At the Earth's Core, Chapters 6-10

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CHAPTER VI

THE BEGINNING OF HORROR

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.

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CHAPTER VII

FREEDOM

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 day-light.

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, land-scape.

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 circumstance might solve

the problem for me.  It was quite evident however that

little less than a miracle could aid me, for what could

I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed?

It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps

to Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain,

and even were that possible, what aid could I bring

to Perry no matter how far I wandered?

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 canyon upward toward

the mountains.  Beside me frolicked a laughing brooklet,

hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea.

In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-

or five-pound weight I should imagine.  In appearance,

except as to size and color, they were not unlike the

whale of our own seas.  As I watched them playing about

I discovered, not only that they suckled their young,

but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe

as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange,

scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the

water line.

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.

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CHAPTER VIII

THE MAHAR TEMPLE

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.

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CHAPTER IX

THE FACE OF DEATH

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 canyon beyond the summit, for here I found

that several of them centered at the point where I

crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed

to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember.

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 canyon

seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden

widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed

to suggest that it was about to open into a level country,

and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided

to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back.

The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth,

and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean.

At my right the side of the canyon continued to the

water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot

of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed

a broad level beach.

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 Pellucidar were small in comparison

with those of the outer crust, but even so this great ocean

might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles.

For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless

miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown

beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.

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 canyon to the sea,

on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature

had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked sea,

and before me in the center of the narrow way that led

to safety stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing

flesh.

A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me

that I was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric

creatures whose fossilized remains are found 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.

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CHAPTER X

PHUTRA AGAIN

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 canyon down

which I had come to the great ocean and the sithic.

Ja did his best to dissuade me from returning to Phutra,

but when he saw that I was determined to do so,

he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see

the plain where lay the city.  To my surprise the distance

was but short from the beach where I had again met Ja.

It was evident that I had spent much time following the

windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge

lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come

several times.

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.  Good-bye, my boy, good-bye!" and then

his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face

in his hands the Sagoth guardsman grasped me roughly

by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber.

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