my time had come when he reached +for me with one of his giant paws; but I dodged him, and running a few paces to +the right hurled down another missile. It, too, did its allotted work of +destruction. Then I picked up smaller fragments and with all the control and +accuracy for which I had earned justly deserved fame in my collegiate days I +rained down a hail of death upon those beneath me. +</p> + +<p> +Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of rubble upon the +cliff-top. +</p> + +<p> +“Hurl these down upon the enemy!” I cried to him. “Tell your warriors to throw +rocks down upon them!” +</p> + +<p> +At my words the others of the first line, who had been interested spectators of +my tactics, seized upon great boulders or bits of rock, whichever came first to +their hands, and, without waiting for a command from Gr-gr-gr, deluged the +terrified cave men with a perfect avalanche of stone. In less than no time the +cliff-face was stripped of enemies and the village of Gr-gr-gr was saved. +</p> + +<p> +Gr-gr-gr was standing beside me when the last of the cave men disappeared in +rapid flight down the valley. He was looking at me intently. +</p> + +<p> +“Those were your people,” he said. “Why did you kill them?” +</p> + +<p> +“They were not my people,” I returned. “I have told you that before, but you +would not believe me. Will you believe me now when I tell you that I hate Hooja +and his tribe as much as you do? Will you believe me when I tell you that I +wish to be the friend of Gr-gr-gr?” +</p> + +<p> +For some time he stood there beside me, scratching his head. Evidently it was +no less difficult for him to readjust his preconceived conclusions than it is +for most human beings; but finally the idea percolated—which it might never +have done had he been a man, or I might qualify that statement by saying had he +been some men. Finally he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Gilak,” he said, “you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have killed you. +How can he reward you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Set me free,” I replied quickly. +</p> + +<p> +“You are free,” he said. “You may go down when you wish, or you may stay with +us. If you go you may always return. We are your friends.” +</p> + +<p> +Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all over again to Gr-gr-gr the nature +of my mission. He listened attentively; after I had done he offered to send +some of his people with me to guide me to Hooja’s village. I was not slow in +accepting his offer. +</p> + +<p> +First, however, we must eat. The hunters upon whom Hooja’s men had fallen had +brought back the meat of a great thag. There would be a feast to commemorate +the victory—a feast and dancing. +</p> + +<p> +I had never witnessed a tribal function of the brute-folk, though I had often +heard strange sounds coming from the village, where I had not been allowed +since my capture. Now I took part in one of their orgies. +</p> + +<p> +It will live forever in my memory. The combination of bestiality and humanity +was oftentimes pathetic, and again grotesque or horrible. Beneath the glaring +noonday sun, in the sweltering heat of the mesa-top, the huge, hairy creatures +leaped in a great circle. They coiled and threw their fiber-ropes; they hurled +taunts and insults at an imaginary foe; they fell upon the carcass of the thag +and literally tore it to pieces; and they ceased only when, gorged, they could +no longer move. +</p> + +<p> +I had to wait until the processes of digestion had released my escort from its +torpor. Some had eaten until their abdomens were so distended that I thought +they must burst, for beside the thag there had been fully a hundred antelopes +of various sizes and varied degrees of decomposition, which they had unearthed +from burial beneath the floors of their lairs to grace the banquet-board. +</p> + +<p> +But at last we were started—six great males and myself. Gr-gr-gr had returned +my weapons to me, and at last I was once more upon my oft-interrupted way +toward my goal. Whether I should find Dian at the end of my journey or no I +could not even surmise; but I was none the less impatient to be off, for if +only the worst lay in store for me I wished to know even the worst at once. +</p> + +<p> +I could scarce believe that my proud mate would still be alive in the power of +Hooja; but time upon Pellucidar is so strange a thing that I realized that to +her or to him only a few minutes might have elapsed since his subtle trickery +had enabled him to steal her away from Phutra. Or she might have found the +means either to repel his advances or escape him. +</p> + +<p> +As we descended the cliff we disturbed a great pack of large hyena-like +beasts—hyaena spelaeus, Perry calls them—who were busy among the corpses of the +cave men fallen in battle. The ugly creatures were far from the cowardly things +that our own hyenas are reputed to be; they stood their ground with bared fangs +as we approached them. But, as I was later to learn, so formidable are the +brute-folk that there are few even of the larger carnivora that will not make +way for them when they go abroad. So the hyenas moved a little from our line of +march, closing in again upon their feasts when we had passed. +</p> + +<p> +We made our way steadily down the rim of the beautiful river which flows the +length of the island, coming at last to a wood rather denser than any that I +had before encountered in this country. Well within this forest my escort +halted. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” they said, and pointed ahead. “We are to go no farther.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus having guided me to my destination they left me. Ahead of me, through the +trees, I could see what appeared to be the foot of a steep hill. Toward this I +made my way. The forest ran to the very base of a cliff, in the face of which +were the mouths of many caves. They appeared untenanted; but I decided to watch +for a while before venturing farther. A large tree, densely foliaged, offered a +splendid vantage-point from which to spy upon the cliff, so I clambered among +its branches where, securely hidden, I could watch what transpired about the +caves. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed that I had scarcely settled myself in a comfortable position before a +party of cave men emerged from one of the smaller apertures in the cliff-face, +about fifty feet from the base. They descended into the forest and disappeared. +Soon after came several others from the same cave, and after them, at a short +interval, a score of women and children, who came into the wood to gather +fruit. There were several warriors with them—a guard, I presume. +</p> + +<p> +After this came other parties, and two or three groups who passed out of the +forest and up the cliff-face to enter the same cave. I could not understand it. +All who came out had emerged from the same cave. All who returned reentered it. +No other cave gave evidence of habitation, and no cave but one of extraordinary +size could have accommodated all the people whom I had seen pass in and out of +its mouth. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time I sat and watched the coming and going of great numbers of the +cave-folk. Not once did one leave the cliff by any other opening save that from +which I had seen the first party come, nor did any reenter the cliff through +another aperture. +</p> + +<p> +What a cave it must be, I thought, that houses an entire tribe! But +dissatisfied of the truth of my surmise, I climbed higher among the branches of +the tree that I might get a better view of other portions of the cliff. High +above the ground I reached a point whence I could see the summit of the hill. +Evidently it was a flat-topped butte similar to that on which dwelt the tribe +of Gr-gr-gr. +</p> + +<p> +As I sat gazing at it a figure appeared at the very edge. It was that of a +young girl in whose hair was a gorgeous bloom plucked from some flowering tree +of the forest. I had seen her pass beneath me but a short while before and +enter the small cave that had swallowed all of the returning tribesmen. +</p> + +<p> +The mystery was solved. The cave was but the mouth of a passage that led upward +through the cliff to the summit of the hill. It served merely as an avenue from +their lofty citadel to the valley below. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had the truth flashed upon me than the realization came that I must +seek some other means of reaching the village, for to pass unobserved through +this well-traveled thoroughfare would be impossible. At the moment there was no +one in sight below me, so I slid quickly from my arboreal watch-tower to the +ground and moved rapidly away to the right with the intention of circling the +hill if necessary until I had found an unwatched spot where I might have some +slight chance of scaling the heights and reaching the top unseen. +</p> + +<p> +I kept close to the edge of the forest, in the very midst of which the hill +seemed to rise. Though I carefully scanned the cliff as I traversed its base, I +saw no sign of any other entrance than that to which my guides had led me. +</p> + +<p> +After some little time the roar of the sea broke upon my ears. Shortly after I +came upon the broad ocean which breaks at this point at the very foot of the +great hill where Hooja had found safe refuge for himself and his villains. +</p> + +<p> +I was just about to clamber along the jagged rocks which lie at the base of the +cliff next to the sea, in search of some foothold to the top, when I chanced to +see a canoe rounding the end of the island. I threw myself down behind a large +boulder where I could watch the dugout and its occupants without myself being +seen. +</p> + +<p> +They paddled toward me for a while and then, about a hundred yards from me, +they turned straight in toward the foot of the frowning cliffs. From where I +was it seemed that they were bent upon self-destruction, since the roar of the +breakers beating upon the perpendicular rock-face appeared to offer only death +to any one who might venture within their relentless clutch. +</p> + +<p> +A mass of rock would soon hide them from my view; but so keen was the +excitement of the instant that I could not refrain from crawling forward to a +point whence I could watch the dashing of the small craft to pieces on the +jagged rocks that loomed before her, although I risked discovery from above to +accomplish my design. +</p> + +<p> +When I had reached a point where I could again see the dugout, I was just in +time to see it glide unharmed between two needle-pointed sentinels of granite +and float quietly upon the unruffled bosom of a tiny cove. +</p> + +<p> +Again I crouched behind a boulder to observe what would next transpire; nor did +I have long to wait. The dugout, which contained but two men, was drawn close +to the rocky wall. A fiber rope, one end of which was tied to the boat, was +made fast about a projection of the cliff face. +</p> + +<p> +Then the two men commenced the ascent of the almost perpendicular wall toward +the summit several hundred feet above. I looked on in amazement, for, splendid +climbers though the cave men of Pellucidar are, I never before had seen so +remarkable a feat performed. Upwardly they moved without a pause, to disappear +at last over the summit. +</p> + +<p> +When I felt reasonably sure that they had gone for a while at least I crawled +from my hiding-place and at the risk of a broken neck leaped and scrambled to +the spot where their canoe was moored. +</p> + +<p> +If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn’t I should die in the +attempt. +</p> + +<p> +But when I turned to the accomplishment of the task I found it easier than I +had imagined it would be, since I immediately discovered that shallow hand and +foot-holds had been scooped in the cliff’s rocky face, forming a crude ladder +from the base to the summit. +</p> + +<p> +At last I reached the top, and very glad I was, too. Cautiously I raised my +head until my eyes were above the cliff-crest. Before me spread a rough mesa, +liberally sprinkled with large boulders. There was no village in sight nor any +living creature. +</p> + +<p> +I drew myself to level ground and stood erect. A few trees grew among the +boulders. Very carefully I advanced from tree to tree and boulder to boulder +toward the inland end of the mesa. I stopped often to listen and look +cautiously about me in every direction. +</p> + +<p> +How I wished that I had my revolvers and rifle! I would not have to worm my way +like a scared cat toward Hooja’s village, nor did I relish doing so now; but +Dian’s life might hinge upon the success of my venture, and so I could not +afford to take chances. To have met suddenly with discovery and had a score or +more of armed warriors upon me might have been very grand and heroic; but it +would have immediately put an end to all my earthly activities, nor have +accomplished aught in the service of Dian. +</p> + +<p> +Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile across that mesa without seeing a sign +of anyone, when all of a sudden, as I crept around the edge of a boulder, I ran +plump into a man, down on all fours like myself, crawling toward me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X<br/> +THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON</h2> + +<p> +His head was turned over his shoulder as I first saw him—he was looking back +toward the village. As I leaped for him his eyes fell upon me. Never in my life +have I seen a more surprised mortal than this poor cave man. Before he could +utter a single scream of warning or alarm I had my fingers on his throat and +had dragged him behind the boulder, where I proceeded to sit upon him, while I +figured out what I had best do with him. +</p> + +<p> +He struggled a little at first, but finally lay still, and so I released the +pressure of my fingers at his windpipe, for which I imagine he was quite +thankful—I know that I should have been. +</p> + +<p> +I hated to kill him in cold blood; but what else I was to do with him I could +not see, for to turn him loose would have been merely to have the entire +village aroused and down upon me in a moment. The fellow lay looking up at me +with the surprise still deeply written on his countenance. At last, all of a +sudden, a look of recognition entered his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“I have seen you before,” he said. “I saw you in the arena at the Mahars’ city +of Phutra when the thipdars dragged the tarag from you and your mate. I never +understood that. Afterward they put me in the arena with two warriors from +Gombul.” +</p> + +<p> +He smiled in recollection. +</p> + +<p> +“It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from Gombul. I slew +them, winning my freedom. Look!” +</p> + +<p> +He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly healed scar of +the Mahars’ branded mark. +</p> + +<p> +“Then,” he continued, “as I was returning to my people I met some of them +fleeing. They told me that one called Hooja the Sly One had come and seized our +village, putting our people into slavery. So I hurried hither to learn the +truth, and, sure enough, here I found Hooja and his wicked men living in my +village, and my father’s people but slaves among them. +</p> + +<p> +“I was discovered and captured, but Hooja did not kill me. I am the chief’s +son, and through me he hoped to win my father’s warriors back to the village to +help him in a great war he says that he will soon commence. +</p> + +<p> +“Among his prisoners is Dian the Beautiful One, whose brother, Dacor the Strong +One, chief of Amoz, once saved my life when he came to Thuria to steal a mate. +I helped him capture her, and we are good friends. So when I learned that Dian +the Beautiful One was Hooja’s prisoner, I told him that I would not aid him if +he harmed her. +</p> + +<p> +“Recently one of Hooja’s warriors overheard me talking with another prisoner. +We were planning to combine all the prisoners, seize weapons, and when most of +Hooja’s warriors were away, slay the rest and retake our hilltop. Had we done +so we could have held it, for there are only two entrances—the narrow tunnel at +one end and the steep path up the cliffs at the other. +</p> + +<p> +“But when Hooja heard what we had planned he was very angry, and ordered that I +die. They bound me hand and foot and placed me in a cave until all the warriors +should return to witness my death; but while they were away I heard someone +calling me in a muffled voice which seemed to come from the wall of the cave. +When I replied the voice, which was a woman’s, told me that she had overheard +all that had passed between me and those who had brought me thither, and that +she was Dacor’s sister and would find a way to help me. +</p> + +<p> +“Presently a little hole appeared in the wall at the point from which the voice +had come. After a time I saw a woman’s hand digging with a bit of stone. +Dacor’s sister made a hole in the wall between the cave where I lay bound and +that in which she had been confined, and soon she was by my side and had cut my +bonds. +</p> + +<p> +“We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to take her away and back to +the land of Sari, where she told me she would be able to learn the whereabouts +of her mate. Just now I was going to the other end of the island to see if a +boat lay there, and if the way was clear for our escape. Most of the boats are +always away now, for a great many of Hooja’s men and nearly all the slaves are +upon the Island of Trees, where Hooja is having many boats built to carry his +warriors across the water to the mouth of a great river which he discovered +while he was returning from Phutra—a vast river that empties into the sea +there.” +</p> + +<p> +The speaker pointed toward the northeast. “It is wide and smooth and +slow-running almost to the land of Sari,” he added. +</p> + +<p> +“And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +I had released my prisoner as soon as I found that he was Hooja’s enemy, and +now the pair of us were squat-ting beside the boulder while he told his story. +</p> + +<p> +“She returned to the cave where she had been imprisoned,” he replied, “and is +awaiting me there.” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hooja is upon the Island of Trees,” he replied. +</p> + +<p> +“Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fashion of the Pellucidarians +he explained minutely how I might reach the cave where he had been imprisoned, +and through the hole in its wall reach Dian. +</p> + +<p> +I thought it best for but one of us to return, since two could accomplish but +little more than one and would double the risk of discovery. In the meantime he +could make his way to the sea and guard the boat, which I told him lay there at +the foot of the cliff. +</p> + +<p> +I told him to await us at the cliff-top, and if Dian came alone to do his best +to get away with her and take her to Sari, as I thought it quite possible that, +in case of detection and pursuit, it might be necessary for me to hold off +Hooja’s people while Dian made her way alone to where my new friend was to +await her. I impressed upon him the fact that he might have to resort to +trickery or even to force to get Dian to leave me; but I made him promise that +he would sacrifice everything, even his life, in an attempt to rescue Dacor’s +sister. +</p> + +<p> +Then we parted—he to take up his position where he could watch the boat and +await Dian, I to crawl cautiously on toward the caves. I had no difficulty in +following the directions given me by Juag, the name by which Dacor’s friend +said he was called. There was the leaning tree, my first point he told me to +look for after rounding the boulder where we had met. After that I crawled to +the balanced rock, a huge boulder resting upon a tiny base no larger than the +palm of your hand. +</p> + +<p> +From here I had my first view of the village of caves. A low bluff ran +diagonally across one end of the mesa, and in the face of this bluff were the +mouths of many caves. Zig-zag trails led up to them, and narrow ledges scooped +from the face of the soft rock connected those upon the same level. +</p> + +<p> +The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the extreme end of the cliff +nearest me. By taking advantage of the bluff itself, I could approach within a +few feet of the aperture without being visible from any other cave. There were +few people about at the time; most of these were congregated at the foot of the +far end of the bluff, where they were so engrossed in excited conversation that +I felt but little fear of detection. However I exercised the greatest care in +approaching the cliff. After watching for a while until I caught an instant +when every head was turned away from me, I darted, rabbitlike, into the cave. +</p> + +<p> +Like many of the man-made caves of Pellucidar, this one consisted of three +chambers, one behind another, and all unlit except for what sunlight filtered +in through the external opening. The result was gradually increasing darkness +as one passed into each succeeding chamber. +</p> + +<p> +In the last of the three I could just distinguish objects, and that was all. As +I was groping around the walls for the hole that should lead into the cave +where Dian was imprisoned, I heard a man’s voice quite close to me. +</p> + +<p> +The speaker had evidently but just entered, for he spoke in a loud tone, +demanding the whereabouts of one whom he had come in search of. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you, woman?” he cried. “Hooja has sent for you.” +</p> + +<p> +And then a woman’s voice answered him: +</p> + +<p> +“And what does Hooja want of me?” +</p> + +<p> +The voice was Dian’s. I groped in the direction of the sounds, feeling for the +hole. +</p> + +<p> +“He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees,” replied the man; “for he is +ready to take you as his mate.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will not go,” said Dian. “I will die first.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall.” +</p> + +<p> +I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. +</p> + +<p> +Frantically I clawed the wall of the cave in which I was in an effort to find +the elusive aperture that would lead me to Dian’s side. +</p> + +<p> +I heard the sound of a scuffle in the next cave. Then my fingers sank into +loose rock and earth in the side of the cave. In an instant I realized why I +had been unable to find the opening while I had been lightly feeling the +surface of the walls—Dian had blocked up the hole she had made lest it arouse +suspicion and lead to an early discovery of Juag’s escape. +</p> + +<p> +Plunging my weight against the crumbling mass, I sent it crashing into the +adjoining cavern. With it came I, David, Emperor of Pellucidar. I doubt if any +other potentate in a world’s history ever made a more undignified entrance. I +landed head first on all fours, but I came quickly and was on my feet before +the man in the dark guessed what had happened. +</p> + +<p> +He saw me, though, when I arose and, sensing that no friend came thus +precipitately, turned to meet me even as I charged him. I had my stone knife in +my hand, and he had his. In the darkness of the cave there was little +opportunity for a display of science, though even at that I venture to say that +we fought a very pretty duel. +</p> + +<p> +Before I came to Pellucidar I do not recall that I ever had seen a stone knife, +and I am sure that I never fought with a knife of any description; but now I do +not have to take my hat off to any of them when it comes to wielding that +primitive yet wicked weapon. +</p> + +<p> +I could just see Dian in the darkness, but I knew that she could not see my +features or recognize me; and I enjoyed in anticipation, even while I was +fighting for her life and mine, her dear joy when she should discover that it +was I who was her deliverer. +</p> + +<p> +My opponent was large, but he also was active and no mean knife-man. He caught +me once fairly in the shoulder—I carry the scar yet, and shall carry it to the +grave. And then he did a foolish thing, for as I leaped back to gain a second +in which to calm the shock of the wound he rushed after me and tried to clinch. +He rather neglected his knife for the moment in his greater desire to get his +hands on me. Seeing the opening, I swung my left fist fairly to the point of +his jaw. +</p> + +<p> +Down he went. Before ever he could scramble up again I was on him and had +buried my knife in his heart. Then I stood up—and there was Dian facing me and +peering at me through the dense gloom. +</p> + +<p> +“You are not Juag!” she exclaimed. “Who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. +</p> + +<p> +“It is I, Dian,” I said. “It is David.” +</p> + +<p> +At the sound of my voice she gave a little cry in which tears were mingled—a +pathetic little cry that told me all without words how far hope had gone from +her—and then she ran forward and threw herself in my arms. I covered her +perfect lips and her beautiful face with kisses, and stroked her thick black +hair, and told her again and again what she already knew—what she had known for +years—that I loved her better than all else which two worlds had to offer. We +couldn’t devote much time, though, to the happiness of love-making, for we were +in the midst of enemies who might discover us at any moment. +</p> + +<p> +I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence we made our way to the mouth of the +cave that had given me entrance to the cliff. Here I reconnoitered for a +moment, and seeing the coast clear, ran swiftly forth with Dian at my side. We +dodged around the cliff-end, then paused for an instant, listening. No sound +reached our ears to indicate that any had seen us, and we moved cautiously +onward along the way by which I had come. +</p> + +<p> +As we went Dian told me that her captors had informed her how close I had come +in search of her—even to the Land of Awful Shadow—and how one of Hooja’s men +who knew me had discovered me asleep and robbed me of all my possessions. And +then how Hooja had sent four others to find me and take me prisoner. But these +men, she said, had not yet returned, or at least she had not heard of their +return. +</p> + +<p> +“Nor will you ever,” I responded, “for they have gone to that place whence none +ever returns.” I then related my adventure with these four. +</p> + +<p> +We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag should be awaiting us when we +saw two men walking rapidly toward the same spot from another direction. They +did not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I now discovered hiding behind a +low bush close to the verge of the precipice which drops into the sea at this +point. As quickly as possible, without exposing ourselves too much to the +enemy, we hastened forward that we might reach Juag as quickly as they. +</p> + +<p> +But they noticed him first and immediately charged him, for one of them had +been his guard, and they had both been sent to search for him, his escape +having been discovered between the time he left the cave and the time when I +reached it. Evidently they had wasted precious moments looking for him in other +portions of the mesa. +</p> + +<p> +When I saw that the two of them were rushing him, I called out to attract their +attention to the fact that they had more than a single man to cope with. They +paused at the sound of my voice and looked about. +</p> + +<p> +When they discovered Dian and me they exchanged a few words, and one of them +continued toward Juag while the other turned upon us. As he came nearer I saw +that he carried in his hand one of my six-shooters, but he was holding it by +the barrel, evidently mistaking it for some sort of warclub or tomahawk. +</p> + +<p> +I could scarce refrain a grin when I thought of the wasted possibilities of +that deadly revolver in the hands of an untutored warrior of the stone age. Had +he but reversed it and pulled the trigger he might still be alive; maybe he is +for all I know, since I did not kill him then. When he was about twenty feet +from me I flung my javelin with a quick movement that I had learned from Ghak. +He ducked to avoid it, and instead of receiving it in his heart, for which it +was intended, he got it on the side of the head. +</p> + +<p> +Down he went all in a heap. Then I glanced toward Juag. He was having a most +exciting time. The fellow pitted against Juag was a veritable giant; he was +hacking and hewing away at the poor slave with a villainous-looking knife that +might have been designed for butchering mastodons. Step by step, he was forcing +Juag back toward the edge of the cliff with a fiendish cunning that permitted +his adversary no chance to side-step the terrible consequences of retreat in +this direction. I saw quickly that in another moment Juag must deliberately +hurl himself to death over the precipice or be pushed over by his foeman. +</p> + +<p> +And as I saw Juag’s predicament I saw, too, in the same instant, a way to +relieve him. Leaping quickly to the side of the fellow I had just felled, I +snatched up my fallen revolver. It was a desperate chance to take, and I +realized it in the instant that I threw the gun up from my hip and pulled the +trigger. There was no time to aim. Juag was upon the very brink of the chasm. +His relentless foe was pushing him hard, beating at him furiously with the +heavy knife. +</p> + +<p> +And then the revolver spoke—loud and sharp. The giant threw his hands above his +head, whirled about like a huge top, and lunged forward over the precipice. +</p> + +<p> +And Juag? +</p> + +<p> +He cast a single affrighted glance in my direction—never before, of course, had +he heard the report of a firearm—and with a howl of dismay he, too, turned and +plunged headforemost from sight. Horror-struck, I hastened to the brink of the +abyss just in time to see two splashes upon the surface of the little cove +below. +</p> + +<p> +For an instant I stood there watching with Dian at my side. Then, to my utter +amazement, I saw Juag rise to the surface and swim strongly toward the boat. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed! +</p> + +<p> +I called to him to await us below, assuring him that he need have no fear of my +weapon, since it would harm only my enemies. He shook his head and mut-tered +something which I could not hear at so great a distance; but when I pushed him +he promised to wait for us. At the same instant Dian caught my arm and pointed +toward the village. My shot had brought a crowd of natives on the run toward +us. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow whom I had stunned with my javelin had regained consciousness and +scrambled to his feet. He was now racing as fast as he could go back toward his +people. It looked mighty dark for Dian and me with that ghastly descent between +us and even the beginnings of liberty, and a horde of savage enemies advancing +at a rapid run. +</p> + +<p> +There was but one hope. That was to get Dian started for the bottom without +delay. I took her in my arms just for an instant—I felt, somehow, that it might +be for the last time. For the life of me I couldn’t see how both of us could +escape. +</p> + +<p> +I asked her if she could make the descent alone—if she were not afraid. She +smiled up at me bravely and shrugged her shoulders. She afraid! So beautiful is +she that I am always having difficulty in remembering that she is a primitive, +half-savage cave girl of the stone age, and often find myself mentally limiting +her capacities to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties of the outer +crust. +</p> + +<p> +“And you?” she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall follow you after I take a shot or two at our friends,” I replied. “I +just want to give them a taste of this new medicine which is going to cure +Pellucidar of all its ills. That will stop them long enough for me to join you. +Now hurry, and tell Juag to be ready to shove off the moment I reach the boat, +or the instant that it becomes apparent that I cannot reach it. +</p> + +<p> +“You, Dian, must return to Sari if anything happens to me, that you may devote +your life to carrying out with Perry the hopes and plans for Pellucidar that +are so dear to my heart. Promise me, dear.” +</p> + +<p> +She hated to promise to desert me, nor would she; only shaking her head and +making no move to descend. The tribesmen were nearing us. Juag was shouting up +to us from below. It was evident that he realized from my actions that I was +attempting to persuade Dian to descend, and that grave danger threatened us +from above. +</p> + +<p> +“Dive!” he cried. “Dive!” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at Dian and then down at the abyss below us. The cove appeared no +larger than a saucer. How Juag ever had hit it I could not guess. +</p> + +<p> +“Dive!” cried Juag. “It is the only way—there is no time to climb down.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI<br/> +ESCAPE</h2> + +<p> +Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribe were hill people—they were not +accustomed to swimming other than in quiet rivers and placid lakelets. It was +not the steep that appalled her. It was the ocean—vast, mysterious, terrible. +</p> + +<p> +To dive into it from this great height was beyond her. I couldn’t wonder, +either. To have attempted it myself seemed too preposterous even for thought. +Only one consideration could have prompted me to leap headforemost from that +giddy height—suicide; or at least so I thought at the moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Quick!” I urged Dian. “You cannot dive; but I can hold them until you reach +safety.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you?” she asked once more. “Can you dive when they come too close? +Otherwise you could not escape if you waited here until I reached the bottom.” +</p> + +<p> +I saw that she would not leave me unless she thought that I could make that +frightful dive as we had seen Juag make it. I glanced once downward; then with +a mental shrug I assured her that I would dive the moment that she reached the +boat. Satisfied, she began the descent carefully, yet swiftly. I watched her +for a moment, my heart in my mouth lest some slight mis-step or the slipping of +a finger-hold should pitch her to a frightful death upon the rocks below. +</p> + +<p> +Then I turned toward the advancing Hoojans—“Hoosiers,” Perry dubbed them—even +going so far as to christen this island where Hooja held sway Indiana; it is so +marked now upon our maps. They were coming on at a great rate. I raised my +revolver, took deliberate aim at the foremost warrior, and pulled the trigger. +With the bark of the gun the fellow lunged forward. His head doubled beneath +him. He rolled over and over two or three times before he came to a stop, to +lie very quietly in the thick grass among the brilliant wild flowers. +</p> + +<p> +Those behind him halted. One of them hurled a javelin toward me, but it fell +short—they were just beyond javelin-range. There were two armed with bows and +arrows; these I kept my eyes on. All of them appeared awe-struck and frightened +by the sound and effect of the firearm. They kept looking from the corpse to me +and jabbering among themselves. +</p> + +<p> +I took advantage of the lull in hostilities to throw a quick glance over the +edge toward Dian. She was half-way down the cliff and progressing finely. Then +I turned back toward the enemy. One of the bowmen was fitting an arrow to his +bow. I raised my hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop!” I cried. “Whoever shoots at me or advances toward me I shall kill as I +killed him!” +</p> + +<p> +I pointed at the dead man. The fellow lowered his bow. Again there was animated +discussion. I could see that those who were not armed with bows were urging +something upon the two who were. +</p> + +<p> +At last the majority appeared to prevail, for simu-taneously the two archers +raised their weapons. At the same instant I fired at one of them, dropping him +in his tracks. The other, however, launched his missile, but the report of my +gun had given him such a start that the arrow flew wild above my head. A second +after and he, too, was sprawled upon the sward with a round hole between his +eyes. It had been a rather good shot. +</p> + +<p> +I glanced over the edge again. Dian was almost at the bottom. I could see Juag +standing just beneath her with his hands upstretched to assist her. +</p> + +<p> +A sullen roar from the warriors recalled my attention toward them. They stood +shaking their fists at me and yelling insults. From the direction of the +village I saw a single warrior coming to join them. He was a huge fellow, and +when he strode among them I could tell by his bearing and their deference +toward him that he was a chieftain. He listened to all they had to tell of the +happenings of the last few minutes; then with a command and a roar he started +for me with the whole pack at his heels. All they had needed had +arrived—namely, a brave leader. +</p> + +<p> +I had two unfired cartridges in the chambers of my gun. I let the big warrior +have one of them, thinking that his death would stop them all. But I guess they +were worked up to such a frenzy of rage by this time that nothing would have +stopped them. At any rate, they only yelled the louder as he fell and increased +their speed toward me. I dropped another with my remaining cartridge. +</p> + +<p> +Then they were upon me—or almost. I thought of my promise to Dian—the awful +abyss was behind me—a big devil with a huge bludgeon in front of me. I grasped +my six-shooter by the barrel and hurled it squarely in his face with all my +strength. +</p> + +<p> +Then, without waiting to learn the effect of my throw, I wheeled, ran the few +steps to the edge, and leaped as far out over that frightful chasm as I could. +I know something of diving, and all that I know I put into that dive, which I +was positive would be my last. +</p> + +<p> +For a couple of hundred feet I fell in horizontal position. The momentum I +gained was terrific. I could feel the air almost as a solid body, so swiftly I +hurtled through it. Then my position gradually changed to the vertical, and +with hands outstretched I slipped through the air, cleaving it like a flying +arrow. Just before I struck the water a perfect shower of javelins fell all +about. My enemies had rushed to the brink and hurled their weapons after me. By +a miracle I was untouched. +</p> + +<p> +In the final instant I saw that I had cleared the rocks and was going to strike +the water fairly. Then I was in and plumbing the depths. I suppose I didn’t +really go very far down, but it seemed to me that I should never stop. When at +last I dared curve my hands upward and divert my progress toward the surface, I +thought that I should explode for air before I ever saw the sun again except +through a swirl of water. But at last my head popped above the waves, and I +filled my lungs with air. +</p> + +<p> +Before me was the boat, from which Juag and Dian were clambering. I couldn’t +understand why they were deserting it now, when we were about to set out for +the mainland in it; but when I reached its side I understood. Two heavy +javelins, missing Dian and Juag by but a hair’s breadth, had sunk deep into the +bottom of the dugout in a straight line with the grain of the wood, and split +her almost in two from stem to stern. She was useless. +</p> + +<p> +Juag was leaning over a near-by rock, his hand out-stretched to aid me in +clambering to his side; nor did I lose any time in availing myself of his +proffered assistance. An occasional javelin was still dropping perilously close +to us, so we hastened to draw as close as possible to the cliffside, where we +were comparatively safe from the missiles. +</p> + +<p> +Here we held a brief conference, in which it was decided that our only hope now +lay in making for the opposite end of the island as quickly as we could, and +utilizing the boat that I had hidden there, to continue our journey to the +mainland. +</p> + +<p> +Gathering up three of the least damaged javelins that had fallen about us, we +set out upon our journey, keeping well toward the south side of the island, +which Juag said was less frequented by the Hoojans than the central portion +where the river ran. I think that this ruse must have thrown our pursuers off +our track, since we saw nothing of them nor heard any sound of pursuit during +the greater portion of our march the length of the island. +</p> + +<p> +But the way Juag had chosen was rough and round-about, so that we consumed one +or two more marches in covering the distance than if we had followed the river. +This it was which proved our undoing. +</p> + +<p> +Those who sought us must have sent a party up the river immediately after we +escaped; for when we came at last onto the river-trail not far from our +destination, there can be no doubt but that we were seen by Hoojans who were +just ahead of us on the stream. The result was that as we were passing through +a clump of bush a score of warriors leaped out upon us, and before we could +scarce strike a blow in defense, had disarmed and bound us. +</p> + +<p> +For a time thereafter I seemed to be entirely bereft of hope. I could see no +ray of promise in the future—only immediate death for Juag and me, which didn’t +concern me much in the face of what lay in store for Dian. +</p> + +<p> +Poor child! What an awful life she had led! From the moment that I had first +seen her chained in the slave caravan of the Mahars until now, a prisoner of a +no less cruel creature, I could recall but a few brief intervals of peace and +quiet in her tempestuous existence. Before I had known her, Jubal the Ugly One +had pursued her across a savage world to make her his mate. She had eluded him, +and finally I had slain him; but terror and privations, and exposure to fierce +beasts had haunted her footsteps during all her lonely flight from him. And +when I had returned to the outer world the old trials had recommenced with +Hooja in Jubal’s role. I could almost have wished for death to vouchsafe her +that peace which fate seemed to deny her in this life. +</p> + +<p> +I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we expire together. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not fear, David,” she replied. “I shall end my life before ever Hooja can +harm me; but first I shall see that Hooja dies.” +</p> + +<p> +She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, to the end of which was +fastened a tiny pouch. +</p> + +<p> +“What have you there?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing you call viper in your +world?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +I nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“The accident gave you the idea for the poisoned arrows with which we fitted +the warriors of the empire,” she continued. “And, too, it gave me an idea. For +a long time I have carried a viper’s fang in my bosom. It has given me strength +to endure many dangers, for it has always assured me immunity from the ultimate +insult. I am not ready to die yet. First let Hooja embrace the viper’s fang.” +</p> + +<p> +So we did not die together, and I am glad now that we did not. It is always a +foolish thing to contemplate suicide; for no matter how dark the future may +appear today, tomorrow may hold for us that which will alter our whole life in +an instant, revealing to us nothing but sunshine and happiness. So, for my +part, I shall always wait for tomorrow. +</p> + +<p> +In Pellucidar, where it is always today, the wait may not be so long, and so it +proved for us. As we were passing a lofty, flat-topped hill through a park-like +wood a perfect network of fiber ropes fell suddenly about our guard, enmeshing +them. A moment later a horde of our friends, the hairy gorilla-men, with the +mild eyes and long faces of sheep leaped among them. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very interesting fight. I was sorry that my bonds prevented me from +taking part in it, but I urged on the brutemen with my voice, and cheered old +Gr-gr-gr, their chief, each time that his mighty jaws crunched out the life of +a Hoojan. When the battle was over we found that a few of our captors had +escaped, but the majority of them lay dead about us. The gorilla-men paid no +further attention to them. Gr-gr-gr turned to me. +</p> + +<p> +“Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your friends,” he said. “One saw the warriors +of the Sly One and followed them. He saw them capture you, and then he flew to +the village as fast as he could go and told me all that he had seen. The rest +you know. You did much for Gr-gr-gr and Gr-gr-gr’s people. We shall always do +much for you.” +</p> + +<p> +I thanked him; and when I had told him of our escape and our destination, he +insisted on accompanying us to the sea with a great number of his fierce males. +Nor were we at all loath to accept his escort. We found the canoe where I had +hidden it, and bidding Gr-gr-gr and his warriors farewell, the three of us +embarked for the mainland. +</p> + +<p> +I questioned Juag upon the feasibility of attempting to cross to the mouth of +the great river of which he had told me, and up which he said we might paddle +almost to Sari; but he urged me not to attempt it, since we had but a single +paddle and no water or food. I had to admit the wisdom of his advice, but the +desire to explore this great waterway was strong upon me, arousing in me at +last a determination to make the attempt after first gaining the mainland and +rectifying our deficiencies. +</p> + +<p> +We landed several miles north of Thuria in a little cove that seemed to offer +protection from the heavier seas which sometimes run, even upon these usually +pacific oceans of Pellucidar. Here I outlined to Dian and Juag the plans I had +in mind. They were to fit the canoe with a small sail, the purposes of which I +had to explain to them both—since neither had ever seen or heard of such a +contrivance before. Then they were to hunt for food which we could transport +with us, and prepare a receptacle for water. +</p> + +<p> +These two latter items were more in Juag’s line, but he kept muttering about +the sail and the wind for a long time. I could see that he was not even half +convinced that any such ridiculous contraption could make a canoe move through +the water. +</p> + +<p> +We hunted near the coast for a while, but were not rewarded with any particular +luck. Finally we decided to hide the canoe and strike inland in search of game. +At Juag’s suggestion we dug a hole in the sand at the upper edge of the beach +and buried the craft, smoothing the surface over nicely and throwing aside the +excess material we had excavated. Then we set out away from the sea. Traveling +in Thuria is less arduous than under the midday sun which perpetually glares +down on the rest of Pellucidar’s surface; but it has its draw-backs, one of +which is the depressing influence exerted by the everlasting shade of the Land +of Awful Shadow. +</p> + +<p> +The farther inland we went the darker it became, until we were moving at last +through an endless twilight. The vegetation here was sparse and of a weird, +colorless nature, though what did grow was wondrous in shape and form. Often we +saw huge lidi, or beasts of burden, striding across the dim landscape, browsing +upon the grotesque vegetation or drinking from the slow and sullen rivers that +run down from the Lidi Plains to empty into the sea in Thuria. +</p> + +<p> +What we sought was either a thag—a sort of gigantic elk—or one of the larger +species of antelope, the flesh of either of which dries nicely in the sun. The +bladder of the thag would make a fine water-bottle, and its skin, I figured, +would be a good sail. We traveled a considerable distance inland, entirely +crossing the Land of Awful Shadow and emerging at last upon that portion of the +Lidi Plains which lies in the pleasant sunlight. Above us the pendent world +revolved upon its axis, filling me especially—and Dian to an almost equal +state—with wonder and insatiable curiosity as to what strange forms of life +existed among the hills and valleys and along the seas and rivers, which we +could plainly see. +</p> + +<p> +Before us stretched the horizonless expanses of vast Pellucidar, the Lidi +Plains rolling up about us, while hanging high in the heavens to the northwest +of us I thought I discerned the many towers which marked the entrances to the +distant Mahar city, whose inhabitants preyed upon the Thurians. +</p> + +<p> +Juag suggested that we travel to the northeast, where, he said, upon the verge +of the plain we would find a wooded country in which game should be plentiful. +Acting upon his advice, we came at last to a forest-jungle, through which wound +innumerable game-paths. In the depths of this forbidding wood we came upon the +fresh spoor of thag. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after, by careful stalking, we came within javelin-range of a small +herd. Selecting a great bull, Juag and I hurled our weapons simultaneously, +Dian reserving hers for an emergency. The beast staggered to his feet, +bellowing. The rest of the herd was up and away in an instant, only the wounded +bull remaining, with lowered head and roving eyes searching for the foe. +</p> + +<p> +Then Juag exposed himself to the view of the bull—it is a part of the tactics +of the hunt—while I stepped to one side behind a bush. The moment that the +savage beast saw Juag he charged him. Juag ran straight away, that the bull +might be lured past my hiding-place. On he came—tons of mighty bestial strength +and rage. +</p> + +<p> +Dian had slipped behind me. She, too, could fight a thag should emergency +require. Ah, such a girl! A rightful empress of a stone age by every standard +which two worlds might bring to measure her! +</p> + +<p> +Crashing down toward us came the bull thag, bellowing and snorting, with the +power of a hundred outer-earthly bulls. When he was opposite me I sprang for +the heavy mane that covered his huge neck. To tangle my fingers in it was the +work of but an instant. Then I was running along at the beast’s shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the theory upon which this hunting custom is based is one long ago +discovered by experience, and that is that a thag cannot be turned from his +charge once he has started toward the object of his wrath, so long as he can +still see the thing he charges. He evidently believes that the man clinging to +his mane is attempting to restrain him from overtaking his prey, and so he pays +no attention to this enemy, who, of course, does not retard the mighty charge +in the least. +</p> + +<p> +Once in the gait of the plunging bull, it was but a slight matter to vault to +his back, as cavalrymen mount their chargers upon the run. Juag was still +running in plain sight ahead of the bull. His speed was but a trifle less than +that of the monster that pursued him. These Pellucidarians are almost as fleet +as deer; because I am not is one reason that I am always chosen for the +close-in work of the thag-hunt. I could not keep in front of a charging thag +long enough to give the killer time to do his work. I learned that the +first—and last—time I tried it. +</p> + +<p> +Once astride the bull’s neck, I drew my long stone knife and, setting the point +carefully over the brute’s spine, drove it home with both hands. At the same +instant I leaped clear of the stumbling animal. Now, no vertebrate can progress +far with a knife through his spine, and the thag is no exception to the rule. +</p> + +<p> +The fellow was down instantly. As he wallowed Juag returned, and the two of us +leaped in when an opening afforded the opportunity and snatched our javelins +from his side. Then we danced about him, more like two savages than anything +else, until we got the opening we were looking for, when simultaneously, our +javelins pierced his wild heart, stilling it forever. +</p> + +<p> +The thag had covered considerable ground from the point at which I had leaped +upon him. When, after despatching him, I looked back for Dian, I could see +nothing of her. I called aloud, but receiving no reply, set out at a brisk trot +to where I had left her. I had no difficulty in finding the self-same bush +behind which we had hidden, but Dian was not there. Again and again I called, +to be rewarded only by silence. Where could she be? What could have become of +her in the brief interval since I had seen her standing just behind me? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII<br/> +KIDNAPED!</h2> + +<p> +I searched about the spot carefully. At last I was rewarded by the discovery of +her javelin, a few yards from the bush that had concealed us from the charging +thag—her javelin and the indications of a struggle revealed by the trampled +vegetation and the overlapping footprints of a woman and a man. Filled with +consternation and dismay, I followed these latter to where they suddenly +disappeared a hundred yards from where the struggle had occurred. There I saw +the huge imprints of a lidi’s feet. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the tragedy was all too plain. A Thurian had either been following +us, or had accidentally espied Dian and taken a fancy to her. While Juag and I +had been engaged with the thag, he had abducted her. I ran swiftly back to +where Juag was working over the kill. As I approached him I saw that something +was wrong in this quarter as well, for the islander was standing upon the +carcass of the thag, his javelin poised for a throw. +</p> + +<p> +When I had come nearer I saw the cause of his belligerent attitude. Just beyond +him stood two large jaloks, or wolf-dogs, regarding him intently—a male and a +female. Their behavior was rather peculiar, for they did not seem preparing to +charge him. Rather, they were contemplating him in an attitude of questioning. +</p> + +<p> +Juag heard me coming and turned toward me with a grin. These fellows love +excitement. I could see by his expression that he was enjoying in anticipation +the battle that seemed imminent. But he never hurled his javelin. A shout of +warning from me stopped him, for I had seen the remnants of a rope dangling +from the neck of the male jalok. +</p> + +<p> +Juag again turned toward me, but this time in surprise. I was abreast him in a +moment and, passing him, walked straight toward the two beasts. As I did so the +female crouched with bared fangs. The male, however, leaped forward to meet me, +not in deadly charge, but with every expression of delight and joy which the +poor animal could exhibit. +</p> + +<p> +It was Raja—the jalok whose life I had saved, and whom I then had tamed! There +was no doubt that he was glad to see me. I now think that his seeming desertion +of me had been but due to a desire to search out his ferocious mate and bring +her, too, to live with me. +</p> + +<p> +When Juag saw me fondling the great beast he was filled with consternation, but +I did not have much time to spare to Raja while my mind was filled with the +grief of my new loss. I was glad to see the brute, and I lost no time in taking +him to Juag and making him understand that Juag, too, was to be Raja’s friend. +With the female the matter was more difficult, but Raja helped us out by +growling savagely at her whenever she bared her fangs against us. +</p> + +<p> +I told Juag of the disappearance of Dian, and of my suspicions as to the +explanation of the catastrophe. He wanted to start right out after her, but I +suggested that with Raja to help me it might be as well were he to remain and +skin the thag, remove its bladder, and then return to where we had hidden the +canoe on the beach. And so it was arranged that he was to do this and await me +there for a reasonable time. I pointed to a great lake upon the surface of the +pendent world above us, telling him that if after this lake had appeared four +times I had not returned to go either by water or land to Sari and fetch Ghak +with an army. Then, calling Raja after me, I set out after Dian and her +abductor. First I took the wolf dog to the spot where the man had fought with +Dian. A few paces behind us followed Raja’s fierce mate. I pointed to the +ground where the evidences of the struggle were plainest and where the scent +must have been strong to Raja’s nostrils. +</p> + +<p> +Then I grasped the remnant of leash that hung about his neck and urged him +forward upon the trail. He seemed to understand. With nose to ground he set out +upon his task. Dragging me after him, he trotted straight out upon the Lidi +Plains, turning his steps in the direction of the Thurian village. I could have +guessed as much! +</p> + +<p> +Behind us trailed the female. After a while she closed upon us, until she ran +quite close to me and at Raja’s side. It was not long before she seemed as easy +in my company as did her lord and master. +</p> + +<p> +We must have covered considerable distance at a very rapid pace, for we had +reentered the great shadow, when we saw a huge lidi ahead of us, moving +leisurely across the level plain. Upon its back were two human figures. If I +could have known that the jaloks would not harm Dian I might have turned them +loose upon the lidi and its master; but I could not know, and so dared take no +chances. +</p> + +<p> +However, the matter was taken out of my hands presently when Raja raised his +head and caught sight of his quarry. With a lunge that hurled me flat and +jerked the leash from my hand, he was gone with the speed of the wind after the +giant lidi and its riders. At his side raced his shaggy mate, only a trifle +smaller than he and no whit less savage. +</p> + +<p> +They did not give tongue until the lidi itself discovered them and broke into a +lumbering, awkward, but none the less rapid gallop. Then the two hound-beasts +commenced to bay, starting with a low, plaintive note that rose, weird and +hideous, to terminate in a series of short, sharp yelps. I feared that it might +be the hunting-call of the pack; and if this were true, there would be slight +chance for either Dian or her abductor—or myself, either, as far as that was +concerned. So I redoubled my efforts to keep pace with the hunt; but I might as +well have attempted to distance the bird upon the wing; as I have often +reminded you, I am no runner. In that instance it was just as well that I am +not, for my very slowness of foot played into my hands; while had I been +fleeter, I might have lost Dian that time forever. +</p> + +<p> +The lidi, with the hounds running close on either side, had almost disappeared +in the darkness that enveloped the surrounding landscape, when I noted that it +was bearing toward the right. This was accounted for by the fact that Raja ran +upon his left side, and unlike his mate, kept leaping for the great beast’s +shoulder. The man on the lidi’s back was prodding at the hyaenodon with his +long spear, but still Raja kept springing up and snapping. +</p> + +<p> +The effect of this was to turn the lidi toward the right, and the longer I +watched the procedure the more convinced I became that Raja and his mate were +working together with some end in view, for the she-dog merely galloped +steadily at the lidi’s right about op-posite his rump. +</p> + +<p> +I had seen jaloks hunting in packs, and I recalled now what for the time I had +not thought of—the several that ran ahead and turned the quarry back toward the +main body. This was precisely what Raja and his mate were doing—they were +turning the lidi back toward me, or at least Raja was. Just why the female was +keeping out of it I did not understand, unless it was that she was not entirely +clear in her own mind as to precisely what her mate was attempting. +</p> + +<p> +At any rate, I was sufficiently convinced to stop where I was and await +developments, for I could readily realize two things. One was that I could +never overhaul them before the damage was done if they should pull the lidi +down now. The other thing was that if they did not pull it down for a few +minutes it would have completed its circle and returned close to where I stood. +</p> + +<p> +And this is just what happened. The lot of them were almost swallowed up in the +twilight for a moment. Then they reappeared again, but this time far to the +right and circling back in my general direction. I waited until I could get +some clear idea of the right spot to gain that I might intercept the lidi; but +even as I waited I saw the beast attempt to turn still more to the right—a move +that would have carried him far to my left in a much more circumscribed circle +than the hyaenodons had mapped out for him. Then I saw the female leap forward +and head him; and when he would have gone too far to the left, Raja sprang, +snapping at his shoulder and held him straight. +</p> + +<p> +Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving their quarry! It was +wonderful. +</p> + +<p> +It was something else, too, as I realized while the monstrous beast neared me. +It was like standing in the middle of the tracks in front of an approaching +express-train. But I didn’t dare waver; too much depended upon my meeting that +hurtling mass of terrified flesh with a well-placed javelin. So I stood there, +waiting to be run down and crushed by those gigantic feet, but determined to +drive home my weapon in the broad breast before I fell. +</p> + +<p> +The lidi was only about a hundred yards from me when Raja gave a few barks in a +tone that differed materially from his hunting-cry. Instantly both he and his +mate leaped for the long neck of the ruminant. +</p> + +<p> +Neither missed. Swinging in mid-air, they hung tenaciously, their weight +dragging down the creature’s head and so retarding its speed that before it had +reached me it was almost stopped and devoting all its energies to attempting to +scrape off its attackers with its forefeet. +</p> + +<p> +Dian had seen and recognized me, and was trying to extricate herself from the +grasp of her captor, who, handicapped by his strong and agile prisoner, was +unable to wield his lance effectively upon the two jaloks. At the same time I +was running swiftly toward them. +</p> + +<p> +When the man discovered me he released his hold upon Dian and sprang to the +ground, ready with his lance to meet me. My javelin was no match for his longer +weapon, which was used more for stabbing than as a missile. Should I miss him +at my first cast, as was quite probable, since he was prepared for me, I would +have to face his formidable lance with nothing more than a stone knife. The +outlook was scarcely entrancing. Evidently I was soon to be absolutely at his +mercy. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing my predicament, he ran toward me to get rid of one antagonist before he +had to deal with the other two. He could not guess, of course, that the two +jaloks were hunting with me; but he doubtless thought that after they had +finished the lidi they would make after the human prey—the beasts are notorious +killers, often slaying wantonly. +</p> + +<p> +But as the Thurian came Raja loosened his hold upon the lidi and dashed for +him, with the female close after. When the man saw them he yelled to me to help +him, protesting that we should both be killed if we did not fight together. But +I only laughed at him and ran toward Dian. +</p> + +<p> +Both the fierce beasts were upon the Thurian simu-taneously—he must have died +almost before his body tumbled to the ground. Then the female wheeled toward +Dian. I was standing by her side as the thing charged her, my javelin ready to +receive her. +</p> + +<p> +But again Raja was too quick for me. I imagined he thought she was making for +me, for he couldn’t have known anything of my relations toward Dian. At any +rate he leaped full upon her back and dragged her down. There ensued forthwith +as terrible a battle as one would wish to see if battles were gaged by volume +of noise and riotousness of action. I thought that both the beasts would be +torn to shreds. +</p> + +<p> +When finally the female ceased to struggle and rolled over on her back, her +forepaws limply folded, I was sure that she was dead. Raja stood over her, +growling, his jaws close to her throat. Then I saw that neither of them bore a +scratch. The male had simply administered a severe drubbing to his mate. It was +his way of teaching her that I was sacred. +</p> + +<p> +After a moment he moved away and let her rise, when she set about smoothing +down her rumpled coat, while he came stalking toward Dian and me. I had an arm +about Dian now. As Raja came close I caught him by the neck and pulled him up +to me. There I stroked him and talked to him, bidding Dian do the same, until I +think he pretty well understood that if I was his friend, so was Dian. +</p> + +<p> +For a long time he was inclined to be shy of her, often baring his teeth at her +approach, and it was a much longer time before the female made friends with us. +But by careful kindness, by never eating without sharing our meat with them, +and by feeding them from our hands, we finally won the confidence of both +animals. However, that was a long time after. +</p> + +<p> +With the two beasts trotting after us, we returned to where we had left Juag. +Here I had the dickens’ own time keeping the female from Juag’s throat. Of all +the venomous, wicked, cruel-hearted beasts on two worlds, I think a female +hyaenodon takes the palm. +</p> + +<p> +But eventually she tolerated Juag as she had Dian and me, and the five of us +set out toward the coast, for Juag had just completed his labors on the thag +when we arrived. We ate some of the meat before starting, and gave the hounds +some. All that we could we carried upon our backs. +</p> + +<p> +On the way to the canoe we met with no mishaps. Dian told me that the fellow +who had stolen her had come upon her from behind while the roaring of the thag +had drowned all other noises, and that the first she had known he had disarmed +her and thrown her to the back of his lidi, which had been lying down close by +waiting for him. By the time the thag had ceased bellowing the fellow had got +well away upon his swift mount. By holding one palm over her mouth he had +prevented her calling for help. +</p> + +<p> +“I thought,” she concluded, “that I should have to use the viper’s tooth, after +all.” +</p> + +<p> +We reached the beach at last and unearthed the canoe. Then we busied ourselves +stepping a mast and rigging a small sail—Juag and I, that is—while Dian cut the +thag meat into long strips for drying when we should be out in the sunlight +once more. +</p> + +<p> +At last all was done. We were ready to embark. I had no difficulty in getting +Raja aboard the dugout; but Ranee—as we christened her after I had explained to +Dian the meaning of Raja and its feminine equivalent—positively refused for a +time to follow her mate aboard. In fact, we had to shove off without her. After +a moment, however, she plunged into the water and swam after us. +</p> + +<p> +I let her come alongside, and then Juag and I pulled her in, she snapping and +snarling at us as we did so; but, strange to relate, she didn’t offer to attack +us after we had ensconced her safely in the bottom alongside Raja. +</p> + +<p> +The canoe behaved much better under sail than I had hoped—infinitely better +than the battle-ship Sari had—and we made good progress almost due west across +the gulf, upon the opposite side of which I hoped to find the mouth of the +river of which Juag had told me. +</p> + +<p> +The islander was much interested and impressed by the sail and its results. He +had not been able to understand exactly what I hoped to accomplish with it +while we were fitting up the boat; but when he saw the clumsy dugout move +steadily through the water without paddles, he was as delighted as a child. We +made splendid headway on the trip, coming into sight of land at last. +</p> + +<p> +Juag had been terror-stricken when he had learned that I intended crossing the +ocean, and when we passed out of sight of land he was in a blue funk. He said +that he had never heard of such a thing before in his life, and that always he +had understood that those who ventured far from land never returned; for how +could they find their way when they could see no land to steer for? +</p> + +<p> +I tried to explain the compass to him; and though he never really grasped the +scientific explanation of it, yet he did learn to steer by it quite as well as +I. We passed several islands on the journey—islands which Juag told me were +entirely unknown to his own island folk. Indeed, our eyes may have been the +first ever to rest upon them. I should have liked to stop off and explore them, +but the business of empire would brook no unnecessary delays. +</p> + +<p> +I asked Juag how Hooja expected to reach the mouth of the river which we were +in search of if he didn’t cross the gulf, and the islander explained that Hooja +would undoubtedly follow the coast around. For some time we sailed up the coast +searching for the river, and at last we found it. So great was it that I +thought it must be a mighty gulf until the mass of driftwood that came out upon +the first ebb tide convinced me that it was the mouth of a river. There were +the trunks of trees uprooted by the undermining of the river banks, giant +creepers, flowers, grasses, and now and then the body of some land animal or +bird. +</p> + +<p> +I was all excitement to commence our upward journey when there occurred that +which I had never before seen within Pellucidar—a really terrific wind-storm. +It blew down the river upon us with a ferocity and suddenness that took our +breaths away, and before we could get a chance to make the shore it became too +late. The best that we could do was to hold the scud-ding craft before the wind +and race along in a smother of white spume. Juag was terrified. If Dian was, +she hid it; for was she not the daughter of a once great chief, the sister of a +king, and the mate of an emperor? +</p> + +<p> +Raja and Ranee were frightened. The former crawled close to my side and buried +his nose against me. Finally even fierce Ranee was moved to seek sympathy from +a human being. She slunk to Dian, pressing close against her and whimpering, +while Dian stroked her shaggy neck and talked to her as I talked to Raja. +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing for us to do but try to keep the canoe right side up and +straight before the wind. For what seemed an eternity the tempest neither +increased nor abated. I judged that we must have blown a hundred miles before +the wind and straight out into an unknown sea! +</p> + +<p> +As suddenly as the wind rose it died again, and when it died it veered to blow +at right angles to its former course in a gentle breeze. I asked Juag then what +our course was, for he had had the compass last. It had been on a leather thong +about his neck. When he felt for it, the expression that came into his eyes +told me as plainly as words what had happened—the compass was lost! The compass +was lost! +</p> + +<p> +And we were out of sight of land without a single celestial body to guide us! +Even the pendent world was not visible from our position! +</p> + +<p> +Our plight seemed hopeless to me, but I dared not let Dian and Juag guess how +utterly dismayed I was; though, as I soon discovered, there was nothing to be +gained by trying to keep the worst from Juag—he knew it quite as well as I. He +had always known, from the legends of his people, the dangers of the open sea +beyond the sight of land. The compass, since he had learned its uses from me, +had been all that he had to buoy his hope of eventual salvation from the watery +deep. He had seen how it had guided me across the water to the very coast that +I desired to reach, and so he had implicit confidence in it. Now that it was +gone, his confidence had departed, also. +</p> + +<p> +There seemed but one thing to do; that was to keep on sailing straight before +the wind—since we could travel most rapidly along that course—until we sighted +land of some description. If it chanced to be the mainland, well and good; if +an island—well, we might live upon an island. We certainly could not live long +in this little boat, with only a few strips of dried thag and a few quarts of +water left. +</p> + +<p> +Quite suddenly a thought occurred to me. I was surprised that it had not come +before as a solution to our problem. I turned toward Juag. +</p> + +<p> +“You Pellucidarians are endowed with a wonderful instinct,” I reminded him, “an +instinct that points the way straight to your homes, no matter in what strange +land you may find yourself. Now all we have to do is let Dian guide us toward +Amoz, and we shall come in a short time to the same coast whence we just were +blown.” +</p> + +<p> +As I spoke I looked at them with a smile of renewed hope; but there was no +answering smile in their eyes. It was Dian who enlightened me. +</p> + +<p> +“We could do all this upon land,” she said. “But upon the water that power is +denied us. I do not know why; but I have always heard that this is true—that +only upon the water may a Pellucidarian be lost. This is, I think, why we all +fear the great ocean so—even those who go upon its surface in canoes. Juag has +told us that they never go beyond the sight of land.” +</p> + +<p> +We had lowered the sail after the blow while we were discussing the best course +to pursue. Our little craft had been drifting idly, rising and falling with the +great waves that were now diminishing. Sometimes we were upon the crest—again +in the hollow. As Dian ceased speaking she let her eyes range across the +limitless expanse of billowing waters. We rose to a great height upon the crest +of a mighty wave. As we topped it Dian gave an exclamation and pointed astern. +</p> + +<p> +“Boats!” she cried. “Boats! Many, many boats!” +</p> + +<p> +Juag and I leaped to our feet; but our little craft had now dropped to the +trough, and we could see nothing but walls of water close upon either hand. We +waited for the next wave to lift us, and when it did we strained our eyes in +the direction that Dian had indicated. Sure enough, scarce half a mile away +were several boats, and scattered far and wide behind us as far as we could see +were many others! We could not make them out in the distance or in the brief +glimpse that we caught of them before we were plunged again into the next wave +canon; but they were boats. +</p> + +<p> +And in them must be human beings like ourselves. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br/> +RACING FOR LIFE</h2> + +<p> +At last the sea subsided, and we were able to get a better view of the armada +of small boats in our wake. There must have been two hundred of them. Juag said +that he had never seen so many boats before in all his life. Where had they +come from? Juag was first to hazard a guess. +</p> + +<p> +“Hooja,” he said, “was building many boats to carry his warriors to the great +river and up it toward Sari. He was building them with almost all his warriors +and many slaves upon the Island of Trees. No one else in all the history of +Pellucidar has ever built so many boats as they told me Hooja was building. +These must be Hooja’s boats.” +</p> + +<p> +“And they were blown out to sea by the great storm just as we were,” suggested +Dian. +</p> + +<p> +“There can be no better explanation of them,” I agreed. +</p> + +<p> +“What shall we do?” asked Juag. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose we make sure that they are really Hooja’s people,” suggested Dian. “It +may be that they are not, and that if we run away from them before we learn +definitely who they are, we shall be running away from a chance to live and +find the mainland. They may be a people of whom we have never even heard, and +if so we can ask them to help us—if they know the way to the mainland.” +</p> + +<p> +“Which they will not,” interposed Juag. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” I said, “it can’t make our predicament any more trying to wait until we +find out who they are. They are heading for us now. Evidently they have spied +our sail, and guess that we do not belong to their fleet.” +</p> + +<p> +“They probably want to ask the way to the mainland themselves,” said Juag, who +was nothing if not a pessimist. +</p> + +<p> +“If they want to catch us, they can do it if they can paddle faster than we can +sail,” I said. “If we let them come close enough to discover their identity, +and can then sail faster than they can paddle, we can get away from them +anyway, so we might as well wait.” +</p> + +<p> +And wait we did. +</p> + +<p> +The sea calmed rapidly, so that by the time the foremost canoe had come within +five hundred yards of us we could see them all plainly. Every one was headed +for us. The dugouts, which were of unusual length, were manned by twenty +paddlers, ten to a side. Besides the paddlers there were twenty-five or more +warriors in each boat. +</p> + +<p> +When the leader was a hundred yards from us Dian called our attention to the +fact that several of her crew were Sagoths. That convinced us that the flotilla +was indeed Hooja’s. I told Juag to hail them and get what information he could, +while I remained in the bottom of our canoe as much out of sight as possible. +Dian lay down at full length in the bottom; I did not want them to see and +recognize her if they were in truth Hooja’s people. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making a megaphone of +his palms. +</p> + +<p> +A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe—a figure that I was sure I +recognized even before he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“I am Hooja!” cried the man, in answer to Juag. +</p> + +<p> +For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner and slave—possibly +because he had so many of them. +</p> + +<p> +“I come from the Island of Trees,” he continued. “A hundred of my boats were +lost in the great storm and all their crews drowned. Where is the land? What +are you, and what strange thing is that which flutters from the little tree in +the front of your canoe?” +</p> + +<p> +He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. +</p> + +<p> +“We, too, are lost,” replied Juag. “We know not where the land is. We are going +back to look for it now.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying he commenced to scull the canoe’s nose before the wind, while I made +fast the primitive sheets that held our crude sail. We thought it time to be +going. +</p> + +<p> +There wasn’t much wind at the time, and the heavy, lumbering dugout was slow in +getting under way. I thought it never would gain any momentum. And all the +while Hooja’s canoe was drawing rapidly nearer, propelled by the strong arms of +his twenty paddlers. Of course, their dugout was much larger than ours, and, +consequently, infinitely heavier and more cumbersome; nevertheless, it was +coming along at quite a clip, and ours was yet but barely moving. Dian and I +remained out of sight as much as possible, for the two craft were now well +within bow-shot of one another, and I knew that Hooja had archers. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja called to Juag to stop when he saw that our craft was moving. He was much +interested in the sail, and not a little awed, as I could tell by his shouted +remarks and questions. Raising my head, I saw him plainly. He would have made +an excellent target for one of my guns, and I had never been sorrier that I had +lost them. +</p> + +<p> +We were now picking up speed a trifle, and he was not gaining upon us so fast +as at first. In consequence, his requests that we stop suddenly changed to +commands as he became aware that we were trying to escape him. +</p> + +<p> +“Come back!” he shouted. “Come back, or I’ll fire!” +</p> + +<p> +I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English the +Pellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any deadly missile. +</p> + +<p> +But Juag only seized his paddle more tightly—the paddle that answered the +purpose of rudder, and commenced to assist the wind by vigorous strokes. Then +Hooja gave the command to some of his archers to fire upon us. I couldn’t lie +hidden in the bottom of the boat, leaving Juag alone exposed to the deadly +shafts, so I arose and, seizing another paddle, set to work to help him. Dian +joined me, though I did my best to persuade her to remain sheltered; but being +a woman, she must have her own way. +</p> + +<p> +The instant that Hooja saw us he recognized us. The whoop of triumph he raised +indicated how certain he was that we were about to fall into his hands. A +shower of arrows fell about us. Then Hooja caused his men to cease firing—he +wanted us alive. None of the missiles struck us, for Hooja’s archers were not +nearly the marksmen that are my Sarians and Amozites. +</p> + +<p> +We had now gained sufficient headway to hold our own on about even terms with +Hooja’s paddlers. We did not seem to be gaining, though; and neither did they. +How long this nerve-racking experience lasted I cannot guess, though we had +pretty nearly finished our meager supply of provisions when the wind picked up +a bit and we commenced to draw away. +</p> + +<p> +Not once yet had we sighted land, nor could I understand it, since so many of +the seas I had seen before were thickly dotted with islands. Our plight was +anything but pleasant, yet I think that Hooja and his forces were even worse +off than we, for they had no food nor water at all. +</p> + +<p> +Far out behind us in a long line that curved upward in the distance, to be lost +in the haze, strung Hooja’s two hundred boats. But one would have been enough +to have taken us could it have come alongside. We had drawn some fifty yards +ahead of Hooja—there had been times when we were scarce ten yards in +advance-and were feeling considerably safer from capture. Hooja’s men, working +in relays, were commencing to show the effects of the strain under which they +had been forced to work without food or water, and I think their weakening +aided us almost as much as the slight freshening of the wind. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja must have commenced to realize that he was going to lose us, for he again +gave orders that we be fired upon. Volley after volley of arrows struck about +us. The distance was so great by this time that most of the arrows fell short, +while those that reached us were sufficiently spent to allow us to ward them +off with our paddles. However, it was a most exciting ordeal. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja stood in the bow of his boat, alternately urging his men to greater speed +and shouting epithets at me. But we continued to draw away from him. At last +the wind rose to a fair gale, and we simply raced away from our pursuers as if +they were standing still. Juag was so tickled that he forgot all about his +hunger and thirst. I think that he had never been entirely reconciled to the +heathenish invention which I called a sail, and that down in the bottom of his +heart he believed that the paddlers would eventually overhaul us; but now he +couldn’t praise it enough. +</p> + +<p> +We had a strong gale for a considerable time, and eventually dropped Hooja’s +fleet so far astern that we could no longer discern them. And then—ah, I shall +never forget that moment—Dian sprang to her feet with a cry of “Land!” +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough, dead ahead, a long, low coast stretched across our bow. It was +still a long way off, and we couldn’t make out whether it was island or +mainland; but at least it was land. If ever shipwrecked mariners were grateful, +we were then. Raja and Ranee were commencing to suffer for lack of food, and I +could swear that the latter often cast hungry glances upon us, though I am +equally sure that no such hideous thoughts ever entered the head of her mate. +We watched them both most closely, however. Once while stroking Ranee I managed +to get a rope around her neck and make her fast to the side of the boat. Then I +felt a bit safer for Dian. It was pretty close quarters in that little dugout +for three human beings and two practically wild, man-eating dogs; but we had to +make the best of it, since I would not listen to Juag’s suggestion that we kill +and eat Raja and Ranee. +</p> + +<p> +We made good time to within a few miles of the shore. Then the wind died +suddenly out. We were all of us keyed up to such a pitch of anticipation that +the blow was doubly hard to bear. And it was a blow, too, since we could not +tell in what quarter the wind might rise again; but Juag and I set to work to +paddle the remaining distance. +</p> + +<p> +Almost immediately the wind rose again from precisely the opposite direction +from which it had formerly blown, so that it was mighty hard work making +progress against it. Next it veered again so that we had to turn and run with +it parallel to the coast to keep from being swamped in the trough of the seas. +</p> + +<p> +And while we were suffering all these disappointments Hooja’s fleet appeared in +the distance! +</p> + +<p> +They evidently had gone far to the left of our course, for they were now almost +behind us as we ran parallel to the coast; but we were not much afraid of being +overtaken in the wind that was blowing. The gale kept on increasing, but it was +fitful, swooping down upon us in great gusts and then going almost calm for an +instant. It was after one of these momentary calms that the catastrophe +occurred. Our sail hung limp and our momentum decreased when of a sudden a +particularly vicious squall caught us. Before I could cut the sheets the mast +had snapped at the thwart in which it was stepped. +</p> + +<p> +The worst had happened; Juag and I seized paddles and kept the canoe with the +wind; but that squall was the parting shot of the gale, which died out +immediately after, leaving us free to make for the shore, which we lost no time +in attempting. But Hooja had drawn closer in toward shore than we, so it looked +as if he might head us off before we could land. However, we did our best to +distance him, Dian taking a paddle with us. +</p> + +<p> +We were in a fair way to succeed when there appeared, pouring from among the +trees beyond the beach, a horde of yelling, painted savages, brandishing all +sorts of devilish-looking primitive weapons. So menacing was their attitude +that we realized at once the folly of attempting to land among them. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja was drawing closer to us. There was no wind. We could not hope to +outpaddle him. And with our sail gone, no wind would help us, though, as if in +derision at our plight, a steady breeze was now blowing. But we had no +intention of sitting idle while our fate overtook us, so we bent to our paddles +and, keeping parallel with the coast, did our best to pull away from our +pursuers. +</p> + +<p> +It was a grueling experience. We were weakened by lack of food. We were +suffering the pangs of thirst. Capture and death were close at hand. Yet I +think that we gave a good account of ourselves in our final effort to escape. +Our boat was so much smaller and lighter than any of Hooja’s that the three of +us forced it ahead almost as rapidly as his larger craft could go under their +twenty paddles. +</p> + +<p> +As we raced along the coast for one of those seemingly interminable periods +that may draw hours into eternities where the labor is soul-searing and there +is no way to measure time, I saw what I took for the opening to a bay or the +mouth of a great river a short distance ahead of us. I wished that we might +make for it; but with the menace of Hooja close behind and the screaming +natives who raced along the shore parallel to us, I dared not attempt it. +</p> + +<p> +We were not far from shore in that mad flight from death. Even as I paddled I +found opportunity to glance occasionally toward the natives. They were white, +but hideously painted. From their gestures and weapons I took them to be a most +ferocious race. I was rather glad that we had not succeeded in landing among +them. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja’s fleet had been in much more compact formation when we sighted them this +time than on the occasion following the tempest. Now they were moving rapidly +in pursuit of us, all well within the radius of a mile. Five of them were +leading, all abreast, and were scarce two hundred yards from us. When I glanced +over my shoulder I could see that the archers had already fitted arrows to +their bows in readiness to fire upon us the moment that they should draw within +range. +</p> + +<p> +Hope was low in my breast. I could not see the slightest chance of escaping +them, for they were overhauling us rapidly now, since they were able to work +their paddles in relays, while we three were rapidly wearying beneath the +constant strain that had been put upon us. +</p> + +<p> +It was then that Juag called my attention to the rift in the shore-line which I +had thought either a bay or the mouth of a great river. There I saw moving +slowly out into the sea that which filled my soul with wonder. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br/> +GORE AND DREAMS</h2> + +<p> +It was a two-masted felucca with lateen sails! The craft was long and low. In +it were more than fifty men, twenty or thirty of whom were at oars with which +the craft was being propelled from the lee of the land. I was dumbfounded. +</p> + +<p> +Could it be that the savage, painted natives I had seen on shore had so +perfected the art of navigation that they were masters of such advanced +building and rigging as this craft proclaimed? It seemed impossible! And as I +looked I saw another of the same type swing into view and follow its sister +through the narrow strait out into the ocean. +</p> + +<p> +Nor were these all. One after another, following closely upon one another’s +heels, came fifty of the trim, graceful vessels. They were cutting in between +Hooja’s fleet and our little dugout. +</p> + +<p> +When they came a bit closer my eyes fairly popped from my head at what I saw, +for in the eye of the leading felucca stood a man with a sea-glass leveled upon +us. Who could they be? Was there a civilization within Pellucidar of such +wondrous advancement as this? Were there far-distant lands of which none of my +people had ever heard, where a race had so greatly outstripped all other races +of this inner world? +</p> + +<p> +The man with the glass had lowered it and was shouting to us. I could not make +out his words, but presently I saw that he was pointing aloft. When I looked I +saw a pennant fluttering from the peak of the forward lateen yard—a red, white, +and blue pennant, with a single great white star in a field of blue. +</p> + +<p> +Then I knew. My eyes went even wider than they had before. It was the navy! It +was the navy of the empire of Pellucidar which I had instructed Perry to build +in my absence. It was <i>my</i> navy! +</p> + +<p> +I dropped my paddle and stood up and shouted and waved my hand. Juag and Dian +looked at me as if I had gone suddenly mad. When I could stop shouting I told +them, and they shared my joy and shouted with me. +</p> + +<p> +But still Hooja was coming nearer, nor could the leading felucca overhaul him +before he would be along-side or at least within bow-shot. +</p> + +<p> +Hooja must have been as much mystified as we were as to the identity of the +strange fleet; but when he saw me waving to them he evidently guessed that they +were friendly to us, so he urged his men to redouble their efforts to reach us +before the felucca cut him off. +</p> + +<p> +He shouted word back to others of his fleet—word that was passed back until it +had reached them all—directing them to run alongside the strangers and board +them, for with his two hundred craft and his eight or ten thousand warriors he +evidently felt equal to overcoming the fifty vessels of the enemy, which did +not seem to carry over three thousand men all told. +</p> + +<p> +His own personal energies he bent to reaching Dian and me first, leaving the +rest of the work to his other boats. I thought that there could be little doubt +that he would be successful in so far as we were concerned, and I feared for +the revenge that he might take upon us should the battle go against his force, +as I was sure it would; for I knew that Perry and his Mezops must have brought +with them all the arms and ammunition that had been contained in the +prospector. But I was not prepared for what happened next. +</p> + +<p> +As Hooja’s canoe reached a point some twenty yards from us a great puff of +smoke broke from the bow of the leading felucca, followed almost simultaneously +by a terrific explosion, and a solid shot screamed close over the heads of the +men in Hooja’s craft, raising a great splash where it clove the water just +beyond them. +</p> + +<p> +Perry had perfected gunpowder and built cannon! It was marvelous! Dian and +Juag, as much surprised as Hooja, turned wondering eyes toward me. Again the +cannon spoke. I suppose that by comparison with the great guns of modern naval +vessels of the outer world it was a pitifully small and inadequate thing; but +here in Pellucidar, where it was the first of its kind, it was about as +awe-inspiring as anything you might imagine. +</p> + +<p> +With the report an iron cannonball about five inches in diameter struck Hooja’s +dugout just above the water-line, tore a great splintering hole in its side, +turned it over, and dumped its occupants into the sea. +</p> + +<p> +The four dugouts that had been abreast of Hooja had turned to intercept the +leading felucca. Even now, in the face of what must have been a withering +catastrophe to them, they kept bravely on toward the strange and terrible +craft. +</p> + +<p> +In them were fully two hundred men, while but fifty lined the gunwale of the +felucca to repel them. The commander of the felucca, who proved to be Ja, let +them come quite close and then turned loose upon them a volley of shots from +small-arms. +</p> + +<p> +The cave men and Sagoths in the dugouts seemed to wither before that blast of +death like dry grass before a prairie fire. Those who were not hit dropped +their bows and javelins and, seizing upon paddles, attempted to escape. But the +felucca pursued them relentlessly, her crew firing at will. +</p> + +<p> +At last I heard Ja shouting to the survivors in the dugouts—they were all quite +close to us now—offering them their lives if they would surrender. Perry was +standing close behind Ja, and I knew that this merciful action was prompted, +perhaps commanded, by the old man; for no Pellucidarian would have thought of +showing leniency to a defeated foe. +</p> + +<p> +As there was no alternative save death, the survivors surrendered and a moment +later were taken aboard the Amoz, the name that I could now see printed in +large letters upon the felucca’s bow, and which no one in that whole world +could read except Perry and I. +</p> + +<p> +When the prisoners were aboard, Ja brought the felucca alongside our dugout. +Many were the willing hands that reached down to lift us to her decks. The +bronze faces of the Mezops were broad with smiles, and Perry was fairly beside +himself with joy. +</p> + +<p> +Dian went aboard first and then Juag, as I wished to help Raja and Ranee aboard +myself, well knowing that it would fare ill with any Mezop who touched them. We +got them aboard at last, and a great commotion they caused among the crew, who +had never seen a wild beast thus handled by man before. +</p> + +<p> +Perry and Dian and I were so full of questions that we fairly burst, but we had +to contain ourselves for a while, since the battle with the rest of Hooja’s +fleet had scarce commenced. From the small forward decks of the feluccas +Perry’s crude cannon were belching smoke, flame, thunder, and death. The air +trembled to the roar of them. Hooja’s horde, intrepid, savage fighters that +they were, were closing in to grapple in a last death-struggle with the Mezops +who manned our vessels. +</p> + +<p> +The handling of our fleet by the red island warriors of Ja’s clan was far from +perfect. I could see that Perry had lost no time after the completion of the +boats in setting out upon this cruise. What little the captains and crews had +learned of handling feluccas they must have learned principally since they +embarked upon this voyage, and while experience is an excellent teacher and had +done much for them, they still had a great deal to learn. In maneuvering for +position they were continually fouling one another, and on two occasions shots +from our batteries came near to striking our own ships. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner, however, was I aboard the flagship than I attempted to rectify this +trouble to some extent. By passing commands by word of mouth from one ship to +another I managed to get the fifty feluccas into some sort of line, with the +flag-ship in the lead. In this formation we commenced slowly to circle the +position of the enemy. The dugouts came for us right along in an attempt to +board us, but by keeping on the move in one direction and circling, we managed +to avoid getting in each other’s way, and were enabled to fire our cannon and +our small arms with less danger to our own comrades. +</p> + +<p> +When I had a moment to look about me, I took in the felucca on which I was. I +am free to confess that I marveled at the excellent construction and stanch yet +speedy lines of the little craft. That Perry had chosen this type of vessel +seemed rather remarkable, for though I had warned him against turreted +battle-ships, armor, and like useless show, I had fully expected that when I +beheld his navy I should find considerable attempt at grim and terrible +magnificence, for it was always Perry’s idea to overawe these ignorant cave men +when we had to contend with them in battle. But I had soon learned that while +one might easily astonish them with some new engine of war, it was an utter +impossibility to frighten them into surrender. +</p> + +<p> +I learned later that Ja had gone carefully over the plans of various craft with +Perry. The old man had explained in detail all that the text told him of them. +The two had measured out dimensions upon the ground, that Ja might see the +sizes of different boats. Perry had built models, and Ja had had him read +carefully and explain all that they could find relative to the handling of +sailing vessels. The result of this was that Ja was the one who had chosen the +felucca. It was well that Perry had had so excellent a balance wheel, for he +had been wild to build a huge frigate of the Nelsonian era—he told me so +himself. +</p> + +<p> +One thing that had inclined Ja particularly to the felucca was the fact that it +included oars in its equipment. He realized the limitations of his people in +the matter of sails, and while they had never used oars, the implement was so +similar to a paddle that he was sure they quickly could master the art—and they +did. As soon as one hull was completed Ja kept it on the water constantly, +first with one crew and then with another, until two thousand red warriors had +learned to row. Then they stepped their masts and a crew was told off for the +first ship. +</p> + +<p> +While the others were building they learned to handle theirs. As each +succeeding boat was launched its crew took it out and practiced with it under +the tutorage of those who had graduated from the first ship, and so on until a +full complement of men had been trained for every boat. +</p> + +<p> +Well, to get back to the battle: The Hoojans kept on coming at us, and as fast +as they came we mowed them down. It was little else than slaughter. Time and +time again I cried to them to surrender, promising them their lives if they +would do so. At last there were but ten boatloads left. These turned in flight. +They thought they could paddle away from us—it was pitiful! I passed the word +from boat to boat to cease firing—not to kill another Hoojan unless they fired +on us. Then we set out after them. There was a nice little breeze blowing and +we bowled along after our quarry as gracefully and as lightly as swans upon a +park lagoon. As we approached them I could see not only wonder but admiration +in their eyes. I hailed the nearest dugout. +</p> + +<p> +“Throw down your arms and come aboard us,” I cried, “and you shall not be +harmed. We will feed you and return you to the mainland. Then you shall go free +upon your promise never to bear arms against the Emperor of Pellucidar again!” +</p> + +<p> +I think it was the promise of food that interested them most. They could scarce +believe that we would not kill them. But when I exhibited the prisoners we +already had taken, and showed them that they were alive and unharmed, a great +Sagoth in one of the boats asked me what guarantee I could give that I would +keep my word. +</p> + +<p> +“None other than my word,” I replied. “That I do not break.” +</p> + +<p> +The Pellucidarians themselves are rather punctilious about this same matter, so +the Sagoth could understand that I might possibly be speaking the truth. But he +could not understand why we should not kill them unless we meant to enslave +them, which I had as much as denied already when I had promised to set them +free. Ja couldn’t exactly see the wisdom of my plan, either. He thought that we +ought to follow up the ten remaining dugouts and sink them all; but I insisted +that we must free as many as possible of our enemies upon the mainland. +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” I explained, “these men will return at once to Hooja’s Island, to +the Mahar cities from which they come, or to the countries from which they were +stolen by the Mahars. They are men of two races and of many countries. They +will spread the story of our victory far and wide, and while they are with us, +we will let them see and hear many other wonderful things which they may carry +back to their friends and their chiefs. It’s the finest chance for free +publicity, Perry,” I added to the old man, “that you or I have seen in many a +day.” +</p> + +<p> +Perry agreed with me. As a matter of fact, he would have agreed to anything +that would have restrained us from killing the poor devils who fell into our +hands. He was a great fellow to invent gunpowder and firearms and cannon; but +when it came to using these things to kill people, he was as tender-hearted as +a chicken. +</p> + +<p> +The Sagoth who had spoken was talking to other Sagoths in his boat. Evidently +they were holding a council over the question of the wisdom of surrendering. +</p> + +<p> +“What will become of you if you don’t surrender to us?” I asked. “If we do not +open up our batteries on you again and kill you all, you will simply drift +about the sea helplessly until you die of thirst and starvation. You cannot +return to the islands, for you have seen as well as we that the natives there +are very numerous and warlike. They would kill you the moment you landed.” +</p> + +<p> +The upshot of it was that the boat of which the Sagoth speaker was in charge +surrendered. The Sagoths threw down their weapons, and we took them aboard the +ship next in line behind the Amoz. First Ja had to impress upon the captain and +crew of the ship that the prisoners were not to be abused or killed. After that +the remaining dugouts paddled up and surrendered. We distributed them among the +entire fleet lest there be too many upon any one vessel. Thus ended the first +real naval engagement that the Pellucidarian seas had ever witnessed—though +Perry still insists that the action in which the Sari took part was a battle of +the first magnitude. +</p> + +<p> +The battle over and the prisoners disposed of and fed—and do not imagine that +Dian, Juag, and I, as well as the two hounds were not fed also—I turned my +attention to the fleet. We had the feluccas close in about the flag-ship, and +with all the ceremony of a medieval potentate on parade I received the +commanders of the forty-nine feluccas that accompanied the flag-ship—Dian and I +together—the empress and the emperor of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +It was a great occasion. The savage, bronze warriors entered into the spirit of +it, for as I learned later dear old Perry had left no opportunity neglected for +impressing upon them that David was emperor of Pellucidar, and that all that +they were accomplishing and all that he was accomplishing was due to the power, +and redounded to the glory of David. The old man must have rubbed it in pretty +strong, for those fierce warriors nearly came to blows in their efforts to be +among the first of those to kneel before me and kiss my hand. When it came to +kissing Dian’s I think they enjoyed it more; I know I should have. +</p> + +<p> +A happy thought occurred to me as I stood upon the little deck of the Amoz with +the first of Perry’s primitive cannon behind me. When Ja kneeled at my feet, +and first to do me homage, I drew from its scabbard at his side the sword of +hammered iron that Perry had taught him to fashion. Striking him lightly on the +shoulder I created him king of Anoroc. Each captain of the forty-nine other +feluccas I made a duke. I left it to Perry to enlighten them as to the value of +the honors I had bestowed upon them. +</p> + +<p> +During these ceremonies Raja and Ranee had stood beside Dian and me. Their +bellies had been well filled, but still they had difficulty in permitting so +much edible humanity to pass unchallenged. It was a good education for them +though, and never after did they find it difficult to associate with the human +race without arousing their appetites. +</p> + +<p> +After the ceremonies were over we had a chance to talk with Perry and Ja. The +former told me that Ghak, king of Sari, had sent my letter and map to him by a +runner, and that he and Ja had at once decided to set out on the completion of +the fleet to ascertain the correctness of my theory that the Lural Az, in which +the Anoroc Islands lay, was in reality the same ocean as that which lapped the +shores of Thuria under the name of Sojar Az, or Great Sea. +</p> + +<p> +Their destination had been the island retreat of Hooja, and they had sent word +to Ghak of their plans that we might work in harmony with them. The tempest +that had blown us off the coast of the continent had blown them far to the +south also. Shortly before discovering us they had come into a great group of +islands, from between the largest two of which they were sailing when they saw +Hooja’s fleet pursuing our dugout. +</p> + +<p> +I asked Perry if he had any idea as to where we were, or in what direction lay +Hooja’s island or the continent. He replied by producing his map, on which he +had carefully marked the newly discovered islands—there described as the +Unfriendly Isles—which showed Hooja’s island northwest of us about two points +West. +</p> + +<p> +He then explained that with compass, chronometer, log and reel, they had kept a +fairly accurate record of their course from the time they had set out. Four of +the feluccas were equipped with these instruments, and all of the captains had +been instructed in their use. +</p> + +<p> +I was very greatly surprised at the ease with which these savages had mastered +the rather intricate detail of this unusual work, but Perry assured me that +they were a wonderfully intelligent race, and had been quick to grasp all that +he had tried to teach them. +</p> + +<p> +Another thing that surprised me was the fact that so much had been accomplished +in so short a time, for I could not believe that I had been gone from Anoroc +for a sufficient period to permit of building a fleet of fifty feluccas and +mining iron ore for the cannon and balls, to say nothing of manufacturing these +guns and the crude muzzle-loading rifles with which every Mezop was armed, as +well as the gunpowder and ammunition they had in such ample quantities. +</p> + +<p> +“Time!” exclaimed Perry. “Well, how long were you gone from Anoroc before we +picked you up in the Sojar Az?” +</p> + +<p> +That was a puzzler, and I had to admit it. I didn’t know how much time had +elapsed and neither did Perry, for time is nonexistent in Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, you see, David,” he continued, “I had almost unbelievable resources at +my disposal. The Mezops inhabiting the Anoroc Islands, which stretch far out to +sea beyond the three principal isles with which you are familiar, number well +into the millions, and by far the greater part of them are friendly to Ja. Men, +women, and children turned to and worked the moment Ja explained the nature of +our enterprise. +</p> + +<p> +“And not only were they anxious to do all in their power to hasten the day when +the Mahars should be overthrown, but—and this counted for most of all—they are +simply ravenous for greater knowledge and for better ways of doing things. +</p> + +<p> +“The contents of the prospector set their imaginations to working overtime, so +that they craved to own, themselves, the knowledge which had made it possible +for other men to create and build the things which you brought back from the +outer world. +</p> + +<p> +“And then,” continued the old man, “the element of time, or, rather, lack of +time, operated to my advantage. There being no nights, there was no laying off +from work—they labored incessantly stopping only to eat and, on rare occasions, +to sleep. Once we had discovered iron ore we had enough mined in an incredibly +short time to build a thousand cannon. I had only to show them once how a thing +should be done, and they would fall to work by thousands to do it. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no sooner had we fashioned the first muzzle-loader and they had seen it +work successfully, than fully three thousand Mezops fell to work to make +rifles. Of course there was much confusion and lost motion at first, but +eventually Ja got them in hand, detailing squads of them under competent chiefs +to certain work. +</p> + +<p> +“We now have a hundred expert gun-makers. On a little isolated isle we have a +great powder-factory. Near the iron-mine, which is on the mainland, is a +smelter, and on the eastern shore of Anoroc, a well equipped ship-yard. All +these industries are guarded by forts in which several cannon are mounted and +where warriors are always on guard. +</p> + +<p> +“You would be surprised now, David, at the aspect of Anoroc. I am surprised +myself; it seems always to me as I compare it with the day that I first set +foot upon it from the deck of the Sari that only a miracle could have worked +the change that has taken place.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a miracle,” I said; “it is nothing short of a miracle to transplant all +the wondrous possibilities of the twentieth century back to the Stone Age. It +is a miracle to think that only five hundred miles of earth separate two epochs +that are really ages and ages apart.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is stupendous, Perry! But still more stupendous is the power that you and I +wield in this great world. These people look upon us as little less than +supermen. We must show them that we are all of that. +</p> + +<p> +“We must give them the best that we have, Perry.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he agreed; “we must. I have been thinking a great deal lately that some +kind of shrapnel shell or explosive bomb would be a most splendid innovation in +their warfare. Then there are breech-loading rifles and those with magazines +that I must hasten to study out and learn to reproduce as soon as we get +settled down again; and—” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold on, Perry!” I cried. “I didn’t mean these sorts of things at all. I said +that we must give them the best we have. What we have given them so far has +been the worst. We have given them war and the munitions of war. In a single +day we have made their wars infinitely more terrible and bloody than in all +their past ages they have been able to make them with their crude, primitive +weapons. +</p> + +<p> +“In a period that could scarcely have exceeded two outer earthly hours, our +fleet practically annihilated the largest armada of native canoes that the +Pellucidarians ever before had gathered together. We butchered some eight +thousand warriors with the twentieth-century gifts we brought. Why, they +wouldn’t have killed that many warriors in the entire duration of a dozen of +their wars with their own weapons! No, Perry; we’ve got to give them something +better than scientific methods of killing one another.” +</p> + +<p> +The old man looked at me in amazement. There was reproach in his eyes, too. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, David!” he said sorrowfully. “I thought that you would be pleased with +what I had done. We planned these things together, and I am sure that it was +you who suggested practically all of it. I have done only what I thought you +wished done and I have done it the best that I know how.” +</p> + +<p> +I laid my hand on the old man’s shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“Bless your heart, Perry!” I cried. “You’ve accomplished miracles. You have +done precisely what I should have done, only you’ve done it better. I’m not +finding fault; but I don’t wish to lose sight myself, or let you lose sight, of +the greater work which must grow out of this preliminary and necessary carnage. +First we must place the empire upon a secure footing, and we can do so only by +putting the fear of us in the hearts of our enemies; but after that— +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Perry! That is the day I look forward to! When you and I can build +sewing-machines instead of battle-ships, harvesters of crops instead of +harvesters of men, plow-shares and telephones, schools and colleges, +printing-presses and paper! When our merchant marine shall ply the great +Pellucidarian seas, and cargoes of silks and typewriters and books shall forge +their ways where only hideous saurians have held sway since time began!” +</p> + +<p> +“Amen!” said Perry. +</p> + +<p> +And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my hand. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV<br/> +CONQUEST AND PEACE</h2> + +<p> +The fleet sailed directly for Hooja’s island, coming to anchor at its +north-eastern extremity before the flat-topped hill that had been Hooja’s +stronghold. I sent one of the prisoners ashore to demand an immediate +surrender; but as he told me afterward they wouldn’t believe all that he told +them, so they congregated on the cliff-top and shot futile arrows at us. +</p> + +<p> +In reply I had five of the feluccas cannonade them. When they scampered away at +the sound of the terrific explosions, and at sight of the smoke and the iron +balls I landed a couple of hundred red warriors and led them to the opposite +end of the hill into the tunnel that ran to its summit. Here we met a little +resistance; but a volley from the muzzle-loaders turned back those who disputed +our right of way, and presently we gained the mesa. Here again we met +resistance, but at last the remnant of Hooja’s horde surrendered. +</p> + +<p> +Juag was with me, and I lost no time in returning to him and his tribe the +hilltop that had been their ancestral home for ages until they were robbed of +it by Hooja. I created a kingdom of the island, making Juag king there. Before +we sailed I went to Gr-gr-gr, chief of the beast-men, taking Juag with me. +There the three of us arranged a code of laws that would permit the brute-folk +and the human beings of the island to live in peace and harmony. Gr-gr-gr sent +his son with me back to Sari, capital of my empire, that he might learn the +ways of the human beings. I have hopes of turning this race into the greatest +agriculturists of Pellucidar. When I returned to the fleet I found that one of +the islanders of Juag’s tribe, who had been absent when we arrived, had just +returned from the mainland with the news that a great army was encamped in the +Land of Awful Shadow, and that they were threatening Thuria. I lost no time in +weighing anchors and setting out for the continent, which we reached after a +short and easy voyage. +</p> + +<p> +From the deck of the Amoz I scanned the shore through the glasses that Perry +had brought with him. When we were close enough for the glasses to be of value +I saw that there was indeed a vast concourse of warriors entirely encircling +the walled-village of Goork, chief of the Thurians. As we approached smaller +objects became distinguishable. It was then that I discovered numerous flags +and pennants floating above the army of the besiegers. +</p> + +<p> +I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Ghak of Sari,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then turned to me with a +smile. +</p> + +<p> +“The red, white, and blue of the empire,” he said. “It is indeed your majesty’s +army.” +</p> + +<p> +It soon became apparent that we had been sighted by those on shore, for a great +multitude of warriors had congregated along the beach watching us. We came to +anchor as close in as we dared, which with our light feluccas was within easy +speaking-distance of the shore. Ghak was there and his eyes were mighty wide, +too; for, as he told us later, though he knew this must be Perry’s fleet it was +so wonderful to him that he could not believe the testimony of his own eyes +even while he was watching it approach. +</p> + +<p> +To give the proper effect to our meeting I commanded that each felucca fire +twenty-one guns as a salute to His Majesty Ghak, King of Sari. Some of the +gunners, in the exuberance of their enthusiasm, fired solid shot; but +fortunately they had sufficient good judg-ment to train their pieces on the +open sea, so no harm was done. After this we landed—an arduous task since each +felucca carried but a single light dugout. +</p> + +<p> +I learned from Ghak that the Thurian chieftain, Goork, had been inclined to +haughtiness, and had told Ghak, the Hairy One, that he knew nothing of me and +cared less; but I imagine that the sight of the fleet and the sound of the guns +brought him to his senses, for it was not long before he sent a deputation to +me, inviting me to visit him in his village. Here he apologized for the +treatment he had accorded me, very gladly swore allegiance to the empire, and +received in return the title of king. +</p> + +<p> +We remained in Thuria only long enough to arrange the treaty with Goork, among +the other details of which was his promise to furnish the imperial army with a +thousand lidi, or Thurian beasts of burden, and drivers for them. These were to +accompany Ghak’s army back to Sari by land, while the fleet sailed to the mouth +of the great river from which Dian, Juag, and I had been blown. +</p> + +<p> +The voyage was uneventful. We found the river easily, and sailed up it for many +miles through as rich and wonderful a plain as I have ever seen. At the head of +navigation we disembarked, leaving a sufficient guard for the feluccas, and +marched the remaining distance to Sari. +</p> + +<p> +Ghak’s army, which was composed of warriors of all the original tribes of the +federation, showing how successful had been his efforts to rehabilitate the +empire, marched into Sari some time after we arrived. With them were the +thousand lidi from Thuria. +</p> + +<p> +At a council of the kings it was decided that we should at once commence the +great war against the Mahars, for these haughty reptiles presented the greatest +obstacle to human progress within Pellucidar. I laid out a plan of campaign +which met with the enthusiastic indorsement of the kings. Pursuant to it, I at +once despatched fifty lidi to the fleet with orders to fetch fifty cannon to +Sari. I also ordered the fleet to proceed at once to Anoroc, where they were to +take aboard all the rifles and ammunition that had been completed since their +departure, and with a full complement of men to sail along the coast in an +attempt to find a passage to the inland sea near which lay the Mahars’ buried +city of Phutra. +</p> + +<p> +Ja was sure that a large and navigable river connected the sea of Phutra with +the Lural Az, and that, barring accident, the fleet would be before Phutra as +soon as the land forces were. +</p> + +<p> +At last the great army started upon its march. There were warriors from every +one of the federated kingdoms. All were armed either with bow and arrows or +muzzle-loaders, for nearly the entire Mezop contingent had been enlisted for +this march, only sufficient having been left aboard the feluccas to man them +properly. I divided the forces into divisions, regiments, battalions, +companies, and even to platoons and sections, appointing the full complement of +officers and noncommissioned officers. On the long march I schooled them in +their duties, and as fast as one learned I sent him among the others as a +teacher. +</p> + +<p> +Each regiment was made up of about a thousand bowmen, and to each was +temporarily attached a company of Mezop musketeers and a battery of +artillery—the latter, our naval guns, mounted upon the broad backs of the +mighty lidi. There was also one full regiment of Mezop musketeers and a +regiment of primitive spearmen. The rest of the lidi that we brought with us +were used for baggage animals and to transport our women and children, for we +had brought them with us, as it was our intention to march from one Mahar city +to another until we had subdued every Mahar nation that menaced the safety of +any kingdom of the empire. +</p> + +<p> +Before we reached the plain of Phutra we were discovered by a company of +Sagoths, who at first stood to give battle; but upon seeing the vast numbers of +our army they turned and fled toward Phutra. The result of this was that when +we came in sight of the hundred towers which mark the entrances to the buried +city we found a great army of Sagoths and Mahars lined up to give us battle. +</p> + +<p> +At a thousand yards we halted, and, placing our artillery upon a slight +eminence at either flank, we commenced to drop solid shot among them. Ja, who +was chief artillery officer, was in command of this branch of the service, and +he did some excellent work, for his Mezop gunners had become rather proficient +by this time. The Sagoths couldn’t stand much of this sort of warfare, so they +charged us, yelling like fiends. We let them come quite close, and then the +musketeers who formed the first line opened up on them. +</p> + +<p> +The slaughter was something frightful, but still the remnants of them kept on +coming until it was a matter of hand-to-hand fighting. Here our spearmen were +of value, as were also the crude iron swords with which most of the imperial +warriors were armed. +</p> + +<p> +We lost heavily in the encounter after the Sagoths reached us; but they were +absolutely exterminated—not one remained even as a prisoner. The Mahars, seeing +how the battle was going, had hastened to the safety of their buried city. When +we had overcome their gorilla-men we followed after them. +</p> + +<p> +But here we were doomed to defeat, at least temporarily; for no sooner had the +first of our troops descended into the subterranean avenues than many of them +came stumbling and fighting their way back to the surface, half-choked by the +fumes of some deadly gas that the reptiles had liberated upon them. We lost a +number of men here. Then I sent for Perry, who had remained discreetly in the +rear, and had him construct a little affair that I had had in my mind against +the possibility of our meeting with a check at the entrances to the underground +city. +</p> + +<p> +Under my direction he stuffed one of his cannon full of powder, small bullets, +and pieces of stone, almost to the muzzle. Then he plugged the muzzle tight +with a cone-shaped block of wood, hammered and jammed in as tight as it could +be. Next he inserted a long fuse. A dozen men rolled the cannon to the top of +the stairs leading down into the city, first removing it from its carriage. One +of them then lit the fuse and the whole thing was given a shove down the +stairway, while the detachment turned and scampered to a safe distance. +</p> + +<p> +For what seemed a very long time nothing happened. We had commenced to think +that the fuse had been put out while the piece was rolling down the stairway, +or that the Mahars had guessed its purpose and extinguished it themselves, when +the ground about the entrance rose suddenly into the air, to be followed by a +terrific explosion and a burst of smoke and flame that shot high in company +with dirt, stone, and fragments of cannon. +</p> + +<p> +Perry had been working on two more of these giant bombs as soon as the first +was completed. Presently we launched these into two of the other entrances. +They were all that were required, for almost immediately after the third +explosion a stream of Mahars broke from the exits furthest from us, rose upon +their wings, and soared northward. A hundred men on lidi were despatched in +pursuit, each lidi carrying two riflemen in addition to its driver. Guessing +that the inland sea, which lay not far north of Phutra, was their destination, +I took a couple of regiments and followed. +</p> + +<p> +A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra plain where the city lies, and the +inland sea where the Mahars were wont to disport themselves in the cool waters. +Not until we had topped this ridge did we get a view of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so long as I may live. +</p> + +<p> +Along the beach were lined up the troop of lidi, while a hundred yards from +shore the surface of the water was black with the long snouts and cold, +reptilian eyes of the Mahars. Our savage Mezop riflemen, and the shorter, +squatter, white-skinned Thurian drivers, shading their eyes with their hands, +were gazing seaward beyond the Mahars, whose eyes were fastened upon the same +spot. My heart leaped when I discovered that which was chaining the attention +of them all. Twenty graceful feluccas were moving smoothly across the waters of +the sea toward the reptilian horde! +</p> + +<p> +The sight must have filled the Mahars with awe and consternation, for never had +they seen the like of these craft before. For a time they seemed unable to do +aught but gaze at the approaching fleet; but when the Mezops opened on them +with their muskets the reptiles swam rapidly in the direction of the feluccas, +evidently thinking that these would prove the easier to overcome. The commander +of the fleet permitted them to approach within a hundred yards. Then he opened +on them with all the cannon that could be brought to bear, as well as with the +small arms of the sailors. +</p> + +<p> +A great many of the reptiles were killed at the first volley. They wavered for +a moment, then dived; nor did we see them again for a long time. +</p> + +<p> +But finally they rose far out beyond the fleet, and when the feluccas came +about and pursued them they left the water and flew away toward the north. +</p> + +<p> +Following the fall of Phutra I visited Anoroc, where I found the people busy in +the shipyards and the factories that Perry had established. I discovered +something, too, that he had not told me of—something that seemed infinitely +more promising than the powder-factory or the arsenal. It was a young man +poring over one of the books I had brought back from the outer world! He was +sitting in the log cabin that Perry had had built to serve as his sleeping +quarters and office. So absorbed was he that he did not notice our entrance. +Perry saw the look of astonishment in my eyes and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“I started teaching him the alphabet when we first reached the prospector, and +were taking out its contents,” he explained. “He was much mystified by the +books and anxious to know of what use they were. When I explained he asked me +to teach him to read, and so I worked with him whenever I could. He is very +intelligent and learns quickly. Before I left he had made great progress, and +as soon as he is qualified he is going to teach others to read. It was mighty +hard work getting started, though, for everything had to be translated into +Pellucidarian. +</p> + +<p> +“It will take a long time to solve this problem, but I think that by teaching a +number of them to read and write English we shall then be able more quickly to +give them a written language of their own.” +</p> + +<p> +And this was the nucleus about which we were to build our great system of +schools and colleges—this almost naked red warrior, sitting in Perry’s little +cabin upon the island of Anoroc, picking out words letter by letter from a work +on intensive farming. Now we have— +</p> + +<p> +But I’ll get to all that before I finish. +</p> + +<p> +While we were at Anoroc I accompanied Ja in an expedition to South Island, the +southernmost of the three largest which form the Anoroc group—Perry had given +it its name—where we made peace with the tribe there that had for long been +hostile toward Ja. They were now glad enough to make friends with him and come +into the federation. From there we sailed with sixty-five feluccas for distant +Luana, the main island of the group where dwell the hereditary enemies of +Anoroc. +</p> + +<p> +Twenty-five of the feluccas were of a new and larger type than those with which +Ja and Perry had sailed on the occasion when they chanced to find and rescue +Dian and me. They were longer, carried much larger sails, and were considerably +swifter. Each carried four guns instead of two, and these were so arranged that +one or more of them could be brought into action no matter where the enemy lay. +</p> + +<p> +The Luana group lies just beyond the range of vision from the mainland. The +largest island of it alone is visible from Anoroc; but when we neared it we +found that it comprised many beautiful islands, and that they were thickly +populated. The Luanians had not, of course, been ignorant of all that had been +going on in the domains of their nearest and dearest enemies. They knew of our +feluccas and our guns, for several of their riding-parties had had a taste of +both. But their principal chief, an old man, had never seen either. So, when he +sighted us, he put out to overwhelm us, bringing with him a fleet of about a +hundred large war-canoes, loaded to capacity with javelin-armed warriors. It +was pitiful, and I told Ja as much. It seemed a shame to massacre these poor +fellows if there was any way out of it. +</p> + +<p> +To my surprise Ja felt much as I did. He said he had always hated to war with +other Mezops when there were so many alien races to fight against. I suggested +that we hail the chief and request a parley; but when Ja did so the old fool +thought that we were afraid, and with loud cries of exultation urged his +warriors upon us. +</p> + +<p> +So we opened up on them, but at my suggestion centered our fire upon the +chief’s canoe. The result was that in about thirty seconds there was nothing +left of that war dugout but a handful of splinters, while its crew—those who +were not killed—were struggling in the water, battling with the myriad terrible +creatures that had risen to devour them. +</p> + +<p> +We saved some of them, but the majority died just as had Hooja and the crew of +his canoe that time our second shot capsized them. +</p> + +<p> +Again we called to the remaining warriors to enter into a parley with us; but +the chief’s son was there and he would not, now that he had seen his father +killed. He was all for revenge. So we had to open up on the brave fellows with +all our guns; but it didn’t last long at that, for there chanced to be wiser +heads among the Luanians than their chief or his son had possessed. Presently, +an old warrior who commanded one of the dugouts surrendered. After that they +came in one by one until all had laid their weapons upon our decks. +</p> + +<p> +Then we called together upon the flag-ship all our captains, to give the affair +greater weight and dignity, and all the principal men of Luana. We had +conquered them, and they expected either death or slavery; but they deserved +neither, and I told them so. It is always my habit here in Pellucidar to +impress upon these savage people that mercy is as noble a quality as physical +bravery, and that next to the men who fight shoulder to shoulder with one, we +should honor the brave men who fight against us, and if we are victorious, +award them both the mercy and honor that are their due. +</p> + +<p> +By adhering to this policy I have won to the federation many great and noble +peoples, who under the ancient traditions of the inner world would have been +massacred or enslaved after we had conquered them; and thus I won the Luanians. +I gave them their freedom, and returned their weapons to them after they had +sworn loyalty to me and friendship and peace with Ja, and I made the old +fellow, who had had the good sense to surrender, king of Luana, for both the +old chief and his only son had died in the battle. +</p> + +<p> +When I sailed away from Luana she was included among the kingdoms of the +empire, whose boundaries were thus pushed eastward several hundred miles. +</p> + +<p> +We now returned to Anoroc and thence to the mainland, where I again took up the +campaign against the Mahars, marching from one great buried city to another +until we had passed far north of Amoz into a country where I had never been. At +each city we were victorious, killing or capturing the Sagoths and driving the +Mahars further away. +</p> + +<p> +I noticed that they always fled toward the north. The Sagoth prisoners we +usually found quite ready to trans-fer their allegiance to us, for they are +little more than brutes, and when they found that we could fill their stomachs +and give them plenty of fighting, they were nothing loath to march with us +against the next Mahar city and battle with men of their own race. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we proceeded, swinging in a great half-circle north and west and south +again until we had come back to the edge of the Lidi Plains north of Thuria. +Here we overcame the Mahar city that had ravaged the Land of Awful Shadow for +so many ages. When we marched on to Thuria, Goork and his people went mad with +joy at the tidings we brought them. +</p> + +<p> +During this long march of conquest we had passed through seven countries, +peopled by primitive human tribes who had not yet heard of the federation, and +succeeded in joining them all to the empire. It was noticeable that each of +these peoples had a Mahar city situated near by, which had drawn upon them for +slaves and human food for so many ages that not even in legend had the +population any folk-tale which did not in some degree reflect an inherent +terror of the reptilians. +</p> + +<p> +In each of these countries I left an officer and warriors to train them in +military discipline, and prepare them to receive the arms that I intended +furnishing them as rapidly as Perry’s arsenal could turn them out, for we felt +that it would be a long, long time before we should see the last of the Mahars. +That they had flown north but temporarily until we should be gone with our +great army and terrifying guns I was positive, and equally sure was I that they +would presently return. +</p> + +<p> +The task of ridding Pellucidar of these hideous creatures is one which in all +probability will never be entirely completed, for their great cities must +abound by the hundreds and thousands in the far-distant lands that no subject +of the empire has ever laid eyes upon. +</p> + +<p> +But within the present boundaries of my domain there are now none left that I +know of, for I am sure we should have heard indirectly of any great Mahar city +that had escaped us, although of course the imperial army has by no means +covered the vast area which I now rule. +</p> + +<p> +After leaving Thuria we returned to Sari, where the seat of government is +located. Here, upon a vast, fertile plateau, overlooking the great gulf that +runs into the continent from the Lural Az, we are building the great city of +Sari. Here we are erecting mills and factories. Here we are teaching men and +women the rudiments of agriculture. Here Perry has built the first +printing-press, and a dozen young Sarians are teaching their fellows to read +and write the language of Pellucidar. +</p> + +<p> +We have just laws and only a few of them. Our people are happy because they are +always working at something which they enjoy. There is no money, nor is any +money value placed upon any commodity. Perry and I were as one in resolving +that the root of all evil should not be introduced into Pellucidar while we +lived. +</p> + +<p> +A man may exchange that which he produces for something which he desires that +another has produced; but he cannot dispose of the thing he thus acquires. In +other words, a commodity ceases to have pecuniary value the instant that it +passes out of the hands of its producer. All excess reverts to government; and, +as this represents the production of the people as a government, government may +dispose of it to other peoples in exchange for that which they produce. Thus we +are establishing a trade between kingdoms, the profits from which go to the +betterment of the people—to building factories for the manufacture of +agricultural implements, and machinery for the various trades we are gradually +teaching the people. +</p> + +<p> +Already Anoroc and Luana are vying with one another in the excellence of the +ships they build. Each has several large ship-yards. Anoroc makes gunpowder and +mines iron ore, and by means of their ships they carry on a very lucrative +trade with Thuria, Sari, and Amoz. The Thurians breed lidi, which, having the +strength and intelligence of an elephant, make excellent draft animals. +</p> + +<p> +Around Sari and Amoz the men are domesticating the great striped antelope, the +meat of which is most delicious. I am sure that it will not be long before they +will have them broken to harness and saddle. The horses of Pellucidar are far +too diminutive for such uses, some species of them being little larger than +fox-terriers. +</p> + +<p> +Dian and I live in a great palace overlooking the gulf. There is no glass in +our windows, for we have no windows, the walls rising but a few feet above the +floor-line, the rest of the space being open to the ceilings; but we have a +roof to shade us from the perpetual noon-day sun. Perry and I decided to set a +style in architecture that would not curse future generations with the white +plague, so we have plenty of ventilation. Those of the people who prefer, still +inhabit their caves, but many are building houses similar to ours. +</p> + +<p> +At Greenwich we have located a town and an observatory—though there is nothing +to observe but the stationary sun directly overhead. Upon the edge of the Land +of Awful Shadow is another observatory, from which the time is flashed by +wireless to every corner of the empire twenty-four times a day. In addition to +the wireless, we have a small telephone system in Sari. Everything is yet in +the early stages of development; but with the science of the outer-world +twentieth century to draw upon we are making rapid progress, and with all the +faults and errors of the outer world to guide us clear of dangers, I think that +it will not be long before Pellucidar will become as nearly a Utopia as one may +expect to find this side of heaven. +</p> + +<p> +Perry is away just now, laying out a railway-line from Sari to Amoz. There are +immense anthracite coal-fields at the head of the gulf not far from Sari, and +the railway will tap these. Some of his students are working on a locomotive +now. It will be a strange sight to see an iron horse puffing through the +primeval jungles of the stone age, while cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, +mastodons and the countless other terrible creatures of the past look on from +their tangled lairs in wide-eyed astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +We are very happy, Dian and I, and I would not return to the outer world for +all the riches of all its princes. I am content here. Even without my imperial +powers and honors I should be content, for have I not that greatest of all +treasures, the love of a good woman—my wondrous empress, Dian the Beautiful? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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