“If you do I’ll choke the wind out of you,” threatened the man. “Come in
here where we can talk better. Then you can yell all you want for no one
can hear you.”
Tanar heard the man insert a key in the lock and as he did so the
Pellucidarian sought a hiding place behind a pile of wicker hampers.
“And after you get out of this room,” continued the man, “there will be
nothing left for you to yell about.”
“I have told you right along,” said the woman, “that I would rather kill
myself than mate with you, but if you take me by force I shall still
kill myself, but I shall kill you first.”
The heart of Tanar of Pellucidar leaped in his breast when he heard that
voice. His fingers closed upon the hilt of the cutlass at his side, and
as Bulf voiced a sneering laugh in answer to the girl’s threat, the
Sarian leaped from his concealment, a naked blade shining in his right
hand.
At the sound behind him Bulf wheeled about and for an instant he did not
recognize the Sarian in the Korsar garb, but Stellara did and she voiced
a cry of mingled surprise and joy.
“Tanar!” she cried. “My Tanar!”
As the Sarian rushed him Bulf fell back, drawing his cutlass as he
retreated. Tanar saw that he was making for the door leading into the
corridor and he rushed at the man to engage him before he could escape,
so that Bulf was forced to stand and defend himself.
“Stand back,” cried Bulf, “or you shall die for this,” but Tanar of
Pellucidar only laughed in his face, as he swung a wicked blow at the
man’s head, which Bulf but barely parried, and then they were at one
another like two wild beasts.
Tanar drew first blood from a slight gash in Bulf’s shoulder and then
the fellow yelled for help.
“You said that no one could hear Stellara’s cries for help from this
apartment,” taunted Tanar, “so why do you think that they can hear
yours?”
“Let me out of here,” cried Bulf. “Let me out and I will give you your
freedom.” But Tanar rushed him into a corner and the sharp edge of his
cutlass sheared an ear from Bulf’s head.
“Help!” shrieked the Korsar. “Help! it is Bulf. The Sarian is killing
me.”
Fearful that his loud cries might reach the corridor beyond and attract
attention, Tanar increased the fury of his assault. He beat down the
Korsar’s guard. He swung his cutlass in one terrible circle that clove
Bulf’s ugly skull to the bridge of his nose, and with a gurgling gasp
the great brute lunged forward upon his face. And Tanar of Pellucidar
turned and took Stellara in his arms.
“Thank God,” he said, “that I was in time.”
“It must have been God Himself who led you to this room,” said the girl.
“I thought you dead. They told me that you were dead.”
“No,” said Tanar. “They put me in a dark dungeon beneath the palace,
where I was condemned to remain for life.”
“And you have been so near me all this time,” said Stellara, “and I
thought that you were dead.”
“For a long time I thought that I was worse than dead,” replied the man.
“Darkness, solitude and silence—God! That is worse than death.”
“And yet you escaped!” The girl’s voice was filled with awe.
“It was because of you that I escaped,” said Tanar. “Thoughts of you
kept me from going mad—thought and hope urged me on to seek some avenue
of escape. Never again as long as life is in me shall I feel that there
can be any situation that is entirely hopeless after what I have passed
through.”
Stellara shook her head. “Your hope will have to be strong, dear heart,
against the discouragement that you must face in seeking a way out of
the palace of The Cid and the city of Korsar.”
“I have come this far,” replied Tanar. “Already have I achieved the
impossible. Why should I doubt my ability to wrest freedom for you and
for me from whatever fate holds in store for us?”
“You cannot pass them with that smooth face, Tanar,” said the girl,
sadly. “Ah, if you only had Bulf’s whiskers,” and she glanced down at
the corpse of the fallen man.
Tanar turned, too, and looked down at Bulf, where he lay in a pool of
blood upon the floor. And then quickly he faced Stellara. “Why not?” he
cried. “Why not?”
XVII
DOWN TO THE SEA
“What do you mean?” demanded Stellara.
“Wait and you shall see,” replied Tanar, and drawing his dirk he stooped
and turned Bulf over upon his back. Then with the razor-sharp blade of
his weapon he commenced to hack off the bushy, black beard of the dead
Korsar, while Stellara looked on in questioning wonder.
Spreading Bulf’s headcloth flat upon the floor, Tanar deposited upon it
the hair that he cut from the man’s face, and when he had completed his
grewsome tonsorial effort he folded the hair into the handkerchief, and,
rising, motioned for Stellara to follow him.
Going to the door that led into the tunnel through which he had escaped
from the dungeon, Tanar opened it, and, smearing his fingers with the
pitch that exuded from the boards upon the inside of the door, he
smeared some of it upon the side of his face and then turned to
Stellara.
“Put this hair upon my face in as natural a way as you can. You have
lived among them all your life, so you should know well how a Korsar’s
beard should look.”
Horrible as the plan seemed and though she shrank from touching the hair
of the dead man, Stellara steeled herself and did as Tanar bid. Little
by little, patch by patch, Tanar applied pitch to his face and Stellara
placed the hair upon it until presently only the eyes and nose of the
Sarian remained exposed. The expression of the former were altered by
increasing the size and bushiness of the eyebrows with shreds of Bulf’s
beard that had been left over, and then Tanar smeared his nose with some
of Bulf’s blood, for many of the Korsars had large, red noses. Then
Stellara stood away and surveyed him critically. “Your own mother would
not know you,” she said.
“Do you think I can pass as a Korsar?” he asked.
“No one will suspect, unless they question you closely as you leave the
palace.”
“We are going together,” said Tanar.
“But how?” asked Stellara.
“I have been thinking of another plan,” he said. “I noticed when I was
living in the barracks that sailors going toward the river had no
difficulty in passing through the gate leaving the palace. In fact, it
is always much easier to leave the palace than to enter it. On many
occasions I have heard them say merely that they were going to their
ships. We can do the same.”
“Do I look like a Korsar sailor?” demanded Stellara.
“You will when I get through with you,” said Tanar, with a grin.
“What do you mean?”
“There is Korsar clothing here,” said Tanar; “enough to outfit a dozen
and there is still plenty of hair on Bulf’s head.”
The girl drew back with a shudder. “Oh, Tanar! You cannot mean that.”
“What other way is there?” he demanded. “If we can escape together is it
not worth any price that we might have to pay?”
“You are right,” she said. “I will do it.”
When Tanar completed, his work upon her, Stellara had been transformed
into a bearded Korsar, but the best that he could do in the way of
disguise failed to entirely hide the contours of her hips and breasts.
“I am afraid they will suspect,” he said. “Your figure is too feminine
for shorts and a shirt to hide it.”
“Wait,” exclaimed Stellara. “Sometimes the sailors, when they are going
on long voyages, wear cloaks, which they use to sleep in if the nights
are cool. Let us see if we can find such a one here.”
“Yes, I saw one,” replied Tanar, and crossing the room he returned with
a cloak made of wide striped goods. “That will give you greater height,”
he said. But when they draped it about her, her hips were still too much
in evidence.
“Build out my shoulders,” suggested Stellara, and with scarfs and
handkerchiefs the Sarian built the girl’s shoulders out so that the
cloak hung straight and she resembled a short, stocky man, more than a
slender, well-formed girl.
“Now we are ready,” said the Sarian. Stellara pointed to the body of
Bulf.
“We cannot leave that lying there,” she said. “Someone may come to this
room and discover it and when they do every man in the palace—yes, even
in the entire city—will be arrested and questioned.”
Tanar looked about the room and then he seized the corpse of Bulf and
dragged it into a far corner, after which he piled bundles of hides and
baskets upon it until it was entirely concealed, and over the blood
stains upon the floor he dragged other bales and baskets until all signs
of the duel had been erased or hidden.
“And now,” he said, “is as good a time as another to put our disguises
to the test.” Together they approached the door. “You know the least
frequented passages to the garden,” said Tanar. “Let us make our way
from the palace through the garden to the gate that gave us escape
before.”
“Then follow me,” replied Stellara, as Tanar opened the door and the two
stepped out into the corridor beyond. It was empty. Tanar closed the
door behind him, and Stellara led the way down the passage.
They had proceeded but a short distance when they heard a man’s voice in
an apartment to the left.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
“I do not know,” replied a woman’s voice. “She was here but a moment ago
and Bulf was with her.”
“Find them and lose no time about it,” commanded the man, sternly. And
he stepped from the apartment just as Tanar and Stellara were
approaching.
It was The Cid. Stellara’s heart stopped beating as the Korsar ruler
looked into the faces of Tanar and herself.
“Who are you?” demanded The Cid.
“We are sailors,” said Tanar, quickly, before Stellara could reply.
“What are you doing here in my palace?” demanded the Korsar ruler.
“We were sent here with packages to the storeroom,” replied Tanar, “and
we are but now returning to our ship.”
“Well, be quick about it. I do not like your looks,” growled The Cid as
he stamped off down the corridor ahead of them.
Tanar saw Stellara sway and he stepped to her side and supported her,
but she quickly gained possession of herself, and an instant later
turned to the right and led Tanar through a doorway into the garden.
“God!” whispered the man, as they walked side by side after quitting the
building. “If The Cid did not know you, then your disguise must be
perfect.”
Stellara shook her head for even as yet she could not control her voice
to speak, following the terror induced by her encounter with The Cid.
There were a number of men and women in the garden close to the palace.
Some of these scrutinized them casually, but they passed by in safety
and a moment later the gravel walk they were following wound through
dense shrubbery that hid them from view and then they were at the
doorway in the garden wall.
Again fortune favored them here and they passed out into the barracks
yards without being noticed.
Electing to try the main gate because of the greater number of people
who passed to and fro through it, Tanar turned to the right, passed
along the full length of the barracks past a dozen men and approached
the gate with Stellara at his side.
They were almost through when a stupid looking Korsar soldier stopped
them. “Who are you,” he demanded, “and what business takes you from the
palace?”
“We are sailors,” replied Tanar. “We are going to our ship.”
“What were you doing in the palace?” demanded the man.
“We took packages there from the captain of the ship to The Cid’s
storeroom,” explained the Sarian.
“I do not like the looks of you,” said the man. “I have never seen
either one of you before.”
“We have been away upon a long cruise,” replied Tanar.
“Wait here until the captain of the gate returns,” said the man. “He
will wish to question you.”
The Sarian’s heart sank. “If we are late in returning to our ship, we
shall be punished,” said he.
“That is nothing to me,” replied the soldier.
Stellara reached inside her cloak and beneath the man’s shorts that
covered her own apparel and searched until she found a pouch that was
attached to her girdle. From this she drew something which she slipped
into Tanar’s hands. He understood immediately, and stepping close to the
soldier he pressed two pieces of gold into the fellow’s palm. “It will
go very hard with us if we are late,” he said.
The man felt the cool gold within his palm. “Very well,” he said,
gruffly, “go on about your business, and be quick about it.”
Without waiting for a second invitation Tanar and Stellara merged with
the crowd upon the Korsar street. Nor did either speak, and it is
possible that Stellara did not even breathe until they had left the
palace gate well behind.
“And where now?” she asked at last.
“We are going to sea,” replied the man.
“In a Korsar ship?” she demanded.
“In a Korsar boat,” he replied. “We are going fishing.”
Along the banks of the river were moored many craft, but when Tanar saw
how many men were on or around them he realized that the plan he had
chosen, which contemplated stealing a fishing boat, most probably would
end disastrously, and he explained his doubts to Stellara.
“We could never do it,” she said. “Stealing a boat is considered the
most heinous crime that one can commit in Korsar, and if the owner of a
boat is not aboard it you may rest assured that some of his friends are
watching it for him, even though there is little likelihood that anyone
will attempt to steal it since the penalty is death.”
Tanar shook his head. “Then we shall have to risk passing through the
entire city of Korsar,” he said, “and going out into the open country
without any reasonable excuse in the event that we are questioned.”
“We might buy a boat,” suggested Stellara.
“I have no money,” said Tanar.
“I have,” replied the girl. “The Cid has always kept me well supplied
with gold.” Once more she reached into her pouch and drew forth a
handful of gold pieces. “Here,” she said, “take these. If they are not
enough you can ask me for more, but I think that you can buy a boat for
half that sum.”
Questioning the first man that he approached at the river side, Tanar
learned that there was a small fishing boat for sale a short way down
the river, and it was not long before they had found its owner and
consummated the purchase.
As they pushed off into the current and floated down stream, Tanar
became conscious of a sudden conviction that his escape from Korsar had
been effected too easily; that there must be something wrong, that
either he was dreaming or else disaster and recapture lay just ahead.
Borne down toward the sea by the slow current of the river, Tanar
wielded a single oar, paddlewise from the stern, to keep the boat out in
the channel and its bow in the right direction, for he did not wish to
make sail under the eyes of Korsar sailors and fishermen, as he was well
aware that he could not do so without attracting attention by his
bungling to his evident inexperience and thus casting suspicion upon
them.
Slowly the boat drew away from the city and from the Korsar raiders
anchored in mid—stream and then, at last, he felt that it would be safe
to hoist the sail and take advantage of the land breeze that was
blowing.
With Stellara’s assistance the canvas was spread and as it bellied to
the wind the craft bore forward with accelerated speed, and then behind
them they heard shouts and, turning, saw three boats speeding toward
them.
Across the waters came commands for them to lay to.
The pursuing boats, which had set out under sail and had already
acquired considerable momentum, appeared to be rapidly overhauling the
smaller craft. But presently, as the speed of the latter increased, the
distance between them seemed not to vary.
The shouts of the pursuers had attracted the attention of the sailors on
board the anchored raiders, and presently Tanar and Stellara heard the
deep boom of a cannon and a heavy shot struck the water just off their
starboard bow.
Tanar shook his head. “That is too close,” he said. “I had better come
about.”
“Why?” demanded Stellara.
“I do not mind risking capture,” he said, “because in that event no harm
will befall you when they discover your identity, but I cannot risk the
cannon shots for if one of them strikes us, you will be killed.”
“Do not come about,” cried the girl. “I would rather die here with you
than be captured, for capture would mean death for you and then I should
not care to live. Keep on, Tanar, we may outdistance them yet. And as
for their cannon shots, a small, moving boat like this is a difficult
target and their marksmanship is none too good.”
Again the cannon boomed and this time the ball passed over them and
struck the water just beyond.
“They are getting our range,” said Tanar.
The girl moved close to his side, where he sat by the tiller. “Put your
arm around me, Tanar,” she said. “If we must die, let us die together.”
The Sarian encircled her with his free arm and drew her close to him,
and an instant later there was a terrific explosion from the direction
of the raider that had been firing on them. Turning quickly toward the
ship, they saw what had happened—an overcharged cannon had exploded.
“They were too anxious,” said Tanar.
It was some time before another shot was fired and this one fell far
astern, but the pursuing boats were clinging tenaciously to their wake.
“They are not gaining,” said Stellara.
“No,” said Tanar, “and neither are we.”
“But I think we shall after we reach the open sea,” said the girl. “We
shall get more wind there and this boat is lighter and speedier than
theirs. Fate smiled upon us when it led us to this boat rather than to a
larger one.”
As they approached the sea their pursuers, evidently fearing precisely
what Stellara had suggested, opened fire upon them with harquebuses and
pistols. Occasionally a missile would come dangerously close, but the
range was just a little too great for their primitive weapons and poor
powder.
On they sailed out into the open Korsar Az, which stretched onward and
upward into the concealing mist of the distance. Upon their left the sea
ran inward forming a great bay, while almost directly ahead of them,
though at so great a distance that it was barely discernible, rose the
dim outlines of a headland, and toward this Tanar held his course.
The chase had settled down into a dogged test of endurance. It was
evident that the Korsars had no intention of giving up their prey even
though the pursuit led to the opposite shore of the Korsar Az, and it
was equally evident that Tanar entertained no thought of surrender.
On and on they sped, the pursued and the pursuers. Slowly the headland
took shape before them, and later a great forest was visible to the left
of it—a forest that ran down almost to the sea.
“You are making for land?” asked Stellara.
“Yes,” replied the Sarian. “We have neither food nor water and if we had
I am not sufficiently a sailor to risk navigating this craft across the
Korsar Az.”
“But if we take to the land, they will be able to trail us,” said the
girl.
“You forget the trees, Stellara,” the man reminded her.
“Yes, the trees,” she cried. “I had forgotten. If we can reach the trees
I believe that we shall be safe.”
As they approached the shore inside the headland, they saw great combing
rollers breaking among the rocks and the angry, sullen boom of the sea
came back to their ears.
“No boat can live in that,” said Stellara.
Tanar glanced up and down the shore-line as far as he could see and then
he turned and let his eyes rest sadly upon his companion.
“It looks hopeless,” he said. “If we had time to make the search we
might find a safer landing place, but within sight of us one place seems
to be as good as another.”
“Or as bad,” said Stellara.
“It cannot be helped,” said the Sarian. “To beat back now around that
promontory in an attempt to gain the open sea again, would so delay us
that we should be overtaken and captured. We must take our chances in
the surf, or turn about and give up.”
Behind them their pursuers had come about and were waiting, rising and
falling upon the great billows.
“They think that they have us,” said Stellara. “They believe that we
shall tack here and make a run for the open sea around the end of that
promontory, and they are ready to head us off.”
Tanar held the boat’s nose straight for the shoreline. Beyond the angry
surf he could see a sandy beach, but between lay a barrier of rock upon
which the waves broke, hurling their spume far into the air.
“Look!” exclaimed Stellara, as the boat raced toward the smother of
boiling water. “Look! There! Right ahead! There may be a way yet!”
“I have been watching that place,” said Tanar. “I have been holding her
straight for it, and if it is a break in the rocky wall we shall soon
know it, and if it is not—”
The Sarian glanced back in the direction of the Korsars’ boats and saw
that they were again in pursuit, for by this time it must have become
evident to them that their quarry was throwing itself upon the rocky
shore-line in desperation rather than to risk capture by turning again
toward the open sea.
Every inch of sail was spread upon the little craft and the taut,
bellowing canvas strained upon the cordage until it hummed, as the boat
sped straight for the rocks dead ahead.
Tanar and Stellara crouched in the stern, the man’s left arm pressing
the girl protectingly to his side. With grim fascination they watched
the bowsprit rise and fall as it rushed straight toward what seemed must
be inevitable disaster.
They were there! The sea lifted them high in the air and launched them
forward upon the rocks. To the right a jagged finger of granite broke
through the smother of spume. To the left the sleek, water-worn side of
a huge boulder revealed itself for an instant as they sped past. The
boat grated and rasped upon a sunken rock, slid over and raced toward
the sandy beach.
Tanar whipped out his dirk and slashed the halyards, bringing the sail
down as the boat’s keel touched the sand. Then, seizing Stellara in his
arms, he leaped into the shallow water and hastened up the shore.
Pausing, they looked back toward the pursuing Korsars and to their
astonishment saw that all three boats were making swiftly toward the
rocky shore.
“They dare not go back without us,” said Stellara, “or they would never
risk that surf.”
“The Cid must have guessed our identity, then, when a search failed to
reveal you,” said Tanar.
“It may also be that they discovered your absence from the dungeon, and
coupling this with the fact that I, too, was missing, someone guessed
the identity of the two sailors who sought to pass through the gate and
who paid gold for a small boat at the river,” suggested Stellara.
“There goes one of them on the rocks,” cried Tanar, as the leading boat
disappeared in a smother of water.
The second boat shared the same fate as its predecessor, but the third
rode through the same opening that had carried Tanar and Stellara to the
safety of the beach and as it did the two fugitives turned and ran
toward the forest.
Behind them raced a dozen Korsars and amidst the crack of pistols and
harquebuses Tanar and Stellara disappeared within the dark shadows of
the primeval forest.
The story of their long and arduous journey through unknown lands to the
kingdom of Sari would be replete with interest, excitement and
adventure, but it is no part of this story.
It is enough to say that they arrived at Sari shortly before Ja and Gura
made their appearance, the latter having been delayed by adventures that
had almost cost them their lives.
The people of Sari welcomed the Amiocapian mate that the son of Ghak had
brought back to his own country. And Gura they accepted, too, because
she had befriended Tanar, though the young men accepted her for herself
and many were the trophies that were laid before the hut of the
beautiful Himean maiden. But she repulsed them all for in her heart she
held a secret love that she had never divulged, but which, perhaps,
Stellara had guessed and which may have accounted for the tender
solicitude which the Amiocapian maid revealed for her Himean sister.
CONCLUSION
As Perry neared the end of the story of Tanar of Pellucidar, the sending
became weaker and weaker until it died out entirely, and Jason Gridley
could hear no more.
He turned to me. “I think Perry had something more to say,” he said. “He
was trying to tell us something. He was trying to ask something.”
“Jason,” I said, reproachfully, “didn’t you tell me that the story of
the inner world is perfectly ridiculous; that there could be no such
place peopled by strange reptiles and men of the stone age? Didn’t you
insist that there is no Emperor of Pellucidar?”