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