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At The Earth's Core
By
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Contents:<=
/b>
In the first place
please bear in mind that I do not expect you to believe this story. Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a
recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous ign=
orance,
I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society=
on
the occasion of my last trip to London.
You would surely =
have
thought that I had been detected in no less a heinous crime than the purloi=
ning
of the Crown Jewels from the Tower, or putting poison in the coffee of His
Majesty the King.
The erudite gentl=
eman
in whom I confided congealed before I was half through!--it is all that sav=
ed
him from exploding--and my dreams of an Honorary Fellowship, gold medals, a=
nd a
niche in the Hall of Fame faded into the thin, cold air of his arctic
atmosphere.
But I believe the
story, and so would you, and so would the learned Fellow of the Royal
Geological Society, had you and he heard it from the lips of the man who to=
ld
it to me. Had you seen, as I did, =
the fire
of truth in those gray eyes; had you felt the ring of sincerity in that qui=
et
voice; had you realized the pathos of it all--you, too, would believe. You would not have needed the final ocu=
lar
proof that I had--the weird rhamphorhynchus-like creature which he had brou=
ght
back with him from the inner world.
I came upon him q=
uite
suddenly, and no less unexpectedly, upon the rim of the great Sahara
Desert. He was standing before a
goat-skin tent amidst a clump of date palms within a tiny oasis. Close by was an Arab douar of some eigh=
t or
ten tents.
I had come down f=
rom
the north to hunt lion. My party
consisted of a dozen children of the desert--I was the only "white&quo=
t;
man. As we approached the little c=
lump
of verdure I saw the man come from his tent and with hand-shaded eyes peer
intently at us. At sight of me he =
advanced
rapidly to meet us.
"A white
man!" he cried. "May the=
good
Lord be praised! I have been watching you for hours, hoping against hope th=
at
THIS time there would be a white man.
Tell me the date. What year=
is
it?"
And when I had to=
ld
him he staggered as though he had been struck full in the face, so that he =
was
compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for support.
"It cannot
be!" he cried after a moment.
"It cannot be! Tell me=
that you
are mistaken, or that you are but joking."
"I am telling
you the truth, my friend," I replied.
"Why should I deceive a stranger, or attempt to, in so simple a
matter as the date?"
For some time he
stood in silence, with bowed head.
"Ten
years!" he murmured, at last.
"Ten years, and I thought that at the most it could be scarce m=
ore
than one!" That night he told me his story--the story that I give you =
here
as nearly in his own words as I can recall them.
I was born in
Connecticut about thirty years ago. My
name is David Innes. My father was=
a
wealthy mine owner. When I was nin=
eteen
he died. All his property was to b=
e mine
when I had attained my majority--provided that I had devoted the two years
intervening in close application to the great business I was to inherit.
I did my best to
fulfil the last wishes of my parent--not because of the inheritance, but
because I loved and honored my father.
For six months I toiled in the mines and in the counting-rooms, for =
I wished
to know every minute detail of the business.
Then Perry intere=
sted
me in his invention. He was an old
fellow who had devoted the better part of a long life to the perfection of =
a mechanical
subterranean prospector. As relaxa=
tion
he studied paleontology. I looked =
over
his plans, listened to his arguments, inspected his working model--and then,
convinced, I advanced the funds necessary to construct a full-sized, practi=
cal
prospector.
I shall not go in=
to
the details of its construction--it lies out there in the desert now--about=
two
miles from here. Tomorrow you may =
care
to ride out and see it. Roughly, i=
t is a
steel cylinder a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it may turn and twi=
st
through solid rock if need be. At =
one
end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an engine which Perry said
generated more power to the cubic inch than any other engine did to the cub=
ic
foot. I remember that he used to c=
laim
that that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy--we were going t=
o make
the whole thing public after the successful issue of our first secret
trial--but Perry never returned from that trial trip, and I only after ten
years.
I recall as it we=
re
but yesterday the night of that momentous occasion upon which we were to te=
st
the practicality of that wondrous invention. It was near midnight when we
repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry had constructed his "iron
mole" as he was wont to call the thing.
The great nose rested upon the bare earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into the ou=
ter
jacket, secured them, and then passing on into the cabin, which contained t=
he
controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched on the electric light=
s.
Perry looked to h=
is
generator; to the great tanks that held the life-giving chemicals with whic=
h he
was to manufacture fresh air to replace that which we consumed in breathing=
; to
his instruments for recording temperatures, speed, distance, and for examin=
ing
the materials through which we were to pass.
He tested the
steering device, and overlooked the mighty cogs which transmitted its marve=
lous
velocity to the giant drill at the nose of his strange craft.
Our seats, into w=
hich
we strapped ourselves, were so arranged upon transverse bars that we would =
be
upright whether the craft were ploughing her way downward into the bowels of
the earth, or running horizontally along some great seam of coal, or rising
vertically toward the surface again.
At length all was
ready. Perry bowed his head in
prayer. For a moment we were silen=
t, and
then the old man's hand grasped the starting lever. There was a frightful
roaring beneath us--the giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush=
of
sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inn=
er
and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake.
We were off!
The noise was
deafening. The sensation was
frightful. For a full minute neith=
er of
us could do aught but cling with the proverbial desperation of the drowning=
man
to the handrails of our swinging seats. Then Perry glanced at the thermomet=
er.
"Gad!" =
he
cried, "it cannot be possible--quick!
What does the distance meter read?"
That and the
speedometer were both on my side of the cabin, and as I turned to take a
reading from the former I could see Perry muttering.
"Ten degrees
rise--it cannot be possible!" and then I saw him tug frantically upon =
the
steering wheel.
As I finally found
the tiny needle in the dim light I translated Perry's evident excitement, a=
nd
my heart sank within me. But when =
I spoke
I hid the fear which haunted me. "It will be seven hundred feet, Per=
ry,"
I said, "by the time you can turn her into the horizontal."
"You'd better
lend me a hand then, my boy," he replied, "for I cannot budge her=
out
of the vertical alone. God give th=
at our
combined strength may be equal to the task, for else we are lost."
I wormed my way to
the old man's side with never a doubt but that the great wheel would yield =
on
the instant to the power of my young and vigorous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for alwa=
ys had
my physique been the envy and despair of my fellows. And for that very reason it had waxed e=
ven
greater than nature had intended, since my natural pride in my great streng=
th
had led me to care for and develop my body and my muscles by every means wi=
thin
my power. What with boxing, footba=
ll,
and baseball, I had been in training since childhood.
And so it was with
the utmost confidence that I laid hold of the huge iron rim; but though I t=
hrew
every ounce of my strength into it, my best effort was as unavailing as Per=
ry's
had been--the thing would not budge--the grim, insensate, horrible thing th=
at
was holding us upon the straight road to death!
At length I gave =
up
the useless struggle, and without a word returned to my seat. There was no need for words--at least n=
one
that I could imagine, unless Perry desired to pray. And I was quite sure that he would, for=
he
never left an opportunity neglected where he might sandwich in a prayer.
But to my
astonishment I discovered that with death staring him in the face Abner Per=
ry
was transformed into a new being. =
From
his lips there flowed--not prayer--but a clear and limpid stream of undilut=
ed profanity,
and it was all directed at that quietly stubborn piece of unyielding mechan=
ism.
"I should th=
ink,
Perry," I chided, "that a man of your professed religiousness wou=
ld
rather be at his prayers than cursing in the presence of imminent death.&qu=
ot;
"Death!"=
; he
cried. "Death is it that appa=
lls
you? That is nothing by comparison=
with
the loss the world must suffer. Wh=
y,
David within this iron cylinder we have demonstrated possibilities that sci=
ence
has scarce dreamed. We have harnes=
sed a
new principle, and with it animated a piece of steel with the power of ten
thousand men. That two lives will =
be
snuffed out is nothing to the world calamity that entombs in the bowels of =
the
earth the discoveries that I have made and proved in the successful
construction of the thing that is now carrying us farther and farther toward
the eternal central fires."
I am frank to adm=
it
that for myself I was much more concerned with our own immediate future than
with any problematic loss which the world might be about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant of its =
bereavement,
while to me it was a real and terrible actuality.
"What can we
do?" I asked, hiding my perturbation beneath the mask of a low and lev=
el
voice.
"We may stop
here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks are empty,"
replied Perry, "or we may continue on with the slight hope that we may
later sufficiently deflect the prospector from the vertical to carry us alo=
ng
the arc of a great circle which must eventually return us to the surface. If we succeed in so doing before we rea=
ch the
higher internal temperature we may even yet survive. There would seem to me to be about one =
chance
in several million that we shall succeed--otherwise we shall die more quick=
ly
but no more surely than as though we sat supinely waiting for the torture o=
f a
slow and horrible death."
I glanced at the
thermometer. It registered 110
degrees. While we were talking the
mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile into the rock of the earth's
crust.
"Let us cont=
inue
on, then," I replied. "It
should soon be over at this rate. =
You
never intimated that the speed of this thing would be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?"
"No," he
answered. "I could not figure=
the
speed exactly, for I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my
generator. I reasoned, however, th=
at we
should make about five hundred yards an hour."
"And we are
making seven miles an hour," I concluded for him, as I sat with my eyes
upon the distance meter. "How=
thick
is the Earth's crust, Perry?" I asked.
"There are
almost as many conjectures as to that as there are geologists," was his
answer. "One estimates it thi=
rty
miles, because the internal heat, increasing at the rate of about one degre=
e to
each sixty to seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the most refr=
actory
substances at that distance beneath the surface. Another finds that the phenomena of
precession and nutation require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must=
at
least have a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in
thickness. So there you are. You may take your choice."
"And if it
should prove solid?" I asked.
"It will be =
all
the same to us in the end, David," replied Perry. "At the best our fuel will suffice=
to
carry us but three or four days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed
three. Neither, then, is sufficien=
t to
bear us in the safety through eight thousand miles of rock to the
antipodes."
"If the crus=
t is
of sufficient thickness we shall come to a final stop between six and seven
hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; but during the last hundred and
fifty miles of our journey we shall be corpses.
Am I correct?" I asked.
"Quite corre=
ct,
David. Are you frightened?"
"I do not
know. It all has come so suddenly =
that I
scarce believe that either of us realizes the real terrors of our
position. I feel that I should be
reduced to panic; but yet I am not. I
imagine that the shock has been so great as to partially stun our
sensibilities."
Again I turned to=
the
thermometer. The mercury was risin=
g with
less rapidity. It was now but 140
degrees, although we had penetrated to a depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled.
"We have
shattered one theory at least," was his only comment, and then he retu=
rned
to his self-assumed occupation of fluently cursing the steering wheel. I once heard a pirate swear, but his be=
st
efforts would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of Perry's masterf=
ul and
scientific imprecations.
Once more I tried=
my
hand at the wheel, but I might as well have essayed to swing the earth
itself. At my suggestion Perry sto=
pped
the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength into a =
supreme
effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth--but the results were as bar=
ren
as when we had been traveling at top speed.
I shook my head
sadly, and motioned to the starting lever.
Perry pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward
toward eternity at the rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my eyes glued to the thermom=
eter
and the distance meter. The mercur=
y was
rising very slowly now, though even at 145 degrees it was almost unbearable
within the narrow confines of our metal prison.
About noon, or tw=
elve
hours after our start upon this unfortunate journey, we had bored to a dept=
h of
eighty-four miles, at which point the mercury registered 153 degrees F.
Perry was becoming
more hopeful, although upon what meager food he sustained his optimism I co=
uld
not conjecture. From cursing he ha=
d turned
to singing--I felt that the strain had at last affected his mind. For several hours we had not spoken exc=
ept as
he asked me for the readings of the instruments from time to time, and I
announced them. My thoughts were f=
illed
with vain regrets. I recalled nume=
rous acts
of my past life which I should have been glad to have had a few more years =
to
live down. There was the affair in=
the
Latin Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put gunpowder in the stove-=
-and
nearly killed one of the masters. =
And
then--but what was the use, I was about to die and atone for all these thin=
gs
and several more. Already the heat=
was
sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and I felt that I sh=
ould
lose consciousness.
"What are the
readings now, David?" Perry's voice broke in upon my somber reflection=
s.
"Ninety miles
and 153 degrees," I replied.
"Gad, but we=
've
knocked that thirty-mile-crust theory into a cocked hat!" he cried
gleefully.
"Precious lo=
t of
good it will do us," I growled back.
"But my
boy," he continued, "doesn't that temperature reading mean anythi=
ng
to you? Why it hasn't gone up in s=
ix
miles. Think of it, son!"
"Yes, I'm
thinking of it," I answered; "but what difference will it make wh=
en
our air supply is exhausted whether the temperature is 153 degrees or
153,000? We'll be just as dead, an=
d no
one will know the difference, anyhow." But I must admit that for some
unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. What I hoped for I could not have expla=
ined,
nor did I try. The very fact, as P=
erry
took pains to explain, of the blasting of several very exact and learned
scientific hypotheses made it apparent that we could not know what lay befo=
re
us within the bowels of the earth, and so we might continue to hope for the
best, at least until we were dead--when hope would no longer be essential to
our happiness. It was very good, a=
nd logical
reasoning, and so I embraced it.
At one hundred mi=
les
the temperature had DROPPED TO 152 1/2 DEGREES! When I announced it Perry
reached over and hugged me.
From then on until
noon of the second day, it continued to drop until it became as uncomfortab=
ly
cold as it had been unbearably hot before. At the depth of two hundred and
forty miles our nostrils were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes,
and the temperature had dropped to TEN BELOW ZERO! We suffered nearly two hours of this in=
tense
and bitter cold, until at about two hundred and forty-five miles from the s=
urface
of the earth we entered a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly ro=
se
to 32 degrees. During the next thr=
ee
hours we passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging into another =
series
of ammonia-impregnated strata, where the mercury again fell to ten degrees
below zero.
Slowly it rose on=
ce
more until we were convinced that at last we were nearing the molten interi=
or
of the earth. At four hundred mile=
s the temperature
had reached 153 degrees. Feverishl=
y I
watched the thermometer. Slowly it
rose. Perry had ceased singing and=
was
at last praying.
Our hopes had rec=
eived
such a deathblow that the gradually increasing heat seemed to our distorted
imaginations much greater than it really was.
For another hour I saw that pitiless column of mercury rise and rise
until at four hundred and ten miles it stood at 153 degrees. Now it was that we began to hang upon t=
hose
readings in almost breathless anxiety.
One hundred and
fifty-three degrees had been the maximum temperature above the ice
stratum. Would it stop at this poi=
nt
again, or would it continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet=
with
the persistence of life itself we continued to hope against practical
certainty.
Already the air t=
anks
were at low ebb--there was barely enough of the precious gases to sustain us
for another twelve hours. But woul=
d we
be alive to know or care? It seemed
incredible.
At four hundred a=
nd
twenty miles I took another reading.
"Perry!"=
; I
shouted. "Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! She=
's 152
degrees again."
"Gad!" =
he
cried. "What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the center?&qu=
ot;
"I do not kn=
ow,
Perry," I answered; "but thank God, if I am to die it shall not b=
e by
fire--that is all that I have feared. I
can face the thought of any death but that."
Down, down went t=
he
mercury until it stood as low as it had seven miles from the surface of the
earth, and then of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was ve=
ry
near. Perry was the first to disco=
ver
it. I saw him fussing with the val=
ves
that regulate the air supply. And =
at the
same time I experienced difficulty in breathing. My head felt dizzy--my lim=
bs
heavy.
I saw Perry crump=
le
in his seat. He gave himself a sha=
ke and
sat erect again. Then he turned to=
ward
me.
"Good-bye,
David," he said. "I gues=
s this
is the end," and then he smiled and closed his eyes.
"Good-bye,
Perry, and good luck to you," I answered, smiling back at him. But I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young--I did not want to die=
.
For an hour I bat=
tled
against the cruelly enveloping death that surrounded me upon all sides. At first I found that by climbing high =
into
the framework above me I could find more of the precious life-giving elemen=
ts,
and for a while these sustained me. It
must have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that I at last came to the=
realization
that I could no longer carry on this unequal struggle against the inevitabl=
e.
With my last
flickering ray of consciousness I turned mechanically toward the distance
meter. It stood at exactly five hu=
ndred
miles from the earth's surface--and then of a sudden the huge thing that bo=
re
us came to a stop. The rattle of
hurtling rock through the hollow jacket ceased.
The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it was running loo=
se
in AIR--and then another truth flashed upon me.
The point of the prospector was ABOVE us. Slowly it dawned on me that since passi=
ng
through the ice strata it had been above.
We had turned in the ice and sped upward toward the earth's crust. Thank God! We were safe!
I put my nose to =
the
intake pipe through which samples were to have been taken during the passag=
e of
the prospector through the earth, and my fondest hopes were realized--a flo=
od
of fresh air was pouring into the iron cabin.
The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I lost consciousnes=
s.
I was unconscious
little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward from the crossbeam to
which I had been clinging, and fell with a crash to the floor of the cabin,=
the
shock brought me to myself.
My first concern =
was
with Perry. I was horrified at the
thought that upon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing open his shirt I placed my ear =
to his
breast. I could have cried with re=
lief--his
heart was beating quite regularly.
At the water tank=
I
wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across his forehead and face
several times. In a moment I was
rewarded by the raising of his lids. For
a time he lay wide-eyed and quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregath=
ered,
and he sat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his fa=
ce.
"Why,
David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. Why--why what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?"
"It means th=
at
we're back at the surface all right, Perry," I cried; "but where,=
I
don't know. I haven't opened her up
yet. Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!&=
quot;
"You say we'=
re
back at the surface, David? How ca=
n that
be? How long have I been
unconscious?"
"Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden whirling of=
our
seats? After that the drill was ab=
ove
you instead of below. We didn't no=
tice
it at the time; but I recall it now."
"You mean to=
say
that we turned back in the ice stratum, David?
That is not possible. The
prospector cannot turn unless its nose is deflected from the outside--by so=
me
external force or resistance--the steering wheel within would have moved in
response. The steering wheel has n=
ot
budged, David, since we started. Y=
ou
know that."
I did know it; but
here we were with our drill racing in pure air, and copious volumes of it
pouring into the cabin.
"We couldn't
have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as you," I repli=
ed;
"but the fact remains that we did, for here we are this minute at the
surface of the earth again, and I am going out to see just where."
"Better wait
till morning, David--it must be midnight now."
I glanced at the
chronometer.
"Half after
twelve. We have been out seventy-t=
wo
hours, so it must be midnight. Nev=
ertheless
I am going to have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of
ever seeing again," and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner doo=
r,
and swung it open. There was quite=
a
quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I had to remove with a
shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell.
In a short time I=
had
removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor of the cabin to expose the
door beyond. Perry was directly be=
hind
me as I threw it open. The upper h=
alf
was above the surface of the ground.
With an expression of surprise I turned and looked at Perry--it was
broad day-light without!
"Something s=
eems
to have gone wrong either with our calculations or the chronometer," I
said. Perry shook his head--there =
was a
strange expression in his eyes.
"Let's have a
look beyond that door, David," he cried.
Together we stepp=
ed
out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscape at once weird and
beautiful. Before us a low and lev=
el
shore stretched down to a silent sea. As
far as the eye could reach the surface of the water was dotted with countle=
ss
tiny isles--some of towering, barren, granitic rock--others resplendent in
gorgeous trappings of tropical vegetation, myriad starred with the magnific=
ent
splendor of vivid blooms.
Behind us rose a =
dark
and forbidding wood of giant arborescent ferns intermingled with the common=
er
types of a primeval tropical forest. Huge creepers depended in great loops =
from
tree to tree, dense under-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and
branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid coloring of c=
ountless
blossoms that glorified the islands, but within the dense shadows all seemed
dark and gloomy as the grave.
And upon all the
noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a cloudless sky.
"Where on ea=
rth
can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry.
For some moments =
the
old man did not reply. He stood wi=
th
bowed head, buried in deep thought. But
at last he spoke.
"David,"=
; he
said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth."
"What do you
mean Perry?" I cried. "D=
o you
think that we are dead, and this is heaven?" He smiled, and turning,
pointing to the nose of the prospector protruding from the ground at our ba=
cks.
"But for tha=
t,
David, I might believe that we were indeed come to the country beyond the
Styx. The prospector renders that =
theory
untenable--it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However I am willing to concede that we
actually may be in another world from that which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, there is every =
reason
to believe that we may be IN it."
"We may have
quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon some tropical island =
of
the West Indies," I suggested.
Again Perry shook his head.
"Let us wait=
and
see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime suppose we do a bit=
of
exploring up and down the coast--we may find a native who can enlighten
us."
As we walked along
the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across the water. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty
problem.
"David,"=
; he
said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about the horizon?&qu=
ot;
As I looked I beg=
an
to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of the landscape that had haun=
ted
me from the first with an illusive suggestion of the bizarre and
unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! A=
s far as
the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floated tiny
islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but ever beyond them=
was
the sea, until the impression became quite real that one was LOOKING UP at =
the
most distant point that the eyes could fathom--the distance was lost in the
distance. That was all--there was =
no
clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the line of
vision.
"A great lig=
ht
is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, taking out his watch.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> "I believe that I have partially s=
olved
the riddle. It is now two o'clock.=
When
we emerged from the prospector the sun was directly above us. Where is it now?"
I glanced up to f=
ind
the great orb still motionless in the center of the heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fully thrice the size of the sun I had =
known
throughout my life, and apparently so near that the sight of it carried the
conviction that one might almost reach up and touch it.
"My God, Per=
ry,
where are we?" I exclaimed.
"This thing is beginning to get on my nerves."
"I think tha=
t I
may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "that we
are--" but he got no further. From
behind us in the vicinity of the prospector there came the most thunderous,=
awe-inspiring
roar that ever had fallen upon my ears.
With one accord we turned to discover the author of that fearsome no=
ise.
Had I still retai=
ned
the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that met my eyes would quite
entirely have banished it. Emergin=
g from
the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It was fully as large as the largest el=
ephant
and with great forepaws armed with huge claws.
Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below its lower jaw, much
after the manner of a rudimentary trunk.
The giant body was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.
Roaring horribly =
it
came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot.
I turned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek other sur=
roundings--the
idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, for he was already a hundr=
ed
paces away, and with each second his prodigious bounds increased the
distance. I had never guessed what=
latent
speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.
I saw that he was
headed toward a little point of the forest which ran out toward the sea not=
far
from where we had been standing, and as the mighty creature, the sight of w=
hich
had galvanized him into such remarkable action, was forging steadily toward
me. I set off after Perry, though =
at a
somewhat more decorous pace. It was
evident that the massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all =
that
I considered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to en=
able
me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up.
Notwithstanding o=
ur
danger I could not help but laugh at Perry's frantic capers as he essayed to
gain the safety of the lower branches of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of s=
ome
fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted to ascend, for =
the
suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the forest giants had evident=
ly
attracted him to them. A dozen tim=
es he scrambled
up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the ground once more, and
with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at the oncom=
ing
brute, simultaneously emitting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoe=
s of
the grim forest.
At length he spie=
d a
dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, and when I reached the t=
rees
he was racing madly up it, hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest
branch of the tree from which the creeper depended when the thing parted
beneath his weight and he fell sprawling at my feet.
The misfortune now
was no longer amusing, for the beast was already too close to us for
comfort. Seizing Perry by the shou=
lder I
dragged him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could
easily encircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up as I could,=
and
then left him to his fate, for a glance over my shoulder revealed the awful
beast almost upon me.
It was the great =
size
of the thing alone that saved me. =
Its
enormous bulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the agility o=
f my
young muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of its way and run complet=
ely
behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit.
The few seconds of
grace that this gave me found me safely lodged in the branches of a tree a =
few
paces from that in which Perry had at last found a haven.
Did I say safely
lodged? At the time I thought we w=
ere
quite safe, and so did Perry. He w=
as
praying--raising his voice in thanksgiving at our deliverance--and had just
completed a sort of paeon of gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree
when without warning it reared up beneath him on its enormous tail and hind
feet, and reached those fearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which=
he
crouched.
The accompanying =
roar
was all but drowned in Perry's scream of fright, and he came near tumbling
headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him, so precipitate was his impetuous
haste to vacate the dangerous limb. It was
with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain a higher branch in safety.
And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force of those mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to b= end toward him. Inch by inch he worked his pa= ws upward as the tree leaned more and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in a panic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending and swaying tree he clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining toward the ground.<= o:p>
I saw now why the
great brute was armed with such enormous paws.
The use that he was putting them to was precisely that for which nat=
ure
had intended them. The sloth-like
creature was herbivorous, and to feed that mighty carcass entire trees must=
be
stripped of their foliage. The reason for its attacking us might easily be
accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as that which =
the
fierce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. But these were later reflections. At the moment I was too frantic with
apprehension on Perry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to save=
him
from the death that loomed so close.
Realizing that I
could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, I dropped from my leafy
sanctuary intent only on distracting the thing's attention from Perry long
enough to enable the old man to gain the safety of a larger tree. There were many close by which not even=
the terrific
strength of that titanic monster could bend.
As I touched the
ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled mass that matted the
jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping unnoticed behind the shaggy ba=
ck,
dealt the brute a terrific blow. M=
y plan
worked like magic. From the previo=
us
slowness of the beast I had been led to look for no such marvelous agility =
as
he now displayed. Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours =
and
at the same time swung his great, wicked tail with a force that would have =
broken
every bone in my body had it struck me; but, fortunately, I had turned to f=
lee
at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back.
As it started in
pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along the edge of the forest ra=
ther
than making for the open beach. In=
a
moment I was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind me=
was
gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate myself.=
A fallen log gave=
me
an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it I leaped to another a few paces
farther on, and in this way was able to keep clear of the mush that carpeted
the surrounding ground. But the zi=
gzag
course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap upon me tha=
t my
pursuer was steadily gaining upon me.
Suddenly from beh=
ind
I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercing barks--much the sound that a
pack of wolves raises when in full cry. Involuntarily I glanced backward to
discover the origin of this new and menacing note with the result that I mi=
ssed
my footing and went sprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck.
My mammoth enemy =
was
so close by this time that I knew I must feel the weight of one of his terr=
ible
paws before I could rise, but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon
me. The howling and snapping and b=
arking
of the new element which had been infused into the melee now seemed centered
quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon my hands and glanced aro=
und
I saw what it was that had distracted the DYRYTH, as I afterward learned the
thing is called, from my trail.
It was surrounded=
by
a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures--wild dogs they seemed--that rus=
hed
growling and snapping in upon it from all sides, so that they sank their wh=
ite
fangs into the slow brute and were away again before it could reach them wi=
th
its huge paws or sweeping tail.
But these were not
all that my startled eyes perceived.
Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees cam=
e a
company of manlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were to all appearances strikingly
similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa.
Their skins were very black, and their features much like those of t=
he
more pronounced Negroid type except that the head receded more rapidly abov=
e the
eyes, leaving little or no forehead.
Their arms were rather longer and their legs shorter in proportion to
the torso than in man, and later I noticed that their great toes protruded =
at
right angles from their feet--because of their arboreal habits, I presume.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Behind them trailed long, slender tails=
which
they used in climbing quite as much as they did either their hands or feet.=
I had stumbled to=
my
feet the moment that I discovered that the wolf-dogs were holding the dyryt=
h at
bay. At sight of me several of the
savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come slinking with ba=
red
fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward the trees again to seek safe=
ty
among the lower branches, I saw a number of the man-apes leaping and chatte=
ring
in the foliage of the nearest tree.
Between them and =
the
beasts behind me there was little choice, but at least there was a doubt as=
to
the reception these grotesque parodies on humanity would accord me, while t=
here
was none as to the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my
fierce pursuers.
And so I raced on
toward the trees intending to pass beneath that which held the man-things a=
nd
take refuge in another farther on; but the wolf-dogs were very close behind
me--so close that I had despaired of escaping them, when one of the creatur=
es
in the tree above swung down headforemost, his tail looped about a great li=
mb,
and grasping me beneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his fellows.=
There they fell to
examining me with the utmost excitement and curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, an=
d my
flesh. They turned me about to see=
if I
had a tail, and when they discovered that I was not so equipped they fell i=
nto
roars of laughter. Their teeth wer=
e very
large and white and even, except for the upper canines which were a trifle
longer than the others--protruding just a bit when the mouth was closed.
When they had
examined me for a few moments one of them discovered that my clothing was n=
ot a
part of me, with the result that garment by garment they tore it from me am=
idst
peals of the wildest laughter. Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel
themselves, but their ingenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they =
gave
it up.
In the meantime I=
had
been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse of Perry, but nowhere about could=
I
see him, although the clump of trees in which he had first taken refuge was=
in
full view. I was much exercised by=
fear
that something had befallen him, and though I called his name aloud several
times there was no response.
Tired at last of
playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to the ground, and catching=
me,
one on either side, by an arm, started off at a most terrifying pace through
the tree tops. Never have I experi=
enced such
a journey before or since--even now I oftentimes awake from a deep sleep
haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience.
From tree to tree=
the
agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, while the cold sweat stood up=
on
my brow as I glimpsed the depths beneath, into which a single misstep on the
part of either of my bearers would hurl me.
As they bore me along, my mind was occupied with a thousand bewilder=
ing
thoughts. What had become of Perry=
? Would I ever see him again? What were the intentions of these half-=
human things
into whose hands I had fallen? Wer=
e they
inhabitants of the same world into which I had been born? No! <=
/span>It
could not be. But yet where else?<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I had not left that earth--of that I was
sure. Still neither could I reconc=
ile
the things which I had seen to a belief that I was still in the world of my
birth. With a sigh I gave it up.
We must have trav=
eled
several miles through the dark and dismal wood when we came suddenly upon a
dense village built high among the branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke int=
o wild
shouting which was immediately answered from within, and a moment later a s=
warm
of creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured me poured o=
ut
to meet us. Again I was the center=
of a
wildly chattering horde. I was pul=
led
this way and that. Pinched, pounde=
d, and
thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not think that their treatment=
was
dictated by either cruelty or malice--I was a curiosity, a freak, a new
plaything, and their childish minds required the added evidence of all their
senses to back up the testimony of their eyes.
Presently they
dragged me within the village, which consisted of several hundred rude shel=
ters
of boughs and leaves supported upon the branches of the trees.
Between the huts,
which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead branches and the trunks of
small trees which connected the huts upon one tree to those within adjoining
trees; the whole network of huts and pathways forming an almost solid floor=
ing
a good fifty feet above the ground.
I wondered why th=
ese
agile creatures required connecting bridges between the trees, but later wh=
en I
saw the motley aggregation of half-savage beasts which they kept within the=
ir
village I realized the necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same vicious=
wolf-dogs
which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike animals whose
distended udders explained the reasons for their presence.
My guard halted
before one of the huts into which I was pushed; then two of the creatures
squatted down before the entrance--to prevent my escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped to I
certainly had not the remotest conception.
I had no more than entered the dark shadows of the interior than the=
re
fell upon my ears the tones of a familiar voice, in prayer.
"Perry!"=
; I
cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe."
"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?&qu=
ot;
And the old man stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.
He had seen me fa=
ll
before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a number of the ape-creat=
ures
and borne through the tree tops to their village. His captors had been as inquisitive as =
to his
strange clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other we could not=
help
but laugh.
"With a tail,
David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome ape."=
;
"Maybe we can
borrow a couple," I rejoined.
"They seem to be quite the thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doin=
g with
us, Perry. They don't seem really
savage. What do you suppose they c=
an be? You were about to tell me where we are =
when that
great hairy frigate bore down upon us--have you really any idea at all?&quo=
t;
"Yes,
David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have made a magnificent discovery, my
boy! We have proved that the earth=
is hollow. We have passed entirely through its cru=
st to
the inner world."
"Perry, you =
are
mad!"
"Not at all,
David. For two hundred and fifty m=
iles
our prospector bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point it reached the center of
gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick crust.
Up to that point we had been descending--direction is, of course, me=
rely
relative. Then at the moment that =
our
seats revolved--the thing that made you believe that we had turned about and
were speeding upward--we passed the center of gravity and, though we did not
alter the direction of our progress, yet we were in reality moving
upward--toward the surface of the inner world.
Does not the strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you
that you are not in the world of your birth? And the horizon--could it pres=
ent
the strange aspects which we both noted unless we were indeed standing upon=
the
inside surface of a sphere?"
"But the sun,
Perry!" I urged. "How in=
the
world can the sun shine through five hundred miles of solid crust?"
"It is not t=
he
sun of the outer world that we see here.
It is another sun--an entirely different sun--that casts its eternal
noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it now, David--if you can see i=
t from
the doorway of this hut--and you will see that it is still in the exact cen=
ter
of the heavens. We have been here =
for many
hours--yet it is still noon.
"And withal =
it
is very simple, David. The earth w=
as
once a nebulous mass. It cooled, a=
nd as
it cooled it shrank. At length a t=
hin
crust of solid matter formed upon its outer surface--a sort of shell; but w=
ithin
it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. As it continued to cool, what happened?=
Centrifugal force burled the particles =
of the
nebulous center toward the crust as rapidly as they approached a solid
state. You have seen the same prin=
ciple
practically applied in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only a small super-=
heated
core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the
contraction of the cooling gases. =
The equal
attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this luminous =
core
in the exact center of the hollow globe.
What remains of it is the sun you saw today--a relatively tiny thing=
at
the exact center of the earth. Equ=
ally
to every part of this inner world it diffuses its perpetual noonday light a=
nd
torrid heat.
"This inner
world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal life long ages after =
life
appeared upon the outer crust, but that the same agencies were at work here=
is
evident from the similar forms of both animal and vegetable creation which =
we
have already seen. Take the great =
beast
which attacked us, for example.
Unquestionably a counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene
period of the outer crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found in South
America."
"But the
grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely they have no counterpart i=
n the
earth's history."
"Who can
tell?" he rejoined. "The=
y may
constitute the link between ape and man, all traces of which have been
swallowed by the countless convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or
they may be merely the result of evolution along slightly different
lines--either is quite possible."
Further speculati=
on
was interrupted by the appearance of several of our captors before the entr=
ance
of the hut. Two of them entered an=
d dragged
us forth. The perilous pathways an=
d the
surrounding trees were filled with the black ape-men, their females, and th=
eir
young. There was not an ornament, a
weapon, or a garment among the lot.
"Quite low in
the scale of creation," commented Perry.
"Quite high
enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. "Now what do you suppose they inte=
nd
doing with us?"
We were not long =
in
learning. As on the occasion of ou=
r trip
to the village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures and whi=
rled
away through the tree tops, while about us and in our wake raced a chatteri=
ng,
jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black ape-things.
Twice my bearers =
missed
their footing, and my heart ceased beating as we plunged toward instant dea=
th
among the tangled deadwood beneath. But on both occasions those lithe, powe=
rful
tails reached out and found sustaining branches, nor did either of the
creatures loosen their grasp upon me. In
fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater moment to them than w=
ould
be the stubbing of one's toe at a street crossing in the outer world--they =
but
laughed uproariously and sped on with me.
For some time they
continued through the forest--how long I could not guess for I was learning,
what was later borne very forcefully to my mind, that time ceases to be a
factor the moment means for measuring it cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were livi=
ng
beneath a stationary sun. Already =
I was
puzzled to compute the period of time which had elapsed since we broke thro=
ugh
the crust of the inner world. It might be hours, or it might be days--who in
the world could tell where it was always noon!
By the sun, no time had elapsed--but my judgment told me that we must
have been several hours in this strange world.
Presently the for=
est
terminated, and we came out upon a level plain.
A short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward these our captors urged us, and =
after
a short time led us through a narrow pass into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we were=
soon
convinced that if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday, we were to die
for some other purpose. The attitu=
de of
our captors altered immediately as they entered the natural arena within the
rocky hills. Their laughter ceased=
. Grim ferocity marked their bestial face=
s--bared
fangs menaced us.
We were placed in=
the
center of the amphitheater--the thousand creatures forming a great ring abo=
ut
us. Then a wolf-dog was brought--h=
yaenadon
Perry called it--and turned loose with us inside the circle. The thing's body was as large as that o=
f a
full-grown mastiff, its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad and
strong. Dark, shaggy hair covered =
its
back and sides, while its breast and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us it presented a mo=
st
formidable aspect with its upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs.
Perry was on his
knees, praying. I stooped and pick=
ed up
a small stone. At my movement the =
beast
veered off a bit and commenced circling us.
Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The ape-things were dancing up and down
urging the brute on with savage cries, until at last, seeing that I did not
throw, he charged us.
At Andover, and l=
ater
at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams.
My speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I m=
ade such
a record during my senior year at college that overtures were made to me in
behalf of one of the great major-league teams; but in the tightest pitch th=
at
ever had confronted me in the past I had never been in such need for contro=
l as
now.
As I wound up for=
the
delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under absolute command, though the
grinning jaws were hurtling toward me at terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of =
my
weight and muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone caught the hyaenodon full upo=
n the
end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon his back.
At the same insta=
nt a
chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle of spectators, so that fo=
r a
moment I thought that the upsetting of their champion was the cause; but in
this I soon saw that I was mistaken. As
I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions toward the surrounding hil=
ls,
and then I distinguished the real cause of their perturbation. Behind them, streaming through the pass=
which
leads into the valley, came a swarm of hairy men--gorilla-like creatures ar=
med with
spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons they set upon the ape-thing=
s, and
before them the hyaenodon, which had now regained its senses and its feet, =
fled
howling with fright. Past us swept=
the
pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us more than a pass=
ing
glance until the arena had been emptied of its former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who s=
eemed
to have authority among them directed that we be brought with them.
When we had passed
out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw a caravan of men and
women--human beings like ourselves--and for the first time hope and relief
filled my heart, until I could have cried out in the exuberance of my
happiness. It is true that they we=
re a half-naked,
wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were fashioned along the same
lines as ourselves--there was nothing grotesque or horrible about them as a=
bout
the other creatures in this strange, weird world.
But as we came
closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered that the poor wretches
were chained neck to neck in a long line, and that the gorilla-men were the=
ir
guards. With little ceremony Perry=
and I
were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the interrupted
march was resumed.
Up to this time t=
he
excitement had kept us both up; but now the tiresome monotony of the long m=
arch
across the sun-baked plain brought on all the agonies consequent to a
long-denied sleep. On and on we st=
umbled
beneath that hateful noonday sun. =
If we
fell we were prodded with a sharp point.
Our companions in chains did not stumble. They strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words =
with
one another in a monosyllabic language.
They were a noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect
physiques. The men were heavily be=
arded,
tall and muscular; the women, smaller and more gracefully molded, with great
masses of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well pr=
oportioned--there
was not a face among them that would have been called even plain if judged =
by
earthly standards. They wore no or=
naments;
but this I later learned was due to the fact that their captors had stripped
them of everything of value. As
garmenture the women possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted
hide, rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore either supported entirely
about the waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially below the kn=
ee
on one side, or possibly looped gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin sandals.=
The men wore loin cloths of the hide of=
some
shaggy beast, long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to the
ground. In some instances these en=
ds
were finished with the strong talons of the beast from which the hides had =
been
taken.
Our guards, whom I
already have described as gorilla-like men, were rather lighter in build th=
an a
gorilla, but even so they were indeed mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned m=
ore in
conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered with
shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those of the few
stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the museums at home.
Their only redeem=
ing
feature lay in the development of the head above and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit =
less human
than we. They were clothed in a so=
rt of
tunic of light cloth which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin clot=
h of
the same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of some mammo=
th
creature of this inner world.
Their arms and ne=
cks
were encircled by many ornaments of metal--silver predominating--and on the=
ir
tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic
designs. They talked among themsel=
ves as
they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I perceived
differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When they addressed the latter they use=
d what
appeared to be a third language, and which I later learned is a mongrel ton=
gue
rather analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.
How far we marche=
d I
have no conception, nor has Perry. Both
of us were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called--then=
we
dropped in our tracks. I say "=
;for
hours," but how may one measure time where time does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood =
at
zenith. When we halted our shadows=
still
pointed toward nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time ela=
psed
who may say. That march may have occupied nine years and eleven months of t=
he
ten years that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been accomplished=
in
the fraction of a second--I cannot tell.
But this I do know that since you have told me that ten years have
elapsed since I departed from this earth I have lost all respect for time--=
I am
commencing to doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite
mind of man.
When our guards
aroused us from sleep we were much refreshed.
They gave us food. Strips of
dried meat it was, but it put new life and strength into us, so that now we=
too
marched with high-held heads, and took noble strides. At least I did, for I was young and pro=
ud;
but poor Perry hated walking. On e=
arth I
had often seen him call a cab to travel a square--he was paying for it now,=
and
his old legs wobbled so that I put my arm about him and half carried him
through the balance of those frightful marches.
The country began=
to
change at last, and we wound up out of the level plain through mighty mount=
ains
of virgin granite. The tropical ve=
rdure of
the lowlands was replaced by hardier vegetation, but even here the effects =
of
constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity of the trees and the
profusion of foliage and blooms. C=
rystal
streams roared through their rocky channels, fed by the perpetual snows whi=
ch we
could see far above us. Above the
snowcapped heights hung masses of heavy clouds.
It was these, Perry explained, which evidently served the double pur=
pose
of replenishing the melting snows and protecting them from the direct rays =
of
the sun.
By this time we h=
ad
picked up a smattering of the bastard language in which our guards addressed
us, as well as making good headway in the rather charming tongue of our co-=
captives.
Directly ahead of me in the chain gang was a young woman. Three feet of chain linked us together =
in a
forced companionship which I, at least, soon rejoiced in. For I found her a willing teacher, and =
from
her I learned the language of her tribe, and much of the life and customs of
the inner world--at least that part of it with which she was familiar.
She told me that =
she
was called Dian the Beautiful, and that she belonged to the tribe of Amoz,
which dwells in the cliffs above the Darel Az, or shallow sea.
"How came you
here?" I asked her.
"I was runni=
ng
away from Jubal the Ugly One," she answered, as though that was
explanation quite sufficient.
"Who is Jubal
the Ugly One?" I asked. "=
;And
why did you run away from him?"
She looked at me =
in
surprise.
"Why DOES a
woman run away from a man?" she answered my question with another.
"They do not,
where I come from," I replied.
"Sometimes they run after them."
But she could not
understand. Nor could I get her to=
grasp
the fact that I was of another world.
She was quite as positive that creation was originated solely to pro=
duce
her own kind and the world she lived in as are many of the outer world.
"But
Jubal," I insisted. "Tel=
l me
about him, and why you ran away to be chained by the neck and scourged acro=
ss
the face of a world."
"Jubal the U=
gly
One placed his trophy before my father's house.
It was the head of a mighty tandor.
It remained there and no greater trophy was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubal the Ugly One would=
come
and take me as his mate. None othe=
r so
powerful wished me, or they would have slain a mightier beast and thus have=
won
me from Jubal. My father is not a =
mighty
hunter. Once he was, but a sadok t=
ossed
him, and never again had he the full use of his right arm. My brother, Dacor the Strong One, had g=
one to
the land of Sari to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none, father,
brother, or lover, to save me from Jubal the Ugly One, and I ran away and h=
id
among the hills that skirt the land of Amoz.
And there these Sagoths found me and made me captive."
"What will t=
hey
do with you?" I asked. "=
Where
are they taking us?"
Again she looked =
her
incredulity.
"I can almost
believe that you are of another world," she said, "for otherwise =
such
ignorance were inexplicable. Do yo=
u really
mean that you do not know that the Sagoths are the creatures of the Mahars-=
-the
mighty Mahars who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or grows upon
its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or swims within its lakes and
oceans, or flies through its air? =
Next
you will be telling me that you never before heard of the Mahars!"
I was loath to do=
it,
and further incur her scorn; but there was no alternative if I were to abso=
rb
knowledge, so I made a clean breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty
Mahars. She was shocked. But she did her very best to enlighten =
me,
though much that she said was as Greek would have been to her. She described the Mahars largely by com=
parisons. In this way they were like unto thipdar=
s, in
that to the hairless lidi.
About all I glean=
ed
of them was that they were quite hideous, had wings, and webbed feet; lived=
in
cities built beneath the ground; could swim under water for great distances,
and were very, very wise. The Sago=
ths
were their weapons of offense and defense, and the races like herself were
their hands and feet--they were the slaves and servants who did all the man=
ual
labor. The Mahars were the heads--=
the brains--of
the inner world. I longed to see t=
his
wondrous race of supermen.
Perry learned the=
language
with me. When we halted, as we
occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart, he would jo=
in
in the conversation, as would Ghak the Hairy One, he who was chained just a=
head
of Dian the Beautiful. Ahead of Gh=
ak was
Hooja the Sly One. He too entered =
the
conversation occasionally. Most of=
his
remarks were directed toward Dian the Beautiful. It didn't take half an eye to see that =
he had
developed a bad case; but the girl appeared totally oblivious to his thinly
veiled advances. Did I say thinly
veiled? There is a race of men in New Zealand, or Australia, I have forgott=
en which,
who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections by banging h=
er
over the head with a bludgeon. By
comparison with this method Hooja's lovemaking might be called thinly
veiled. At first it caused me to b=
lush
violently although I have seen several Old Years out at Rectors, and in oth=
er
less fashionable places off Broadway, and in Vienna, and Hamburg.
But the girl! She was magnificent. It was easy to see that she considered
herself as entirely above and apart from her present surroundings and
company. She talked with me, and w=
ith
Perry, and with the taciturn Ghak because we were respectful; but she could=
n't
even see Hooja the Sly One, much less hear him, and that made him furious.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He tried to get one of the Sagoths to m=
ove
the girl up ahead of him in the slave gang, but the fellow only poked him w=
ith
his spear and told him that he had selected the girl for his own property--=
that
he would buy her from the Mahars as soon as they reached Phutra. Phutra, it seemed, was the city of our
destination.
After passing over
the first chain of mountains we skirted a salt sea, upon whose bosom swam
countless horrid things. Seal-like
creatures there were with long necks stretching ten and more feet above the=
ir enormous
bodies and whose snake heads were split with gaping mouths bristling with
countless fangs. There were huge
tortoises too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which Perry said =
were
Plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't
question his veracity--they might have been most anything.
Dian told me they
were tandorazes, or tandors of the sea, and that the other, and more fearso=
me
reptiles, which occasionally rose from the deep to do battle with them, were
azdyryths, or sea-dyryths--Perry called them Ichthyosaurs. They resembled a whale with the head of=
an alligator.
I had forgotten w=
hat
little geology I had studied at school--about all that remained was an
impression of horror that the illustrations of restored prehistoric monsters
had made upon me, and a well-defined belief that any man with a pig's shank=
and
a vivid imagination could "restore" most any sort of paleolithic
monster he saw fit, and take rank as a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek, shiny carca=
sses
shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from the ocean, shaking their gi=
ant
heads; when I saw the waters roll from their sinuous bodies in miniature
waterfalls as they glided hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half
submerged; as I saw them meet, open-mouthed, hissing and snorting, in their
titanic and interminable warring I realized how futile is man's poor, weak
imagination by comparison with Nature's incredible genius.
And Perry! He was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself.
"David,"=
; he
remarked, after we had marched for a long time beside that awful sea. "David, I used to teach geology, a=
nd I
thought that I believed what I taught; but now I see that I did not believe
it--that it is impossible for man to believe such things as these unless he
sees them with his own eyes. We ta=
ke
things for granted, perhaps, because we are told them over and over again, =
and
have no way of disproving them--like religions, for example; but we don't
believe them, we only think we do. If
you ever get back to the outer world you will find that the geologists and
paleontologists will be the first to set you down a liar, for they know tha=
t no
such creatures as they restore ever existed.
It is all right to IMAGINE them as existing in an equally imaginary
epoch--but now? poof!"
At the next halt
Hooja the Sly One managed to find enough slack chain to permit him to worm
himself back quite close to Dian. =
We
were all standing, and as he edged near the girl she turned her back upon h=
im
in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I could scarce repress a smile;
but it was a short-lived smile for on the instant the Sly One's hand fell u=
pon
the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly toward him.
I was not then
familiar with the customs or social ethics which prevailed within Pellucida=
r;
but even so I did not need the appealing look which the girl shot to me from
her magnificent eyes to influence my subsequent act. What the Sly One's intention was I paus=
ed not
to inquire; but instead, before he could lay hold of her with his other han=
d, I
placed a right to the point of his jaw that felled him in his tracks.
A roar of approval
went up from those of the other prisoners and the Sagoths who had witnessed=
the
brief drama; not, as I later learned, because I had championed the girl, but
for the neat and, to them, astounding method by which I had bested Hooja.
And the girl? At first she looked at me with wide,
wondering eyes, and then she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a
delicate flush suffused her cheek. For a
moment she stood thus in silence, and then her head went high, and she turn=
ed
her back upon me as she had upon Hooja.
Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face of Ghak the Hairy =
One
go very black as he looked at me searchingly.
And what I could see of Dian's cheek went suddenly from red to white=
.
Immediately after=
we
resumed the march, and though I realized that in some way I had offended Di=
an
the Beautiful I could not prevail upon her to talk with me that I might lea=
rn
wherein I had erred--in fact I might quite as well have been addressing a
sphinx for all the attention I got. At
last my own foolish pride stepped in and prevented my making any further
attempts, and thus a companionship that without my realizing it had come to
mean a great deal to me was cut off. Thereafter I confined my conversation =
to
Perry. Hooja did not renew his adv=
ances
toward the girl, nor did he again venture near me.
Again the weary a=
nd
apparently interminable marching became a perfect nightmare of horrors to
me. The more firmly fixed became t=
he realization
that the girl's friendship had meant so much to me, the more I came to miss=
it;
and the more impregnable the barrier of silly pride. But I was very young and would not ask =
Ghak
for the explanation which I was sure he could give, and that might have made
everything all right again.
On the march, or
during halts, Dian refused consistently to notice me--when her eyes wandere=
d in
my direction she looked either over my head or directly through me. At last I became desperate, and determi=
ned to
swallow my self-esteem, and again beg her to tell me how I had offended, and
how I might make reparation. I mad=
e up
my mind that I should do this at the next halt.
We were approaching another range of mountains at the time, and when=
we
reached them, instead of winding across them through some high-flung pass we
entered a mighty natural tunnel--a series of labyrinthine grottoes, dark as
Erebus.
The guards had no
torches or light of any description. In
fact we had seen no artificial light or sign of fire since we had entered P=
ellucidar. In a land of perpetual noon there is no=
need
of light above ground, yet I marveled that they had no means of lighting th=
eir way
through these dark, subterranean passages. So we crept along at a snail's pace, wit=
h much
stumbling and falling--the guards keeping up a singsong chant ahead of us,
interspersed with certain high notes which I found always indicated rough
places and turns.
Halts were now mo=
re
frequent, but I did not wish to speak to Dian until I could see from the
expression of her face how she was receiving my apologies. At last a faint glow ahead forewarned u=
s of
the end of the tunnel, for which I for one was devoutly thankful. Then at a sudden turn we emerged into t=
he
full light of the noonday sun.
But with it came a
sudden realization of what meant to me a real catastrophe--Dian was gone, a=
nd
with her a half-dozen other prisoners. The guards saw it too, and the feroc=
ity
of their rage was terrible to behold. Their
awesome, bestial faces were contorted in the most diabolical expressions, as
they accused each other of responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us, beating us w=
ith
their spear shafts, and hatchets. =
They
had already killed two near the head of the line, and were like to have
finished the balance of us when their leader finally put a stop to the brut=
al
slaughter. Never in all my life ha=
d I
witnessed a more horrible exhibition of bestial rage--I thanked God that Di=
an
had not been one of those left to endure it.
Of the twelve
prisoners who had been chained ahead of me each alternate one had been freed
commencing with Dian. Hooja was
gone. Ghak remained. What could it mean? How had it been accomplished? The commander of the guards was investi=
gating. Soon he discovered that the rude locks =
which
had held the neckbands in place had been deftly picked.
"Hooja the S=
ly
One," murmured Ghak, who was now next to me in line. "He has taken
the girl that you would not have," he continued, glancing at me.
"That I would
not have!" I cried. "Wha=
t do
you mean?"
He looked at me
closely for a moment.
"I have doub=
ted
your story that you are from another world," he said at last, "but
yet upon no other grounds could your ignorance of the ways of Pellucidar be
explained. Do you really mean that=
you
do not know that you offended the Beautiful One, and how?"
"I do not kn=
ow,
Ghak," I replied.
"Then shall I
tell you. When a man of Pellucidar
intervenes between another man and the woman the other man would have, the
woman belongs to the victor. Dian =
the
Beautiful belongs to you. You shou=
ld
have claimed her or released her. =
Had
you taken her hand, it would have indicated your desire to make her your ma=
te,
and had you raised her hand above her head and then dropped it, it would ha=
ve
meant that you did not wish her for a mate and that you released her from a=
ll obligation
to you. By doing neither you have =
put
upon her the greatest affront that a man may put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. No man will take her as mate, or may ta=
ke her
honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat, and men do not choose
slave women as their mates--at least not the men of Pellucidar."
"I did not k=
now,
Ghak," I cried. "I did n=
ot
know. Not for all Pellucidar would=
I
have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word, or look, or act of mine. I do not want her as my slave. I do not want her as my--" but her=
e I
stopped. The vision of that sweet =
and
innocent face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination, and w=
here
I had on the second believed that I clung only to the memory of a gentle fr=
iendship
I had lost, yet now it seemed that it would have been disloyalty to her to =
have
said that I did not want Dian the Beautiful as my mate. I had not thought of her except as a we=
lcome
friend in a strange, cruel world. =
Even
now I did not think that I loved her.
I believe Ghak mu=
st
have read the truth more in my expression than in my words, for presently he
laid his hand upon my shoulder.
"Man of anot=
her
world," he said, "I believe you.
Lips may lie, but when the heart speaks through the eyes it tells on=
ly
the truth. Your heart has spoken to
me. I know now that you meant no a=
ffront
to Dian the Beautiful. She is not =
of my
tribe; but her mother is my sister. She does not know it--her mother was st=
olen
by Dian's father who came with many others of the tribe of Amoz to battle w=
ith
us for our women--the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. Then was her father king of Amoz, and h=
er
mother was daughter of the king of Sari--to whose power I, his son, have
succeeded. Dian is the daughter of
kings, though her father is no longer king since the sadok tossed him and J=
ubal
the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him.
Because of her lineage the wrong you did her was greatly magnified in
the eyes of all who saw it. She wi=
ll
never forgive you."
I asked Ghak if t=
here
was not some way in which I could release the girl from the bondage and
ignominy I had unwittingly placed upon her.
"If ever you
find her, yes," he answered.
"Merely to raise her hand above her head and drop it in the
presence of others is sufficient to release her; but how may you ever find =
her,
you who are doomed to a life of slavery yourself in the buried city of
Phutra?"
"Is there no
escape?" I asked.
"Hooja the S=
ly
One escaped and took the others with him," replied Ghak. "But the=
re
are no more dark places on the way to Phutra, and once there it is not so
easy--the Mahars are very wise. Ev=
en if
one escaped from Phutra there are the thipdars--they would find you, and
then--" the Hairy One shuddered.
"No, you will never escape the Mahars."
It was a cheerful
prospect. I asked Perry what he th=
ought
about it; but he only shrugged his shoulders and continued a longwinded pra=
yer
he had been at for some time. He w=
as
wont to say that the only redeeming feature of our captivity was the ample =
time
it gave him for the improvisation of prayers--it was becoming an obsession =
with
him. The Sagoths had begun to take
notice of his habit of declaiming throughout entire marches. One of them asked him what he was sayin=
g--to
whom he was talking. The question =
gave
me an idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything.
"Do not
interrupt him," I said. "=
;He is
a very holy man in the world from which we come. He is speaking to spirits which you can=
not
see--do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon you and r=
end you
limb from limb--like that," and I jumped toward the great brute with a
loud "Boo!" that sent him stumbling backward.
I took a long cha=
nce,
I realized, but if we could make any capital out of Perry's harmless mania I
wanted to make it while the making was prime.
It worked splendidly. The S=
agoths
treated us both with marked respect during the balance of the journey, and =
then
passed the word along to their masters, the Mahars.
Two marches after
this episode we came to the city of Phutra.
The entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which
guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city. Sagoths were on guard here as well as a=
t a
hundred or more other towers scattered about over a large plain.
V -
SLAVES
As we descended t=
he
broad staircase which led to the main avenue of Phutra I caught my first si=
ght
of the dominant race of the inner world. Involuntarily I shrank back as one=
of
the creatures approached to inspect us.
A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine. The all-powe=
rful
Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, some six or eight feet in length, =
with
long narrow heads and great round eyes. Their beak-like mouths are lined wi=
th
sharp, white fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated
into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails. Their feet are equipped with three webb=
ed
toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are attached to their
bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees
toward the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies.
I glanced at Perr=
y as
the thing passed me to inspect him. The
old man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes. When it passed on, he turned to me.
"A
rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David," he said, "but, gad,=
how
enormous! The largest remains we e=
ver
have discovered have never indicated a size greater than that attained by an
ordinary crow."
As we continued on
through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many thousand of the creatures com=
ing
and going upon their daily duties. They paid but little attention to us.
Perry and I were
taken, with Ghak, to a large public building, where one of the Sagoths who =
had
formed our guard explained to a Maharan official the circumstances surround=
ing
our capture. The method of communi=
cation
between these two was remarkable in that no spoken words were exchanged.
I never did quite
grasp him, though he endeavored to explain it to me upon numerous
occasions. I suggested telepathy, =
but he
said no, that it was not telepathy since they could only communicate when in
each others' presence, nor could they talk with the Sagoths or the other in=
habitants
of Pellucidar by the same method they used to converse with one another.
"What they
do," said Perry, "is to project their thoughts into the fourth
dimension, when they become appreciable to the sixth sense of their
listener. Do I make myself quite
clear?"
"You do not,
Perry," I replied. He shook h=
is
head in despair, and returned to his work. They had set us to carrying a great
accumulation of Maharan literature from one apartment to another, and there=
arranging
it upon shelves. I suggested to Pe=
rry
that we were in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he commenced to
discover the key to their written language, he assured me that we were hand=
ling
the ancient archives of the race.
During this perio=
d my
thoughts were continually upon Dian the Beautiful. I was, of course, glad that she had esc=
aped
the Mahars, and the fate that had been suggested by the Sagoth who had
threatened to purchase her upon our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the little party of
fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who had returned to search for
them. Sometimes I was not so sure =
but
that I should have been more contented to know that Dian was here in Phutra=
, than
to think of her at the mercy of Hooja the Sly One. Ghak, Perry, and I often talked togethe=
r of
possible escape, but the Sarian was so steeped in his lifelong belief that =
no
one could escape from the Mahars except by a miracle, that he was not much =
aid
to us--his attitude was of one who waits for the miracle to come to him.
At my suggestion
Perry and I fashioned some swords of scraps of iron which we discovered amo=
ng
some rubbish in the cells where we slept, for we were permitted almost
unrestrained freedom of action within the limits of the building to which we
had been assigned. So great were t=
he
number of slaves who waited upon the inhabitants of Phutra that none of us =
was
apt to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters unkind to us.
We hid our new
weapons beneath the skins which formed our beds, and then Perry conceived t=
he
idea of making bows and arrows--weapons apparently unknown within
Pellucidar. Next came shields; but=
these
I found it easier to steal from the walls of the outer guardroom of the bui=
lding.
We had completed
these arrangements for our protection after leaving Phutra when the Sagoths=
who
had been sent to recapture the escaped prisoners returned with four of them=
, of
whom Hooja was one. Dian and two o=
thers
had eluded them. It so happened th=
at
Hooja was confined in the same building with us. He told Ghak that he had not seen Dian =
or the
others after releasing them within the dark grotto. What had become of them he had not the
faintest conception--they might be wandering yet, lost within the labyrinth=
ine
tunnel, if not dead from starvation.
I was now still
further apprehensive as to the fate of Dian, and at this time, I imagine, c=
ame
the first realization that my affection for the girl might be prompted by m=
ore
than friendship. During my waking =
hours
she was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and when I slept her dear fa=
ce
haunted my dreams. More than ever =
was I
determined to escape the Mahars.
"Perry,"=
; I
confided to the old man, "if I have to search every inch of this
diminutive world I am going to find Dian the Beautiful and right the wrong I
unintentionally did her." Tha=
t was
the excuse I made for Perry's benefit.
"Diminutive
world!" he scoffed. "You=
don't
know what you are talking about, my boy," and then he showed me a map =
of
Pellucidar which he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was
arranging.
"Look,"=
he
cried, pointing to it, "this is evidently water, and all this land.
"We know that
the crust of the globe is 500 miles in thickness; then the inside diameter =
of
Pellucidar must be 7,000 miles, and the superficial area 165,480,000 square
miles. Three-fourths of this is la=
nd. Think of it!
A land area of 124,110,000 square miles!
Our own world contains but 53,000,000 square miles of land, the bala=
nce
of its surface being covered by water.
Just as we often compare nations by their relative land areas, so if=
we
compare these two worlds in the same way we have the strange anomaly of a
larger world within a smaller one!
"Where within
vast Pellucidar would you search for your Dian?
Without stars, or moon, or changing sun how could you find her even
though you knew where she might be found?"
The proposition w=
as a
corker. It quite took my breath aw=
ay;
but I found that it left me all the more determined to attempt it.
"If Ghak will
accompany us we may be able to do it," I suggested.
Perry and I sought
him out and put the question straight to him.
"Ghak,"=
I
said, "we are determined to escape from this bondage. Will you accompany us?"
"They will s=
et
the thipdars upon us," he said, "and then we shall be killed;
but--" he hesitated--"I would take the chance if I thought that I
might possibly escape and return to my own people."
"Could you f=
ind
your way back to your own land?" asked Perry. "And could you aid David in his se=
arch
for Dian?"
"Yes."<= o:p>
"But how,&qu=
ot;
persisted Perry, "could you travel to strange country without heavenly
bodies or a compass to guide you?"
Ghak didn't know =
what
Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass, but he assured us that you mig=
ht
blindfold any man of Pellucidar and carry him to the farthermost corner of =
the
world, yet he would be able to come directly to his own home again by the
shortest route. He seemed surprise=
d to
think that we found anything wonderful in it.
Perry said it must be some sort of homing instinct such as is posses=
sed
by certain breeds of earthly pigeons. I
didn't know, of course, but it gave me an idea.
"Then Dian c=
ould
have found her way directly to her own people?" I asked.
"Surely,&quo=
t;
replied Ghak, "unless some mighty beast of prey killed her."
I was for making =
the
attempted escape at once, but both Perry and Ghak counseled waiting for some
propitious accident which would insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see what accident could befall=
a
whole community in a land of perpetual day-light where the inhabitants had =
no
fixed habits of sleep. Why, I am s=
ure
that some of the Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals, c=
rawl
into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up in protracted sl=
umber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays awake =
for
three years he will make up all his lost sleep in a long year's snooze. That may be all true, but I never saw b=
ut
three of them asleep, and it was the sight of these three that gave me a
suggestion for our means of escape.
I had been search=
ing
about far below the levels that we slaves were supposed to frequent--possib=
ly
fifty feet beneath the main floor of the building--among a network of corri=
dors
and apartments, when I came suddenly upon three Mahars curled up upon a bed=
of
skins. At first I thought they were
dead, but later their regular breathing convinced me of my error. Like a flash the thought came to me of =
the
marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means of eluding=
the
watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards.
Hastening back to
Perry where he pored over a musty pile of, to me, meaningless hieroglyphics=
, I
explained my plan to him. To my su=
rprise
he was horrified.
"It would be
murder, David," he cried.
"Murder to k=
ill
a reptilian monster?" I asked in astonishment.
"Here they a=
re
not monsters, David," he replied.
"Here they are the dominant race--we are the 'monsters'--the lo=
wer
orders. In Pellucidar evolution has
progressed along different lines than upon the outer earth. These terrible convulsions of nature ti=
me and
time again wiped out the existing species--but for this fact some monster of
the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own world. We see here what might well have occurr=
ed in
our own history had conditions been what they have been here.
"Life within
Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust. Here man has but reached a stage analog=
ous to
the Stone Age of our own world's history, but for countless millions of yea=
rs
these reptiles have been progressing.
Possibly it is the sixth sense which I am sure they possess that has
given them an advantage over the other and more frightfully armed of their
fellows; but this we may never know.
They look upon us as we look upon the beasts of our fields, and I le=
arn
from their written records that other races of Mahars feed upon men--they k=
eep
them in great droves, as we keep cattle.
They breed them most carefully, and when they are quite fat, they ki=
ll
and eat them."
I shuddered.
"What is the=
re
horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They understand us no better than=
we
understand the lower animals of our own world.
Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the questio=
n as
to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of communication. One writer claims that we do not even
reason--that our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of Pellucidar, David,=
have
not yet learned that men converse among themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do i=
t is beyond
them to imagine that we converse at all.
It is thus that we reason in relation to the brutes of our own
world. They know that the Sagoths =
have a
spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how it manifests itself,
since they have no auditory apparatus.
They believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> That the Sagoths can communicate with u=
s is
incomprehensible to them.
"Yes,
David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out your p=
lan."
"Very well t=
hen,
Perry." I replied. "I sh=
all
become a murderer."
He got me to go o=
ver
the plan again most carefully, and for some reason which was not at the time
clear to me insisted upon a very careful description of the apartments and
corridors I had just explored.
"I wonder,
David," he said at length, "as you are determined to carry out yo=
ur
wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something of very real and lasting
benefit for the human race of Pellucidar at the same time. Listen, I have
learned much of a most surprising nature from these archives of the
Mahars. That you may not appreciat=
e my
plan I shall briefly outline the history of the race.
"Once the ma=
les
were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little by little, assumed the
mastery. For other ages no noticea=
ble
change took place in the race of Mahars.
It continued to progress under the intelligent and beneficent rule of
the ladies. Science took vast stri=
des. This was especially true of the sciences
which we know as biology and eugenics.
Finally a certain female scientist announced the fact that she had
discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized by chemical means after
they were laid--all true reptiles, you know, are hatched from eggs.
"What
happened? Immediately the necessit=
y for
males ceased to exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed until at the present =
time
we find a race consisting exclusively of females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula is =
kept
by a single race of Mahars. It is =
in the
city of Phutra, and unless I am greatly in error I judge from your descript=
ion
of the vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in the cel=
lar of
this building.
"For two rea=
sons
they hide it away and guard it jealously.
First, because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, =
and second,
owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first so many were
experimenting with it that the danger of over-population became very grave.=
"David, if we
can escape, and at the same time take with us this great secret what will we
not have accomplished for the human race within Pellucidar!" The very
thought of it fairly overpowered me.
Why, we two would be the means of placing the men of the inner world=
in
their rightful place among created things.
Only the Sagoths would then stand between them and absolute supremac=
y,
and I was not quite sure but that the Sagoths owed all their power to the
greater intelligence of the Mahars--I could not believe that these gorilla-=
like
beasts were the mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar.
"Why,
Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world! Togeth=
er
we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance into the ligh=
t of
advancement and civilization. At o=
ne step
we may carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's marvelous--absolutely marvelous ju=
st to
think about it."
"David,"
said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just that
purpose--it shall be my life work to teach them His word--to lead them into=
the
light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and hands in the ways=
of
culture and civilization."
"You are rig=
ht,
Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them to pray I'll be
teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race of men that will b=
e an
honor to us both."
Ghak had entered =
the
apartment some time before we concluded our conversation, and now he wanted=
to
know what we were so excited about. Perry thought we had best not tell him =
too
much, and so I only explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him, he seemed
about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but for a different reason. The Hairy One only considered the horri=
ble
fate that would be ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed upon hi=
m to
accept my plan as the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I
would take all the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a re=
luctant
assent.
Within Pellucidar=
one
time is as good as another. There =
were
no nights to mask our attempted escape.
All must be done in broad day-light--all but the work I had to do in=
the
apartment beneath the building. So=
we determined
to put our plan to an immediate test lest the Mahars who made it possible
should awake before I reached them; but we were doomed to disappointment, f=
or
no sooner had we reached the main floor of the building on our way to the p=
its
beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hastened under
strong Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond.
Other Sagoths were
darting hither and thither in search of other slaves, and the moment that we
appeared we were pounced upon and hustled into the line of marching humans.=
What the purpose =
or
nature of the general exodus we did not know, but presently through the lin=
e of
captives ran the rumor that two escaped slaves had been recaptured--a man a=
nd a
woman--and that we were marching to witness their punishment, for the man h=
ad
killed a Sagoth of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them.
At the intelligen=
ce
my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure that the two were of those who
escaped in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly One, and that Dian must be the
woman. Ghak thought so too, as did=
Perry.
"Is there na=
ught
that we may do to save her?" I asked Ghak.
"Naught,&quo=
t;
he replied.
Along the crowded
avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty toward us, as though =
we,
too, had been implicated in the murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-=
lesson
to all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the=
fatal
consequences of taking the life of a superior being, and so I imagine that
Sagoths felt amply justified in making the entire proceeding as uncomfortab=
le and
painful to us as possible.
They jabbed us wi=
th
their spears and struck at us with the hatchets at the least provocation, a=
nd
at no provocation at all. It was a=
most uncomfortable
half-hour that we spent before we were finally herded through a low entrance
into a huge building the center of which was given up to a good-sized
arena. Benches surrounded this open
space upon three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge bowlders whic=
h rose
in receding tiers toward the roof.
At first I couldn=
't
make out the purpose of this mighty pile of rock, unless it were intended a=
s a
rough and picturesque background for the scenes which were enacted in the a=
rena
before it, but presently, after the wooden benches had been pretty well fil=
led
by slaves and Sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then t=
he
Mahars began to file into the enclosure.
They marched dire=
ctly
across the arena toward the rocks upon the opposite side, where, spreading
their bat-like wings, they rose above the high wall of the pit, settling do=
wn
upon the bowlders above. These wer=
e the
reserved seats, the boxes of the elect.
Reptiles that they
are, the rough surface of a great stone is to them as plush as upholstery to
us. Here they lolled, blinking the=
ir
hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in their sixth-sens=
e-fourth-dimension
language.
For the first tim=
e I
beheld their queen. She differed f=
rom
the others in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in fact a=
ll Mahars
look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena after the balance of her
female subjects had found their bowlders, she was preceded by a score of hu=
ge
Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, and on either side of her waddled a h=
uge
thipdar, while behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.
At the barrier the
Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly apelike agility, while behind
them the haughty queen rose upon her wings with her two frightful dragons c=
lose
beside her, and settled down upon the largest bowlder of them all in the ex=
act
center of that side of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant
race. Here she squatted, a most
repulsive and uninteresting queen; though doubtless quite as well assured of
her beauty and divine right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer wo=
rld.
And then the music
started--music without sound! The =
Mahars
cannot hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown =
among
them. The "band" consist=
s of a
score or more Mahars. It filed out=
in
the center of the arena where the creatures upon the rocks might see it, and
there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes.
Their technic
consisted in waving their tails and moving their heads in a regular success=
ion
of measured movements resulting in a cadence which evidently pleased the ey=
e of
the Mahar as the cadence of our own instrumental music pleases our ears.
When the band had
exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled upon the rocks above and
behind the queen. Then the busines=
s of
the day was on. A man and woman we=
re
pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutini=
ze the
female--hoping against hope that she might prove to be another than Dian the
Beautiful. Her back was toward me =
for a
while, and the sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high upon her he=
ad
filled me with alarm.
Presently a door =
in
one side of the arena wall was opened to admit a huge, shaggy, bull-like
creature.
"A Bos,"
whispered Perry, excitedly. "=
His
kind roamed the outer crust with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages
ago. We have been carried back a m=
illion
years, David, to the childhood of a planet--is it not wondrous?"
But I saw only the
raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart stood still in dumb misery at=
the
sight of her, nor had I any eyes for the wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should have le=
aped
to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store for this
priceless treasure of the Stone Age.
With the advent of
the Bos--they call the thing a thag within Pellucidar--two spears were toss=
ed
into the arena at the feet of the prisoners.
It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been as effective aga=
inst
the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.
As the animal
approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with the strength of ma=
ny
earthly bulls, another door directly beneath us was opened, and from it iss=
ued
the most terrific roar that ever had fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see the beast from=
which
emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect of bringing =
the
two victims around with a sudden start, and then I saw the girl's face--she=
was
not Dian! I could have wept for re=
lief.
And now, as the t=
wo
stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of that fearsome sound creeping
stealthily into view. It was a hug=
e tiger--such
as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval when the world was
young. In contour and markings it =
was
not unlike the noblest of the Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensio=
ns
were exaggerated to colossal proportions so too were its colorings exaggera=
ted. Its vivid yellows fairly screamed aloud=
; its
whites were as eider down; its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal,=
and
its coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat.
That it is a beautiful animal there is no gainsaying, but if its size
and colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its
disposition. It is not the occasio=
nal
member of its species that is a man hunter--all are man hunters; but they do
not confine their foraging to man alone, for there is no flesh or fish with=
in
Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in the constant efforts which
they make to furnish their huge carcasses with sufficient sustenance to
maintain their mighty thews.
Upon one side of =
the
doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, and upon the other tarag, the
frightful, crept toward them with gaping mouth and dripping fangs.
The man seized the
spears, handing one of them to the woman.
At the sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull's bellowing became=
a veritable
frenzy of rageful noise. Never in =
my
life had I heard such an infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think =
it
was all lost upon the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged!
The thag was char=
ging
now from one side, and the tarag from the other. The two puny things standi=
ng
between them seemed already lost, but at the very moment that the beasts we=
re
upon them the man grasped his companion by the arm and together they leaped=
to
one side, while the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in
collision.
There ensued a ba=
ttle
royal which for sustained and frightful ferocity transcends the power of
imagination or description. Time a=
nd
again the colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but ea=
ch time
that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter with
apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire.
For a while the m=
an
and woman busied themselves only with keeping out of the way of the two
creatures, but finally I saw them separate and each creep stealthily toward=
one
of the combatants. The tiger was n=
ow upon
the bull's broad back, clinging to the huge neck with powerful fangs while =
its
long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons.
For a moment the =
bull
stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage, its cloven hoofs widespre=
ad,
its tail lashing viciously from side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of
bucking it went careening about the arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its
rending rider. It was with difficu=
lty
that the girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded animal.
All its efforts to
rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in desperation it threw itself
upon the ground, rolling over and over.
A little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its breath from=
it
I imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great thag w=
as
up again and had buried those mighty horns deep in the tarag's abdomen, pin=
ning
him to the floor of the arena.
The great cat cla=
wed
at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were gone, and naught but a few stri=
ps
of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearf=
ul
punishment the thag still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and =
then
the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least formidable=
enemy,
and ran his spear through the tarag's heart.
As the animal's
fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory, sightless head, and with a
horrid roar ran headlong across the arena. With great leaps and bounds he c=
ame,
straight toward the arena wall directly beneath where we sat, and then acci=
dent
carried him, in one of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into=
the
midst of the slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging his bloody horns from side to =
side
the beast cut a wide swath before him straight upward toward our seats. Before him slaves and gorilla-men fough=
t in
mad stampede to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies, for such=
only
could that frightful charge have been.
Forgetful of us, = our guards joined in the general rush for the exits, many of which pierced the = wall of the amphitheater behind us. Per= ry, Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few moments after t= he beast cleared the wall of the arena, each intent upon saving his own hide.<= o:p>
I ran to the righ=
t,
passing several exits choked with the fear mad mob that were battling to
escape. One would have thought tha=
t an
entire herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single blinded, d=
ying
beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd.
Once out of the
direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, but another emotion as quick=
ly
gripped me--hope of escape that the demoralized condition of the guards made
possible for the instant.
I thought of Perr=
y,
but for the hope that I might better encompass his release if myself free I
should have put the thought of freedom from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right
searching for an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I f=
ound
it--a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.
Without thought of
the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows of the tunnel, feeling =
my
way along through the gloom for some distance.
The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter until n=
ow
all was as silent as the tomb about me.
Faint light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and
lighting tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope
with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my
way along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside me.
Presently the lig=
ht
increased and a moment later, to my delight, I came upon a flight of steps
leading upward, at the top of which the brilliant light of the noonday sun
shone through an opening in the ground.
Cautiously I crep=
t up
the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out saw the broad plain of Ph=
utra
before me. The numerous lofty, gra=
nite towers
which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city were all in front=
of
me--behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken to the nearby
foothills. I had come to the surfa=
ce,
then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced.
My first impulse =
was
to await darkness before attempting to cross the plain, so deeply implanted=
are
habits of thought; but of a sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday
brilliance which envelopes Pellucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into
the day-light.
Rank grass, waist
high, grows upon the plain of Phutra--the gorgeous flowering grass of the i=
nner
world, each particular blade of which is tipped with a tiny, five-pointed
blossom--brilliant little stars of varying colors that twinkle in the green
foliage to add still another charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape.
But then the only
aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in which I hoped to find
sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the myriad beauties beneath my
hurrying feet. Perry says that the=
force
of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of
the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I w=
as
never particularly brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped =
me. As I recall it the difference is due in=
some
part to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust directl=
y opposite
the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which one's calculations are being
made. Be that as it may, it always
seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within Pellucidar =
than
upon the outer surface--there was a certain airy lightness of step that was=
most
pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only compare with =
that
occasionally experienced in dreams.
And as I crossed
Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that time I seemed almost to fly, though h=
ow
much of the sensation was due to Perry's suggestion and how much to actuali=
ty I
am sure I do not know. The more I
thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom. There co=
uld
be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man shared it with me,
and only the hope that I might find some way to encompass his release kept =
me
from turning back to Phutra.
Just how I was to
help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that some fortuitous
circumstance might solve the problem for me.
It was quite evident however that little less than a miracle could a=
id
me, for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It was even doubtful that I could retra=
ce my
steps to Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain, and even were =
that
possible, what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered?
The case looked m=
ore
and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with a stubborn persistency I
forged ahead toward the foothills.
Behind me no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living
thing. It was as though I moved th=
rough
a dead and forgotten world.
I have no idea, of
course, how long it took me to reach the limit of the plain, but at last I
entered the foothills, following a pretty little canyon upward toward the
mountains. Beside me frolicked a l=
aughing
brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. In its quieter
pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or five-pound weight I should
imagine. In appearance, except as =
to
size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I watched them playing about I disco=
vered,
not only that they suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to =
the
surface to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange,
scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.
It was this last
habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture one of these herbivo=
rous
cetaceans--that is what Perry calls them--and make as good a meal as one ca=
n on
raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used, by this time, to the
eating of food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and
entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these
delicacies.
Crouching beside =
the
brook, I waited until one of the diminutive purple whales rose to nibble at=
the
long grasses which overhung the water, and then, like the beast of prey that
man really is, I sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet
wriggled to escape.
Then I drank from=
the
clear pool, and after washing my hands and face continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encount=
ered a
rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge.
Beyond was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, u=
pon
the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands.
The view was char=
ming
in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be seen that might threaten my
new-found liberty, I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half sliding, half
falling, dropped into the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seeme=
d to
offer a haven of peace and security.
The gently sloping
beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with strangely shaped, colored
shells; some empty, others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks =
as
ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along the silent shores of t=
he
antediluvian seas of the outer crust. As
I walked I could not but compare myself with the first man of that other wo=
rld,
so complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the
virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second Adam wending my =
lonely
way through the childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thou=
ght
there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face su=
rmounted
by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair.
As I walked, my e=
yes
were bent upon the beach so that it was not until I had come quite upon it =
that
I discovered that which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and sa=
fety
and peace and primal overlordship. The
thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom of it lay a
crude paddle.
The rude shock of
awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form of danger was still u=
pon
me when I heard a rattling of loose stones from the direction of the bluff,=
and
turning my eyes in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance, a
great copper-colored man, running rapidly toward me.
There was that in=
the
haste with which he came which seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I
did not need the added evidence of brandishing spear and scowling face to w=
arn
me that I was in no safe position, but whither to flee was indeed a momento=
us
question.
The speed of the
fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping him upon the open
beach. There was but a single
alternative--the rude skiff--and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed
the thing into the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in
over the end.
A cry of rage rose
from the owner of the primitive craft, and an instant later his heavy,
stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and buried itself in the bow of the b=
oat
beyond. Then I grasped the paddle,=
and
with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing out upon the surface of=
the
sea.
A glance over my
shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one had plunged in after me and =
was
swimming rapidly in pursuit. His m=
ighty strokes
bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order, for at best I
could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, which nosed stubborn=
ly
in every direction but that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my
energy was expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.
I had covered some
hundred yards from shore when it became evident that my pursuer must grasp =
the
stern of the skiff within the next half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the
grandfather of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the co=
pper
giant behind me gained and gained.
His hand was reac=
hing
upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous body shoot from the depths
below. The man saw it too, and the=
look
of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further c=
oncern
as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look.
And then about him
coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster of that prehistoric deep=
--a
mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged jaws, and darting forked tongue, with
bulging eyes, and bony protuberances upon head and snout that formed short,
stout horns.
As I looked at th=
at
hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed man, and I could have swo=
rn
that in his I saw an expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept th=
rough
me a sudden compassion for the fellow.
He was indeed a brother-man, and that he might have killed me with p=
leasure
had he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his danger.
Unconsciously I h=
ad
ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my pursuer, so now the skiff
still drifted close beside the two. The monster
seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his awful jaws up=
on
him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the surface to devour
him. The huge, snakelike body coil=
ed and
uncoiled about its prey. The hideo=
us,
gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue, lightning-like,
ran in and out upon the copper skin.
Nobly the giant
battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet against the bony armor
that covered that frightful carcass; but for all the damage he inflicted he
might as well have struck with his open palm.
At last I could
endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman was dragged down to a
horrible death by that repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff=
lay
the spear that had been cast after me by him whom I suddenly desired to
save. With a wrench I tore it loos=
e, and
standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the strength of my two
arms straight into the gaping jaws of the hydrophidian.
With a loud hiss =
the
creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, but the spear, imbedded in its
throat, prevented it from seizing me though it came near to overturning the
skiff in its mad efforts to reach me.
The aborigine,
apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, and seizing the spear
with me helped to hold off the infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now
crimsoning the waters about us and soon from the weakening struggles it bec=
ame
evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us ceased
entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its back quite
dead.
And then there ca=
me
to me a sudden realization of the predicament in which I had placed
myself. I was entirely within the =
power
of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen.
Still clinging to the spear I looked into his face to find him
scrutinizing me intently, and there we stood for some several minutes, each
clinging tenaciously to the weapon the while we gazed in stupid wonderment =
at
each other.
What was in his m=
ind
I do not know, but in my own was merely the question as to how soon the fel=
low
would recommence hostilities.
Presently he spok=
e to
me, but in a tongue which I was unable to translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicat=
e my
ignorance of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard
tongue that the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars=
.
To my delight he
understood and answered me in the same jargon.
"What do you
want of my spear?" he asked.
"Only to keep
you from running it through me," I replied.
"I would not= do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life," and with = that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom of the skiff.<= o:p>
"Who are
you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?"
I too sat down, l=
aying
the spear between us, and tried to explain how I came to Pellucidar, and
wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to grasp or believe the strange
tale I told him as I fear it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in =
the
existence of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine =
that
there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings similar to
himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the sc=
ope of
our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our finite minds ca=
nnot
grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which obta=
in
about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust which wends its
tiny way among the bowlders of the universe--the speck of moist dirt we so
proudly call the World.
So I gave it up a=
nd
asked him about himself. He said h=
e was
a Mezop, and that his name was Ja.
"Who are the
Mezops?" I asked. "Where=
do
they live?"
He looked at me in
surprise.
"I might ind=
eed
believe that you were from another world," he said, "for who of
Pellucidar could be so ignorant! T=
he
Mezops live upon the islands of the seas.
In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop lives elsewhere, and no othe=
rs
than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course it may be different in other
far-distant lands. I do not know.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> At any rate in this sea and those near =
by it
is true that only people of my race inhabit the islands.
"We are
fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to the mainland =
in
search of the game that is scarce upon all but the larger islands. And we are warriors also," he added
proudly. "Even the Sagoths of=
the
Mahars fear us. Once, when Pelluci=
dar
was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they do the ot=
her
men of Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to son among us that this =
is
so; but we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those of us =
that
were captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that at last they
learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later came the time that=
the
Mahars became too indolent even to catch their own fish, except for amuseme=
nt,
and then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a truce was made betw=
een
the races. Now they give us certain
things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch,=
and
the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace.
"The great o=
nes
even come to our islands. It is th=
ere,
far from the prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their
religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our
assistance. If you live among us y=
ou
will doubtless see the manner of their worship, which is strange indeed, and
most unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to take part in it."
As Ja talked I ha=
d an
excellent opportunity to inspect him more closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should=
say
six feet six or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike
that of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to =
theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among ma=
ny of
the higher tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but =
his mouth
and lips were better molded. All i=
n all,
Ja was an impressive and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in=
the
miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use.
During our
conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the skiff with vigo=
rous
strokes toward a large island that lay some half-mile from the mainland.
As we touched the
pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed him. Together we dragged t=
he
skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond the sand.
"We must hide
our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana are always at=
war
with us and would steal them if they found them," he nodded toward an
island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance that it seemed but a =
blur
hanging in the distant sky. The up=
ward
curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible =
to the
surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see land and water curving upward in
the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted into the dist=
ant
sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's
head required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning
faculties as almost to stupefy one.
No sooner had we
hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, presently emerging into a
narrow but well-defined trail which wound hither and thither much after the
manner of the highways of all primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity
about this Mezop trail which I was later to find distinguished them from all
other trails that I ever have seen within or without the earth.
It would run on,
plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly in the midst of a tangle of
matted jungle, then Ja would turn directly back in his tracks for a little
distance, spring into a tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto=
a
fallen log, leap over a low bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail
which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly about=
and
retrace his steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as sudd=
enly
and mysteriously as the former section.
Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no spo=
or,
to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond.
As the purpose of
this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but admire the native
shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops who hit upon this novel =
plan
to throw his enemies from his track and delay or thwart them in their attem=
pts
to follow him to his deep-buried cities.
To you of the out=
er
earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of traveling through the jun=
gle,
but were you of Pellucidar you would realize that time is no factor where t=
ime
does not exist. So labyrinthine ar=
e the
windings of these trails, so varied the connecting links and the distances
which one must retrace one's steps from the paths' ends to find them that a
Mezop often reaches man's estate before he is familiar even with those which
lead from his own city to the sea.
In fact three-fou=
rths
of the education of the young male Mezop consists in familiarizing himself =
with
these jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely determined by t=
he
number of trails which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn them, since fro=
m birth
to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of their nativi=
ty
is situated except they be taken to mate by a male from another village, or
captured in war by the enemies of their tribe.
After proceeding =
through
the jungle for what must have been upward of five miles we emerged suddenly
into a large clearing in the exact center of which stood as strange an
appearing village as one might well imagine.
Large trees had b=
een
chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the ground, and upon the tops of =
them
spherical habitations of woven twigs, mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by =
some
manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of the owne=
r.
Horizontal slits,=
six
inches high and two or three feet wide, served to admit light and
ventilation. The entrances to the =
house
were through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by
rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses varied in size from two to s=
everal
rooms. The largest that I entered =
was
divided into two floors and eight apartments.
All about the
village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully cultivated fields in wh=
ich
the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required.
Ja conducted me t=
o a
large house in the center of the village--the house with eight rooms--and
taking me up into it gave me food and drink.
There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms.=
Ja told her of how I had saved his life=
, and
she was thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to
hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day ru=
le the
tribe, for Ja, it seemed, was the chief of the community.
We had eaten and
rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, for it seemed that he seld=
om
if ever did so, and then the red man proposed that I accompany him to the
temple of the Mahars which lay not far from his village. "We are not supposed to visit it,&=
quot;
he said; "but the great ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of si=
ght
they need never know that we have been there.
For my part I hate them and always have, but the other chieftains of=
the
island think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations wh=
ich
exist between the two races; otherwise I should like nothing better than to
lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and exterminate them--Pelluc=
idar
would be a better place to live were there none of them."
I wholly concurre=
d in
Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be a difficult matter to extermina=
te
the dominant race of Pellucidar. T=
hus conversing
we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we came upon in a
small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must have
flourished upon the outer crust during the carboniferous age.
Here was a mighty
temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough oval with rounded roof in
which were several large openings. No
doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there =
need
of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja explained, the Mah=
ars
flew to and from their place of ceremonial, entering and leaving the buildi=
ng
by means of the apertures in the roof.
"But,"
added Ja, "there is an entrance near the base of which even the Mahars
know nothing. Come," and he l=
ed me
across the clearing and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay aga=
inst
the foot of the wall. Here he remo=
ved a
couple of large bowlders, revealing a small opening which led straight with=
in
the building, or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja I discovered my=
self
in a narrow place of extreme darkness.
"We are with=
in
the outer wall," said Ja. &qu=
ot;It
is hollow. Follow me closely."=
;
The red man groped
ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a primitive ladder similar to th=
at
which leads from the ground to the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet when th=
e interior
of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter and presently we c=
ame
opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us an unobstructed view of=
the
entire interior of the temple.
The lower floor w=
as
an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous hideous Mahars swam lazil=
y up
and down. Artificial islands of gr=
anite rock
dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and women li=
ke
myself.
"What are the
human beings doing here?" I asked.
"Wait and yo=
u shall
see," replied Ja. "They =
are to
take a leading part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the
queen. You may be thankful that yo=
u are
not upon the same side of the wall as they."
Scarcely had he
spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above and a moment later a
long procession of the frightful reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly and
majestically through the large central opening in the roof and circled in
stately manner about the temple.
There were several
Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring pterodactyls--thipdars,
they are called within Pellucidar.
Behind these came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had be=
en
when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra.
Three times they
wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to settle finally upon the
damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest r=
ock
was reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her
terrible guard.
All lay quiet for=
several
minutes after settling to their places.
One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the diminutive isl=
ands
watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes.
The men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with folded arms=
, awaiting
their doom; but the women and children clung to one another, hiding behind =
the
males. They are a noble-looking ra=
ce,
these cave men of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human
race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the marc=
h of
the ages. All they lack is
opportunity. We have opportunity, =
and little
else.
Now the queen
moved. She raised her ugly head, l=
ooking
about; then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid
noiselessly into the water. Up and=
down
the long tank she swam, turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals =
turn
in their tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface.=
Nearer and nearer=
to
the island she came until at last she remained at rest before the largest,
which was directly opposite her throne. Raising her hideous head from the w=
ater
she fixed her great, round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had b=
een
brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, an=
d bred
and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle.
The queen fixed h=
er
gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her
victim tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind=
a
woman; but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity th=
at I
could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, and the girl's arms to re=
ach
at last the very center of her brain.
Slowly the reptil=
e's
head commenced to move to and fro, but the eyes never ceased to bore toward=
the
frightened girl, and then the victim responded.
She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen, slowly she
rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen power she moved=
as
one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon tho=
se
of her captor. To the water's edge=
she came,
nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the little
island. On she moved toward the Ma=
har,
who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and=
still
she advanced, chained by that clammy eye.
Now the water was at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in
horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their ow=
n.
The Mahar sank now
till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed above the surface of the
water, and the girl had advanced until the end of that repulsive beak was b=
ut
an inch or two from her face, her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of =
the
reptile.
Now the water pas=
sed
above the girl's mouth and nose--her eyes and forehead all that showed--yet
still she walked on after the retreating Mahar.
The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface and after it
went the eyes of her victim--only a slow ripple widened toward the shores to
mark where the two vanished.
For a time all was
silence within the temple. The sla=
ves
were motionless in terror. The Mah=
ars
watched the surface of the water for the reappearance of their queen, and
presently at one end of the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, her=
eyes
fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the helpless girl to her
doom.
And then to my ut=
ter
amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the maiden come slowly out of the
depths, following the gaze of the reptile just as when she had disappeared
beneath the surface. On and on cam=
e the
girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and though =
she
had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned her thrice over
there was no indication, other than her dripping hair and glistening body, =
that
she had been submerged at all.
Again and again t=
he
queen led the girl into the depths and out again, until the uncanny weirdne=
ss
of the thing got on my nerves so that I could have leaped into the tank to =
the
child's rescue had I not taken a firm hold of myself.
Once they were be=
low
much longer than usual, and when they came to the surface I was horrified to
see that one of the girl's arms was gone--gnawed completely off at the
shoulder--but the poor thing gave no indication of realizing pain, only the
horror in her set eyes seemed intensified.
The next time they
appeared the other arm was gone, and then the breasts, and then a part of t=
he
face--it was awful. The poor creat=
ures on
the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their hands =
to
hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under the hypnotic
spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in terror with their =
eyes
fixed upon the terrible thing that was transpiring before them.
Finally the queen=
was
under much longer than ever before, and when she rose she came alone and sw=
am
sleepily toward her bowlder. The m=
oment she
mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter the tank, =
and
then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition of the uncanny performance
through which the queen had led her victim.
Only the women and
children fell prey to the Mahars--they being the weakest and most tender--a=
nd
when they had satisfied their appetite for human flesh, some of them devour=
ing
two and three of the slaves, there were only a score of full-grown men left,
and I thought that for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far
from the case, for as the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen's thipda=
rs
darted into the air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like steam
engines, swooped down upon the remaining slaves.
There was no
hypnotism here--just the plain, brutal ferocity of the beast of prey, teari=
ng,
rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it was less horrible than the
uncanny method of the Mahars. By t=
he
time the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves the Mahars were al=
l asleep
upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls swung back to t=
heir
posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into slumber.
"I thought t=
he
Mahars seldom, if ever, slept," I said to Ja.
"They do many
things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere," he replied. "The Mahars of Phutra are not supp=
osed
to eat human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by thousands and almost alw=
ays
you will find Mahars on hand to consume them.
I imagine that they do not bring their Sagoths here, because they are
ashamed of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least
advanced of their race; but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle =
that
there is no Mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get it."
"Why should =
they
object to eating human flesh," I asked, "if it is true that they =
look
upon us as lower animals?"
"It is not
because they consider us their equals that they are supposed to look with
abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh," replied Ja; "it is mere=
ly
that we are warm-blooded animals. =
They
would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a
delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is difficult to
explain just why this sentiment should exist among them."
"I wonder if
they left a single victim," I remarked, leaning far out of the opening=
in
the rocky wall to inspect the temple better.
Directly below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, there
being a break in the bowlders at this point as there was at several other p=
laces
about the side of the temple.
My hands were res=
ting
upon a small piece of granite which formed a part of the wall, and all my
weight upon it proved too much for it.
It slipped and I lunged forward.
There was nothing to save myself and I plunged headforemost into the
water below.
Fortunately the t=
ank
was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury from the fall, but as I was
rising to the surface my mind filled with the horrors of my position as I
thought of the terrible doom which awaited me the moment the eyes of the
reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed their slumber.
As long as I coul=
d I
remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in the direction of the isla=
nds
that I might prolong my life to the utmost.
At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified glan=
ce
in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was almost stunned to see
that not a single one remained upon the rocks where I had last seen them, n=
or
as I searched the temple with my eyes could I discern any within it.
For a moment I was
puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized that the reptiles, being
deaf, could not have been disturbed by the noise my body made when it hit t=
he
water, and that as there is no such thing as time within Pellucidar there w=
as
no telling how long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to =
figure
out by earthly standards--this matter of elapsed time--but when I set mysel=
f to
it I began to realize that I might have been submerged a second or a month =
or
not at all. You have no conception=
of
the strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods=
of
measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are non-existent.
I was about to
congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me for the moment, when
the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars filled me with apprehension
lest they be practicing their uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely
imagined that I was alone in the temple.
At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, and as I
crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was trembling like a
leaf--you cannot imagine the awful horror which even the simple thought of =
the
repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that =
you
are in their power--that they are crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag y=
ou
down beneath the waters and devour you!
It is frightful.
But they did not
come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was indeed alone within t=
he
temple. How long I should be alone=
was
the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in sea=
rch
of a means to escape.
Several times I
called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled into the tank, for I
received no response to my cries.
Doubtless he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple fr=
om
our hiding place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hasten=
ed
from the temple and back to his village.
I knew that there
must be some entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof, for =
it
did not seem reasonable to believe that the thousands of slaves which were
brought here to feed the Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be
carried through the air, and so I continued my search until at last it was
rewarded by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at=
one
end of the temple.
A little effort
proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to permit me to crawl
through into the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across the
intervening space to the dense jungle beyond.
Here I sank panti=
ng
and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the giant trees, for I felt t=
hat
I had escaped from the grinning fangs of death out of the depths of my own
grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden=
in
this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome as those which I had ju=
st
escaped. I knew that I could meet =
death
bravely enough if it but came in the form of some familiar beast or
man--anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.
I must have fallen
asleep from exhaustion. When I awo=
ke I
was very hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, I
set off through the jungle to find the beach.
I knew that the island was not so large but that I could easily find=
the
sea if I did but move in a straight line, but there came the difficulty as
there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun, of
course, being always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set t=
hat
I could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight l=
ine.
As it was I must =
have
walked for a great distance since I ate four times and slept twice before I
reached the sea, but at last I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it w=
as
greatly enhanced by the chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes
through which I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach.
I can tell you th=
at
it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft down to the water and sh=
ove
it far out from shore. My experien=
ce
with Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick=
about
it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible.
I must have come =
out
upon the opposite side of the island from that at which Ja and I had entered
it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time I paddled around=
the
shore, though well out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in di=
recting
my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to return to Phut=
ra
and give myself up that I might be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy =
One.
I felt that I was=
a
fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, especially in view of the fact
that our plans were already well formulated to make a break for freedom
together. Of course I realized tha=
t the
chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim indeed, but I knew
that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so long as the old man lived,
and I had learned that the probability that I might find him was less than
slight.
Had Perry been de=
ad,
I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against the savage and
primordial world in which I found myself.
I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had f=
ound
the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and then
set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant companion =
of
my waking hours, and the central and beloved figure of my dreams.
But, to the best =
of
my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my duty and wish to be again with
him, that we might share the dangers and vicissitudes of the strange world =
we
had discovered. And Ghak, too; the
great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for he was in=
deed
every inch a man and king. Uncouth,
perhaps, and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete
twentieth-century civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and
loveable.
Chance carried me=
to
the very beach upon which I had discovered Ja's canoe, and a short time lat=
er I
was scrambling up the steep bank to retrace my steps from the plain of
Phutra. But my troubles came when =
I entered
the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found that several of them centere=
d at
the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed to reach
the pass I could not for the life of me remember.
It was all a matt=
er
of chance and so I set off down that which seemed the easiest going, and in
this I made the same mistake that many of us do in selecting the path along
which we shall follow out the course of our lives, and again learned that i=
t is
not always best to follow the line of least resistance.
By the time I had
eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced that I was upon the wrong
trail, for between Phutra and the inland sea I had not slept at all, and ha=
d eaten
but once. To retrace my steps to t=
he
summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only solution of=
my
problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the canyon just before me
seemed to suggest that it was about to open into a level country, and with =
the
lure of discovery strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance
farther before I turned back.
The next turn of = the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I saw a narrow plain leading = down to an ocean. At my right the side = of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the = foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a broad level beach.<= o:p>
Clumps of strange
trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to the water, and rank gra=
ss
and ferns grew between. From the n=
ature
of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the f=
oothills
was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough all the way to t=
he
sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced and retreated.
Curiosity prompte=
d me
to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and t=
angled
vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my
left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if
anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to dis=
cern
it.
Presently I stood
upon the beach looking out over the wide and lonely sea across whose forbid=
ding
bosom no human being had yet ventured, to discover what strange and mysteri=
ous
lands lay beyond, or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or
adventure. What savage faces, what
fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant watching the lapping of=
the
waves upon its farther shore! How =
far
did it extend? Perry had told me t=
hat
the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison with those of the outer cru=
st,
but even so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands =
of
miles. For countless ages it had r=
olled
up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unk=
nown
beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.
The fascination of
speculation was strong upon me. It=
was
as though I had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer world =
to
look upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was a new world, all untouched.
As I turned, roma=
nce,
adventure, and discovery in the abstract took wing before the terrible
embodiment of all three in concrete form that I beheld advancing upon me.
A huge, slimy
amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty jaws of an alligator.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Its immense carcass must have weighed t=
ons,
and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff that ran fr=
om the
canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature =
had
sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the
center of the narrow way that led to safety stood this huge mountain of
terrible and menacing flesh.
A single glance at
the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was facing one of those
long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose fossilized remains are found with=
in
the outer crust as far back as the Triassic formation, a gigantic
labyrinthodon. And there I was, un=
armed,
and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had come into the
world. I could imagine how my first
ancestor felt that distant, prehistoric morn that he encountered for the fi=
rst
time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside=
the
restless, mysterious sea.
Unquestionably he=
had
escaped, or I should not have been within Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wi=
shed
at that moment that he had handed down to me with the various attributes th=
at I
presumed I have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinc=
t of
self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so close befor=
e me
today.
To seek escape in=
the
swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to jumping into a den of lion=
s to
escape one upon the outside. The s=
ea and
swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous amphibians, =
and
if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue me into either the sea =
or
the swamp with equal facility.
There seemed noth=
ing
to do but stand supinely and await my end.
I thought of Perry--how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought of my friends of the outer wo=
rld,
and of how they all would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the
strange and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird
surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of my
extinction. And with these thought=
s came
a realization of how unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is =
the
existence of any one of us. We may=
be snuffed
out without an instant's warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of =
us
with subdued voices. The following
morning, while the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction=
of
our coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorr=
ow
over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The labyrinthodon was coming more slowly
now. He seemed to realize that esc=
ape
for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged jaws
grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was it in
anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp between those
formidable teeth?
He was about fifty
feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from the direction of the b=
luff
at my left. I looked and could hav=
e shouted
in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving franti=
cally
to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base.
I had no idea tha=
t I
should escape the monster that had marked me for his breakfast, but at leas=
t I
should not die alone. Human eyes w=
ould watch
me end. It was cold comfort I pres=
ume,
but yet I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.
To run seemed
ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable cliff, and yet I did
so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey, crawl down the precipitous fa=
ce
of the rocks, clinging to small projections, and the tough creepers that had
found root-hold here and there.
The labyrinthodon
evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his portion of human flesh, =
so
he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff and frighten away this other
tidbit. Instead he merely trotted =
along behind
me.
As I approached t=
he
foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, but I doubted if the thing
would prove successful. He had com=
e down
to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with one hand to a
small ledge, and with his feet resting, precariously upon tiny bushes that =
grew
from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his long spear unt=
il
it hung some six feet above the ground.
To clamber up that
slim shaft without dragging Ja down and precipitating both to the same doom
from which the copper-colored one was attempting to save me seemed utterly
impossible, and as I came near the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not
risk him to try to save myself.
But he insisted t=
hat
he knew what he was doing and was in no danger himself.
"The danger =
is
still yours," he called, "for unless you move much more rapidly t=
han
you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag you back before ever you =
are
halfway up the spear--he can rear up and reach you with ease anywhere below
where I stand."
Well, Ja should k=
now
his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the spear and clambered up to=
ward
the red man as rapidly as I could--being so far removed from my simian
ancestors as I am. I imagine the s=
low-witted
sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions and that he was
quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it doubled as he had ho=
ped.
When he saw me
clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly shook the ground, and
came charging after me at a terrific rate.
I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; another =
six inches
would give me a hold on Ja's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench from below a=
nd
glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws of the monster close on the
sharp point of the weapon.
I made a frantic
effort to reach Ja's hand, the sithic gave a tremendous tug that came near =
to
jerking Ja from his frail hold on the surface of the rock, the spear slipped
from his fingers, and still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my
executioner.
At the instant th=
at
he felt the spear come away from Ja's hand the creature must have opened his
huge jaws to catch me, for when I came down, still clinging to the butt end=
of
the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth and the result was that the
sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw.
With the pain he
snapped his mouth closed. I fell u=
pon
his snout, lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and h=
ead,
across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground.
Scarce had I touc=
hed
the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly for the path by which I had
entered this horrible valley. A gl=
ance over
my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear stuck throu=
gh
his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in this occupation that I
had gained the safety of the cliff top before he was ready to take up the
pursuit. When he did not discover =
me in
sight within the valley he dashed, hissing into the rank vegetation of the =
swamp
and that was the last I saw of him.
I hastened to the
cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure footing. He would not listen to any thanks for h=
is
attempt to save me, which had come so near miscarrying.
"I had given=
you
up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple," he said, "for
not even I could save you from their clutches, and you may imagine my surpr=
ise
when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the beach of the mainland I discover=
ed
your own footprints in the sand beside it.
"I immediate=
ly
set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must be entirely unarmed
and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk upon the mainland both =
in
the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to =
this
point. It is well that I arrived w=
hen I
did."
"But why did=
you
do it?" I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on the part of a m=
an
of another world and a different race and color.
"You saved my
life," he replied; "from that moment it became my duty to protect=
and
befriend you. I would have been no=
true
Mezop had I evaded my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance fo=
r I
like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member of my tribe.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Among us there is the best of hunting a=
nd
fishing, and you shall have, to choose a mate from, the most beautiful girl=
s of
Pellucidar. Will you come?"
I told him about
Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him=
--if I
could ever find his island.
"Oh, that is
easy, my friend," he said.
"You need merely to come to the foot of the highest peak of the
Mountains of the Clouds. There you=
will
find a river which flows into the Lural Az.
Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large
islands far out, so far that they are barely discernible, the one to the
extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I
rule the tribe of Anoroc."
"But how am =
I to
find the Mountains of the Clouds?" I asked. "Men say that they are visible fro=
m half
Pellucidar," he replied.
"How large is
Pellucidar?" I asked, wondering what sort of theory these primitive men
had concerning the form and substance of their world.
"The Mahars =
say
it is round, like the inside of a tola shell," he answered, "but =
that
is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should fall back were we to travel f=
ar in
any direction, and all the waters of Pellucidar would run to one spot and d=
rown
us. No, Pellucidar is quite flat a=
nd
extends no man knows how far in all directions.
At the edges, so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, i=
s a
great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the
burning sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never have been so far from An=
oroc
as to have seen this wall with my own eyes.
However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is true, wherea=
s there
is no reason at all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them Pellucidarians who li=
ve
upon the opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward!"=
and
Ja laughed uproariously at the very thought.
It was plain to s=
ee
that the human folk of this inner world had not advanced far in learning, a=
nd
the thought that the ugly Mahars had so outstripped them was a very pathetic
one indeed. I wondered how many ag=
es it
would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even were it given to
Perry and me to attempt it. Possib=
ly we
would be killed for our pains as were those men of the outer world who dare=
d challenge
the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the
opportunity ever presented itself.
And then it occur=
red
to me that here was an opportunity--that I might make a small beginning upon
Ja, who was my friend, and thus note the effect of my teaching upon a
Pellucidarian.
"Ja," I
said, "what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as the Mah=
ars'
theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is correct?"
"I would
say," he replied, "that either you are a fool, or took me for one=
."
"But, Ja,&qu=
ot;
I insisted, "if their theory is incorrect how do you account for the f=
act
that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer crust to
Pellucidar. If your theory is corr=
ect
all is a sea of flame beneath us, where in no peoples could exist, and yet I
come from a great world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, and
birds, and fishes in mighty oceans."
"You live up=
on
the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with your head pointed
downward?" he scoffed. "=
And
were I to believe that, my friend, I should indeed be mad."
I attempted to
explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means of the dropped fruit =
to
illustrate how impossible it would be for a body to fall off the earth under
any circumstances. He listened so
intently that I thought I had made an impression, and started the train of =
thought
that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth. But I was
mistaken.
"Your own
illustration," he said finally, "proves the falsity of your theor=
y." He dropped a fruit from his hand to the
ground. "See," he said,
"without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes something
that stops it. If Pellucidar were =
not
supported upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls--you ha=
ve
proven it yourself!" He had me, that time--you could see it in his eye=
.
It seemed a hopel=
ess
job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for when I contemplated the
necessity explanation of our solar system and the universe I realized how
futile it would be to attempt to picture to Ja or any other Pellucidarian t=
he
sun, the moon, the planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner world could=
no
more conceive of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce to facto=
rs
appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and eternity.
"Well, Ja,&q=
uot;
I laughed, "whether we be walking with our feet up or down, here we ar=
e,
and the question of greatest importance is not so much where we came from as
where we are going now. For my par=
t I
wish that you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Ma=
hars
once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which the
Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to the aren=
a to
witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the guardsman. I wish now that I had not left the aren=
a for
by this time my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this
delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their cons=
ummation
upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the
building in which we were confined."
"You would
return to captivity?" cried Ja.
"My friends =
are
there," I replied, "the only friends I have in Pellucidar, except
yourself. What else may I do under=
the circumstances?"
He thought for a
moment in silence. Then he shook h=
is
head sorrowfully.
"It is what a
brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yet it seems mo=
st
foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to death for running
away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends by
returning. Never in all my life ha=
ve I
heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. There are but few who escape them, thou=
gh
some do, and these would rather die than be recaptured."
"I see no ot=
her
way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that I would rather go=
to
Sheol after Perry than to Phutra.
However, Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great
that I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality.&q=
uot;
Ja asked me what
Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he said, "You are
speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the grou=
nd go
there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demon=
s who
dwell there. We know this because =
when
graves are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely b=
orne
off. That is why we of Anoroc plac=
e our
dead in high trees where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to
the Dead World above the Land of Awful Shadow.
If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it may go to
Molop Az."
As we talked we h=
ad
been walking up the canyon down which I had come to the great ocean and the
sithic. Ja did his best to dissuad=
e me
from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so, h=
e consented
to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where lay the
city. To my surprise the distance =
was
but short from the beach where I had again met Ja. It was evident that I had spent much ti=
me following
the windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge lay the city =
of
Phutra near to which I must have come several times.
As we topped the
ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the flowered plain at our fee=
t Ja
made a final effort to persuade me to abandon my mad purpose and return with
him to Anoroc, but I was firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye,
assured in his own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time.
I was sorry to pa=
rt
with Ja, for I had come to like him very much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of
Anoroc as a base, and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have
accomplished much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we
successful in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.
There was, howeve=
r,
one great thing to be accomplished first--at least it was the great thing to
me--the finding of Dian the Beautiful. =
span>I
wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my ignorance, a=
nd I
wanted to--well, I wanted to see her again, and to be with her.
Down the hillside=
I
made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and then across the rolling
land toward the shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra.
Though they
brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches I paid not the
slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them as though unaware =
of
their existence. My manner had the
effect upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they
ceased their savage shouting. It w=
as
evident that they had expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus
presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to =
cast
their spears.
"What do you
here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, "Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from a=
nother
world--he who escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why do you return, having once made=
good
your escape?"
"I did not
'escape'," I replied. "I=
but
ran away to avoid the thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage I
became confused and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way back."=
;
"And you com=
e of
your free will back to Phutra!" exclaimed one of the guardsmen.
"Where else
might I go?" I asked. "I=
am a
stranger within Pellucidar and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to be in Phutra=
? Am I not well fed and well treated?
The Sagoths scrat=
ched
their heads. This was a new one on=
them,
and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt wou=
ld be
better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they still
considered it.
I had spoken to t=
he
Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them off the scent of my purpo=
sed
attempt at escape. If they thought=
that
I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily return
when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they would never=
for
an instant imagine that I could be occupied in arranging another escape
immediately upon my return to the city.
So they led me be=
fore
a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within the large room that was the
thing's office. With cold, reptili=
an
eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and r=
ead
my inmost thoughts. It heeded the =
story
which the Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's l=
ips
and fingers during the recital. Th=
en it
questioned me through one of the Sagoths.
"You say that
you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because you think yourself be=
tter
off here than elsewhere--do you not know that you may be the next chosen to=
give
up your life in the interests of the wonderful scientific investigations th=
at
our learned ones are continually occupied with?"
I hadn't heard of
anything of that nature, but I thought best not to admit it.
"I could be =
in
no more danger here," I said, "than naked and unarmed in the sava=
ge
jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was fortunate, I think, to return to =
Phutra
at all. As it was I barely escaped=
death
within the jaws of a huge sithic. =
No, I
am sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule
Phutra. At least such would be the=
case
in my own world, where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races of man extend
protection and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a =
stranger
here I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be accorded me."
The Mahar looked =
at
me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking and the Sagoth had
translated my words to his master. The
creature seemed deep in thought.
Presently he communicated some message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to =
follow
him, left the presence of the reptile.
Behind and on either side of me marched the balance of the guard.
"What are th=
ey
going to do with me?" I asked the fellow at my right.
"You are to
appear before the learned ones who will question you regarding this strange
world from which you say you come."
After a moment's
silence he turned to me again.
"Do you happ=
en
to know," he asked, "what the Mahars do to slaves who lie to
them?"
"No," I
replied, "nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of lying to =
the
Mahars."
"Then be car=
eful
that you don't repeat the impossible tale you told Sol-to-to just now--anot=
her
world, indeed, where human beings rule!" he concluded in fine scorn.
"But it is t=
he
truth," I insisted. "From
where else then did I come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that.=
"
"It is your
misfortune then," he remarked dryly, "that you may not be judged =
by
one with but half an eye."
"What will t=
hey
do with me," I asked, "if they do not have a mind to believe
me?"
"You may be
sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in research work by the
learned ones," he replied.
"And what wi=
ll
they do with me there?" I persisted.
"No one knows
except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with them, but as the latter
never return, their knowledge does them but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up=
their
subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However I should not imagine that it wo=
uld
prove very useful to him who was being cut up; but of course this is all but
conjecture. The chances are that e=
re long
you will know much more about it than I," and he grinned as he spoke.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> The Sagoths have a well-developed sense=
of
humor.
"And suppose=
it
is the arena," I continued; "what then?"
"You saw the=
two
who met the tarag and the thag the time that you escaped?" he said.
"Yes."<= o:p>
"Your end in=
the
arena would be similar to what was intended for them," he explained,
"though of course the same kinds of animals might not be employed.&quo=
t;
"It is sure
death in either event?" I asked.
"What become=
s of
those who go below with the learned ones I do not know, nor does any
other," he replied; "but those who go to the arena may come out a=
live
and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom you saw."
"They gained
their liberty? And how?"
"It is the
custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive within the arena af=
ter
the beasts depart or are killed. T=
hus it
has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, whom we h=
ave
captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in upon them and
slain them, thereby winning their freedom.
In the instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, bu=
t the
result was the same--the man and woman were liberated, furnished with weapo=
ns,
and started on their homeward journey.
Upon the left shoulder of each a mark was burned--the mark of the
Mahars--which will forever protect these two from slaving parties."
"There is a
slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, and none at all if the
learned ones drag me to the pits?"
"You are qui=
te
right," he replied; "but do not felicitate yourself too quickly
should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce one in a thousand who
comes out alive."
To my surprise th=
ey
returned me to the same building in which I had been confined with Perry and
Ghak before my escape. At the door=
way I was
turned over to the guards there.
"He will
doubtless be called before the investigators shortly," said he who had
brought me back, "so have him in readiness."
The guards in who=
se
hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I had returned of my own voliti=
on
to Phutra evidently felt that it would be safe to give me liberty within the
building as had been the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to
return to whatever duty had been mine formerly.
My first act was =
to
hunt up Perry; whom I found poring as usual over the great tomes that he was
supposed to be merely dusting and rearranging upon new shelves.
As I entered the =
room
he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only to resume his work as thoug=
h I
had never been away at all. I was =
both astonished
and hurt at his indifference. And =
to
think that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty=
and
affection!
"Why,
Perry!" I exclaimed, "haven't you a word for me after my long abs=
ence?"
"Long
absence!" he repeated in evident astonishment. "What do you mean?"
"Are you cra=
zy,
Perry? Do you mean to say that you=
have
not missed me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within=
the
arena?"
"'That
time'," he repeated. "Wh=
y man,
I have but just returned from the arena!
You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much later I shou=
ld
indeed have been worried, and as it is I had intended asking you about how =
you
escaped the beast as soon as I had completed the translation of this most
interesting passage."
"Perry, you =
ARE
mad," I exclaimed. "Why,=
the
Lord only knows how long I have been away.
I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of humans within
Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their hidden temple, and ba=
rely
escaped with my life from them and from a great labyrinthodon that I met
afterward, following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown
world. I must have been away for m=
onths,
Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and insist t=
hat
we have been separated but a moment. Is
that any way to treat a friend? I'm
surprised at you, Perry, and if I'd thought for a moment that you cared no =
more
for me than this I should not have returned to chance death at the hands of=
the
Mahars for your sake."
The old man looke=
d at
me for a long time before he spoke.
There was a puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of
hurt sorrow in his eyes.
"David, my
boy," he said, "how could you for a moment doubt my love for you?=
There is something strange here that I =
cannot
understand. I know that I am not m=
ad,
and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in the world are we to acco=
unt
for the strange hallucinations that each of us seems to harbor relative to =
the
passage of time since last we saw each other.
You are positive that months have gone by, while to me it seems equa=
lly
certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you in the
amphitheater. Can it be that both =
of us
are right and at the same time both are wrong?
First tell me what time is, and then maybe I can solve our problem.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Do you catch my meaning?"
I didn't and said=
so.
"Yes,"
continued the old man, "we are both right.
To me, bent over my book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or nothing to waste =
my
energies and so have required neither food nor sleep, but you, on the contr=
ary,
have walked and fought and wasted strength and tissue which must needs be
rebuilt by nutriment and food, and so, having eaten and slept many times si=
nce
last you saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these
acts. As a matter of fact, David, =
I am
rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no such thing as time--surely
there can be no time here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for
measuring or recording time. Why, =
the Mahars
themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works=
but a
single tense, the present. There s=
eems
to be neither past nor future with them.
Of course it is impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such=
a
condition, but our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence.&qu=
ot;
It was too big a
subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to enjoy nothing better than
speculating upon it, and after listening with interest to my account of the
adventures through which I had passed he returned once more to the subject,
which he was enlarging upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupt=
ed
by the entrance of a Sagoth.
"Come!"
commanded the intruder, beckoning to me.
"The investigators would speak with you."
"Good-bye,
Perry!" I said, clasping the old man's hand. "There may be nothing but the pres=
ent
and no such thing as time, but I feel that I am about to take a trip into t=
he
hereafter from which I shall never return.
If you and Ghak should manage to escape I want you to promise me that
you will find Dian the Beautiful and tell her that with my last words I ask=
ed
her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon her, and that my o=
ne
wish was to be spared long enough to right the wrong that I had done her.&q=
uot;
Tears came to Per=
ry's
eyes.
"I cannot
believe but that you will return, David," he said. "It would be awful to think of liv=
ing
out the balance of my life without you among these hateful and repulsive
creatures. If you are taken away I=
shall
never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as I should be anywhere
within this buried world. Good-bye=
, my
boy, good-bye!" and then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he h=
id
his face in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly by the should=
er
and hustled me from the chamber.
XI
- FOUR DEAD MAHARS
A moment later I =
was
standing before a dozen Mahars--the social investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through a=
Sagoth
interpreter. I answered them all
truthfully. They seemed particular=
ly
interested in my account of the outer earth and the strange vehicle which h=
ad
brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I thought
that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silence for a long time
following my examination, I expected to be ordered returned to my quarters.=
During this appar=
ent
silence they were debating through the medium of strange, unspoken language=
the
merits of my tale. At last the hea=
d of the
tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officer in char=
ge
of the Sagoth guard.
"Come,"=
he
said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits for having dar=
ed
to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous tale you =
have
had the temerity to unfold to them."
"Do you mean
that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally astonished.
"Believe
you!" he laughed. "Do yo=
u mean
to say that you expected any one to believe so impossible a lie?"
It was hopeless, =
and
so I walked in silence beside my guard down through the dark corridors and
runways toward my awful doom. At a=
low level
we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many Mahars engag=
ed
in various occupations. To one of =
these
chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side
wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a victim even as =
I was
ushered into the room. Several Mah=
ars
stood about the poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another, grasping a sharp knife with her
three-toed fore foot, was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered and=
the
shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed,=
was
vivisection with a vengeance. Cold=
sweat
broke out upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think that where there was no su=
ch
thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring for mon=
ths
before death finally released me!
The Mahars had pa=
id
not the slightest attention to me as I had been brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their w=
ork
that I am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me.=
The
door was close by. Would that I co=
uld
reach it! But those heavy chains
precluded any such possibility. I =
looked
about for some means of escape from my bonds.
Upon the floor between me and the Mahars lay a tiny surgical instrum=
ent
which one of them must have dropped. It looked
not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point was
sharpened. A hundred times in my b=
oyhood
days had I picked locks with a button-hook.
Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effe=
ct
at least a temporary escape.
Crawling to the l=
imit
of my chain, I found that by reaching one hand as far out as I could my fin=
gers
still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being as I wo=
uld, I
could not quite make it.
At last I turned
about and extended one foot toward the object.
My heart came to my throat! I
could just touch the thing! But su=
ppose that
in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove it still fart=
her
away and thus entirely out of reach!
Cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort=
. My
toes dropped upon the cold metal.
Gradually I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reac=
h of
my hand and a moment later I had turned about and the precious thing was in=
my
grasp.
Assiduously I fel=
l to
work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain.
It was pitifully simple. A =
child
might have picked it, and a moment later I was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing
their work at the table. One alrea=
dy
turned away and was examining other victims, evidently with the intention of
selecting the next subject.
Those at the table
had their backs toward me. But for=
the
creature walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thing approached me, when its
attention was attracted by a huge slave chained a few yards to my right.
Where I was, or
whither I was going, I knew not. M=
y only
thought was to place as much distance as possible between me and that frigh=
tful
chamber of torture.
Presently I reduc=
ed
my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing the danger of running into so=
me
new predicament, were I not careful, I moved still more slowly and
cautiously. After a time I came to=
a passage
that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and presently, chancing =
to
glance within a chamber which led from the corridor I saw three Mahars curl=
ed
up in slumber upon a bed of skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and
relief. It was the same corridor a=
nd the
same Mahars that I had intended to have lead so important a role in our esc=
ape
from Phutra. Providence had indeed=
been
kind to me, for the reptiles still slept.
My one great dang=
er
now lay in returning to the upper levels in search of Perry and Ghak, but t=
here
was nothing else to be done, and so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions =
of the
building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and these I lifted to=
my
head, carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell down about my
shoulders completely hiding my face.
Thus disguised I found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where =
we
had been wont to eat and sleep.
Both were glad to=
see
me, it was needless to say, though of course they had known nothing of the =
fate
that had been meted out to me by my judges.
It was decided that no time should now be lost before attempting to =
put
our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope to remain hidden from t=
he
Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that bale of skins about upon my he=
ad
without arousing suspicion. Howeve=
r it
seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through the crowded
passages and chambers of the upper levels, and so I set out with Perry and
Ghak--the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly choking me.
Together we repai=
red
to the first tier of corridors beneath the main floor of the buildings, and
here Perry and Ghak halted to await me. The buildings are cut out of the so=
lid
limestone formation. There is noth=
ing at
all remarkable about their architecture.
The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again o=
val
in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straig=
ht. The
chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to
those by which the avenues are lighted.
The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unli=
ghted.
The Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness.
Down to the main
floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and slaves; but no attention was
paid to us as we had become a part of the domestic life of the building.
Wrapped in a skin=
I
carried three swords, and the two bows, and the arrows which Perry and I ha=
d fashioned. As many slaves bore skin-wrapped burden=
s to
and fro my load attracted no comment.
Where I left Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, =
and
so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of the we=
apons
with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels.
Having come to the
apartment in which the three Mahars slept I entered silently on tiptoe,
forgetting that the creatures were without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I
disposed of the first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, so that be=
fore
I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the third,=
who
sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation whic=
h the
race of Mahars loves, and when the thing saw that I already had dispatched =
two
of its companions, and that my sword was red with their blood, it made a da=
sh
to escape me. But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying=
, it
scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels.
Its escape meant =
the
utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but=
even
at my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before
me.
Of a sudden it tu=
rned
into an apartment on the right of the corridor, and an instant later as I
rushed in I found myself facing two of the Mahars. The one who had been there when we ente=
red
had been occupied with a number of metal vessels, into which had been put p=
owders
and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the be=
nch
where it had been working. In an i=
nstant
I realized what I had stumbled upon. It
was the very room for the finding of which Perry had given me minute
directions. It was the buried cham=
ber in
which was hidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench beside the flasks lay =
the
skin-bound book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought,
after dispatching the three Mahars in their sleep.
There was no exit
from the room other than the doorway in which I now stood facing the two
frightful reptiles. Cornered, I kn=
ew
that they would fight like demons, and they were well equipped to fight if
fight they must. Together they lau=
nched
themselves upon me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the
instant, the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the
elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about the body,
evidently intent upon disemboweling me.
I saw that it was useless to hope that I might release my arm from t=
hat
powerful, viselike grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body.
Back and forth ac=
ross
the floor we struggled--the Mahar dealing me terrific, cutting blows with h=
er
fore feet, while I attempted to protect my body with my left hand, at the s=
ame
time watching for an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless s=
word
hand to its rapidly weakening mate. At
last I was successful, and with what seemed to me my last ounce of strength=
I
ran the blade through the ugly body of my foe.
Soundless, as it =
had
fought, it died, and though weak from pain and loss of blood, it was with an
emotion of triumphant pride that I stepped across its convulsively stiffeni=
ng
corpse to snatch up the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it was the v=
ery thing
that Perry had described to me.
And as I grasped =
it
did I think of what it meant to the human race of Pellucidar--did there fla=
sh
through my mind the thought that countless generations of my own kind yet
unborn would have reason to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished
for them? I did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gaz=
ing
out of limpid eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God-made fo=
r kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, st=
anding
there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized t=
hat
I loved Dian the Beautiful.
For an instant I
stood there thinking of her, and then, with a sigh, I tucked the book in the
thong that supported my loin cloth, and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which lea=
ds aloft
from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the prearranged signal
which was to announce to Perry and Ghak that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, an=
d to
my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.
"He joined
us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be th=
warted
of our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you dec=
ide whether
he might accompany us."
I had no love for
Hooja, and no confidence in him. I=
was
sure that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I saw no
way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of on=
ly the
three I had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow in our sche=
me
of escape.
"Very
well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the first int=
imation
of treachery I shall run my sword through you.
Do you understand?"
He said that he d=
id.
Some time later we
had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and so succeeded in crawling in=
side
of them ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance for us to pass
unnoticed from Phutra. It was not =
an easy
thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them along the belly =
to
remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining out until the others had=
all
been sewed in with my help, and then leaving an aperture in the breast of
Perry's skin through which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were
enabled to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had
hoped. We managed to keep the heads
erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same means were
enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We had our greatest difficulty with the
webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved, so that when we moved
about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats =
into
which our heads were thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our
progress.
Thus we started up
toward the main floor of the building.
Ghak headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hoo=
ja,
while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged=
my sword
that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into his vitals were=
he
to show any indication of faltering.
As the noise of
hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busy corridors of the main
level, my heart came up into my mouth.
It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened--nev=
er
before in my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearin=
g fear
and suspense as enveloped me. If i=
t be
possible to sweat blood, I sweat it then.
Slowly, after the
manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, when they are not using their
wings, we crept through throngs of busy slaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we reache=
d the
outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths loitered near the opening.=
They glanced at Ghak as he padded betwe=
en
them. Then Perry passed, and then
Hooja. Now it was my turn, and the=
n in a
sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warm blood from my wounded
arm was trickling down through the dead foot of the Mahar skin I wore and
leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, for I saw a Sagoth call a
companion's attention to it.
The guard stepped
before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke to me in the sign language
which these two races employ as a means of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I c=
ould
not have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a great Mahar freeze a
presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It
seemed my only hope, and so I tried it.
Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword so that it made the dead head
appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the gorilla-man. For a long moment I sto=
od
perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started slo=
wly
on. For a moment all hung in the
balance, but before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I pass=
ed
on out into the avenue.
On we went up the
broad street, but now we were safe for the very numbers of our enemies that
surrounded us on all sides. Fortun=
ately,
there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lake which l=
ies
a mile or more from the city. They=
go
there to indulge their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and
enjoying the cool depths of the water.
It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, and free from the larger reptiles
which make the use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but t=
heir
own kind.
In the thick of t=
he
crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the plain. For some distance Ghak remained with the
stream that was traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a
little gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we w=
ere alone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off
directly away from Phutra.
The heat of the
vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horrible prisons unbearable, so
that after passing a low divide, and entering a sheltering forest, we final=
ly
discarded the Mahar skins that had brought us thus far in safety.
I shall not weary=
you
with the details of that bitter and galling flight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we
dropped in our tracks. How we were=
beset
by strange and terrible beasts. Ho=
w we barely
escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of which would dwarf i=
nto
pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the outer world.
On and on we race=
d,
our one thought to put as much distance between ourselves and Phutra as
possible. Ghak was leading us to h=
is own
land--the land of Sari. No sign of
pursuit had developed, and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us relent=
less
Sagoths were dogging our tracks. G=
hak
said they never failed to hunt down their quarry until they had captured it=
or
themselves been turned back by a superior force.
Our only hope, he
said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite strong enough in their moun=
tain
fastness to beat off any number of Sagoths.
At last, after wh=
at
seemed months, and may, I now realize, have been years, we came in sight of=
the
dun escarpment which buttressed the foothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who =
looked
ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body of =
men
far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake.
It was the long-expected pursuit.
I asked Ghak if we
could make Sari in time to escape them.
"We may,&quo=
t;
he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move with incredib=
le
swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they are doubtless much fresher =
than
we. Then--" he paused, glanci=
ng at
Perry.
I knew what he
meant. The old man was exhausted.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> For much of the period of our flight ei=
ther
Ghak or I had half supported him on the march.
With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagoths might eas=
ily
overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which confronted us.
"You and Hoo=
ja
go on ahead," I said. "P=
erry
and I will make it if we are able. We
cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no reason why all should =
be
lost because of that. It can't be
helped--we have simply to face it."
"I will not
desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn't known that this great, hairy,
primeval man had any such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now to my l=
iking
was added honor and respect. Yes, =
and
love.
But still I urged=
him
to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reach his people he might be abl=
e to
bring out a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and
myself.
No, he wouldn't l=
eave
us, and that was all there was to it, but he suggested that Hooja might hur=
ry
on and warn the Sarians of the king's danger.
It didn't require much urging to start Hooja--the naked idea was eno=
ugh
to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which we now had reac=
hed.
Perry realized th=
at
he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and the old fellow fairly begged u=
s to
go on without him, although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish =
of
terror at the thought of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, in par=
t, by
lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed he =
still
could travel faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.
The Sagoths were
gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us they had greatly increa=
sed
their speed. On and on we stumbled=
up
the narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On either side rose precipitous cliffs =
of
gorgeous, parti-colored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass
formed a soft and noiseless carpet.
Since we had entered the canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuer=
s,
and I was commencing to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would
reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should=
be
overtaken.
Ahead we neither =
saw
nor heard any sign which might betoken the success of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the outpo=
sts of
the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen =
as
they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor. In another
moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with primeval warriors.
Hooja still harbo=
red
ill will against me because of the blow I had struck in Dian's protection, =
and
his malevolent spirit was equal to sacrificing us all that he might be reve=
nged
upon me.
As we drew nearer=
the
barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians appeared Ghak became both an=
gry
and alarmed, and presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell
upon our ears, he called to me over his shoulder that we were lost.
A backward glance
gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at the far end of a considera=
ble
stretch of canyon through which we had just passed, and then a sudden turni=
ng
shut the ugly creature from my view; but the loud howl of triumphant rage w=
hich
rose behind us was evidence that the gorilla-man had sighted us.
Again the canyon
veered sharply to the left, but to the right another branch ran on at a les=
ser
deviation from the general direction, so that appeared more like the main
canyon than the left-hand branch. =
The Sagoths
were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw that it =
was
hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak =
and
Perry, and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.
Pausing there I
waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a=
bend
in the left-hand canyon, and as the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he =
had
seen me I turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the entire =
party
of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak bore Perry =
to
safety up the other.
Running has never=
been
my particular athletic forte, and now when my very life depended upon fleet=
ness
of foot I cannot say that I ran any better than on the occasions when my
pitiful base running had called down upon my head the rooter's raucous and
reproachful cries of "Ice Wagon," and "Call a cab."
The Sagoths were
gaining on me rapidly. There was o=
ne in
particular, fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit, ris=
ing
roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a pass between two abutting
peaks. What lay beyond I could not=
even guess--possibly
a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding valley upon the oth=
er
side. Could it be that I had plung=
ed
into a cul-de-sac?
Realizing that I
could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the top of the canyon I had
determined to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily, and to this=
end
had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver wh=
ich
hung behind my shoulder. As I fitt=
ed the
shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla-man.
In the world of my
birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our escape from Phutra I had kept
the party supplied with small game by means of my arrows, and so, through
necessity, had developed a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had res=
trung
my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I h=
ad
worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely =
tough
and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwont=
ed
confidence in my weapon.
Never had I great=
er
need of steady nerves than then--never were my nerves and muscles under bet=
ter
control. I sighted as carefully an=
d deliberately
as though at a straw target. The S=
agoth
had never before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept o=
ver
his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine=
of destruction,
for he too came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a
throw. It is one of the many metho=
ds in
which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, =
even
under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous.
My shaft was drawn
back its full length--my eye had centered its sharp point upon the left bre=
ast
of my adversary; and then he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> At the instant that our missiles flew I
leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his attack w=
ith
a spear thrust. I felt the swish o=
f the
hatchet at it grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the
Sagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my feet-=
-stone
dead. Close behind him were two
more--fifty yards perhaps--but the distance gave me time to snatch up the d=
ead guardsman's
shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me had borne in upon =
me
the urgent need I had for one. Tho=
se
which I had purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along because
their size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars whi=
ch had
brought us safely from the city.
With the shield
slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another arrow, which brought =
down
a second Sagoth, and then as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it
upon the shield, and fitted another shaft for him; but he did not wait to
receive it. Instead, he turned and
retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men.
Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.
Once more I took =
up
my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently overanxious to press their pursu=
it
so closely as before. Unmolested I=
reached
the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or three hundred fe=
et
to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a narrow ledge rounded the
shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along
this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's e=
nd,
the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave. Before, the ledge continued until it pa=
ssed
from sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.
Here, I felt, I c=
ould
defy an army, for but a single foeman could advance upon me at a time, nor
could he know that I was awaiting him until he came full upon me around the
corner of the turn. About me lay s=
cattered
stones crumbled from the cliff above.
They were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy
dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones into a lit=
tle
pile beside the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of the Sagoths.
As I stood there,
tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound that should announce =
the
approach of my enemies, a slight noise from within the cave's black depths
attracted my attention. It might h=
ave been
produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising from the
rock floor of its lair. At almost =
the
same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the
ledge beyond the turn. For the nex=
t few
seconds my attention was considerably divided.
And then from the
inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two =
feet
above my head. It is true that the=
beast
who owned them might be standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it m=
ight
be rearing up upon its hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of
Pellucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose
dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before.
Whatever it was, =
it
was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave, and now, deep and
forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl.
I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing=
which
owned that voice. The noise had no=
t been
loud--I doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all--but the suggestion of latent
possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a
gigantic and ferocious beast.
As I backed along= the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave, where I no longer could see th= ose fearful flaming eyes, but an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish f= ace of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other= 's heels. At the same time the beast emerged from= the cave, so that he and the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge.<= o:p>
The thing was an
enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully eight feet at the shoul=
der,
while from the tip of its nose to the end of its stubby tail it was fully
twelve feet in length. As it sight=
ed the
Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth charged full =
upon
them. With a cry of terror the for=
emost
gorilla-man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushin=
g companions.
The horror of the
following seconds is indescribable. The
Sagoth nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped=
deliberately
to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and
gathered in the next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the
mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause in =
his
steady advance along the ledge.
Shrieking Sagoths
were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and the last I saw=
he
rounded the turn still pursuing the demoralized remnant of the man
hunters. For a long time I could h=
ear the
horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his
victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the
distance.
Later I learned f=
rom
Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen and returned with a party to re=
scue
me, that the ryth, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths until it had
exterminated the entire band. Ghak=
was,
of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature, which,
within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts.
Not caring to ven=
ture
back into the canyon, where I might fall prey either to the cave bear or the
Sagoths I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following around =
the
mountain I could reach the land of Sari from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the =
twisting
and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to the land of S=
ari
then, nor for a long time thereafter.
With no heavenly
guide, it is little wonder that I became confused and lost in the labyrinth=
ine
maze of those mighty hills. What, =
in
reality, I did was to pass entirely through them and come out above the val=
ley upon
the farther side. I know that I wa=
ndered
for a long time, until tired and hungry I came upon a small cave in the fac=
e of
the limestone formation which had taken the place of the granite farther ba=
ck.
The cave which to=
ok
my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no
extremely formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to ma=
ke a
comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet it was with the utmost caution that=
I
crawled within its dark interior.
Here I found a ra=
ther
large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in the rock above which let the
sunlight filter in in sufficient quantities partially to dispel the utter
darkness which I had expected. The=
cave was
entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been recently
occupied. The opening was comparat=
ively
small, so that after considerable effort I was able to lug up a bowlder from
the valley below which entirely blocked it.
Then I returned a=
gain
to the valley for an armful of grasses and on this trip was fortunate enoug=
h to
knock over an orthopi, the diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little animal
about the size of a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the inner
world. Thus, with food and bedding=
I
returned to my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to which I had now bec=
ome
quite accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the entrance and curled myse=
lf
upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval, cave man, as savagely primitive a=
s my
prehistoric progenitors.
I awoke rested but
hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled out upon the little rocky she=
lf
which was my front porch. Before me
spread a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a clear an=
d sparkling
river wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters of which were ju=
st
visible between the two mountain ranges which embraced this little
paradise. The sides of the opposite
hills were green with verdure, for a great forest clothed them to the foot =
of
the red and yellow and copper green of the towering crags which formed thei=
r summit. The valley itself was carpeted with a
luxuriant grass, while here and there patches of wild flowers made great
splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green.
Dotted over the f=
ace
of the valley were little clusters of palmlike trees--three or four togethe=
r as
a rule. Beneath these stood antelo=
pe, while
others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully to a nearby ford to
drink. There were several species =
of
this beautiful animal, the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant e=
land
of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward ov=
er their
ears and then forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and formidable po=
ints
some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In size they remind one of a pure bred
Hereford bull, yet they are very agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the =
dark
roan of their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they are handsome animals, a=
nd
added the finishing touch to the strange and lovely landscape that spread
before my new home.
I had determined =
to
make the cave my headquarters, and with it as a base make a systematic
exploration of the surrounding country in search of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the c=
arcass
of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep n=
iche
at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door, and with b=
ow,
arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down into the peaceful valley.
The grazing herds
moved to one side as I passed through them, the little orthopi evincing the
greatest wariness and galloping to safest distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I
approached, and after moving to what they considered a safe distance stood
contemplating me with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull antelopes of t=
he
striped species lowered his head and bellowed angrily--even taking a few st=
eps
in my direction, so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had pass=
ed,
he resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him.
Near the lower en=
d of
the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and across the river saw a great sa=
dok,
the enormous double-horned progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the cliffs upon the=
left
ran out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I desired to do it was
necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along which I might continue my
journey. Some fifty feet from the =
base I
came upon a projection which formed a natural path along the face of the cl=
iff,
and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end.
Here the ledge
inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the cliffs--the stratum which for=
med
it evidently having been forced up at this steep angle when the mountains
behind it were born. As I climbed =
carefully
up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by the sound of str=
ange
hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings.
And at the first
glance there broke upon my horrified vision the most frightful thing I had =
seen
even within Pellucidar. It was a g=
iant dragon
such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of earth folk. Its huge body must have measured forty =
feet
in length, while the bat-like wings that supported it in midair had a sprea=
d of
fully thirty. Its gaping jaws were=
armed
with long, sharp teeth, and its claw equipped with horrible talons.
The hissing noise
which had first attracted my attention was issuing from its throat, and see=
med
to be directed at something beyond and below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood terminated
abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I saw the cause of
the reptile's agitation.
Some time in past
ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this point, so that beyond the s=
pot
where I stood the strata had slipped down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of=
my
ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did the end u=
pon
which I stood.
And here, evident=
ly
halted in flight by this insurmountable break in the ledge, stood the objec=
t of
the creature's attack--a girl cowering upon the narrow platform, her face
buried in her arms, as though to shut out the sight of the frightful death
which hovered just above her.
The dragon was
circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an
instant in which to weigh the possible chances that I had against the awful=
ly
armed creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out t=
o all
that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other sex, which
nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation in primeval man,
drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet.
Almost thoughtles=
s of
the consequences, I leaped from the end of the ledge upon which I stood, for
the tiny shelf twenty feet below. =
At the
same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent upon
the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and then rose a=
bove
us once more.
The noise I made =
as I
landed beside her convinced the girl that the end had come, for she thought=
I
was the dragon; but finally when no cruel fangs closed upon her she raised =
her
eyes in astonishment. As they fell=
upon
me the expression that came into them would be difficult to describe; but h=
er
feelings could scarcely have been one whit more complicated than my own--for
the wide eyes that looked into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful.
"Dian!"=
I
cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."
"You?" =
she
whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell whether she we=
re
glad or angry that I had come.
Once more the dra=
gon
was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had no time to unsling my
bow. All that I could do was to sn=
atch
up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim was true, and with a hiss =
of
pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and soared away.
Quickly I fitted =
an
arrow now that I might be ready at the next attack, and as I did so I looked
down at the girl, so that I surprised her in a surreptitious glance which s=
he
was stealing at me; but immediately, she again covered her face with her ha=
nds.
"Look at me,
Dian," I pleaded. "Are y=
ou not
glad to see me?"
She looked straig=
ht
into my eyes.
"I hate
you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair hearing she
pointed over my shoulder. "Th=
e thipdar
comes," she said, and I turned again to meet the reptile.
So this was a
thipdar. I might have known it.
Hissing like the
escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature fell turning and twisti=
ng
into the sea below, my arrow buried completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was looking past me. It was evident that she had seen the th=
ipdar
die.
"Dian,"=
I
said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I have found
you?"
"I hate
you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less vehemence=
in
it than before--yet it might have been but my imagination.
"Why do you =
hate
me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me.
"What are you
doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you since Hooja f=
reed
you from the Sagoths?"
At first I thought
that she was going to ignore me entirely, but finally she thought better of=
it.
"I was again
running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. "After I escaped from the Sagoths =
I made
my way alone back to my own land; but on account of Jubal I did not dare en=
ter
the villages or let any of my friends know that I had returned for fear that
Jubal might find out. By watching for a long time I found that my brother h=
ad
not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a cave beside a valley whic=
h my
race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he should come back and free =
me
from Jubal.
"But at last=
one
of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward my father's cave to see =
if
my brother had yet returned and he gave the alarm and Jubal set out after
me. He has been pursuing me across=
many lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you and carr=
y me
back to his cave. He is a terrible
man. I have gone as far as I can g=
o, and
there is no escape," and she looked hopelessly up at the continuation =
of
the ledge twenty feet above us.
"But he shall
not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. "The sea =
is
there"--she pointed over the edge of the cliff--"and the sea shall
have me rather than Jubal."
"But I have =
you
now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other have you, for=
you
are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift it above her head and=
let
it fall in token of release.
She had risen to =
her
feet, and was looking straight into my eyes with level gaze.
"I do not
believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would have done =
this
when the others were present to witness it--then I should truly have been y=
our
mate; now there is no one to see you do it, for you know that without witne=
sses
your act does not bind you to me," and she withdrew her hand from mine=
and
turned away.
I tried to convin=
ce
her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't forget the humiliation that=
I
had put upon her on that other occasion.
"If you mean=
all
that you say you will have ample chance to prove it," she said, "=
if
Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am
in your power, and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of yo=
ur intentions
toward me. I am not your mate, and=
again
I tell you that I hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you
again."
Dian certainly was
candid. There was no gainsaying
that. In fact I found candor and d=
irectness
to be quite a marked characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make some a=
ttempt
to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am free to
admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable and ferocious
creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first met her.
This is how it
happened. I had led Dian back alon=
g the
ledge the way she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the =
top
of the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the edge of my ow=
n little
valley, where I felt certain we should find a means of ingress from the cli=
ff
top. As we proceeded along the led=
ge I
gave Dian minute directions for finding my cave against the chance of somet=
hing
happening to me. I knew that she w=
ould
be quite safely hidden away from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my
lair, and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance.
Also, I was very =
much
piqued by her treatment of me. My =
heart
was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting that s=
omething
terrible might happen to me--that I might, in fact, be killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at lea=
st as
far as I could perceive. Dian simp=
ly
shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers, and murmured something to the
effect that one was not rid of trouble so easily as that.
For a while I kept
still. I was utterly squelched.
Presently we foun=
d a
rift in the cliff which had been widened and extended by the action of the
water draining through it from the plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the
summit, but finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for
several miles to the mountain range.
Behind us lay the broad inland sea, curving upward in the horizonless
distance to merge into the blue of the sky, so that for all the world it lo=
oked
as though the sea lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyo=
nd
the distant mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny aspect of the sea=
scapes
of Pellucidar balk description.
At our right lay a
dense forest, but to the left the country was open and clear to the plateau=
's
farther verge. It was in this dire=
ction that
our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey when Dian touched my
arm. I turned to her, thinking tha=
t she
was about to make peace overtures; but I was mistaken.
"Jubal,"
she said, and nodded toward the forest.
I looked, and the=
re,
emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect whale of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and
proportioned accordingly. He still=
was
too far off to distinguish his features.
"Run," I
said to Dian. "I can engage h=
im
until you get a good start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten enti=
rely
away," and then, without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly
One. I had hoped that Dian would h=
ave a
kind word to say to me before she went, for she must have known that I was
going to my death for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me good-b=
ye,
and it was with a heavy heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled g=
rass
to my doom.
When I had come c=
lose
enough to Jubal to distinguish his features I understood how it was that he=
had
earned the sobriquet of Ugly One. Apparently some fearful beast had ripped =
away
one entire side of his face. The e=
ye was
gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws and all his teeth were
exposed and grinning through the horrible scar.
Formerly he may h=
ave
been as good to look upon as the others of his handsome race, and it may be
that the terrible result of this encounter had tended to sour an already st=
rong
and brutal character. However this=
may
be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now that his
features, or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at the sight of =
Dian
with another male, he was indeed most terrible to see--and much more terrib=
le
to meet.
He had broken int=
o a
run now, and as he advanced he raised his mighty spear, while I halted and
fitting an arrow to my bow took as steady aim as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I=
must
confess that the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves to such=
an extent
that my knees were anything but steady.
What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom even the fier=
cest
cave bear had no terrors! Could I =
hope
to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth single-handed! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself=
, my
fear was more for Dian than for my own fate.
And then the great
brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, and I raised my shield to br=
eak
the force of its terrific velocity. The impact
hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the missile and I was
unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon =
me now
with the only remaining weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> He was too close for a careful bowshot,=
but I
let drive at him as he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of his
thigh, inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me.
My agility saved =
me
for the instant. I ducked beneath =
his
raised arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's poin=
t in
his face. And a moment later he fe=
lt an
inch or two of it in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter he we=
nt
more warily.
It was a duel of =
strategy
now--the great, hairy man maneuvering to get inside my guard where he could
bring those giant thews to play, while my wits were directed to the task of
keeping him at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his k=
nife
blow upon my shield. Each time my sword found his body--once penetrating to=
his
lung. He was covered with blood by=
this
time, and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that brought
the red stream through the hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and br=
east
with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from de=
ad.
As the duel conti=
nued
I began to gain confidence, for, to be perfectly candid, I had not expected=
to
survive the first rush of that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage and hatr=
ed. And I think that Jubal, from utter cont=
empt
of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, and then in his primitive m=
ind
there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps at last he had met his mast=
er,
and was facing his end.
At any rate it is
only upon this hypothesis that I can account for his next act, which was in=
the
nature of a last resort--a sort of forlorn hope, which could only have been
born of the belief that if he did not kill me quickly I should kill him.
Flinging it far to
one side he stood motionless for just an instant glaring into my face with =
such
a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to almost unnerve me--then he sprang =
for
me with his bare hands. But it was
Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare.
For the first time he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that d=
uel
had he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do with =
his
bare fists.
As he came for me,
like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his outstretched arm, and as I ca=
me
up planted as clean a blow upon his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of flesh =
sprawling
upon the ground. He was so surpris=
ed and
dazed that he lay there for several seconds before he made any attempt to r=
ise,
and I stood over him with another dose ready when he should gain his knees.=
Up he came at las=
t,
almost roaring in his rage and mortification; but he didn't stay up--I let =
him
have a left fair on the point of the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his
back. By this time I think Jubal h=
ad
gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come back for more as many t=
imes
as he did. Time after time I bowle=
d him
over as fast as he could stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on=
the
ground between blows, and each time came up weaker than before.
He was bleeding v=
ery
profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and presently a terrific blow ov=
er
the heart sent him reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still, =
and
somehow I knew at once that Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again.
Picking up my swo=
rd I
leaned upon it, looking down on the dead body of my foeman, and as I though=
t of
the battle I had just fought and won a great idea was born in my brain--the
outcome of this and the suggestion that Perry had made within the city of
Phutra. If skill and science could
render a comparative pygmy the master of this mighty brute, what could not =
the
brute's fellows accomplish with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their
feet--and I would be their king and Dian their queen.
Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within the possibilities o=
f Dian
to look down upon me even were I king.
She was quite the most superior person I ever had met--with the most
convincing way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the cave, and tell =
her
that I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel more kindly toward me, sin=
ce I
had freed her of her tormentor. I =
hoped that
she had found the cave easily--it would be terrible had I lost her again, a=
nd I
turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her, when to my astoni=
shment
I found her standing not ten paces behind me.
"Girl!"=
I
cried, "what are you doing here? I
thought that you had gone to the cave, as I told you to do."
Up went her head,=
and
the look that she gave me took all the majesty out of me, and left me feeli=
ng
more like the palace janitor--if palaces have janitors.
"As you told=
me
to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I do as I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthe=
rmore,
I hate you."
I was
dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! I turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from a wo=
rse fate,
old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never seeme=
d to
notice it at all.
"Let us go t=
o my
cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."
She followed alon=
g a
pace behind me, neither of us speaking.
I was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the
lower orders. I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly felt that at
least a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her=
own
standards, I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed the redou=
btable
Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter.
We had no difficu=
lty
in finding my lair, and then I went down into the valley and bowled over a
small antelope, which I dragged up the steep ascent to the ledge before the
door. Here we ate in silence. Occa=
sionally
I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing at raw flesh with =
her
hands and teeth like some wild animal would cause a revulsion of my sentime=
nts
toward her; but to my surprise I found that she ate quite as daintily as the
most civilized woman of my acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing =
in
foolish rapture at the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.
After our repast =
we
went down to the river together and bathed our hands and faces, and then af=
ter
drinking our fill went back to the cave.
Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, curling up, w=
as
soon asleep.
When I awoke I fo=
und
Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to =
let me
pass, but she had no word for me. I
wanted to hate her, but I couldn't.
Every time I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that I
nearly choked. I had never been in=
love
before, but I did not need any aid in diagnosing my case--I certainly had it
and had it bad. God, how I loved t=
hat
beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl!
After we had eaten
again I asked Dian if she intended returning to her tribe now that Jubal wa=
s dead,
but she shook her head sadly, and said that she did not dare, for there was
still Jubal's brother to be considered--his oldest brother.
"What has he=
to
do with it?" I asked. "D=
oes he
too want you, or has the option on you become a family heirloom, to be pass=
ed
on down from generation to generation?"
She was not quite
sure as to what I meant.
"It is
probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for the dea=
th
of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven terrible men. Someone may have to kill them all, if I=
am to
return to my people."
It began to look =
as
though I had assumed a contract much too large for me--about seven sizes, in
fact.
"Had Jubal a=
ny
cousins?" I asked. It was jus=
t as
well to know the worst at once.
"Yes,"
replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates. Jubal's brot=
hers
have no mates because Jubal could get none for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from
him--some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Dare=
l Az
rather than mate with the Ugly One."
"But what had
that to do with his brothers?" I asked.
"I forget th=
at
you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look of pity mixed with
contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid on a little thicker than the
circumstance warranted--as though to make quite certain that I shouldn't
overlook it. "You see," =
she
continued, "a younger brother may not take a mate until all his older
brothers have done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, whi=
ch
Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as he kept them single they would =
be all
the keener in aiding him to secure a mate."
Noticing that Dian
was becoming more communicative I began to entertain hopes that she might be
warming up toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread I hung my hop=
es I
soon discovered.
"As you dare=
not
return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of you since you
cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?"
"I shall hav=
e to
put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you see fit to go
elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get along very well alone.&qu=
ot;
I looked at her in
utter amazement. It seemed incredi=
ble
that even a prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and
ungrateful. Then I arose.
"I shall lea=
ve
you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough of your
ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode majestical=
ly
down toward the valley. I had take=
n a
hundred steps in absolute silence, and then Dian spoke.
"I hate
you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, I thought.
I was absolutely
miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began to realize that I couldn't
leave her alone there without protection, to hunt her own food amid the dan=
gers
of that savage world. She might ha=
te me,
and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as she already h=
ad,
until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact remained that I loved h=
er,
and I couldn't leave her there alone.
The more I thought
about it the madder I got, so that by the time I reached the valley I was f=
urious,
and the result of it was that I turned right around and went up that cliff
again as fast as I had come down. =
I saw
that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but I bolted right in
after her. She was lying upon her =
face
on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she heard me enter she sprang to h=
er
feet like a tigress.
"I hate
you!" she cried.
Coming from the
brilliant light of the noonday sun into the semidarkness of the cave I could
not see her features, and I was rather glad, for I disliked to think of the
hate that I should have read there.
I never said a wo=
rd
to her at first. I just strode acr=
oss
the cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put my arm
around her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, but I took m=
y free
hand and pushed her head back--I imagine that I had suddenly turned brute, =
that
I had gone back a thousand million years, and was again a veritable cave man
taking my mate by force--and then I kissed that beautiful mouth again and
again.
"Dian,"=
I
cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you.
Can't you understand that I love you?
That I love you better than all else in this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love like mine cannot be denied?&q=
uot;
I noticed that she
lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes became accustomed to the ligh=
t I
saw that she was smiling--a very contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently, she =
was
trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them so that she
could do so. Slowly they came up a=
nd
stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down to hers once more and h=
eld
them there for a long time. At las=
t she
spoke.
"Why didn't =
you
do this at first, David? I have be=
en
waiting so long."
"What!"=
I
cried. "You said that you hat=
ed
me!"
"Did you exp=
ect
me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you before I knew that you l=
oved
me?" she asked.
"But I have = told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth sa= y what you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me in your arms y= our heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's heart understands. What a silly man you are, David?"<= o:p>
"Then you ha=
ven't
hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.
"I have loved
you always," she whispered, "from the first moment that I saw you,
although I did not know it until that time you struck down Hooja the Sly On=
e,
and then spurned me."
"But I didn't
spurn you, dear," I cried. &q=
uot;I
didn't know your ways--I doubt if I do now.
It seems incredible that you could have reviled me so, and yet have
cared for me all the time."
"You might h=
ave
known," she said, "when I did not run away from you that it was n=
ot
hate which chained me to you. Whil=
e you
were battling with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, and w=
hen
I learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a simple thing to ha=
ve
eluded you and returned to my own people."
"But Jubal's
brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, "how about them?"
She smiled, and h=
id
her face on my shoulder.
"I had to te=
ll
you SOMETHING, David," she whispered.
"I must needs have SOME excuse for remaining near you."
"You little
sinner!" I exclaimed. "A=
nd you
have caused me all this anguish for nothing!"
"I have suff=
ered
even more," she answered simply, "for I thought that you did not =
love
me, and I was helpless. I couldn't=
come
to you and demand that my love be returned, as you have just come to me.
To me it was a
revelation of the things my early forebears must have endured that the human
race of the outer crust might survive.
It made me very proud to think that I had won the love of such a
woman. Of course she couldn't read=
or
write; there was nothing cultured or refined about her as you judge culture=
and
refinement; but she was the essence of all that is best in woman, for she w=
as
good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous.
And she was all these things in spite of the fact that their observa=
nce
entailed suffering and danger and possible death.
How much easier it
would have been to have gone to Jubal in the first place! She would have been his lawful mate.
I couldn't help b=
ut
compare Dian's action with that of a splendid young woman I had known in New
York--I mean splendid to look at and to talk to. She had been head over heels in love wi=
th a
chum of mine--a clean, manly chap--but she had married a broken-down,
disreputable old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky little Euro=
pean
principality that was not even accorded a distinctive color by Rand McNally=
.
Yes, I was mighty
proud of Dian.
After a time we
decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to see Perry, and to know that
all was right with him. I had told=
Dian
about our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was fa=
irly
wild over it. She said that if Dac=
or,
her brother, would only return he could easily be king of Amoz, and that th=
en
he and Ghak could form an alliance. That
would give us a flying start, for the Sarians and the Amozites were both ve=
ry
powerful tribes. Once they had bee=
n armed
with swords, and bows and arrows, and trained in their use we were confident
that they could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great
army of federated states with which we were planning to march upon the Maha=
rs.
I explained the
various destructive engines of war which Perry and I could construct after a
little experimentation--gunpowder, rifles, cannon, and the like, and Dian w=
ould
clap her hands, and throw her arms about my neck, and tell me what a wonder=
ful
thing I was. She was beginning to =
think
that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't done anything but talk--but =
that
is the way with women when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was
one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him, he would have the
world by the tail with a down-hill drag.
The first time we
started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous vipers before we reached
the valley. A little fellow stung =
me on
the ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't exercise, or it=
might
prove fatal--if it had been a full-grown snake that struck me she said, I
wouldn't have moved a single pace from the nest--I'd have died in my tracks=
, so
virulent is the poison. As it was =
I must
have been laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of herbs and
leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison.
The episode proved
most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea which added a thousand-fold =
to
the value of my arrows as missiles of offense and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again=
, I
sought out some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and having
killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon the tips of several =
arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of th=
ese,
and though my arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast crump=
led
in death almost immediately after he was hit.
We now set out on=
ce
more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with feelings of sincere regret
that we bade good-bye to our beautiful Garden of Eden, in the comparative p=
eace
and harmony of which we had lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been there I did not kn=
ow,
for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me beneath that eternal
noonday sun--it may have been an hour, or a month of earthly time; I do not
know.
We crossed the ri=
ver
and passed through the mountains beyond, and finally we came out upon a gre=
at
level plain which stretched away as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in what direction it =
stretched
even if you would care to know, for all the while that I was within Pelluci=
dar
I never discovered any but local methods of indicating direction--there is =
no
north, no south, no east, no west. UP is about the only direction which is =
well
defined, and that, of course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust. Since the sun neither rises nor sets th=
ere is
no method of indicating direction beyond visible objects such as high
mountains, forests, lakes, and seas.
The plain which l=
ies
beyond the white cliffs which flank the Darel Az upon the shore nearest the
Mountains of the Clouds is about as near to any direction as any Pellucidar=
ian
can come. If you happen not to hav=
e heard
of the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountains of the Clouds you fe=
el
that there is something lacking, and long for the good old understandable
northeast and southwest of the outer world.
We had barely ent=
ered
the great plain when we discovered two enormous animals approaching us from=
a
great distance. So far were they t=
hat we
could not distinguish what manner of beasts they might be, but as they came
closer, I saw that they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet
long, with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks. Their heads must have been quite forty =
feet
from the ground. The beasts moved very slowly--that is their action was
slow--but their strides covered such a great distance that in reality they
traveled considerably faster than a man walks.
As they drew still
nearer we discovered that upon the back of each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were, though s=
he
never before had seen one.
"They are li=
dis
from the land of the Thorians," she cried.
"Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow.
"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?&=
quot;
I asked.
"It is the l=
and
which lies beneath the Dead World," replied Dian; "the Dead World
which hangs forever between the sun and Pellucidar above the Land of Awful
Shadow. It is the Dead World which=
makes
the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar."
I did not fully
understand what she meant, nor am I sure that I do yet, for I have never be=
en
to that part of Pellucidar from which the Dead World is visible; but Perry =
says
that it is the moon of Pellucidar--a tiny planet within a planet--and that =
it
revolves around the earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thus is
always above the same spot within Pellucidar.
I remember that P=
erry
was very much excited when I told him about this Dead World, for he seemed =
to
think that it explained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and=
the
precession of the equinoxes.
When the two upon=
the
lidis had come quite close to us we saw that one was a man and the other a
woman. The former had held up his =
two
hands, palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, w=
hen he
suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and slipping from his
enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, throwing his arms about her.
In an instant I w=
as
white with jealousy, but only for an instant; since Dian quickly drew the m=
an
toward me, telling him that I was David, her mate.
"And this is=
my
brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to me.
It appeared that =
the
woman was Dacor's mate. He had fou=
nd
none to his liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to the =
land
of the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this very lovely Thori=
an
maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people.
When they had hea=
rd
our story and our plans they decided to accompany us to Sari, that Dacor and
Ghak might come to an agreement relative to an alliance, as Dacor was quite=
as
enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as
either Dian or I.
After a journey w=
hich
was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we came to the first of the Sarian
villages which consists of between one and two hundred artificial caves cut
into the face of a great cliff. He=
re to our
immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak.
The old man was quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since
given me up as dead.
When I introduced
Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to say, but he afterward remarked
that with the pick of two worlds I could not have done better.
Ghak and Dacor
reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a council of the head me=
n of
the various tribes of the Sari that the eventual form of government was
tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, =
the various
kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was to be one great
overlord, or emperor. It was decid=
ed
that I should be the first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar.
We set about teac=
hing
the women how to make bows and arrows, and poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which
provided the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned t=
he
swords under Perry's direction. Ra=
pidly
the fever spread from one tribe to another until representatives from natio=
ns
so far distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them came in to take
the oath of allegiance which we required, and to learn the art of making the
new weapons and using them.
We sent our young=
men
out as instructors to every nation of the federation, and the movement had
reached colossal proportions before the Mahars discovered it. The first intimation they had was when =
three of
their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. They could=
not
comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly developed a power which rende=
red
them really formidable.
In one of the
skirmishes with slave caravans some of our Sarians took a number of Sagoth
prisoners, and among them were two who had been members of the guards within
the building where we had been confined at Phutra. They told us that the Mahars were frant=
ic
with rage when they discovered what had taken place in the cellars of the
buildings. The Sagoths knew that
something very terrible had befallen their masters, but the Mahars had been
most careful to see that no inkling of the true nature of their vital
affliction reached beyond their own race.
How long it would take for the race to become extinct it was impossi=
ble even
to guess; but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable.
The Mahars had
offered fabulous rewards for the capture of any one of us alive, and at the
same time had threatened to inflict the direst punishment upon whomever sho=
uld
harm us. The Sagoths could not und=
erstand
these seemingly paradoxical instructions, though their purpose was quite
evident to me. The Mahars wanted t=
he
Great Secret, and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them.
Perry's experimen=
ts
in the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning of rifles had not progre=
ssed
as rapidly as we had hoped--there was a whole lot about these two arts which
Perry didn't know. We were both as=
sured
that the solution of these problems would advance the cause of civilization
within Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke. Then there were
various other arts and sciences which we wished to introduce, but our combi=
ned
knowledge of them did not embrace the mechanical details which alone could
render them of commercial, or practical value.
"David,"
said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce gunpowder that
would even burn, "one of us must return to the outer world and bring b=
ack
the information we lack. Here we h=
ave
all the labor and materials for reproducing anything that ever has been pro=
duced
above--what we lack is knowledge. =
Let us
go back and get that knowledge in the shape of books--then this world will
indeed be at our feet."
And so it was dec=
ided
that I should return in the prospector, which still lay upon the edge of the
forest at the point where we had first penetrated to the surface of the inn=
er
world. Dian would not listen to any
arrangement for my going which did not include her, and I was not sorry that
she wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my world, and I wanted =
my
world to see her.
With a large forc=
e of
men we marched to the great iron mole, which Perry soon had hoisted into
position with its nose pointed back toward the outer crust. He went over all the machinery
carefully. He replenished the air =
tanks,
and manufactured oil for the engine. At last
everything was ready, and we were about to set out when our pickets, a long,
thin line of which had surrounded our camp at all times, reported that a gr=
eat
body of what appeared to be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching from the
direction of Phutra.
Dian and I were r=
eady
to embark, but I was anxious to witness the first clash between two fair-si=
zed
armies of the opposing races of Pellucidar.
I realized that this was to mark the historic beginning of a mighty
struggle for possession of a world, and as the first emperor of Pellucidar I
felt that it was not alone my duty, but my right, to be in the thick of that
momentous struggle.
As the opposing a=
rmy
approached we saw that there were many Mahars with the Sagoth troops--an
indication of the vast importance which the dominant race placed upon the
outcome of this campaign, for it was not customary with them to take active
part in the sorties which their creatures made for slaves--the only form of
warfare which they waged upon the lower orders.
Ghak and Dacor we=
re
both with us, having come primarily to view the prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarians =
on the
right of our battle line. Dacor to=
ok the
left, while I commanded the center. Behind us I stationed a sufficient rese=
rve
under one of Ghak's head men. The
Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and I let them come until t=
hey
were within easy bowshot before I gave the word to fire.
At the first voll=
ey
of poison-tipped arrows the front ranks of the gorilla-men crumpled to the
ground; but those behind charged over the prostrate forms of their comrades=
in
a wild, mad rush to be upon us with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an ins=
tant,
and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the firing line to engage
them with sword and shield. The cl=
umsy
spears of the Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozit=
e,
who turned the spear thrusts aside with their shields and leaped to close
quarters with their lighter, handier weapons.
Ghak took his arc=
hers
along the enemy's flank, and while the swordsmen engaged them in front, he
poured volley after volley into their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting, an=
d were
more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of them would faste=
n its
powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian.
The battle did not
last a great while, for when Dacor and I led our men in upon the Sagoth's r=
ight
with naked swords they were already so demoralized that they turned and fled
before us. We pursued them for some
time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred slaves, among w=
hom
was Hooja the Sly One.
He told me that he
had been captured while on his way to his own land; but that his life had b=
een
spared in hope that through him the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of t=
heir
Great Secret. Ghak and I were incl=
ined
to think that the Sly One had been guiding this expedition to the land of S=
ari,
where he thought that the book might be found in Perry's possession; but we=
had
no proof of this and so we took him in and treated him as one of us, althou=
gh
none liked him. And how he rewarde=
d my
generosity you will presently learn.
There were a numb=
er
of Mahars among our prisoners, and so fearful were our own people of them t=
hat
they would not approach them unless completely covered from the sight of th=
e reptiles
by a piece of skin. Even Dian shared the popular superstition regarding the
evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars, and though I laughed =
at
her fears I was willing enough to humor them if it would relieve her
apprehension in any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector, near
which the Mahars had been chained, while Perry and I again inspected every =
portion
of the mechanism.
At last I took my
place in the driving seat, and called to one of the men without to fetch
Dian. It happened that Hooja stood=
quite
close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who, without my k=
nowledge,
went to bring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing the fiendish thing=
he
did, I cannot guess, unless there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that, since all my pe=
ople
were loyal to me and would have made short work of Hooja had he suggested t=
he
heartless scheme, even had he had time to acquaint another with it. It was =
all
done so quickly that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden
impulse, aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring=
at
precisely the right moment.
All I know is tha=
t it
was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector, still wrapped from head to to=
e in
the skin of an enormous cave lion which covered her since the Mahar prisone=
rs
had been brought into camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> I was all ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had grasped my hand in the last, =
long
farewell. I closed and barred the =
outer
and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulled th=
e starting
lever.
As before on that
far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial of the iron monster, there
was a frightful roaring beneath us--the giant frame trembled and
vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up through the
hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be deposited in our
wake. Once more the thing was off.=
But on the instan=
t of
departure I was nearly thrown from my seat by the sudden lurching of the
prospector. At first I did not rea=
lize
what had happened, but presently it dawned upon me that just before entering
the crust the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, =
and
that instead of entering the ground vertically we were plunging into it at a
different angle. Where it would br=
ing us
out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture. And then I turned to note the effect of=
this
strange experience upon Dian. She =
still
sat shrouded in the great skin.
"Come,
come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell. No Mahar eyes can reach you here,"=
and I
leaned over and snatched the lion skin from her. And then I shrank back upon my seat in =
utter
horror.
The thing beneath=
the
skin was not Dian--it was a hideous Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick t=
hat
Hooja had played upon me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me, forever as he doubtless thou=
ght,
Dian would be at his mercy. Franti=
cally
I tore at the steering wheel in an effort to turn the prospector back toward
Pellucidar; but, as on that other occasion, I could not budge the thing a h=
air.
It is needless to
recount the horrors or the monotony of that journey. It varied but little f=
rom
the former one which had brought us from the outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at which we had en=
tered the
ground the trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me out here upon =
the
sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States as I had hoped.
For months I have
been waiting here for a white man to come.
I dared not leave the prospector for fear I should never be able to =
find
it again--the shifting sands of the desert would soon cover it, and then my
only hope of returning to my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone forever.=
That I ever shall=
see
her again seems but remotely possible, for how may I know upon what part of
Pellucidar my return journey may terminate--and how, without a north or sou=
th
or an east or a west may I hope ever to find my way across that vast world =
to
the tiny spot where my lost love lies grieving for me?
That is the story as David Innes told it=
to me
in the goat-skin tent upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me out to see the
prospector--it was precisely as he had described it. So huge was it that it could have been
brought to this inaccessible part of the world by no means of transportation
that existed there--it could only have come in the way that David Innes sai=
d it
came--up through the crust of the earth from the inner world of Pellucidar.=
I spent a week wi=
th
him, and then, abandoned my lion hunt, returned directly to the coast and
hurried to London where I purchased a great quantity of stuff which he wish=
ed
to take back to Pellucidar with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, a=
mmunition,
cameras, chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire, tool and more
books--books upon every subject under the sun.
He said he wanted a library with which they could reproduce the wond=
ers
of the twentieth century in the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anythi=
ng I
got it for him.
I took the things
back to Algeria myself, and accompanied them to the end of the railroad; but
from here I was recalled to America upon important business. However, I was able to employ a very
trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan--the same guide, in fact, who=
had
accompanied me on the previous trip into the Sahara--and after writing a lo=
ng
letter to Innes in which I gave him my American address, I saw the expediti=
on
head south.
Among the other
things which I sent to Innes was over five hundred miles of double, insulat=
ed
wire of a very fine gauge. I had it
packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as it was his idea that he coul=
d fasten
one end here before he left and by paying it out through the end of the
prospector lay a telegraph line between the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I told him to be sure to m=
ark
the terminus of the line very plainly with a high cairn, in case I was not =
able
to reach him before he set out, so that I might easily find and communicate
with him should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar.
I received several
letters from him after I returned to America--in fact he took advantage of
every northward-passing caravan to drop me word of some sort. His last letter was written the day bef=
ore he
intended to depart. Here it is.
My Dear Friend:
Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of
Pellucidar and Dian. That is i=
f the
Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late. I don't know the cause, but on two occ=
asions
they have threatened my life. =
One,
more friendly than the rest, told me today that they intended attacking me tonight. It wo=
uld be
unfortunate should anything of=
that
sort happen now that I am so nearly ready to depart.
However, maybe I will be as well off=
, for
the nearer the hour approaches=
, the
slenderer my chances for success appear.
Here is the friendly Arab who is to =
take
this letter north for me, so
good-bye, and God bless you for your kindness to me.
The Arab tells me to hurry, for he s=
ees a
cloud of sand to the south--he
thinks it is the party coming to murder me, and he doesn't want to be found with me. So
good-bye again.
Yours, David Innes.
A year later found me at the end of the
railroad once more, headed for the spot where I had left Innes. My first disappointment was when I disc=
overed
that my old guide had died within a few weeks of my return, nor could I find
any member of my former party who could lead me to the same spot.
For months I sear=
ched
that scorching land, interviewing countless desert sheiks in the hope that =
at
last I might find one who had heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my eyes scanned the blinding=
waste
of sand for the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find the wires leading to
Pellucidar--but always was I unsuccessful.
And always do the=
se
awful questions harass me when I think of David Innes and his strange
adventures.
Did the Arabs mur=
der
him, after all, just on the eve of his departure? Or, did he again turn the
nose of his iron monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it, or lies he somewhere b=
uried
in the heart of the great crust? A=
nd if
he did come again to Pellucidar was it to break through into the bottom of =
one
of her great island seas, or among some savage race far, far from the land =
of
his heart's desire?
Does the answer l=
ie
somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires,
hidden beneath a lost cairn? I won=
der.