PELLUCIDAR

By

Edgar Rice Burroughs

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 PROLOGUE I LOST ON PELLUCIDAR II TRAVELING WITH TERROR III SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER IV FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY V SURPRISES VI A PENDENT WORLD VII FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT VIII CAPTIVE IX HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR X THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON XI ESCAPE XII KIDNAPED! XIII RACING FOR LIFE XIV GORE AND DREAMS XV CONQUEST AND PEACE

PROLOGUE

Several years had elapsed since I had found the opportunity to do anybig-game hunting; for at last I had my plans almost perfected for areturn to my old stamping-grounds in northern Africa, where in otherdays I had had excellent sport in pursuit of the king of beasts. 

The date of my departure had been set; I was to leave in two weeks. Noschoolboy counting the lagging hours that must pass before thebeginning of "long vacation" released him to the delirious joys of thesummer camp could have been filled with greater impatience or keeneranticipation. 

And then came a letter that started me for Africa twelve days ahead ofmy schedule. 

Often am I in receipt of letters from strangers who have foundsomething in a story of mine to commend or to condemn. My interest inthis department of my correspondence is ever fresh. I opened thisparticular letter with all the zest of pleasurable anticipation withwhich I had opened so many others. The post-mark (Algiers) had arousedmy interest and curiosity, especially at this time, since it wasAlgiers that was presently to witness the termination of my coming seavoyage in search of sport and adventure. 

Before the reading of that letter was completed lions and lion-huntinghad fled my thoughts, and I was in a state of excitement bordering uponfrenzy. 

It--well, read it yourself, and see if you, too, do not find food forfrantic conjecture, for tantalizing doubts, and for a great hope. 

Here it is:

DEAR SIR: I think that I have run across one of the most remarkablecoincidences in modern literature. But let me start at the beginning:

I am, by profession, a wanderer upon the face of the earth. I have notrade--nor any other occupation. 

My father bequeathed me a competency; some remoter ancestors lust toroam. I have combined the two and invested them carefully and withoutextravagance. 

I became interested in your story, At the Earth's Core, not so muchbecause of the probability of the tale as of a great and abiding wonderthat people should be paid real money for writing such impossibletrash. You will pardon my candor, but it is necessary that youunderstand my mental attitude toward this particular story--that youmay credit that which follows. 

Shortly thereafter I started for the Sahara in search of a rather rarespecies of antelope that is to be found only occasionally within alimited area at a certain season of the year. My chase led me far fromthe haunts of man. 

It was a fruitless search, however, in so far as antelope is concerned;but one night as I lay courting sleep at the edge of a little clusterof date-palms that surround an ancient well in the midst of the arid, shifting sands, I suddenly became conscious of a strange sound comingapparently from the earth beneath my head. 

It was an intermittent ticking!

No reptile or insect with which I am familiar reproduces any suchnotes. I lay for an hour--listening intently. 

At last my curiosity got the better of me. I arose, lighted my lampand commenced to investigate. 

My bedding lay upon a rug stretched directly upon the warm sand. Thenoise appeared to be coming from beneath the rug. I raised it, butfound nothing--yet, at intervals, the sound continued. 

I dug into the sand with the point of my hunting-knife. A few inchesbelow the surface of the sand I encountered a solid substance that hadthe feel of wood beneath the sharp steel. 

Excavating about it, I unearthed a small wooden box. From thisreceptacle issued the strange sound that I had heard. 

How had it come here?

What did it contain?

In attempting to lift it from its burying place I discovered that itseemed to be held fast by means of a very small insulated cable runningfarther into the sand beneath it. 

My first impulse was to drag the thing loose by main strength; butfortunately I thought better of this and fell to examining the box. Isoon saw that it was covered by a hinged lid, which was held closed bya simple screwhook and eye. 

It took but a moment to loosen this and raise the cover, when, to myutter astonishment, I discovered an ordinary telegraph instrumentclicking away within. 

"What in the world, " thought I, "is this thing doing here?"

That it was a French military instrument was my first guess; but reallythere didn't seem much likelihood that this was the correctexplanation, when one took into account the loneliness and remotenessof the spot. 

As I sat gazing at my remarkable find, which was ticking and clickingaway there in the silence of the desert night, trying to convey somemessage which I was unable to interpret, my eyes fell upon a bit ofpaper lying in the bottom of the box beside the instrument. I pickedit up and examined it. Upon it were written but two letters:

D. I. 

They meant nothing to me then. I was baffled. 

Once, in an interval of silence upon the part of the receivinginstrument, I moved the sending-key up and down a few times. Instantlythe receiving mechanism commenced to work frantically. 

I tried to recall something of the Morse Code, with which I had playedas a little boy--but time had obliterated it from my memory. I becamealmost frantic as I let my imagination run riot among the possibilitiesfor which this clicking instrument might stand. 

Some poor devil at the unknown other end might be in dire need ofsuccor. The very franticness of the instrument's wild clashingbetokened something of the kind. 

And there sat I, powerless to interpret, and so powerless to help!

It was then that the inspiration came to me. In a flash there leapedto my mind the closing paragraphs of the story I had read in the clubat Algiers:

Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, atthe ends of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn?

The idea seemed preposterous. Experience and intelligence combined toassure me that there could be no slightest grain of truth orpossibility in your wild tale--it was fiction pure and simple. 

And yet where WERE the other ends of those wires?

What was this instrument--ticking away here in the great Sahara--but atravesty upon the possible!

Would I have believed in it had I not seen it with my own eyes?

And the initials--D. I. --upon the slip of paper!

David's initials were these--David Innes. 

I smiled at my imaginings. I ridiculed the assumption that there wasan inner world and that these wires led downward through the earth'scrust to the surface of Pellucidar. And yet--

Well, I sat there all night, listening to that tantalizing clicking, now and then moving the sending-key just to let the other end know thatthe instrument had been discovered. In the morning, after carefullyreturning the box to its hole and covering it over with sand, I calledmy servants about me, snatched a hurried breakfast, mounted my horse, and started upon a forced march for Algiers. 

I arrived here today. In writing you this letter I feel that I ammaking a fool of myself. 

There is no David Innes. 

There is no Dian the Beautiful. 

There is no world within a world. 

Pellucidar is but a realm of your imagination--nothing more. 

BUT--

The incident of the finding of that buried telegraph instrument uponthe lonely Sahara is little short of uncanny, in view of your story ofthe adventures of David Innes. 

I have called it one of the most remarkable coincidences in modernfiction. I called it literature before, but--again pardon mycandor--your story is not. 

And now--why am I writing you?

Heaven knows, unless it is that the persistent clicking of thatunfathomable enigma out there in the vast silences of the Sahara has sowrought upon my nerves that reason refuses longer to function sanely. 

I cannot hear it now, yet I know that far away to the south, all alonebeneath the sands, it is still pounding out its vain, frantic appeal. 

It is maddening. 

It is your fault--I want you to release me from it. 

Cable me at once, at my expense, that there was no basis of fact foryour story, At the Earth's Core. 

Very respectfully yours, COGDON NESTOR, ---- and ---- Club, Algiers. June 1st, --. 

Ten minutes after reading this letter I had cabled Mr. Nestor asfollows:

Story true. Await me Algiers. 

As fast as train and boat would carry me, I sped toward my destination. For all those dragging days my mind was a whirl of mad conjecture, offrantic hope, of numbing fear. 

The finding of the telegraph-instrument practically assured me thatDavid Innes had driven Perry's iron mole back through the earth's crustto the buried world of Pellucidar; but what adventures had befallen himsince his return?

Had he found Dian the Beautiful, his half-savage mate, safe among hisfriends, or had Hooja the Sly One succeeded in his nefarious schemes toabduct her?

Did Abner Perry, the lovable old inventor and paleontologist, stilllive?

Had the federated tribes of Pellucidar succeeded in overthrowing themighty Mahars, the dominant race of reptilian monsters, and theirfierce, gorilla-like soldiery, the savage Sagoths?

I must admit that I was in a state bordering upon nervous prostrationwhen I entered the ---- and ---- Club, in Algiers, and inquired for Mr. Nestor. A moment later I was ushered into his presence, to find myselfclasping hands with the sort of chap that the world holds only too fewof. 

He was a tall, smooth-faced man of about thirty, clean-cut, straight, and strong, and weather-tanned to the hue of a desert Arab. I likedhim immensely from the first, and I hope that after our three monthstogether in the desert country--three months not entirely lacking inadventure--he found that a man may be a writer of "impossible trash"and yet have some redeeming qualities. 

The day following my arrival at Algiers we left for the south, Nestorhaving made all arrangements in advance, guessing, as he naturally did, that I could be coming to Africa for but a single purpose--to hasten atonce to the buried telegraph-instrument and wrest its secret from it. 

In addition to our native servants, we took along an Englishtelegraph-operator named Frank Downes. Nothing of interest enlivenedour journey by rail and caravan till we came to the cluster ofdate-palms about the ancient well upon the rim of the Sahara. 

It was the very spot at which I first had seen David Innes. If he hadever raised a cairn above the telegraph instrument no sign of itremained now. Had it not been for the chance that caused Cogdon Nestorto throw down his sleeping rug directly over the hidden instrument, itmight still be clicking there unheard--and this story still unwritten. 

When we reached the spot and unearthed the little box the instrumentwas quiet, nor did repeated attempts upon the part of our telegraphersucceed in winning a response from the other end of the line. Afterseveral days of futile endeavor to raise Pellucidar, we had begun todespair. I was as positive that the other end of that little cableprotruded through the surface of the inner world as I am that I sithere today in my study--when about midnight of the fourth day I wasawakened by the sound of the instrument. 

Leaping to my feet I grasped Downes roughly by the neck and dragged himout of his blankets. He didn't need to be told what caused myexcitement, for the instant he was awake he, too, heard the long-hopedfor click, and with a whoop of delight pounced upon the instrument. 

Nestor was on his feet almost as soon as I. The three of us huddledabout that little box as if our lives depended upon the message it hadfor us. 

Downes interrupted the clicking with his sending-key. The noise of thereceiver stopped instantly. 

"Ask who it is, Downes, " I directed. 

He did so, and while we awaited the Englishman's translation of thereply, I doubt if either Nestor or I breathed. 

"He says he's David Innes, " said Downes. "He wants to know who we are. "

"Tell him, " said I; "and that we want to know how he is--and all thathas befallen him since I last saw him. "

For two months I talked with David Innes almost every day, and asDownes translated, either Nestor or I took notes. From these, arrangedin chronological order, I have set down the following account of thefurther adventures of David Innes at the earth's core, practically inhis own words. 

CHAPTER I

LOST ON PELLUCIDAR

The Arabs, of whom I wrote you at the end of my last letter (Innesbegan), and whom I thought to be enemies intent only upon murdering me, proved to be exceedingly friendly--they were searching for the veryband of marauders that had threatened my existence. The hugerhamphorhynchus-like reptile that I had brought back with me from theinner world--the ugly Mahar that Hooja the Sly One had substituted formy dear Dian at the moment of my departure--filled them with wonder andwith awe. 

Nor less so did the mighty subterranean prospector which had carried meto Pellucidar and back again, and which lay out in the desert about twomiles from my camp. 

With their help I managed to get the unwieldy tons of its great bulkinto a vertical position--the nose deep in a hole we had dug in thesand and the rest of it supported by the trunks of date-palms cut forthe purpose. 

It was a mighty engineering job with only wild Arabs and their wildermounts to do the work of an electric crane--but finally it wascompleted, and I was ready for departure. 

For some time I hesitated to take the Mahar back with me. She had beendocile and quiet ever since she had discovered herself virtually aprisoner aboard the "iron mole. " It had been, of course, impossible forme to communicate with her since she had no auditory organs and I noknowledge of her fourth-dimension, sixth-sense method of communication. 

Naturally I am kind-hearted, and so I found it beyond me to leave eventhis hateful and repulsive thing alone in a strange and hostile world. The result was that when I entered the iron mole I took her with me. 

That she knew that we were about to return to Pellucidar was evident, for immediately her manner changed from that of habitual gloom that hadpervaded her, to an almost human expression of contentment and delight. 

Our trip through the earth's crust was but a repetition of my twoformer journeys between the inner and the outer worlds. This time, however, I imagine that we must have maintained a more nearlyperpendicular course, for we accomplished the journey in a few minutes'less time than upon the occasion of my first journey through thefive-hundred-mile crust. Just a trifle less than seventy-two hoursafter our departure into the sands of the Sahara, we broke through thesurface of Pellucidar. 

Fortune once again favored me by the slightest of margins, for when Iopened the door in the prospector's outer jacket I saw that we hadmissed coming up through the bottom of an ocean by but a few hundredyards. 

The aspect of the surrounding country was entirely unfamiliar to me--Ihad no conception of precisely where I was upon the one hundred andtwenty-four million square miles of Pellucidar's vast land surface. 

The perpetual midday sun poured down its torrid rays from zenith, as ithad done since the beginning of Pellucidarian time--as it wouldcontinue to do to the end of it. Before me, across the wide sea, theweird, horizonless seascape folded gently upward to meet the sky untilit lost itself to view in the azure depths of distance far above thelevel of my eyes. 

How strange it looked! How vastly different from the flat and puny areaof the circumscribed vision of the dweller upon the outer crust!

I was lost. Though I wandered ceaselessly throughout a lifetime, Imight never discover the whereabouts of my former friends of thisstrange and savage world. Never again might I see dear old Perry, norGhak the Hairy One, nor Dacor the Strong One, nor that other infinitelyprecious one--my sweet and noble mate, Dian the Beautiful!

But even so I was glad to tread once more the surface of Pellucidar. Mysterious and terrible, grotesque and savage though she is in many ofher aspects, I can not but love her. Her very savagery appealed to me, for it is the savagery of unspoiled Nature. 

The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralled me. Her mighty landareas breathed unfettered freedom. 

Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wonders unsullied by the eyeof man, beckoned me out upon their restless bosoms. 

Not for an instant did I regret the world of my nativity. I was inPellucidar. I was home. And I was content. 

As I stood dreaming beside the giant thing that had brought me safelythrough the earth's crust, my traveling companion, the hideous Mahar, emerged from the interior of the prospector and stood beside me. For along time she remained motionless. 

What thoughts were passing through the convolutions of her reptilianbrain?

I do not know. 

She was a member of the dominant race of Pellucidar. By a strangefreak of evolution her kind had first developed the power of reason inthat world of anomalies. 

To her, creatures such as I were of a lower order. As Perry haddiscovered among the writings of her kind in the buried city of Phutra, it was still an open question among the Mahars as to whether manpossessed means of intelligent communication or the power of reason. 

Her kind believed that in the center of all-pervading solidity therewas a single, vast, spherical cavity, which was Pellucidar. Thiscavity had been left there for the sole purpose of providing a placefor the creation and propagation of the Mahar race. Everything withinit had been put there for the uses of the Mahar. 

I wondered what this particular Mahar might think now. I foundpleasure in speculating upon just what the effect had been upon her ofpassing through the earth's crust, and coming out into a world that oneof even less intelligence than the great Mahars could easily see was adifferent world from her own Pellucidar. 

What had she thought of the outer world's tiny sun?

What had been the effect upon her of the moon and myriad stars of theclear African nights?

How had she explained them?

With what sensations of awe must she first have watched the sun movingslowly across the heavens to disappear at last beneath the westernhorizon, leaving in his wake that which the Mahar had never beforewitnessed--the darkness of night? For upon Pellucidar there is nonight. The stationary sun hangs forever in the center of thePellucidarian sky--directly overhead. 

Then, too, she must have been impressed by the wondrous mechanism ofthe prospector which had bored its way from world to world and backagain. And that it had been driven by a rational being must also haveoccurred to her. 

Too, she had seen me conversing with other men upon the earth'ssurface. She had seen the arrival of the caravan of books and arms, and ammunition, and the balance of the heterogeneous collection which Ihad crammed into the cabin of the iron mole for transportation toPellucidar. 

She had seen all these evidences of a civilization and brain-powertranscending in scientific achievement anything that her race hadproduced; nor once had she seen a creature of her own kind. 

There could have been but a single deduction in the mind of theMahar--there were other worlds than Pellucidar, and the gilak was arational being. 

Now the creature at my side was creeping slowly toward the near-by sea. At my hip hung a long-barreled six-shooter--somehow I had been unableto find the same sensation of security in the newfangled automaticsthat had been perfected since my first departure from the outerworld--and in my hand was a heavy express rifle. 

I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitively that shewas escaping--but I did not. 

I felt that if she could return to her own kind with the story of heradventures, the position of the human race within Pellucidar would beadvanced immensely at a single stride, for at once man would take hisproper place in the considerations of the reptilia. 

At the edge of the sea the creature paused and looked back at me. Thenshe slid sinuously into the surf. 

For several minutes I saw no more of her as she luxuriated in the cooldepths. 

Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and there for another shortwhile she floated upon the surface. 

Finally she spread her giant wings, flapped them vigorously a score oftimes and rose above the blue sea. A single time she circled faraloft--and then straight as an arrow she sped away. 

I watched her until the distant haze enveloped her and she haddisappeared. I was alone. 

My first concern was to discover where within Pellucidar I mightbe--and in what direction lay the land of the Sarians where Ghak theHairy One ruled. 

But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari?

And if I set out to search--what then?

Could I find my way back to the prospector with its priceless freightof books, firearms, ammunition, scientific instruments, and still morebooks--its great library of reference works upon every conceivablebranch of applied sciences?

And if I could not, of what value was all this vast storehouse ofpotential civilization and progress to be to the world of my adoption?

Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone with it, what could Iaccomplish single-handed?

Nothing. 

But where there was no east, no west, no north, no south, no stars, nomoon, and only a stationary mid-day sun, how was I to find my way backto this spot should ever I get out of sight of it?

I didn't know. 

For a long time I stood buried in deep thought, when it occurred to meto try out one of the compasses I had brought and ascertain if itremained steadily fixed upon an unvarying pole. I reentered theprospector and fetched a compass without. 

Moving a considerable distance from the prospector that the needlemight not be influenced by its great bulk of iron and steel I turnedthe delicate instrument about in every direction. 

Always and steadily the needle remained rigidly fixed upon a pointstraight out to sea, apparently pointing toward a large island some tenor twenty miles distant. This then should be north. 

I drew my note-book from my pocket and made a careful topographicalsketch of the locality within the range of my vision. Due north laythe island, far out upon the shimmering sea. 

The spot I had chosen for my observations was the top of a large, flatboulder which rose six or eight feet above the turf. This spot Icalled Greenwich. The boulder was the "Royal Observatory. "

I had made a start! I cannot tell you what a sense of relief wasimparted to me by the simple fact that there was at least one spotwithin Pellucidar with a familiar name and a place upon a map. 

It was with almost childish joy that I made a little circle in mynote-book and traced the word Greenwich beside it. 

Now I felt I might start out upon my search with some assurance offinding my way back again to the prospector. 

I decided that at first I would travel directly south in the hope thatI might in that direction find some familiar landmark. It was as gooda direction as any. This much at least might be said of it. 

Among the many other things I had brought from the outer world were anumber of pedometers. I slipped three of these into my pockets withthe idea that I might arrive at a more or less accurate mean from theregistrations of them all. 

On my map I would register so many paces south, so many east, so manywest, and so on. When I was ready to return I would then do so by anyroute that I might choose. 

I also strapped a considerable quantity of ammunition across myshoulders, pocketed some matches, and hooked an aluminum fry-pan and asmall stew-kettle of the same metal to my belt. 

I was ready--ready to go forth and explore a world!

Ready to search a land area of 124, 110, 000 square miles for my friends, my incomparable mate, and good old Perry!

And so, after locking the door in the outer shell of the prospector, Iset out upon my quest. Due south I traveled, across lovely valleysthick-dotted with grazing herds. 

Through dense primeval forests I forced my way and up the slopes ofmighty mountains searching for a pass to their farther sides. 

Ibex and musk-sheep fell before my good old revolver, so that I lackednot for food in the higher altitudes. The forests and the plains gaveplentifully of fruits and wild birds, antelope, aurochsen, and elk. 

Occasionally, for the larger game animals and the gigantic beasts ofprey, I used my express rifle, but for the most part the revolverfilled all my needs. 

There were times, too, when faced by a mighty cave bear, asaber-toothed tiger, or huge felis spelaea, black-maned and terrible, even my powerful rifle seemed pitifully inadequate--but fortune favoredme so that I passed unscathed through adventures that even therecollection of causes the short hairs to bristle at the nape of myneck. 

How long I wandered toward the south I do not know, for shortly after Ileft the prospector something went wrong with my watch, and I was againat the mercy of the baffling timelessness of Pellucidar, forgingsteadily ahead beneath the great, motionless sun which hangs eternallyat noon. 

I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possiblymonths with no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes. 

I saw no men nor signs of men. Nor is this strange, for Pellucidar, inits land area, is immense, while the human race there is very young andconsequently far from numerous. 

Doubtless upon that long search mine was the first human foot to touchthe soil in many places--mine the first human eye to rest upon thegorgeous wonders of the landscape. 

It was a staggering thought. I could not but dwell upon it often as Imade my lonely way through this virgin world. Then, quite suddenly, one day I stepped out of the peace of manless primality into thepresence of man--and peace was gone. 

It happened thus:

I had been following a ravine downward out of a chain of lofty hillsand had paused at its mouth to view the lovely little valley that laybefore me. At one side was tangled wood, while straight ahead a riverwound peacefully along parallel to the cliffs in which the hillsterminated at the valley's edge. 

Presently, as I stood enjoying the lovely scene, as insatiate forNature's wonders as if I had not looked upon similar landscapescountless times, a sound of shouting broke from the direction of thewoods. That the harsh, discordant notes rose from the throats of men Icould not doubt. 

I slipped behind a large boulder near the mouth of the ravine andwaited. I could hear the crashing of underbrush in the forest, and Iguessed that whoever came came quickly--pursued and pursuers, doubtless. 

In a short time some hunted animal would break into view, and a momentlater a score of half-naked savages would come leaping after withspears or club or great stone-knives. 

I had seen the thing so many times during my life within Pellucidarthat I felt that I could anticipate to a nicety precisely what I wasabout to witness. I hoped that the hunters would prove friendly and beable to direct me toward Sari. 

Even as I was thinking these thoughts the quarry emerged from theforest. But it was no terrified four-footed beast. Instead, what Isaw was an old man--a terrified old man!

Staggering feebly and hopelessly from what must have been some veryterrible fate, if one could judge from the horrified expressions hecontinually cast behind him toward the wood, he came stumbling on in mydirection. 

He had covered but a short distance from the forest when I beheld thefirst of his pursuers--a Sagoth, one of those grim and terriblegorilla-men who guard the mighty Mahars in their buried cities, faringforth from time to time upon slave-raiding or punitive expeditionsagainst the human race of Pellucidar, of whom the dominant race of theinner world think as we think of the bison or the wild sheep of our ownworld. 

Close behind the foremost Sagoth came others until a full dozen raced, shouting after the terror-stricken old man. They would be upon himshortly, that was plain. 

One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-armtestifying to his purpose. 

And then, quite with the suddenness of an unexpected blow, I realized apast familiarity with the gait and carriage of the fugitive. 

Simultaneously there swept over me the staggering fact that the old manwas--PERRY! That he was about to die before my very eyes with no hopethat I could reach him in time to avert the awful catastrophe--for tome it meant a real catastrophe!

Perry was my best friend. 

Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate--apart of me. 

I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand and the revolvers at mybelt; one does not readily synchronize his thoughts with the stone ageand the twentieth century simultaneously. 

Now from past habit I still thought in the stone age, and in mythoughts of the stone age there were no thoughts of firearms. 

The fellow was almost upon Perry when the feel of the gun in my handawoke me from the lethargy of terror that had gripped me. From behindmy boulder I threw up the heavy express rifle--a mighty engine ofdestruction that might bring down a cave bear or a mammoth at a singleshot--and let drive at the Sagoth's broad, hairy breast. 

At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. His spear droppedfrom his hand. 

Then he lunged forward upon his face. 

The effect upon the others was little less remarkable. Perry alonecould have possibly guessed the meaning of the loud report or explainedits connection with the sudden collapse of the Sagoth. The othergorilla-men halted for but an instant. Then with renewed shrieks ofrage they sprang forward to finish Perry. 

At the same time I stepped from behind my boulder, drawing one of myrevolvers that I might conserve the more precious ammunition of theexpress rifle. Quickly I fired again with the lesser weapon. 

Then it was that all eyes were directed toward me. Another Sagoth fellto the bullet from the revolver; but it did not stop his companions. They were out for revenge as well as blood now, and they meant to haveboth. 

As I ran forward toward Perry I fired four more shots, dropping threeof our antagonists. Then at last the remaining seven wavered. It wastoo much for them, this roaring death that leaped, invisible, upon themfrom a great distance. 

As they hesitated I reached Perry's side. I have never seen such anexpression upon any man's face as that upon Perry's when he recognizedme. I have no words wherewith to describe it. There was not time totalk then--scarce for a greeting. I thrust the full, loaded revolverinto his hand, fired the last shot in my own, and reloaded. There werebut six Sagoths left then. 

They started toward us once more, though I could see that they wereterrified probably as much by the noise of the guns as by theireffects. They never reached us. Half-way the three that remainedturned and fled, and we let them go. 

The last we saw of them they were disappearing into the tangledundergrowth of the forest. And then Perry turned and threw his armsabout my neck and, burying his old face upon my shoulder, wept like achild. 

CHAPTER II

TRAVELING WITH TERROR

We made camp there beside the peaceful river. There Perry told me allthat had befallen him since I had departed for the outer crust. 

It seemed that Hooja had made it appear that I had intentionally leftDian behind, and that I did not purpose ever returning to Pellucidar. He told them that I was of another world and that I had tired of thisand of its inhabitants. 

To Dian he had explained that I had a mate in the world to which I wasreturning; that I had never intended taking Dian the Beautiful backwith me; and that she had seen the last of me. 

Shortly afterward Dian had disappeared from the camp, nor had Perryseen or heard aught of her since. 

He had no conception of the time that had elapsed since I had departed, but guessed that many years had dragged their slow way into the past. 

Hooja, too, had disappeared very soon after Dian had left. TheSarians, under Ghak the Hairy One, and the Amozites under Dacor theStrong One, Dian's brother, had fallen out over my supposed defection, for Ghak would not believe that I had thus treacherously deceived anddeserted them. 

The result had been that these two powerful tribes had fallen upon oneanother with the new weapons that Perry and I had taught them to makeand to use. Other tribes of the new federation took sides with theoriginal disputants or set up petty revolutions of their own. 

The result was the total demolition of the work we had so well started. 

Taking advantage of the tribal war, the Mahars had gathered theirSagoths in force and fallen upon one tribe after another in rapidsuccession, wreaking awful havoc among them and reducing them for themost part to as pitiable a state of terror as that from which we hadraised them. 

Alone of all the once-mighty federation the Sarians and the Amoziteswith a few other tribes continued to maintain their defiance of theMahars; but these tribes were still divided among themselves, nor hadit seemed at all probable to Perry when he had last been among themthat any attempt at re-amalgamation would be made. 

"And thus, your majesty, " he concluded, "has faded back into theoblivion of the Stone Age our wondrous dream and with it has gone theFirst Empire of Pellucidar. "

We both had to smile at the use of my royal title, yet I was indeedstill "Emperor of Pellucidar, " and some day I meant to rebuild what thevile act of the treacherous Hooja had torn down. 

But first I would find my empress. To me she was worth forty empires. 

"Have you no clue as to the whereabouts of Dian?" I asked. 

"None whatever, " replied Perry. "It was in search of her that I cameto the pretty pass in which you discovered me, and from which, David, you saved me. 

"I knew perfectly well that you had not intentionally deserted eitherDian or Pellucidar. I guessed that in some way Hooja the Sly One wasat the bottom of the matter, and I determined to go to Amoz, where Iguessed that Dian might come to the protection of her brother, and domy utmost to convince her, and through her Dacor the Strong One, thatwe had all been victims of a treacherous plot to which you were noparty. 

"I came to Amoz after a most trying and terrible journey, only to findthat Dian was not among her brother's people and that they knew naughtof her whereabouts. 

"Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be fair and just, but so great were hisgrief and anger over the disappearance of his sister that he could notlisten to reason, but kept repeating time and again that only yourreturn to Pellucidar could prove the honesty of your intentions. 

"Then came a stranger from another tribe, sent I am sure at theinstigation of Hooja. He so turned the Amozites against me that I wasforced to flee their country to escape assassination. 

"In attempting to return to Sari I became lost, and then the Sagothsdiscovered me. For a long time I eluded them, hiding in caves andwading in rivers to throw them off my trail. 

"I lived on nuts and fruits and the edible roots that chance threw inmy way. 

"I traveled on and on, in what directions I could not even guess; andat last I could elude them no longer and the end came as I had longforeseen that it would come, except that I had not foreseen that youwould be there to save me. "

We rested in our camp until Perry had regained sufficient strength totravel again. We planned much, rebuilding all our shatteredair-castles; but above all we planned most to find Dian. 

I could not believe that she was dead, yet where she might be in thissavage world, and under what frightful conditions she might be living, I could not guess. 

When Perry was rested we returned to the prospector, where he fittedhimself out fully like a civilized human being--under-clothing, socks, shoes, khaki jacket and breeches and good, substantial puttees. 

When I had come upon him he was clothed in rough sadak sandals, agee-string and a tunic fashioned from the shaggy hide of a thag. Nowhe wore real clothing again for the first time since the ape-folk hadstripped us of our apparel that long-gone day that had witnessed ouradvent within Pellucidar. 

With a bandoleer of cartridges across his shoulder, two six-shooters athis hips, and a rifle in his hand he was a much rejuvenated Perry. 

Indeed he was quite a different person altogether from the rather shakyold man who had entered the prospector with me ten or eleven yearsbefore, for the trial trip that had plunged us into such wondrousadventures and into such a strange and hitherto un-dreamed-of-world. 

Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied fromdisuse in his former life, had filled out. 

He was still an old man of course, but instead of appearing ten yearsolder than he really was, as he had when we left the outer world, henow appeared about ten years younger. The wild, free life ofPellucidar had worked wonders for him. 

Well, it must need have done so or killed him, for a man of Perry'sformer physical condition could not long have survived the dangers andrigors of the primi-tive life of the inner world. 

Perry had been greatly interested in my map and in the "royalobservatory" at Greenwich. By use of the pedometers we had retracedour way to the prospector with ease and accuracy. 

Now that we were ready to set out again we decided to follow adifferent route on the chance that it might lead us into more familiarterritory. 

I shall not weary you with a repetition of the count-less adventures ofour long search. Encounters with wild beasts of gigantic size were ofalmost daily occurrence; but with our deadly express rifles we rancomparatively little risk when one recalls that previously we had bothtraversed this world of frightful dangers inadequately armed withcrude, primitive weapons and all but naked. 

We ate and slept many times--so many that we lost count--and so I donot know how long we roamed, though our map shows the distances anddirections quite accurately. We must have covered a great manythousand square miles of territory, and yet we had seen nothing in theway of a familiar landmark, when from the heights of a mountain-rangewe were crossing I descried far in the distance great masses ofbillowing clouds. 

Now clouds are practically unknown in the skies of Pellucidar. Themoment that my eyes rested upon them my heart leaped. I seized Perry'sarm and, point-ing toward the horizonless distance, shouted:

"The Mountains of the Clouds!"

"They lie close to Phutra, and the country of our worst enemies, theMahars, " Perry remonstrated. 

"I know it, " I replied, "but they give us a starting-point from whichto prosecute our search intelligently. They are at least a familiarlandmark. 

"They tell us that we are upon the right trail and not wandering far inthe wrong direction. 

"Furthermore, close to the Mountains of the Clouds dwells a goodfriend, Ja the Mezop. You did not know him, but you know all that hedid for me and all that he will gladly do to aid me. 

"At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari. "

"The Mountains of the Clouds constitute a mighty range, " replied Perry. "They must cover an enormous territory. How are you to find yourfriend in all the great country that is visible from their ruggedflanks?"

"Easily, " I answered him, "for Ja gave me minute directions. I recallalmost his exact words:

"'You need merely come to the foot of the highest peak of the Mountainsof the Clouds. There you will find a river that flows into the LuralAz. 

"'Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three largeislands far out--so far that they are barely discernible. The one tothe extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river isAnoroc, where I rule the tribe of Anoroc. '"

And so we hastened onward toward the great cloud-mass that was to beour guide for several weary marches. At last we came close to thetowering crags, Alp-like in their grandeur. 

Rising nobly among its noble fellows, one stupendous peak reared itsgiant head thousands of feet above the others. It was he whom wesought; but at its foot no river wound down toward any sea. 

"It must rise from the opposite side, " suggested Perry, casting arueful glance at the forbidding heights that barred our furtherprogress. "We cannot endure the arctic cold of those high flungpasses, and to traverse the endless miles about this interminable rangemight require a year or more. The land we seek must lie upon theopposite side of the mountains. "

"Then we must cross them, " I insisted. 

Perry shrugged. 

"We can't do it, David, " he repeated, "We are dressed for the tropics. We should freeze to death among the snows and glaciers long before wehad discovered a pass to the opposite side. "

"We must cross them, " I reiterated. "We will cross them. "

I had a plan, and that plan we carried out. It took some time. 

First we made a permanent camp part way up the slopes where there wasgood water. Then we set out in search of the great, shaggy cave bearof the higher altitudes. 

He is a mighty animal--a terrible animal. He is but little larger thanhis cousin of the lesser, lower hills; but he makes up for it in theawfulness of his ferocity and in the length and thickness of his shaggycoat. It was his coat that we were after. 

We came upon him quite unexpectedly. I was trudging in advance along arocky trail worn smooth by the padded feet of countless ages of wildbeasts. At a shoul-der of the mountain around which the path ran Icame face to face with the Titan. 

I was going up for a fur coat. He was coming down for breakfast. Eachrealized that here was the very thing he sought. 

With a horrid roar the beast charged me. 

At my right the cliff rose straight upward for thou-sands of feet. 

At my left it dropped into a dim, abysmal canon. 

In front of me was the bear. 

Behind me was Perry. 

I shouted to him in warning, and then I raised my rifle and fired intothe broad breast of the creature. There was no time to take aim; thething was too close upon me. 

But that my bullet took effect was evident from the howl of rage andpain that broke from the frothing jowls. It didn't stop him, though. 

I fired again, and then he was upon me. Down I went beneath his ton ofmaddened, clawing flesh and bone and sinew. 

I thought my time had come. I remember feeling sorry for poor oldPerry, left all alone in this inhospitable, savage world. 

And then of a sudden I realized that the bear was gone and that I wasquite unharmed. I leaped to my feet, my rifle still clutched in myhand, and looked about for my antagonist. 

I thought that I should find him farther down the trail, probablyfinishing Perry, and so I leaped in the direction I supposed him to be, to find Perry perched upon a projecting rock several feet above thetrail. My cry of warn-ing had given him time to reach this point ofsafety. 

There he squatted, his eyes wide and his mouth ajar, the picture ofabject terror and consternation. 

"Where is he?" he cried when he saw me. "Where is he?"

"Didn't he come this way?" I asked, "Nothing came this way, " replied the old man. "But I heard hisroars--he must have been as large as an elephant. "

"He was, " I admitted; "but where in the world do you suppose hedisappeared to?"

Then came a possible explanation to my mind. I returned to the pointat which the bear had hurled me down and peered over the edge of thecliff into the abyss below. 

Far, far down I saw a small brown blotch near the bottom of the canon. It was the bear. 

My second shot must have killed him, and so his dead body, afterhurling me to the path, had toppled over into the abyss. I shivered atthe thought of how close I, too, must have been to going over with him. 

It took us a long time to reach the carcass, and arduous labor toremove the great pelt. But at last the thing was accomplished, and wereturned to camp dragging the heavy trophy behind us. 

Here we devoted another considerable period to scraping and curing it. When this was done to our satisfaction we made heavy boots, trousers, and coats of the shaggy skin, turning the fur in. 

From the scraps we fashioned caps that came down around our ears, withflaps that fell about our shoulders and breasts. We were now fairlywell equipped for our search for a pass to the opposite side of theMountains of the Clouds. 

Our first step now was to move our camp upward to the very edge of theperpetual snows which cap this lofty range. Here we built a snug, secure little hut, which we provisioned and stored with fuel for itsdiminutive fireplace. 

With our hut as a base we sallied forth in search of a pass across therange. 

Our every move was carefully noted upon our maps which we now kept induplicate. By this means we were saved tedious and unnecessaryretracing of ways already explored. 

Systematically we worked upward in both directions from our base, andwhen we had at last discovered what seemed might prove a feasible passwe moved our be-longings to a new hut farther up. 

It was hard work--cold, bitter, cruel work. Not a step did we take inadvance but the grim reaper strode silently in our tracks. 

There were the great cave bears in the timber, and gaunt, leanwolves--huge creatures twice the size of our Canadian timber-wolves. Farther up we were assailed by enormous white bears--hungry, devilishfellows, who came roaring across the rough glacier tops at the firstglimpse of us, or stalked us stealthily by scent when they had not yetseen us. 

It is one of the peculiarities of life within Pellucidar that man ismore often the hunted than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-belliedcarnivora of this primitive world. Never, from birth to death, arethose great bellies sufficiently filled, so always are their mightyowners prowling about in search of meat. 

Terribly armed for battle as they are, man presents to them in hisprimal state an easy prey, slow of foot, puny of strength, ill-equippedby nature with natural weapons of defense. 

The bears looked upon us as easy meat. Only our heavy rifles saved usfrom prompt extinction. Poor Perry never was a raging lion at heart, and I am convinced that the terrors of that awful period must havecaused him poignant mental anguish. 

When we were abroad pushing our trail farther and farther toward thedistant break which, we assumed, marked a feasible way across therange, we never knew at what second some great engine of clawed andfanged destruction might rush upon us from behind, or lie in wait forus beyond an ice-hummock or a jutting shoulder of the craggy steeps. 

The roar of our rifles was constantly shattering the world-old silenceof stupendous canons upon which the eye of man had never before gazed. And when in the comparative safety of our hut we lay down to sleep thegreat beasts roared and fought without the walls, clawed and batteredat the door, or rushed their colossal frames headlong against the hut'ssides until it rocked and trembled to the impact. 

Yes, it was a gay life. 

Perry had got to taking stock of our ammunition each time we returnedto the hut. It became something of an obsession with him. 

He'd count our cartridges one by one and then try to figure how long itwould be before the last was expended and we must either remain in thehut until we starved to death or venture forth, empty, to fill thebelly of some hungry bear. 

I must admit that I, too, felt worried, for our progress was indeedsnail-like, and our ammunition could not last forever. In discussingthe problem, finally we came to the decision to burn our bridges behindus and make one last supreme effort to cross the divide. 

It would mean that we must go without sleep for a long period, and withthe further chance that when the time came that sleep could no longerbe denied we might still be high in the frozen regions of perpetualsnow and ice, where sleep would mean certain death, exposed as we wouldbe to the attacks of wild beasts and without shelter from the hideouscold. 

But we decided that we must take these chances and so at last we setforth from our hut for the last time, carrying such necessities as wefelt we could least afford to do without. The bears seemed unusuallytroublesome and determined that time, and as we clambered slowly upwardbeyond the highest point to which we had previously attained, the coldbecame infinitely more intense. 

Presently, with two great bears dogging our footsteps we entered adense fog. 

We had reached the heights that are so often cloud-wrapped for longperiods. We could see nothing a few paces beyond our noses. 

We dared not turn back into the teeth of the bears which we could heargrunting behind us. To meet them in this bewildering fog would havebeen to court instant death. 

Perry was almost overcome by the hopelessness of our situation. Heflopped down on his knees and began to pray. 

It was the first time I had heard him at his old habit since my returnto Pellucidar, and I had thought that he had given up his littleidiosyncrasy; but he hadn't. Far from it. 

I let him pray for a short time undisturbed, and then as I was about tosuggest that we had better be pushing along one of the bears in ourrear let out a roar that made the earth fairly tremble beneath our feet. 

It brought Perry to his feet as if he had been stung by a wasp, andsent him racing ahead through the blind-ing fog at a gait that I knewmust soon end in disaster were it not checked. 

Crevasses in the glacier-ice were far too frequent to permit ofreckless speed even in a clear atmosphere, and then there were hideousprecipices along the edges of which our way often led us. I shiveredas I thought of the poor old fellow's peril. 

At the top of my lungs I called to him to stop, but he did not answerme. And then I hurried on in the direction he had gone, faster by farthan safety dictated. 

For a while I thought I heard him ahead of me, but at last, though Ipaused often to listen and to call to him, I heard nothing more, noteven the grunting of the bears that had been behind us. All wasdeathly silence--the silence of the tomb. About me lay the thick, impenetrable fog. 

I was alone. Perry was gone--gone forever, I had not the slightestdoubt. 

Somewhere near by lay the mouth of a treacherous fissure, and far downat its icy bottom lay all that was mortal of my old friend, AbnerPerry. There would his body be preserved in its icy sepulcher forcountless ages, until on some far distant day the slow-moving river ofice had wound its snail-like way down to the warmer level, there todisgorge its grisly evidence of grim tragedy, and what in that farfuture age, might mean baffling mystery. 

CHAPTER III

SHOOTING THE CHUTES--AND AFTER

Through the fog I felt my way along by means of my compass. I nolonger heard the bears, nor did I encounter one within the fog. 

Experience has since taught me that these great beasts are asterror-stricken by this phenomenon as a landsman by a fog at sea, andthat no sooner does a fog envelop them than they make the best of theirway to lower levels and a clear atmosphere. It was well for me thatthis was true. 

I felt very sad and lonely as I crawled along the difficult footing. My own predicament weighed less heavily upon me than the loss of Perry, for I loved the old fellow. 

That I should ever win the opposite slopes of the range I began todoubt, for though I am naturally sanguine, I imagine that thebereavement which had befallen me had cast such a gloom over my spiritsthat I could see no slightest ray of hope for the future. 

Then, too, the blighting, gray oblivion of the cold, damp cloudsthrough which I wandered was distress-ing. Hope thrives best insunlight, and I am sure that it does not thrive at all in a fog. 

But the instinct of self-preservation is stronger than hope. Itthrives, fortunately, upon nothing. It takes root upon the brink ofthe grave, and blossoms in the jaws of death. Now it flourishedbravely upon the breast of dead hope, and urged me onward and upward ina stern endeavor to justify its existence. 

As I advanced the fog became denser. I could see nothing beyond mynose. Even the snow and ice I trod were invisible. 

I could not see below the breast of my bearskin coat. I seemed to befloating in a sea of vapor. 

To go forward over a dangerous glacier under such conditions was littleshort of madness; but I could not have stopped going had I knownpositively that death lay two paces before my nose. In the firstplace, it was too cold to stop, and in the second, I should have gonemad but for the excitement of the perils that beset each forward step. 

For some time the ground had been rougher and steeper, until I had beenforced to scale a considerable height that had carried me from theglacier entirely. I was sure from my compass that I was following theright general direction, and so I kept on. 

Once more the ground was level. From the wind that blew about me Iguessed that I must be upon some exposed peak of ridge. 

And then quite suddenly I stepped out into space. Wildly I turned andclutched at the ground that had slipped from beneath my feet. 

Only a smooth, icy surface was there. I found nothing to clutch orstay my fall, and a moment later so great was my speed that nothingcould have stayed me. 

As suddenly as I had pitched into space, with equal suddenness did Iemerge from the fog, out of which I shot like a projectile from acannon into clear daylight. My speed was so great that I could seenothing about me but a blurred and indistinct sheet of smooth andfrozen snow, that rushed past me with express-train velocity. 

I must have slid downward thousands of feet before the steep inclinecurved gently on to a broad, smooth, snow-covered plateau. Across thisI hurtled with slowly diminishing velocity, until at last objects aboutme began to take definite shape. 

Far ahead, miles and miles away, I saw a great valley and mighty woods, and beyond these a broad expanse of water. In the nearer foreground Idiscerned a small, dark blob of color upon the shimmering whiteness ofthe snow. 

"A bear, " thought I, and thanked the instinct that had impelled me tocling tenaciously to my rifle during the moments of my awful tumble. 

At the rate I was going it would be but a moment before I should bequite abreast the thing; nor was it long before I came to a sudden stopin soft snow, upon which the sun was shining, not twenty paces from theobject of my most immediate apprehension. 

It was standing upon its hind legs waiting for me. As I scrambled tomy feet to meet it, I dropped my gun in the snow and doubled up withlaughter. 

It was Perry. 

The expression upon his face, combined with the relief I felt at seeinghim again safe and sound, was too much for my overwrought nerves. 

"David!" he cried. "David, my boy! God has been good to an old man. He has answered my prayer. "

It seems that Perry in his mad flight had plunged over the brink atabout the same point as that at which I had stepped over it a shorttime later. Chance had done for us what long periods of rational laborhad failed to accomplish. 

We had crossed the divide. We were upon the side of the Mountains ofthe Clouds that we had for so long been attempting to reach. 

We looked about. Below us were green trees and warm jungles. In thedistance was a great sea. 

"The Lural Az, " I said, pointing toward its blue-green surface. 

Somehow--the gods alone can explain it--Perry, too, had clung to hisrifle during his mad descent of the icy slope. For that there wascause for great rejoicing. 

Neither of us was worse for his experience, so after shaking the snowfrom our clothing, we set off at a great rate down toward the warmthand comfort of the forest and the jungle. 

The going was easy by comparison with the awful obstacles we had had toencounter upon the opposite side of the divide. There were beasts, ofcourse, but we came through safely. 

Before we halted to eat or rest, we stood beside a little mountainbrook beneath the wondrous trees of the primeval forest in anatmosphere of warmth and comfort. It reminded me of an early June dayin the Maine Woods. 

We fell to work with our short axes and cut enough small trees to builda rude protection from the fiercer beasts. Then we lay down to sleep. 

How long we slept I do not know. Perry says that inasmuch as there isno means of measuring time within Pellucidar, there can be no suchthing as time here, and that we may have slept an outer earthly year, or we may have slept but a second. 

But this I know. We had stuck the ends of some of the saplings intothe ground in the building of our shelter, first stripping the leavesand branches from them, and when we awoke we found that many of themhad thrust forth sprouts. 

Personally, I think that we slept at least a month; but who may say?The sun marked midday when we closed our eyes; it was still in the sameposition when we opened them; nor had it varied a hair's breadth in theinterim. 

It is most baffling, this question of elapsed time within Pellucidar. 

Anyhow, I was famished when we awoke. I think that it was the pangs ofhunger that awoke me. Ptarmigan and wild boar fell before my revolverwithin a dozen moments of my awakening. Perry soon had a roaring fireblazing by the brink of the little stream. 

It was a good and delicious meal we made. Though we did not eat theentire boar, we made a very large hole in him, while the ptarmigan wasbut a mouthful. 

Having satisfied our hunger, we determined to set forth at once insearch of Anoroc and my old friend, Ja the Mezop. We each thought thatby following the little stream downward, we should come upon the largeriver which Ja had told me emptied into the Lural Az op-posite hisisland. 

We did so; nor were we disappointed, for at last after a pleasantjourney--and what journey would not be pleasant after the hardships wehad endured among the peaks of the Mountains of the Clouds--we cameupon a broad flood that rushed majestically onward in the di-rection ofthe great sea we had seen from the snowy slopes of the mountains. 

For three long marches we followed the left bank of the growing river, until at last we saw it roll its mighty volume into the vast waters ofthe sea. Far out across the rippling ocean we described three islands. The one to the left must be Anoroc. 

At last we had come close to a solution of our problem--the road toSari. 

But how to reach the islands was now the foremost question in ourminds. We must build a canoe. 

Perry is a most resourceful man. He has an axiom which carries thethought-kernel that what man has done, man can do, and it doesn't cutany figure with Perry whether a fellow knows how to do it or not. 

He set out to make gunpowder once, shortly after our escape from Phutraand at the beginning of the confederation of the wild tribes ofPellucidar. He said that some one, without any knowledge of the factthat such a thing might be concocted, had once stumbled upon it byaccident, and so he couldn't see why a fellow who knew all about powderexcept how to make it couldn't do as well. 

He worked mighty hard mixing all sorts of things together, untilfinally he evolved a substance that looked like powder. He had beenvery proud of the stuff, and had gone about the village of the Sariansexhibiting it to every one who would listen to him, and explaining whatits purpose was and what terrific havoc it would work, until finallythe natives became so terrified at the stuff that they wouldn't comewithin a rod of Perry and his invention. 

Finally, I suggested that we experiment with it and see what it woulddo, so Perry built a fire, after placing the powder at a safe distance, and then touched a glow-ing ember to a minute particle of the deadlyexplosive. It extinguished the ember. 

Repeated experiments with it determined me that in searching for a highexplosive, Perry had stumbled upon a fire-extinguisher that would havemade his fortune for him back in our own world. 

So now he set himself to work to build a scientific canoe. I hadsuggested that we construct a dugout, but Perry convinced me that wemust build something more in keeping with our positions of supermen inthis world of the Stone Age. 

"We must impress these natives with our superiority, " he explained. "You must not forget, David, that you are emperor of Pellucidar. Assuch you may not with dignity approach the shores of a foreign power inso crude a vessel as a dugout. "

I pointed out to Perry that it wasn't much more incongruous for theemperor to cruise in a canoe, than it was for the prime minister toattempt to build one with his own hands. 

He had to smile at that; but in extenuation of his act he assured methat it was quite customary for prime ministers to give their personalattention to the building of imperial navies; "and this, " he said, "isthe imperial navy of his Serene Highness, David I, Emperor of theFederated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. "

I grinned; but Perry was quite serious about it. It had always seemedrather more or less of a joke to me that I should be addressed asmajesty and all the rest of it. Yet my imperial power and dignity hadbeen a very real thing during my brief reign. 

Twenty tribes had joined the federation, and their chiefs had sworneternal fealty to one another and to me. Among them were many powerfulthough savage nations. Their chiefs we had made kings; their triballands kingdoms. 

We had armed them with bows and arrows and swords, in addition to theirown more primitive weapons. I had trained them in military disciplineand in so much of the art of war as I had gleaned from extensivereading of the campaigns of Napoleon, Von Moltke, Grant, and theancients. 

We had marked out as best we could natural boundaries dividing thevarious kingdoms. We had warned tribes beyond these boundaries thatthey must not trespass, and we had marched against and severelypunished those who had. 

We had met and defeated the Mahars and the Sagoths. In short, we haddemonstrated our rights to empire, and very rapidly were we beingrecognized and heralded abroad when my departure for the outer worldand Hooja's treachery had set us back. 

But now I had returned. The work that fate had undone must be doneagain, and though I must need smile at my imperial honors, I none theless felt the weight of duty and obligation that rested upon myshoulders. 

Slowly the imperial navy progressed toward completion. She was awondrous craft, but I had my doubts about her. When I voiced them toPerry, he reminded me gently that my people for many generations hadbeen mine-owners, not ship-builders, and consequently I couldn't beexpected to know much about the matter. 

I was minded to inquire into his hereditary fitness to designbattleships; but inasmuch as I already knew that his father had been aminister in a back-woods village far from the coast, I hesitated lest Ioffend the dear old fellow. 

He was immensely serious about his work, and I must admit that in sofar as appearances went he did extremely well with the meager tools andassistance at his command. We had only two short axes and ourhunting-knives; yet with these we hewed trees, split them into planks, surfaced and fitted them. 

The "navy" was some forty feet in length by ten feet beam. Her sideswere quite straight and fully ten feet high--"for the purpose, "explained Perry, "of adding dignity to her appearance and rendering itless easy for an enemy to board her. "

As a matter of fact, I knew that he had had in mind the safety of hercrew under javelin-fire--the lofty sides made an admirable shelter. Inside she reminded me of nothing so much as a floating trench. Therewas also some slight analogy to a huge coffin. 

Her prow sloped sharply backward from the water-line--quite like a lineof battleship. Perry had designed her more for moral effect upon anenemy, I think, than for any real harm she might inflict, and so thoseparts which were to show were the most imposing. 

Below the water-line she was practically non-existent. She should havehad considerable draft; but, as the enemy couldn't have seen it, Perrydecided to do away with it, and so made her flat-bottomed. It was thisthat caused my doubts about her. 

There was another little idiosyncrasy of design that escaped us bothuntil she was about ready to launch--there was no method of propulsion. Her sides were far too high to permit the use of sweeps, and when Perrysuggested that we pole her, I remonstrated on the grounds that it wouldbe a most undignified and awkward manner of sweeping down upon the foe, even if we could find or wield poles that would reach to the bottom ofthe ocean. 

Finally I suggested that we convert her into a sailing vessel. Whenonce the idea took hold Perry was most enthusiastic about it, andnothing would do but a four-masted, full-rigged ship. 

Again I tried to dissuade him, but he was simply crazy over thepsychological effect which the appearance of this strange and mightycraft would have upon the natives of Pellucidar. So we rigged her withthin hides for sails and dried gut for rope. 

Neither of us knew much about sailing a full-rigged ship; but thatdidn't worry me a great deal, for I was confident that we should neverbe called upon to do so, and as the day of launching approached I waspositive of it. 

We had built her upon a low bank of the river close to where it emptiedinto the sea, and just above high tide. Her keel we had laid uponseveral rollers cut from small trees, the ends of the rollers in turnresting upon parallel tracks of long saplings. Her stern was towardthe water. 

A few hours before we were ready to launch her she made quite animposing picture, for Perry had insisted upon setting every shred of"canvas. " I told him that I didn't know much about it, but I was surethat at launching the hull only should have been completed, every-thingelse being completed after she had floated safely. 

At the last minute there was some delay while we sought a name for her. I wanted her christened the Perry in honor both of her designer andthat other great naval genius of another world, Captain Oliver HazardPerry, of the United States Navy. But Perry was too modest; hewouldn't hear of it. 

We finally decided to establish a system in the naming of the fleet. Battle-ships of the first-class should bear the names of kingdoms ofthe federation; armored cruisers the names of kings; cruisers the namesof cities, and so on down the line. Therefore, we decided to name thefirst battle-ship Sari, after the first of the federated kingdoms. 

The launching of the Sari proved easier than I contemplated. Perrywanted me to get in and break some-thing over the bow as she floatedout upon the bosom of the river, but I told him that I should feelsafer on dry land until I saw which side up the Sari would float. 

I could see by the expression of the old man's face that my words hadhurt him; but I noticed that he didn't offer to get in himself, and soI felt less contrition than I might otherwise. 

When we cut the ropes and removed the blocks that held the Sari inplace she started for the water with a lunge. Before she hit it shewas going at a reckless speed, for we had laid our tracks quite down tothe water, greased them, and at intervals placed rollers all ready toreceive the ship as she moved forward with stately dignity. But therewas no dignity in the Sari. 

When she touched the surface of the river she must have been goingtwenty or thirty miles an hour. Her momentum carried her well out intothe stream, until she came to a sudden halt at the end of the long linewhich we had had the foresight to attach to her bow and fasten to alarge tree upon the bank. 

The moment her progress was checked she promptly capsized. Perry wasoverwhelmed. I didn't upbraid him, nor remind him that I had "told himso. "

His grief was so genuine and so apparent that I didn't have the heartto reproach him, even were I inclined to that particular sort ofmeanness. 

"Come, come, old man!" I cried. "It's not as bad as it looks. Give mea hand with this rope, and we'll drag her up as far as we can; and thenwhen the tide goes out we'll try another scheme. I think we can make ago of her yet. "

Well, we managed to get her up into shallow water. When the tidereceded she lay there on her side in the mud, quite a pitiable objectfor the premier battle-ship of a world--"the terror of the seas" wasthe way Perry had occasionally described her. 

We had to work fast; but before the tide came in again we had strippedher of her sails and masts, righted her, and filled her about a quarterfull of rock ballast. If she didn't stick too fast in the mud I wassure that she would float this time right side up. 

I can tell you that it was with palpitating hearts that we sat upon theriver-bank and watched that tide come slowly in. The tides ofPellucidar don't amount to much by comparison with our higher tides ofthe outer world, but I knew that it ought to prove ample to float theSari. 

Nor was I mistaken. Finally we had the satisfaction of seeing thevessel rise out of the mud and float slowly upstream with the tide. Asthe water rose we pulled her in quite close to the bank and clamberedaboard. 

She rested safely now upon an even keel; nor did she leak, for she waswell calked with fiber and tarry pitch. We rigged up a single shortmast and light sail, fastened planking down over the ballast to form adeck, worked her out into midstream with a couple of sweeps, anddropped our primitive stone anchor to await the turn of the tide thatwould bear us out to sea. 

While we waited we devoted the time to the construction of an upperdeck, since the one immediately above the ballast was some seven feetfrom the gunwale. The second deck was four feet above this. In it wasa large, commodious hatch, leading to the lower deck. The sides of theship rose three feet above the upper deck, forming an excellentbreastwork, which we loopholed at intervals that we might lie prone andfire upon an enemy. 

Though we were sailing out upon a peaceful mission in search of myfriend Ja, we knew that we might meet with people of some other islandwho would prove unfriendly. 

At last the tide turned. We weighed anchor. Slowly we drifted downthe great river toward the sea. 

About us swarmed the mighty denizens of the primeval deep--plesiosauriand ichthyosauria with all their horrid, slimy cousins whose names wereas the names of aunts and uncles to Perry, but which I have never beenable to recall an hour after having heard them. 

At last we were safely launched upon the journey to which we had lookedforward for so long, and the results of which meant so much to me. 

CHAPTER IV

FRIENDSHIP AND TREACHERY

The Sari proved a most erratic craft. She might have done well enoughupon a park lagoon if safely anchored, but upon the bosom of a mightyocean she left much to be desired. 

Sailing with the wind she did her best; but in quarter-ing or whenclose-hauled she drifted terribly, as a nautical man might have guessedshe would. We couldn't keep within miles of our course, and ourprogress was pitifully slow. 

Instead of making for the island of Anoroc, we bore far to the right, until it became evident that we should have to pass between the tworight-hand islands and attempt to return toward Anoroc from theopposite side. 

As we neared the islands Perry was quite overcome by their beauty. When we were directly between two of them he fairly went into raptures;nor could I blame him. 

The tropical luxuriance of the foliage that dripped almost to thewater's edge and the vivid colors of the blooms that shot the greenmade a most gorgeous spectacle. 

Perry was right in the midst of a flowery panegyric on the wonders ofthe peaceful beauty of the scene when a canoe shot out from the nearestisland. There were a dozen warriors in it; it was quickly followed bya second and third. 

Of course we couldn't know the intentions of the strangers, but wecould pretty well guess them. 

Perry wanted to man the sweeps and try to get away from them, but Isoon convinced him that any speed of which the Sari was capable wouldbe far too slow to outdistance the swift, though awkward, dugouts ofthe Mezops. 

I waited until they were quite close enough to hear me, and then Ihailed them. I told them that we were friends of the Mezops, and thatwe were upon a visit to Ja of Anoroc, to which they replied that theywere at war with Ja, and that if we would wait a minute they'd board usand throw our corpses to the azdyryths. 

I warned them that they would get the worst of it if they didn't leaveus alone, but they only shouted in derision and paddled swiftly towardus. It was evident that they were considerably impressed by theappearance and dimensions of our craft, but as these fellows know nofear they were not at all awed. 

Seeing that they were determined to give battle, I leaned over the railof the Sari and brought the imperial battle-squadron of the Emperor ofPellucidar into action for the first time in the history of a world. In other and simpler words, I fired my revolver at the nearest canoe. 

The effect was magical. A warrior rose from his knees, threw hispaddle aloft, stiffened into rigidity for an instant, and then toppledoverboard. 

The others ceased paddling, and, with wide eyes, looked first at me andthen at the battling sea-things which fought for the corpse of theircomrade. To them it must have seemed a miracle that I should be ableto stand at thrice the range of the most powerful javelin-thrower andwith a loud noise and a smudge of smoke slay one of their number withan invisible missile. 

But only for an instant were they paralyzed with wonder. Then, withsavage shouts, they fell once more to their paddles and forged rapidlytoward us. 

Again and again I fired. At each shot a warrior sank to the bottom ofthe canoe or tumbled overboard. 

When the prow of the first craft touched the side of the Sari itcontained only dead and dying men. The other two dugouts wereapproaching rapidly, so I turned my attention toward them. 

I think that they must have been commencing to have some doubts--thosewild, naked, red warriors--for when the first man fell in the secondboat, the others stopped paddling and commenced to jabber amongthemselves. 

The third boat pulled up alongside the second and its crews joined inthe conference. Taking advantage of the lull in the battle, I calledout to the survivors to return to their shore. 

"I have no fight with you, " I cried, and then I told them who I was andadded that if they would live in peace they must sooner or later joinforces with me. 

"Go back now to your people, " I counseled them, "and tell them that youhave seen David I, Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar, andthat single-handed he has overcome you, just as he intends over-comingthe Mahars and the Sagoths and any other peoples of Pellucidar whothreaten the peace and welfare of his empire. "

Slowly they turned the noses of their canoes toward land. It wasevident that they were impressed; yet that they were loath to give upwithout further contesting my claim to naval supremacy was alsoapparent, for some of their number seemed to be exhorting the others toa renewal of the conflict. 

However, at last they drew slowly away, and the Sari, which had notdecreased her snail-like speed during this, her first engagement, continued upon her slow, uneven way. 

Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me. 

"Have the scoundrels departed?" he asked. "Have you killed them all?"

"Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry, " I replied. 

He came out on deck and, peering over the side, descried the lone canoefloating a short distance astern with its grim and grisly freight. Farther his eyes wandered to the retreating boats. 

"David, " said he at last, "this is a notable occasion. It is a greatday in the annals of Pellucidar. We have won a glorious victory. 

"Your majesty's navy has routed a fleet of the enemy thrice its ownsize, manned by ten times as many men. Let us give thanks. "

I could scarce restrain a smile at Perry's use of the pronoun "we, " yetI was glad to share the rejoicing with him as I shall always be glad toshare everything with the dear old fellow. 

Perry is the only male coward I have ever known whom I could respectand love. He was not created for fighting; but I think that if theoccasion should ever arise where it became necessary he would give hislife cheer-fully for me--yes, I KNOW it. 

It took us a long time to work around the islands and draw in close toAnoroc. In the leisure afforded we took turns working on our map, andby means of the compass and a little guesswork we set down theshoreline we had left and the three islands with fair accuracy. 

Crossed sabers marked the spot where the first great naval engagementof a world had taken place. In a note-book we jotted down, as had beenour custom, details that would be of historical value later. 

Opposite Anoroc we came to anchor quite close to shore. I knew from myprevious experience with the tortuous trails of the island that I couldnever find my way inland to the hidden tree-village of the Mezopchieftain, Ja; so we remained aboard the Sari, firing our expressrifles at intervals to attract the attention of the natives. 

After some ten shots had been fired at considerable intervals a body ofcopper-colored warriors appeared upon the shore. They watched us for amoment and then I hailed them, asking the whereabouts of my old friendJa. 

They did not reply at once, but stood with their heads together inserious and animated discussion. Continually they turned their eyestoward our strange craft. It was evident that they were greatlypuzzled by our appearance as well as unable to explain the source ofthe loud noises that had attracted their attention to us. At last oneof the warriors addressed us. 

"Who are you who seek Ja?" he asked. "What would you of our chief?"

"We are friends, " I replied. "I am David. Tell Ja that David, whoselife be once saved from a sithic, has come again to visit him. 

"If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring ourgreat warship closer in. "

Again they talked for a considerable time. Then two of them entered acanoe that several dragged from its hiding-place in the jungle andpaddled swiftly toward us. 

They were magnificent specimens of manhood. Perry had never seen amember of this red race close to be-fore. In fact, the dead men in thecanoe we had left astern after the battle and the survivors who werepaddling rapidly toward their shore were the first he ever had seen. He had been greatly impressed by their physical beauty and the promiseof superior intelligence which their well-shaped skulls gave. 

The two who now paddled out received us into their canoe with dignifiedcourtesy. To my inquiries relative to Ja they explained that he hadnot been in the village when our signals were heard, but that runnershad been sent out after him and that doubtless he was already upon hisway to the coast. 

One of the men remembered me from the occasion of my former visit tothe island; he was extremely agree-able the moment that he came closeenough to recognize me. He said that Ja would be delighted to welcomeme, and that all the tribe of Anoroc knew of me by repute, and hadreceived explicit instructions from their chief-tain that if any ofthem should ever come upon me to show me every kindness and attention. 

Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stoodconversing with our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly fromthe jungle. 

It was Ja. As his eyes fell upon me his face lighted with pleasure. He came quickly forward to greet me after the manner of his tribe. 

Toward Perry he was equally hospitable. The old man fell in love withthe savage giant as completely as had I. Ja conducted us along themaze-like trail to his strange village, where he gave over one of thetree-houses for our exclusive use. 

Perry was much interested in the unique habitation, which resemblednothing so much as a huge wasp's nest built around the bole of a treewell above the ground. 

After we had eaten and rested Ja came to see us with a number of hishead men. They listened attentively to my story, which included anarrative of the events leading to the formation of the federatedkingdoms, the battle with the Mahars, my journey to the outer world, and my return to Pellucidar and search for Sari and my mate. 

Ja told me that the Mezops had heard something of the federation andhad been much interested in it. He had even gone so far as to send aparty of warriors toward Sari to investigate the reports, and toarrange for the entrance of Anoroc into the empire in case it appearedthat there was any truth in the rumors that one of the aims of thefederation was the overthrow of the Mahars. 

The delegation had met with a party of Sagoths. As there had been atruce between the Mahars and the Mezops for many generations, theycamped with these warriors of the reptiles, from whom they learned thatthe federation had gone to pieces. So the party returned to Anoroc. 

When I showed Ja our map and explained its purpose to him, he was muchinterested. The location of Anoroc, the Mountains of the Clouds, theriver, and the strip of seacoast were all familiar to him. 

He quickly indicated the position of the inland sea and close besideit, the city of Phutra, where one of the powerful Mahar nations had itsseat. He likewise showed us where Sari should be and carried his owncoast-line as far north and south as it was known to him. 

His additions to the map convinced us that Greenwich lay upon the vergeof this same sea, and that it might be reached by water more easilythan by the arduous crossing of the mountains or the dangerous approachthrough Phutra, which lay almost directly in line between Anoroc andGreenwich to the northwest. 

If Sari lay upon the same water then the shore-line must bend far backtoward the southwest of Greenwich--an assumption which, by the way, wefound later to be true. Also, Sari was upon a lofty plateau at thesouthern end of a mighty gulf of the Great Ocean. 

The location which Ja gave to distant Amoz puzzled us, for it placed itdue north of Greenwich, apparently in mid-ocean. As Ja had never beenso far and knew only of Amoz through hearsay, we thought that he mustbe mistaken; but he was not. Amoz lies directly north of Greenwichacross the mouth of the same gulf as that upon which Sari is. 

The sense of direction and location of these primitive Pellucidariansis little short of uncanny, as I have had occasion to remark in thepast. You may take one of them to the uttermost ends of his world, toplaces of which he has never even heard, yet without sun or moon orstars to guide him, without map or compass, he will travel straight forhome in the shortest direction. 

Mountains, rivers, and seas may have to be gone around, but never oncedoes his sense of direction fail him--the homing instinct is supreme. 

In the same remarkable way they never forget the location of any placeto which they have ever been, and know that of many of which they haveonly heard from others who have visited them. 

In short, each Pellucidarian is a walking geography of his own districtand of much of the country contiguous thereto. It always proved of thegreatest aid to Perry and me; nevertheless we were anxious to enlargeour map, for we at least were not endowed with the homing instinct. 

After several long councils it was decided that, in order to expeditematters, Perry should return to the prospector with a strong party ofMezops and fetch the freight I had brought from the outer world. Jaand his warriors were much impressed by our firearms, and were alsoanxious to build boats with sails. 

As we had arms at the prospector and also books on boat-building wethought that it might prove an excellent idea to start these naturallymaritime people upon the construction of a well built navy of staunchsailing-vessels. I was sure that with definite plans to go by Perrycould oversee the construction of an adequate flotilla. 

I warned him, however, not to be too ambitious, and to forget aboutdreadnoughts and armored cruisers for a while and build instead a fewsmall sailing-boats that could be manned by four or five men. 

I was to proceed to Sari, and while prosecuting my search for Dianattempt at the same time the rehabilitation of the federation. Perrywas going as far as possible by water, with the chances that the entiretrip might be made in that manner, which proved to be the fact. 

With a couple of Mezops as companions I started for Sari. In order toavoid crossing the principal range of the Mountains of the Clouds wetook a route that passed a little way south of Phutra. We had eatenfour times and slept once, and were, as my companions told me, not farfrom the great Mahar city, when we were suddenly confronted by aconsiderable band of Sagoths. 

They did not attack us, owing to the peace which exists between theMahars and the Mezops, but I could see that they looked upon me withconsiderable suspicion. My friends told them that I was a strangerfrom a remote country, and as we had previously planned against such acontingency I pretended ignorance of the language which the humanbeings of Pellucidar employ in conversing with the gorilla-likesoldiery of the Mahars. 

I noticed, and not without misgivings, that the leader of the Sagothseyed me with an expression that be-tokened partial recognition. I wassure that he had seen me before during the period of my incarcerationin Phutra and that he was trying to recall my identity. 

It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade themadieu and continued upon our journey. 

Several times during the next few marches I became acutely conscious ofthe sensation of being watched by unseen eyes, but I did not speak ofmy suspicions to my companions. Later I had reason to regret myreticence, for--

Well, this is how it happened:

We had killed an antelope and after eating our fill I had lain down tosleep. The Pellucidarians, who seem seldom if ever to require sleep, joined me in this instance, for we had had a very trying march alongthe northern foothills of the Mountains of the Clouds, and now withtheir bellies filled with meat they seemed ready for slumber. 

When I awoke it was with a start to find a couple of huge Sagothsastride me. They pinioned my arms and legs, and later chained mywrists behind my back. Then they let me up. 

I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had slept, javelined to death without a chance at self-defense. 

I was furious. I threatened the Sagoth leader with all sorts of direreprisals; but when he heard me speak the hybrid language that is themedium of communication between his kind and the human race of theinner world he only grinned, as much as to say, "I thought so!"

They had not taken my revolvers or ammunition away from me because theydid not know what they were; but my heavy rifle I had lost. Theysimply left it where it had lain beside me. 

So low in the scale of intelligence are they, that they had notsufficient interest in this strange object even to fetch it along withthem. 

I knew from the direction of our march that they were taking me toPhutra. Once there I did not need much of an imagination to picturewhat my fate would be. It was the arena and a wild thag or fierce taragfor me--unless the Mahars elected to take me to the pits. 

In that case my end would be no more certain, though infinitely morehorrible and painful, for in the pits I should be subjected to cruelvivisection. From what I had once seen of their methods in the pits ofPhutra I knew them to be the opposite of merciful, whereas in the arenaI should be quickly despatched by some savage beast. 

Arrived at the underground city, I was taken immediately before a slimyMahar. When the creature had received the report of the Sagoth itscold eyes glistened with malice and hatred as they were turnedbalefully upon me. 

I knew then that my identity had been guessed. With a show ofexcitement that I had never before seen evinced by a member of thedominant race of Pellucidar, the Mahar hustled me away, heavilyguarded, through the main avenue of the city to one of the principalbuildings. 

Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Maharsgathered. 

In utter silence they conversed, for they have no oral speech sincethey are without auditory nerves. Their method of communication Perryhas likened to the projection of a sixth sense into a fourth dimension, where it becomes cognizable to the sixth sense of their audience. 

Be that as it may, however, it was evident that I was the subject ofdiscussion, and from the hateful looks bestowed upon me not aparticularly pleasant subject. 

How long I waited for their decision I do not know, but it must havebeen a very long time. Finally one of the Sagoths addressed me. Hewas acting as interpreter for his masters. 

"The Mahars will spare your life, " he said, "and release you on onecondition. "

"And what is that condition?" I asked, though I could guess its terms. 

"That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of Phutrawhen you killed the four Mahars and escaped, " he replied. 

I had thought that that would be it. The great secret upon whichdepended the continuance of the Mahar race was safely hid where onlyDian and I knew. 

I ventured to imagine that they would have given me much more than myliberty to have it safely in their keeping again; but after that--what?

Would they keep their promises?

I doubted it. With the secret of artificial propagation once more intheir hands their numbers would soon be made so to overrun the world ofPellucidar that there could be no hope for the eventual supremacy ofthe human race, the cause for which I so devoutly hoped, for which Ihad consecrated my life, and for which I was not willing to give mylife. 

Yes! In that moment as I stood before the heartless tribunal I feltthat my life would be a very little thing to give could it save to thehuman race of Pellucidar the chance to come into its own by insuringthe eventual extinction of the hated, powerful Mahars. 

"Come!" exclaimed the Sagoths. "The mighty Mahars await your reply. "

"You may say to them, " I answered, "that I shall not tell them wherethe great secret is hid. "

When this had been translated to them there was a great beating ofreptilian wings, gaping of sharp-fanged jaws, and hideous hissing. Ithought that they were about to fall upon me on the spot, and so I laidmy hands upon my revolvers; but at length they became more quiet andpresently transmitted some command to my Sagoth guard, the chief ofwhich laid a heavy hand upon my arm and pushed me roughly before himfrom the audience-chamber. 

They took me to the pits, where I lay carefully guarded. I was surethat I was to be taken to the vivi-section laboratory, and it requiredall my courage to fortify myself against the terrors of so fearful adeath. In Pellucidar, where there is no time, death-agonies may endurefor eternities. 

Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which nowstared me in the face!

CHAPTER V

SURPRISES

But at last the allotted moment arrived--the moment for which I hadbeen trying to prepare myself, for how long I could not even guess. Agreat Sagoth came and spoke some words of command to those who watchedover me. I was jerked roughly to my feet and with little considerationhustled upward toward the higher levels. 

Out into the broad avenue they conducted me, where, amid huge throngsof Mahars, Sagoths, and heavily guarded slaves, I was led, or, rather, pushed and shoved roughly, along in the same direction that the mobmoved. I had seen such a concourse of people once be-fore in theburied city of Phutra; I guessed, and rightly, that we were bound forthe great arena where slaves who are condemned to death meet their end. 

Into the vast amphitheater they took me, stationing me at the extremeend of the arena. The queen came, with her slimy, sickening retinue. The seats were filled. The show was about to commence. 

Then, from a little doorway in the opposite end of the structure, agirl was led into the arena. She was at a considerable distance fromme. I could not see her features. 

I wondered what fate awaited this other poor victim and myself, and whythey had chosen to have us die together. My own fate, or rather, mythought of it, was submerged in the natural pity I felt for this lonegirl, doomed to die horribly beneath the cold, cruel eyes of her awfulcaptors. Of what crime could she be guilty that she must expiate it inthe dreaded arena?

As I stood thus thinking, another door, this time at one of the longsides of the arena, was thrown open, and into the theater of deathslunk a mighty tarag, the huge cave tiger of the Stone Age. At mysides were my revolvers. My captors had not taken them from me, be-cause they did not yet realize their nature. Doubtless they thoughtthem some strange manner of war-club, and as those who are condemned tothe arena are per-mitted weapons of defense, they let me keep them. 

The girl they had armed with a javelin. A brass pin would have beenalmost as effective against the ferocious monster they had loosed uponher. 

The tarag stood for a moment looking about him--first up at the vastaudience and then about the arena. He did not seem to see me at all, but his eyes fell presently upon the girl. A hideous roar broke fromhis titanic lungs--a roar which ended in a long-drawn scream that ismore human than the death-cry of a tortured woman--more human but moreawesome. I could scarce restrain a shudder. 

Slowly the beast turned and moved toward the girl. Then it was that Icame to myself and to a realization of my duty. Quickly and asnoiselessly as possible I ran down the arena in pursuit of the grimcreature. As I ran I drew one of my pitifully futile weapons. Ah!Could I but have had my lost express-gun in my hands at that moment! Asingle well-placed shot would have crumbled even this great monster. The best I could hope to accomplish was to divert the thing from thegirl to myself and then to place as many bullets as possible in itbefore it reached and mauled me into insensibility and death. 

There is a certain unwritten law of the arena that vouchsafes freedomand immunity to the victor, be he beast or human being--both of whom, by the way, are all the same to the Mahar. That is, they wereaccustomed to look upon man as a lower animal before Perry and I brokethrough the Pellucidarian crust, but I imagine that they were beginningto alter their views a trifle and to realize that in the gilak--theirword for human being--they had a highly organized, reasoning being tocontend with. 

Be that as it may, the chances were that the tarag alone would profitby the law of the arena. A few more of his long strides, a prodigiousleap, and he would be upon the girl. I raised a revolver and fired. The bullet struck him in the left hind leg. It couldn't have damagedhim much; but the report of the shot brought him around, facing me. 

I think the snarling visage of a huge, enraged, saber-toothed tiger isone of the most terrible sights in the world. Especially if he besnarling at you and there be nothing between the two of you but baresand. 

Even as he faced me a little cry from the girl carried my eyes beyondthe brute to her face. Hers was fastened upon me with an expression ofincredulity that baffles description. There was both hope and horrorin them, too. 

"Dian!" I cried. "My Heavens, Dian!"

I saw her lips form the name David, as with raised javelin she rushedforward upon the tarag. She was a tigress then--a primitive savagefemale defending her loved one. Before she could reach the beast withher puny weapon, I fired again at the point where the tarag's neck methis left shoulder. If I could get a bullet through there it mightreach his heart. The bullet didn't reach his heart, but it stopped himfor an instant. 

It was then that a strange thing happened. I heard a great hissingfrom the stands occupied by the Mahars, and as I glanced toward them Isaw three mighty thipdars--the winged dragons that guard the queen, or, as Perry calls them, pterodactyls--rise swiftly from their rocks anddart lightning-like, toward the center of the arena. They are huge, powerful reptiles. One of them, with the advantage which his wingsmight give him, would easily be a match for a cave bear or a tarag. 

These three, to my consternation, swooped down upon the tarag as he wasgathering himself for a final charge upon me. They buried their talonsin his back and lifted him bodily from the arena as if he had been achicken in the clutches of a hawk. 

What could it mean?

I was baffled for an explanation; but with the tarag gone I lost notime in hastening to Dian's side. With a little cry of delight shethrew herself into my arms. So lost were we in the ecstasy of reunionthat neither of us--to this day--can tell what became of the tarag. 

The first thing we were aware of was the presence of a body of Sagothsabout us. Gruffly they commanded us to follow them. They led us fromthe arena and back through the streets of Phutra to the audiencechamber in which I had been tried and sentenced. Here we foundourselves facing the same cold, cruel tribunal. 

Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He explained that our lives badbeen spared because at the last moment Tu-al-sa had returned to Phutra, and seeing me in the arena had prevailed upon the queen to spare mylife. 

"Who is Tu-al-sa?" I asked. 

"A Mahar whose last male ancestor was--ages ago--the last of the malerulers among the Mahars, " he replied. 

"Why should she wish to have my life spared?"

He shrugged his shoulders and then repeated my question to the Maharspokesman. When the latter had explained in the strange sign-languagethat passes for speech between the Mahars and their fighting men theSagoth turned again to me:

"For a long time you had Tu-al-sa in your power, " he explained. "Youmight easily have killed her or abandoned her in a strange world--butyou did neither. You did not harm her, and you brought her back withyou to Pellucidar and set her free to return to Phutra. This is yourreward. "

Now I understood. The Mahar who had been my involuntary companion uponmy return to the outer world was Tu-al-sa. This was the first timethat I had learned the lady's name. I thanked fate that I had not lefther upon the sands of the Sahara--or put a bullet in her, as I had beentempted to do. I was surprised to discover that gratitude was acharacteristic of the dominant race of Pellucidar. I could never thinkof them as aught but cold-blooded, brainless reptiles, though Perry haddevoted much time in explaining to me that owing to a strange freak ofevolution among all the genera of the inner world, this species of thereptilia had advanced to a position quite analogous to that which manholds upon the outer crust. 

He had often told me that there was every reason to believe from theirwritings, which he had learned to read while we were incarcerated inPhutra, that they were a just race, and that in certain branches ofscience and arts they were quite well advanced, especially in geneticsand metaphysics, engineering and architecture. 

While it had always been difficult for me to look upon these things asother than slimy, winged crocodiles--which, by the way, they do not atall resemble--I was now forced to a realization of the fact that I wasin the hands of enlightened creatures--for justice and gratitude arecertain hallmarks of rationality and culture. 

But what they purposed for us further was of most imminent interest tome. They might save us from the tarag and yet not free us. Theylooked upon us yet, to some extent, I knew, as creatures of a lowerorder, and so as we are unable to place ourselves in the position ofthe brutes we enslave--thinking that they are happier in bondage thanin the free fulfilment of the purposes for which nature intendedthem--the Mahars, too, might consider our welfare better conserved incaptivity than among the dangers of the savage freedom we craved. Naturally, I was next impelled to inquire their further intent. 

To my question, put through the Sagoth interpreter, I received thereply that having spared my life they considered that Tu-al-sa's debtof gratitude was canceled. They still had against me, however, thecrime of which I had been guilty--the unforgivable crime of stealingthe great secret. They, therefore, intended holding Dian and meprisoners until the manuscript was returned to them. 

They would, they said, send an escort of Sagoths with me to fetch theprecious document from its hiding-place, keeping Dian at Phutra as ahostage and releasing us both the moment that the document was safelyrestored to their queen. 

There was no doubt but that they had the upper hand. However, therewas so much more at stake than the liberty or even the lives of Dianand myself, that I did not deem it expedient to accept their offerwithout giving the matter careful thought. 

Without the great secret this maleless race must eventually becomeextinct. For ages they had fertilized their eggs by an artificialprocess, the secret of which lay hidden in the little cave of a far-offvalley where Dian and I had spent our honeymoon. I was none too surethat I could find the valley again, nor that I cared to. So long asthe powerful reptilian race of Pellucidar continued to propagate, justso long would the position of man within the inner world bejeopardized. There could not be two dominant races. 

I said as much to Dian. 

"You used to tell me, " she replied, "of the wonderful things you couldaccomplish with the inventions of your own world. Now you havereturned with all that is necessary to place this great power in thehands of the men of Pellucidar. 

"You told me of great engines of destruction which would cast abursting ball of metal among our enemies, killing hundreds of them atone time. 

"You told me of mighty fortresses of stone which a thousand men armedwith big and little engines such as these could hold forever against amillion Sagoths. 

"You told me of great canoes which moved across the water withoutpaddles, and which spat death from holes in their sides. 

"All these may now belong to the men of Pellucidar. Why should we fearthe Mahars?

"Let them breed! Let their numbers increase by thou-sands. They willbe helpless before the power of the Emperor of Pellucidar. 

"But if you remain a prisoner in Phutra, what may we accomplish?

"What could the men of Pellucidar do without you to lead them?

"They would fight among themselves, and while they fought the Maharswould fall upon them, and even though the Mahar race should die out, ofwhat value would the emancipation of the human race be to them withoutthe knowledge, which you alone may wield, to guide them toward thewonderful civilization of which you have told me so much that I longfor its comforts and luxuries as I never before longed for anything. 

"No, David; the Mahars cannot harm us if you are at liberty. Let themhave their secret that you and I may return to our people, and leadthem to the conquest of all Pellucidar. "

It was plain that Dian was ambitious, and that her ambition had notdulled her reasoning faculties. She was right. Nothing could begained by remaining bottled up in Phutra for the rest of our lives. 

It was true that Perry might do much with the contents of theprospector, or iron mole, in which I had brought down the implements ofouter-world civilization; but Perry was a man of peace. He could neverweld the warring factions of the disrupted federation. He could neverwin new tribes to the empire. He would fiddle around manufacturinggun-powder and trying to improve upon it until some one blew him upwith his own invention. He wasn't practical. He never would getanywhere without a balance-wheel--without some one to direct hisenergies. 

Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything forPellucidar we must be free to do it together. 

The outcome of it all was that I agreed to the Mahars' proposition. They promised that Dian would be well treated and protected from everyindignity during my absence. So I set out with a hundred Sagoths insearch of the little valley which I had stumbled upon by accident, andwhich I might and might not find again. 

We traveled directly toward Sari. Stopping at the camp where I hadbeen captured I recovered my express rifle, for which I was verythankful. I found it lying where I had left it when I had beenoverpowered in my sleep by the Sagoths who bad captured me and slain myMezop companions. 

On the way I added materially to my map, an occupation which did notelicit from the Sagoths even a shadow of interest. I felt that thehuman race of Pellucidar had little to fear from these gorilla-men. They were fighters--that was all. We might even use them laterourselves in this same capacity. They had not sufficient brain powerto constitute a menace to the advancement of the human race. 

As we neared the spot where I hoped to find the little valley I becamemore and more confident of success. Every landmark was familiar to me, and I was sure now that I knew the exact location of the cave. 

It was at about this time that I sighted a number of the half-nakedwarriors of the human race of Pellucidar. They were marching acrossour front. At sight of us they halted; that there would be a fight Icould not doubt. These Sagoths would never permit an opportunity forthe capture of slaves for their Mahar masters to escape them. 

I saw that the men were armed with bows and arrows, long lances andswords, so I guessed that they must have been members of thefederation, for only my people had been thus equipped. Before Perryand I came the men of Pellucidar had only the crudest weapons wherewithto slay one another. 

The Sagoths, too, were evidently expecting battle. With savage shoutsthey rushed forward toward the human warriors. 

Then a strange thing happened. The leader of the human beings steppedforward with upraised hands. The Sagoths ceased their war-cries andadvanced slowly to meet him. There was a long parley during which Icould see that I was often the subject of their discourse. TheSagoths' leader pointed in the direction in which I had told him thevalley lay. Evidently he was explaining the nature of our expeditionto the leader of the warriors. It was all a puzzle to me. 

What human being could be upon such excellent terms with thegorilla-men?

I couldn't imagine. I tried to get a good look at the fellow, but theSagoths had left me in the rear with a guard when they had advanced tobattle, and the distance was too great for me to recognize the featuresof any of the human beings. 

Finally the parley was concluded and the men continued on their waywhile the Sagoths returned to where I stood with my guard. It was timefor eating, so we stopped where we were and made our meal. The Sagothsdidn't tell me who it was they had met, and I did not ask, though Imust confess that I was quite curious. 

They permitted me to sleep at this halt. Afterward we took up the lastleg of our journey. I found the valley without difficulty and led myguard directly to the cave. At its mouth the Sagoths halted and Ientered alone. 

I noticed as I felt about the floor in the dim light that there was apile of fresh-turned rubble there. Presently my hands came to the spotwhere the great secret had been buried. There was a cavity where I hadcarefully smoothed the earth over the hiding-place of the document--themanuscript was gone!

Frantically I searched the whole interior of the cave several timesover, but without other result than a complete confirmation of my worstfears. Someone had been here ahead of me and stolen the great secret. 

The one thing within Pellucidar which might free Dian and me was gone, nor was it likely that I should ever learn its whereabouts. If a Maharhad found it, which was quite improbable, the chances were that thedominant race would never divulge the fact that they had recovered theprecious document. If a cave man had happened upon it he would have noconception of its meaning or value, and as a consequence it would belost or destroyed in short order. 

With bowed head and broken hopes I came out of the cave and told theSagoth chieftain what I had discovered. It didn't mean much to thefellow, who doubt-less had but little better idea of the contents ofthe document I had been sent to fetch to his masters than would thecave man who in all probability had discovered it. 

The Sagoth knew only that I had failed in my mission, so he tookadvantage of the fact to make the return journey to Phutra asdisagreeable as possible. I did not rebel, though I had with me themeans to destroy them all. I did not dare rebel because of theconsequences to Dian. I intended demanding her release on the groundsthat she was in no way guilty of the theft, and that my failure torecover the document had not lessened the value of the good faith I hadhad in offering to do so. The Mahars might keep me in slavery if theychose, but Dian should be returned safely to her people. 

I was full of my scheme when we entered Phutra and I was conducteddirectly to the great audience-chamber. The Mahars listened to thereport of the Sagoth chief-tain, and so difficult is it to judge theiremotions from their almost expressionless countenance, that I was at aloss to know how terrible might be their wrath as they learned thattheir great secret, upon which rested the fate of their race, might nowbe irretrievably lost. 

Presently I could see that she who presided was communicating somethingto the Sagoth interpreter--doubt-less something to be transmitted to mewhich might give me a forewarning of the fate which lay in store forme. One thing I had decided definitely: If they would not free Dian Ishould turn loose upon Phutra with my little arsenal. Alone I mighteven win to freedom, and if I could learn where Dian was imprisoned itwould be worth the attempt to free her. My thoughts were interruptedby the interpreter. 

"The mighty Mahars, " he said, "are unable to reconcile your statementthat the document is lost with your action in sending it to them by aspecial messenger. They wish to know if you have so soon forgotten thetruth or if you are merely ignoring it. "

"I sent them no document, " I cried. "Ask them what they mean. "

"They say, " he went on after conversing with the Mahar for a moment, "that just before your return to Phutra, Hooja the Sly One came, bringing the great secret with him. He said that you had sent himahead with it, asking him to deliver it and return to Sari where youwould await him, bringing the girl with him. "

"Dian?" I gasped. "The Mahars have given over Dian into the keeping ofHooja. "

"Surely, " he replied. "What of it? She is only a gilak, " as you or Iwould say, "She is only a cow. "

CHAPTER VI

A PENDENT WORLD

The Mahars set me free as they had promised, but with strictinjunctions never to approach Phutra or any other Mahar city. Theyalso made it perfectly plain that they considered me a dangerouscreature, and that having wiped the slate clean in so far as they wereunder obligations to me, they now considered me fair prey. Should Iagain fall into their hands, they intimated it would go ill with me. 

They would not tell me in which direction Hooja had set forth withDian, so I departed from Phutra, filled with bitterness against theMahars, and rage toward the Sly One who had once again robbed me of mygreatest treasure. 

At first I was minded to go directly back to Anoroc; but upon secondthought turned my face toward Sari, as I felt that somewhere in thatdirection Hooja would travel, his own country lying in that generaldirection. 

Of my journey to Sari it is only necessary to say that it was fraughtwith the usual excitement and adventure, incident to all travel acrossthe face of savage Pellucidar. The dangers, however, were greatlyreduced through the medium of my armament. I often wondered how it hadhappened that I had ever survived the first ten years of my life withinthe inner world, when, naked and primitively armed, I had traversedgreat areas of her beast-ridden surface. 

With the aid of my map, which I had kept with great care during mymarch with the Sagoths in search of the great secret, I arrived at Sariat last. As I topped the lofty plateau in whose rocky cliffs theprincipal tribe of Sarians find their cave-homes, a great hue and cryarose from those who first discovered me. 

Like wasps from their nests the hairy warriors poured from their caves. The bows with their poison-tipped arrows, which I had taught them tofashion and to use, were raised against me. Swords of hammerediron--another of my innovations--menaced me, as with lusty shouts thehorde charged down. 

It was a critical moment. Before I should be recognized I might bedead. It was evident that all semblance of intertribal relationshiphad ceased with my going, and that my people had reverted to theirformer savage, suspicious hatred of all strangers. My garb must havepuzzled them, too, for never before of course had they seen a manclothed in khaki and puttees. 

Leaning my express rifle against my body I raised both hands aloft. Itwas the peace-sign that is recognized everywhere upon the surface ofPellucidar. The charging warriors paused and surveyed me. I lookedfor my friend Ghak, the Hairy One, king of Sari, and presently I sawhim coming from a distance. Ah, but it was good to see his mighty, hairy form once more! A friend was Ghak--a friend well worth thehaving; and it had been some time since I had seen a friend. 

Shouldering his way through the throng of warriors, the mightychieftain advanced toward me. There was an expression of puzzlementupon his fine features. He crossed the space between the warriors andmyself, halt-ing before me. 

I did not speak. I did not even smile. I wanted to see if Ghak, myprincipal lieutenant, would recognize me. For some time he stood therelooking me over carefully. His eyes took in my large pith helmet, mykhaki jacket, and bandoleers of cartridges, the two revolvers swingingat my hips, the large rifle resting against my body. Still I stoodwith my hands above my head. He examined my puttees and my strong tanshoes--a little the worse for wear now. Then he glanced up once moreto my face. As his gaze rested there quite steadily for some moments Isaw recognition tinged with awe creep across his countenance. 

Presently without a word he took one of my hands in his and dropping toone knee raised my fingers to his lips. Perry had taught them thistrick, nor ever did the most polished courtier of all the grand courtsof Europe perform the little act of homage with greater grace anddignity. 

Quickly I raised Ghak to his feet, clasping both his hands in mine. Ithink there must have been tears in my eyes then--I know I felt toofull for words. The king of Sari turned toward his warriors. 

"Our emperor has come back, " he announced. "Come hither and--"

But he got no further, for the shouts that broke from those savagethroats would have drowned the voice of heaven itself. I had neverguessed how much they thought of me. As they clustered around, almostfighting for the chance to kiss my hand, I saw again the vision ofempire which I had thought faded forever. 

With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I WOULDconquer one! If the Sarians had remained loyal, so too would theAmozites be loyal still, and the Kalians, and the Suvians, and all thegreat tribes who had formed the federation that was to emancipate thehuman race of Pellucidar. 

Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was safe with the Sarians; now ifDian were but safe with me the future would look bright indeed. 

It did not take long to outline to Ghak all that had befallen me sinceI had departed from Pellucidar, and to get down to the business offinding Dian, which to me at that moment was of even greater importancethan the very empire itself. 

When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in rage. 

"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who caused thefirst trouble between you and the Beautiful One. 

"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our recaptureby the Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra. 

"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when youstarted upon your return journey to your own world. 

"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms oneagainst another and destroyed the federation. 

"When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. Nexttime--"

Ghak did not need to finish his sentence. 

"He has become a very powerful enemy now, " I replied. "That he isallied in some way with the Mahars is evidenced by the familiarity ofhis relations with the Sagoths who were accompanying me in search ofthe great secret, for it must have been Hooja whom I saw conversingwith them just before we reached the valley. Doubtless they told himof our quest and he hastened on ahead of us, discovered the cave andstole the document. Well does he deserve his appellation of the SlyOne. "

With Ghak and his head men I held a number of consultations. Theupshot of them was a decision to combine our search for Dian with anattempt to rebuild the crumbled federation. To this end twentywarriors were despatched in pairs to ten of the leading kingdoms, withinstructions to make every effort to discover the whereabouts of Hoojaand Dian, while prosecuting their missions to the chieftains to whomthey were sent. 

Ghak was to remain at home to receive the various delegations which weinvited to come to Sari on the business of the federation. Fourhundred warriors were started for Anoroc to fetch Perry and thecontents of the prospector, to the capitol of the empire, which wasalso the principal settlements of the Sarians. 

At first it was intended that I remain at Sari, that I might be inreadiness to hasten forth at the first report of the discovery of Dian;but I found the inaction in the face of my deep solicitude for thewelfare of my mate so galling that scarce had the several unitsdeparted upon their missions before I, too, chafed to be activelyengaged upon the search. 

It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the departure of thewarriors, as I recall that I at last went to Ghak with the admissionthat I could no longer support the intolerable longing to be personallyupon the trail of my lost love. 

Ghak tried to dissuade me, though I could tell that his heart was withme in my wish to be away and really doing something. It was while wewere arguing upon the subject that a stranger, with hands above hishead, entered the village. He was immediately surrounded by warriorsand conducted to Ghak's presence. 

The fellow was a typical cave man--squat muscular, and hairy, and of atype I had not seen before. His features, like those of all theprimeval men of Pellucidar, were regular and fine. His weaponsconsisted of a stone ax and knife and a heavy knobbed bludgeon of wood. His skin was very white. 

"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And whence come you?"

"I am Kolk, son of Goork, who is chief of the Thurians, " replied thestranger. "From Thuria I have come in search of the land of Amoz, where dwells Dacor, the Strong One, who stole my sister, Canda, theGrace-ful One, to be his mate. 

"We of Thuria had heard of a great chieftain who has bound togethermany tribes, and my father has sent me to Dacor to learn if there betruth in these stories, and if so to offer the services of Thuria tohim whom we have heard called emperor. "

"The stories are true, " replied Ghak, "and here is the emperor of whomyou have heard. You need travel no farther. "

Kolk was delighted. He told us much of the wonderful resources ofThuria, the Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long journey in search ofAmoz. 

"And why, " I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire to join hiskingdom to the empire?"

"There are two reasons, " replied the young man. "Forever have theMahars, who dwell beyond the Lidi Plains which lie at the farther rimof the Land of Awful Shadow, taken heavy toll of our people, whom theyeither force into lifelong slavery or fatten for their feasts. We haveheard that the great emperor makes successful war upon the Mahars, against whom we should be glad to fight. 

"Recently has another reason come. Upon a great island which lies inthe Sojar Az, but a short distance from our shores, a wicked man hascollected a great band of outcast warriors of all tribes. Even arethere many Sagoths among them, sent by the Mahars to aid the Wicked One. 

"This band makes raids upon our villages, and it is constantly growingin size and strength, for the Mahars give liberty to any of their maleprisoners who will promise to fight with this band against the enemiesof the Mahars. It is the purpose of the Mahars thus to raise a forceof our own kind to combat the growth and menace of the new empire ofwhich I have come to seek information. All this we learned from one ofour own warriors who had pretended to sympathize with this band and hadthen escaped at the first opportunity. "

"Who could this man be, " I asked Ghak, "who leads so vile a movementagainst his own kind?"

"His name is Hooja, " spoke up Kolk, answering my question. 

Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was written upon hiscountenance and I know that it was beating strongly in my heart. Atlast we had discovered a tangible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja--andwith the clue a guide!

But when I broached the subject to Kolk he demurred. He had come along way, he explained, to see his sister and to confer with Dacor. Moreover, he had instructions from his father which he could not ignorelightly. But even so he would return with me and show me the way tothe island of the Thurian shore if by doing so we might accomplishanything. 

"But we cannot, " he urged. "Hooja is powerful. He has thousands ofwarriors. He has only to call upon his Mahar allies to receive acountless horde of Sagoths to do his bidding against his human enemies. 

"Let us wait until you may gather an equal horde from the kingdoms ofyour empire. Then we may march against Hooja with some show of success. 

"But first must you lure him to the mainland, for who among you knowshow to construct the strange things that carry Hooja and his band backand forth across the water?

"We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We knownothing of such things. "

I couldn't persuade him to do more than direct me upon the way. Ishowed him my map, which now included a great area of country extendingfrom Anoroc upon the east to Sari upon the west, and from the riversouth of the Mountains of the Clouds north to Amoz. As soon as I hadexplained it to him he drew a line with his finger, showing a sea-coastfar to the west and south of Sari, and a great circle which he saidmarked the extent of the Land of Awful Shadow in which lay Thuria. 

The shadow extended southeast of the coast out into the sea half-way toa large island, which he said was the seat of Hooja's traitorousgovernment. The island itself lay in the light of the noonday sun. Northwest of the coast and embracing a part of Thuria lay the LidiPlains, upon the northwestern verge of which was situ-ated the Maharcity which took such heavy toll of the Thurians. 

Thus were the unhappy people now between two fires, with Hooja upon oneside and the Mahars upon the other. I did not wonder that they sentout an appeal for succor. 

Though Ghak and Kolk both attempted to dissuade me, I was determined toset out at once, nor did I delay longer than to make a copy of my mapto be given to Perry that he might add to his that which I had set downsince we parted. I left a letter for him as well, in which among otherthings I advanced the theory that the Sojar Az, or Great Sea, whichKolk mentioned as stretching eastward from Thuria, might indeed be thesame mighty ocean as that which, swinging around the southern end of acontinent ran northward along the shore opposite Phutra, mingling itswaters with the huge gulf upon which lay Sari, Amoz, and Greenwich. 

Against this possibility I urged him to hasten the building of a fleetof small sailing-vessels, which we might utilize should I find itimpossible to entice Hooja's horde to the mainland. 

I told Ghak what I had written, and suggested that as soon as he couldhe should make new treaties with the various kingdoms of the empire, collect an army and march toward Thuria--this of course against thepossibility of my detention through some cause or other. 

Kolk gave me a sign to his father--a lidi, or beast of burden, crudelyscratched upon a bit of bone, and be-neath the lidi a man and a flower;all very rudely done perhaps, but none the less effective as I wellknew from my long years among the primitive men of Pellucidar. 

The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the man and the flower inthe combination in which they appeared bore a double significance, asthey constituted not only a message to the effect that the bearer camein peace, but were also Kolk's signature. 

And so, armed with my credentials and my small arsenal, I set out aloneupon my quest for the dearest girl in this world or yours. 

Kolk gave me explicit directions, though with my map I do not believethat I could have gone wrong. As a matter of fact I did not need themap at all, since the principal landmark of the first half of myjourney, a gigantic mountainpeak, was plainly visible from Sari, thougha good hundred miles away. 

At the southern base of this mountain a river rose and ran in awesterly direction, finally turning south and emptying into the SojarAz some forty miles northeast of Thuria. All that I had to do wasfollow this river to the sea and then follow the coast to Thuria. 

Two hundred and forty miles of wild mountain and primeval jungle, ofuntracked plain, of nameless rivers, of deadly swamps and savageforests lay ahead of me, yet never had I been more eager for anadventure than now, for never had more depended upon haste and success. 

I do not know how long a time that journey required, and only half didI appreciate the varied wonders that each new march unfolded before me, for my mind and heart were filled with but a single image--that of aperfect girl whose great, dark eyes looked bravely forth from a frameof raven hair. 

It was not until I had passed the high peak and found the river that myeyes first discovered the pendent world, the tiny satellite which hangslow over the surface of Pellucidar casting its perpetual shadow alwaysupon the same spot--the area that is known here as the Land of AwfulShadow, in which dwells the tribe of Thuria. 

From the distance and the elevation of the highlands where I stood thePellucidarian noonday moon showed half in sunshine and half in shadow, while directly be-neath it was plainly visible the round dark spot uponthe surface of Pellucidar where the sun has never shone. From where Istood the moon appeared to hang so low above the ground as almost totouch it; but later I was to learn that it floats a mile above thesurface--which seems indeed quite close for a moon. 

Following the river downward I soon lost sight of the tiny planet as Ientered the mazes of a lofty forest. Nor did I catch another glimpseof it for some time--several marches at least. However, when the riverled me to the sea, or rather just before it reached the sea, of asudden the sky became overcast and the size and luxuriance of thevegetation diminished as by magic--as if an omni-potent hand had drawna line upon the earth, and said:

"Upon this side shall the trees and the shrubs, the grasses and theflowers, riot in profusion of rich colors, gigantic size andbewildering abundance; and upon that side shall they be dwarfed andpale and scant. "

Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so uncommon in the skies ofPellucidar--they are practically unknown except above the mightiestmountain ranges--that it had given me something of a start to discoverthe sun obliterated. But I was not long in coming to a realization ofthe cause of the shadow. 

Above me hung another world. I could see its mountains and valleys, oceans, lakes, and rivers, its broad, grassy plains and dense forests. But too great was the distance and too deep the shadow of its underside for me to distinguish any movement as of animal life. 

Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. The questionswhich the sight of this planet, so tantalizingly close, raised in mymind were numerous and unanswerable. 

Was it inhabited?

If so, by what manner and form of creature?

Were its people as relatively diminutive as their little world, or werethey as disproportionately huge as the lesser attraction of gravityupon the surface of their globe would permit of their being?

As I watched it, I saw that it was revolving upon an axis that layparallel to the surface of Pellucidar, so that during each revolutionits entire surface was once exposed to the world below and once bathedin the heat of the great sun above. The little world had that whichPellucidar could not have--a day and night, and--greatest of boons toone outer-earthly born--time. 

Here I saw a chance to give time to Pellucidar, using this mightyclock, revolving perpetually in the heavens, to record the passage ofthe hours for the earth below. Here should be located an observatory, from which might be flashed by wireless to every corner of the empirethe correct time once each day. That this time would be easilymeasured I had no doubt, since so plain were the landmarks upon theunder surface of the satellite that it would be but necessary to erecta simple instrument and mark the instant of passage of a given landmarkacross the instrument. 

But then was not the time for dreaming; I must devote my mind to thepurpose of my journey. So I hastened onward beneath the great shadow. As I advanced I could not but note the changing nature of thevegetation and the paling of its hues. 

The river led me a short distance within the shadow before it emptiedinto the Sojar Az. Then I continued in a southerly direction along thecoast toward the village of Thuria, where I hoped to find Goork anddeliver to him my credentials. 

I had progressed no great distance from the mouth of the river when Idiscerned, lying some distance at sea, a great island. This I assumedto be the stronghold of Hooja, nor did I doubt that upon it even nowwas Dian. 

The way was most difficult, since shortly after leaving the river Iencountered lofty cliffs split by numerous long, narrow fiords, each ofwhich necessitated a considerable detour. As the crow flies it isabout twenty miles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, but be-fore Ihad covered half of it I was fagged. There was no familiar fruit orvegetable growing upon the rocky soil of the cliff-tops, and I wouldhave fared ill for food had not a hare broken cover almost beneath mynose. 

I carried bow and arrows to conserve my ammunition-supply, but so quickwas the little animal that I had no time to draw and fit a shaft. Infact my dinner was a hundred yards away and going like the proverbialbat when I dropped my six-shooter on it. It was a pretty shot and whencoupled with a good dinner made me quite contented with myself. 

After eating I lay down and slept. When I awoke I was scarcely soself-satisfied, for I had not more than opened my eyes before I becameaware of the presence, barely a hundred yards from me, of a pack ofsome twenty huge wolf-dogs--the things which Perry insisted uponcalling hyaenodons--and almost simultaneously I discovered that while Islept my revolvers, rifle, bow, arrows, and knife had been stolen fromme. 

And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me. 

CHAPTER VII

FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT

I have never been much of a runner; I hate running. But if ever asprinter broke into smithereens all world's records it was I that daywhen I fled before those hideous beasts along the narrow spit of rockycliff between two narrow fiords toward the Sojar Az. Just as I reachedthe verge of the cliff the foremost of the brutes was upon me. Heleaped and closed his massive jaws upon my shoulder. 

The momentum of his flying body, added to that of my own, carried thetwo of us over the cliff. It was a hideous fall. The cliff was almostperpendicular. At its foot broke the sea against a solid wall of rock. 

We struck the cliff-face once in our descent and then plunged into thesalt sea. With the impact with the water the hyaenodon released hishold upon my shoulder. 

As I came sputtering to the surface I looked about for some tiny foot-or hand-hold where I might cling for a moment of rest and recuperation. The cliff itself offered me nothing, so I swam toward the mouth of thefiord. 

At the far end I could see that erosion from above had washed downsufficient rubble to form a narrow ribbon of beach. Toward this I swamwith all my strength. Not once did I look behind me, since everyunnecessary movement in swimming detracts so much from one's endurancespeed. Not until I had drawn myself safely out upon the beach did Iturn my eyes back toward the sea for the hyaenodon. He was swimmingslowly and apparently painfully toward the beach upon where I stood. 

I watched him for a long time, wondering, why it was that such adoglike animal was not a better swimmer. As he neared me I realizedthat he was weakening rapidly. I had gathered a handful of stones tobe ready for his assault when he landed, but in a moment I let themfall from my hands. It was evident that the brute either was noswimmer or else was severely injured, for by now he was makingpractically no headway. Indeed, it was with quite apparent difficultythat he kept his nose above the surface of the sea. 

He was not more than fifty yards from shore when he went under. Iwatched the spot where he had disappeared, and in a moment I saw hishead reappear. The look of dumb misery in his eyes struck a chord inmy breast, for I love dogs. I forgot that he was a vicious, primordialwolf-thing--a man-eater, a scourge, and a terror. I saw only the sadeyes that looked like the eyes of Raja, my dead collie of the outerworld. 

I did not stop to weigh and consider. In other words, I did not stopto think, which I believe must be the way of men who do things--incontradistinction to those who think much and do nothing. Instead, Ileaped back into the water and swam out toward the drowning beast. Atfirst he showed his teeth at my approach, but just before I reached himhe went under for the second time, so that I had to dive to get him. 

I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and though he weighed as muchas a Shetland pony, I managed to drag him to shore and well up upon thebeach. Here I found that one of his forelegs was broken--the crashagainst the cliff-face must have done it. 

By this time all the fight was out of him, so that when I had gathereda few tiny branches from some of the stunted trees that grew in thecrevices of the cliff, and returned to him he permitted me to set hisbroken leg and bind it in splints. I had to tear part of my shirt intobits to obtain a bandage, but at last the job was done. Then I satstroking the savage head and talking to the beast in the man-dog talkwith which you are familiar, if you ever owned and loved a dog. 

When he is well, I thought, he probably will turn upon me and attemptto devour me, and against that eventuality I gathered together a pileof rocks and set to work to fashion a stone-knife. We were bottled upat the head of the fiord as completely as if we had been behind prisonbars. Before us spread the Sojar Az, and else-where about us roseunscalable cliffs. 

Fortunately a little rivulet trickled down the side of the rocky wall, giving us ample supply of fresh water--some of which I kept constantlybeside the hyaenodon in a huge, bowl-shaped shell, of which there werecount-less numbers among the rubble of the beach. 

For food we subsisted upon shellfish and an occasional bird that Isucceeded in knocking over with a rock, for long practice as a pitcheron prep-school and varsity nines had made me an excellent shot with ahand-thrown missile. 

It was not long before the hyaenodon's leg was sufficiently mended topermit him to rise and hobble about on three legs. I shall neverforget with what intent interest I watched his first attempt. Close atmy hand lay my pile of rocks. Slowly the beast came to his three goodfeet. He stretched himself, lowered his head, and lapped water fromthe drinking-shell at his side, turned and looked at me, and thenhobbled off toward the cliffs. 

Thrice he traversed the entire extent of our prison, seeking, Iimagine, a loop-hole for escape, but finding none he returned in mydirection. Slowly he came quite close to me, sniffed at my shoes, myputtees, my hands, and then limped off a few feet and lay down again. 

Now that he was able to get around, I was a little un-certain as to thewisdom of my impulsive mercy. 

How could I sleep with that ferocious thing prowling about the narrowconfines of our prison?

Should I close my eyes it might be to open them again to the feel ofthose mighty jaws at my throat. To say the least, I was uncomfortable. 

I have had too much experience with dumb animals to bank very stronglyon any sense of gratitude which may be attributed to them byinexperienced sentimentalists. I believe that some animals love theirmasters, but I doubt very much if their affection is the outcome ofgratitude--a characteristic that is so rare as to be only occasionallytraceable in the seemingly unselfish acts of man himself. 

But finally I was forced to sleep. Tired nature would be put off nolonger. I simply fell asleep, willy nilly, as I sat looking out tosea. I had been very uncomfortable since my ducking in the ocean, forthough I could see the sunlight on the water half-way toward the islandand upon the island itself, no ray of it fell upon us. We were wellwithin the Land of Awful Shadow. A perpetual half-warmth pervaded theatmosphere, but clothing was slow in drying, and so from loss of sleepand great physical discomfort, I at last gave way to nature's demandsand sank into profound slumber. 

When I awoke it was with a start, for a heavy body was upon me. Myfirst thought was that the hyaenodon had at last attacked me, but as myeyes opened and I struggled to rise, I saw that a man was astride meand three others bending close above him. 

I am no weakling--and never have been. My experience in the hard lifeof the inner world has turned my thews to steel. Even such giants asGhak the Hairy One have praised my strength; but to it is added anotherquality which they lack--science. 

The man upon me held me down awkwardly, leaving me many openings--oneof which I was not slow in taking advantage of, so that almost beforethe fellow knew that I was awake I was upon my feet with my arms overhis shoulders and about his waist and had hurled him heavily over myhead to the hard rubble of the beach, where he lay quite still. 

In the instant that I arose I had seen the hyaenodon lying asleepbeside a boulder a few yards away. So nearly was he the color of therock that he was scarcely discernible. Evidently the newcomers had notseen him. 

I had not more than freed myself from one of my antagonists before theother three were upon me. They did not work silently now, but chargedme with savage cries--a mistake upon their part. The fact that theydid not draw their weapons against me convinced me that they desired totake me alive; but I fought as desperately as if death loomed immediateand sure. 

The battle was short, for scarce had their first wild whoopreverberated through the rocky fiord, and they had closed upon me, thana hairy mass of demoniacal rage hurtled among us. 

It was the hyaenodon!

In an instant he had pulled down one of the men, and with a singleshake, terrier-like, had broken his neck. Then he was upon another. In their efforts to vanquish the wolf-dog the savages forgot all aboutme, thus giving me an instant in which to snatch a knife from theloin-string of him who had first fallen and account for another ofthem. Almost simultaneously the hyaenodon pulled down the remainingenemy, crushing his skull with a single bite of those fearsome jaws. 

The battle was over--unless the beast considered me fair prey, too. Iwaited, ready for him with knife and bludgeon--also filched from a deadfoeman; but he paid no attention to me, falling to work instead todevour one of the corpses. 

The beast bad been handicapped but little by his splinted leg; buthaving eaten he lay down and commenced to gnaw at the bandage. I wassitting some little distance away devouring shellfish, of which, by theway, I was becoming exceedingly tired. 

Presently, the hyaenodon arose and came toward me. I did not move. Hestopped in front of me and deliberately raised his bandaged leg andpawed my knee. His act was as intelligible as words--he wished thebandage removed. 

I took the great paw in one hand and with the other hand untied andunwound the bandage, removed the splints and felt of the injuredmember. As far as I could judge the bone was completely knit. Thejoint was stiff; when I bent it a little the brute winced--but heneither growled nor tried to pull away. Very slowly and gently Irubbed the joint and applied pressure to it for a few moments. 

Then I set it down upon the ground. The hyaenodon walked around me afew times, and then lay down at my side, his body touching mine. Ilaid my hand upon his head. He did not move. Slowly, I scratchedabout his ears and neck and down beneath the fierce jaws. The onlysign he gave was to raise his chin a trifle that I might better caresshim. 

That was enough! From that moment I have never again felt suspicion ofRaja, as I immediately named him. Somehow all sense of lonelinessvanished, too--I had a dog! I had never guessed precisely what it wasthat was lacking to life in Pellucidar, but now I knew it was the totalabsence of domestic animals. 

Man here had not yet reached the point where he might take the timefrom slaughter and escaping slaughter to make friends with any of thebrute creation. I must qualify this statement a trifle and say thatthis was true of those tribes with which I was most familiar. TheThurians do domesticate the colossal lidi, traversing the great LidiPlains upon the backs of these grotesque and stupendous monsters, andpossibly there may also be other, far-distant peoples within the greatworld, who have tamed others of the wild things of jungle, plain ormountain. 

The Thurians practice agriculture in a crude sort of way. It is myopinion that this is one of the earliest steps from savagery tocivilization. The taming of wild beasts and their domesticationfollows. 

Perry argues that wild dogs were first domesticated for huntingpurposes; but I do not agree with him. I believe that if theirdomestication were not purely the result of an accident, as, forexample, my taming of the hyaenodon, it came about through the desireof tribes who had previously domesticated flocks and herds to have somestrong, ferocious beast to guard their roaming property. However, Ilean rather more strongly to the theory of accident. 

As I sat there upon the beach of the little fiord eating my unpalatableshell-fish, I commenced to wonder how it had been that the four savageshad been able to reach me, though I had been unable to escape from mynatural prison. I glanced about in all directions, searching for anexplanation. At last my eyes fell upon the bow of a small dugoutprotruding scarce a foot from behind a large boulder lying half in thewater at the edge of the beach. 

At my discovery I leaped to my feet so suddenly that it brought Raja, growling and bristling, upon all fours in an instant. For the moment Ihad forgotten him. But his savage rumbling did not cause me anyuneasiness. He glanced quickly about in all directions as if searchingfor the cause of my excitement. Then, as I walked rapidly down towardthe dugout, he slunk silently after me. 

The dugout was similar in many respects to those which I had seen inuse by the Mezops. In it were four paddles. I was much delighted, asit promptly offered me the escape I had been craving. 

I pushed it out into water that would float it, stepped in and calledto Raja to enter. At first he did not seem to understand what I wishedof him, but after I had paddled out a few yards he plunged through thesurf and swam after me. When he had come alongside I grasped thescruff of his neck, and after a considerable struggle, in which Iseveral times came near to over-turning the canoe, I managed to draghim aboard, where he shook himself vigorously and squatted down beforeme. 

After emerging from the fiord, I paddled southward along the coast, where presently the lofty cliffs gave way to lower and more levelcountry. It was here some-where that I should come upon the principalvillage of the Thurians. When, after a time, I saw in the distancewhat I took to be huts in a clearing near the shore, I drew quicklyinto land, for though I had been furnished credentials by Kolk, I wasnot sufficiently familiar with the tribal characteristics of thesepeople to know whether I should receive a friendly welcome or not; andin case I should not, I wanted to be sure of having a canoe hiddensafely away so that I might undertake the trip to the island, in anyevent--provided, of course, that I escaped the Thurians should theyprove belligerent. 

At the point where I landed the shore was quite low. A forest of pale, scrubby ferns ran down almost to the beach. Here I dragged up thedugout, hiding it well within the vegetation, and with some loose rocksbuilt a cairn upon the beach to mark my cache. Then I turned my stepstoward the Thurian village. 

As I proceeded I began to speculate upon the possible actions of Rajawhen we should enter the presence of other men than myself. The brutewas padding softly at my side, his sensitive nose constantly atwitchand his fierce eyes moving restlessly from side to side--nothing wouldever take Raja unawares!

The more I thought upon the matter the greater be-came my perturbation. I did not want Raja to attack any of the people upon whose friendship Iso greatly depended, nor did I want him injured or slain by them. 

I wondered if Raja would stand for a leash. His head as he pacedbeside me was level with my hip. I laid my hand upon it caressingly. As I did so he turned and looked up into my face, his jaws parting andhis red tongue lolling as you have seen your own dog's beneath a lovepat. 

"Just been waiting all your life to be tamed and loved, haven't you, old man?" I asked. "You're nothing but a good pup, and the man who putthe hyaeno in your name ought to be sued for libel. "

Raja bared his mighty fangs with upcurled, snarling lips and licked myhand. 

"You're grinning, you old fraud, you!" I cried. "If you're not, I'lleat you. I'll bet a doughnut you're nothing but some kid's poor oldFido, masquerading around as a real, live man-eater. "

Raja whined. And so we walked on together toward Thuria--I talking tothe beast at my side, and he seeming to enjoy my company no less than Ienjoyed his. If you don't think it's lonesome wandering all byyourself through savage, unknown Pellucidar, why, just try it, and youwill not wonder that I was glad of the company of this first dog--thisliving replica of the fierce and now extinct hyaenodon of the outercrust that hunted in savage packs the great elk across the snows ofsouthern France, in the days when the mastodon roamed at will over thebroad continent of which the British Isles were then a part, andperchance left his footprints and his bones in the sands of Atlantis aswell. 

Thus I dreamed as we moved on toward Thuria. My dreaming was rudelyshattered by a savage growl from Raja. I looked down at him. He hadstopped in his tracks as one turned to stone. A thin ridge of stiffhair bristled along the entire length of his spine. His yellow greeneyes were fastened upon the scrubby jungle at our right. 

I fastened my fingers in the bristles at his neck and turned my eyes inthe direction that his pointed. At first I saw nothing. Then a slightmovement of the bushes riveted my attention. I thought it must be somewild beast, and was glad of the primitive weapons I had taken from thebodies of the warriors who had attacked me. 

Presently I distinguished two eyes peering at us from the vegetation. I took a step in their direction, and as I did so a youth arose andfled precipitately in the direction we had been going. Raja struggledto be after him, but I held tightly to his neck, an act which he didnot seem to relish, for he turned on me with bared fangs. 

I determined that now was as good a time as any to discover just howdeep was Raja's affection for me. One of us could be master, andlogically I was the one. He growled at me. I cuffed him sharplyacross the nose. He looked it me for a moment in surprisedbewilderment, and then he growled again. I made another feint at him, expecting that it would bring him at my throat; but instead he wincedand crouched down. 

Raja was subdued!

I stooped and patted him. Then I took a piece of the rope thatconstituted a part of my equipment and made a leash for him. 

Thus we resumed our journey toward Thuria. The youth who had seen uswas evidently of the Thurians. That he had lost no time in racinghomeward and spreading the word of my coming was evidenced when we hadcome within sight of the clearing, and the village--the first realvillage, by the way, that I had ever seen constructed by humanPellucidarians. There was a rude rectangle walled with logs andboulders, in which were a hundred or more thatched huts of similarconstruction. There was no gate. Ladders that could be removed bynight led over the palisade. 

Before the village were assembled a great concourse of warriors. Inside I could see the heads of women and children peering over the topof the wall; and also, farther back, the long necks of lidi, topped bytheir tiny heads. Lidi, by the way, is both the singular and pluralform of the noun that describes the huge beasts of burden of theThurians. They are enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long, with very small heads perched at the top of very long, slender necks. Their heads are quite forty feet from the ground. Their gait is slowand deliberate, but so enormous are their strides that, as a matter offact, they cover the ground quite rapidly. 

Perry has told me that they are almost identical with the fossilizedremains of the diplodocus of the outer crust's Jurassic age. I have totake his word for it--and I guess you will, unless you know more ofsuch matters than I. 

As we came in sight of the warriors the men set up a great jabbering. Their eyes were wide in astonishment--only, I presume, because of mystrange garmenture, but as well from the fact that I came in companywith a jalok, which is the Pellucidarian name of the hyaenodon. 

Raja tugged at his leash, growling and showing his long white fangs. He would have liked nothing better than to be at the throats of thewhole aggregation; but I held him in with the leash, though it took allmy strength to do it. My free hand I held above my head, palm out, intoken of the peacefulness of my mission. 

In the foreground I saw the youth who had discovered us, and I couldtell from the way he carried himself that he was quite overcome by hisown importance. The warriors about him were all fine looking fellows, though shorter and squatter than the Sarians or the Amozites. Theircolor, too, was a bit lighter, owing, no doubt, to the fact that muchof their lives is spent within the shadow of the world that hangsforever above their country. 

A little in advance of the others was a bearded fellow tricked out inmany ornaments. I didn't need to ask to know that he was thechieftain--doubtless Goork, father of Kolk. Now to him I addressedmyself. 

"I am David, " I said, "Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. Doubtless you have heard of me?"

He nodded his head affirmatively. 

"I come from Sari, " I continued, "where I just met Kolk, the son ofGoork. I bear a token from Kolk to his father, which will prove that Iam a friend. "

Again the warrior nodded. "I am Goork, " he said. "Where is the token?"

"Here, " I replied, and fished into the game-bag where I had placed it. 

Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand searched the inside ofthe bag. 

It was empty!

The token had been stolen with my arms!

CHAPTER VIII

CAPTIVE

When Goork and his people saw that I had no token they commenced totaunt me. 

"You do not come from Kolk, but from the Sly One!" they cried. "He hassent you from the island to spy upon us. Go away, or we will set uponyou and kill you. "

I explained that all my belongings had been stolen from me, and thatthe robber must have taken the token too; but they didn't believe me. As proof that I was one of Hooja's people, they pointed to my weapons, which they said were ornamented like those of the is-land clan. Further, they said that no good man went in company with a jalok--andthat by this line of reason-ing I certainly was a bad man. 

I saw that they were not naturally a war-like tribe, for they preferredthat I leave in peace rather than force them to attack me, whereas theSarians would have killed a suspicious stranger first and inquired intohis purposes later. 

I think Raja sensed their antagonism, for he kept tugging at his leashand growling ominously. They were a bit in awe of him, and kept at asafe distance. It was evident that they could not comprehend why itwas that this savage brute did not turn upon me and rend me. 

I wasted a long time there trying to persuade Goork to accept me at myown valuation, but he was too canny. The best he would do was to giveus food, which he did, and direct me as to the safest portion of theis-land upon which to attempt a landing, though even as he told me I amsure that he thought my request for information but a blind to deceivehim as to my true knowledge of the insular stronghold. 

At last I turned away from them--rather disheartened, for I had hopedto be able to enlist a considerable force of them in an attempt to rushHooja's horde and rescue Dian. Back along the beach toward the hiddencanoe we made our way. 

By the time we came to the cairn I was dog-tired. Throwing myself uponthe sand I soon slept, and with Raja stretched out beside me I felt afar greater security than I had enjoyed for a long time. 

I awoke much refreshed to find Raja's eyes glued upon me. The moment Iopened mine he rose, stretched himself, and without a backward glanceplunged into the jungle. For several minutes I could hear him crashingthrough the brush. Then all was silent. 

I wondered if he had left me to return to his fierce pack. A feelingof loneliness overwhelmed me. With a sigh I turned to the work ofdragging the canoe down to the sea. As I entered the jungle where thedugout lay a hare darted from beneath the boat's side, and a well-aimedcast of my javelin brought it down. I was hungry--I had not realizedit before--so I sat upon the edge of the canoe and devoured my repast. The last remnants gone, I again busied myself with preparations for myexpedition to the island. 

I did not know for certain that Dian was there; but I surmised as much. Nor could I guess what obstacles might confront me in an effort torescue her. For a time I loitered about after I had the canoe at thewater's edge, hoping against hope that Raja would return; but he didnot, so I shoved the awkward craft through the surf and leaped into it. 

I was still a little downcast by the desertion of my new-found friend, though I tried to assure myself that it was nothing but what I mighthave expected. 

The savage brute had served me well in the short time that we had beentogether, and had repaid his debt of gratitude to me, since he hadsaved my life, or at least my liberty, no less certainly than I hadsaved his life when he was injured and drowning. 

The trip across the water to the island was uneventful. I was mightyglad to be in the sunshine again when I passed out of the shadow of thedead world about half-way between the mainland and the island. The hotrays of the noonday sun did a great deal toward raising my spirits, anddispelling the mental gloom in which I had been shrouded almostcontinually since entering the Land of Awful Shadow. There is nothingmore dispiriting to me than absence of sunshine. 

I had paddled to the southwestern point, which Goork said he believedto be the least frequented portion of the island, as he had never seenboats put off from there. I found a shallow reef running far out intothe sea and rather precipitous cliffs running almost to the surf. Itwas a nasty place to land, and I realized now why it was not used bythe natives; but at last I managed, after a good wetting, to beach mycanoe and scale the cliffs. 

The country beyond them appeared more open and park-like than I hadanticipated, since from the mainland the entire coast that is visibleseems densely clothed with tropical jungle. This jungle, as I couldsee from the vantage-point of the cliff-top, formed but a relativelynarrow strip between the sea and the more open forest and meadow of theinterior. Farther back there was a range of low but apparently veryrocky hills, and here and there all about were visible flat-toppedmasses of rock--small mountains, in fact--which reminded me of picturesI had seen of landscapes in New Mexico. Altogether, the country wasvery much broken and very beautiful. From where I stood I counted noless than a dozen streams winding down from among the table-buttes andemptying into a pretty river which flowed away in a northeasterlydirection toward the op-posite end of the island. 

As I let my eyes roam over the scene I suddenly became aware of figuresmoving upon the flat top of a far-distant butte. Whether they werebeast or human, though, I could not make out; but at least they werealive, so I determined to prosecute my search for Hooja's stronghold inthe general direction of this butte. 

To descend to the valley required no great effort. As I swung alongthrough the lush grass and the fragrant flowers, my cudgel swinging inmy hand and my javelin looped across my shoulders with its aurochs-hidestrap, I felt equal to any emergency, ready for any danger. 

I had covered quite a little distance, and I was pass-ing through astrip of wood which lay at the foot of one of the flat-topped hills, when I became conscious of the sensation of being watched. My lifewithin Pellucidar has rather quickened my senses of sight, hearing, andsmell, and, too, certain primitive intuitive or instinctive qualitiesthat seem blunted in civilized man. But, though I was positive thateyes were upon me, I could see no sign of any living thing within thewood other than the many, gay-plumaged birds and little monkeys whichfilled the trees with life, color, and action. 

To you it may seem that my conviction was the result of an overwroughtimagination, or to the actual reality of the prying eyes of the littlemonkeys or the curious ones of the birds; but there is a differencewhich I cannot explain between the sensation of casual observation andstudied espionage. A sheep might gaze at you without transmitting awarning through your subjective mind, because you are in no danger froma sheep. But let a tiger gaze fixedly at you from ambush, and unlessyour primitive instincts are completely calloused you will presentlycommence to glance furtively about and be filled with vague, unreasoning terror. 

Thus was it with me then. I grasped my cudgel more firmly and unslungmy javelin, carrying it in my left hand. I peered to left and right, but I saw nothing. Then, all quite suddenly, there fell about my neckand shoulders, around my arms and body, a number of pliant fiber ropes. 

In a jiffy I was trussed up as neatly as you might wish. One of thenooses dropped to my ankles and was jerked up with a suddenness thatbrought me to my face upon the ground. Then something heavy and hairysprang upon my back. I fought to draw my knife, but hairy handsgrasped my wrists and, dragging them be-hind my back, bound themsecurely. 

Next my feet were bound. Then I was turned over upon my back to lookup into the faces of my captors. 

And what faces! Imagine if you can a cross between a sheep and agorilla, and you will have some conception of the physiognomy of thecreature that bent close above me, and of those of the half-dozenothers that clustered about. There was the facial length and greateyes of the sheep, and the bull-neck and hideous fangs of the gorilla. The bodies and limbs were both man and gorilla-like. 

As they bent over me they conversed in a mono-syllabic tongue that wasperfectly intelligible to me. It was something of a simplifiedlanguage that had no need for aught but nouns and verbs, but such wordsas it included were the same as those of the human beings ofPellucidar. It was amplified by many gestures which filled in thespeech-gaps. 

I asked them what they intended doing with me; but, like our own NorthAmerican Indians when questioned by a white man, they pretended not tounderstand me. One of them swung me to his shoulder as lightly as if Ihad been a shoat. He was a huge creature, as were his fellows, standing fully seven feet upon his short legs and weighing considerablymore than a quarter of a ton. 

Two went ahead of my bearer and three behind. In this order we cut tothe right through the forest to the foot of the hill where precipitouscliffs appeared to bar our farther progress in this direction. But myescort never paused. Like ants upon a wall, they scaled that seeminglyunscalable barrier, clinging, Heaven knows how, to its raggedperpendicular face. During most of the short journey to the summit Imust admit that my hair stood on end. Presently, however, we toppedthe thing and stood upon the level mesa which crowned it. 

Immediately from all about, out of burrows and rough, rocky lairs, poured a perfect torrent of beasts similar to my captors. Theyclustered about, jabber-ing at my guards and attempting to get theirhands upon me, whether from curiosity or a desire to do me bodily harmI did not know, since my escort with bared fangs and heavy blows keptthem off. 

Across the mesa we went, to stop at last before a large pile of rocksin which an opening appeared. Here my guards set me upon my feet andcalled out a word which sounded like "Gr-gr-gr!" and which I laterlearned was the name of their king. 

Presently there emerged from the cavernous depths of the lair amonstrous creature, scarred from a hundred battles, almost hairless andwith an empty socket where one eye had been. The other eye, sheeplikein its mildness, gave the most startling appearance to the beast, whichbut for that single timid orb was the most fearsome thing that onecould imagine. 

I had encountered the black, hairless, long-tailed ape--things of themainland--the creatures which Perry thought might constitute the linkbetween the higher orders of apes and man--but these brute-men ofGr-gr-gr seemed to set that theory back to zero, for there was lesssimilarity between the black ape-men and these creatures than there wasbetween the latter and man, while both had many human attributes, someof which were better developed in one species and some in the other. 

The black apes were hairless and built thatched huts in their arborealretreats; they kept domesticated dogs and ruminants, in which respectthey were farther advanced than the human beings of Pellucidar; butthey appeared to have only a meager language, and sported long, apeliketails. 

On the other hand, Gr-gr-gr's people were, for the most part, quitehairy, but they were tailless and had a language similar to that of thehuman race of Pellucidar; nor were they arboreal. Their skins, whereskin showed, were white. 

From the foregoing facts and others that I have noted during my longlife within Pellucidar, which is now passing through an age analogousto some pre-glacial age of the outer crust, I am constrained to thebelief that evolution is not so much a gradual transition from one formto another as it is an accident of breeding, either by crossing or thehazards of birth. In other words, it is my belief that the first manwas a freak of nature--nor would one have to draw over-strongly uponhis credulity to be convinced that Gr-gr-gr and his tribe were alsofreaks. 

The great man-brute seated himself upon a flat rock--his throne, Iimagine--just before the entrance to his lair. With elbows on kneesand chin in palms he regarded me intently through his lone sheep-eyewhile one of my captors told of my taking. 

When all had been related Gr-gr-gr questioned me. I shall not attemptto quote these people in their own abbreviated tongue--you would haveeven greater difficulty in interpreting them than did I. Instead, Ishall put the words into their mouths which will carry to you the ideaswhich they intended to convey. 

"You are an enemy, " was Gr-gr-gr's initial declaration. "You belong tothe tribe of Hooja. "

Ah! So they knew Hooja and he was their enemy! Good!

"I am an enemy of Hooja, " I replied. "He has stolen my mate and I havecome here to take her away from him and punish Hooja. "

"How could you do that alone?"

"I do not know, " I answered, "but I should have tried had you notcaptured me. What do you intend to do with me?"

"You shall work for us. "

"You will not kill me?" I asked. 

"We do not kill except in self-defense, " he replied; "self-defense andpunishment. Those who would kill us and those who do wrong we kill. If we knew you were one of Hooja's people we might kill you, for allHooja's people are bad people; but you say you are an enemy of Hooja. You may not speak the truth, but until we learn that you have lied weshall not kill you. You shall work. "

"If you hate Hooja, " I suggested, "why not let me, who hate him, too, go and punish him?"

For some time Gr-gr-gr sat in thought. Then he raised his head andaddressed my guard. 

"Take him to his work, " he ordered. 

His tone was final. As if to emphasize it he turned and entered hisburrow. My guard conducted me farther into the mesa, where we camepresently to a tiny depression or valley, at one end of which gushed awarm spring. 

The view that opened before me was the most surprising that I have everseen. In the hollow, which must have covered several hundred acres, were numerous fields of growing things, and working all about withcrude implements or with no implements at all other than their barehands were many of the brute-men engaged in the first agriculture thatI had seen within Pellucidar. 

They put me to work cultivating in a patch of melons. 

I never was a farmer nor particularly keen for this sort of work, and Iam free to confess that time never had dragged so heavily as it didduring the hour or the year I spent there at that work. How long itreally was I do not know, of course; but it was all too long. 

The creatures that worked about me were quite simple and friendly. Oneof them proved to be a son of Gr-gr-gr. He had broken some minortribal law, and was working out his sentence in the fields. He told methat his tribe had lived upon this hilltop always, and that there wereother tribes like them dwelling upon other hilltops. They had no warsand had always lived in peace and harmony, menaced only by the largercarnivora of the island, until my kind had come under a creature calledHooja, and attacked and killed them when they chanced to descend fromtheir natural fortresses to visit their fellows upon other lofty mesas. 

Now they were afraid; but some day they would go in a body and fallupon Hooja and his people and slay them all. I explained to him that Iwas Hooja's enemy, and asked, when they were ready to go, that I beallowed to go with them, or, better still, that they let me go aheadand learn all that I could about the village where Hooja dwelt so thatthey might attack it with the best chance of success. 

Gr-gr-gr's son seemed much impressed by my suggestion. He said thatwhen he was through in the fields he would speak to his father aboutthe matter. 

Some time after this Gr-gr-gr came through the fields where we were, and his son spoke to him upon the subject, but the old gentleman wasevidently in anything but a good humor, for he cuffed the youngsterand, turning upon me, informed me that he was convinced that I had liedto him, and that I was one of Hooja's peo-ple. 

"Wherefore, " he concluded, "we shall slay you as soon as the melons arecultivated. Hasten, therefore. "

And hasten I did. I hastened to cultivate the weeds which grew amongthe melon-vines. Where there had been one sickly weed before, Inourished two healthy ones. When I found a particularly promisingvariety of weed growing elsewhere than among my melons, I forthwith dugit up and transplanted it among my charges. 

My masters did not seem to realize my perfidy. They saw me alwayslaboring diligently in the melon-patch, and as time enters not into thereckoning of Pellucidar-ians--even of human beings and much less ofbrutes and half brutes--I might have lived on indefinitely through thissubterfuge had not that occurred which took me out of the melon-patchfor good and all. 

CHAPTER IX

HOOJA'S CUTTHROATS APPEAR

I had built a little shelter of rocks and brush where I might crawl inand sleep out of the perpetual light and heat of the noonday sun. WhenI was tired or hungry I retired to my humble cot. 

My masters never interposed the slightest objection. As a matter offact, they were very good to me, nor did I see aught while I was amongthem to indicate that they are ever else than a simple, kindly folkwhen left to themselves. Their awe-inspiring size, terrific strength, mighty fighting-fangs, and hideous appearance are but the attributesnecessary to the successful waging of their constant battle forsurvival, and well do they employ them when the need arises. The onlyflesh they eat is that of herbivorous animals and birds. When theyhunt the mighty thag, the prehistoric bos of the outer crust, a singlemale, with his fiber rope, will catch and kill the greatest of thebulls. 

Well, as I was about to say, I had this little shelter at the edge ofmy melon-patch. Here I was resting from my labors on a certainoccasion when I heard a great hub-bub in the village, which lay about aquarter of a mile away. 

Presently a male came racing toward the field, shout-ing excitedly. Ashe approached I came from my shelter to learn what all the commotionmight be about, for the monotony of my existence in the melon-patchmust have fostered that trait of my curiosity from which it had alwaysbeen my secret boast I am peculiarly free. 

The other workers also ran forward to meet the messenger, who quicklyunburdened himself of his information, and as quickly turned andscampered back toward the village. When running these beast-men oftengo upon all fours. Thus they leap over obstacles that would slow up ahuman being, and upon the level attain a speed that would make athoroughbred look to his laurels. The result in this instance was thatbefore I had more than assimilated the gist of the word which had beenbrought to the fields, I was alone, watching my co-workers speedingvillageward. 

I was alone! It was the first time since my capture that no beast-manhad been within sight of me. I was alone! And all my captors were inthe village at the op-posite edge of the mesa repelling an attack ofHooja's horde!

It seemed from the messenger's tale that two of Gr-gr-gr's great maleshad been set upon by a half-dozen of Hooja's cutthroats while theformer were peaceably returning from the thag hunt. The two hadreturned to the village unscratched, while but a single one of Hooja'shalf-dozen had escaped to report the outcome of the battle to theirleader. Now Hooja was coming to punish Gr-gr-gr's people. With hislarge force, armed with the bows and arrows that Hooja had learned fromme to make, with long lances and sharp knives, I feared that even themighty strength of the beastmen could avail them but little. 

At last had come the opportunity for which I waited! I was free tomake for the far end of the mesa, find my way to the valley below, andwhile the two forces were engaged in their struggle, continue my searchfor Hooja's village, which I had learned from the beast-men lay fartheron down the river that I had been following when taken prisoner. 

As I turned to make for the mesa's rim the sounds of battle cameplainly to my ears--the hoarse shouts of men mingled with thehalf-beastly roars and growls of the brute-folk. 

Did I take advantage of my opportunity?

I did not. Instead, lured by the din of strife and by the desire todeliver a stroke, however feeble, against hated Hooja, I wheeled andran directly toward the village. 

When I reached the edge of the plateau such a scene met my astonishedgaze as never before had startled it, for the unique battle-methods ofthe half-brutes were rather the most remarkable I had ever witnessed. Along the very edge of the cliff-top stood a thin line of mightymales--the best rope-throwers of the tribe. A few feet behind thesethe rest of the males, with the exception of about twenty, formed asecond line. Still farther in the rear all the women and youngchildren were clus-tered into a single group under the protection ofthe remaining twenty fighting males and all the old males. 

But it was the work of the first two lines that interested me. Theforces of Hooja--a great horde of savage Sagoths and primeval cavemen--were working their way up the steep cliff-face, their agility butslightly less than that of my captors who had clambered so nimblyaloft--even he who was burdened by my weight. 

As the attackers came on they paused occasionally wherever a projectiongave them sufficient foothold and launched arrows and spears at thedefenders above them. During the entire battle both sides hurledtaunts and insults at one another--the human beings naturally excellingthe brutes in the coarseness and vileness of their vilification andinvective. 

The "firing-line" of the brute-men wielded no weapon other than theirlong fiber nooses. When a foeman came within range of them a noosewould settle unerringly about him and he would be dragged, fighting andyelling, to the cliff-top, unless, as occasionally occurred, he wasquick enough to draw his knife and cut the rope above him, in whichevent he usually plunged down-ward to a no less certain death than thatwhich awaited him above. 

Those who were hauled up within reach of the power-ful clutches of thedefenders had the nooses snatched from them and were catapulted backthrough the first line to the second, where they were seized and killedby the simple expedient of a single powerful closing of mighty fangsupon the backs of their necks. 

But the arrows of the invaders were taking a much heavier toll than thenooses of the defenders and I foresaw that it was but a matter of timebefore Hooja's forces must conquer unless the brute-men changed theirtactics, or the cave men tired of the battle. 

Gr-gr-gr was standing in the center of the first line. All about himwere boulders and large fragments of broken rock. I approached him andwithout a word toppled a large mass of rock over the edge of the cliff. It fell directly upon the head of an archer, crushing him to instantdeath and carrying his mangled corpse with it to the bottom of thedeclivity, and on its way brushing three more of the attackers into thehereafter. 

Gr-gr-gr turned toward me in surprise. For an instant he appeared todoubt the sincerity of my motives. I felt that perhaps my time hadcome when he reached for me with one of his giant paws; but I dodgedhim, and running a few paces to the right hurled down another missile. It, too, did its allotted work of destruction. Then I picked upsmaller fragments and with all the control and accuracy for which I hadearned justly deserved fame in my collegiate days I rained down a hailof death upon those beneath me. 

Gr-gr-gr was coming toward me again. I pointed to the litter of rubbleupon the cliff-top. 

"Hurl these down upon the enemy!" I cried to him. "Tell your warriorsto throw rocks down upon them!"

At my words the others of the first line, who had been interestedspectators of my tactics, seized upon great boulders or bits of rock, whichever came first to their hands, and, without, waiting for acommand from Gr-gr-gr, deluged the terrified cave men with a perfectavalanche of stone. In less than no time the cliff-face was strippedof enemies and the village of Gr-gr-gr was saved. 

Gr-gr-gr was standing beside me when the last of the cave mendisappeared in rapid flight down the valley. He was looking at meintently. 

"Those were your people, " he said. "Why did you kill them?"

"They were not my people, " I returned. "I have told you that before, but you would not believe me. Will you believe me now when I tell youthat I hate Hooja and his tribe as much as you do? Will you believe mewhen I tell you that I wish to be the friend of Gr-gr-gr?"

For some time he stood there beside me, scratching his head. Evidentlyit was no less difficult for him to readjust his preconceivedconclusions than it is for most human beings; but finally the ideapercolated--which it might never have done had he been a man, or Imight qualify that statement by saying had he been some men. Finallyhe spoke. 

"Gilak, " he said, "you have made Gr-gr-gr ashamed. He would havekilled you. How can he reward you?"

"Set me free, " I replied quickly. 

"You are free, " he said. "You may go down when you wish, or you maystay with us. If you go you may always return. We are your friends. "

Naturally, I elected to go. I explained all over again to Gr-gr-gr thenature of my mission. He listened attentively; after I had done heoffered to send some of his people with me to guide me to Hooja'svillage. I was not slow in accepting his offer. 

First, however, we must eat. The hunters upon whom Hooja's men hadfallen had brought back the meat of a great thag. There would be afeast to commemorate the victory--a feast and dancing. 

I had never witnessed a tribal function of the brute-folk, though I hadoften heard strange sounds coming from the village, where I had notbeen allowed since my capture. Now I took part in one of their orgies. 

It will live forever in my memory. The combination of bestiality andhumanity was oftentimes pathetic, and again grotesque or horrible. Beneath the glaring noonday sun, in the sweltering heat of themesa-top, the huge, hairy creatures leaped in a great circle. Theycoiled and threw their fiber-ropes; they hurled taunts and insults atan imaginary foe; they fell upon the carcass of the thag and literallytore it to pieces; and they ceased only when, gorged, they could nolonger move. 

I had to wait until the processes of digestion had released my escortfrom its torpor. Some had eaten until their abdomens were so distendedthat I thought they must burst, for beside the thag there had beenfully a hundred antelopes of various sizes and varied degrees ofdecomposition, which they had unearthed from burial beneath the floorsof their lairs to grace the banquet-board. 

But at last we were started--six great males and myself. Gr-gr-gr hadreturned my weapons to me, and at last I was once more upon myoft-interrupted way toward my goal. Whether I should find Dian at theend of my journey or no I could not even surmise; but I was none theless impatient to be off, for if only the worst lay in store for me Iwished to know even the worst at once. 

I could scarce believe that my proud mate would still be alive in thepower of Hooja; but time upon Pellucidar is so strange a thing that Irealized that to her or to him only a few minutes might have elapsedsince his subtle trickery had enabled him to steal her away fromPhutra. Or she might have found the means either to repel his advancesor escape him. 

As we descended the cliff we disturbed a great pack of large hyena-likebeasts--hyaena spelaeus, Perry calls them--who were busy among thecorpses of the cave men fallen in battle. The ugly creatures were farfrom the cowardly things that our own hyenas are reputed to be; theystood their ground with bared fangs as we approached them. But, as Iwas later to learn, so formidable are the brute-folk that there are feweven of the larger carnivora that will not make way for them when theygo abroad. So the hyenas moved a little from our line of march, closing in again upon their feasts when we had passed. 

We made our way steadily down the rim of the beautiful river whichflows the length of the island, coming at last to a wood rather denserthan any that I had be-fore encountered in this country. Well withinthis forest my escort halted. 

"There!" they said, and pointed ahead. "We are to go no farther. "

Thus having guided me to my destination they left me. Ahead of me, through the trees, I could see what appeared to be the foot of a steephill. Toward this I made my way. The forest ran to the very base of acliff, in the face of which were the mouths of many caves. Theyappeared untenanted; but I decided to watch for a while beforeventuring farther. A large tree, densely foliaged, offered a splendidvantage-point from which to spy upon the cliff, so I clambered amongits branches where, securely hidden, I could watch what transpiredabout the caves. 

It seemed that I had scarcely settled myself in a comfortable positionbefore a party of cave men emerged from one of the smaller apertures inthe cliff-face, about fifty feet from the base. They descended intothe forest and disappeared. Soon after came several others from thesame cave, and after them, at a short interval, a score of women andchildren, who came into the wood to gather fruit. There were severalwarriors with them--a guard, I presume. 

After this came other parties, and two or three groups who passed outof the forest and up the cliff-face to enter the same cave. I couldnot understand it. All who came out had emerged from the same cave. All who returned reentered it. No other cave gave evidence ofhabitation, and no cave but one of extraordinary size could haveaccommodated all the people whom I had seen pass in and out of itsmouth. 

For a long time I sat and watched the coming and going of great numbersof the cave-folk. Not once did one leave the cliff by any otheropening save that from which I had seen the first party come, nor didany reenter the cliff through another aperture. 

What a cave it must be, I thought, that houses an entire tribe! Butdissatisfied of the truth of my surmise, I climbed higher among thebranches of the tree that I might get a better view of other portionsof the cliff. High above the ground I reached a point whence I couldsee the summit of the hill. Evidently it was a flat-topped buttesimilar to that on which dwelt the tribe of Gr-gr-gr. 

As I sat gazing at it a figure appeared at the very edge. It was thatof a young girl in whose hair was a gorgeous bloom plucked from someflowering tree of the forest. I had seen her pass beneath me but ashort while before and enter the small cave that had swallowed all ofthe returning tribesmen. 

The mystery was solved. The cave was but the mouth of a passage thatled upward through the cliff to the summit of the hill. It servedmerely as an avenue from their lofty citadel to the valley below. 

No sooner had the truth flashed upon me than the realization came thatI must seek some other means of reaching the village, for to passunobserved through this well-traveled thoroughfare would be impossible. At the moment there was no one in sight below me, so I slid quicklyfrom my arboreal watch-tower to the ground and moved rapidly away tothe right with the intention of circling the hill if necessary until Ihad found an un-watched spot where I might have some slight chance ofscaling the heights and reaching the top unseen. 

I kept close to the edge of the forest, in the very midst of which thehill seemed to rise. Though I carefully scanned the cliff as Itraversed its base, I saw no sign of any other entrance than that towhich my guides had led me. 

After some little time the roar of the sea broke upon my ears. Shortlyafter I came upon the broad ocean which breaks at this point at thevery foot of the great hill where Hooja had found safe refuge forhimself and his villains. 

I was just about to clamber along the jagged rocks which lie at thebase of the cliff next to the sea, in search of some foothold to thetop, when I chanced to see a canoe rounding the end of the island. Ithrew my-self down behind a large boulder where I could watch thedugout and its occupants without myself being seen. 

They paddled toward me for a while and then, about a hundred yards fromme, they turned straight in toward the foot of the frowning cliffs. From where I was it seemed that they were bent upon self-destruction, since the roar of the breakers beating upon the perpendicular rock-faceappeared to offer only death to any one who might venture within theirrelentless clutch. 

A mass of rock would soon hide them from my view; but so keen was theexcitement of the instant that I could not refrain from crawlingforward to a point whence I could watch the dashing of the small craftto pieces on the jagged rocks that loomed before her, al-though Irisked discovery from above to accomplish my design. 

When I had reached a point where I could again see the dugout, I wasjust in time to see it glide un-harmed between two needle-pointedsentinels of granite and float quietly upon the unruffled bosom of atiny cove. 

Again I crouched behind a boulder to observe what would next transpire;nor did I have long to wait. The dugout, which contained but two men, was drawn close to the rocky wall. A fiber rope, one end of which wastied to the boat, was made fast about a projection of the cliff face. 

Then the two men commenced the ascent of the almost perpendicular walltoward the summit several hundred feet above. I looked on inamazement, for, splendid climbers though the cave men of Pellucidarare, I never before had seen so remarkable a feat per-formed. Upwardlythey moved without a pause, to disappear at last over the summit. 

When I felt reasonably sure that they had gone for a while at least Icrawled from my hiding-place and at the risk of a broken neck leapedand scrambled to the spot where their canoe was moored. 

If they had scaled that cliff I could, and if I couldn't I should diein the attempt. 

But when I turned to the accomplishment of the task I found it easierthan I had imagined it would be, since I immediately discovered thatshallow hand and foot-holds had been scooped in the cliff's rocky face, forming a crude ladder from the base to the summit. 

At last I reached the top, and very glad I was, too. Cautiously Iraised my head until my eyes were above the cliff-crest. Before mespread a rough mesa, liberally sprinkled with large boulders. Therewas no village in sight nor any living creature. 

I drew myself to level ground and stood erect. A few trees grew amongthe boulders. Very carefully I advanced from tree to tree and boulderto boulder toward the inland end of the mesa. I stopped often tolisten and look cautiously about me in every direction. 

How I wished that I had my revolvers and rifle! I would not have toworm my way like a scared cat toward Hooja's village, nor did I relishdoing so now; but Dian's life might hinge upon the success of myventure, and so I could not afford to take chances. To have metsuddenly with discovery and had a score or more of armed warriors uponme might have been very grand and heroic; but it would have immediatelyput an end to all my earthly activities, nor have accomplished aught inthe service of Dian. 

Well, I must have traveled nearly a mile across that mesa withoutseeing a sign of anyone, when all of a sudden, as I crept around theedge of a boulder, I ran plump into a man, down on all fours likemyself, crawling toward me. 

CHAPTER X

THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON

His head was turned over his shoulder as I first saw him--he waslooking back toward the village. As I leaped for him his eyes fellupon me. Never in my life have I seen a more surprised mortal thanthis poor cave man. Before he could utter a single scream of warningor alarm I had my fingers on his throat and had dragged him behind theboulder, where I proceeded to sit upon him, while I figured out what Ihad best do with him. 

He struggled a little at first, but finally lay still, and so Ireleased the pressure of my fingers at his windpipe, for which Iimagine he was quite thankful--I know that I should have been. 

I hated to kill him in cold blood; but what else I was to do with him Icould not see, for to turn him loose would have been merely to have theentire village aroused and down upon me in a moment. The fellow laylooking up at me with the surprise still deeply writ-ten on hiscountenance. At last, all of a sudden, a look of recognition enteredhis eyes. 

"I have seen you before, " he said. "I saw you in the arena at theMahars' city of Phutra when the thipdars dragged the tarag from you andyour mate. I never understood that. Afterward they put me in thearena with two warriors from Gombul. "

He smiled in recollection. 

"It would have been the same had there been ten warriors from Gombul. I slew them, winning my free-dom. Look!"

He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting the newly healedscar of the Mahars' branded mark. 

"Then, " he continued, "as I was returning to my peo-ple I met some ofthem fleeing. They told me that one called Hooja the Sly One had comeand seized our village, putting our people into slavery. So I hurriedhither to learn the truth, and, sure enough, here I found Hooja and hiswicked men living in my village, and my father's people but slavesamong them. 

"I was discovered and captured, but Hooja did not kill me. I am thechief's son, and through me he hoped to win my father's warriors backto the village to help him in a great war he says that he will sooncommence. 

"Among his prisoners is Dian the Beautiful One, whose brother, Dacorthe Strong One, chief of Amoz, once saved my life when he came toThuria to steal a mate. I helped him capture her, and we are goodfriends. So when I learned that Dian the Beautiful One was Hooja'sprisoner, I told him that I would not aid him if he harmed her. 

"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talking with anotherprisoner. We were planning to combine all the prisoners, seizeweapons, and when most of Hooja's warriors were away, slay the rest andretake our hilltop. Had we done so we could have held it, for thereare only two entrances--the narrow tunnel at one end and the steep pathup the cliffs at the other. 

"But when Hooja heard what we had planned he was very angry, andordered that I die. They bound me hand and foot and placed me in acave until all the warriors should return to witness my death; butwhile they were away I heard someone calling me in a muffled voicewhich seemed to come from the wall of the cave. When I replied thevoice, which was a woman's, told me that she had overheard all that hadpassed between me and those who had brought me thither, and that shewas Dacor's sister and would find a way to help me. 

"Presently a little hole appeared in the wall at the point from whichthe voice had come. After a time I saw a woman's hand digging with abit of stone. Dacor's sister made a hole in the wall between the cavewhere I lay bound and that in which she had been confined, and soon shewas by my side and had cut my bonds. 

"We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to take her away andback to the land of Sari, where she told me she would be able to learnthe whereabouts of her mate. Just now I was going to the other end ofthe island to see if a boat lay there, and if the way was clear for ourescape. Most of the boats are always away now, for a great many ofHooja's men and nearly all the slaves are upon the Island of Trees, where Hooja is having many boats built to carry his warriors across thewater to the mouth of a great river which he discovered while he wasreturning from Phutra--a vast river that empties into the sea there. "

The speaker pointed toward the northeast. "It is wide and smooth andslow-running almost to the land of Sari, " he added. 

"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked. 

I had released my prisoner as soon as I found that he was Hooja'senemy, and now the pair of us were squat-ting beside the boulder whilehe told his story. 

"She returned to the cave where she had been imprisoned, " he replied, "and is awaiting me there. "

"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you are away?"

"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees, " he replied. 

"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it alone?" I asked. 

He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fashion of thePellucidarians he explained minutely how I might reach the cave wherehe had been imprisoned, and through the hole in its wall reach Dian. 

I thought it best for but one of us to return, since two couldaccomplish but little more than one and would double the risk ofdiscovery. In the meantime he could make his way to the sea and guardthe boat, which I told him lay there at the foot of the cliff. 

I told him to await us at the cliff-top, and if Dian came alone to dohis best to get away with her and take her to Sari, as I thought itquite possible that, in case of detection and pursuit, it might benecessary for me to hold off Hooja's people while Dian made her wayalone to where my new friend was to await her. I impressed upon himthe fact that he might have to resort to trickery or even to force toget Dian to leave me; but I made him promise that he would sacrificeeverything, even his life, in an attempt to rescue Dacor's sister. 

Then we parted--he to take up his position where he could watch theboat and await Dian, I to crawl cautiously on toward the caves. I hadno difficulty in following the directions given me by Juag, the name bywhich Dacor's friend said he was called. There was the leaning tree, my first point he told me to look for after rounding the boulder wherewe had met. After that I crawled to the balanced rock, a huge boulderresting upon a tiny base no larger than the palm of your hand. 

From here I had my first view of the village of caves. A low bluff randiagonally across one end of the mesa, and in the face of this bluffwere the mouths of many caves. Zig-zag trails led up to them, andnarrow ledges scooped from the face of the soft rock connected thoseupon the same level. 

The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the extreme end of thecliff nearest me. By taking advantage of the bluff itself, I couldapproach within a few feet of the aperture without being visible fromany other cave. There were few people about at the time; most of thesewere congregated at the foot of the far end of the bluff, where theywere so engrossed in excited conversation that I felt but little fearof detection. However I exercised the greatest care in approaching thecliff. After watching for a while until I caught an instant when everyhead was turned away from me, I darted, rabbitlike, into the cave. 

Like many of the man-made caves of Pellucidar, this one consisted ofthree chambers, one behind another, and all unlit except for whatsunlight filtered in through the external opening. The result wasgradually increasing darkness as one passed into each succeedingchamber. 

In the last of the three I could just distinguish objects, and that wasall. As I was groping around the walls for the hole that should leadinto the cave where Dian was imprisoned, I heard a man's voice quiteclose to me. 

The speaker had evidently but just entered, for he spoke in a loudtone, demanding the whereabouts of one whom he had come in search of. 

"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent for you. "

And then a woman's voice answered him:

"And what does Hooja want of me?"

The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the sounds, feelingfor the hole. 

"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees, " replied the man; "forhe is ready to take you as his mate. "

"I will not go, " said Dian. "I will die first. "

"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall. "

I could hear him crossing the cave toward her. 

Frantically I clawed the wall of the cave in which I was in an effortto find the elusive aperture that would lead me to Dian's side. 

I heard the sound of a scuffle in the next cave. Then my fingers sankinto loose rock and earth in the side of the cave. In an instant Irealized why I had been unable to find the opening while I had beenlightly feeling the surface of the walls--Dian had blocked up the holeshe had made lest it arouse suspicion and lead to an early discovery ofJuag's escape. 

Plunging my weight against the crumbling mass, I sent it crashing intothe adjoining cavern. With it came I, David, Emperor of Pellucidar. Idoubt if any other potentate in a world's history ever made a moreun-dignified entrance. I landed head first on all fours, but I camequickly and was on my feet before the man in the dark guessed what hadhappened. 

He saw me, though, when I arose and, sensing that no friend came thusprecipitately, turned to meet me even as I charged him. I had my stoneknife in my hand, and he had his. In the darkness of the cave therewas little opportunity for a display of science, though even at that Iventure to say that we fought a very pretty duel. 

Before I came to Pellucidar I do not recall that I ever had seen astone knife, and I am sure that I never fought with a knife of anydescription; but now I do not have to take my hat off to any of themwhen it comes to wielding that primitive yet wicked weapon. 

I could just see Dian in the darkness, but I knew that she could notsee my features or recognize me; and I enjoyed in anticipation, evenwhile I was fighting for her life and mine, her dear joy when sheshould discover that it was I who was her deliverer. 

My opponent was large, but he also was active and no mean knife-man. He caught me once fairly in the shoulder--I carry the scar yet, andshall carry it to the grave. And then he did a foolish thing, for asI leaped back to gain a second in which to calm the shock of the woundhe rushed after me and tried to clinch. He rather neglected his knifefor the moment in his greater desire to get his hands on me. Seeingthe opening, I swung my left fist fairly to the point of his jaw. 

Down he went. Before ever he could scramble up again I was on him andhad buried my knife in his heart. Then I stood up--and there was Dianfacing me and peering at me through the dense gloom. 

"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?"

I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched. 

"It is I, Dian, " I said. "It is David. "

At the sound of my voice she gave a little cry in which tears weremingled--a pathetic little cry that told me all without words how farhope had gone from her--and then she ran forward and threw herself inmy arms. I covered her perfect lips and her beautiful face withkisses, and stroked her thick black hair, and told her again and againwhat she already knew--what she had known for years--that I loved herbetter than all else which two worlds had to offer. We couldn't devotemuch time, though, to the happiness of love-making, for we were in themidst of enemies who might discover us at any moment. 

I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence we made our way to themouth of the cave that had given me entrance to the cliff. Here Ireconnoitered for a mo-ment, and seeing the coast clear, ran swiftlyforth with Dian at my side. We dodged around the cliff-end, thenpaused for an instant, listening. No sound reached our ears toindicate that any had seen us, and we moved cautiously onward along theway by which I had come. 

As we went Dian told me that her captors had informed her how close Ihad come in search of her--even to the Land of Awful Shadow--and howone of Hooja's men who knew me had discovered me asleep and robbed meof all my possessions. And then how Hooja had sent four others to findme and take me prisoner. But these men, she said, had not yetreturned, or at least she had not heard of their return. 

"Nor will you ever, " I responded, "for they have gone to that placewhence none ever returns. " I then related my adventure with these four. 

We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag should be awaiting uswhen we saw two men walking rapidly toward the same spot from anotherdirection. They did not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I nowdiscovered hiding behind a low bush close to the verge of the precipicewhich drops into the sea at this point. As quickly as possible, without exposing our-selves too much to the enemy, we hastened forwardthat we might reach Juag as quickly as they. 

But they noticed him first and immediately charged him, for one of themhad been his guard, and they had both been sent to search for him, hisescape having been discovered between the time he left the cave and thetime when I reached it. Evidently they had wasted precious momentslooking for him in other portions of the mesa. 

When I saw that the two of them were rushing him, I called out toattract their attention to the fact that they had more than a singleman to cope with. They paused at the sound of my voice and lookedabout. 

When they discovered Dian and me they exchanged a few words, and one ofthem continued toward Juag while the other turned upon us. As he camenearer I saw that he carried in his hand one of my six-shooters, but hewas holding it by the barrel, evidently mistaking it for some sort ofwarclub or tomahawk. 

I could scarce refrain a grin when I thought of the wastedpossibilities of that deadly revolver in the hands of an untutoredwarrior of the stone age. Had he but reversed it and pulled thetrigger he might still be alive; maybe he is for all I know, since Idid not kill him then. When he was about twenty feet from me I flungmy javelin with a quick movement that I had learned from Ghak. Heducked to avoid it, and instead of receiving it in his heart, for whichit was intended, he got it on the side of the head. 

Down he went all in a heap. Then I glanced toward Juag. He was havinga most exciting time. The fellow pitted against Juag was a veritablegiant; he was hacking and hewing away at the poor slave with avillainous-looking knife that might have been designed for butcheringmastodons. Step by step, he was forcing Juag back toward the edge ofthe cliff with a fiendish cunning that permitted his adversary nochance to side-step the terrible consequences of retreat in thisdirection. I saw quickly that in another moment Juag must deliberatelyhurl himself to death over the precipice or be pushed over by hisfoeman. 

And as I saw Juag's predicament I saw, too, in the same instant, a wayto relieve him. Leaping quickly to the side of the fellow I had justfelled, I snatched up my fallen revolver. It was a desperate chance totake, and I realized it in the instant that I threw the gun up from myhip and pulled the trigger. There was no time to aim. Juag was uponthe very brink of the chasm. His relentless foe was pushing him hard, beat-ing at him furiously with the heavy knife. 

And then the revolver spoke--loud and sharp. The giant threw his handsabove his head, whirled about like a huge top, and lunged forward overthe precipice. 

And Juag?

He cast a single affrighted glance in my direction--never before, ofcourse, had he heard the report of a firearm--and with a howl of dismayhe, too, turned and plunged headforemost from sight. Horror-struck, Ihastened to the brink of the abyss just in time to see two splashesupon the surface of the little cove below. 

For an instant I stood there watching with Dian at my side. Then, tomy utter amazement, I saw Juag rise to the surface and swim stronglytoward the boat. 

The fellow had dived that incredible distance and come up unharmed!

I called to him to await us below, assuring him that he need have nofear of my weapon, since it would harm only my enemies. He shook hishead and mut-tered something which I could not hear at so great adistance; but when I pushed him he promised to wait for us. At thesame instant Dian caught my arm and pointed toward the village. Myshot had brought a crowd of natives on the run toward us. 

The fellow whom I had stunned with my javelin had regainedconsciousness and scrambled to his feet. He was now racing as fast ashe could go back toward his people. It looked mighty dark for Dian andme with that ghastly descent between us and even the beginnings ofliberty, and a horde of savage enemies advancing at a rapid run. 

There was but one hope. That was to get Dian started for the bottomwithout delay. I took her in my arms just for an instant--I felt, somehow, that it might be for the last time. For the life of me Icouldn't see how both of us could escape. 

I asked her if she could make the descent alone--if she were notafraid. She smiled up at me bravely and shrugged her shoulders. Sheafraid! So beautiful is she that I am always having difficulty inremembering that she is a primitive, half-savage cave girl of the stoneage, and often find myself mentally limiting her capacities to those ofthe effete and overcivilized beauties of the outer crust. 

"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of the cliff. 

"I shall follow you after I take a shot or two at our friends, " Ireplied. "I just want to give them a taste of this new medicine whichis going to cure Pellucidar of all its ills. That will stop them longenough for me to join you. Now hurry, and tell Juag to be ready toshove off the moment I reach the boat, or the instant that it becomesapparent that I cannot reach it. 

"You, Dian, must return to Sari if anything happens to me, that you maydevote your life to carrying out with Perry the hopes and plans forPellucidar that are so dear to my heart. Promise me, dear. "

She hated to promise to desert me, nor would she; only shaking her headand making no move to descend. The tribesmen were nearing us. Juagwas shouting up to us from below. It was evident that he realized frommy actions that I was attempting to persuade Dian to descend, and thatgrave danger threatened us from above. 

"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!"

I looked at Dian and then down at the abyss below us. The cove appearedno larger than a saucer. How Juag ever had hit it I could not guess. 

"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no time to climbdown. "

CHAPTER XI

ESCAPE

Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribe were hill people--theywere not accustomed to swimming other than in quiet rivers and placidlakelets. It was not the steep that appalled her. It was theocean--vast, mysterious, terrible. 

To dive into it from this great height was beyond her. I couldn'twonder, either. To have attempted it myself seemed too preposterouseven for thought. Only one consideration could have prompted me toleap headforemost from that giddy height--suicide; or at least so Ithought at the moment. 

"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I can hold them until youreach safety. "

"And you?" she asked once more. "Can you dive when they come tooclose? Otherwise you could not escape if you waited here until Ireached the bottom. "

I saw that she would not leave me unless she thought that I could makethat frightful dive as we had seen Juag make it. I glanced oncedownward; then with a mental shrug I assured her that I would dive themo-ment that she reached the boat. Satisfied, she began the descentcarefully, yet swiftly. I watched her for a moment, my heart in mymouth lest some slight mis-step or the slipping of a finger-hold shouldpitch her to a frightful death upon the rocks below. 

Then I turned toward the advancing Hoojans--"Hoosiers, " Perry dubbedthem--even going so far as to christen this island where Hooja heldsway Indiana; it is so marked now upon our maps. They were coming onat a great rate. I raised my revolver, took deliberate aim at theforemost warrior, and pulled the trigger. With the bark of the gun thefellow lunged forward. His head doubled beneath him. He rolled overand over two or three times before he came to a stop, to lie veryquietly in the thick grass among the brilliant wild flowers. 

Those behind him halted. One of them hurled a javelin toward me, butit fell short--they were just beyond javelin-range. There were twoarmed with bows and arrows; these I kept my eyes on. All of themappeared awe-struck and frightened by the sound and effect of thefirearm. They kept looking from the corpse to me and jabbering amongthemselves. 

I took advantage of the lull in hostilities to throw a quick glanceover the edge toward Dian. She was half-way down the cliff andprogressing finely. Then I turned back toward the enemy. One of thebowmen was fitting an arrow to his bow. I raised my hand. 

"Stop!" I cried. "Whoever shoots at me or advances toward me I shallkill as I killed him!"

I pointed at the dead man. The fellow lowered his bow. Again therewas animated discussion. I could see that those who were not armedwith bows were urging something upon the two who were. 

At last the majority appeared to prevail, for simul-taneously the twoarchers raised their weapons. At the same instant I fired at one ofthem, dropping him in his tracks. The other, however, launched hismissile, but the report of my gun had given him such a start that thearrow flew wild above my head. A second after and he, too, wassprawled upon the sward with a round hole between his eyes. It hadbeen a rather good shot. 

I glanced over the edge again. Dian was almost at the bottom. I couldsee Juag standing just beneath her with his hands upstretched to assisther. 

A sullen roar from the warriors recalled my attention toward them. They stood shaking their fists at me and yelling insults. From thedirection of the village I saw a single warrior coming to join them. He was a huge fellow, and when he strode among them I could tell by hisbearing and their deference toward him that he was a chieftain. Helistened to all they had to tell of the happenings of the last fewminutes; then with a command and a roar he started for me with thewhole pack at his heels. All they had needed had arrived--namely, abrave leader. 

I had two unfired cartridges in the chambers of my gun. I let the bigwarrior have one of them, thinking that his death would stop them all. But I guess they were worked up to such a frenzy of rage by this timethat nothing would have stopped them. At any rate, they only yelledthe louder as he fell and increased their speed toward me. I droppedanother with my remaining cartridge. 

Then they were upon me--or almost. I thought of my promise toDian--the awful abyss was behind me--a big devil with a huge bludgeonin front of me. I grasped my six-shooter by the barrel and hurled itsquarely in his face with all my strength. 

Then, without waiting to learn the effect of my throw, I wheeled, ranthe few steps to the edge, and leaped as far out over that frightfulchasm as I could. I know something of diving, and all that I know Iput into that dive, which I was positive would be my last. 

For a couple of hundred feet I fell in horizontal position. Themomentum I gained was terrific. I could feel the air almost as a solidbody, so swiftly I hurtled through it. Then my position graduallychanged to the vertical, and with hands outstretched I slipped throughthe air, cleaving it like a flying arrow. Just before I struck thewater a perfect shower of javelins fell all about. My enemies badrushed to the brink and hurled their weapons after me. By a miracle Iwas untouched. 

In the final instant I saw that I had cleared the rocks and was goingto strike the water fairly. Then I was in and plumbing the depths. Isuppose I didn't really go very far down, but it seemed to me that Ishould never stop. When at last I dared curve my hands upward anddivert my progress toward the sur-face, I thought that I should explodefor air before I ever saw the sun again except through a swirl ofwater. But at last my bead popped above the waves, and I filled mylungs with air. 

Before me was the boat, from which Juag and Dian were clambering. Icouldn't understand why they were deserting it now, when we were aboutto set out for the mainland in it; but when I reached its side Iunder-stood. Two heavy javelins, missing Dian and Juag by but a hair'sbreadth, had sunk deep into the bottom of the dugout in a straight linewith the grain of the wood, and split her almost in two from stem tostern. She was useless. 

Juag was leaning over a near-by rock, his hand out-stretched to aid mein clambering to his side; nor did I lose any time in availing myselfof his proffered assistance. An occasional javelin was still droppingperilously close to us, so we hastened to draw as close as possible tothe cliffside, where we were comparatively safe from the missiles. 

Here we held a brief conference, in which it was decided that our onlyhope now lay in making for the opposite end of the island as quickly aswe could, and utilizing the boat that I had hidden there, to continueour journey to the mainland. 

Gathering up three of the least damaged javelins that had fallen aboutus, we set out upon our journey, keeping well toward the south side ofthe island, which Juag said was less frequented by the Hoojans than thecentral portion where the river ran. I think that this ruse must havethrown our pursuers off our track, since we saw nothing of them norheard any sound of pursuit during the greater portion of our march thelength of the island. 

But the way Juag had chosen was rough and round-about, so that weconsumed one or two more marches in covering the distance than if wehad followed the river. This it was which proved our undoing. 

Those who sought us must have sent a party up the river immediatelyafter we escaped; for when we came at last onto the river-trail not farfrom our destination, there can be no doubt but that we were seen byHoojans who were just ahead of us on the stream. The result was thatas we were passing through a clump of bush a score of warriors leapedout upon us, and before we could scarce strike a blow in defense, haddisarmed and bound us. 

For a time thereafter I seemed to be entirely bereft of hope. I couldsee no ray of promise in the future--only immediate death for Juag andme, which didn't concern me much in the face of what lay in store forDian. 

Poor child! What an awful life she had led! From the moment that I hadfirst seen her chained in the slave caravan of the Mahars until now, aprisoner of a no less cruel creature, I could recall but a few briefintervals of peace and quiet in her tempestuous existence. Before Ihad known her, Jubal the Ugly One had pursued her across a savage worldto make her his mate. She had eluded him, and finally I had slain him;but terror and privations, and exposure to fierce beasts had hauntedher footsteps during all her lonely flight from him. And when I hadreturned to the outer world the old trials had recommenced with Hoojain Jubal's role. I could almost have wished for death to vouchsafe herthat peace which fate seemed to deny her in this life. 

I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that we expire together. 

"Do not fear, David, " she replied. "I shall end my life before everHooja can harm me; but first I shall see that Hooja dies. "

She drew from her breast a little leathern thong, to the end of whichwas fastened a tiny pouch. 

"What have you there?" I asked. 

"Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thing you call viper inyour world?" she asked. 

I nodded. 

"The accident gave you the idea for the poisoned arrows with which wefitted the warriors of the empire, " she continued. "And, too, it gaveme an idea. For a long time I have carried a viper's fang in my bosom. It has given me strength to endure many dangers, for it has alwaysassured me immunity from the ultimate insult. I am not ready to dieyet. First let Hooja embrace the viper's fang. "

So we did not die together, and I am glad now that we did not. It isalways a foolish thing to contemplate suicide; for no matter how darkthe future may appear today, tomorrow may hold for us that which willalter our whole life in an instant, revealing to us nothing butsunshine and happiness. So, for my part, I shall always wait fortomorrow. 

In Pellucidar, where it is always today, the wait may not be so long, and so it proved for us. As we were passing a lofty, flat-topped hillthrough a park-like wood a perfect network of fiber ropes fell suddenlyabout our guard, enmeshing them. A moment later a horde of ourfriends, the hairy gorilla-men, with the mild eyes and long faces ofsheep leaped among them. 

It was a very interesting fight. I was sorry that my bonds preventedme from taking part in it, but I urged on the brutemen with my voice, and cheered old Gr-gr-gr, their chief, each time that his mighty jawscrunched out the life of a Hoojan. When the battle was over we foundthat a few of our captors had escaped, but the majority of them laydead about us. The gorilla-men paid no further attention to them. Gr-gr-gr turned to me. 

"Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your friends, " he said. "One saw thewarriors of the Sly One and followed them. He saw them capture you, and then he flew to the village as fast as he could go and told me allthat he had seen. The rest you know. You did much for Gr-gr-gr andGr-gr-gr's people. We shall always do much for you. "

I thanked him; and when I had told him of our escape and ourdestination, he insisted on accompanying us to the sea with a greatnumber of his fierce males. Nor were we at all loath to accept hisescort. We found the canoe where I had hidden it, and bidding Gr-gr-grand his warriors farewell, the three of us embarked for the mainland. 

I questioned Juag upon the feasibility of attempting to cross to themouth of the great river of which he had told me, and up which he saidwe might paddle almost to Sari; but he urged me not to attempt it, since we had but a single paddle and no water or food. I had to admitthe wisdom of his advice, but the desire to explore this great waterwaywas strong upon me, arousing in me at last a determination to make theattempt after first gaining the mainland and rectify-ing ourdeficiencies. 

We landed several miles north of Thuria in a little cove that seemed tooffer protection from the heavier seas which sometimes run, even uponthese usually pacific oceans of Pellucidar. Here I outlined to Dianand Juag the plans I had in mind. They were to fit the canoe with asmall sail, the purposes of which I had to explain to them both--sinceneither had ever seen or heard of such a contrivance before. Then theywere to hunt for food which we could transport with us, and prepare areceptacle for water. 

These two latter items were more in Juag's line, but he kept mutteringabout the sail and the wind for a long time. I could see that he wasnot even half convinced that any such ridiculous contraption could makea canoe move through the water. 

We hunted near the coast for a while, but were pot rewarded with anyparticular luck. Finally we decided to hide the canoe and strikeinland in search of game. At Juag's suggestion we dug a hole in thesand at the upper edge of the beach and buried the craft, smoothing thesurface over nicely and throwing aside the excess material we hadexcavated. Then we set out away from the sea. Traveling in Thuria isless arduous than under the midday sun which perpetually glares down onthe rest of Pellucidar's surface; but it has its draw-backs, one ofwhich is the depressing influence exerted by the everlasting shade ofthe Land of Awful Shadow. 

The farther inland we went the darker it became, until we were movingat last through an endless twi-light. The vegetation here was sparseand of a weird, colorless nature, though what did grow was wondrous inshape and form. Often we saw huge lidi, or beasts of burden, stridingacross the dim landscape, browsing upon the grotesque vegetation ordrinking from the slow and sullen rivers that run down from the LidiPlains to empty into the sea in Thuria. 

What we sought was either a thag--a sort of gigantic elk--or one of thelarger species of antelope, the flesh of either of which dries nicelyin the sun. The bladder of the thag would make a fine water-bottle, and its skin, I figured, would be a good sail. We traveled aconsiderable distance inland, entirely crossing the Land of AwfulShadow and emerging at last upon that portion of the Lidi Plains whichlies in the pleasant sunlight. Above us the pendent world revolvedupon its axis, filling me especially--and Dian to an almost equalstate--with wonder and insatiable curiosity as to what strange forms oflife existed among the hills and valleys and along the seas and rivers, which we could plainly see. 

Before us stretched the horizonless expanses of vast Pellucidar, theLidi Plains rolling up about us, while hanging high in the heavens tothe northwest of us I thought I discerned the many towers which markedthe entrances to the distant Mahar city, whose inhabitants preyed uponthe Thurians. 

Juag suggested that we travel to the northeast, where, he said, uponthe verge of the plain we would find a wooded country in which gameshould be plentiful. Acting upon his advice, we came at last to aforest-jungle, through which wound innumerable game-paths. In thedepths of this forbidding wood we came upon the fresh spoor of thag. 

Shortly after, by careful stalking, we came within javelin-range of asmall herd. Selecting a great bull, Juag and I hurled our weaponssimultaneously, Dian reserving hers for an emergency. The beaststaggered to his feet, bellowing. The rest of the herd was up and awayin an instant, only the wounded bull remaining, with lowered head androving eyes searching for the foe. 

Then Juag exposed himself to the view of the bull--it is a part of thetactics of the hunt--while I stepped to one side behind a bush. Themoment that the savage beast saw Juag he charged him. Juag ranstraight away, that the bull might be lured past my hiding-place. Onhe came--tons of mighty bestial strength and rage. 

Dian had slipped behind me. She, too, could fight a thag shouldemergency require. Ah, such a girl! A rightful empress of a stone ageby every standard which two worlds might bring to measure her!

Crashing down toward us came the bull thag, bellowing and snorting, with the power of a hundred outer-earthly bulls. When he was oppositeme I sprang for the heavy mane that covered his huge neck. To tanglemy fingers in it was the work of but an instant. Then I was runningalong at the beast's shoulder. 

Now, the theory upon which this hunting custom is based is one long agodiscovered by experience, and that is that a thag cannot be turned fromhis charge once he has started toward the object of his wrath, so longas he can still see the thing he charges. He evidently believes thatthe man clinging to his mane is attempting to restrain him fromovertaking his prey, and so he pays no attention to this enemy, who, ofcourse, does not retard the mighty charge in the least. 

Once in the gait of the plunging bull, it was but a slight matter tovault to his back, as cavalrymen mount their chargers upon the run. Juag was still running in plain sight ahead of the bull. His speed wasbut a trifle less than that of the monster that pursued him. ThesePellucidarians are almost as fleet as deer; because I am not is onereason that I am always chosen for the close-in work of the thag-hunt. I could not keep in front of a charging thag long enough to give thekiller time to do his work. I learned that the first--and last--time Itried it. 

Once astride the bull's neck, I drew my long stone knife and, settingthe point carefully over the brute's spine, drove it home with bothhands. At the same instant I leaped clear of the stumbling animal. Now, no vertebrate can progress far with a knife through his spine, andthe thag is no exception to the rule. 

The fellow was down instantly. As he wallowed Juag returned, and thetwo of us leaped in when an opening afforded the opportunity andsnatched our javelins from his side. Then we danced about him, morelike two savages than anything else, until we got the opening we werelooking for, when simultaneously, our javelins pierced his wild heart, stilling it forever. 

The thag had covered considerable ground from the point at which I hadleaped upon him. When, after despatching him, I looked back for Dian, I could see nothing of her. I called aloud, but receiving no reply, set out at a brisk trot to where I had left her. I had no difficultyin finding the self-same bush behind which we had hidden, but Dian wasnot there. Again and again I called, to be rewarded only by silence. Where could she be? What could have become of her in the brief intervalsince I had seen her standing just behind me?

CHAPTER XII

KIDNAPED!

I searched about the spot carefully. At last I was rewarded by thediscovery of her javelin, a few yards from the bush that had concealedus from the charging thag--her javelin and the indications of astruggle revealed by the trampled vegetation and the overlappingfootprints of a woman and a man. Filled with consternation and dismay, I followed these latter to where they suddenly disappeared a hundredyards from where the struggle had occurred. There I saw the hugeimprints of a lidi's feet. 

The story of the tragedy was all too plain. A Thurian had either beenfollowing us, or had accidentally espied Dian and taken a fancy to her. While Juag and I had been engaged with the thag, he had abducted her. I ran swiftly back to where Juag was working over the kill. As Iapproached him I saw that some-thing was wrong in this quarter as well, for the islander was standing upon the carcass of the thag, his javelinpoised for a throw. 

When I had come nearer I saw the cause of his belligerent attitude. Just beyond him stood two large jaloks, or wolf-dogs, regarding himintently--a male and a female. Their behavior was rather peculiar, forthey did not seem preparing to charge him. Rather, they werecontemplating him in an attitude of question-ing. 

Juag heard me coming and turned toward me with a grin. These fellowslove excitement. I could see by his expression that he was enjoying inanticipation the battle that seemed imminent. But he never hurled hisjavelin. A shout of warning from me stopped him, for I had seen theremnants of a rope dangling from the neck of the male jalok. 

Juag again turned toward me, but this time in surprise. I was abreasthim in a moment and, passing him, walked straight toward the twobeasts. As I did so the female crouched with bared fangs. The male, however, leaped forward to meet me, not in deadly charge, but withevery expression of delight and joy which the poor animal could exhibit. 

It was Raja--the jalok whose life I had saved, and whom I then hadtamed! There was no doubt that he was glad to see me. I now think thathis seeming desertion of me had been but due to a desire to search outhis ferocious mate and bring her, too, to live with me. 

When Juag saw me fondling the great beast he was filled withconsternation, but I did not have much time to spare to Raja while mymind was filled with the grief of my new loss. I was glad to see thebrute, and I lost no time in taking him to Juag and making himunderstand that Juag, too, was to be Raja's friend. With the femalethe matter was more difficult, but Raja helped us out by growlingsavagely at her whenever she bared her fangs against us. 

I told Juag of the disappearance of Dian, and of my suspicions as tothe explanation of the catastrophe. He wanted to start right out afterher, but I suggested that with Raja to help me it might be as well werehe to remain and skin the thag, remove its bladder, and then return towhere we had hidden the canoe on the beach. And so it was arrangedthat he was to do this and await me there for a reasonable time. Ipointed to a great lake upon the surface of the pendent world above us, telling him that if after this lake had appeared four times I had notreturned to go either by water or land to Sari and fetch Ghak with anarmy. Then, calling Raja after me, I set out after Dian and herabductor. First I took the wolf dog to the spot where the man hadfought with Dian. A few paces behind us followed Raja's fierce mate. I pointed to the ground where the evidences of the struggle wereplainest and where the scent must have been strong to Raja's nostrils. 

Then I grasped the remnant of leash that hung about his neck and urgedhim forward upon the trail. He seemed to understand. With nose toground he set out upon his task. Dragging me after him, he trottedstraight out upon the Lidi Plains, turning his steps in the directionof the Thurian village. I could have guessed as much!

Behind us trailed the female. After a while she closed upon us, untilshe ran quite close to me and at Raja's side. It was not long beforeshe seemed as easy in my company as did her lord and master. 

We must have covered considerable distance at a very rapid pace, for wehad reentered the great shadow, when we saw a huge lidi ahead of us, moving leisurely across the level plain. Upon its back were two humanfigures. If I could have known that the jaloks would not harm Dian Imight have turned them loose upon the lidi and its master; but I couldnot know, and so dared take no chances. 

However, the matter was taken out of my hands presently when Rajaraised his head and caught sight of his quarry. With a lunge thathurled me flat and jerked the leash from my hand, he was gone with thespeed of the wind after the giant lidi and its riders. At his sideraced his shaggy mate, only a trifle smaller than he and no whit lesssavage. 

They did not give tongue until the lidi itself discovered them andbroke into a lumbering, awkward, but none the less rapid gallop. Thenthe two hound-beasts commenced to bay, starting with a low, plaintivenote that rose, weird and hideous, to terminate in a series of short, sharp yelps. I feared that it might be the hunting-call of the pack;and if this were true, there would be slight chance for either Dian orher abductor--or myself, either, as far as that was concerned. So Iredoubled my efforts to keep pace with the hunt; but I might as wellhave attempted to distance the bird upon the wing; as I have oftenreminded you, I am no runner. In that instance it was just as wellthat I am not, for my very slowness of foot played into my hands; whilehad I been fleeter, I might have lost Dian that time forever. 

The lidi, with the hounds running close on either side, had almostdisappeared in the darkness that enveloped the surrounding landscape, when I noted that it was bearing toward the right. This was accountedfor by the fact that Raja ran upon his left side, and unlike his mate, kept leaping for the great beast's shoul-der. The man on the lidi'sback was prodding at the hyaenodon with his long spear, but still Rajakept springing up and snapping. 

The effect of this was to turn the lidi toward the right, and thelonger I watched the procedure the more convinced I became that Rajaand his mate were working together with some end in view, for theshe-dog merely galloped steadily at the lidi's right about op-positehis rump. 

I had seen jaloks hunting in packs, and I recalled now what for thetime I had not thought of--the several that ran ahead and turned thequarry back toward the main body. This was precisely what Raja and hismate were doing--they were turning the lidi back toward me, or at leastRaja was. Just why the female was keeping out of it I did notunderstand, unless it was that she was not entirely clear in her ownmind as to precisely what her mate was attempt-ing. 

At any rate, I was sufficiently convinced to stop where I was and awaitdevelopments, for I could readily realize two things. One was that Icould never overhaul them before the damage was done if they shouldpull the lidi down now. The other thing was that if they did not pullit down for a few minutes it would have completed its circle andreturned close to where I stood. 

And this is just what happened. The lot of them were almost, swallowedup in the twilight for a moment. Then they reappeared again, but thistime far to the right and circling back in my general direction. Iwaited until I could get some clear idea of the right spot to gain thatI might intercept the lidi; but even as I waited I saw the beastattempt to turn still more to the right--a move that would have carriedhim far to my left in a much more circumscribed circle than thehyaenodons had mapped out for him. Then I saw the female leap forwardand head him; and when he would have gone too far to the left, Rajasprang, snapping at his shoulder and held him straight. 

Straight for me the two savage beasts were driving their quarry! Itwas wonderful. 

It was something else, too, as I realized while the monstrous beastneared me. It was like standing in the middle of the tracks in frontof an approaching express-train. But I didn't dare waver; too muchdepended upon my meeting that hurtling mass of terrified flesh with awell-placed javelin. So I stood there, wait-ing to be run down andcrushed by those gigantic feet, but determined to drive home my weaponin the broad breast before I fell. 

The lidi was only about a hundred yards from me when Raja gave a fewbarks in a tone that differed materially from his hunting-cry. Instantly both he and his mate leaped for the long neck of the ruminant. 

Neither missed. Swinging in mid-air, they hung tenaciously, theirweight dragging down the creature's head and so retarding its speedthat before it had reached me it was almost stopped and devoting allits energies to attempting to scrape off its attackers with itsforefeet. 

Dian had seen and recognized me, and was trying to extricate herselffrom the grasp of her captor, who, handicapped by his strong and agileprisoner, was un-able to wield his lance effectively upon the twojaloks. At the same time I was running swiftly toward them. 

When the man discovered me he released his hold upon Dian and sprang tothe ground, ready with his lance to meet me. My javelin was no matchfor his longer weapon, which was used more for stabbing than as amissile. Should I miss him at my first cast, as was quite probable, since he was prepared for me, I would have to face his formidable lancewith nothing more than a stone knife. The outlook was scarcelyentrancing. Evidently I was soon to be absolutely at his mercy. 

Seeing my predicament, he ran toward me to get rid of one antagonistbefore he had to deal with the other two. He could not guess, ofcourse, that the two jaloks were hunting with me; but he doubtlessthought that after they had finished the lidi they would make after thehuman prey--the beasts are notorious killers, often slaying wantonly. 

But as the Thurian came Raja loosened his hold upon the lidi and dashedfor him, with the female close after. When the man saw them he yelledto me to help him, protesting that we should both be killed if we didnot fight together. But I only laughed at him and ran toward Dian. 

Both the fierce beasts were upon the Thurian simul-taneously--he musthave died almost before his body tumbled to the ground. Then thefemale wheeled to-ward Dian. I was standing by her side as the thingcharged her, my javelin ready to receive her. 

But again Raja was too quick for me. I imagined he thought she wasmaking for me, for he couldn't have known anything of my relationstoward Dian. At any rate he leaped full upon her back and dragged herdown. There ensued forthwith as terrible a battle as one would wish tosee if battles were gaged by volume of noise and riotousness of action. I thought that both the beasts would be torn to shreds. 

When finally the female ceased to struggle and rolled over on her back, her forepaws limply folded, I was sure that she was dead. Raja stoodover her, growling, his jaws close to her throat. Then I saw thatneither of them bore a scratch. The male had simply administered asevere drubbing to his mate. It was his way of teaching her that I wassacred. 

After a moment he moved away and let her rise, when she set aboutsmoothing down her rumpled coat, while he came stalking toward Dian andme. I had an arm about Dian now. As Raja came close I caught him bythe neck and pulled him up to me. There I stroked him and talked tohim, bidding Dian do the same, until I think he pretty well understoodthat if I was his friend, so was Dian. 

For a long time he was inclined to be shy of her, often baring histeeth at her approach, and it was a much longer time before the femalemade friends with us. But by careful kindness, by never eating withoutsharing our meat with them, and by feeding them from our hands, wefinally won the confidence of both animals. However, that was a longtime after. 

With the two beasts trotting after us, we returned to where we had leftJuag. Here I had the dickens' own time keeping the female from Juag'sthroat. Of all the venomous, wicked, cruel-hearted beasts on twoworlds, I think a female hyaenodon takes the palm. 

But eventually she tolerated Juag as she had Dian and me, and the fiveof us set out toward the coast, for Juag had just completed his laborson the thag when we arrived. We ate some of the meat before starting, and gave the hounds some. All that we could we carried upon our backs. 

On the way to the canoe we met with no mishaps. Dian told me that thefellow who had stolen her had come upon her from behind while theroaring of the thag had drowned all other noises, and that the firstshe had known he had disarmed her and thrown her to the back of hislidi, which had been lying down close by waiting for him. By the timethe thag had ceased bellowing the fellow had got well away upon hisswift mount. By holding one palm over her mouth he had prevented hercalling for help. 

"I thought, " she concluded, "that I should have to use the viper'stooth, after all. "

We reached the beach at last and unearthed the canoe. Then we busiedourselves stepping a mast and rigging a small sail--Juag and I, thatis--while Dian cut the thag meat into long strips for drying when weshould be out in the sunlight once more. 

At last all was done. We were ready to embark. I had no difficulty ingetting Raja aboard the dugout; but Ranee--as we christened her after Ihad explained to Dian the meaning of Raja and its feminineequivalent--positively refused for a time to follow her mate aboard. In fact, we had to shove off without her. After a moment, however, sheplunged into the water and swam after us. 

I let her come alongside, and then Juag and I pulled her in, shesnapping and snarling at us as we did so; but, strange to relate, shedidn't offer to attack us after we had ensconced her safely in thebottom alongside Raja. 

The canoe behaved much better under sail than I had hoped--infinitelybetter than the battle-ship Sari had--and we made good progress almostdue west across the gulf, upon the opposite side of which I hoped tofind the mouth of the river of which Juag had told me. 

The islander was much interested and impressed by the sail and itsresults. He had not been able to under-stand exactly what I hoped toaccomplish with it while we were fitting up the boat; but when he sawthe clumsy dugout move steadily through the water with-out paddles, hewas as delighted as a child. We made splendid headway on the trip, coming into sight of land at last. 

Juag had been terror-stricken when he had learned that I intendedcrossing the ocean, and when we passed out of sight of land he was in ablue funk. He said that he had never heard of such a thing before inhis life, and that always he had understood that those who ventured farfrom land never returned; for how could they find their way when theycould see no land to steer for?

I tried to explain the compass to him; and though he never reallygrasped the scientific explanation of it, yet he did learn to steer byit quite as well as I. We passed several islands on thejourney--islands which Juag told me were entirely unknown to his ownisland folk. Indeed, our eyes may have been the first ever to restupon them. I should have liked to stop off and explore them, but thebusiness of empire would brook no unnecessary delays. 

I asked Juag how Hooja expected to reach the mouth of the river whichwe were in search of if he didn't cross the gulf, and the islanderexplained that Hooja would undoubtedly follow the coast around. Forsome time we sailed up the coast searching for the river, and at lastwe found it. So great was it that I thought it must be a mighty gulfuntil the mass of driftwood that came out upon the first ebb tideconvinced me that it was the mouth of a river. There were the trunksof trees uprooted by the undermining of the river banks, giantcreepers, flowers, grasses, and now and then the body of some landanimal or bird. 

I was all excitement to commence our upward jour-ney when thereoccurred that which I had never before seen within Pellucidar--a reallyterrific wind-storm. It blew down the river upon us with a ferocityand suddenness that took our breaths away, and before we could get achance to make the shore it became too late. The best that we could dowas to hold the scud-ding craft before the wind and race along in asmother of white spume. Juag was terrified. If Dian was, she hid it;for was she not the daughter of a once great chief, the sister of aking, and the mate of an emperor?

Raja and Ranee were frightened. The former crawled close to my sideand buried his nose against me. Finally even fierce Ranee was moved toseek sympathy from a human being. She slunk to Dian, pressing closeagainst her and whimpering, while Dian stroked her shaggy neck andtalked to her as I talked to Raja. 

There was nothing for us to do but try to keep the canoe right side upand straight before the wind. For what seemed an eternity the tempestneither increased nor abated. I judged that we must have blown ahun-dred miles before the wind and straight out into an unknown sea!

As suddenly as the wind rose it died again, and when it died it veeredto blow at right angles to its former course in a gentle breeze. Iasked Juag then what our course was, for he had had the compass last. It had been on a leather thong about his neck. When he felt for it, the expression that came into his eyes told me as plainly as words whathad happened--the compass was lost! The compass was lost!

And we were out of sight of land without a single celestial body toguide us! Even the pendent world was not visible from our position!

Our plight seemed hopeless to me, but I dared not let Dian and Juagguess how utterly dismayed I was; though, as I soon discovered, therewas nothing to be gained by trying to keep the worst from Juag--he knewit quite as well as I. He had always known, from the legends of hispeople, the dangers of the open sea beyond the sight of land. Thecompass, since he had learned its uses from me, had been all that hehad to buoy his hope of eventual salvation from the watery deep. Hehad seen how it had guided me across the water to the very coast that Idesired to reach, and so he had implicit confidence in it. Now that itwas gone, his confidence had departed, also. 

There seemed but one thing to do; that was to keep on sailing straightbefore the wind--since we could travel most rapidly along thatcourse--until we sighted land of some description. If it chanced to bethe mainland, well and good; if an island--well, we might live upon anisland. We certainly could not live long in this little boat, withonly a few strips of dried thag and a few quarts of water left. 

Quite suddenly a thought occurred to me. I was surprised that it hadnot come before as a solution to our problem. I turned toward Juag. 

"You Pellucidarians are endowed with a wonderful instinct, " I remindedhim, "an instinct that points the way straight to your homes, no matterin what strange land you may find yourself. Now all we have to do islet Dian guide us toward Amoz, and we shall come in a short time to thesame coast whence we just were blown. "

As I spoke I looked at them with a smile of renewed hope; but there wasno answering smile in their eyes. It was Dian who enlightened me. 

"We could do all this upon land, " she said. "But upon the water thatpower is denied us. I do not know why; but I have always heard thatthis is true--that only upon the water may a Pellucidarian be lost. This is, I think, why we all fear the great ocean so--even those who goupon its surface in canoes. Juag has told us that they never go beyondthe sight of land. "

We had lowered the sail after the blow while we were discussing thebest course to pursue. Our little craft had been drifting idly, risingand falling with the great waves that were now diminishing. Sometimeswe were upon the crest--again in the hollow. As Dian ceased speakingshe let her eyes range across the limitless expanse of billowingwaters. We rose to a great height upon the crest of a mighty wave. Aswe topped it Dian gave an exclamation and pointed astern. 

"Boats!" she cried. "Boats! Many, many boats!"

Juag and I leaped to our feet; but our little craft had now dropped tothe trough, and we could see nothing but walls of water close uponeither hand. We waited for the next wave to lift us, and when it didwe strained our eyes in the direction that Dian had indicated. Sureenough, scarce half a mile away were several boats, and scattered farand wide behind us as far as we could see were many others! We couldnot make them out in the distance or in the brief glimpse that wecaught of them before we were plunged again into the next wave canon;but they were boats. 

And in them must be human beings like ourselves. 

CHAPTER XIII

RACING FOR LIFE

At last the sea subsided, and we were able to get a better view of thearmada of small boats in our wake. There must have been two hundred ofthem. Juag said that he had never seen so many boats before in all hislife. Where had they come from? Juag was first to hazard a guess. 

"Hooja, " he said, "was building many boats to carry his warriors to thegreat river and up it toward Sari. He was building them with almostall his warriors and many slaves upon the Island of Trees. No one elsein all the history of Pellucidar has ever built so many boats as theytold me Hooja was building. These must be Hooja's boats. "

"And they were blown out to sea by the great storm just as we were, "suggested Dian. 

"There can be no better explanation of them, " I agreed. 

"What shall we do?" asked Juag. 

"Suppose we make sure that they are really Hooja's people, " suggestedDian. "It may be that they are not, and that if we run away from thembefore we learn definitely who they are, we shall be running away froma chance to live and find the mainland. They may be a people of whomwe have never even heard, and if so we can ask them to help us--if theyknow the way to the mainland. "

"Which they will not, ' interposed Juag. 

"Well, " I said, "it can't make our predicament any more trying to waituntil we find out who they are. They are heading for us now. Evidently they have spied our sail, and guess that we do not belong totheir fleet. "

"They probably want to ask the way to the mainland themselves, " saidJuag, who was nothing if not a pessimist. 

"If they want to catch us, they can do it if they can paddle fasterthan we can sail, " I said. "If we let them come close enough todiscover their identity, and can then sail faster than they can paddle, we can get away from them anyway, so we might as well wait. "

And wait we did. 

The sea calmed rapidly, so that by the time the foremost canoe had comewithin five hundred yards of us we could see them all plainly. Everyone was headed for us. The dugouts, which were of unusual length, weremanned by twenty paddlers, ten to a side. Besides the paddlers therewere twenty-five or more warriors in each boat. 

When the leader was a hundred yards from us Dian called our attentionto the fact that several of her crew were Sagoths. That convinced usthat the flotilla was indeed Hooja's. I told Juag to hail them and getwhat information he could, while I remained in the bottom of our canoeas much out of sight as possible. Dian lay down at full length in thebottom; I did not want them to see and recognize her if they were intruth Hooja's people. 

"Who are you?" shouted Juag, standing up in the boat and making amegaphone of his palms. 

A figure arose in the bow of the leading canoe--a figure that I wassure I recognized even before he spoke. 

"I am Hooja!" cried the man, in answer to Juag. 

For some reason he did not recognize his former prisoner andslave--possibly because he had so many of them. 

"I come from the Island of Trees, " he continued. "A hundred of myboats were lost in the great storm and all their crews drowned. Whereis the land? What are you, and what strange thing is that whichflutters from the little tree in the front of your canoe?"

He referred to our sail, flapping idly in the wind. 

"We, too, are lost, " replied Juag. "We know not where the land is. Weare going back to look for it now. "

So saying he commenced to scull the canoe's nose before the wind, whileI made fast the primitive sheets that held our crude sail. We thoughtit time to be going. 

There wasn't much wind at the time, and the heavy, lumbering dugout wasslow in getting under way. I thought it never would gain any momentum. And all the while Hooja's canoe was drawing rapidly nearer, propelledby the strong arms of his twenty paddlers. Of course, their dugout wasmuch larger than ours, and, consequently, infinitely heavier and morecumbersome; nevertheless, it was coming along at quite a clip, and ourswas yet but barely moving. Dian and I remained out of sight as much aspossible, for the two craft were now well within bow-shot of oneanother, and I knew that Hooja had archers. 

Hooja called to Juag to stop when he saw that our craft was moving. Hewas much interested in the sail, and not a little awed, as I could tellby his shouted remarks and questions. Raising my head, I saw himplainly. He would have made an excellent target for one of my guns, and I had never been sorrier that I had lost them. 

We were now picking up speed a trifle, and he was not gaining upon usso fast as at first. In consequence, his requests that we stopsuddenly changed to commands as he became aware that we were trying toescape him. 

"Come back!" he shouted. "Come back, or I'll fire!"

I use the word fire because it more nearly translates into English thePellucidarian word trag, which covers the launching of any deadlymissile. 

But Juag only seized his paddle more tightly--the paddle that answeredthe purpose of rudder, and commenced to assist the wind by vigorousstrokes. Then Hooja gave the command to some of his archers to fireupon us. I couldn't lie hidden in the bottom of the boat, leaving Juagalone exposed to the deadly shafts, so I arose and, seizing anotherpaddle, set to work to help him. Dian joined me, though I did my bestto persuade her to remain sheltered; but being a woman, she must haveher own way. 

The instant that Hooja saw us he recognized us. The whoop of triumphhe raised indicated how certain he was that we were about to fall intohis hands. A shower of arrows fell about us. Then Hooja caused hismen to cease firing--he wanted us alive. None of the missiles struckus, for Hooja's archers were not nearly the marksmen that are mySarians and Amozites. 

We had now gained sufficient headway to hold our own on about eventerms with Hooja's paddlers. We did not seem to be gaining, though;and neither did they. How long this nerve-racking experience lasted Icannot guess, though we had pretty nearly finished our meager supply ofprovisions when the wind picked up a bit and we commenced to draw away. 

Not once yet had we sighted land, nor could I understand it, since somany of the seas I had seen before were thickly dotted with islands. Our plight was anything but pleasant, yet I think that Hooja and hisforces were even worse off than we, for they had no food nor water atall. 

Far out behind us in a long line that curved upward in the distance, tobe lost in the haze, strung Hooja's two hundred boats. But one wouldhave been enough to have taken us could it have come alongside. We haddrawn some fifty yards ahead of Hooja--there had been times when wewere scarce ten yards in advance-and were feeling considerably saferfrom capture. Hooja's men, working in relays, were commencing to showthe effects of the strain under which they had been forced to workwithout food or water, and I think their weakening aided us almost asmuch as the slight freshening of the wind. 

Hooja must have commenced to realize that he was going to lose us, forhe again gave orders that we be fired upon. Volley after volley ofarrows struck about us. The distance was so great by this time thatmost of the arrows fell short, while those that reached us weresufficiently spent to allow us to ward them off with our paddles. However, it was a most exciting ordeal. 

Hooja stood in the bow of his boat, alternately urging his men togreater speed and shouting epithets at me. But we continued to drawaway from him. At last the wind rose to a fair gale, and we simplyraced away from our pursuers as if they were standing still. Juag wasso tickled that he forgot all about his hunger and thirst. I thinkthat he had never been entirely reconciled to the heathenish inventionwhich I called a sail, and that down in the bottom of his heart hebelieved that the paddlers would eventually overhaul us; but now hecouldn't praise it enough. 

We had a strong gale for a considerable time, and eventually droppedHooja's fleet so far astern that we could no longer discern them. Andthen--ah, I shall never forget that moment--Dian sprang to her feetwith a cry of "Land!"

Sure enough, dead ahead, a long, low coast stretched across our bow. It was still a long way off, and we couldn't make out whether it wasisland or mainland; but at least it was land. If ever shipwreckedmariners were grateful, we were then. Raja and Ranee were commencingto suffer for lack of food, and I could swear that the latter oftencast hungry glances upon us, though I am equally sure that no suchhideous thoughts ever entered the head of her mate. We watched themboth most closely, however. Once while stroking Ranee I managed to geta rope around her neck and make her fast to the side of the boat. ThenI felt a bit safer for Dian. It was pretty close quarters in thatlittle dugout for three human beings and two practically wild, man-eating dogs; but we had to make the best of it, since I would notlisten to Juag's suggestion that we kill and eat Raja and Ranee. 

We made good time to within a few miles of the shore. Then the winddied suddenly out. We were all of us keyed up to such a pitch ofanticipation that the blow was doubly hard to bear. And it was a blow, too, since we could not tell in what quarter the wind might rise again;but Juag and I set to work to paddle the remaining distance. 

Almost immediately the wind rose again from precisely the oppositedirection from which it had formerly blown, so that it was mighty hardwork making progress against it. Next it veered again so that we hadto turn and run with it parallel to the coast to keep from beingswamped in the trough of the seas. 

And while we were suffering all these disappointments Hooja's fleetappeared in the distance!

They evidently had gone far to the left of our course, for they werenow almost behind us as we ran parallel to the coast; but we were notmuch afraid of being overtaken in the wind that was blowing. The galekept on increasing, but it was fitful, swooping down upon us in greatgusts and then going almost calm for an instant. It was after one ofthese momentary calms that the catastrophe occurred. Our sail hunglimp and our momentum decreased when of a sudden a particularly vicioussquall caught us. Before I could cut the sheets the mast had snappedat the thwart in which it was stepped. 

The worst had happened; Juag and I seized paddles and kept the canoewith the wind; but that squall was the parting shot of the gale, whichdied out immediately after, leaving us free to make for the shore, which we lost no time in attempting. But Hooja had drawn closer intoward shore than we, so it looked as if he might head us off before wecould land. However, we did our best to distance him, Dian taking apaddle with us. 

We were in a fair way to succeed when there appeared, pouring fromamong the trees beyond the beach, a horde of yelling, painted savages, brandishing all sorts of devilish-looking primitive weapons. Somenacing was their attitude that we realized at once the folly ofattempting to land among them. 

Hooja was drawing closer to us. There was no wind. We could not hopeto outpaddle him. And with our sail gone, no wind would help us, though, as if in derision at our plight, a steady breeze was nowblowing. But we had no intention of sitting idle while our fateovertook us, so we bent to our paddles and, keeping parallel with thecoast, did our best to pull away from our pursuers. 

It was a grueling experience. We were weakened by lack of food. Wewere suffering the pangs of thirst. Capture and death were close athand. Yet I think that we gave a good account of ourselves in ourfinal effort to escape. Our boat was so much smaller and lighter thanany of Hooja's that the three of us forced it ahead almost as rapidlyas his larger craft could go under their twenty paddles. 

As we raced along the coast for one of those seemingly interminableperiods that may draw hours into eternities where the labor issoul-searing and there is no way to measure time, I saw what I took forthe opening to a bay or the mouth of a great river a short distanceahead of us. I wished that we might make for it; but with the menaceof Hooja close behind and the screaming natives who raced along theshore parallel to us, I dared not attempt it. 

We were not far from shore in that mad flight from death. Even as Ipaddled I found opportunity to glance occasionally toward the natives. They were white, but hideously painted. From their gestures andweapons I took them to be a most ferocious race. I was rather gladthat we had not succeeded in landing among them. 

Hooja's fleet had been in much more compact formation when we sightedthem this time than on the occasion following the tempest. Now theywere moving rapidly in pursuit of us, all well within the radius of amile. Five of them were leading, all abreast, and were scarce twohundred yards from us. When I glanced over my shoulder I could seethat the archers had already fitted arrows to their bows in readinessto fire upon us the moment that they should draw within range. 

Hope was low in my breast. I could not see the slightest chance ofescaping them, for they were over-hauling us rapidly now, since theywere able to work their paddles in relays, while we three were rapidlywearying beneath the constant strain that had been put upon us. 

It was then that Juag called my attention to the rift in the shore-linewhich I had thought either a bay or the mouth of a great river. ThereI saw moving slowly out into the sea that which filled my soul withwonder. 

CHAPTER XIV

GORE AND DREAMS

It was a two-masted felucca with lateen sails! The craft was long andlow. In it were more than fifty men, twenty or thirty of whom were atoars with which the craft was being propelled from the lee of the land. I was dumbfounded. 

Could it be that the savage, painted natives I had seen on shore had soperfected the art of navigation that they were masters of such advancedbuilding and rigging as this craft proclaimed? It seemed impossible!And as I looked I saw another of the same type swing into view andfollow its sister through the narrow strait out into the ocean. 

Nor were these all. One after another, following closely upon oneanother's heels, came fifty of the trim, graceful vessels. They werecutting in between Hooja's fleet and our little dugout. 

When they came a bit closer my eyes fairly popped from my head at whatI saw, for in the eye of the leading felucca stood a man with asea-glass leveled upon us. Who could they be? Was there a civilizationwithin Pellucidar of such wondrous advancement as this? Were therefar-distant lands of which none of my people had ever heard, where arace had so greatly outstripped all other races of this inner world?

The man with the glass had lowered it and was shouting to us. I couldnot make out his words, but presently I saw that he was pointing aloft. When I looked I saw a pennant fluttering from the peak of the forwardlateen yard--a red, white, and blue pennant, with a single great whitestar in a field of blue. 

Then I knew. My eyes went even wider than they had before. It was thenavy! It was the navy of the empire of Pellucidar which I hadinstructed Perry to build in my absence. It was MY navy!

I dropped my paddle and stood up and shouted and waved my hand. Juagand Dian looked at me as if I had gone suddenly mad. When I could stopshouting I told them, and they shared my joy and shouted with me. 

But still Hooja was coming nearer, nor could the leading feluccaoverhaul him before he would be along-side or at least within bow-shot. 

Hooja must have been as much mystified as we were as to the identity ofthe strange fleet; but when he saw me waving to them he evidentlyguessed that they were friendly to us, so he urged his men to redoubletheir efforts to reach us before the felucca cut him off. 

He shouted word back to others of his fleet--word that was passed backuntil it had reached them all--directing them to run alongside thestrangers and board them, for with his two hundred craft and his eightor ten thousand warriors he evidently felt equal to over-coming thefifty vessels of the enemy, which did not seem to carry over threethousand men all told. 

His own personal energies he bent to reaching Dian and me first, leaving the rest of the work to his other boats. I thought that therecould be little doubt that he would be successful in so far as we wereconcerned, and I feared for the revenge that he might take upon usshould the battle go against his force, as I was sure it would; for Iknew that Perry and his Mezops must have brought with them all the armsand ammunition that had been contained in the prospector. But I wasnot prepared for what happened next. 

As Hooja's canoe reached a point some twenty yards from us a great puffof smoke broke from the bow of the leading felucca, followed almostsimultaneously by a terrific explosion, and a solid shot screamed closeover the heads of the men in Hooja's craft, raising a great splashwhere it clove the water just beyond them. 

Perry had perfected gunpowder and built cannon! It was marvelous!Dian and Juag, as much surprised as Hooja, turned wondering eyes towardme. Again the cannon spoke. I suppose that by comparison with thegreat guns of modern naval vessels of the outer world it was apitifully small and inadequate thing; but here in Pellucidar, where itwas the first of its kind, it was about as awe-inspiring as anythingyou might imagine. 

With the report an iron cannonball about five inches in diameter struckHooja's dugout just above the water-line, tore a great splintering holein its side, turned it over, and dumped its occupants into the sea. 

The four dugouts that had been abreast of Hooja had turned to interceptthe leading felucca. Even now, in the face of what must have been awithering catastrophe to them, they kept bravely on toward the strangeand terrible craft. 

In them were fully two hundred men, while but fifty lined the gunwaleof the felucca to repel them. The commander of the felucca, who provedto be Ja, let them come quite close and then turned loose upon them avolley of shots from small-arms. 

The cave men and Sagoths in the dugouts seemed to wither before thatblast of death like dry grass before a prairie fire. Those who werenot hit dropped their bows and javelins and, seizing upon paddles, attempted to escape. But the felucca pursued them relentlessly, hercrew firing at will. 

At last I heard Ja shouting to the survivors in the dugouts--they wereall quite close to us now--offer-ing them their lives if they wouldsurrender. Perry was standing close behind Ja, and I knew that thismerciful action was prompted, perhaps commanded, by the old man; for noPellucidarian would have thought of showing leniency to a defeated foe. 

As there was no alternative save death, the survivors surrendered and amoment later were taken aboard the Amoz, the name that I could now seeprinted in large letters upon the felucca's bow, and which no one inthat whole world could read except Perry and I. 

When the prisoners were aboard, Ja brought the felucca alongside ourdugout. Many were the willing hands that reached down to lift us toher decks. The bronze faces of the Mezops were broad with smiles, andPerry was fairly beside himself with joy. 

Dian went aboard first and then Juag, as I wished to help Raja andRanee aboard myself, well knowing that it would fare ill with any Mezopwho touched them. We got them aboard at last, and a great commotionthey caused among the crew, who had never seen a wild beast thushandled by man before. 

Perry and Dian and I were so full of questions that we fairly burst, but we had to contain ourselves for a while, since the battle with therest of Hooja's fleet had scarce commenced. From the small forwarddecks of the feluccas Perry's crude cannon were belching smoke, flame, thunder, and death. The air trembled to the roar of them. Hooja'shorde, intrepid, savage fighters that they were, were closing in tograpple in a last death-struggle with the Mezops who manned our vessels. 

The handling of our fleet by the red island warriors of Ja's clan wasfar from perfect. I could see that Perry had lost no time after thecompletion of the boats in setting out upon this cruise. What littlethe captains and crews had learned of handling feluccas they must havelearned principally since they embarked upon this voyage, and whileexperience is an excellent teacher and had done much for them, theystill had a great deal to learn. In maneuvering for position they werecontinually fouling one another, and on two occasions shots from ourbatteries came near to striking our own ships. 

No sooner, however, was I aboard the flagship than I attempted torectify this trouble to some extent. By passing commands by word ofmouth from one ship to another I managed to get the fifty feluccas intosome sort of line, with the flag-ship in the lead. In this formationwe commenced slowly to circle the position of the enemy. The dugoutscame for us right along in an attempt to board us, but by keeping onthe move in one direction and circling, we managed to avoid getting ineach other's way, and were enabled to fire our cannon and our smallarms with less danger to our own comrades. 

When I had a moment to look about me, I took in the felucca on which Iwas. I am free to confess that I marveled at the excellentconstruction and stanch yet speedy lines of the little craft. ThatPerry had chosen this type of vessel seemed rather remarkable, forthough I had warned him against turreted battle-ships, armor, and likeuseless show, I had fully expected that when I beheld his navy I shouldfind considerable attempt at grim and terrible magnificence, for it wasalways Perry's idea to overawe these ignorant cave men when we had tocontend with them in battle. But I had soon learned that while onemight easily astonish them with some new engine of war, it was an utterimpossibility to frighten them into surrender. 

I learned later that Ja had gone carefully over the plans of variouscraft with Perry. The old man had explained in detail all that thetext told him of them. The two had measured out dimensions upon theground, that Ja might see the sizes of different boats. Perry hadbuilt models, and Ja had had him read carefully and explain all thatthey could find relative to the handling of sailing vessels. Theresult of this was that Ja was the one who had chosen the felucca. Itwas well that Perry had had so excellent a balance wheel, for he hadbeen wild to build a huge frigate of the Nelsonian era--he told me sohimself. 

One thing that had inclined Ja particularly to the felucca was the factthat it included oars in its equip-ment. He realized the limitationsof his people in the matter of sails, and while they had never usedoars, the implement was so similar to a paddle that he was sure theyquickly could master the art--and they did. As soon as one hull wascompleted Ja kept it on the water constantly, first with one crew andthen with another, until two thousand red warriors had learned to row. Then they stepped their masts and a crew was told off for the firstship. 

While the others were building they learned to handle theirs. As eachsucceeding boat was launched its crew took it out and practiced with itunder the tutorage of those who had graduated from the first ship, andso on until a full complement of men had been trained for every boat. 

Well, to get back to the battle: The Hoojans kept on coming at us, andas fast as they came we mowed them down. It was little else thanslaughter. Time and time again I cried to them to surrender, promisingthem their lives if they would do so. At last there were but tenboatloads left. These turned in flight. They thought they couldpaddle away from us--it was pitiful! I passed the word from boat toboat to cease firing--not to kill another Hoojan unless they fired onus. Then we set out after them. There was a nice little breezeblowing and we bowled along after our quarry as gracefully and aslightly as swans upon a park lagoon. As we approached them I could seenot only wonder but admiration in their eyes. I hailed the nearestdugout. 

"Throw down your arms and come aboard us, " I cried, "and you shall notbe harmed. We will feed you and return you to the mainland. Then youshall go free upon your promise never to bear arms against the Emperorof Pellucidar again!"

I think it was the promise of food that interested them most. Theycould scarce believe that we would not kill them. But when I exhibitedthe prisoners we already had taken, and showed them that they werealive and unharmed, a great Sagoth in one of the boats asked me whatguarantee I could give that I would keep my word. 

"None other than my word, " I replied. "That I do not break. "

The Pellucidarians themselves are rather punctilious about this samematter, so the Sagoth could understand that I might possibly bespeaking the truth. But he could not understand why we should not killthem unless we meant to enslave them, which I had as much as deniedalready when I had promised to set them free. Ja couldn't exactly seethe wisdom of my plan, either. He thought that we ought to follow upthe ten remaining dugouts and sink them all; but I insisted that wemust free as many as possible of our enemies upon the mainland. 

"You see, " I explained, "these men will return at once to Hooja'sIsland, to the Mahar cities from which they come, or to the countriesfrom which they were stolen by the Mahars. They are men of two racesand of many countries. They will spread the story of our victory farand wide, and while they are with us, we will let them see and hearmany other wonderful things which they may carry back to their friendsand their chiefs. It's the finest chance for free publicity, Perry, " Iadded to the old man, "that you or I have seen in many a day. "

Perry agreed with me. As a matter of fact, he would have agreed toanything that would have restrained us from killing the poor devils whofell into our hands. He was a great fellow to invent gunpowder andfire-arms and cannon; but when it came to using these things to killpeople, he was as tender-hearted as a chicken. 

The Sagoth who had spoken was talking to other Sagoths in his boat. Evidently they were holding a council over the question of the wisdomof surrender-ing. 

"What will become of you if you don't surrender to us?" I asked. "Ifwe do not open up our batteries on you again and kill you all, you willsimply drift about the sea helplessly until you die of thirst andstarvation. You cannot return to the islands, for you have seen aswell as we that the natives there are very numerous and warlike. Theywould kill you the moment you landed. "

The upshot of it was that the boat of which the Sagoth speaker was incharge surrendered. The Sagoths threw down their weapons, and we tookthem aboard the ship next in line behind the Amoz. First Ja had toimpress upon the captain and crew of the ship that the prisoners werenot to be abused or killed. After that the remaining dugouts paddledup and surrendered. We distributed them among the entire fleet lestthere be too many upon any one vessel. Thus ended the first real navalengagement that the Pellucidarian seas had ever witnessed--though Perrystill insists that the action in which the Sari took part was a battleof the first magnitude. 

The battle over and the prisoners disposed of and fed--and do notimagine that Dian, Juag, and I, as well as the two hounds were not fedalso--I turned my attention to the fleet. We had the feluccas close inabout the flag-ship, and with all the ceremony of a medieval potentateon parade I received the commanders of the forty-nine feluccas thataccompanied the flag-ship--Dian and I together--the empress and theemperor of Pellucidar. 

It was a great occasion. The savage, bronze warriors entered into thespirit of it, for as I learned later dear old Perry had left noopportunity neglected for impressing upon them that David was emperorof Pellucidar, and that all that they were accomplishing and all thathe was accomplishing was due to the power, and redounded to the gloryof David. The old man must have rubbed it in pretty strong, for thosefierce warriors nearly came to blows in their efforts to be among thefirst of those to kneel before me and kiss my hand. When it came tokissing Dian's I think they enjoyed it more; I know I should have. 

A happy thought occurred to me as I stood upon the little deck of theAmoz with the first of Perry's primi-tive cannon behind me. When Jakneeled at my feet, and first to do me homage, I drew from its scabbardat his side the sword of hammered iron that Perry had taught him tofashion. Striking him lightly on the shoulder I created him king ofAnoroc. Each captain of the forty-nine other feluccas I made a duke. I left it to Perry to enlighten them as to the value of the honors Ihad bestowed upon them. 

During these ceremonies Raja and Ranee had stood beside Dian and me. Their bellies had been well filled, but still they had difficulty inpermitting so much edible humanity to pass unchallenged. It was a goodeducation for them though, and never after did they find it difficultto associate with the human race with-out arousing their appetites. 

After the ceremonies were over we had a chance to talk with Perry andJa. The former told me that Ghak, king of Sari, had sent my letter andmap to him by a runner, and that he and Ja had at once decided to setout on the completion of the fleet to ascertain the correctness of mytheory that the Lural Az, in which the Anoroc Islands lay, was inreality the same ocean as that which lapped the shores of Thuria underthe name of Sojar Az, or Great Sea. 

Their destination had been the island retreat of Hooja, and they hadsent word to Ghak of their plans that we might work in harmony withthem. The tempest that had blown us off the coast of the continent hadblown them far to the south also. Shortly before discovering us theyhad come into a great group of islands, from between the largest two ofwhich they were sailing when they saw Hooja's fleet pursuing our dugout. 

I asked Perry if he had any idea as to where we were, or in whatdirection lay Hooja's island or the continent. He replied by producinghis map, on which he had carefully marked the newly discoveredislands--there described as the Unfriendly Isles--which showed Hooja'sisland northwest of us about two points West. 

He then explained that with compass, chronometer, log and reel, theyhad kept a fairly accurate record of their course from the time theyhad set out. Four of the feluccas were equipped with theseinstruments, and all of the captains had been instructed in their use. 

I was very greatly surprised at the ease with which these savages hadmastered the rather intricate detail of this unusual work, but Perryassured me that they were a wonderfully intelligent race, and had beenquick to grasp all that he had tried to teach them. 

Another thing that surprised me was the fact that so much had beenaccomplished in so short a time, for I could not believe that I hadbeen gone from Anoroc for a sufficient period to permit of building afleet of fifty feluccas and mining iron ore for the cannon and balls, to say nothing of manufacturing these guns and the crude muzzle-loadingrifles with which every Mezop was armed, as well as the gunpowder andammunition they had in such ample quantities. 

"Time!" exclaimed Perry. "Well, how long were you gone from Anorocbefore we picked you up in the Sojar Az?"

That was a puzzler, and I had to admit it. I didn't know how much timehad elapsed and neither did Perry, for time is nonexistent inPellucidar. 

"Then, you see, David, " he continued, "I had almost unbelievableresources at my disposal. The Mezops inhabiting the Anoroc Islands, which stretch far out to sea beyond the three principal isles withwhich you are familiar, number well into the millions, and by far thegreater part of them are friendly to Ja. Men, women, and childrenturned to and worked the moment Ja explained the nature of ourenterprise. 

"And not only were they anxious to do all in their power to hasten theday when the Mahars should be overthrown, but--and this counted formost of all--they are simply ravenous for greater knowledge and forbetter ways of doing things. 

"The contents of the prospector set their imaginations to workingovertime, so that they craved to own, themselves, the knowledge whichhad made it possible for other men to create and build the things whichyou brought back from the outer world. 

"And then, " continued the old man, "the element of time, or, rather, lack of time, operated to my advantage. There being no nights, therewas no laying off from work--they labored incessantly stopping only toeat and, on rare occasions, to sleep. Once we had discovered iron orewe had enough mined in an incredibly short time to build a thousandcannon. I had only to show them once how a thing should be done, andthey would fall to work by thousands to do it. 

"Why, no sooner had we fashioned the first muzzle-loader and they hadseen it work successfully, than fully three thousand Mezops fell towork to make rifles. Of course there was much confusion and lostmotion at first, but eventually Ja got them in hand, detailing squadsof them under competent chiefs to certain work. 

"We now have a hundred expert gun-makers. On a little isolated isle wehave a great powder-factory. Near the iron-mine, which is on themainland, is a smelter, and on the eastern shore of Anoroc, a wellequipped ship-yard. All these industries are guarded by forts in whichseveral cannon are mounted and where warriors are always on guard. 

"You would be surprised now, David, at the aspect of Anoroc. I amsurprised myself; it seems always to me as I compare it with the daythat I first set foot upon it from the deck of the Sari that only amiracle could have worked the change that has taken place. "

"It is a miracle, " I said; it is nothing short of a miracle totransplant all the wondrous possibilities of the twentieth century backto the Stone Age. It is a miracle to think that only five hundredmiles of earth separate two epochs that are really ages and ages apart. 

"It is stupendous, Perry! But still more stupendous is the power thatyou and I wield in this great world. These people look upon us aslittle less than supermen. We must show them that we are all of that. 

"We must give them the best that we have, Perry. "

"Yes, " he agreed; "we must. I have been thinking a great deal latelythat some kind of shrapnel shell or explosive bomb would be a mostsplendid innovation in their warfare. Then there are breech-loadingrifles and those with magazines that I must hasten to study out andlearn to reproduce as soon as we get settled down again; and--"

"Hold on, Perry!" I cried. "I didn't mean these sorts of things atall. I said that we must give them the best we have. What we havegiven them so far has been the worst. We have given them war and themunitions of war. In a single day we have made their wars infinitelymore terrible and bloody than in all their past ages they have beenable to make them with their crude, primitive weapons. 

"In a period that could scarcely have exceeded two outer earthly hours, our fleet practically annihilated the largest armada of native canoesthat the Pellucidarians ever before had gathered together. Webutchered some eight thousand warriors with the twentieth-century giftswe brought. Why, they wouldn't have killed that many warriors in theentire duration of a dozen of their wars with their own weapons! No, Perry; we've got to give them something better than scientific methodsof killing one another. "

The old man looked at me in amazement. There was reproach in his eyes, too. 

"Why, David!" he said sorrowfully. "I thought that you would bepleased with what I had done. We planned these things together, and Iam sure that it was you who suggested practically all of it. I havedone only what I thought you wished done and I have done it the bestthat I know how. "

I laid my hand on the old man's shoulder. 

"Bless your heart, Perry!" I cried. "You've accomplished miracles. You have done precisely what I should have done, only you've done itbetter. I'm not finding fault; but I don't wish to lose sight myself, or let you lose sight, of the greater work which must grow out of thispreliminary and necessary carnage. First we must place the empire upona secure footing, and we can do so only by putting the fear of us inthe hearts of our enemies; but after that--

"Ah, Perry! That is the day I look forward to! When you and I can buildsewing-machines instead of battle-ships, harvesters of crops instead ofharvesters of men, plow-shares and telephones, schools and colleges, printing-presses and paper! When our merchant marine shall ply thegreat Pellucidarian seas, and cargoes of silks and typewriters andbooks shall forge their ways where only hideous saurians have held swaysince time began!"

"Amen!" said Perry. 

And Dian, who was standing at my side, pressed my hand. 

CHAPTER XV

CONQUEST AND PEACE

The fleet sailed directly for Hooja's island, coming to anchor at itsnorth-eastern extremity before the flat-topped hill that had beenHooja's stronghold. I sent one of the prisoners ashore to demand animmediate surrender; but as he told me afterward they wouldn't be-lieveall that he told them, so they congregated on the cliff-top and shotfutile arrows at us. 

In reply I had five of the feluccas cannonade them. When theyscampered away at the sound of the terrific explosions, and at sight ofthe smoke and the iron balls I landed a couple of hundred red warriorsand led them to the opposite end of the hill into the tunnel that ranto its summit. Here we met a little resistance; but a volley from themuzzle-loaders turned back those who disputed our right of way, andpresently we gained the mesa. Here again we met resistance, but atlast the remnant of Hooja's horde surrendered. 

Juag was with me, and I lost no time in returning to him and his tribethe hilltop that had been their ancestral home for ages until they wererobbed of it by Hooja. I created a kingdom of the island, making Juagking there. Before we sailed I went to Gr-gr-gr, chief of thebeast-men, taking Juag with me. There the three of us arranged a codeof laws that would permit the brute-folk and the human beings of theisland to live in peace and harmony. Gr-gr-gr sent his son with meback to Sari, capital of my empire, that he might learn the ways of thehuman beings. I have hopes of turning this race into the greatestagriculturists of Pellucidar. When I returned to the fleet I foundthat one of the islanders of Juag's tribe, who had been absent when wearrived, had just returned from the mainland with the news that a greatarmy was encamped in the Land of Awful Shadow, and that they werethreatening Thuria. I lost no time in weighing anchors and setting outfor the continent, which we reached after a short and easy voyage. 

From the deck of the Amoz I scanned the shore through the glasses thatPerry had brought with him. When we were close enough for the glassesto be of value I saw that there was indeed a vast concourse of warriorsentirely encircling the walled-village of Goork, chief of the Thurians. As we approached smaller objects became distinguishable. It was thenthat I discovered numerous flags and pennants floating above the armyof the besiegers. 

I called Perry and passed the glasses to him. 

"Ghak of Sari, " I said. 

Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and then turned to me witha smile. 

"The red, white, and blue of the empire, " he said. "It is indeed yourmajesty's army. "

It soon became apparent that we had been sighted by those on shore, fora great multitude of warriors had congregated along the beach watchingus. We came to anchor as close in as we dared, which with our lightfeluccas was within easy speaking-distance of the shore. Ghak wasthere and his eyes were mighty wide, too; for, as he told us later, though he knew this must be Perry's fleet it was so wonderful to himthat he could not believe the testimony of his own eyes even while hewas watching it approach. 

To give the proper effect to our meeting I commanded that each feluccafire twenty-one guns as a salute to His Majesty Ghak, King of Sari. Some of the gunners, in the exuberance of their enthusiasm, fired solidshot; but fortunately they had sufficient good judg-ment to train theirpieces on the open sea, so no harm was done. After this we landed--anarduous task since each felucca carried but a single light dugout. 

I learned from Ghak that the Thurian chieftain, Goork, had beeninclined to haughtiness, and had told Ghak, the Hairy One, that he knewnothing of me and cared less; but I imagine that the sight of the fleetand the sound of the guns brought him to his senses, for it was notlong before he sent a deputation to me, inviting me to visit him in hisvillage. Here he apologized for the treatment he had accorded me, verygladly swore allegiance to the empire, and received in return the titleof king. 

We remained in Thuria only long enough to arrange the treaty withGoork, among the other details of which was his promise to furnish theimperial army with a thousand lidi, or Thurian beasts of burden, anddrivers for them. These were to accompany Ghak's army back to Sari byland, while the fleet sailed to the mouth of the great river from whichDian, Juag, and I had been blown. 

The voyage was uneventful. We found the river easily, and sailed up itfor many miles through as rich and wonderful a plain as I have everseen. At the head of navigation we disembarked, leaving a sufficientguard for the feluccas, and marched the remaining distance to Sari. 

Ghak's army, which was composed of warriors of all the original tribesof the federation, showing how successful had been his efforts torehabilitate the empire, marched into Sari some time after we arrived. With them were the thousand lidi from Thuria. 

At a council of the kings it was decided that we should at oncecommence the great war against the Mahars, for these haughty reptilespresented the greatest obstacle to human progress within Pellucidar. Ilaid out a plan of campaign which met with the enthusiasticindorse-ment of the kings. Pursuant to it, I at once despatched fiftylidi to the fleet with orders to fetch fifty cannon to Sari. I alsoordered the fleet to proceed at once to Anoroc, where they were to takeaboard all the rifles and ammunition that had been completed sincetheir departure, and with a full complement of men to sail along thecoast in an attempt to find a passage to the inland sea near which laythe Mahars' buried city of Phutra. 

Ja was sure that a large and navigable river connected the sea ofPhutra with the Lural Az, and that, barring accident, the fleet wouldbe before Phutra as soon as the land forces were. 

At last the great army started upon its march. There were warriorsfrom every one of the federated kingdoms. All were armed either withbow and arrows or muzzle-loaders, for nearly the entire Mezopcontingent had been enlisted for this march, only sufficient havingbeen left aboard the feluccas to man them properly. I divided theforces into divisions, regiments, battalions, companies, and even toplatoons and sections, appointing the full complement of officers andnoncommissioned officers. On the long march I schooled them in theirduties, and as fast as one learned I sent him among the others as ateacher. 

Each regiment was made up of about a thousand bowmen, and to each wastemporarily attached a company of Mezop musketeers and a battery ofartillery--the latter, our naval guns, mounted upon the broad backs ofthe mighty lidi. There was also one full regiment of Mezop musketeersand a regiment of primitive spearmen. The rest of the lidi that webrought with us were used for baggage animals and to transport ourwomen and children, for we had brought them with us, as it was ourintention to march from one Mahar city to another until we had subduedevery Mahar nation that menaced the safety of any kingdom of the empire. 

Before we reached the plain of Phutra we were discovered by a companyof Sagoths, who at first stood to give battle; but upon seeing the vastnumbers of our army they turned and fled toward Phutra. The result ofthis was that when we came in sight of the hundred towers which markthe entrances to the buried city we found a great army of Sagoths andMahars lined up to give us battle. 

At a thousand yards we halted, and, placing our artillery upon a slighteminence at either flank, we commenced to drop solid shot among them. Ja, who was chief artillery officer, was in command of this branch ofthe service, and he did some excellent work, for his Mezop gunners hadbecome rather proficient by this time. The Sagoths couldn't stand muchof this sort of warfare, so they charged us, yelling like fiends. Welet them come quite close, and then the musketeers who formed the firstline opened up on them. 

The slaughter was something frightful, but still the remnants of themkept on coming until it was a matter of hand-to-hand fighting. Hereour spearmen were of value, as were also the crude iron swords withwhich most of the imperial warriors were armed. 

We lost heavily in the encounter after the Sagoths reached us; but theywere absolutely exterminated--not one remained even as a prisoner. TheMahars, seeing how the battle was going, had hastened to the safety oftheir buried city. When we had overcome their gorilla-men we followedafter them. 

But here we were doomed to defeat, at least temporarily; for no soonerhad the first of our troops descended into the subterranean avenuesthan many of them came stumbling and fighting their way back to thesurface, half-choked by the fumes of some deadly gas that the reptileshad liberated upon them. We lost a number of men here. Then I sentfor Perry, who had remained discreetly in the rear, and had himconstruct a little affair that I had had in my mind against thepossibility of our meeting with a check at the entrances to theunderground city. 

Under my direction he stuffed one of his cannon full of powder, smallbullets, and pieces of stone, almost to the muzzle. Then he pluggedthe muzzle tight with a cone-shaped block of wood, hammered and jammedin as tight as it could be. Next he inserted a long fuse. A dozen menrolled the cannon to the top of the stairs leading down into the city, first removing it from its carriage. One of them then lit the fuse andthe whole thing was given a shove down the stairway, while thedetachment turned and scampered to a safe distance. 

For what seemed a very long time nothing happened. We had commenced tothink that the fuse had been put out while the piece was rolling downthe stairway, or that the Mahars had guessed its purpose andextinguished it themselves, when the ground about the entrance rosesuddenly into the air, to be followed by a terrific explosion and aburst of smoke and flame that shot high in company with dirt, stone, and fragments of cannon. 

Perry had been working on two more of these giant bombs as soon as thefirst was completed. Presently we launched these into two of the otherentrances. They were all that were required, for almost immediatelyafter the third explosion a stream of Mahars broke from the exitsfurthest from us, rose upon their wings, and soared northward. Ahundred men on lidi were despatched in pursuit, each lidi carrying tworiflemen in addition to its driver. Guessing that the inland sea, which lay not far north of Phutra, was their destination, I took acouple of regiments and followed. 

A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra plain where the city lies, and the inland sea where the Mahars were wont to disport themselves inthe cool waters. Not until we had topped this ridge did we get a viewof the sea. 

Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget so long as I may live. 

Along the beach were lined up the troop of lidi, while a hundred yardsfrom shore the surface of the water was black with the long snouts andcold, reptilian eyes of the Mahars. Our savage Mezop riflemen, and theshorter, squatter, white-skinned Thurian drivers, shading their eyeswith their hands, were gazing seaward beyond the Mahars, whose eyeswere fastened upon the same spot. My heart leaped when I discoveredthat which was chaining the attention of them all. Twenty gracefulfeluccas were moving smoothly across the waters of the sea toward thereptilian horde!

The sight must have filled the Mahars with awe and consternation, fornever had they seen the like of these craft before. For a time theyseemed unable to do aught but gaze at the approaching fleet; but whenthe Mezops opened on them with their muskets the reptiles swam rapidlyin the direction of the feluccas, evidently thinking that these wouldprove the easier to overcome. The commander of the fleet permittedthem to approach within a hundred yards. Then he opened on them withall the cannon that could be brought to bear, as well as with the smallarms of the sailors. 

A great many of the reptiles were killed at the first volley. Theywavered for a moment, then dived; nor did we see them again for a longtime. 

But finally they rose far out beyond the fleet, and when the feluccascame about and pursued them they left the water and flew away towardthe north. 

Following the fall of Phutra I visited Anoroc, where I found the peoplebusy in the shipyards and the factories that Perry had established. Idiscovered something, too, that he had not told me of--something thatseemed infinitely more promising than the powder-factory or thearsenal. It was a young man poring over one of the books I had broughtback from the outer world! He was sitting in the log cabin that Perryhad had built to serve as his sleeping quarters and office. Soabsorbed was he that he did not notice our entrance. Perry saw thelook of astonishment in my eyes and smiled. 

"I started teaching him the alphabet when we first reached theprospector, and were taking out its contents, " he explained. "He wasmuch mystified by the books and anxious to know of what use they were. When I explained he asked me to teach him to read, and so I worked withhim whenever I could. He is very intelligent and learns quickly. Before I left he had made great progress, and as soon as he isqualified he is going to teach others to read. It was mighty hard workgetting started, though, for everything had to be translated intoPellucidarian. 

"It will take a long time to solve this problem, but I think that byteaching a number of them to read and write English we shall then beable more quickly to give them a written language of their own. "

And this was the nucleus about which we were to build our great systemof schools and colleges--this almost naked red warrior, sitting inPerry's little cabin upon the island of Anoroc, picking out wordsletter by letter from a work on intensive farming. Now we have--

But I'll get to all that before I finish. 

While we were at Anoroc I accompanied Ja in an expedition to SouthIsland, the southernmost of the three largest which form the Anorocgroup--Perry had given it its name--where we made peace with the tribethere that had for long been hostile toward Ja. They were now gladenough to make friends with him and come into the federation. Fromthere we sailed with sixty-five feluccas for distant Luana, the mainisland of the group where dwell the hereditary enemies of Anoroc. 

Twenty-five of the feluccas were of a new and larger type than thosewith which Ja and Perry had sailed on the occasion when they chanced tofind and rescue Dian and me. They were longer, carried much largersails, and were considerably swifter. Each carried four guns insteadof two, and these were so arranged that one or more of them could bebrought into action no matter where the enemy lay. 

The Luana group lies just beyond the range of vision from the mainland. The largest island of it alone is visible from Anoroc; but when weneared it we found that it comprised many beautiful islands, and thatthey were thickly populated. The Luanians had not, of course, beenignorant of all that had been going on in the domains of their nearestand dearest enemies. They knew of our feluccas and our guns, forseveral of their riding-parties had had a taste of both. But theirprincipal chief, an old man, had never seen either. So, when hesighted us, he put out to overwhelm us, bringing with him a fleet ofabout a hundred large war-canoes, loaded to capacity with javelin-armedwarriors. It was pitiful, and I told Ja as much. It seemed a shame tomassacre these poor fellows if there was any way out of it. 

To my surprise Ja felt much as I did. He said he had always hated towar with other Mezops when there were so many alien races to fightagainst. I suggested that we hail the chief and request a parley; butwhen Ja did so the old fool thought that we were afraid, and with loudcries of exultation urged his warriors upon us. 

So we opened up on them, but at my suggestion centered our fire uponthe chief's canoe. The result was that in about thirty seconds therewas nothing left of that war dugout but a handful of splinters, whileits crew--those who were not killed--were struggling in the water, battling with the myriad terrible creatures that had risen to devourthem. 

We saved some of them, but the majority died just as had Hooja and thecrew of his canoe that time our second shot capsized them. 

Again we called to the remaining warriors to enter into a parley withus; but the chief's son was there and he would not, now that he hadseen his father killed. He was all for revenge. So we had to open upon the brave fellows with all our guns; but it didn't last long atthat, for there chanced to be wiser heads among the Luanians than theirchief or his son had possessed. Presently, an old warrior whocommanded one of the dugouts surrendered. After that they came in oneby one until all had laid their weapons upon our decks. 

Then we called together upon the flag-ship all our captains, to givethe affair greater weight and dignity, and all the principal men ofLuana. We had conquered them, and they expected either death orslavery; but they deserved neither, and I told them so. It is alwaysmy habit here in Pellucidar to impress upon these savage people thatmercy is as noble a quality as physical bravery, and that next to themen who fight shoulder to shoulder with one, we should honor the bravemen who fight against us, and if we are victorious, award them both themercy and honor that are their due. 

By adhering to this policy I have won to the federation many great andnoble peoples, who under the ancient traditions of the inner worldwould have been massacred or enslaved after we had conquered them; andthus I won the Luanians. I gave them their freedom, and returned theirweapons to them after they had sworn loyalty to me and friendship andpeace with Ja, and I made the old fellow, who had had the good sense tosurrender, king of Luana, for both the old chief and his only son haddied in the battle. 

When I sailed away from Luana she was included among the kingdoms ofthe empire, whose boundaries were thus pushed eastward several hundredmiles. 

We now returned to Anoroc and thence to the mainland, where I againtook up the campaign against the Mahars, marching from one great buriedcity to another until we had passed far north of Amoz into a countrywhere I had never been. At each city we were victorious, killing orcapturing the Sagoths and driving the Mahars further away. 

I noticed that they always fled toward the north. The Sagoth prisonerswe usually found quite ready to trans-fer their allegiance to us, forthey are little more than brutes, and when they found that we couldfill their stomachs and give them plenty of fighting, they were nothingloath to march with us against the next Mahar city and battle with menof their own race. 

Thus we proceeded, swinging in a great half-circle north and west andsouth again until we had come back to the edge of the Lidi Plains northof Thuria. Here we overcame the Mahar city that had ravaged the Landof Awful Shadow for so many ages. When we marched on to Thuria, Goorkand his people went mad with joy at the tidings we brought them. 

During this long march of conquest we had passed through sevencountries, peopled by primitive human tribes who had not yet heard ofthe federation, and succeeded in joining them all to the empire. Itwas noticeable that each of these peoples had a Mahar city situatednear by, which had drawn upon them for slaves and human food for somany ages that not even in legend had the population any folk-talewhich did not in some degree reflect an inherent terror of thereptilians. 

In each of these countries I left an officer and warriors to train themin military discipline, and prepare them to receive the arms that Iintended furnishing them as rapidly as Perry's arsenal could turn themout, for we felt that it would be a long, long time before we shouldsee the last of the Mahars. That they had flown north but temporarilyuntil we should be gone with our great army and terrifying guns I waspositive, and equally sure was I that they would presently return. 

The task of ridding Pellucidar of these hideous creatures is one whichin all probability will never be entirely completed, for their greatcities must abound by the hundreds and thousands of the far-distantlands that no subject of the empire has ever laid eyes upon. 

But within the present boundaries of my domain there are now none leftthat I know of, for I am sure we should have heard indirectly of anygreat Mahar city that had escaped us, although of course the imperialarmy has by no means covered the vast area which I now rule. 

After leaving Thuria we returned to Sari, where the seat of governmentis located. Here, upon a vast, fertile plateau, overlooking the greatgulf that runs into the continent from the Lural Az, we are buildingthe great city of Sari. Here we are erecting mills and factories. Here we are teaching men and women the rudiments of agriculture. HerePerry has built the first printing-press, and a dozen young Sarians areteaching their fellows to read and write the language of Pellucidar. 

We have just laws and only a few of them. Our people are happy becausethey are always working at some-thing which they enjoy. There is nomoney, nor is any money value placed upon any commodity. Perry and Iwere as one in resolving that the root of all evil should not beintroduced into Pellucidar while we lived. 

A man may exchange that which he produces for something which hedesires that another has produced; but he cannot dispose of the thinghe thus acquires. In other words, a commodity ceases to have pecuniaryvalue the instant that it passes out of the hands of its producer. Allexcess reverts to government; and, as this represents the production ofthe people as a government, government may dispose of it to otherpeoples in exchange for that which they produce. Thus we areestablishing a trade between kingdoms, the profits from which go to thebetterment of the people--to building factories for the manufacture ofagricultural implements, and machinery for the various trades we aregradually teaching the people. 

Already Anoroc and Luana are vying with one another in the excellenceof the ships they build. Each has several large ship-yards. Anorocmakes gunpowder and mines iron ore, and by means of their ships theycarry on a very lucrative trade with Thuria, Sari, and Amoz. TheThurians breed lidi, which, having the strength and intelligence of anelephant, make excellent draft animals. 

Around Sari and Amoz the men are domesticating the great stripedantelope, the meat of which is most delicious. I am sure that it willnot be long before they will have them broken to harness and saddle. The horses of Pellucidar are far too diminutive for such uses, somespecies of them being little larger than fox-terriers. 

Dian and I live in a great palace overlooking the gulf. There is noglass in our windows, for we have no windows, the walls rising but afew feet above the floor-line, the rest of the space being open to theceilings; but we have a roof to shade us from the perpetual noon-daysun. Perry and I decided to set a style in architecture that would notcurse future generations with the white plague, so we have plenty ofventilation. Those of the people who prefer, still inhabit theircaves, but many are building houses similar to ours. 

At Greenwich we have located a town and an observatory--though there isnothing to observe but the stationary sun directly overhead. Upon theedge of the Land of Awful Shadow is another observatory, from which thetime is flashed by wireless to every corner of the empire twenty-fourtimes a day. In addition to the wireless, we have a small telephonesystem in Sari. Everything is yet in the early stages of development;but with the science of the outer-world twentieth century to draw uponwe are making rapid progress, and with all the faults and errors of theouter world to guide us clear of dangers, I think that it will not belong before Pellucidar will become as nearly a Utopia as one may expectto find this side of heaven. 

Perry is away just now, laying out a railway-line from Sari to Amoz. There are immense anthracite coal-fields at the head of the gulf notfar from Sari, and the railway will tap these. Some of his studentsare working on a locomotive now. It will be a strange sight to see aniron horse puffing through the primeval jungles of the stone age, whilecave bears, saber-toothed tigers, mastodons and the countless otherterrible creatures of the past look on from their tangled lairs inwide-eyed astonishment. 

We are very happy, Dian and I, and I would not return to the outerworld for all the riches of all its princes. I am content here. Evenwithout my imperial powers and honors I should be content, for have Inot that greatest of all treasures, the love of a good woman--mywondrous empress, Dian the Beautiful?

[Transcriber's note: I have made the following changes to the text:

 PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO 27 33 sate state 32 11 least last 38 3 litte little 39 20 dispress- distress- 50 20 slides sides 54 16 enmy enemy 77 2 it if 80 24 Sidi Lidi 96 10 be bet 101 33 the the and the 107 15 Hoojas' Hooja's 117 4 come came 119 18 remarkably remarkable 149 25 take takes 151 6 Juang Juag 173 29 contined continued]