“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.

VI

THE BEGINNING OF HORROR

Within Pellucidar one time is as good as another. There were no nights

to mask our attempted escape. All must be done in broad daylight—all

but the work I had to do in the apartment beneath the building. So we

determined to put our plan to an immediate test lest the Mahars who

made it possible should awake before I reached them; but we were doomed

to disappointment, for no sooner had we reached the main floor of the

building on our way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying

bands of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of the

edifice to the avenue beyond.

Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of other

slaves, and the moment that we appeared we were pounced upon and

hustled into the line of marching humans.

What the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did not know, but

presently through the line of captives ran the rumor that two escaped

slaves had been recaptured—a man and a woman—and that we were marching

to witness their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth of the

detachment that had pursued and overtaken them.

At the intelligence my heart sprang to my throat, for I was sure that

the two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto with Hooja the Sly

One, and that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did

Perry.

“Is there naught that we may do to save her?” I asked Ghak.

“Naught,” he replied.

Along the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty

toward us, as though we, too, had been implicated in the murder of

their fellow. The occasion was to serve as an object-lesson to all

other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted escape, and the

fatal consequences of taking the life of a superior being, and so I

imagine that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the entire

proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible.

They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us with the hatchets at

the least provocation, and at no provocation at all. It was a most

uncomfortable half-hour that we spent before we were finally herded

through a low entrance into a huge building the center of which was

given up to a good-sized arena. Benches surrounded this open space upon

three sides, and along the fourth were heaped huge bowlders which rose

in receding tiers toward the roof.

At first I couldn’t make out the purpose of this mighty pile of rock,

unless it were intended as a rough and picturesque background for the

scenes which were enacted in the arena before it, but presently, after

the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by slaves and Sagoths, I

discovered the purpose of the bowlders, for then the Mahars began to

file into the enclosure.

They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the

opposite side, where, spreading their bat-like wings, they rose above

the high wall of the pit, settling down upon the bowlders above. These

were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect.

Reptiles that they are, the rough surface of a great stone is to them

as plush as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking their hideous

eyes, and doubtless conversing with one another in their

sixth-sense-fourth-dimension language.

For the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from the others

in no feature that was appreciable to my earthly eyes, in fact all

Mahars look alike to me: but when she crossed the arena after the

balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders, she was

preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I ever had seen, and

on either side of her waddled a huge thipdar, while behind came another

score of Sagoth guardsmen.

At the barrier the Sagoths clambered up the steep side with truly

apelike agility, while behind them the haughty queen rose upon her

wings with her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled down

upon the largest bowlder of them all in the exact center of that side

of the amphitheater which is reserved for the dominant race. Here she

squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen; though doubtless

quite as well assured of her beauty and divine right to rule as the

proudest monarch of the outer world.

And then the music started—music without sound! The Mahars cannot hear,

so the drums and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown among

them. The “band” consists of a score or more Mahars. It filed out in

the center of the arena where the creatures upon the rocks might see

it, and there it performed for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Their technic consisted in waving their tails and moving their heads in

a regular succession of measured movements resulting in a cadence which

evidently pleased the eye of the Mahar as the cadence of our own

instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured

steps in unison to one side or the other, or backward and again

forward—it all seemed very silly and meaningless to me, but at the end

of the first piece the Mahars upon the rocks showed the first

indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by the dominant

race of Pellucidar. They beat their great wings up and down, and smote

their rocky perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook.

Then the band started another piece, and all was again as silent as the

grave. That was one great beauty about Mahar music—if you didn’t happen

to like a piece that was being played all you had to do was shut your

eyes.

When the band had exhausted its repertory it took wing and settled upon

the rocks above and behind the queen. Then the business of the day was

on. A man and woman were pushed into the arena by a couple of Sagoth

guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize the female—hoping

against hope that she might prove to be another than Dian the

Beautiful. Her back was toward me for a while, and the sight of the

great mass of raven hair piled high upon her head filled me with alarm.

Presently a door in one side of the arena wall was opened to admit a

huge, shaggy, bull-like creature.

“A Bos,” whispered Perry, excitedly. “His kind roamed the outer crust

with the cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We have been

carried back a million years, David, to the childhood of a planet—is it

not wondrous?”

But I saw only the raven hair of a half-naked girl, and my heart stood

still in dumb misery at the sight of her, nor had I any eyes for the

wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak I should have leaped

to the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay in store for

this priceless treasure of the Stone Age.

With the advent of the Bos—they call the thing a thag within

Pellucidar—two spears were tossed into the arena at the feet of the

prisoners. It seemed to me that a bean shooter would have been as

effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.

As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with

the strength of many earthly bulls, another door directly beneath us

was opened, and from it issued the most terrific roar that ever had

fallen upon my outraged ears. I could not at first see the beast from

which emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect of

bringing the two victims around with a sudden start, and then I saw the

girl’s face—she was not Dian! I could have wept for relief.

And now, as the two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of that

fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a huge tiger—such

as hunted the great Bos through the jungles primeval when the world was

young. In contour and markings it was not unlike the noblest of the

Bengals of our own world, but as its dimensions were exaggerated to

colossal proportions so too were its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid

yellows fairly screamed aloud; its whites were as eider down; its

blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its coat long and

shaggy as a mountain goat. That it is a beautiful animal there is no

gainsaying, but if its size and colors are magnified here within

Pellucidar, so is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not the

occasional member of its species that is a man hunter—all are man

hunters; but they do not confine their foraging to man alone, for there

is no flesh or fish within Pellucidar that they will not eat with

relish in the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge

carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews.

Upon one side of the doomed pair the thag bellowed and advanced, and

upon the other tarag, the frightful, crept toward them with gaping

mouth and dripping fangs.

The man seized the spears, handing one of them to the woman. At the

sound of the roaring of the tiger the bull’s bellowing became a

veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life had I heard such an

infernal din as the two brutes made, and to think it was all lost upon

the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged!

The thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag from the other.

The two puny things standing between them seemed already lost, but at

the very moment that the beasts were upon them the man grasped his

companion by the arm and together they leaped to one side, while the

frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision.

There ensued a battle royal which for sustained and frightful ferocity

transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again the

colossal bull tossed the enormous tiger high into the air, but each

time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter

with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire.

For a while the man and woman busied themselves only with keeping out

of the way of the two creatures, but finally I saw them separate and

each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger was now

upon the bull’s broad back, clinging to the huge neck with powerful

fangs while its long, strong talons ripped the heavy hide into shreds

and ribbons.

For a moment the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage,

its cloven hoofs widespread, its tail lashing viciously from side to

side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking it went careening about the

arena in frenzied attempt to unseat its rending rider. It was with

difficulty that the girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded

animal.

All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile, until in

desperation it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over and over. A

little of this so disconcerted the tiger, knocking its breath from it I

imagine, that it lost its hold and then, quick as a cat, the great thag

was up again and had buried those mighty horns deep in the tarag’s

abdomen, pinning him to the floor of the arena.

The great cat clawed at the shaggy head until eyes and ears were gone,

and naught but a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the

skull. Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment the thag

still stood motionless pinning down his adversary, and then the man

leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would be the least formidable

enemy, and ran his spear through the tarag’s heart.

As the animal’s fierce clawing ceased, the bull raised his gory,

sightless head, and with a horrid roar ran headlong across the arena.

With great leaps and bounds he came, straight toward the arena wall

directly beneath where we sat, and then accident carried him, in one of

his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the midst of the

slaves and Sagoths just in front of us. Swinging his bloody horns from

side to side the beast cut a wide swath before him straight upward

toward our seats. Before him slaves and gorilla-men fought in mad

stampede to escape the menace of the creature’s death agonies, for such

only could that frightful charge have been.

Forgetful of us, our guards joined in the general rush for the exits,

many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheater behind us. Perry,

Ghak, and I became separated in the chaos which reigned for a few

moments after the beast cleared the wall of the arena, each intent upon

saving his own hide.

I ran to the right, passing several exits choked with the fear mad mob

that were battling to escape. One would have thought that an entire

herd of thags was loose behind them, rather than a single blinded,

dying beast; but such is the effect of panic upon a crowd.

VII

FREEDOM

Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear of it left me, but

another emotion as quickly gripped me—hope of escape that the

demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant.

I thought of Perry, and but for the hope that I might better encompass

his release if myself free I should have put the thought of freedom

from me at once. As it was I hastened on toward the right searching for

an exit toward which no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it—a

low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.

Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows

of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for some

distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter

until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered

from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it

was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with the

darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my way

along step by step with a hand upon the wall beside me.

Presently the light increased and a moment later, to my delight, I came

upon a flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which the

brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in the

ground.

Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel’s end, and peering out

saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty, granite

towers which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city were

all in front of me—behind, the plain stretched level and unbroken to

the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, then, beyond the city,

and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced.

My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross the

plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought; but of a sudden I

recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelops Pellucidar,

and with a smile I stepped forth into the daylight.

Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain of Phutra—the gorgeous

flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which is

tipped with a tiny, five-pointed blossom—brilliant little stars of

varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage to add still another

charm to the weird, yet lovely, landscape.

But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in

which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the

myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of

gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of

the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I was never particularly

brilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped me. As I recall

it the difference is due in some part to the counter-attraction of that

portion of the earth’s crust directly opposite the spot upon the face

of Pellucidar at which one’s calculations are being made. Be that as it

may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility

within Pellucidar than upon the outer surface—there was a certain airy

lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily

detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced

in dreams.

And as I crossed Phutra’s flower-bespangled plain that time I seemed

almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Perry’s

suggestion and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. The more

I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom.

There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man

shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find some way to

encompass his release kept me from turning back to Phutra.

Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that

some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. It was

quite evident however that little less than a miracle could aid me, for

what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It

was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Phutra should I once

pass beyond view of the plain, and even were that possible, what aid

could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered?

The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with

a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. Behind me

no sign of pursuit developed, before me I saw no living thing. It was

as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world.

I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit of

the plain, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty

little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a

laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea.

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

five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance, except as to size

and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I watched

them playing about I discovered, not only that they suckled their

young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe as

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

which grew upon the rocks just above the water line.

It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture

one of these herbivorous cetaceans—that is what Perry calls them—and

make as good a meal as one can on raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had

become rather used, by this time, to the eating of food in its natural

state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the

amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passed these delicacies.

Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of the diminutive purple

whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water, and

then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my

victim, appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape.

Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face

continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered a

rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep

declivity to the shore of a placid, inland sea, upon the quiet surface

of which lay several beautiful islands.

The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be

seen that might threaten my new-found liberty, I slid over the edge of

the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into the delightful

valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace and

security.

The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thickly strewn with

strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty, others still housing as

varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their

sluggish lives along the silent shores of the antediluvian seas of the

outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first

man of that other world, so complete the solitude which surrounded me,

so primal and untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent

nature. I felt myself a second Adam wending my lonely way through the

childhood of a world, searching for my Eve, and at the thought there

rose before my mind’s eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face

surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair.

As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that it was not until

I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered all my

beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal

overlordship. The thing was a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and in

the bottom of it lay a crude paddle.

The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form

of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling of loose stones

from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes in that direction

I beheld the author of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man,

running rapidly toward me.

There was that in the haste with which he came which seemed quite

sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence of

brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe

position, but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.

The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping

him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative—the rude

skiff—and with a celerity which equaled his, I pushed the thing into

the sea and as it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the

end.

A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an

instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and

buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the paddle,

and with feverish haste urged the awkward, wobbly thing out upon the

surface of the sea.

A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-colored one had

plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His mighty

strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order,

for at best I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft,

which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to

follow, so that fully half my energy was expended in turning its blunt

prow back into the course.

I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that

my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next half-dozen

strokes. In a frenzy of despair, I bent to the grandfather of all

paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant

behind me gained and gained.

His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous

body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and the look of

terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further

concern as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look.

And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of a hideous monster

of that prehistoric deep—a mighty serpent of the sea, with fanged jaws,

and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes, and bony protuberances

upon head and snout that formed short, stout horns.

As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed

man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression of hopeless

appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden

compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man, and that he

might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in

the extremity of his danger.

Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my

pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. The

monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his

awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the

surface to devour him. The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled

about its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim’s face.

The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out upon the copper skin.

Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet

against the bony armor that covered that frightful carcass; but for all

the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with his open

palm.

At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellowman

was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile.

Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast

after me by him whom I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I tore

it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the

strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the

hydrophidian.

With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me, but

the spear, imbedded in its throat, prevented it from seizing me though

it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me.

VIII

THE MAHAR TEMPLE

The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff,

and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated

creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters

about us and soon from the weakening struggles it became evident that I

had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us

ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its

back quite dead.

And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in

which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of the

savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear I

looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, and there we

stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon

the while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other.

What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the

question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities.

Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to

translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance of his

language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard tongue that

the Sagoths use to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars.

To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon.

“What do you want of my spear?” he asked.

“Only to keep you from running it through me,” I replied.

“I would not do that,” he said, “for you have just saved my life,” and

with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom

of the skiff.

“Who are you,” he continued, “and from what country do you come?”

I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain how I

came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to

grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear it is for you

upon the outer crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. To

him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another world

far beneath his feet peopled by beings similar to himself, and he

laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus.

That which has never come within the scope of our really pitifully

meager world-experience cannot be—our finite minds cannot grasp that

which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which obtain

about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust which

wends its tiny way among the bowlders of the universe—the speck of

moist dirt we so proudly call the World.

So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a Mezop,

and that his name was Ja.

“Who are the Mezops?” I asked. “Where do they live?”

He looked at me in surprise.

“I might indeed believe that you were from another world,” he said,

“for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon the

islands of the seas. In so far as I ever have heard no Mezop lives

elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell upon islands, but of course

it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. At any

rate in this sea and those near by it is true that only people of my

race inhabit the islands.

“We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to

the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but the

larger islands. And we are warriors also,” he added proudly. “Even the

Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once, when Pellucidar was young, the

Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves as they do the other men of

Pellucidar, it is handed down from father to son among us that this is

so; but we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths, and those of

us that were captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities that at

last they learned that it were better to leave us alone, and later came

the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to catch their own

fish, except for amusement, and then they needed us to supply their

wants, and so a truce was made between the races. Now they give us

certain things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish

that we catch, and the Mezops and the Mahars live in peace.

“The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from the

prying eyes of their own Sagoths, that they practice their religious

rites in the temples they have builded there with our assistance. If

you live among us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship,

which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they

bring to take part in it.”

As Ja talked I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more

closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six or

seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that of

our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to

theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher tribes,

the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his mouth and

lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive and handsome

creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable makeshift

language we were compelled to use.

During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the

skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some

half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his crude

and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been so

short a time before that I had made such pitiful work of it.

As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed him.

Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond

the sand.

“We must hide our canoes,” explained Ja, “for the Mezops of Luana are

always at war with us and would steal them if they found them,” he

nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance

that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve

of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible to

the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see land and water curving

upward in the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted

into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung

suspended directly above one’s head required such a complete reversal

of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to stupefy one.

No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle,

presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which wound

hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of all

primitive folk, but there was one peculiarity about this Mezop trail

which I was later to find distinguished them from all other trails that

I ever have seen within or without the earth.

It would run on, plain and clear and well defined to end suddenly in

the midst of a tangle of matted jungle, then Ja would turn directly

back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree, climb

through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low

bush and alight once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow

back for a short distance only to turn directly about and retrace his

steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and

mysteriously as the former section. Then he would pass again across

some media which would reveal no spoor, to take up the broken thread of

the trail beyond.

As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but

admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops

who hit upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his track and

delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried

cities.

To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of

traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you would

realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. So

labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting

links and the distances which one must retrace one’s steps from the

paths’ ends to find them that a Mezop often reaches man’s estate before

he is familiar even with those which lead from his own city to the sea.

In fact three-fourths of the education of the young male Mezop consists

in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and the status of

an adult is largely determined by the number of trails which he can

follow upon his own island. The females never learn them, since from

birth to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of

their nativity is situated except they be taken to mate by a male from

another village, or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe.

After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward of

five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the exact

center of which stood as strange an appearing village as one might well

imagine.

Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the

ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven twigs,

mud covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by

some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of

the owner.

Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served to

admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were through

small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude

ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses varied

in size from two to several rooms. The largest that I entered was

divided into two floors and eight apartments.

All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully

cultivated fields in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and

vegetables as they required. Women and children were working in these

gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted

deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest attention. Among

them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area were many

warriors. These too saluted Ja, by touching the points of their spears

to the ground directly before them.

Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village—the house

with eight rooms—and taking me up into it gave me food and drink. There

I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms. Ja told

her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter most kind and

hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold and amuse the tiny

bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day rule the tribe, for

Ja, it seemed, was the chief of the community.

We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja’s amusement, for

it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man proposed

that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars which lay not far from

his village. “We are not supposed to visit it,” he said; “but the great

ones cannot hear and if we keep well out of sight they need never know

that we have been there. For my part I hate them and always have, but

the other chieftains of the island think it best that we continue to

maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races;

otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst

the hideous creatures and exterminate them—Pellucidar would be a better

place to live were there none of them.”

I wholly concurred in Ja’s belief, but it seemed that it might be a

difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus

conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we

came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to

those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the

carboniferous age.

Here was a mighty temple of hewn rock built in the shape of a rough

oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No doors

or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there

need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja

explained, the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial,

entering and leaving the building by means of the apertures in the

roof.

“But,” added Ja, “there is an entrance near the base of which even the

Mahars know nothing. Come,” and he led me across the clearing and about

the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of the wall.

Here he removed a couple of large bowlders, revealing a small opening

which led straight within the building, or so it seemed, though as I

entered after Ja I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme

darkness.

“We are within the outer wall,” said Ja. “It is hollow. Follow me

closely.”

The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a

primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to the

upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet when the

interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter and

presently we came opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us

an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple.

The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous

hideous Mahars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of granite

rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and

women like myself.

“What are the human beings doing here?” I asked.

“Wait and you shall see,” replied Ja. “They are to take a leading part

in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. You may be

thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall as they.”

Scarcely had he spoken than we heard a great fluttering of wings above

and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of

Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central

opening in the roof and circled in stately manner about the temple.

There were several Mahars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring

pterodactyls—thipdars, they are called within Pellucidar. Behind these

came the queen, flanked by other thipdars as she had been when she

entered the amphitheater at Phutra.

Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to

settle finally upon the damp, cold bowlders that fringe the outer edge

of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was reserved

for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible

guard.

All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. One

might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the

diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. The

men, for the most part, stood erect and stately with folded arms,

awaiting their doom; but the women and children clung to one another,

hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking race, these cave men

of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of

the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of

the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and little

else.

Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about; then very

slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid noiselessly into

the water. Up and down the long tank she swam, turning at the ends as

you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning upon

their backs and diving below the surface.

Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained at

rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne.

Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great, round eyes

upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought

from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves, and

bred and fattened, as we breed and fatten beef cattle.

The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried to

turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a woman;

but the reptile, with unblinking eyes, stared on with such fixity that

I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman, and the girl’s arms

to reach at last the very center of her brain.

Slowly the reptile’s head commenced to move to and fro, but the eyes

never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the victim

responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen,

slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen

power she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her

glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To the water’s edge she

came, nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the

little island. On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated

as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl’s knees,

and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was

at her waist; now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in

horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of

their own.

The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed

above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced until the end

of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from her face, her

horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile.

Now the water passed above the girl’s mouth and nose—her eyes and

forehead all that showed—yet still she walked on after the retreating

Mahar. The queen’s head slowly disappeared beneath the surface and

after it went the eyes of her victim—only a slow ripple widened toward

the shores to mark where the two vanished.

For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were

motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water for

the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of the tank

her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, her

eyes fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the helpless

girl to her doom.

And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the

maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the reptile

just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came

the girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and

though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned

her thrice over there was no indication, other than her dripping hair

and glistening body, that she had been submerged at all.

Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out again,

until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so that I

could have leaped into the tank to the child’s rescue had I not taken a

firm hold of myself.

Once they were below much longer than usual, and when they came to the

surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl’s arms was

gone—gnawed completely off at the shoulder—but the poor thing gave no

indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set eyes seemed

intensified.

The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then the

breasts, and then a part of the face—it was awful. The poor creatures

on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their

hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under

the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in

terror with their eyes fixed upon the terrible thing that was

transpiring before them.

Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when she

rose she came alone and swam sleepily toward her bowlder. The moment

she mounted it seemed to be the signal for the other Mahars to enter

the tank, and then commenced, upon a larger scale, a repetition of the

uncanny performance through which the queen had led her victim.

Only the women and children fell prey to the Mahars—they being the

weakest and most tender—and when they had satisfied their appetite for

human flesh, some of them devouring two and three of the slaves, there

were only a score of full-grown men left, and I thought that for some

reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the case, for as

the last Mahar crawled to her rock the queen’s thipdars darted into the

air, circled the temple once and then, hissing like steam engines,

swooped down upon the remaining slaves.

There was no hypnotism here—just the plain, brutal ferocity of the

beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it

was less horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the time

the thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves the Mahars were all

asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls

swung back to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into

slumber.

“I thought the Mahars seldom, if ever, slept,” I said to Ja.

“They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere,” he

replied. “The Mahars of Phutra are not supposed to eat human flesh, yet

slaves are brought here by thousands and almost always you will find

Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring their

Sagoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is

supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race; but I

would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no Mahar but

eats human flesh whenever she can get it.”

“Why should they object to eating human flesh,” I asked, “if it is true

that they look upon us as lower animals?”

“It is not because they consider us their equals that they are supposed

to look with abhorrence upon those who eat our flesh,” replied Ja; “it

is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They would not think of

eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy, any more

than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is

difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them.”

“I wonder if they left a single victim,” I remarked, leaning far out of

the opening in the rocky wall to inspect the temple better. Directly

below me the water lapped the very side of the wall, there being a

break in the bowlders at this point as there was at several other

places about the side of the temple.

My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed a part

of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for it. It

slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save myself and I

plunged headforemost into the water below.

Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury

from the fall, but as I was rising to the surface my mind filled with

the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible doom which

awaited me the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature

that had disturbed their slumber.

As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in

the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to the

utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified

glance in the direction of the Mahars and the thipdars I was almost

stunned to see that not a single one remained upon the rocks where I

had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple with my eyes could I

discern any within it.

For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing, until I realized

that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the

noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is no such

thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had

been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to figure

out by earthly standards—this matter of elapsed time—but when I set

myself to it I began to realize that I might have been submerged a

second or a month or not at all. You have no conception of the strange

contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods of

measuring time, as we know them upon earth, are non-existent.

I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me

for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars

filled me with apprehension lest they be practicing their uncanny art

upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was alone in the

temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore,

and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was

trembling like a leaf—you cannot imagine the awful horror which even

the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the

human mind, and to feel that you are in their power—that they are

crawling, slimy, and abhorrent, to drag you down beneath the waters and

devour you! It is frightful.

But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was

indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone was the next

question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in search

of a means to escape.

Several times I called to Ja, but he must have left after I tumbled

into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless he had

felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our hiding place

as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from the

temple and back to his village.

I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the

doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that

the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Mahars the

human flesh they craved would all be carried through the air, and so I

continued my search until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of

several loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple.

A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to

permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later I had

scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond.

Here I sank panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the

giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning fangs of

death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers lay hidden in

this island jungle, there could be none so fearsome as those which I

had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely enough if it

but came in the form of some familiar beast or man—anything other than

the hideous and uncanny Mahars.

IX

THE FACE OF DEATH

I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very

hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while, I set

off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the island was

not so large but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move in

a straight line, but there came the difficulty as there was no way in

which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun, of course, being

always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I

could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight

line.

As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four

times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did so,

and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the chance

discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had

stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach.

I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft

down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience with

Ja had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick

about it and get far beyond the owner’s reach as soon as possible.

I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that at

which Ja and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight.

For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well out, before I

saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in

directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to

return to Phutra and give myself up that I might be once more with

Perry and Ghak the Hairy One.

I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone,

especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well

formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I realized

that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim

indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so

long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability that

I might find him was less than slight.

Had Perry been dead, I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit

against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. I

could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had found

the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and

then set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant

companion of my waking hours, and the central and beloved figure of my

dreams.

But, to the best of my knowledge, Perry still lived and it was my duty

and wish to be again with him, that we might share the dangers and

vicissitudes of the strange world we had discovered. And Ghak, too; the

great, shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for he

was indeed every inch a man and king. Uncouth, perhaps, and brutal,

too, if judged too harshly by the standards of effete twentieth-century

civilization, but withal noble, dignified, chivalrous, and loveable.

Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered Ja’s

canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to

retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my troubles came when I

entered the canyon beyond the summit, for here I found that several of

them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I

had traversed to reach the pass I could not for the life of me

remember.

It was all a matter of chance and so I set off down that which seemed

the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that many of us

do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out the course of

our lives, and again learned that it is not always best to follow the

line of least resistance.

By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced

that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Phutra and the inland sea

I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps to

the summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only

solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the

canyon just before me seemed to suggest that it was about to open into

a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I

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

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

saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of

the canyon continued to the water’s edge, the valley lying to my left,

and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a

broad level beach.

Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to

the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of

the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the

foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough

all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced

and retreated.

Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very

beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled vegetation of

the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, but

though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if anything

lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern

it.

Presently I stood upon the beach looking out over the wide and lonely

sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet ventured, to

discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its

invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure. What savage

faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant

watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore! How far did

it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in

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

might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. For countless

ages it had rolled up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet

today it remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible

from its beaches.

The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I

had been carried back to the birth time of our own outer world to look

upon its lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was

a new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. I was

dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay before us could

Perry and I but escape the Mahars, when something, a slight noise I

imagine, drew my attention behind me.

As I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract took

wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form that

I beheld advancing upon me.

A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with toad-like body and the mighty jaws

of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet it

moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff that

ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp from

which the creature had sneaked upon me, behind lay the mighty untracked

sea, and before me in the center of the narrow way that led to safety

stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh.

A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was

facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose

fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back as the

Triassic formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, unarmed,

and, with the exception of a loin cloth, as naked as I had come into

the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that distant,

prehistoric morn that he encountered for the first time the terrifying

progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the restless,

mysterious sea.

Unquestionably he had escaped, or I should not have been within

Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had handed

down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited

from him, the specific application of the instinct of self-preservation

which saved him from the fate which loomed so close before me today.

To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to

jumping into a den of lions to escape one upon the outside. The sea and

swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous

amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue me

into either the sea or the swamp with equal facility.

There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I

thought of Perry—how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought

of my friends of the outer world, and of how they all would go on

living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate

that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had

witnessed the last frightful agony of my extinction. And with these

thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life and

happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. We may be

snuffed out without an instant’s warning, and for a brief day our

friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while

the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our

coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute

sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely

demise. The labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to

realize that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that

his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my

predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would

so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth?

He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from

the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could have shouted

in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood Ja, waving

frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff’s base.

I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me for

his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would

watch me end. It was cold comfort I presume, but yet I derived some

slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it.

To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable

cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw Ja, agile as a monkey,

crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small

projections, and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here and

there.

The labyrinthodon evidently thought that Ja was coming to double his

portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff

and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along

behind me.

As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what Ja intended doing, but

I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come down to

within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with one hand to

a small ledge, and with his feet resting precariously upon tiny bushes

that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his

long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground.

To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Ja down and

precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored one

was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I came near

the spear I told Ja so, and that I could not risk him to try to save

myself.

But he insisted that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger

himself.

“The danger is still yours,” he called, “for unless you move much more

rapidly than you are now, the sithic will be upon you and drag you back

before ever you are halfway up the spear—he can rear up and reach you

with ease anywhere below where I stand.”

Well, Ja should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the

spear and clambered up toward the red man as rapidly as I could—being

so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I imagine the

slow-witted sithic, as Ja called him, suddenly realized our intentions

and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it

doubled as he had hoped.

When he saw me clambering up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly

shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific rate. I had

reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost; another six

inches would give me a hold on Ja’s hand, when I felt a sudden wrench

from below and glancing fearfully downward saw the mighty jaws of the

monster close on the sharp point of the weapon.

I made a frantic effort to reach Ja’s hand, the sithic gave a

tremendous tug that came near to jerking Ja from his frail hold on the

surface of the rock, the spear slipped from his fingers, and still

clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner.

At the instant that he felt the spear come away from Ja’s hand the

creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me, for when I came

down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point yet

rested in his mouth and the result was that the sharpened end

transfixed his lower jaw.

With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost

my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face and head, across

his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground.

Scarce had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly

for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance over

my shoulder showed me the sithic engaged in pawing at the spear stuck

through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in this

occupation that I had gained the safety of the cliff top before he was

ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight

within the valley he dashed, hissing, into the rank vegetation of the

swamp and that was the last I saw of him.

X

PHUTRA AGAIN

I hastened to the cliff edge above Ja and helped him to a secure

footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save me,

which had come so near miscarrying.

“I had given you up for lost when you tumbled into the Mahar temple,”

he said, “for not even I could save you from their clutches, and you

may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the

beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the sand

beside it.

“I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must

be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk

upon the mainland both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and

men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. It is

well that I arrived when I did.”

“But why did you do it?” I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on

the part of a man of another world and a different race and color.

“You saved my life,” he replied; “from that moment it became my duty to

protect and befriend you. I would have been no true Mezop had I evaded

my plain duty; but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. I

wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member of

my tribe. Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing, and you

shall have, to choose a mate from, the most beautiful girls of

Pellucidar. Will you come?”

I told him about Perry then, and Dian the Beautiful, and how my duty

was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him—if I could

ever find his island.

“Oh, that is easy, my friend,” he said. “You need merely to come to the

foot of the highest peak of the Mountains of the Clouds. There you will

find a river which flows into the Lural Az. Directly opposite the mouth

of the river you will see three large islands far out, so far that they

are barely discernible, the one to the extreme left as you face them

from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I rule the tribe of

Anoroc.”

“But how am I to find the Mountains of the Clouds?” I asked. “Men say

that they are visible from half Pellucidar,” he replied.

“How large is Pellucidar?” I asked, wondering what sort of theory these

primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their world.

“The Mahars say it is round, like the inside of a tola shell,” he

answered, “but that is ridiculous, since, were it true, we should fall

back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters of

Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite

flat and extends no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges,

so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me, is a great wall

that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the burning

sea whereon Pellucidar floats; but I never have been so far from Anoroc

as to have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite

reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at

all in the foolish belief of the Mahars. According to them

Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with their

heads pointed downward!” and Ja laughed uproariously at the very

thought.

It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had not

advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly Mahars had so

outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many

ages it would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even

were it given to Perry and me to attempt it. Possibly we would be

killed for our pains as were those men of the outer world who dared

challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth’s younger

days. But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever presented

itself.

And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity—that I might

make a small beginning upon Ja, who was my friend, and thus note the

effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian.

“Ja,” I said, “what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as

the Mahars’ theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is

correct?”

“I would say,” he replied, “that either you are a fool, or took me for

one.”

“But, Ja,” I insisted, “if their theory is incorrect how do you account

for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer

crust to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct all is a sea of flame

beneath us, wherein no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a great

world that is covered with human beings, and beasts, and birds, and

fishes in mighty oceans.”

“You live upon the under side of Pellucidar, and walk always with your

head pointed downward?” he scoffed. “And were I to believe that, my

friend, I should indeed be mad.”

I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him, and by the means of

the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a body

to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened so intently

that I thought I had made an impression, and started the train of

thought that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth.

But I was mistaken.

“Your own illustration,” he said finally, “proves the falsity of your

theory.” He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. “See,” he

said, “without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes

something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported upon the

flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls—you have proven it

yourself!” He had me, that time—you could see it in his eye.

It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for

when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and

the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to picture to

Ja or any other Pellucidarian the sun, the moon, the planets, and the

countless stars. Those born within the inner world could no more

conceive of such things than can we of the outer crust reduce to

factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and

eternity.

“Well, Ja,” I laughed, “whether we be walking with our feet up or down,

here we are, and the question of greatest importance is not so much

where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that

you could guide me to Phutra where I may give myself up to the Mahars

once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which

the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to

the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the

guardsman. I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time my

friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay may

mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their

consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in

the pit beneath the building in which we were confined.”

“You would return to captivity?” cried Ja.

“My friends are there,” I replied, “the only friends I have in

Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may I do under the

circumstances?”

He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully.

“It is what a brave man and a good friend should do,” he said; “yet it

seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to

death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for

your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a

prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will. There are but

few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be

recaptured.”

“I see no other way, Ja,” I said, “though I can assure you that I would

rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, Perry is much

too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be

called upon to rescue him from the former locality.”

Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he

said, “You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which

Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there.

Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demons

who dwell there. We know this because when graves are opened we find

that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. That is why

we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them

and bear them bit by bit to the Dead World above the Land of Awful

Shadow. If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it may

go to Molop Az.”

As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come to

the great ocean and the sithic. Ja did his best to dissuade me from

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

consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where

lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach

where I had again met Ja. It was evident that I had spent much time

following the windings of a tortuous canyon, while just beyond the

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

times.

As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the

flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me to

abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in

my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind

that he was looking upon me for the last time.

I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much

indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, and

his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished much

in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful in our

effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.

There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first—at least

it was the great thing to me—the finding of Dian the Beautiful. I

wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my

ignorance, and I wanted to—well, I wanted to see her again, and to be

with her.

Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and

then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard

the ways to buried Phutra. At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance

I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four of the

gorilla-men were dashing toward me.

Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches

I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them

as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon

them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they ceased

their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to turn

and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most

enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears.

“What do you here?” shouted one, and then as he recognized me, “Ho! It

is the slave who claims to be from another world—he who escaped when

the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater. But why do you return,

having once made good your escape?”

“I did not ‘escape’,” I replied. “I but ran away to avoid the thag, as

did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost

my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way

back.”

“And you come of your free will back to Phutra!” exclaimed one of the

guardsmen.

“Where else might I go?” I asked. “I am a stranger within Pellucidar

and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I not desire to be in

Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What better

lot could man desire?”

The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so

being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt would

be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they

still considered it.

I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them

off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I

was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily

return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they

would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in

arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city.

So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within

the large room that was the thing’s office. With cold, reptilian eyes

the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and

read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of

my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men’s lips and fingers during

the recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Sagoths.

“You say that you returned to Phutra of your own free will, because you

think yourself better off here than elsewhere—do you not know that you

may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests of the

wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are

continually occupied with?”

I hadn’t heard of anything of that nature, but I thought best not to

admit it.

“I could be in no more danger here,” I said, “than naked and unarmed in

the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was

fortunate, I think, to return to Phutra at all. As it was I barely

escaped death within the jaws of a huge sithic. No, I am sure that I am

safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as rule Phutra. At

least such would be the case in my own world, where human beings like

myself rule supreme. There the higher races of man extend protection

and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a

stranger here I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be

accorded me.”

The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking

and the Sagoth had translated my words to his master. The creature

seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some message to the

Sagoth. The latter turned, and motioning me to follow him, left the

presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me marched the

balance of the guard.

“What are they going to do with me?” I asked the fellow at my right.

“You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you

regarding this strange world from which you say you come.”

After a moment’s silence he turned to me again.

“Do you happen to know,” he asked, “what the Mahars do to slaves who

lie to them?”

“No,” I replied, “nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of

lying to the Mahars.”

“Then be careful that you don’t repeat the impossible tale you told

Sol-to-to just now—another world, indeed, where human beings rule!” he

concluded in fine scorn.

“But it is the truth,” I insisted. “From where else then did I come? I

am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that.”

“It is your misfortune then,” he remarked dryly, “that you may not be

judged by one with but half an eye.”

“What will they do with me,” I asked, “if they do not have a mind to

believe me?”

“You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in

research work by the learned ones,” he replied.

“And what will they do with me there?” I persisted.

“No one knows except the Mahars and those who go to the pits with them,

but as the latter never return, their knowledge does them but little

good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their subjects while they

are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However I should not

imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was being cut up;

but of course this is all but conjecture. The chances are that ere long

you will know much more about it than I,” and he grinned as he spoke.

The Sagoths have a well-developed sense of humor.

“And suppose it is the arena,” I continued; “what then?”

“You saw the two who met the tarag and the thag the time that you

escaped?” he said.

“Yes.”

“Your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for them,”

he explained, “though of course the same kinds of animals might not be

employed.”

“It is sure death in either event?” I asked.

“What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not

know, nor does any other,” he replied; “but those who go to the arena

may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom

you saw.”

“They gained their liberty? And how?”

“It is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who remain alive

within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus it has

happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands, whom we

have captured on our slave raids, have battled the brutes turned in

upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the

instance which you witnessed the beasts killed each other, but the

result was the same—the man and woman were liberated, furnished with

weapons, and started on their homeward journey. Upon the left shoulder

of each a mark was burned—the mark of the Mahars—which will forever

protect these two from slaving parties.”

“There is a slender chance for me then if I be sent to the arena, and

none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits?”

“You are quite right,” he replied; “but do not felicitate yourself too

quickly should you be sent to the arena, for there is scarce one in a

thousand who comes out alive.”

To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I had

been confined with Perry and Ghak before my escape. At the doorway I

was turned over to the guards there.

“He will doubtless be called before the investigators shortly,” said he

who had brought me back, “so have him in readiness.”

The guards in whose hands I now found myself, upon hearing that I had

returned of my own volition to Phutra evidently felt that it would be

safe to give me liberty within the building as had been the custom

before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to whatever duty had

been mine formerly.

My first act was to hunt up Perry, whom I found poring as usual over

the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and

rearranging upon new shelves.

As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only

to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I was both

astonished and hurt at his indifference. And to think that I was

risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty and

affection!

“Why, Perry!” I exclaimed, “haven’t you a word for me after my long

absence?”

“Long absence!” he repeated in evident astonishment. “What do you

mean?”

“Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed me

since that time we were separated by the charging thag within the

arena?”

“‘That time’,” he repeated. “Why man, I have but just returned from the

arena! You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much later I

should indeed have been worried, and as it is I had intended asking you

about how you escaped the beast as soon as I had completed the

translation of this most interesting passage.”

“Perry, you ARE mad,” I exclaimed. “Why, the Lord only knows how long I

have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of

humans within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their

hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them and from a

great labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious

wanderings across an unknown world. I must have been away for months,

Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and

insist that we have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to

treat a friend? I’m surprised at you, Perry, and if I’d thought for a

moment that you cared no more for me than this I should not have

returned to chance death at the hands of the Mahars for your sake.”

The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There was a

puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt sorrow in

his eyes.

“David, my boy,” he said, “how could you for a moment doubt my love for

you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I know

that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not; but how in

the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations that each of

us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time since last we saw

each other. You are positive that months have gone by, while to me it

seems equally certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you

in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and at the

same time both are wrong? First tell me what time is, and then maybe I

can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning?”

I didn’t and said so.

“Yes,” continued the old man, “we are both right. To me, bent over my

book here, there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or

nothing to waste my energies and so have required neither food nor

sleep, but you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted

strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food,

and so, having eaten and slept many times since last you saw me you

naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. As a matter

of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no

such thing as time—surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar,

where there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why, the

Mahars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here

in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. There

seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it is

impossible for our outer-earthly minds to grasp such a condition, but

our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence.”

It was too big a subject for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to

enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening with

interest to my account of the adventures through which I had passed he

returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with

considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a

Sagoth.

“Come!” commanded the intruder, beckoning to me. “The investigators

would speak with you.”