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06 - At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six, the beginning of horror within Pellucidar. One time
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  Speaker 1: is as good as another. There were no knights to
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  Speaker 1: mask our attempt to escape. All must be done in
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  Speaker 1: broad daylight, all but the work I had to do
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  Speaker 1: in the apartment beneath the building. So we determined to
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  Speaker 1: put our plan to an immediate test, lest the Mahars,
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  Speaker 1: who made it possible, should awake before I reached them.
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  Speaker 1: But we were doomed to disappoint, for no sooner had
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  Speaker 1: we reached the main floor of the building on our
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  Speaker 1: way to the pits beneath, than we encountered hurrying bands
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  Speaker 1: of slaves being hastened under strong Sagoth guard out of
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  Speaker 1: the edifice to the avenue beyond. Other Sagoths were darting
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  Speaker 1: hither and thither in search of other slaves, And the
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  Speaker 1: moment that we appeared, we were pounced upon, unhustled into
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  Speaker 1: the line of marching humans. What the purpose or nature
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  Speaker 1: of the general exodus we did not know. But presently
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  Speaker 1: through the line of captives ran the rumor that two
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  Speaker 1: escaped slaves had been recaptured, a man and a woman,
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  Speaker 1: and that we were marching to witness their punishment for
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  Speaker 1: the man had killed a Sagoth of the detachment that
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  Speaker 1: had pursued and overtaken them. At the intelligence, my heart
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  Speaker 1: sprang to my throat, for I was sure that the
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  Speaker 1: two were of those who escaped in the dark grotto
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  Speaker 1: with Hooja, the sly one, and that Diane must be
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  Speaker 1: the woman. Ghak thought so too, as did Perry. Is
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  Speaker 1: there not that we may do to save her? I
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  Speaker 1: asked Ghak, not, he replied. Along the crowded avenue we
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  Speaker 1: marched the guards, showing unusual cruelty towards us, as though
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  Speaker 1: we too had been implicated in the murder of their fellow.
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  Speaker 1: The occasion was to serve as an object lesson to
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  Speaker 1: all other slaves of the danger and futility of attempted
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  Speaker 1: escape and the fatal consequences of taking the life of
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  Speaker 1: a superior being. And so I imagined that Sagoths felt amply
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  Speaker 1: justified in making the entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful
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  Speaker 1: to us as possible. They jabbed us with their spears
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  Speaker 1: and struck at us with the hatchets at the least provocation,
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  Speaker 1: and at no provocation at all. It was a most
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  Speaker 1: uncomfort half hour that we spent before we were finally
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  Speaker 1: herded through a low entrance into a huge building, the
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  Speaker 1: center of which was given up to a good sized arena.
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  Speaker 1: Benches surrounded this open space upon three sides, and along
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  Speaker 1: the fourth were heaped huge boulders, which rose in receding
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  Speaker 1: tiers toward the roof. At first I couldn't make out
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of this mighty pile of rock, unless it
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  Speaker 1: were intended as a rough and picturesque background for the
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  Speaker 1: scenes which were enacted in the arena before it. But presently,
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  Speaker 1: after the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by
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  Speaker 1: slaves and sagoths, I discovered the purpose of the boulders,
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  Speaker 1: For then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure.
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  Speaker 1: They marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon
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  Speaker 1: the opposite side, where, spreading their bat like wings, they
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  Speaker 1: rose above the high wall of the pit, settling down
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  Speaker 1: upon the boulders above. These were the reserved seats, the
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  Speaker 1: boxes of the elect reptiles. That they are, the rough
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  Speaker 1: surface of a great stone is to them as plush
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  Speaker 1: as upholstery to us. Here they lolled, blinking their hideous eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and doubtless conversing with one another in their sixth sense
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  Speaker 1: fourth dimension language. For the first time I beheld their queen.
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  Speaker 1: She differed from the others in no feature that was
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  Speaker 1: appreciable to my earthly eyes. In fact, all Mahars look
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  Speaker 1: alike to me. But when she crossed the arena, after
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  Speaker 1: the balance of her female subjects had found their bowlders,
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  Speaker 1: she was preceded by a score of huge Sagoths, the
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  Speaker 1: largest I had ever seen, and on either side of
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  Speaker 1: her waddled a huge thipdar, while behind came another score
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  Speaker 1: of Sagoth guardsmen. At the barrier, the Sagoths clambered up
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  Speaker 1: the steep side with truly apelike agility, while behind them,
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  Speaker 1: the haughty queen rose upon her wings, with her two
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  Speaker 1: frightful dragons close behind her. At the barrier, the Sagoths
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  Speaker 1: clambered up the steep side with truly apelike agility, while
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  Speaker 1: behind them, the haughty Queen rose upon her wings, with
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  Speaker 1: her two frightful dragons close beside her, and settled down
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  Speaker 1: upon the largest boulder of them all, in the exact
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  Speaker 1: center of that side of the amphitheater, which is reserved
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  Speaker 1: for the dominant race. Here she squatted a most repulsive
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  Speaker 1: and uninteresting queen, though doubtless quite as well assured of
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  Speaker 1: her beauty and divine right to rule as the proudest
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  Speaker 1: monarch of the outer world. And then the music started.
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  Speaker 1: Music without sound. The mahars cannot hear, so the drums
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  Speaker 1: and fifes and horns of earthly bands are unknown among them.
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  Speaker 1: The band consists of a score or more mahars. It
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  Speaker 1: filed out in the center of the arena, where the
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  Speaker 1: creatures upon the rocks might see it, and there it
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  Speaker 1: performed for fifteen or twenty minutes. Their technique consisted in
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  Speaker 1: waving their tails and moving their heads in a regular
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  Speaker 1: succession of measured movements, resulting in a cadence which evidently
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  Speaker 1: pleased the eye of the mahar, as the cadence of
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  Speaker 1: our own instrumental music pleases our ears. Sometimes the band
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  Speaker 1: took measured steps in unison to one side or the other,
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  Speaker 1: or backward and again forward. It all seemed very silly
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  Speaker 1: and meaningless to me. But at the end of the
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  Speaker 1: first piece, the mahars upon the rocks showed the first
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  Speaker 1: indications of enthusiasm that I had seen displayed by the
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  Speaker 1: dominant race of pellucidar. They beat their great wings up
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  Speaker 1: and down, and smote their rocky perches with their mighty
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  Speaker 1: tails until the ground shook. Then the band started another piece,
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  Speaker 1: and all was again as silent as the grave. There
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  Speaker 1: was one great beauty about mahar music. If you didn't
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  Speaker 1: happen to like a piece that was being played, all
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  Speaker 1: you had to do was shut your eyes. When the
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  Speaker 1: band had exhausted its repertory, it took wing and settled
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  Speaker 1: upon the rocks above and behind the Queen. Then the
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  Speaker 1: business of the day was on. A man and a
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  Speaker 1: woman were pushed into the arena by a couple of
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  Speaker 1: Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in my seat to scrutinize
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  Speaker 1: the female, hoping against hope that she might prove to
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  Speaker 1: be another than Dian the beautiful. Her back was toward
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  Speaker 1: me for a while, and the sight of the great
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  Speaker 1: mass of raven hair piled high upon her head filled
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  Speaker 1: me with a long arm. Presently, a door in one
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  Speaker 1: side of the arena wall was opened to admit a huge,
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  Speaker 1: shaggy bull like creature. A boss, whispered Perry. Excitedly. His
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  Speaker 1: kind roamed the outer crust with the cave bear and
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  Speaker 1: the mammoth ages and ages ago. We have been carried
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  Speaker 1: back a million years, David, to the childhood of a planet.
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  Speaker 1: Is it not wondrous? But I saw only the raven
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  Speaker 1: hair of a half naked girl, and my heart stood
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  Speaker 1: still in dumb misery at the sight of her. Nor
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  Speaker 1: had I any eyes for the wonders of natural history.
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  Speaker 1: But for Perry and Ghak, I should have leaped to
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  Speaker 1: the floor of the arena and shared whatever fate lay
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  Speaker 1: in store for this priceless treasure of the Stone Age.
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  Speaker 1: With the advent of the boss, they call the thing
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  Speaker 1: a thag. Within Pellucidar, two spears were tossed into the
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  Speaker 1: arena at the feet of the prisoners. It seemed to
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  Speaker 1: me that a bean shooter would have been as effective
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  Speaker 1: against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons. As the
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  Speaker 1: animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the ground with
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  Speaker 1: the strain length of many earthly bulls, another door directly
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  Speaker 1: beneath us was opened, and from it issued the most
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  Speaker 1: terrific roar that had ever fallen upon my outraged ears.
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  Speaker 1: I could not at first see the beast from which
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  Speaker 1: emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect
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  Speaker 1: of bringing the two victims around with a sudden start.
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  Speaker 1: And then I saw the girl's face. She was not Diane.
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  Speaker 1: I could have wept for relief. And now, as the
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  Speaker 1: two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of
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  Speaker 1: that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a
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  Speaker 1: huge tiger, such as hunted the Great Boss through the
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  Speaker 1: jungle's primeval when the world was young. In contour and markings,
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  Speaker 1: it was not unlike the noblest of the Bengals of
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  Speaker 1: our own world. But as its dimensions were exaggerated to
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  Speaker 1: colossal proportions, so too were its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid
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  Speaker 1: yellows fairly screamed aloud, its whites were as eider down,
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  Speaker 1: its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its
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  Speaker 1: coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it
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  Speaker 1: is a beautiful animal, there is no gainsaying. But if
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  Speaker 1: its size and colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so
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  Speaker 1: is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not the
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  Speaker 1: occasional member of our species that is a man hunter.
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  Speaker 1: All are man hunters, but they do confide their forging
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  Speaker 1: to man alone, For there is no flesh or fish
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  Speaker 1: within Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in
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  Speaker 1: the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge
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  Speaker 1: carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. Upon
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  Speaker 1: one side of the doomed pair, the thag bellowed and advanced,
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  Speaker 1: and upon the other Tarag the frightful, crept toward them
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  Speaker 1: with gaping mouth and dripping fags. The man seized the spear,
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  Speaker 1: handing one of them to the woman. At the sound
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  Speaker 1: of the roaring of the tiger, the bulls bellowing became
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  Speaker 1: a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life
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  Speaker 1: had I heard such an infernal din as the two
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  Speaker 1: brutes made, And to think it was all laws upon
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  Speaker 1: the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged. The
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  Speaker 1: thag was charging now from one side, and the tareg
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  Speaker 1: from the other. The two puny things standing between them
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  Speaker 1: seemed already lost, But at the very moment that the
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  Speaker 1: beasts were upon them, the man grasped his companion by
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  Speaker 1: the arm, and together they leaped to one side, while
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  Speaker 1: the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision. There
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  Speaker 1: ensued a battle royal, which, for sustained and frightful ferocity
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  Speaker 1: transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again,
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  Speaker 1: the colossal bull tossed to the enormous tiger into the air,
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  Speaker 1: but each time that the huge cat touched the ground,
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  Speaker 1: he returned to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength and
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  Speaker 1: seemingly increased ire. For a while, the man and woman
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  Speaker 1: busied themselves only with keeping out of the way of
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  Speaker 1: the two creatures. But finally I saw them separate and
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  Speaker 1: each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger
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  Speaker 1: was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the
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  Speaker 1: huge neck with powerful fang, while its long, strong talons
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  Speaker 1: ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons. For a moment,
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  Speaker 1: the bull stood bellowing and quivering with pain and rage,
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  Speaker 1: its cloven hoofs wide spread, its tail lashing viciously from
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  Speaker 1: side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking,
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  Speaker 1: it went careening about the arena in frenzied attempt to
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  Speaker 1: unseat its rending rider. It was with difficulty that the
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  Speaker 1: girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded animal.
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  Speaker 1: All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile,
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  Speaker 1: until desperation, it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over
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  Speaker 1: and over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger,
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  Speaker 1: knocking its breath from it, I imagine that it lost
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  Speaker 1: its hold. And then, quick as a cat, the great
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  Speaker 1: Thag was up again and had buried those mighty horns
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  Speaker 1: deep in the Tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor
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  Speaker 1: of the arena. The great cat clawed at the shaggy
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  Speaker 1: head until eyes and ears were gone, and naught but
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  Speaker 1: a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the skull.
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  Speaker 1: Yet through all the agony of that fear punishment, the
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  Speaker 1: Thag still stood motionless, pinning down his adversary. And then
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  Speaker 1: the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would
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  Speaker 1: be the least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through
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  Speaker 1: the Tarag's heart. As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the
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  Speaker 1: bull raised his gory, sightless head and with a horrid roar,
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  Speaker 1: ran headlong across the arena. With great leaps and bounds,
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  Speaker 1: he came straight toward the arena wall, directly beneath where
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  Speaker 1: we sat, and then the accident carried him in one
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  Speaker 1: of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the
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  Speaker 1: midst of the slaves and sagoths just in front of us.
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  Speaker 1: Swinging his bloody horns from side to side, the beast
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  Speaker 1: cut a wide swathe before him, straight upward toward our seats.
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  Speaker 1: Before him, slaves and guerrilla men fought in mad stampede
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  Speaker 1: to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies. For
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  Speaker 1: such only could that frightful charge have been forgetful of us.
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  Speaker 1: Our guards joined in the general crush for the exits,
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  Speaker 1: many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheatres behind us.
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  Speaker 1: Perry Ghak and I became separated in the chaos which
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  Speaker 1: reigned for a few moments after the beast cleared the
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  Speaker 1: wall of the arena, Each intent upon saving his own hide,
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  Speaker 1: I ran to the right, passing several exits, choked with
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  Speaker 1: a fear mad mob that were battling to escape. One
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  Speaker 1: would have thought that an entire herd of thags was
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  Speaker 1: loose behind them, rather than a single, blinded, dying beast.
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  Speaker 1: But such is the effect of panic upon a crowd.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter six