"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They
understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our own
world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions of the
question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means of
communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason--that our
every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race of
Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among
themselves, or reason. Because we do not converse as they do it is
beyond them to imagine that we converse at all. It is thus that we
reason in relation to the brutes of our own world. They know that the
Sagoths have a spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it, or how
it manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They
believe that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning. That
the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them.
"Yes, David," he concluded, "it would entail murder to carry out your
plan."
"Very well then, Perry." I replied. "I shall become a murderer."
He got me to go over the plan again most carefully, and for some reason
which was not at the time clear to me insisted upon a very careful
description of the apartments and corridors I had just explored.
"I wonder, David," he said at length, "as you are determined to carry
out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something of very real
and lasting benefit for the human race of Pellucidar at the same time.
Listen, I have learned much of a most surprising nature from these
archives of the Mahars. That you may appreciate my plan I shall
briefly outline the history of the race.
"Once the males were all-powerful, but ages ago the females, little by
little, assumed the mastery. For other ages no noticeable change took
place in the race of Mahars. It continued to progress under the
intelligent and beneficent rule of the ladies. Science took vast
strides. This was especially true of the sciences which we know as
biology and eugenics. Finally a certain female scientist announced the
fact that she had discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized
by chemical means after they were laid--all true reptiles, you know,
are hatched from eggs.
"What happened? Immediately the necessity for males ceased to
exist--the race was no longer dependent upon them. More ages elapsed
until at the present time we find a race consisting exclusively of
females. But here is the point. The secret of this chemical formula
is kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in the city of Phutra, and
unless I am greatly in error I judge from your description of the
vaults through which you passed today that it lies hidden in the cellar
of this building.
"For two reasons they hide it away and guard it jealously. First,
because upon it depends the very life of the race of Mahars, and
second, owing to the fact that when it was public property as at first
so many were experimenting with it that the danger of over-population
became very grave.
"David, if we can escape, and at the same time take with us this great
secret what will we not have accomplished for the human race within
Pellucidar!" The very thought of it fairly overpowered me. Why, we two
would be the means of placing the men of the inner world in their
rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths would then stand
between them and absolute supremacy, and I was not quite sure but that
the Sagoths owed all their power to the greater intelligence of the
Mahars--I could not believe that these gorilla-like beasts were the
mental superiors of the human race of Pellucidar.
"Why, Perry," I exclaimed, "you and I may reclaim a whole world!
Together we can lead the races of men out of the darkness of ignorance
into the light of advancement and civilization. At one step we may
carry them from the Age of Stone to the twentieth century. It's
marvelous--absolutely marvelous just to think about it."
"David," said the old man, "I believe that God sent us here for just
that purpose--it shall be my life work to teach them His word--to lead
them into the light of His mercy while we are training their hearts and
hands in the ways of culture and civilization."
"You are right, Perry," I said, "and while you are teaching them to
pray I'll be teaching them to fight, and between us we'll make a race
of men that will be an honor to us both."
Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded our
conversation, and now he wanted to know what we were so excited about.
Perry thought we had best not tell him too much, and so I only
explained that I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined it to him,
he seemed about as horror-struck as Perry had been; but for a different
reason. The Hairy One only considered the horrible fate that would be
ours were we discovered; but at last I prevailed upon him to accept my
plan as the only feasible one, and when I had assured him that I would
take all the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a
reluctant assent.