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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/605-0.txt b/605-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8936947 --- /dev/null +++ b/605-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6704 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +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 +www.gutenberg.org. 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. + +Title: Pellucidar + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Release Date: July, 1996 [eBook #605] +[Most recently updated: July 16, 2023] + +Language: English + +Produced by: Judith Boss + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR *** + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +PELLUCIDAR + +By Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + +Contents + + PROLOGUE + CHAPTER I. LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + CHAPTER II. TRAVELING WITH TERROR + CHAPTER III. SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER + CHAPTER IV. FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + CHAPTER V. SURPRISES + CHAPTER VI. A PENDENT WORLD + CHAPTER VII. FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + CHAPTER VIII. CAPTIVE + CHAPTER IX. HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + CHAPTER X. THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + CHAPTER XI. ESCAPE + CHAPTER XII. KIDNAPED! + CHAPTER XIII. RACING FOR LIFE + CHAPTER XIV. GORE AND DREAMS + CHAPTER XV. CONQUEST AND PEACE + + + + +PROLOGUE + + +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. + +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. + +And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead of +my schedule. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Here it is: + +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: + +I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of the earth. I have no +trade—nor any other occupation. + +My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter ancestors lust to +roam. I have combined the two and invested them carefully and without +extravagance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was an intermittent ticking! + +No reptile or insect with which I am familiar reproduces any such +notes. I lay for an hour—listening intently. + +At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my lamp and +commenced to investigate. + +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. + +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. + +Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From this +receptacle issued the strange sound that I had heard. + +How had it come here? + +What did it contain? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“What in the world,” thought I, “is this thing doing here?” + +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. + +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: + +D. I. + + +They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so powerless to help! + +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: + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at +the ends of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? + +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. + +And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires? + +What was this instrument—ticking away here in the great Sahara—but a +travesty upon the possible! + +Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with my own eyes? + +And the initials—D. I.—upon the slip of paper! + +David’s initials were these—David Innes. + +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— + +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. + +I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel that I am +making a fool of myself. + +There is no David Innes. + +There is no Dian the Beautiful. + +There is no world within a world. + +Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination—nothing more. + +BUT— + +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. + +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. + +And now—why am I writing you? + +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. + +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. + +It is maddening. + +It is your fault—I want you to release me from it. + +Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no basis of fact for +your story, At the Earth’s Core. + +Very respectfully yours, + + +COGDON NESTOR, + —— and —— Club, + Algiers. + June 1st, —. + + +Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor as +follows: + +Story true. Await me Algiers. + + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and paleontologist, still +live? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending-key. The noise of the +receiver stopped instantly. + +“Ask who it is, Downes,” I directed. + +He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman’s translation of the +reply, I doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. + +“He says he’s David Innes,” said Downes. “He wants to know who we are.” + +“Tell him,” said I; “and that we want to know how he is—and all that +has befallen him since I last saw him.” + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER I +LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How strange it looked! How vastly different from the flat and puny area +of the circumscribed vision of the dweller upon the outer crust! + +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! + +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. + +The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled me. Her mighty land +areas breathed unfettered freedom. + +Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders unsullied by the eye +of man, beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. + +Not for an instant did I regret the world of my nativity. I was in +Pellucidar. I was home. And I was content. + +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. + +What thoughts were passing through the convolutions of her reptilian +brain? + +I do not know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What had she thought of the outer world’s tiny sun? + +What had been the effect upon her of the moon and myriad stars of the +clear African nights? + +How had she explained them? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitively that she +was escaping—but I did not. + +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. + +At the edge of the sea the creature paused and looked back at me. Then +she slid sinuously into the surf. + +For several minutes I saw no more of her as she luxuriated in the cool +depths. + +Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there for another short +while she floated upon the surface. + +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. + +I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her and she had +disappeared. I was alone. + +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. + +But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari? + +And if I set out to search—what then? + +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? + +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? + +Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with it, what could I +accomplish single-handed? + +Nothing. + +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? + +I didn’t know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +It was with almost childish joy that I made a little circle in my +note-book and traced the word Greenwich beside it. + +Now I felt I might start out upon my search with some assurance of +finding my way back again to the prospector. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was ready—ready to go forth and explore a world! + +Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square miles for my friends, +my incomparable mate, and good old Perry! + +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. + +Through dense primeval forests I forced my way and up the slopes of +mighty mountains searching for a pass to their farther sides. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly +months with no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It happened thus: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-arm +testifying to his purpose. + +And then, quite with the suddenness of an unexpected blow, I realized a +past familiarity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. + +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! + +Perry was my best friend. + +Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate—a +part of me. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His spear dropped from +his hand. + +Then he lunged forward upon his face. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER II +TRAVELING WITH TERROR + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the camp, nor had Perry +seen or heard aught of her since. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The result was the total demolition of the work we had so well started. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +But first I would find my empress. To me she was worth forty empires. + +“Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?” I asked. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that chance threw in +my way. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied from +disuse in his former life, had filled out. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +“The Mountains of the Clouds!” + +“They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our worst enemies, the +Mahars,” Perry remonstrated. + +“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. + +“They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not wandering far in +the wrong direction. + +“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. + +“At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari.” + +“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?” + +“Easily,” I answered him, “for Ja gave me minute directions. I recall +almost his exact words: + +“‘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. + +“‘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.’” + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +“Then we must cross them,” I insisted. + +Perry shrugged. + +“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.” + +“We must cross them,” I reiterated. “We will cross them.” + +I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took some time. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down for breakfast. Each +realized that here was the very thing he sought. + +With a horrid roar the beast charged me. + +At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thousands of feet. + +At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal cañon. + +In front of me was the bear. + +Behind me was Perry. + +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. + +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. + +I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went beneath his ton of +maddened, clawing flesh and bone and sinew. + +I thought my time had come. I remember feeling sorry for poor old +Perry, left all alone in this inhospitable, savage world. + +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. + +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. + +There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, the picture of +abject terror and consternation. + +“Where is he?” he cried when he saw me. “Where is he?” + +“Didn’t he come this way?” I asked. + +“Nothing came this way,” replied the old man. “But I heard his roars—he +must have been as large as an elephant.” + +“He was,” I admitted; “but where in the world do you suppose he +disappeared to?” + +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. + +Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the bottom of the canon. +It was the bear. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a pass across the +range. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Yes, it was a gay life. + +Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each time we returned +to the hut. It became something of an obsession with him. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps we entered a +dense fog. + +We had reached the heights that are so often cloud-wrapped for long +periods. We could see nothing a few paces beyond our noses. + +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. + +Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of our situation. He +flopped down on his knees and began to pray. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was alone. Perry was gone—gone forever, I had not the slightest +doubt. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER III +SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see nothing beyond my +nose. Even the snow and ice I trod were invisible. + +I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. I seemed to be +floating in a sea of vapor. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. Wildly I turned and +clutched at the ground that had slipped from beneath my feet. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +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. + +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. + +It was Perry. + +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. + +“David!” he cried. “David, my boy! God has been good to an old man. He +has answered my prayer.” + +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. + +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. + +We looked about. Below us were green trees and warm jungles. In the +distance was a great sea. + +“The Lural Az,” I said, pointing toward its blue-green surface. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last we had come close to a solution of our problem—the road to +Sari. + +But how to reach the islands was now the foremost question in our +minds. We must build a canoe. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.” + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly we drifted down the +great river toward the sea. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER IV +FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Of course we couldn’t know the intentions of the strangers, but we +could pretty well guess them. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, threw his paddle +aloft, stiffened into rigidity for an instant, and then toppled +overboard. + +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. + +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. + +Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank to the bottom of +the canoe or tumbled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me. + +“Have the scoundrels departed?” he asked. “Have you killed them all?” + +“Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry,” I replied. + +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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Who are you who seek Ja?” he asked. “What would you of our chief?” + +“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. + +“If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring our +great warship closer in.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stood conversing +with our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly from the jungle. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade them +adieu and continued upon our journey. + +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— + +Well, this is how it happened: + +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. + +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. + +I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had slept, +javelined to death without a chance at self-defense. + +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!” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Mahars +gathered. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“The Mahars will spare your life,” he said, “and release you on one +condition.” + +“And what is that condition?” I asked, though I could guess its terms. + +“That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of Phutra +when you killed the four Mahars and escaped,” he replied. + +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. + +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? + +Would they keep their promises? + +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. + +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. + +“Come!” exclaimed the Sagoths. “The mighty Mahars await your reply.” + +“You may say to them,” I answered, “that I shall not tell them where +the great secret is hid.” + +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. + +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. + +Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which now +stared me in the face! + + + + +CHAPTER V +SURPRISES + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Dian!” I cried. “My Heavens, Dian!” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What could it mean? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Who is Tu-al-sa?” I asked. + +“A Mahar whose last male ancestor was—ages ago—the last of the male +rulers among the Mahars,” he replied. + +“Why should she wish to have my life spared?” + +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: + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I said as much to Dian. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“You told me of great canoes which moved across the water without +paddles, and which spat death from holes in their sides. + +“All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. Why should we fear +the Mahars? + +“Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thousands. They will be +helpless before the power of the Emperor of Pellucidar. + +“But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we accomplish? + +“What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to lead them? + +“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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything for +Pellucidar we must be free to do it together. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. With savage shouts +they rushed forward toward the human warriors. + +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. + +What human being could be upon such excellent terms with the +gorilla-men? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +“I sent them no document,” I cried. “Ask them what they mean.” + +“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.” + +“Dian?” I gasped. “The Mahars have given over Dian into the keeping of +Hooja.” + +“Surely,” he replied. “What of it? She is only a gilak,” as you or I +would say, “She is only a cow.” + + + + +CHAPTER VI +A PENDENT WORLD + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Our emperor has come back,” he announced. “Come hither and—” + +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. + +With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I +_would_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in rage. + +“It is always the Sly One!” he cried. “It was Hooja who caused the +first trouble between you and the Beautiful One. + +“It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our recapture +by the Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra. + +“It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when you +started upon your return journey to your own world. + +“It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms one +against another and destroyed the federation. + +“When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. Next +time—” + +Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Who are you?” asked Ghak. “And whence come you?” + +“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. + +“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.” + +“The stories are true,” replied Ghak, “and here is the emperor of whom +you have heard. You need travel no farther.” + +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. + +“And why,” I asked, “does Goork, your father, desire to join his +kingdom to the empire?” + +“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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +“Who could this man be,” I asked Ghak, “who leads so vile a movement +against his own kind?” + +“His name is Hooja,” spoke up Kolk, answering my question. + +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! + +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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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? + +“We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We know nothing +of such things.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Was it inhabited? + +If so, by what manner and form of creature? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. + + + + +CHAPTER VII +FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Now that he was able to get around, I was a little uncertain as to the +wisdom of my impulsive mercy. + +How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling about the narrow +confines of our prison? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was the hyaenodon! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling lips and licked my +hand. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Raja was subdued! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“I am David,” I said, “Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. +Doubtless you have heard of me?” + +He nodded his head affirmatively. + +“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.” + +Again the warrior nodded. “I am Goork,” he said. “Where is the token?” + +“Here,” I replied, and fished into the game-bag where I had placed it. + +Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand searched the inside of +the bag. + +It was empty! + +The token had been stolen with my arms! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII +CAPTIVE + + +When Goork and his people saw that I had no token they commenced to +taunt me. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over upon my back to look up +into the faces of my captors. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“You are an enemy,” was Gr-gr-gr’s initial declaration. “You belong to +the tribe of Hooja.” + +Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! Good! + +“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.” + +“How could you do that alone?” + +“I do not know,” I answered, “but I should have tried had you not +captured me. What do you intend to do with me?” + +“You shall work for us.” + +“You will not kill me?” I asked. + +“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.” + +“If you hate Hooja,” I suggested, “why not let me, who hate him, too, +go and punish him?” + +For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised his head and +addressed my guard. + +“Take him to his work,” he ordered. + +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. + +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. + +They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Wherefore,” he concluded, “we shall slay you as soon as the melons are +cultivated. Hasten, therefore.” + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER IX +HOOJA’S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Did I take advantage of my opportunity? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of rubble +upon the cliff-top. + +“Hurl these down upon the enemy!” I cried to him. “Tell your warriors +to throw rocks down upon them!” + +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. + +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. + +“Those were your people,” he said. “Why did you kill them?” + +“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?” + +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. + +“Gilak,” he said, “you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have killed +you. How can he reward you?” + +“Set me free,” I replied quickly. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“There!” they said, and pointed ahead. “We are to go no farther.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn’t I should die +in the attempt. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER X +THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +He smiled in recollection. + +“It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from Gombul. I +slew them, winning my freedom. Look!” + +He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly healed +scar of the Mahars’ branded mark. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +The speaker pointed toward the northeast. “It is wide and smooth and +slow-running almost to the land of Sari,” he added. + +“And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?” I asked. + +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. + +“She returned to the cave where she had been imprisoned,” he replied, +“and is awaiting me there.” + +“There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?” + +“Hooja is upon the Island of Trees,” he replied. + +“Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?” I asked. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Where are you, woman?” he cried. “Hooja has sent for you.” + +And then a woman’s voice answered him: + +“And what does Hooja want of me?” + +The voice was Dian’s. I groped in the direction of the sounds, feeling +for the hole. + +“He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees,” replied the man; “for +he is ready to take you as his mate.” + +“I will not go,” said Dian. “I will die first.” + +“I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall.” + +I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“You are not Juag!” she exclaimed. “Who are you?” + +I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. + +“It is I, Dian,” I said. “It is David.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And Juag? + +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. + +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. + +The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“And you?” she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff. + +“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. + +“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.” + +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. + +“Dive!” he cried. “Dive!” + +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. + +“Dive!” cried Juag. “It is the only way—there is no time to climb +down.” + + + + +CHAPTER XI +ESCAPE + + +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. + +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. + +“Quick!” I urged Dian. “You cannot dive; but I can hold them until you +reach safety.” + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Stop!” I cried. “Whoever shoots at me or advances toward me I shall +kill as I killed him!” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we expire together. + +“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.” + +She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, to the end of which +was fastened a tiny pouch. + +“What have you there?” I asked. + +“Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing you call viper in +your world?” she asked. + +I nodded. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + + + +CHAPTER XII +KIDNAPED! + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving their quarry! It was +wonderful. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“I thought,” she concluded, “that I should have to use the viper’s +tooth, after all.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +“Boats!” she cried. “Boats! Many, many boats!” + +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. + +And in them must be human beings like ourselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII +RACING FOR LIFE + + +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. + +“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.” + +“And they were blown out to sea by the great storm just as we were,” +suggested Dian. + +“There can be no better explanation of them,” I agreed. + +“What shall we do?” asked Juag. + +“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.” + +“Which they will not,” interposed Juag. + +“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.” + +“They probably want to ask the way to the mainland themselves,” said +Juag, who was nothing if not a pessimist. + +“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.” + +And wait we did. + +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. + +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. + +“Who are you?” shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making a +megaphone of his palms. + +A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe—a figure that I was sure +I recognized even before he spoke. + +“I am Hooja!” cried the man, in answer to Juag. + +For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner and +slave—possibly because he had so many of them. + +“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?” + +He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. + +“We, too, are lost,” replied Juag. “We know not where the land is. We +are going back to look for it now.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Come back!” he shouted. “Come back, or I’ll fire!” + +I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English the +Pellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any deadly +missile. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And while we were suffering all these disappointments Hooja’s fleet +appeared in the distance! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV +GORE AND DREAMS + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 _my_ navy! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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!” + +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. + +“None other than my word,” I replied. “That I do not break.” + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +“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.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“Time!” exclaimed Perry. “Well, how long were you gone from Anoroc +before we picked you up in the Sojar Az?” + +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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +“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.” + +“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. + +“We must give them the best that we have, Perry.” + +“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—” + +“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. + +“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.” + +The old man looked at me in amazement. There was reproach in his eyes, +too. + +“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.” + +I laid my hand on the old man’s shoulder. + +“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— + +“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!” + +“Amen!” said Perry. + +And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my hand. + + + + +CHAPTER XV +CONQUEST AND PEACE + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. + +“Ghak of Sari,” I said. + +Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then turned to me with +a smile. + +“The red, white, and blue of the empire,” he said. “It is indeed your +majesty’s army.” + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so long as I may live. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +“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. + +“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.” + +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— + +But I’ll get to all that before I finish. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When I sailed away from Luana she was included among the kingdoms of +the empire, whose boundaries were thus pushed eastward several hundred +miles. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <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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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d76022 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #605 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/605) diff --git a/old/605.txt b/old/605.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..21c2506 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/605.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6756 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pellucidar + +Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs + +Posting Date: July 26, 2008 [EBook #605] +Release Date: July, 1996 +[Last update: July 8, 2012] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss + + + + + + + + + +PELLUCIDAR + + +By + +Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + PROLOGUE + I LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + II TRAVELING WITH TERROR + III SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + IV FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + V SURPRISES + VI A PENDENT WORLD + VII FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + VIII CAPTIVE + IX HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + X THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + XI ESCAPE + XII KIDNAPED! + XIII RACING FOR LIFE + XIV GORE AND DREAMS + XV CONQUEST AND PEACE + + + + +PROLOGUE + +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. + +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. + +And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead of +my schedule. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Here it is: + +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: + +I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of the earth. I have no +trade--nor any other occupation. + +My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter ancestors lust to +roam. I have combined the two and invested them carefully and without +extravagance. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was an intermittent ticking! + +No reptile or insect with which I am familiar reproduces any such +notes. I lay for an hour--listening intently. + +At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my lamp +and commenced to investigate. + +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. + +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. + +Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From this +receptacle issued the strange sound that I had heard. + +How had it come here? + +What did it contain? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"What in the world," thought I, "is this thing doing here?" + +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. + +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: + +D. I. + +They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so powerless to help! + +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: + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at +the ends of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? + +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. + +And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires? + +What was this instrument--ticking away here in the great Sahara--but a +travesty upon the possible! + +Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with my own eyes? + +And the initials--D. I.--upon the slip of paper! + +David's initials were these--David Innes. + +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-- + +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. + +I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel that I am +making a fool of myself. + +There is no David Innes. + +There is no Dian the Beautiful. + +There is no world within a world. + +Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination--nothing more. + +BUT-- + +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. + +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. + +And now--why am I writing you? + +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. + +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. + +It is maddening. + +It is your fault--I want you to release me from it. + +Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no basis of fact for +your story, At the Earth's Core. + +Very respectfully yours, + +COGDON NESTOR, + ---- and ---- Club, + Algiers. + June 1st, --. + + + +Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor as +follows: + + +Story true. Await me Algiers. + + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and paleontologist, still +live? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending-key. The noise of the +receiver stopped instantly. + +"Ask who it is, Downes," I directed. + +He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman's translation of the +reply, I doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. + +"He says he's David Innes," said Downes. "He wants to know who we are." + +"Tell him," said I; "and that we want to know how he is--and all that +has befallen him since I last saw him." + +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. + + + +CHAPTER I + +LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How strange it looked! How vastly different from the flat and puny area +of the circumscribed vision of the dweller upon the outer crust! + +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! + +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. + +The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled me. Her mighty land +areas breathed unfettered freedom. + +Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders unsullied by the eye +of man, beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. + +Not for an instant did I regret the world of my nativity. I was in +Pellucidar. I was home. And I was content. + +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. + +What thoughts were passing through the convolutions of her reptilian +brain? + +I do not know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What had she thought of the outer world's tiny sun? + +What had been the effect upon her of the moon and myriad stars of the +clear African nights? + +How had she explained them? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitively that she +was escaping--but I did not. + +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. + +At the edge of the sea the creature paused and looked back at me. Then +she slid sinuously into the surf. + +For several minutes I saw no more of her as she luxuriated in the cool +depths. + +Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there for another short +while she floated upon the surface. + +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. + +I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her and she had +disappeared. I was alone. + +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. + +But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari? + +And if I set out to search--what then? + +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? + +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? + +Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with it, what could I +accomplish single-handed? + +Nothing. + +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? + +I didn't know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +It was with almost childish joy that I made a little circle in my +note-book and traced the word Greenwich beside it. + +Now I felt I might start out upon my search with some assurance of +finding my way back again to the prospector. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was ready--ready to go forth and explore a world! + +Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square miles for my friends, +my incomparable mate, and good old Perry! + +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. + +Through dense primeval forests I forced my way and up the slopes of +mighty mountains searching for a pass to their farther sides. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly +months with no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It happened thus: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-arm +testifying to his purpose. + +And then, quite with the suddenness of an unexpected blow, I realized a +past familiarity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. + +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! + +Perry was my best friend. + +Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate--a +part of me. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His spear dropped +from his hand. + +Then he lunged forward upon his face. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRAVELING WITH TERROR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the camp, nor had Perry +seen or heard aught of her since. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The result was the total demolition of the work we had so well started. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +But first I would find my empress. To me she was worth forty empires. + +"Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?" I asked. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that chance threw in +my way. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied from +disuse in his former life, had filled out. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"The Mountains of the Clouds!" + +"They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our worst enemies, the +Mahars," Perry remonstrated. + +"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. + +"They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not wandering far in +the wrong direction. + +"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. + +"At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari." + +"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?" + +"Easily," I answered him, "for Ja gave me minute directions. I recall +almost his exact words: + +"'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. + +"'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.'" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Then we must cross them," I insisted. + +Perry shrugged. + +"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." + +"We must cross them," I reiterated. "We will cross them." + +I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took some time. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down for breakfast. Each +realized that here was the very thing he sought. + +With a horrid roar the beast charged me. + +At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thousands of feet. + +At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal canyon. + +In front of me was the bear. + +Behind me was Perry. + +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. + +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. + +I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went beneath his ton of +maddened, clawing flesh and bone and sinew. + +I thought my time had come. I remember feeling sorry for poor old +Perry, left all alone in this inhospitable, savage world. + +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. + +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. + +There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, the picture of +abject terror and consternation. + +"Where is he?" he cried when he saw me. "Where is he?" + +"Didn't he come this way?" I asked. + +"Nothing came this way," replied the old man. "But I heard his +roars--he must have been as large as an elephant." + +"He was," I admitted; "but where in the world do you suppose he +disappeared to?" + +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. + +Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the bottom of the canon. +It was the bear. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a pass across the +range. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Yes, it was a gay life. + +Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each time we returned +to the hut. It became something of an obsession with him. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps we entered a +dense fog. + +We had reached the heights that are so often cloud-wrapped for long +periods. We could see nothing a few paces beyond our noses. + +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. + +Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of our situation. He +flopped down on his knees and began to pray. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I was alone. Perry was gone--gone forever, I had not the slightest +doubt. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see nothing beyond my +nose. Even the snow and ice I trod were invisible. + +I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. I seemed to be +floating in a sea of vapor. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. Wildly I turned and +clutched at the ground that had slipped from beneath my feet. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +It was Perry. + +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. + +"David!" he cried. "David, my boy! God has been good to an old man. +He has answered my prayer." + +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. + +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. + +We looked about. Below us were green trees and warm jungles. In the +distance was a great sea. + +"The Lural Az," I said, pointing toward its blue-green surface. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last we had come close to a solution of our problem--the road to +Sari. + +But how to reach the islands was now the foremost question in our +minds. We must build a canoe. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly we drifted down +the great river toward the sea. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Of course we couldn't know the intentions of the strangers, but we +could pretty well guess them. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, threw his +paddle aloft, stiffened into rigidity for an instant, and then toppled +overboard. + +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. + +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. + +Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank to the bottom of +the canoe or tumbled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me. + +"Have the scoundrels departed?" he asked. "Have you killed them all?" + +"Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry," I replied. + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you who seek Ja?" he asked. "What would you of our chief?" + +"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. + +"If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring our +great warship closer in." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stood +conversing with our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly from +the jungle. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade them +adieu and continued upon our journey. + +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-- + +Well, this is how it happened: + +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. + +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. + +I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had slept, +javelined to death without a chance at self-defense. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Mahars +gathered. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"The Mahars will spare your life," he said, "and release you on one +condition." + +"And what is that condition?" I asked, though I could guess its terms. + +"That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of Phutra +when you killed the four Mahars and escaped," he replied. + +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. + +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? + +Would they keep their promises? + +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. + +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. + +"Come!" exclaimed the Sagoths. "The mighty Mahars await your reply." + +"You may say to them," I answered, "that I shall not tell them where +the great secret is hid." + +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. + +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. + +Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which now +stared me in the face! + + + +CHAPTER V + +SURPRISES + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Dian!" I cried. "My Heavens, Dian!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What could it mean? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Who is Tu-al-sa?" I asked. + +"A Mahar whose last male ancestor was--ages ago--the last of the male +rulers among the Mahars," he replied. + +"Why should she wish to have my life spared?" + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I said as much to Dian. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"You told me of great canoes which moved across the water without +paddles, and which spat death from holes in their sides. + +"All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. Why should we fear +the Mahars? + +"Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thousands. They will +be helpless before the power of the Emperor of Pellucidar. + +"But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we accomplish? + +"What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to lead them? + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything for +Pellucidar we must be free to do it together. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. With savage shouts +they rushed forward toward the human warriors. + +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. + +What human being could be upon such excellent terms with the +gorilla-men? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"I sent them no document," I cried. "Ask them what they mean." + +"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." + +"Dian?" I gasped. "The Mahars have given over Dian into the keeping of +Hooja." + +"Surely," he replied. "What of it? She is only a gilak," as you or I +would say, "She is only a cow." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A PENDENT WORLD + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Our emperor has come back," he announced. "Come hither and--" + +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. + +With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I WOULD +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. + +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. + +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. + +When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in rage. + +"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who caused the +first trouble between you and the Beautiful One. + +"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our recapture +by the Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra. + +"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when you +started upon your return journey to your own world. + +"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms one +against another and destroyed the federation. + +"When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. Next +time--" + +Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And whence come you?" + +"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. + +"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." + +"The stories are true," replied Ghak, "and here is the emperor of whom +you have heard. You need travel no farther." + +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. + +"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire to join his +kingdom to the empire?" + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads so vile a movement +against his own kind?" + +"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering my question. + +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! + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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? + +"We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We know +nothing of such things." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Was it inhabited? + +If so, by what manner and form of creature? + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Now that he was able to get around, I was a little uncertain as to the +wisdom of my impulsive mercy. + +How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling about the narrow +confines of our prison? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was the hyaenodon! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling lips and licked my +hand. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Raja was subdued! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"I am David," I said, "Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. +Doubtless you have heard of me?" + +He nodded his head affirmatively. + +"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." + +Again the warrior nodded. "I am Goork," he said. "Where is the token?" + +"Here," I replied, and fished into the game-bag where I had placed it. + +Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand searched the inside of +the bag. + +It was empty! + +The token had been stolen with my arms! + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAPTIVE + +When Goork and his people saw that I had no token they commenced to +taunt me. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over upon my back to look +up into the faces of my captors. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are an enemy," was Gr-gr-gr's initial declaration. "You belong to +the tribe of Hooja." + +Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! Good! + +"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." + +"How could you do that alone?" + +"I do not know," I answered, "but I should have tried had you not +captured me. What do you intend to do with me?" + +"You shall work for us." + +"You will not kill me?" I asked. + +"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." + +"If you hate Hooja," I suggested, "why not let me, who hate him, too, +go and punish him?" + +For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised his head and +addressed my guard. + +"Take him to his work," he ordered. + +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. + +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. + +They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Wherefore," he concluded, "we shall slay you as soon as the melons are +cultivated. Hasten, therefore." + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Did I take advantage of my opportunity? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of rubble +upon the cliff-top. + +"Hurl these down upon the enemy!" I cried to him. "Tell your warriors +to throw rocks down upon them!" + +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. + +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. + +"Those were your people," he said. "Why did you kill them?" + +"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?" + +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. + +"Gilak," he said, "you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have +killed you. How can he reward you?" + +"Set me free," I replied quickly. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go no farther." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn't I should die +in the attempt. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +He smiled in recollection. + +"It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from Gombul. +I slew them, winning my freedom. Look!" + +He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly healed +scar of the Mahars' branded mark. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +The speaker pointed toward the northeast. "It is wide and smooth and +slow-running almost to the land of Sari," he added. + +"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked. + +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. + +"She returned to the cave where she had been imprisoned," he replied, +"and is awaiting me there." + +"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?" + +"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied. + +"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?" I asked. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent for you." + +And then a woman's voice answered him: + +"And what does Hooja want of me?" + +The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the sounds, feeling +for the hole. + +"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees," replied the man; "for +he is ready to take you as his mate." + +"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first." + +"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall." + +I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?" + +I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. + +"It is I, Dian," I said. "It is David." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And Juag? + +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. + +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. + +The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!" + +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. + +"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no time to climb +down." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ESCAPE + +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. + +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. + +"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I can hold them until you +reach safety." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Stop!" I cried. "Whoever shoots at me or advances toward me I shall +kill as I killed him!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we expire together. + +"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." + +She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, to the end of which +was fastened a tiny pouch. + +"What have you there?" I asked. + +"Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing you call viper in +your world?" she asked. + +I nodded. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + + +CHAPTER XII + +KIDNAPED! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving their quarry! It +was wonderful. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"I thought," she concluded, "that I should have to use the viper's +tooth, after all." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Boats!" she cried. "Boats! Many, many boats!" + +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. + +And in them must be human beings like ourselves. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RACING FOR LIFE + +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. + +"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." + +"And they were blown out to sea by the great storm just as we were," +suggested Dian. + +"There can be no better explanation of them," I agreed. + +"What shall we do?" asked Juag. + +"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." + +"Which they will not,' interposed Juag. + +"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." + +"They probably want to ask the way to the mainland themselves," said +Juag, who was nothing if not a pessimist. + +"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." + +And wait we did. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making a +megaphone of his palms. + +A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe--a figure that I was +sure I recognized even before he spoke. + +"I am Hooja!" cried the man, in answer to Juag. + +For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner and +slave--possibly because he had so many of them. + +"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?" + +He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. + +"We, too, are lost," replied Juag. "We know not where the land is. We +are going back to look for it now." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Come back!" he shouted. "Come back, or I'll fire!" + +I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English the +Pellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any deadly +missile. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And while we were suffering all these disappointments Hooja's fleet +appeared in the distance! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GORE AND DREAMS + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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 MY navy! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"None other than my word," I replied. "That I do not break." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Time!" exclaimed Perry. "Well, how long were you gone from Anoroc +before we picked you up in the Sojar Az?" + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"We must give them the best that we have, Perry." + +"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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +The old man looked at me in amazement. There was reproach in his eyes, +too. + +"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." + +I laid my hand on the old man's shoulder. + +"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-- + +"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!" + +"Amen!" said Perry. + +And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my hand. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONQUEST AND PEACE + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. + +"Ghak of Sari," I said. + +Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then turned to me with +a smile. + +"The red, white, and blue of the empire," he said. "It is indeed your +majesty's army." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so long as I may live. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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-- + +But I'll get to all that before I finish. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When I sailed away from Luana she was included among the kingdoms of +the empire, whose boundaries were thus pushed eastward several hundred +miles. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 27 33 sate state + 32 11 least last + 38 3 litte little + 39 20 dispress- distress- + 50 20 slides sides + 54 16 enmy enemy + 77 2 it if + 80 24 Sidi Lidi + 96 10 be bet + 101 33 the the and the + 107 15 Hoojas' Hooja's + 117 4 come came + 119 18 remarkably remarkable + 149 25 take takes + 151 6 Juang Juag + 173 29 contined continued +] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Pellucidar, by Edgar Rice Burroughs + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PELLUCIDAR *** + +***** This file should be named 605.txt or 605.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/605/ + +Produced by Judith Boss + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + +PELLUCIDAR + +by Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + PROLOGUE + I LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + II TRAVELING WITH TERROR + III SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + IV FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + V SURPRISES + VI A PENDENT WORLD + VII FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT +VIII CAPTIVE + IX HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + X THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + XI ESCAPE + XII KIDNAPED! +XIII RACING FOR LIFE + XIV GORE AND DREAMS + XV CONQUEST AND PEACE + + + + + +PROLOGUE + +SEVERAL YEARS had elapsed since I had found the op- +portunity 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. + +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 sum- +mer camp could have been filled with greater im- +patience or keener anticipation. + +And then came a letter that started me for Africa +twelve days ahead of my schedule. + +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, es- +pecially 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. + +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. + +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. + +Here it is: + +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: + +I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of +the earth. I have no trade--nor any other occupation. + +My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter +ancestors lust to roam. I have combined the two +and invested them carefully and without extravagance. + +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 fol- +lows. + +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. + +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. + +It was an intermittent ticking! + +No reptile or insect with which I am familiar re- +produces any such notes. I lay for an hour--listening +intently. + +At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, +lighted my lamp and commenced to investigate. + +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. + +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. + +Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. +From this receptacle issued the strange sound that I +had heard. + +How had it come here? + +What did it contain? + +In attempting to lift it from its burying place I dis- +covered that it seemed to be held fast by means of a +very small insulated cable running farther into the sand +beneath it. + +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. + +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. + +"What in the world," thought I, "is this thing doing here?" + +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. + +As I sat gazing at my remarkable find, which was tick- +ing 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: + +D. I. + +They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so power- +less to help! + +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: + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of +the broad Sahara, at the ends of two tiny wires, hidden +beneath a lost cairn? + +The idea seemed preposterous. Experience and in- +telligence 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. + +And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires? + +What was this instrument--ticking away here in +the great Sahara--but a travesty upon the possible! + +Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with +my own eyes? + +And the initials--D. I.--upon the slip of paper! + +David's initials were these--David Innes. + +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-- + +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. + +I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel +that I am making a fool of myself. + +There is no David Innes. + +There is no Dian the Beautiful. + +There is no world within a world. + +Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination--noth- +ing more. + +BUT-- + +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. + +I have called it one of the most remarkable coinci- +dences in modern fiction. I called it literature before, +but--again pardon my candor--your story is not. + +And now--why am I writing you? + +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. + +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. + +It is maddening + +It is your fault--I want you to release me from it. + +Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no +basis of fact for your story, At the Earth's Core. + +Very respectfully yours, + +COGDON NESTOR, + +--and--Club, + +Algiers. + +June 1st,--. + + + +Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled +Mr. Nestor as follows: + + +Story true. Await me Algiers. + + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and pale- +ontologist, still live? + +Had the federated tribes of Pellucidar succeeded in +overthrowing the mighty Mahars, the dominant race +of reptilian monsters, and their fierce, gorilla-like sol- +diery, the savage Sagoths? + +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. + +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 lack- +ing in adventure--he found that a man may be a +writer of "impossible trash" and yet have some redeem- +ing qualities. + +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. + +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. + +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 instru- +ment, it might still be clicking there unheard--and +this story still unwritten. + +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 be- +gun 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. + +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. + +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. + +Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending- +key. The noise of the receiver stopped instantly. + +"Ask who it is, Downes," I directed. + +He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman's +translation of the reply, I doubt if either Nestor or I +breathed. + +"He says he's David Innes," said Downes. "He wants +to know who we are." + +"Tell him," said I; "and that we want to know how +he is--and all that has befallen him since I last saw +him." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + +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 exceed- +ingly 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 min- +utes' 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How strange it looked! How vastly different from +the flat and puny area of the circumscribed vision of +the dweller upon the outer crust! + +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! + +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. + +The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled +me. Her mighty land areas breathed unfettered free- +dom. + +Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders +unsullied by the eye of man, beckoned me out upon +their restless bosoms. + +Not for an instant did I regret the world of my +nativity. I was in Pellucidar. I was home. And I was +content. + +As I stood dreaming beside the giant thing that had +brought me safely through the earth's crust, my travel- +ing companion, the hideous Mahar, emerged from the +interior of the prospector and stood beside me. For +a long time she remained motionless. + +What thoughts were passing through the convolutions +of her reptilian brain? + +I do not know. + +She was a member of the dominant race of Pel- +lucidar. By a strange freak of evolution her kind had +first developed the power of reason in that world of +anomalies. + +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 pos- +sessed means of intelligent communication or the power +of reason. + +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. + +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 Pel- +lucidar. + +What had she thought of the outer world's tiny sun? + +What had been the effect upon her of the moon and +myriad stars of the clear African nights? + +How had she explained them? + +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. + +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. + +Too, she bad 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 trans- +portation to Pellucidar. + +She had seen all these evidences of a civilization +and brain-power transcending in scientific achieve- +ment anything that her race had produced; nor once +had she seen a creature of her own kind. + +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. + +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 auto- +matics that had been perfected since my first departure +from the outer world--and in my hand was a heavy +express rifle. + +I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew +intuitively that she was escaping--but I did not. + +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. + +At the edge of the sea the creature paused and +looked back at me. Then she slid sinuously into the surf. + +For several minutes I saw no more of her as she +luxuriated in the cool depths. + +Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there +for another short while she floated upon the surface. + +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. + +I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her +and she had disappeared. I was alone. + +My first concern was to discover where within Pel- +lucidar I might be--and in what direction lay the land +of the Sarians where Ghak the Hairy One ruled. + +But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari? + +And if I set out to search--what then? + +Could I find my way back to the prospector with its +priceless freight of books, firearms, ammunition, scien- +tific instruments, and still more books--its great library +of reference works upon every conceivable branch of ap- +plied sciences? + +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? + +Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with +it, what could I accomplish single-handed? + +Nothing. + +But where there was no east, no west, no north, +no south, no stars, no moon, and only a stationary mid- +day sun, how was I to find my way back to this spot +should ever I get out of sight of it? + +I didn't know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +It was with almost childish joy that I made a little +circle in my note-book and traced the word Greenwich +beside it. + +Now I felt I might start out upon my search with +some assurance of finding my way back again to the +prospector. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I also strapped a considerable quantity of ammuni- +tion across my shoulders, pocketed some matches, and +hooked an aluminum fry-pan and a small stew-kettle of +the same metal to my belt. + +I was ready--ready to go forth and explore a world! + +Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square +miles for my friends, my incomparable mate, and good +old Perry! + +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 graz- +ing herds. + +Through dense primeval forests I forced my way +and up the slopes of mighty mountains searching for +a pass to their farther sides. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I ate many times, however, so that days must have +elapsed, possibly months with no familiar landscape +rewarding my eager eyes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It happened thus: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back- +thrown spear-arm testifying to his purpose. + +And then, quite with the suddenness of an unex- +pected blow, I realized a past familiarity with the gait +and carriage of the fugitive. + +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! + +Perry was my best friend. + +Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. +She was my mate--a part of me. + +I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand and +the revolvers at my belt; one does not readily syn- +chronize his thoughts with the stone age and the +twentieth century simultaneously. + +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. + +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. + +At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His +spear dropped from his hand. + +Then he lunged forward upon his face. + +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. + +At the same time I stepped from behind my boul- +der, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRAVELING WITH TERROR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the +camp, nor had Perry seen or heard aught of her since. + +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. + +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 treacher- +ously deceived and deserted them. + +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. + +The result was the total demolition of the work we +had so well started. + +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. + +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. + +"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 Pel- +lucidar." + +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. + +But first I would find my empress. To me she was +worth forty empires. + +"Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?" +I asked. + +"None whatever," replied Perry. "It was in search of +her that I came to the pretty pass in which you dis- +covered me, and from which, David, you saved me. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be fair and just, but +so great were his grief and anger over the disap- +pearance 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that +chance threw in my way. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ad- +ventures and into such a strange and hitherto un- +dreamed-of-world. + +Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost +atrophied from disuse in his former life, had filled out. + +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 Pel- +lucidar had worked wonders for him. + +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 primi- +tive life of the inner world. + +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. + +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. + +I shall not weary you with a repetition of the count- +less adventures of our long search. Encounters with +wild beasts of gigantic size were of almost daily occur- +rence; but with our deadly express rifles we ran com- +paratively 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. + +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 direc- +tions 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. + +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, point- +ing toward the horizonless distance, shouted: + +"The Mountains of the Clouds!" + +"They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our +worst enemies, the Mahars," Perry remonstrated. + +"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. + +"They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not +wandering far in the wrong direction. + +"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. + +"At least he can direct us upon the right direction +toward Sari." + +"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?" + +"Easily," I answered him, "for Ja gave me minute di- +rections. I recall almost his exact words: + +"'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. + +"'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.'" + +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. + +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. + +"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 re- +quire a year or more. The land we seek must lie upon +the opposite side of the mountains." + +"Then we must cross them," I insisted. + +Perry shrugged. + +"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." + +"We must cross them," I reiterated. "We will cross +them." + +I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took +some time. + +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. + +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. + +We came upon him quite unexpectedly. I was trudg- +ing in advance along a rocky trail worn smooth by the +padded feet of countless ages of wild beasts. At a shoul- +der of the mountain around which the path ran I came +face to face with the Titan. + +I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down +for breakfast. Each realized that here was the very thing +he sought. + +With a horrid roar the beast charged me. + +At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thou- +sands of feet. + +At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal canon. + +In front of me was the bear. + +Behind me was Perry. + +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. + +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. + +I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went +beneath his ton of maddened, clawing flesh and bone +and sinew. + +I thought my time had come. I remember feeling +sorry for poor old Perry, left all alone in this inhos- +pitable, savage world. + +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. + +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 pro- +jecting rock several feet above the trail. My cry of warn- +ing had given him time to reach this point of safety. + +There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, +the picture of abject terror and consternation. + +"Where is he?" he cried when he saw me. "Where is +he?" + +"Didn't he come this way?" I asked, + +"Nothing came this way," replied the old man. "But I +heard his roars--he must have been as large as an +elephant." + +"He was," I admitted; "but where in the world do you +suppose he disappeared to?" + +Then came a possible explanation to my mind. I re- +turned to the point at which the bear had hurled me +down and peered over the edge of the cliff into the +abyss below. + +Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the +bottom of the canon. It was the bear. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 di- +minutive fireplace. + +With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a +pass across the range. + +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. + +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 be- +longings to a new hut farther up. + +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. + +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 as- +sailed 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Yes, it was a gay life. + +Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each +time we returned to the hut. It became something of an +obsession with him. + +He'd count our cartridges one by one and then try to +figure how long it would be before the last was ex- +pended 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps +we entered a dense fog, + +We had reached the heights that are so often cloud- +wrapped for long periods. We could see nothing a few +paces beyond our noses. + +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. + +Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of +our situation. He flopped down on his knees and began +to pray. + +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. + +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. + +It brought Perry to his feet as if he had been stung by +a wasp, and sent him racing ahead through the blind- +ing fog at a gait that I knew must soon end in disaster +were it not checked. + +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. + +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 di- +rection he had gone, faster by far than safety dictated. + +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. + +I was alone. Perry was gone--gone forever, I had not +the slightest doubt. + +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 he 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. + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + +Through the fog I felt my way along by means of my +compass. I no longer heard the bears, nor did I encoun- +ter one within the fog. + +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. + +I felt very sad and lonely as I crawled along the diffi- +cult footing. My own predicament weighed less heavily +upon me than the loss of Perry, for I loved the old +fellow. + +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. + +Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of the cold, +damp clouds through which I wandered was distress- +ing. Hope thrives best in sunlight, and I am sure that it +does not thrive at all in a fog. + +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. + +As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see +nothing beyond my nose. Even the snow and ice I trod +were invisible. + +I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. +I seemed to be floating in a sea of vapor. + +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. + +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. + +Once more the ground was level. From the wind that +blew about me I guessed that I must be upon some ex- +posed peak of ridge. + +And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. +Wildly I turned and clutched at the ground that had +slipped from beneath my feet. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +It was Perry. + +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. + +"David!" be cried. "David, my boy! God has been +good to an old man. He has answered my prayer." + +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. + +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. + +We looked about. Below us were green trees and +warm jungles. In the distance was a great sea. + +"The Lural Az," I said, pointing toward its blue-green +surface. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 com- +fort. It reminded me of an early June day in the Maine +Woods. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within +Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 di- +rection of the great sea we had seen from the snowy +slopes of the mountains. + +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 described three islands. The one to +the left must be Anoroc. + +At last we had come close to a solution of our problem +--the road to Sari. + +But how to reach the islands was now the foremost +question in our minds. We must build a canoe. + +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. + +He set out to make gunpowder once, shortly after our +escape from Phutra and at the beginning of the con- +federation 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. + +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. + +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 glow- +ing ember to a minute particle of the deadly explosive. +It extinguished the ember. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +I pointed out to Perry that it wasn't much more in- +congruous for the emperor to cruise in a canoe, than it +was for the prime minister to attempt to build one with +his own hands. + +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." + +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. + +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 na- +tions. Their chiefs we had made kings; their tribal lands +kingdoms. + +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 read- +ing of the campaigns of Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, +and the ancients. + +We had marked out as best we could natural bounda- +ries 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. + +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. + +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. + +Slowly the imperial navy progressed toward com- +pletion. 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. + +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. + +He was immensely serious about his work, and I must +admit that in so far as appearances went he did ex- +tremely 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 awk- +ward manner of sweeping down upon the foe, even if +we could find or wield poles that would reach to the +bottom of the ocean. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 launch- +ing the hull only should have been completed, every- +thing else being completed after she had floated safely. + +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. + +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. + +The launching of the Sari proved easier than I con- +templated. Perry wanted me to get in and break some- +thing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +While we waited we devoted the time to the con- +struction 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. + +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. + +At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly +we drifted down the great river toward the sea. + +About us swarmed the mighty denizens of the prim- +eval 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + +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. + +Sailing with the wind she did her best; but in quarter- +ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Of course we couldn't know the intentions of the +strangers, but we could pretty well guess them. + +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. + +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. + +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 appear- +ance and dimensions of our craft, but as these fellows +know no fear they were not at all awed. + +Seeing that they were determined to give battle, I +leaned over the rail of the Sari and brought the im- +perial 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. + +The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, +threw his paddle aloft, stiffened into rigidity for an +instant, and then toppled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank +to the bottom of the canoe or tumbled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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 be intends over- +coming the Mahars and the Sagoths and any other +peoples of Pellucidar who threaten the peace and wel- +fare of his empire." + +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 con- +testing 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. + +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. + +Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch +and hailed me. + +"Have the scoundrels departed?" he asked. "Have you +killed them all?" + +"Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry," I +replied. + +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 wan- +dered to the retreating boats. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 cheer- +fully for me--yes, I KNOW it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 appear- +ance 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. + +"Who are you who seek Ja?" he asked. "What would +you of our chief?" + +"We are friends," I replied. "I am David. Tell Ja that +David, whose life be once saved from a sithic, has come +again to visit him. + +"If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We +cannot bring our great warship closer in." + +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. + +They were magnificent specimens of manhood. Perry +had never seen a member of this red race close to be- +fore. 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. + +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. + +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 chief- +tain that if any of them should ever come upon me to +show me every kindness and attention. + +Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While +we stood conversing with our bronze friends a tall +warrior leaped suddenly from the jungle. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 lead- +ing 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. + +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 ap- +peared that there was any truth in the rumors that one +of the aims of the federation was the overthrow of the +Mahars. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +His additions to the map convinced us that Green- +wich 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 ap- +proach through Phutra, which lay almost directly in line +between Anoroc and Greenwich to the northwest. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +As we had arms at the prospector and also books on +boat-building we thought that it might prove an ex- +cellent 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. + +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. + +I was to proceed to Sari, and while prosecuting my +search for Dian attempt at the same time the rehabili- +tation 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. + +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 sud- +denly confronted by a considerable band of Sagoths. + +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 sus- +picion. 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 em- +ploy in conversing with the gorilla-like soldiery of the +Mahars. + +I noticed, and not without misgivings, that the leader +of the Sagoths eyed me with an expression that be- +tokened 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. + +It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful +when we bade them adieu and continued upon our +journey. + +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-- + +Well, this is how it happened: + +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. + +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. + +I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead +where they had slept, javelined to death without a +chance at self-defense. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Arrived at the underground city, I was taken im- +mediately 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. + +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. + +Here we were ushered into a great hall where +presently many Mahars gathered. + +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 pro- +jection of a sixth sense into a fourth dimension, where it +becomes cognizable to the sixth sense of their audience. + +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. + +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. + +"The Mahars will spare your life," he said, "and re- +lease you on one condition." + +"And what is that condition?" I asked, though I could +guess its terms. + +"That you return to them that which you stole from +the pits of Phutra when you killed the four Mahars and +escaped," he replied. + +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. + +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? + +Would they keep their promises? + +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. + +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. + +"Come!" exclaimed the Sagoths. "The mighty Mahars +await your reply." + +"You may say to them," I answered, "that I shall not +tell them where the great secret is hid." + +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. + +They took me to the pits, where I lay carefully +guarded. I was sure that I was to be taken to the vivi- +section 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. + +Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless +doom, which now stared me in the face! + + + +CHAPTER V + +SURPRISES + +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. + +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 be- +fore 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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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 re- +volvers. My captors had not taken them from me, be- +cause 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 per- +mitted weapons of defense, they let me keep them. + +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. + +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. + +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 ac- +complish 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. + +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 accus- +tomed 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Dian!" I cried. "My Heavens, Dian!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What could it mean? + +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. + +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. + +Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He explained +that our lives bad 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. + +"Who is Tu-al-sa?" I asked. + +"A Mahar whose last male ancestor was--ages ago-- +the last of the male rulers among the Mahars," he +replied. + +"Why should she wish to have my life spared?" + +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: + +"For a long time you had Tu-al-sa in your power," he +explained. "You might easily have killed her or aban- +doned 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." + +Now I understood. The Mahar who had been my in- +voluntary 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 de- +voted 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. + +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. + +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 grati- +tude are certain hallmarks of rationality and culture. + +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. + +To my question, put through the Sagoth interpreter, I +received the reply that having spared my life they con- +sidered 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. + +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. + +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. + +Without the great secret this maleless race must even- +tually 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. + +I said as much to Dian. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"You told me of great canoes which moved across the +water without paddles, and which spat death from holes +in their sides. + +"All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. +Why should we fear the Mahars? + +"Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thou- +sands. They will be helpless before the power of the +Emperor of Pellucidar. + +"But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we +accomplish? + +"What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to +lead them? + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +It was true that Perry might do much with the con- +tents of the prospector, or iron mole, in which I had +brought down the implements of outer-world civiliza- +tion; 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. + +Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going +to do anything for Pellucidar we must be free to do it +together. + +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 acci- +dent, and which I might and might not find again. + +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 bad captured me and slain my +Mezop companions. + +On the way I added materially to my map, an occu- +pation which did not elicit from the Sagoths even a +shadow of interest. I felt that the human race of Pelluci- +dar 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. +With savage shouts they rushed forward toward the +human warriors. + +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. + +What human being could be upon such excellent +terms with the gorilla-men? + +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 dis- +tance was too great for me to recognize the features of +any of the human beings. + +Finally the parley was concluded and the men con- +tinued 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 Sa- +goths didn't tell me who it was they had met, and I +did not ask, though I must confess that I was quite +curious. + +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. + +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 docu- +ment--the manuscript was gone! + +Frantically I searched the whole interior of the cave +several times over, but without other result than a com- +plete confirmation of my worst fears. Someone had been +here ahead of me and stolen the great secret. + +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. + +With bowed head and broken hopes I came out of the +cave and told the Sagoth chieftain what I had dis- +covered. 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 dis- +covered it. + +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. + +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 chief- +tain, 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. + +Presently I could see that she who presided was com- +municating 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 inter- +rupted by the interpreter. + +"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." + +"I sent them no document," I cried. "Ask them what +they mean." + +"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." + +"Dian?" I gasped. "The Mahars have given over Dian +into the keeping of Hooja." + +"Surely," he replied. "What of it? She is only a gilak," +as you or I would say, "She is only a cow." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A PENDENT WORLD + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was a critical moment. Before I should be recog- +nized 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. + +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. + +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, halt- +ing before me. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Our emperor has come back," he announced. "Come +hither and--" + +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. + +With such as these I could conquer a world. With +such as these I WOULD 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 eman- +cipate the human race of Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he +stamped his foot in rage. + +"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who +caused the first trouble between you and the Beautiful +One. + +"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but +caused our recapture by the Sagoths that time we +escaped from Phutra. + +"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a +Mahar for Dian when you started upon your return +journey to your own world. + +"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had +turned the kingdoms one against another and de- +stroyed the federation. + +"When we had him in our power we were foolish to +let him live. Next time--" + +Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. + +"He has become a very powerful enemy now," I re- +plied. "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." + +With Ghak and his head men I held a number of +consultations. The upshot of them was a decision to com- +bine 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 where- +abouts of Hooja and Dian, while prosecuting their +missions to the chieftains to whom they were sent. + +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. + +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. + +It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the de- +parture 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And whence come you?" + +"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. + +"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." + +"The stories are true," replied Ghak, "and here is the +emperor of whom you have heard. You need travel no +farther." + +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. + +"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire +to join his kingdom to the empire?" + +"There are two reasons," replied the young man. "For- +ever 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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads +so vile a movement against his own kind?" + +"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering my +question. + +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 tan- +gible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja--and with the +clue a guide! + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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? + +"We are not island people. We do not go upon the +water. We know nothing of such things." + +I couldn't persuade him to do more than direct me +upon the way. I showed him my map, which now in- +cluded 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. + +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 situ- +ated the Mahar city which took such heavy toll of the +Thurians. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 possi- +bility of my detention through some cause or other. + +Kolk gave me a sign to his father--a lidi, or beast of +burden, crudely scratched upon a bit of bone, and be- +neath 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. + +The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the man +and the flower in the combination in which they ap- +peared 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. + +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. + +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 gi- +gantic mountainpeak, was plainly visible from Sari, +though a good hundred miles away. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 be- +neath 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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +Above me hung another world. I could see its moun- +tains 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. + +Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. +The questions which the sight of this planet, so tanta- +lizingly close, raised in my mind were numerous and +unanswerable. + +Was it inhabited? + +If so, by what manner and form of creature? + +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? + +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 ex- +posed 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. + +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 em- +pire 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. + +But then was not the time for dreaming; I must de- +vote my mind to the purpose of my journey. So I +hastened onward beneath the great shadow. As I ad- +vanced I could not but note the changing nature of the +vegetation and the paling of its hues. + +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. + +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. + +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 con- +siderable detour. As the crow flies it is about twenty +miles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, but be- +fore 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. + +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. + +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. + +And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + +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 hide- +ous 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 where I +stood. + +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 in- +jured, for by now he was making practically no head- +way. Indeed, it was with quite apparent difficulty that +he kept his nose above the surface of the sea. + +He was not more than fifty yards from shore when he +went under. I watched the spot where he had disap- +peared, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When he is well, I thought, he probably will turn upon +me and attempt to devour me, and against that even- +tuality 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 else- +where about us rose unscalable cliffs. + +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 count- +less numbers among the rubble of the beach. + +For food we subsisted upon shellfish and an occa- +sional 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. + +It was not long before the hyaenodon's leg was suffi- +ciently mended to permit him to rise and hobble about +on three legs. I shall never forget with what intent in- +terest 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. + +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. + +Now that he was able to get around, I was a little un- +certain as to the wisdom of my impulsive mercy. + +How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling +about the narrow confines of our prison? + +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. + +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 sentimen- +talists. 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. + +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 per- +petual 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. + +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. + +I am no weakling--and never have been. My experi- +ence 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 desper- +ately as if death loomed immediate and sure. + +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. + +It was the hyaenodon! + +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 giv- +ing 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. + +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. + +The beast bad been handicapped but little by his +splinted leg; but having eaten he lay down and com- +menced to gnaw at the bandage. I was sitting some little +distance away devouring shellfish, of which, by the way, +I was becoming exceedingly tired. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Man here had not yet reached the point where he +might take the time from slaughter and escaping slaugh- +ter 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 gro- +tesque 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. + +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. + +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 roam- +ing property. However, I lean rather more strongly to +the theory of accident. + +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 natu- +ral 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 over- +turning the canoe, I managed to drag him aboard, +where he shook himself vigorously and squatted down +before me. + +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 some- +where 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 bellig- +erent. + +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. + +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! + +The more I thought upon the matter the greater be- +came 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. + +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. + +"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." + +Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling +lips and licked my hand. + +"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." + +Raja whined. And so we walked on together toward +Thuria--I talking to the beast at my side, and he seem- +ing 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. + +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 yel- +low green eyes were fastened upon the scrubby jungle +at our right. + +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. + +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. + +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 in- +stead he winced and crouched down. + +Raja was subdued! + +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. + +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 con- +struction. There was no gate. Ladders that could be re- +moved by night led over the palisade. + +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 bur- +den 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. + +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. + +As we came in sight of the warriors the men set up a +great jabbering. Their eyes were wide in astonishment +--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. + +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. + +In the foreground I saw the youth who had discov- +ered us, and I could tell from the way he carried him- +self 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. + +A little in advance of the others was a bearded fel- +low 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. + +"I am David," I said, "Emperor of the Federated +Kingdoms of Pellucidar. Doubtless you have heard of +me?" + +He nodded his head affirmatively. + +"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." + +Again the warrior nodded. "I am Goork," he said. +"Where is the token?" + +"Here," I replied, and fished into the game-bag +where I had placed it. + +Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand +searched the inside of the bag. + +It was empty! + +The token had been stolen with my arms! + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAPTIVE + +When Goork and his people saw that I had no token +they commenced to taunt me. + +"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." + +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 is- +land clan. Further, they said that no good man went in +company with a jalok--and that by this line of reason- +ing I certainly was a bad man. + +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. + +I think Raja sensed their antagonism, for he kept tug- +ging 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. + +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 is- +land 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. + +At last I turned away from them--rather disheart- +ened, 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. + +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. + +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 crash- +ing through the brush. Then all was silent. + +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. + +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 +be did not, so I shoved the awkward craft through the +surf and leaped into it. + +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. + +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. + +The trip across the water to the island was unevent- +ful. 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 dis- +piriting to me than absence of sunshine. + +I had paddled to the southwestern point, which +Goork said he believed to be the least frequented por- +tion 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 man- +aged, after a good wetting, to beach my canoe and +scale the cliffs. + +The country beyond them appeared more open and +park-like than I had anticipated, since from the main- +land 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. + +As I let my eyes roam over the scene I suddenly be- +came 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. + +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. + +I had covered quite a little distance, and I was pass- +ing 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. + +To you it may seem that my conviction was the re- +sult 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 sub- +jective 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 cal- +loused you will presently commence to glance furtively +about and be filled with vague, unreasoning terror. + +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. + +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 be- +hind my back, bound them securely. + +Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over +upon my back to look up into the faces of my captors. + +And what faces! Imagine if you can a cross between +a sheep and a gorilla, and you will have some concep- +tion 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Immediately from all about, out of burrows and +rough, rocky lairs, poured a perfect torrent of beasts +similar to my captors. They clustered about, jabber- +ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 over-strongly +upon his credulity to be convinced that Gr-gr-gr and his +tribe were also freaks. + +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 re- +garded me intently through his lone sheep-eye while +one of my captors told of my taking. + +When all had been related Gr-gr-gr questioned me. I +shall not attempt to quote these people in their own ab- +breviated tongue--you would have even greater diffi- +culty 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. + +"You are an enemy," was Gr-gr-gr's initial declaration. +"You belong to the tribe of Hooja." + +Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! +Good! + +"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." + +"How could you do that alone?" + +"I do not know," I answered, "but I should have tried +had you not captured me. What do you intend to do +with me?" + +"You shall work for us." + +"You will not kill me?" I asked. + +"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." + +"If you hate Hooja," I suggested, "why not let me, +who hate him, too, go and punish him?" + +For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised +his head and addressed my guard. + +"Take him to his work," he ordered. + +His tone was final. As if to emphasize it he turned +and entered his burrow. My guard conducted me far- +ther into the mesa, where we came presently to a tiny +depression or valley, at one end of which gushed a +warm spring. + +The view that opened before me was the most sur- +prising 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 en- +gaged in the first agriculture that I had seen within +Pellucidar. + +They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. + +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. + +The creatures that worked about me were quite sim- +ple 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 carniv- +ora of the island, until my kind had come under a crea- +ture called Hooja, and attacked and killed them when +they chanced to descend from their natural fortresses +to visit their fellows upon other lofty mesas. + +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 al- +lowed 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. + +Gr-gr-gr's son seemed much impressed by my sug- +gestion. He said that when he was through in the +fields he would speak to his father about the matter. + +Some time after this Gr-gr-gr came through the fields +where we were, and his son spoke to him upon the sub- +ject, 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 peo- +ple. + +"Wherefore," he concluded, "we shall slay you as soon +as the melons are cultivated. Hasten, therefore." + +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. + +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 Pellucidar- +ians--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. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently a male came racing toward the field, shout- +ing 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. + +The other workers also ran forward to meet the mes- +senger, who quickly unburdened himself of his informa- +tion, 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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Did I take advantage of my opportunity? + +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. + +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 clus- +tered into a single group under the protection of the re- +maining twenty fighting males and all the old males. + +But it was the work of the first two lines that in- +terested me. The forces of Hooja--a great horde of +savage Sagoths and primeval cave men--were work- +ing 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. + +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. + +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 be would be dragged, fighting and yell- +ing, 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. + +Those who were hauled up within reach of the power- +ful 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. + +But the arrows of the invaders were taking a much +heavier toll than the nooses of the defenders and I fore- +saw 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. + +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, crush- +ing 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 here- +after. + +Gr-gr-gr turned toward me in surprise. For an in- +stant 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 destruc- +tion. 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. + +Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to +the litter of rubble upon the cliff-top. + +"Hurl these down upon the enemy!" I cried to him. +"Tell your warriors to throw rocks down upon them!" + +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. + +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. + +"Those were your people," he said. "Why did you kill +them?" + +"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?" + +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. + +"Gilak," he said, "you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. +He would have killed you. How can he reward you?" + +"Set me free," I replied quickly. + +"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." + +Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all over again +to Gr-gr-gr the nature of my mission. He listened atten- +tively; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I had to wait until the processes of digestion had re- +leased 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 bur- +ial beneath the floors of their lairs to grace the banquet- +board. + +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. + +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. + +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 for- +midable 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. + +We made our way steadily down the rim of the beau- +tiful river which flows the length of the island, coming +at last to a wood rather denser than any that I had be- +fore encountered in this country. Well within this forest +my escort halted. + +"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go +no farther." + +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. + +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 sev- +eral 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 war- +riors with them--a guard, I presume. + +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. + +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 +re-enter the cliff through another aperture. + +What a cave it must be, I thought, that houses an en- +tire 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 un- +watched spot where I might have some slight chance of +scaling the heights and reaching the top unseen. + +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. + +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. + +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 my- +self down behind a large boulder where I could watch +the dugout and its occupants without myself being seen. + +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 perpen- +dicular rock-face appeared to offer only death to any one +who might venture within their relentless clutch. + +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, al- +though I risked discovery from above to accomplish my +design. + +When I had reached a point where I could again +see the dugout, I was just in time to see it glide un- +harmed between two needle-pointed sentinels of granite +and float quietly upon the unruffled bosom of a tiny +cove. + +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. + +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 per- +formed. Upwardly they moved without a pause, to dis- +appear at last over the summit. + +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. + +If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn't +I should die in the attempt. + +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. + +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. + +I drew myself to level ground and stood erect. A few +trees grew among the boulders. Very carefully I ad- +vanced 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. + +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. + +Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile across that +mesa without seeing a sign of anyone, when all of a sud- +den, as I crept around the edge of a boulder, I ran +plump into a man, down on all fours like myself, crawl- +ing toward me. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + +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. + +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. + +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 writ- +ten on his countenance. At last, all of a sudden, a look +of recognition entered his eyes. + +"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." + +He smiled in recollection. + +"It would have been the same had there been ten +warriors from Gombul. I slew them, winning my free- +dom. Look!" + +He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting +the newly healed scar of the Mahars' branded mark. + +"Then," he continued, "as I was returning to my peo- +ple 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talk- +ing 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 hav- +ing 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." + +The speaker pointed toward the northeast. +"It is wide and smooth and slow-running almost to the +land of Sari," he added. + +"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked. + +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. + +"She returned to the cave where she had been im- +prisoned," he replied, "and is awaiting me there." + +"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you +are away?" + +"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied. + +"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it +alone?" I asked. + +He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fash- +ion 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. + +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. + +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 trick- +ery 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. + +Then we parted--he to take up his position where he +could watch the boat and await Dian, I to crawl cau- +tiously on toward the caves. I had no difficulty in fol- +lowing 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. + +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. + +The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the +extreme end of the cliff nearest me. By taking advan- +tage 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 ex- +cited 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 in- +stant when every head was turned away from me, I +darted, rabbitlike, into the cave. + +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 increas- +ing darkness as one passed into each succeeding cham- +ber. + +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. + +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. + +"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent +for you." + +And then a woman's voice answered him: + +"And what does Hooja want of me?" + +The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the +sounds, feeling for the hole. + +"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees," +replied the man; "for he is ready to take you as his +mate." + +"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first." + +"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall." + +I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. + +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. + +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. + +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 un- +dignified 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?" + +I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. + +"It is I, Dian," I said. "It is David." + +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. + +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 mo- +ment, 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. + +As we went Dian told me that her captors had in- +formed 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 re- +turned, or at least she had not heard of their return. + +'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. + +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 our- +selves too much to the enemy, we hastened forward +that we might reach Juag as quickly as they. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 hack- +ing and hewing away at the poor slave with a villainous- +looking knife that might have been designed for butch- +ering 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 de- +liberately hurl himself to death over the precipice or +be pushed over by his foeman. + +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, beat- +ing at him furiously with the heavy knife. + +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. + +And Juag? + +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. + +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. + +The fellow had dived that incredible distance and +come up unharmed! + +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. + +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 begin- +nings of liberty, and a horde of savage enemies ad- +vancing at a rapid run. + +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. + +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 ca- +pacities to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties +of the outer crust. + +"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of +the cliff. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!" + +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. + +"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no +time to climb down." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ESCAPE + +Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribe +were hill people--they were not accustomed to swim- +ming other than in quiet rivers and placid lakelets. +It was not the steep that appalled her. It was the +ocean--vast, mysterious, terrible. + +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. + +"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I can +hold them until you reach safety." + +"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." + +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 mo- +ment 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Stop!" I cried. "Whoever shoots at me or advances +toward me I shall kill as I killed him!" + +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. + +At last the majority appeared to prevail, for simul- +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 bad rushed to the brink and hurled +their weapons after me. By a miracle I was untouched. + +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 sur- +face, 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 bead popped above the waves, +and I filled my lungs with air. + +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 under- +stood. 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. + +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 as- +sistance. 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 compara- +tively safe from the missiles. + +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 con- +tinue our journey to the mainland. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ex- +istence. 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. + +I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we +expire together. + +"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." + +She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, +to the end of which was fastened a tiny pouch. + +"What have you there?" I asked. + +"Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing +you call viper in your world?" she asked. + +I nodded. + +"The accident gave you the idea for the poisoned +arrows with which we fitted the warriors of the em- +pire," 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 dan- +gers, 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." + +So we did not die together, and I am glad now +that we did not. It is always a foolish thing to con- +template 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your friends," he +said. "One saw the warriors of the Sly One and fol- +lowed 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." + +I thanked him; and when I had told him of our +escape and our destination, he insisted on accom- +panying 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. + +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 rectify- +ing our deficiencies. + +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. + +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. + +We hunted near the coast for a while, but were pot +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, smooth- +ing 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. + +The farther inland we went the darker it became, +until we were moving at last through an endless twi- +light. 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. + +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. + +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 in- +habitants preyed upon the Thurians. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +Crashing down toward us came the bull thag, bel- +lowing 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. + +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. + +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 run- +ning 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. + +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 in- +stant 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. + +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 simulta- +neously, our javelins pierced his wild heart, stilling +it forever. + +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? + + + +CHAPTER XII + +KIDNAPED! + +I searched about the spot carefully. At last I was re- +warded 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 overlap- +ping 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. + +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 some- +thing was wrong in this quarter as well, for the islander +was standing upon the carcass of the thag, his javelin +poised for a throw. + +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 question- +ing. + +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. + +Juag again turned toward me, but this time in sur- +prise. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ap- +peared 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. + +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 direc- +tion of the Thurian village. I could have guessed as +much! + +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. + +We must have covered considerable distance at a +very rapid pace, for we had re-entered 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. + +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. + +They did not give tongue until the lidi itself dis- +covered 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. + +The lidi, with the hounds running close on either +side, had almost disappeared in the darkness that en- +veloped 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 shoul- +der. The man on the lidi's back was prodding at the +hyaenodon with his long spear, but still Raja kept +springing up and snapping. + +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 work- +ing together with some end in view, for the she-dog +merely galloped steadily at the lidi's right about op- +posite his rump. + +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 attempt- +ing. + +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. + +And this is just what happened. The lot of them +were almost, swallowed up in the twilight for a mo- +ment. 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. + +Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving +their quarry! It was wonderful. + +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 de- +pended upon my meeting that hurtling mass of terrified +flesh with a well-placed javelin. So I stood there, wait- +ing to be run down and crushed by those gigantic +feet, but determined to drive home my weapon in +the broad breast before I fell. + +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. + +Neither missed. Swinging in mid-air, they hung te- +naciously, 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. + +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 un- +able to wield his lance effectively upon the two jaloks. +At the same time I was running swiftly toward them. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Both the fierce beasts were upon the Thurian simul- +taneously--he must have died almost before his body +tumbled to the ground. Then the female wheeled to- +ward Dian. I was standing by her side as the thing +charged her, my javelin ready to receive her. + +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. + +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 admin- +istered a severe drubbing to his mate. It was his way +of teaching her that I was sacred. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 car- +ried upon our backs. + +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. + +"I thought," she concluded, "that I should have to +use the viper's tooth, after all." + +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. + +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 ex- +plained 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. + +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. + +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. + +The islander was much interested and impressed by +the sail and its results. He had not been able to under- +stand 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 with- +out paddles, he was as delighted as a child. We made +splendid headway on the trip, coming into sight of +land at last. + +Juag had been terror-stricken when he had learned +that I intended crossing the ocean, and when we passed +out of sight of land be 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? + +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. + +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. + +I was all excitement to commence our upward jour- +ney 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 sud- +denness 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? + +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. + +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 hun- +dred miles before the wind and straight out into an +unknown sea! + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +As I spoke I looked at them with a smile of re- +newed hope; but there was no answering smile in their +eyes. It was Dian who enlightened me. + +"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." + +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. + +"Boats!" she cried. "Boats! Many, many boats!" + +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. + +And in them must be human beings like ourselves. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RACING FOR LIFE + +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. + +"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." + +"And they were blown out to sea by the great storm +just as we were," suggested Dian. + +"There can be no better explanation of them," I +agreed. + +"What shall we do?" asked Juag. + +"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." + +"Which they will not,' interposed Juag. + +"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." + +"They probably want to ask the way to the mainland +themselves," said Juag, who was nothing if not a pes- +simist. + +"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." + +And wait we did. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" shouted Juag, standing up in the +boat and making a megaphone of his palms. + +A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe-- +a figure that I was sure I recognized even before he +spoke. + +"I am Hooja!" cried the man, in answer to Juag. + +For some reason he did not recognize his former +prisoner and slave--possibly because he had so many +of them. + +"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?" + +He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. + +"We, too, are lost," replied Juag. "We know not where +the land is. We are going back to look for it now." + +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. + +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 cum- +bersome; 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 an- +other, and I knew that Hooja had archers. + +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. + +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 com- +mands as he became aware that we were trying to +escape him. + +"Come back!" he shouted. "Come back, or I'll fire!" + +I use the word fire because it more nearly translates +into English the Pellucidarian word trag, which covers +the launching of any deadly missile. + +But Juag only seized his paddle more tightly--the +paddle that answered the purpose of rudder, and com- +menced 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. + +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 mis- +siles struck us, for Hooja's archers were not nearly the +marksmen that are my Sarians and Amozites. + +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. + +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. + +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 com- +mencing 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. + +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. + +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 recon- +ciled 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. + +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!" + +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 sug- +gestion that we kill and eat Raja and Ranee. + +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. + +Almost immediately the wind rose again from pre- +cisely 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. + +And while we were suffering all these disappoint- +ments Hooja's fleet appeared in the distance! + +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 par- +ticularly vicious squall caught us. Before I could cut +the sheets the mast had snapped at the thwart in which +it was stepped. + +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. + +We were in a fair way to succeed when there ap- +peared, pouring from among the trees beyond the beach, +a horde of yelling, painted savages, brandishing all +sorts of devilish-looking primitive weapons. So menac- +ing was their attitude that we realized at once the +folly of attempting to land among them. + +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. + +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. + +As we raced along the coast for one of those seem- +ingly 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 paral- +lel to us, I dared not attempt it. + +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. + +Hooja's fleet had been in much more compact forma- +tion 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. + +Hope was low in my breast. I could not see the +slightest chance of escaping them, for they were over- +hauling 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GORE AND DREAMS + +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. + +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. + +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, + +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? + +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 pen- +nant, with a single great white star in a field of blue. + +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 MY navy! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 over- +coming the fifty vessels of the enemy, which did not +seem to carry over three thousand men all told. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last I heard Ja shouting to the survivors in the +dugouts--they were all quite close to us now--offer- +ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 com- +motion they caused among the crew, who had never +seen a wild beast thus handled by man before. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ex- +pected that when I beheld his navy I should find +considerable attempt at grim and terrible magnifi- +cence, 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. + +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. + +One thing that had inclined Ja particularly to the +felucca was the fact that it included oars in its equip- +ment. 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"None other than my word," I replied. "That I do +not break." + +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. + +"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." + +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 fire- +arms and cannon; but when it came to using these +things to kill people, he was as tender-hearted as a +chicken. + +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 surrender- +ing. + +"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." + +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 sur- +rendered. 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 Pel- +lucidarian seas had ever witnessed--though Perry still +insists that the action in which the Sari took part was +a battle of the first magnitude. + + 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 com- +manders of the forty-nine feluccas that accompanied +the flag-ship--Dian and I together--the empress and +the emperor of Pellucidar. + +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. + +A happy thought occurred to me as I stood upon the +little deck of the Amoz with the first of Perry's primi- +tive 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. + +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 with- +out arousing their appetites. + +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. + +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 dis- +covering us they had come into a great group of islands, +from between the largest two of which they were sail- +ing when they saw Hooja's fleet pursuing our dugout. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Time!" exclaimed Perry. "Well, how long were you +gone from Anoroc before we picked you up in the +Sojar Az?" + +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. + +"Then, you see, David," he continued, "I had almost +unbelievable resources at my disposal. The Mezops in- +habiting 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 ex- +plained the nature of our enterprise. + +"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. + +"The contents of the prospector set their imagina- +tions 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"It is a miracle," I said; it is nothing short of a miracle +to transplant all the wondrous possibilities of the twen- +tieth 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. + +"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. + +"We must give them the best that we have, Perry." + +"Yes," he agreed; "we must. I have been thinking a +great deal lately that some kind of shrapnel shell or ex- +plosive 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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +The old man looked at me in amazement. There was +reproach in his eyes, too. + +"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." + +I laid my hand on the old man's shoulder. + +"Bless your heart, Perry!" I cried. "You've accom- +plished 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-- + +"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!" + +"Amen!" said Perry. + +And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my +hand. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONQUEST AND PEACE + +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 sur- +render; but as he told me afterward they wouldn't be- +lieve all that he told them, so they congregated on the +cliff-top and shot futile arrows at us. + +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. + +Juag was with me, and I lost no time in returning to +him and his tribe the hilltop that had been their an- +cestral 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. + +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. + +I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. + +"Ghak of Sari," I said. + +Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then +turned to me with a smile. + +"The red, white, and blue of the empire," he said. "It +is indeed your majesty's army." + +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. + +To give the proper effect to our meeting I com- +manded 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Ghak's army, which was composed of warriors of all +the original tribes of the federation, showing how suc- +cessful had been his efforts to rehabilitate the empire, +marched into Sari some time after we arrived. With +them were the thousand lidi from Thuria. + +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 indorse- +ment 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. + +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. + +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. + +Each regiment was made up of about a thousand +bowmen, and to each was temporarily attached a com- +pany 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 regi- +ment 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. + +Before we reached the plain of Phutra we were dis- +covered 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. + +At a thousand yards we halted, and, placing our +artillery upon a slight eminence at either flank, we com- +menced 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. + +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. + +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. + +But here we were doomed to defeat, at least tempo- +rarily; 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. + +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. + +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 ex- +tinguished 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. + +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. + +A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra plain +where the city lies, and the inland sea where the Ma- +hars were wont to disport themselves in the cool waters. +Not until we had topped this ridge did we get a view of +the sea. + +Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so +long as I may live. + +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! + +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 think- +ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 as- +tonishment in my eyes and smiled. + +"I started teaching him the alphabet when we first +reached the prospector, and were taking out its con- +tents," be 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 in- +telligent 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. + +"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." + +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-- + +But I'll get to all that before I finish. + +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. + + 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 sur- +rendered. After that they came in one by one until +all had laid their weapons upon our decks. + +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. + +By adhering to this policy I have won to the federa- +tion 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. + +When I sailed away from Luana she was included +among the kingdoms of the empire, whose boundaries +were thus pushed eastward several hundred miles. + +We now returned to Anoroc and thence to the main- +land, 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 vic- +torious, killing or capturing the Sagoths and driving the +Mahars further away. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The task of ridding Pellucidar of these hideous crea- +tures is one which in all probability will never be entirely +completed, for their great cities must abound by the +hundreds and thousands of the far-distant lands that no +subject of the empire has ever laid eyes upon. + +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. + +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. + +We have just laws and only a few of them. Our people +are happy because they are always working at some- +thing 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. + +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 ex- +change for that which they produce. Thus we are es- +tablishing 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. + +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. + +Around Sari and Amoz the men are domesticating the +great striped antelope, the meat of which is most de- +licious. 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. + +Dian and I live in a great palace overlooking the gulf. +There is no glass in our windows, for we have no win- +dows, 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. + +At Greenwich we have located a town and an ob- +servatory--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. + +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. + +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? + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +I have made the following changes to the text: +PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 27 33 sate state + 32 11 least last + 38 3 litte little + 39 20 dispress- distress- + 50 20 slides sides + 54 16 enmy enemy + 77 2 it if + 80 24 Sidi Lidi + 96 10 be bet + 101 33 the the and the + 107 15 Hoojas' Hooja's + 117 4 come came + 119 18 remarkably remarkable + 149 25 take takes + 151 6 Juang Juag + 173 29 contined continued + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs + diff --git a/old/pellu10.zip b/old/pellu10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ad47fcf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pellu10.zip diff --git a/old/pellu11.txt b/old/pellu11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b1638a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pellu11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6976 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Pellucidar +by Edgar Rice Burroughs +(#2 in the At the Earth's Core Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + + + + + + + +Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska + + + + + +PELLUCIDAR + +By Edgar Rice Burroughs + + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + PROLOGUE + I LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + II TRAVELING WITH TERROR + III SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + IV FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + V SURPRISES + VI A PENDENT WORLD + VII FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + VIII CAPTIVE + IX HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + X THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + XI ESCAPE + XII KIDNAPED! + XIII RACING FOR LIFE + XIV GORE AND DREAMS + XV CONQUEST AND PEACE + + + + + +PROLOGUE + +SEVERAL YEARS had elapsed since I had found the op-portunity 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. + +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 sum-mer camp could have been filled with greater im-patience +or keener anticipation. + +And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead +of my schedule. + +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, es-pecially 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. + +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. + +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. + +Here it is: + +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: + +I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of the earth. I have +no trade--nor any other occupation. + +My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter ancestors lust +to roam. I have combined the two and invested them carefully and +without extravagance. + +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 fol-lows. + +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. + +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. + +It was an intermittent ticking! + +No reptile or insect with which I am familiar re-produces any such +notes. I lay for an hour--listening intently. + +At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my +lamp and commenced to investigate. + +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. + +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. + +Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From this +receptacle issued the strange sound that I had heard. + +How had it come here? + +What did it contain? + +In attempting to lift it from its burying place I dis-covered that +it seemed to be held fast by means of a very small insulated cable +running farther into the sand beneath it. + +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. + +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. + +"What in the world," thought I, "is this thing doing here?" + +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. + +As I sat gazing at my remarkable find, which was tick-ing 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: + +D. I. + +They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so power-less to help! + +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: + +Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, +at the ends of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn? + +The idea seemed preposterous. Experience and in-telligence 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. + +And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires? + +What was this instrument--ticking away here in the great Sahara--but +a travesty upon the possible! + +Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with my own eyes? + +And the initials--D. I.--upon the slip of paper! + +David's initials were these--David Innes. + +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-- + +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. + +I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel that I am +making a fool of myself. + +There is no David Innes. + +There is no Dian the Beautiful. + +There is no world within a world. + +Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination--noth-ing more. + +BUT-- + +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. + +I have called it one of the most remarkable coinci-dences in +modern fiction. I called it literature before, but--again pardon +my candor--your story is not. + +And now--why am I writing you? + +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. + +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. + +It is maddening + +It is your fault--I want you to release me from it. + +Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no basis of fact +for your story, At the Earth's Core. + +Very respectfully yours, + +COGDON NESTOR, + +--and--Club, + +Algiers. + +June 1st,--. + + + +Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor as +follows: + + +Story true. Await me Algiers. + + +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. + +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? + +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? + +Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and pale-ontologist, +still live? + +Had the federated tribes of Pellucidar succeeded in overthrowing +the mighty Mahars, the dominant race of reptilian monsters, and +their fierce, gorilla-like sol-diery, the savage Sagoths? + +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. + +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 +lack-ing in adventure--he found that a man may be a writer of +"impossible trash" and yet have some redeem-ing qualities. + +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. + +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. + +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 +instru-ment, it might still be clicking there unheard--and this +story still unwritten. + +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 +be-gun 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. + +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. + +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. + +Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending-key. The noise +of the receiver stopped instantly. + +"Ask who it is, Downes," I directed. + +He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman's translation of +the reply, I doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. + +"He says he's David Innes," said Downes. "He wants to know who we +are." + +"Tell him," said I; "and that we want to know how he is--and all +that has befallen him since I last saw him." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LOST ON PELLUCIDAR + +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 exceed-ingly 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 min-utes' 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +How strange it looked! How vastly different from the flat and puny +area of the circumscribed vision of the dweller upon the outer +crust! + +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! + +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. + +The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled me. Her mighty +land areas breathed unfettered free-dom. + +Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders unsullied by +the eye of man, beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. + +Not for an instant did I regret the world of my nativity. I was +in Pellucidar. I was home. And I was content. + +As I stood dreaming beside the giant thing that had brought +me safely through the earth's crust, my travel-ing companion, the +hideous Mahar, emerged from the interior of the prospector and +stood beside me. For a long time she remained motionless. + +What thoughts were passing through the convolutions of her reptilian +brain? + +I do not know. + +She was a member of the dominant race of Pel-lucidar. By a strange +freak of evolution her kind had first developed the power of reason +in that world of anomalies. + +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 pos-sessed means of intelligent communication or the power of +reason. + +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. + +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 Pel-lucidar. + +What had she thought of the outer world's tiny sun? + +What had been the effect upon her of the moon and myriad stars of +the clear African nights? + +How had she explained them? + +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. + +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. + +Too, she bad 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 trans-portation +to Pellucidar. + +She had seen all these evidences of a civilization and brain-power +transcending in scientific achieve-ment anything that her race had +produced; nor once had she seen a creature of her own kind. + +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. + +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 +auto-matics that had been perfected since my first departure from +the outer world--and in my hand was a heavy express rifle. + +I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitively that +she was escaping--but I did not. + +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. + +At the edge of the sea the creature paused and looked back at me. +Then she slid sinuously into the surf. + +For several minutes I saw no more of her as she luxuriated in the +cool depths. + +Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there for another +short while she floated upon the surface. + +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. + +I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her and she had +disappeared. I was alone. + +My first concern was to discover where within Pel-lucidar I might +be--and in what direction lay the land of the Sarians where Ghak +the Hairy One ruled. + +But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari? + +And if I set out to search--what then? + +Could I find my way back to the prospector with its priceless +freight of books, firearms, ammunition, scien-tific instruments, +and still more books--its great library of reference works upon +every conceivable branch of ap-plied sciences? + +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? + +Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with it, what could +I accomplish single-handed? + +Nothing. + +But where there was no east, no west, no north, no south, no stars, +no moon, and only a stationary mid-day sun, how was I to find my +way back to this spot should ever I get out of sight of it? + +I didn't know. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +It was with almost childish joy that I made a little circle in my +note-book and traced the word Greenwich beside it. + +Now I felt I might start out upon my search with some assurance of +finding my way back again to the prospector. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I also strapped a considerable quantity of ammuni-tion across my +shoulders, pocketed some matches, and hooked an aluminum fry-pan +and a small stew-kettle of the same metal to my belt. + +I was ready--ready to go forth and explore a world! + +Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square miles for my +friends, my incomparable mate, and good old Perry! + +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 graz-ing herds. + +Through dense primeval forests I forced my way and up the slopes +of mighty mountains searching for a pass to their farther sides. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly +months with no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It happened thus: + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-arm +testifying to his purpose. + +And then, quite with the suddenness of an unex-pected blow, I realized +a past familiarity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. + +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! + +Perry was my best friend. + +Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my +mate--a part of me. + +I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand and the revolvers at +my belt; one does not readily syn-chronize his thoughts with the +stone age and the twentieth century simultaneously. + +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. + +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. + +At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His spear dropped +from his hand. + +Then he lunged forward upon his face. + +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. + +At the same time I stepped from behind my boul-der, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRAVELING WITH TERROR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the camp, nor had Perry +seen or heard aught of her since. + +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. + +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 treacher-ously +deceived and deserted them. + +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. + +The result was the total demolition of the work we had so well +started. + +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. + +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. + +"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 Pel-lucidar." + +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. + +But first I would find my empress. To me she was worth forty +empires. + +"Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?" I asked. + +"None whatever," replied Perry. "It was in search of her that I +came to the pretty pass in which you dis-covered me, and from which, +David, you saved me. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be fair and just, but so great were +his grief and anger over the disap-pearance 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that chance threw +in my way. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ad-ventures and into such a strange and hitherto +un-dreamed-of-world. + +Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied from +disuse in his former life, had filled out. + +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 Pel-lucidar had worked wonders for him. + +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 primi-tive life of the inner world. + +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. + +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. + +I shall not weary you with a repetition of the count-less adventures +of our long search. Encounters with wild beasts of gigantic size +were of almost daily occur-rence; but with our deadly express rifles +we ran com-paratively 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. + +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 direc-tions 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. + +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, point-ing toward the horizonless distance, shouted: + +"The Mountains of the Clouds!" + +"They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our worst enemies, +the Mahars," Perry remonstrated. + +"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. + +"They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not wandering +far in the wrong direction. + +"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. + +"At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari." + +"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?" + +"Easily," I answered him, "for Ja gave me minute di-rections. I +recall almost his exact words: + +"'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. + +"'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.'" + +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. + +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. + +"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 re-quire a year or more. The land we seek must lie +upon the opposite side of the mountains." + +"Then we must cross them," I insisted. + +Perry shrugged. + +"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." + +"We must cross them," I reiterated. "We will cross them." + +I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took some time. + +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. + +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. + +We came upon him quite unexpectedly. I was trudg-ing in advance +along a rocky trail worn smooth by the padded feet of countless +ages of wild beasts. At a shoul-der of the mountain around which +the path ran I came face to face with the Titan. + +I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down for breakfast. +Each realized that here was the very thing he sought. + +With a horrid roar the beast charged me. + +At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thou-sands of feet. + +At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal canon. + +In front of me was the bear. + +Behind me was Perry. + +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. + +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. + +I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went beneath his +ton of maddened, clawing flesh and bone and sinew. + +I thought my time had come. I remember feeling sorry for poor old +Perry, left all alone in this inhos-pitable, savage world. + +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. + +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 pro-jecting rock several feet +above the trail. My cry of warn-ing had given him time to reach +this point of safety. + +There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, the picture +of abject terror and consternation. + +"Where is he?" he cried when he saw me. "Where is he?" + +"Didn't he come this way?" I asked, + +"Nothing came this way," replied the old man. "But I heard his +roars--he must have been as large as an elephant." + +"He was," I admitted; "but where in the world do you suppose he +disappeared to?" + +Then came a possible explanation to my mind. I re-turned to the +point at which the bear had hurled me down and peered over the edge +of the cliff into the abyss below. + +Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the bottom of the +canon. It was the bear. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 di-minutive fireplace. + +With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a pass across +the range. + +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. + +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 be-longings to a new hut farther up. + +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. + +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 as-sailed 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Yes, it was a gay life. + +Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each time we returned +to the hut. It became something of an obsession with him. + +He'd count our cartridges one by one and then try to figure how +long it would be before the last was ex-pended 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps we entered +a dense fog, + +We had reached the heights that are so often cloud-wrapped for long +periods. We could see nothing a few paces beyond our noses. + +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. + +Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of our situation. +He flopped down on his knees and began to pray. + +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. + +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. + +It brought Perry to his feet as if he had been stung by a wasp, +and sent him racing ahead through the blind-ing fog at a gait that +I knew must soon end in disaster were it not checked. + +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. + +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 di-rection he had gone, +faster by far than safety dictated. + +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. + +I was alone. Perry was gone--gone forever, I had not the slightest +doubt. + +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 he 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. + + + +CHAPTER III + +SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER + +Through the fog I felt my way along by means of my compass. I no +longer heard the bears, nor did I encoun-ter one within the fog. + +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. + +I felt very sad and lonely as I crawled along the diffi-cult footing. +My own predicament weighed less heavily upon me than the loss of +Perry, for I loved the old fellow. + +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. + +Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of the cold, damp clouds +through which I wandered was distress-ing. Hope thrives best in +sunlight, and I am sure that it does not thrive at all in a fog. + +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. + +As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see nothing beyond +my nose. Even the snow and ice I trod were invisible. + +I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. I seemed to +be floating in a sea of vapor. + +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. + +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. + +Once more the ground was level. From the wind that blew about me +I guessed that I must be upon some ex-posed peak of ridge. + +And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. Wildly I turned +and clutched at the ground that had slipped from beneath my feet. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +It was Perry. + +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. + +"David!" he cried. "David, my boy! God has been good to an old +man. He has answered my prayer." + +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. + +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. + +We looked about. Below us were green trees and warm jungles. In +the distance was a great sea. + +"The Lural Az," I said, pointing toward its blue-green surface. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 com-fort. It reminded me of an early June +day in the Maine Woods. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +di-rection of the great sea we had seen from the snowy slopes of +the mountains. + +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 described +three islands. The one to the left must be Anoroc. + +At last we had come close to a solution of our problem--the road +to Sari. + +But how to reach the islands was now the foremost question in our +minds. We must build a canoe. + +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. + +He set out to make gunpowder once, shortly after our escape from +Phutra and at the beginning of the con-federation 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. + +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. + +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 glow-ing ember to a minute particle +of the deadly explosive. It extinguished the ember. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +I pointed out to Perry that it wasn't much more in-congruous for +the emperor to cruise in a canoe, than it was for the prime minister +to attempt to build one with his own hands. + +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." + +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. + +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 na-tions. Their chiefs we had made kings; +their tribal lands kingdoms. + +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 read-ing of the campaigns of Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, +and the ancients. + +We had marked out as best we could natural bounda-ries 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. + +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. + +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. + +Slowly the imperial navy progressed toward com-pletion. 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. + +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. + +He was immensely serious about his work, and I must admit that in +so far as appearances went he did ex-tremely 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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 awk-ward +manner of sweeping down upon the foe, even if we could find or +wield poles that would reach to the bottom of the ocean. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 launch-ing the hull only should have been completed, +every-thing else being completed after she had floated safely. + +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. + +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. + +The launching of the Sari proved easier than I con-templated. Perry +wanted me to get in and break some-thing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +While we waited we devoted the time to the con-struction 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. + +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. + +At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly we drifted +down the great river toward the sea. + +About us swarmed the mighty denizens of the prim-eval 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY + +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. + +Sailing with the wind she did her best; but in quarter-ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Of course we couldn't know the intentions of the strangers, but we +could pretty well guess them. + +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. + +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. + +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 appear-ance and dimensions of our craft, but as these fellows +know no fear they were not at all awed. + +Seeing that they were determined to give battle, I leaned over the +rail of the Sari and brought the im-perial 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. + +The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, threw his +paddle aloft, stiffened into rigidity for an instant, and then +toppled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank to the bottom +of the canoe or tumbled overboard. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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 +be intends over-coming the Mahars and the Sagoths and any other +peoples of Pellucidar who threaten the peace and wel-fare of his +empire." + +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 con-testing 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. + +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. + +Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me. + +"Have the scoundrels departed?" he asked. "Have you killed them +all?" + +"Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry," I replied. + +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 wan-dered to the retreating boats. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 cheer-fully for me--yes, I KNOW it. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 appear-ance 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. + +"Who are you who seek Ja?" he asked. "What would you of our chief?" + +"We are friends," I replied. "I am David. Tell Ja that David, +whose life be once saved from a sithic, has come again to visit +him. + +"If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring +our great warship closer in." + +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. + +They were magnificent specimens of manhood. Perry had never seen +a member of this red race close to be-fore. 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. + +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. + +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 chief-tain that +if any of them should ever come upon me to show me every kindness +and attention. + +Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stood +conversing with our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly +from the jungle. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 lead-ing 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. + +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 ap-peared that there was any truth in the rumors that one of +the aims of the federation was the overthrow of the Mahars. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +His additions to the map convinced us that Green-wich 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 ap-proach through Phutra, which lay almost directly in +line between Anoroc and Greenwich to the northwest. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +As we had arms at the prospector and also books on boat-building +we thought that it might prove an ex-cellent 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. + +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. + +I was to proceed to Sari, and while prosecuting my search for Dian +attempt at the same time the rehabili-tation 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. + +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 sud-denly +confronted by a considerable band of Sagoths. + +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 sus-picion. 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 em-ploy in conversing with +the gorilla-like soldiery of the Mahars. + +I noticed, and not without misgivings, that the leader of the Sagoths +eyed me with an expression that be-tokened 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. + +It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade +them adieu and continued upon our journey. + +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-- + +Well, this is how it happened: + +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. + +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. + +I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had +slept, javelined to death without a chance at self-defense. + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Arrived at the underground city, I was taken im-mediately 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. + +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. + +Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Mahars +gathered. + +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 pro-jection of a sixth sense into a fourth +dimension, where it becomes cognizable to the sixth sense of their +audience. + +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. + +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. + +"The Mahars will spare your life," he said, "and re-lease you on +one condition." + +"And what is that condition?" I asked, though I could guess its +terms. + +"That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of +Phutra when you killed the four Mahars and escaped," he replied. + +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. + +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? + +Would they keep their promises? + +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. + +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. + +"Come!" exclaimed the Sagoths. "The mighty Mahars await your +reply." + +"You may say to them," I answered, "that I shall not tell them +where the great secret is hid." + +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. + +They took me to the pits, where I lay carefully guarded. I was +sure that I was to be taken to the vivi-section 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. + +Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which +now stared me in the face! + + + +CHAPTER V + +SURPRISES + +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. + +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 +be-fore 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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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 re-volvers. My captors had not taken them from +me, be-cause 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 per-mitted weapons of defense, they let +me keep them. + +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. + +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. + +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 ac-complish 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. + +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 accus-tomed 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Dian!" I cried. "My Heavens, Dian!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +What could it mean? + +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. + +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. + +Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He explained that our lives +bad 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. + +"Who is Tu-al-sa?" I asked. + +"A Mahar whose last male ancestor was--ages ago--the last of the +male rulers among the Mahars," he replied. + +"Why should she wish to have my life spared?" + +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: + +"For a long time you had Tu-al-sa in your power," he explained. +"You might easily have killed her or aban-doned 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." + +Now I understood. The Mahar who had been my in-voluntary 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 de-voted 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. + +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. + +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 +grati-tude are certain hallmarks of rationality and culture. + +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. + +To my question, put through the Sagoth interpreter, I received the +reply that having spared my life they con-sidered 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. + +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. + +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. + +Without the great secret this maleless race must even-tually 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. + +I said as much to Dian. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"You told me of great canoes which moved across the water without +paddles, and which spat death from holes in their sides. + +"All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. Why should we +fear the Mahars? + +"Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thou-sands. They +will be helpless before the power of the Emperor of Pellucidar. + +"But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we accomplish? + +"What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to lead them? + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +It was true that Perry might do much with the con-tents of the +prospector, or iron mole, in which I had brought down the implements +of outer-world civiliza-tion; 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. + +Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything +for Pellucidar we must be free to do it together. + +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 acci-dent, and which I might and might not find again. + +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 bad captured me and +slain my Mezop companions. + +On the way I added materially to my map, an occu-pation which did +not elicit from the Sagoths even a shadow of interest. I felt +that the human race of Pelluci-dar 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. With savage +shouts they rushed forward toward the human warriors. + +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. + +What human being could be upon such excellent terms with the +gorilla-men? + +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 dis-tance was too great for me to +recognize the features of any of the human beings. + +Finally the parley was concluded and the men con-tinued 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 Sa-goths didn't tell me who it was they had met, and I did not +ask, though I must confess that I was quite curious. + +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. + +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 docu-ment--the manuscript was gone! + +Frantically I searched the whole interior of the cave several times +over, but without other result than a com-plete confirmation of +my worst fears. Someone had been here ahead of me and stolen the +great secret. + +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. + +With bowed head and broken hopes I came out of the cave and told +the Sagoth chieftain what I had dis-covered. 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 dis-covered it. + +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. + +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 chief-tain, 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. + +Presently I could see that she who presided was com-municating +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 inter-rupted by the interpreter. + +"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." + +"I sent them no document," I cried. "Ask them what they mean." + +"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." + +"Dian?" I gasped. "The Mahars have given over Dian into the keeping +of Hooja." + +"Surely," he replied. "What of it? She is only a gilak," as you +or I would say, "She is only a cow." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A PENDENT WORLD + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was a critical moment. Before I should be recog-nized 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. + +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. + +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, halt-ing before me. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Our emperor has come back," he announced. "Come hither and--" + +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. + +With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I +WOULD 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 +eman-cipate the human race of Pellucidar. + +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. + +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. + +When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in +rage. + +"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who caused +the first trouble between you and the Beautiful One. + +"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our +recapture by the Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra. + +"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when +you started upon your return journey to your own world. + +"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms +one against another and de-stroyed the federation. + +"When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. +Next time--" + +Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. + +"He has become a very powerful enemy now," I re-plied. "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." + +With Ghak and his head men I held a number of consultations. The +upshot of them was a decision to com-bine 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 where-abouts +of Hooja and Dian, while prosecuting their missions to the chieftains +to whom they were sent. + +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. + +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. + +It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the de-parture +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And whence come you?" + +"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. + +"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." + +"The stories are true," replied Ghak, "and here is the emperor of +whom you have heard. You need travel no farther." + +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. + +"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire to join his +kingdom to the empire?" + +"There are two reasons," replied the young man. "For-ever 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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads so vile a movement +against his own kind?" + +"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering my question. + +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 tan-gible clue to the whereabouts of +Hooja--and with the clue a guide! + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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? + +"We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We know +nothing of such things." + +I couldn't persuade him to do more than direct me upon the way. +I showed him my map, which now in-cluded 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. + +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 situ-ated the +Mahar city which took such heavy toll of the Thurians. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 possi-bility of my detention through some cause or +other. + +Kolk gave me a sign to his father--a lidi, or beast of burden, +crudely scratched upon a bit of bone, and be-neath 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. + +The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the man and the +flower in the combination in which they ap-peared 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. + +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. + +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 gi-gantic mountainpeak, was plainly visible from +Sari, though a good hundred miles away. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 be-neath 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. + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +Above me hung another world. I could see its moun-tains 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. + +Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. The questions +which the sight of this planet, so tanta-lizingly close, raised in +my mind were numerous and unanswerable. + +Was it inhabited? + +If so, by what manner and form of creature? + +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? + +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 ex-posed 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. + +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 em-pire 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. + +But then was not the time for dreaming; I must de-vote my mind to +the purpose of my journey. So I hastened onward beneath the great +shadow. As I ad-vanced I could not but note the changing nature +of the vegetation and the paling of its hues. + +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. + +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. + +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 con-siderable detour. As the crow +flies it is about twenty miles from the mouth of the river to +Thuria, but be-fore 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. + +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. + +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. + +And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT + +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 hide-ous 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 where I stood. + +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 in-jured, for by now he was making +practically no head-way. Indeed, it was with quite apparent +difficulty that he kept his nose above the surface of the sea. + +He was not more than fifty yards from shore when he went under. I +watched the spot where he had disap-peared, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +When he is well, I thought, he probably will turn upon me and attempt +to devour me, and against that even-tuality 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 else-where +about us rose unscalable cliffs. + +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 count-less numbers among the rubble of the beach. + +For food we subsisted upon shellfish and an occa-sional 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. + +It was not long before the hyaenodon's leg was suffi-ciently mended +to permit him to rise and hobble about on three legs. I shall +never forget with what intent in-terest 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. + +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. + +Now that he was able to get around, I was a little un-certain as +to the wisdom of my impulsive mercy. + +How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling about the +narrow confines of our prison? + +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. + +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 sentimen-talists. 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. + +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 per-petual +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. + +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. + +I am no weakling--and never have been. My experi-ence 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 desper-ately as if +death loomed immediate and sure. + +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. + +It was the hyaenodon! + +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 giv-ing 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. + +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. + +The beast bad been handicapped but little by his splinted leg; but +having eaten he lay down and com-menced to gnaw at the bandage. +I was sitting some little distance away devouring shellfish, of +which, by the way, I was becoming exceedingly tired. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Man here had not yet reached the point where he might take the time +from slaughter and escaping slaugh-ter 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 gro-tesque 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. + +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. + +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 roam-ing +property. However, I lean rather more strongly to the theory of +accident. + +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 natu-ral 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 over-turning the +canoe, I managed to drag him aboard, where he shook himself vigorously +and squatted down before me. + +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 some-where 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 bellig-erent. + +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. + +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! + +The more I thought upon the matter the greater be-came 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. + +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. + +"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." + +Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling lips and licked +my hand. + +"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." + +Raja whined. And so we walked on together toward Thuria--I talking +to the beast at my side, and he seem-ing 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. + +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 +yel-low green eyes were fastened upon the scrubby jungle at our +right. + +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. + +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. + +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 in-stead +he winced and crouched down. + +Raja was subdued! + +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. + +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 con-struction. There was no gate. Ladders that could +be re-moved by night led over the palisade. + +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 +bur-den 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. + +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. + +As we came in sight of the warriors the men set up a great jabbering. +Their eyes were wide in astonishment--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. + +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. + +In the foreground I saw the youth who had discov-ered us, and +I could tell from the way he carried him-self 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. + +A little in advance of the others was a bearded fel-low 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. + +"I am David," I said, "Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of +Pellucidar. Doubtless you have heard of me?" + +He nodded his head affirmatively. + +"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." + +Again the warrior nodded. "I am Goork," he said. "Where is the +token?" + +"Here," I replied, and fished into the game-bag where I had placed +it. + +Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand searched the inside +of the bag. + +It was empty! + +The token had been stolen with my arms! + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +CAPTIVE + +When Goork and his people saw that I had no token they commenced +to taunt me. + +"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." + +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 is-land +clan. Further, they said that no good man went in company with a +jalok--and that by this line of reason-ing I certainly was a bad +man. + +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. + +I think Raja sensed their antagonism, for he kept tug-ging 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. + +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 is-land 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. + +At last I turned away from them--rather disheart-ened, 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. + +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. + +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 crash-ing through the brush. Then all was silent. + +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. + +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 be did not, so I shoved the awkward craft through the +surf and leaped into it. + +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. + +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. + +The trip across the water to the island was unevent-ful. 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 dis-piriting to me than absence of +sunshine. + +I had paddled to the southwestern point, which Goork said he +believed to be the least frequented por-tion 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 man-aged, +after a good wetting, to beach my canoe and scale the cliffs. + +The country beyond them appeared more open and park-like than I +had anticipated, since from the main-land 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. + +As I let my eyes roam over the scene I suddenly be-came 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. + +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. + +I had covered quite a little distance, and I was pass-ing 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. + +To you it may seem that my conviction was the re-sult 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 sub-jective 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 cal-loused you will presently commence to glance +furtively about and be filled with vague, unreasoning terror. + +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. + +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 be-hind my back, +bound them securely. + +Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over upon my back to +look up into the faces of my captors. + +And what faces! Imagine if you can a cross between a sheep and a +gorilla, and you will have some concep-tion 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Immediately from all about, out of burrows and rough, rocky lairs, +poured a perfect torrent of beasts similar to my captors. They +clustered about, jabber-ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 over-strongly upon his credulity to be convinced that Gr-gr-gr +and his tribe were also freaks. + +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 re-garded me intently through his lone +sheep-eye while one of my captors told of my taking. + +When all had been related Gr-gr-gr questioned me. I shall not +attempt to quote these people in their own ab-breviated tongue--you +would have even greater diffi-culty 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. + +"You are an enemy," was Gr-gr-gr's initial declaration. "You belong +to the tribe of Hooja." + +Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! Good! + +"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." + +"How could you do that alone?" + +"I do not know," I answered, "but I should have tried had you not +captured me. What do you intend to do with me?" + +"You shall work for us." + +"You will not kill me?" I asked. + +"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." + +"If you hate Hooja," I suggested, "why not let me, who hate him, +too, go and punish him?" + +For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised his head +and addressed my guard. + +"Take him to his work," he ordered. + +His tone was final. As if to emphasize it he turned and entered +his burrow. My guard conducted me far-ther into the mesa, where +we came presently to a tiny depression or valley, at one end of +which gushed a warm spring. + +The view that opened before me was the most sur-prising 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 en-gaged in the first +agriculture that I had seen within Pellucidar. + +They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. + +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. + +The creatures that worked about me were quite sim-ple 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 carniv-ora of the island, until my kind had come +under a crea-ture called Hooja, and attacked and killed them when +they chanced to descend from their natural fortresses to visit +their fellows upon other lofty mesas. + +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 al-lowed 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. + +Gr-gr-gr's son seemed much impressed by my sug-gestion. He said +that when he was through in the fields he would speak to his father +about the matter. + +Some time after this Gr-gr-gr came through the fields where we were, +and his son spoke to him upon the sub-ject, 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 peo-ple. + +"Wherefore," he concluded, "we shall slay you as soon as the melons +are cultivated. Hasten, therefore." + +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. + +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 Pellucidar-ians--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. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Presently a male came racing toward the field, shout-ing 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. + +The other workers also ran forward to meet the mes-senger, who quickly +unburdened himself of his informa-tion, 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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Did I take advantage of my opportunity? + +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. + +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 clus-tered into a single group under +the protection of the re-maining twenty fighting males and all the +old males. + +But it was the work of the first two lines that in-terested me. +The forces of Hooja--a great horde of savage Sagoths and primeval +cave men--were work-ing 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. + +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. + +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 be would be dragged, +fighting and yell-ing, 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. + +Those who were hauled up within reach of the power-ful 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. + +But the arrows of the invaders were taking a much heavier toll +than the nooses of the defenders and I fore-saw 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. + +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, crush-ing +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 here-after. + +Gr-gr-gr turned toward me in surprise. For an in-stant 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 destruc-tion. 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. + +Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of +rubble upon the cliff-top. + +"Hurl these down upon the enemy!" I cried to him. "Tell your +warriors to throw rocks down upon them!" + +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. + +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. + +"Those were your people," he said. "Why did you kill them?" + +"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?" + +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. + +"Gilak," he said, "you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would have +killed you. How can he reward you?" + +"Set me free," I replied quickly. + +"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." + +Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all over again to Gr-gr-gr +the nature of my mission. He listened atten-tively; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +I had to wait until the processes of digestion had re-leased 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 bur-ial +beneath the floors of their lairs to grace the banquet-board. + +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. + +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. + +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 for-midable 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. + +We made our way steadily down the rim of the beau-tiful river which +flows the length of the island, coming at last to a wood rather +denser than any that I had be-fore encountered in this country. +Well within this forest my escort halted. + +"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go no farther." + +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. + +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 sev-eral +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 war-riors with them--a guard, I presume. + +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. + +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 re-enter the cliff through another aperture. + +What a cave it must be, I thought, that houses an en-tire 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 un-watched spot where I might +have some slight chance of scaling the heights and reaching the +top unseen. + +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. + +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. + +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 my-self down behind a large boulder where I could +watch the dugout and its occupants without myself being seen. + +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 +perpen-dicular rock-face appeared to offer only death to any one +who might venture within their relentless clutch. + +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, al-though +I risked discovery from above to accomplish my design. + +When I had reached a point where I could again see the dugout, I was +just in time to see it glide un-harmed between two needle-pointed +sentinels of granite and float quietly upon the unruffled bosom of +a tiny cove. + +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. + +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 per-formed. +Upwardly they moved without a pause, to dis-appear at last over +the summit. + +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. + +If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn't I should +die in the attempt. + +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. + +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. + +I drew myself to level ground and stood erect. A few trees grew +among the boulders. Very carefully I ad-vanced 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. + +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. + +Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile across that mesa without +seeing a sign of anyone, when all of a sud-den, as I crept around +the edge of a boulder, I ran plump into a man, down on all fours +like myself, crawl-ing toward me. + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON + +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. + +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. + +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 +writ-ten on his countenance. At last, all of a sudden, a look of +recognition entered his eyes. + +"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." + +He smiled in recollection. + +"It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from +Gombul. I slew them, winning my free-dom. Look!" + +He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly +healed scar of the Mahars' branded mark. + +"Then," he continued, "as I was returning to my peo-ple 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talk-ing 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 hav-ing 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." + +The speaker pointed toward the northeast. "It is wide and smooth +and slow-running almost to the land of Sari," he added. + +"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked. + +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. + +"She returned to the cave where she had been im-prisoned," he +replied, "and is awaiting me there." + +"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?" + +"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied. + +"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?" I +asked. + +He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fash-ion 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. + +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. + +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 trick-ery 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. + +Then we parted--he to take up his position where he could watch the +boat and await Dian, I to crawl cau-tiously on toward the caves. +I had no difficulty in fol-lowing 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. + +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. + +The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the extreme end of +the cliff nearest me. By taking advan-tage 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 ex-cited 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 in-stant when every head was turned away +from me, I darted, rabbitlike, into the cave. + +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 increas-ing darkness as one passed into each succeeding +cham-ber. + +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. + +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. + +"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent for you." + +And then a woman's voice answered him: + +"And what does Hooja want of me?" + +The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the sounds, +feeling for the hole. + +"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees," replied the man; +"for he is ready to take you as his mate." + +"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first." + +"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall." + +I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. + +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. + +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. + +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 un-dignified 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?" + +I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. + +"It is I, Dian," I said. "It is David." + +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. + +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 mo-ment, 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. + +As we went Dian told me that her captors had in-formed 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 re-turned, or at least she had not heard of their +return. + +"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. + +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 our-selves too much to the enemy, we +hastened forward that we might reach Juag as quickly as they. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 hack-ing and hewing away at the poor slave +with a villainous-looking knife that might have been designed for +butch-ering 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 de-liberately hurl himself to death over the precipice +or be pushed over by his foeman. + +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, beat-ing at him furiously with +the heavy knife. + +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. + +And Juag? + +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. + +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. + +The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed! + +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. + +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 begin-nings of +liberty, and a horde of savage enemies ad-vancing at a rapid run. + +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. + +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 ca-pacities +to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties of the outer +crust. + +"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!" + +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. + +"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no time to climb +down." + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ESCAPE + +Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribe were hill people--they +were not accustomed to swim-ming other than in quiet rivers and +placid lakelets. It was not the steep that appalled her. It was +the ocean--vast, mysterious, terrible. + +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. + +"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I can hold them until +you reach safety." + +"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." + +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 mo-ment 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Stop!" I cried. "Whoever shoots at me or advances toward me I +shall kill as I killed him!" + +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. + +At last the majority appeared to prevail, for simul-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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 bad rushed to the brink and hurled their weapons +after me. By a miracle I was untouched. + +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 sur-face, 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 bead popped above the +waves, and I filled my lungs with air. + +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 under-stood. 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. + +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 as-sistance. 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 compara-tively +safe from the missiles. + +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 con-tinue our journey to the mainland. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +ex-istence. 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. + +I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we expire together. + +"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." + +She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, to the end of +which was fastened a tiny pouch. + +"What have you there?" I asked. + +"Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing you call viper +in your world?" she asked. + +I nodded. + +"The accident gave you the idea for the poisoned arrows with which +we fitted the warriors of the em-pire," 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 dan-gers, 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." + +So we did not die together, and I am glad now that we did not. It +is always a foolish thing to con-template 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your friends," he said. "One +saw the warriors of the Sly One and fol-lowed 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." + +I thanked him; and when I had told him of our escape and our +destination, he insisted on accom-panying 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. + +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 rectify-ing our deficiencies. + +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. + +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. + +We hunted near the coast for a while, but were pot 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, +smooth-ing 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. + +The farther inland we went the darker it became, until we were +moving at last through an endless twi-light. 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. + +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. + +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 in-habitants +preyed upon the Thurians. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +Crashing down toward us came the bull thag, bel-lowing 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. + +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. + +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 run-ning 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. + +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 in-stant 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. + +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 simulta-neously, our javelins pierced +his wild heart, stilling it forever. + +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? + + + +CHAPTER XII + +KIDNAPED! + +I searched about the spot carefully. At last I was re-warded 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 overlap-ping +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. + +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 some-thing was wrong in +this quarter as well, for the islander was standing upon the carcass +of the thag, his javelin poised for a throw. + +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 question-ing. + +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. + +Juag again turned toward me, but this time in sur-prise. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ap-peared 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. + +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 direc-tion of the Thurian village. I could have guessed as +much! + +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. + +We must have covered considerable distance at a very rapid pace, +for we had re-entered 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. + +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. + +They did not give tongue until the lidi itself dis-covered 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. + +The lidi, with the hounds running close on either side, had +almost disappeared in the darkness that en-veloped 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 shoul-der. +The man on the lidi's back was prodding at the hyaenodon with his +long spear, but still Raja kept springing up and snapping. + +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 work-ing together with some end in view, +for the she-dog merely galloped steadily at the lidi's right about +op-posite his rump. + +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 attempt-ing. + +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. + +And this is just what happened. The lot of them were almost, +swallowed up in the twilight for a mo-ment. 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. + +Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving their quarry! +It was wonderful. + +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 de-pended upon my meeting that hurtling mass of terrified +flesh with a well-placed javelin. So I stood there, wait-ing to +be run down and crushed by those gigantic feet, but determined to +drive home my weapon in the broad breast before I fell. + +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. + +Neither missed. Swinging in mid-air, they hung te-naciously, 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. + +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 un-able to wield his lance effectively upon the +two jaloks. At the same time I was running swiftly toward them. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Both the fierce beasts were upon the Thurian simul-taneously--he +must have died almost before his body tumbled to the ground. Then +the female wheeled to-ward Dian. I was standing by her side as +the thing charged her, my javelin ready to receive her. + +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. + +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 +admin-istered a severe drubbing to his mate. It was his way of +teaching her that I was sacred. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +car-ried upon our backs. + +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. + +"I thought," she concluded, "that I should have to use the viper's +tooth, after all." + +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. + +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 ex-plained 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. + +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. + +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. + +The islander was much interested and impressed by the sail and its +results. He had not been able to under-stand 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 with-out +paddles, he was as delighted as a child. We made splendid headway +on the trip, coming into sight of land at last. + +Juag had been terror-stricken when he had learned that I intended +crossing the ocean, and when we passed out of sight of land be 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? + +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. + +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. + +I was all excitement to commence our upward jour-ney 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 sud-denness 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? + +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. + +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 hun-dred miles before the wind and straight out into an +unknown sea! + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +As I spoke I looked at them with a smile of re-newed hope; but there +was no answering smile in their eyes. It was Dian who enlightened +me. + +"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." + +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. + +"Boats!" she cried. "Boats! Many, many boats!" + +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. + +And in them must be human beings like ourselves. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +RACING FOR LIFE + +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. + +"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." + +"And they were blown out to sea by the great storm just as we were," +suggested Dian. + +"There can be no better explanation of them," I agreed. + +"What shall we do?" asked Juag. + +"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." + +"Which they will not,' interposed Juag. + +"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." + +"They probably want to ask the way to the mainland themselves," +said Juag, who was nothing if not a pes-simist. + +"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." + +And wait we did. + +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. + +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. + +"Who are you?" shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making a +megaphone of his palms. + +A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe--a figure that I +was sure I recognized even before he spoke. + +"I am Hooja!" cried the man, in answer to Juag. + +For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner and +slave--possibly because he had so many of them. + +"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?" + +He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. + +"We, too, are lost," replied Juag. "We know not where the land +is. We are going back to look for it now." + +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. + +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 cum-bersome; 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 an-other, and I knew +that Hooja had archers. + +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. + +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 com-mands as he became aware that we were trying +to escape him. + +"Come back!" he shouted. "Come back, or I'll fire!" + +I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English +the Pellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any +deadly missile. + +But Juag only seized his paddle more tightly--the paddle that +answered the purpose of rudder, and com-menced 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. + +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 mis-siles struck us, for Hooja's archers were not nearly the +marksmen that are my Sarians and Amozites. + +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. + +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. + +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 com-mencing 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. + +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. + +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 recon-ciled 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. + +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!" + +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 sug-gestion +that we kill and eat Raja and Ranee. + +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. + +Almost immediately the wind rose again from pre-cisely 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. + +And while we were suffering all these disappoint-ments Hooja's +fleet appeared in the distance! + +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 par-ticularly vicious squall caught us. Before I could cut the +sheets the mast had snapped at the thwart in which it was stepped. + +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. + +We were in a fair way to succeed when there ap-peared, pouring +from among the trees beyond the beach, a horde of yelling, painted +savages, brandishing all sorts of devilish-looking primitive weapons. +So menac-ing was their attitude that we realized at once the folly +of attempting to land among them. + +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. + +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. + +As we raced along the coast for one of those seem-ingly 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 paral-lel to us, I dared not attempt it. + +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. + +Hooja's fleet had been in much more compact forma-tion 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. + +Hope was low in my breast. I could not see the slightest chance +of escaping them, for they were over-hauling 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +GORE AND DREAMS + +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. + +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. + +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, + +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? + +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 pen-nant, +with a single great white star in a field of blue. + +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 MY navy! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +over-coming the fifty vessels of the enemy, which did not seem to +carry over three thousand men all told. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +At last I heard Ja shouting to the survivors in the dugouts--they +were all quite close to us now--offer-ing 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +com-motion they caused among the crew, who had never seen a wild +beast thus handled by man before. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 ex-pected that when I beheld +his navy I should find considerable attempt at grim and terrible +magnifi-cence, 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. + +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. + +One thing that had inclined Ja particularly to the felucca was +the fact that it included oars in its equip-ment. 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"None other than my word," I replied. "That I do not break." + +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. + +"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." + +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 fire-arms and cannon; but when it came to using these +things to kill people, he was as tender-hearted as a chicken. + +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 surrender-ing. + +"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." + +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 sur-rendered. 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 Pel-lucidarian seas +had ever witnessed--though Perry still insists that the action in +which the Sari took part was a battle of the first magnitude. + +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 com-manders of the forty-nine +feluccas that accompanied the flag-ship--Dian and I together--the +empress and the emperor of Pellucidar. + +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. + +A happy thought occurred to me as I stood upon the little deck of +the Amoz with the first of Perry's primi-tive 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. + +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 with-out arousing their +appetites. + +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. + +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 +dis-covering us they had come into a great group of islands, from +between the largest two of which they were sail-ing when they saw +Hooja's fleet pursuing our dugout. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Time!" exclaimed Perry. "Well, how long were you gone from Anoroc +before we picked you up in the Sojar Az?" + +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. + +"Then, you see, David," he continued, "I had almost unbelievable +resources at my disposal. The Mezops in-habiting 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 ex-plained +the nature of our enterprise. + +"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. + +"The contents of the prospector set their imagina-tions 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"It is a miracle," I said; it is nothing short of a miracle to +transplant all the wondrous possibilities of the twen-tieth 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. + +"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. + +"We must give them the best that we have, Perry." + +"Yes," he agreed; "we must. I have been thinking a great deal +lately that some kind of shrapnel shell or ex-plosive 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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +The old man looked at me in amazement. There was reproach in his +eyes, too. + +"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." + +I laid my hand on the old man's shoulder. + +"Bless your heart, Perry!" I cried. "You've accom-plished 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-- + +"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!" + +"Amen!" said Perry. + +And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my hand. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +CONQUEST AND PEACE + +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 sur-render; but as he told me afterward they +wouldn't be-lieve all that he told them, so they congregated on +the cliff-top and shot futile arrows at us. + +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. + +Juag was with me, and I lost no time in returning to him and his +tribe the hilltop that had been their an-cestral 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. + +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. + +I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. + +"Ghak of Sari," I said. + +Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then turned to me +with a smile. + +"The red, white, and blue of the empire," he said. "It is indeed +your majesty's army." + +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. + +To give the proper effect to our meeting I com-manded 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Ghak's army, which was composed of warriors of all the original +tribes of the federation, showing how suc-cessful had been his +efforts to rehabilitate the empire, marched into Sari some time +after we arrived. With them were the thousand lidi from Thuria. + +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 indorse-ment 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. + +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. + +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. + +Each regiment was made up of about a thousand bowmen, and to each +was temporarily attached a com-pany 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 regi-ment +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. + +Before we reached the plain of Phutra we were dis-covered 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. + +At a thousand yards we halted, and, placing our artillery upon a +slight eminence at either flank, we com-menced 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. + +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. + +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. + +But here we were doomed to defeat, at least tempo-rarily; 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. + +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. + +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 +ex-tinguished 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. + +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. + +A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra plain where the city +lies, and the inland sea where the Ma-hars were wont to disport +themselves in the cool waters. Not until we had topped this ridge +did we get a view of the sea. + +Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so long as I may +live. + +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! + +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 think-ing +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 as-tonishment in my +eyes and smiled. + +"I started teaching him the alphabet when we first reached the +prospector, and were taking out its con-tents," 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 in-telligent 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. + +"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." + +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-- + +But I'll get to all that before I finish. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 sur-rendered. After +that they came in one by one until all had laid their weapons upon +our decks. + +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. + +By adhering to this policy I have won to the federa-tion 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. + +When I sailed away from Luana she was included among the kingdoms +of the empire, whose boundaries were thus pushed eastward several +hundred miles. + +We now returned to Anoroc and thence to the main-land, 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 vic-torious, +killing or capturing the Sagoths and driving the Mahars further +away. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The task of ridding Pellucidar of these hideous crea-tures is one +which in all probability will never be entirely completed, for +their great cities must abound by the hundreds and thousands of +the far-distant lands that no subject of the empire has ever laid +eyes upon. + +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. + +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. + +We have just laws and only a few of them. Our people are happy +because they are always working at some-thing 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. + +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 ex-change for that which they produce. +Thus we are es-tablishing 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. + +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. + +Around Sari and Amoz the men are domesticating the great striped +antelope, the meat of which is most de-licious. 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. + +Dian and I live in a great palace overlooking the gulf. There is +no glass in our windows, for we have no win-dows, 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. + +At Greenwich we have located a town and an ob-servatory--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. + +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. + +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? + + + + + +I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 27 33 sate state + 32 11 least last + 38 3 litte little + 39 20 dispress- distress- + 50 20 slides sides + 54 16 enmy enemy + 77 2 it if + 80 24 Sidi Lidi + 96 10 be bet + 101 33 the the and the + 107 15 Hoojas' Hooja's + 117 4 come came + 119 18 remarkably remarkable + 149 25 take takes + 151 6 Juang Juag + 173 29 contined continued + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Pellucidar +by Edgar Rice Burroughs + diff --git a/old/pellu11.zip b/old/pellu11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..068ac94 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pellu11.zip diff --git a/old/pellu11h.htm b/old/pellu11h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d90decf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pellu11h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7077 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Pellucidar
+by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+(#2 in the At the Earth's Core Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
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+Title: Pellucidar
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+Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
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+Release Date: July, 1996 [Etext #605]
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+*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Created by Judith Boss, Omaha, Nebraska
+</pre>
+
+<div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h1>PELLUCIDAR</h1>
+<br /><br />
+<div class="center">By</div>
+<br /><br />
+<h2>Edgar Rice Burroughs</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<br />
+<div class="center">
+<table summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr>
+ <td class="right"><span class="small">CHAPTER</span></td>
+ <td> </td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td> </td>
+ <td><a href="#prologue">PROLOGUE</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">I</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapteri">LOST ON PELLUCIDAR</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">II</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterii">TRAVELING WITH TERROR</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">III</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapteriii">SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">IV</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapteriv">FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">V</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterv">SURPRISES</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">VI</td>
+ <td><a href="#chaptervi">A PENDENT WORLD</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">VII</td>
+ <td><a href="#chaptervii">FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">VIII</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterviii">CAPTIVE</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">IX</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterix">HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">X</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterx">THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">XI</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterxi">ESCAPE</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">XII</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterxii">KIDNAPED!</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">XIII</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterxiii">RACING FOR LIFE</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">XIV</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterxiv">GORE AND DREAMS</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="right">XV</td>
+ <td><a href="#chapterxv">CONQUEST AND PEACE</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><a name="prologue" id="prologue">PROLOGUE</a></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 postmark (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>
+
+<blockquote><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>
+
+<div class="center">D.I.</div>
+
+<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>Very respectfully yours,</p>
+
+<div class="right">COGDON NESTOR,<br />
+
+and Club,<br />
+
+Algiers.<br />
+
+June 1st,—.</div>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p>Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor as
+follows:</p>
+
+
+<blockquote><p>Story true. Await me Algiers.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<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>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<h2><a name="chapteri" id="chapteri">CHAPTER I</a></h2>
+
+<h3>LOST ON PELLUCIDAR</h3>
+
+<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 bad 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 nearby
+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 notebook 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
+notebook 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 frypan
+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. Halfway 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterii" id="chapterii">CHAPTER II</a></h2>
+
+<h3>TRAVELING WITH TERROR</h3>
+
+<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 reamalgamation 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 canon.</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 he 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapteriii" id="chapteriii">CHAPTER III</a></h2>
+
+<h3>SHOOTING THE CHUTES—AND AFTER</h3>
+
+<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
+opposite 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 described
+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 backwoods 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.
+Battleships 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 battleship 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 battleship 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 riverbank 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapteriv" id="chapteriv">CHAPTER IV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY</h3>
+
+<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
+be 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 notebook 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 be 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 agreeable 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 coastline 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 shoreline 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterv" id="chapterv">CHAPTER V</a></h2>
+
+<h3>SURPRISES</h3>
+
+<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
+bad 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 bad 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 doubtless 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—doubtless 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chaptervi" id="chaptervi">CHAPTER VI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>A PENDENT WORLD</h3>
+
+<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
+WOULD 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 Graceful 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 seacoast 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 halfway
+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 mountainpeak, 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 omnipotent 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chaptervii" id="chaptervii">CHAPTER VII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT</h3>
+
+<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 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 where 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 halfway
+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—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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterviii" id="chapterviii">CHAPTER VIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>CAPTIVE</h3>
+
+<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 be 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 newfound
+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 halfway 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 opposite
+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 bullneck 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 monosyllabic 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 over-strongly 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterix" id="chapterix">CHAPTER IX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR</h3>
+
+<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 opposite 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 be 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 downward 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 re-enter 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 watchtower 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterx" id="chapterx">CHAPTER X</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON</h3>
+
+<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 squatting 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 lovemaking, 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 muttered 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxi" id="chapterxi">CHAPTER XI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ESCAPE</h3>
+
+<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 halfway 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 simultaneously 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 bad 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 bead 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 nearby rock, his hand outstretched 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 roundabout, 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 pot 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 drawbacks, 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxii" id="chapterxii">CHAPTER XII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>KIDNAPED!</h3>
+
+<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 re-entered 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
+opposite 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 simultaneously—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 battleship 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 be 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 windstorm. 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 scudding 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxiii" id="chapterxiii">CHAPTER XIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>RACING FOR LIFE</h3>
+
+<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 over-hauling 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
+shoreline 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxiv" id="chapterxiv">CHAPTER XIV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>GORE AND DREAMS</h3>
+
+<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 MY 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 alongside 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 waterline, 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 battleships, 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 fire-arms 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 battleships, 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>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="chapterxv" id="chapterxv">CHAPTER XV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>CONQUEST AND PEACE</h3>
+
+<p>The fleet sailed directly for Hooja's island, coming to anchor at
+its northeastern 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 judgment
+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 flagship 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 transfer 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 of
+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 shipyards. 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>
+
+<hr /> +
+</div>
+
+
+<pre>
+I have made the following changes to the text:
+
+ PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO
+ 27 33 sate state
+ 32 11 least last
+ 38 3 litte little
+ 39 20 dispress- distress-
+ 50 20 slides sides
+ 54 16 enmy enemy
+ 77 2 it if
+ 80 24 Sidi Lidi
+ 96 10 be bet
+ 101 33 the the and the
+ 107 15 Hoojas' Hooja's
+ 117 4 come came
+ 119 18 remarkably remarkable
+ 149 25 take takes
+ 151 6 Juang Juag
+ 173 29 contined continued
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
+</pre>
+
+</body> +</html>
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