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At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Adventure Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Toward the Eternal Fires. I was born in
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  Speaker 1: Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David Innes.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: My father was a wealthy mine owner. When I was
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  Speaker 1: nineteen he died. All his property was to be mine
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: when I had attained my majority, provided that I had
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: devoted the two years intervening in close application to the
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  Speaker 1: great business I was to inherit. I did my best
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  Speaker 1: to fulfill the last wishes of my parent, not because
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  Speaker 1: of the inheritance, but because I loved and honored my father.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: For six months I toiled in the mines and in
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  Speaker 1: the counting rooms, for I wished to know every minute
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  Speaker 1: detail of the business. Then Perry interested me in his invention.
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  Speaker 1: He was an old fellow who had devoted the better
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  Speaker 1: part of a long life to the perfection of a
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  Speaker 1: mechanical subterranean prospector. As relaxation, he studied paleontology. I looked
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  Speaker 1: over his plans, listened to his arguments, inspected his working model,
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  Speaker 1: and then convinced I advanced the funds necessary to construct
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  Speaker 1: a full sized practical prospector. I shall not go into
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the details of its construction. It lies out there in
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  Speaker 1: the desert now about two miles from here tomorrow, you
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  Speaker 1: may care to ride out and see it. Roughly. It
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: is a steel cylinder one hundred feet long, and jointed
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  Speaker 1: so that it may turn and twist through solid rock
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  Speaker 1: if need be. At one end is a mighty revolving drill,
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  Speaker 1: operated by an engine, which Perry said generated more power
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  Speaker 1: to the cubic inch than any other engine did to
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  Speaker 1: the cubic foot. I remember that he used to claim
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  Speaker 1: that that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy. We
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  Speaker 1: were going to make the whole thing public after the
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  Speaker 1: successful issue of our first secret trial, But Perry never
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: turned from that trial trip, and I only after ten
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  Speaker 1: years I recall, as it were, but yesterday, the night
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: of that momentous occasion upon which we were to test
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  Speaker 1: the practicality of that wondrous invention. It was near midnight
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: when we repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry
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  Speaker 1: had constructed his iron mole, as he was wont to
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  Speaker 1: call the thing, the great nose rested upon the bare
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: earth of the floor. We passed through the doors into
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  Speaker 1: the outer jacket, secured them, and then passed on into
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  Speaker 1: the cabin, which contained the controlling mechanism within the inner
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: tube switched on the electric lights. Perry looked to his generator,
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  Speaker 1: to the great tanks that held the life giving chemicals
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  Speaker 1: with which he was to manufacture fresh air to replace
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  Speaker 1: that which we consumed in breathing, to his instruments for
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  Speaker 1: recording temperature, speed, distance, and for examining the materials through
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  Speaker 1: which we were to pass. He tested the steering device
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  Speaker 1: and overlook the mighty cogs which transmitted its marvelous velocity
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  Speaker 1: to the giant drill at the nose of his strange craft.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Our seats into which we strapped ourselves were so arranged
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  Speaker 1: upon transverse bars that we would be upright whether the
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  Speaker 1: craft were plowing her way downward into the bowels of
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  Speaker 1: the earth, or running horizontally along some great seam of coal,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: or rising vertically towards the surface. Again. At length, all
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  Speaker 1: was ready, Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: moment we were silent, and then the old man's hand
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  Speaker 1: grasped the starting lever. There was a frightful roaring beneath us.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: The giant frame trembled and vibrated. There was a rush
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  Speaker 1: of sound as the loose earth passed up through the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: hollow space between the inner and outer jackets to be
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  Speaker 1: deposited in our wake. We were off. The noise was deafening,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: the sensation was frightful. For a full miname a minute,
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  Speaker 1: neither of us could do aught but cling with that
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: proverbial desperation of the drowning man, to the handrails of
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  Speaker 1: our swinging seats. Then Parry glanced at the thermometer. Gad,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: he cried, it cannot be possible. Quick, what does the
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  Speaker 1: distance meter read? That and the speedometer were both on
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  Speaker 1: my side of the cabin, and as I turned to
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  Speaker 1: take a reading from the former, I could see Perry
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  Speaker 1: muttering ten degrees rise, it cannot be possible. And then
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  Speaker 1: I saw him tug frantically upon the steering wheel. As
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  Speaker 1: I finally found the tiny needle in the dim light,
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  Speaker 1: I translated Perry's evident excitement, and my heart sank within me.
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  Speaker 1: But when I spoke, I hid the fear which haunted me.
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  Speaker 1: It will be seven hundred feet, Parry, I said, But
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: by the time you can turn her into the horizontal,
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  Speaker 1: you'd better give me a hand, then, my boy, he replied,
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  Speaker 1: for I cannot budge her out of the vertical alone.
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  Speaker 1: God give that our combined strength may be equal to
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  Speaker 1: the task, for else we are lost. I wormed my
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  Speaker 1: way to the old man's side with never a doubt
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  Speaker 1: but that the great wheel would yield on the instant
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  Speaker 1: to the power of my young and vigorous muscles. Nor
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  Speaker 1: was my belief mere vanity. For always had my physique
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  Speaker 1: been the envy and despair of my fellows, And for
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  Speaker 1: that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature
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  Speaker 1: had intended. Since my natural pride in my great strength,
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  Speaker 1: had led me to care for and develop my body
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: and my muscles by every means within my power, what
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: with boxing, football, and baseball. I had been in training
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  Speaker 1: since childhood, and so it was with the utmost confidence
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: that I laid hold of the huge iron rim. But
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: though I threw every ounce of my strength into it,
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  Speaker 1: my best effort was as unavailing as Perry's had been.
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  Speaker 1: The thing would not budge the grim, insensate, horrible thing
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  Speaker 1: that was holding us upon the straight road to death.
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  Speaker 1: At length, I gave up the useless struggle, and without
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  Speaker 1: a word, returned my seat. There was no need for words,
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  Speaker 1: at least none that I could imagine, Unless Perry desired
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  Speaker 1: to pray and I was quite sure that he would,
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  Speaker 1: for he never left an opportunity neglected where he might
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  Speaker 1: sandwich in a prayer. He prayed when he arose in
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the morning, he prayed before he ate, he prayed when
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: he had finished eating, and before he went to bed
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  Speaker 1: at night he prayed again. In between he often found
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  Speaker 1: excuses to pray, even when the provocation seemed far fetched
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  Speaker 1: to my worldly eyes. Now that he was about to die,
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  Speaker 1: I felt positive that I should witness a perfect orgy
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  Speaker 1: of prayer, if one may allude with such assembly to
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: so solemn act. But to my astonishment I discovered that,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: with death staring him in the face, Abner Perry was
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  Speaker 1: transformed into a new being. From his lips there flowed
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: not prayer, but a clear and limpid stream of undeluded profanity.
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  Speaker 1: And it was all directed at that quietly, stubborn peace,
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  Speaker 1: of unyielding mechanism. I should think, Perry. I chided that
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  Speaker 1: a man of your professed religiousness would rather be at
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  Speaker 1: his prayers than cursing in the presence of imminent death. Death,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: he cried, death is it that appalls you? That is
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  Speaker 1: nothing by comparison with the loss the world must suffer why, David,
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  Speaker 1: Within this iron cylinder, we have demonstrated possibilities that science
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  Speaker 1: has scarce dreamed. We have harnessed a new principle, and
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  Speaker 1: with it animated a piece of steel with the power
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  Speaker 1: of ten thousand men. That two lives will be snuffed
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  Speaker 1: out is nothing to the world. Calamity that entombs in
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  Speaker 1: the bowels of the earth. The discoveries that I have
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  Speaker 1: made and proved in the successful construction of the thing
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  Speaker 1: that is now carrying us farther and farther towards the
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  Speaker 1: eternal central fires. I am frank to admit that for myself,
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  Speaker 1: I was much more concerned with our own immediate future
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  Speaker 1: than with any problematic loss which the world might be
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  Speaker 1: about to suffer. The world was at least ignorant of
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  Speaker 1: its bereavement, while to me it was a real and
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  Speaker 1: terrible actuality. What can we do, I asked, hiding my
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  Speaker 1: perturbation beneath the mask of a low and level voice.
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  Speaker 1: We may stop here and die of asphyxiation when our
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  Speaker 1: atmospheric tanks are empty, replied Perry. Or we may continue
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  Speaker 1: on with the slight hope that we may later sufficiently
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  Speaker 1: deflect the prospector from the vertical to carry us along
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  Speaker 1: the arc of a great circle, which must eventually return
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  Speaker 1: us to the surface. If we succeed in doing so,
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  Speaker 1: before we reach the higher internal temperatures, we may even
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  Speaker 1: yet survive. There would seem to me to be about
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  Speaker 1: one chance in several million that we shall succeed. Otherwise
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  Speaker 1: we shall die more quickly, but no more surely than
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  Speaker 1: as though we sat supinely waiting for the torture of
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  Speaker 1: a slow and horrible death. I glanced at the thermometer.
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  Speaker 1: It registered one one hundred ten degrees. While we were talking,
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  Speaker 1: the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a
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  Speaker 1: mile into the rock of the Earth's crust. Let us
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  Speaker 1: continue on, then, I replied, it should soon be over
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  Speaker 1: at this rate. You never intimated that the speed of
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  Speaker 1: this thing would be so high, Perry, didn't you know it? No,
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  Speaker 1: he answered, I could not figure the speed exactly, for
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  Speaker 1: I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of
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  Speaker 1: my generator. I reasoned, however, that we should make about
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  Speaker 1: five hundred yards an hour, and we are making seven
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  Speaker 1: miles an hour. I concluded for him, as I sat
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  Speaker 1: with my eyes upon the distance meter, how thick is
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  Speaker 1: the Earth's crust, Perry, I asked, There are almost as
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  Speaker 1: many conjectures to that as there are geologists, was his answer.
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  Speaker 1: One estimate is thirty miles, because the internal heat, increasing
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  Speaker 1: at a rate of about one degree to each sixty
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  Speaker 1: or seventy feet depth, would be sufficient to fuse the
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  Speaker 1: most refractory substance at that distance beneath the Earth. Another
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  Speaker 1: finds that the phenomenon of precession and nutation require that
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  Speaker 1: the Earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have
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  Speaker 1: a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand
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  Speaker 1: miles in thickness. So there you are. You may take
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  Speaker 1: your choice, and if it should prove solid, I asked,
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  Speaker 1: it will all be the same to us in the end,
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  Speaker 1: David replied Perry. At the best, our fuel will suffice
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  Speaker 1: to carry us but three or four days, while our
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  Speaker 1: atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither then is sufficient
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  Speaker 1: to bear us in the safety through eight thousand miles
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  Speaker 1: of rock to the antipodes. If the crust is of
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  Speaker 1: sufficient thickness, we shall come to a final stop between
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  Speaker 1: six and seven hundred miles beneath the Earth's surface. But
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: during the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey,
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  Speaker 1: we shall be corpses. Am I correct? I asked, quite correct, David,
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  Speaker 1: are you frightened? I do not know. It has all
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  Speaker 1: come so suddenly that I scarce believed that either of
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  Speaker 1: us realizes the real terrors of our position. I feel
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  Speaker 1: that I should be reduced to panic, But yet I
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  Speaker 1: am not. I imagine that the shock has been so
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: great as to partially stun our sensibilities. Again, I turned
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: to the thermometer. The mercury was rising with less rapidity.
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  Speaker 1: It was now but one hundred forty degrees, although we
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  Speaker 1: had penetrated to a depth of nearly four miles. I
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: told Perry, and he smiled. We have shattered one theory
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  Speaker 1: at least, was his only comment, and then he returned
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  Speaker 1: to his self assumed occupation of fluently cursing the stirring wheel.
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: I once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: would have seemed like those of a tyro alongside of
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  Speaker 1: Perry's masterful and scientific imprecations. Once more, I tried my
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  Speaker 1: hand at the wheel, but I might as well have
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: a say to swing the earth itself. In my suggestion,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Perry stopped the generator, and as we came to rest,
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  Speaker 1: I again threw all my strength into a supreme effort
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  Speaker 1: to move the thing, even a hair's breath, But the
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  Speaker 1: results were as barren as when we had been traveling
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  Speaker 1: at top speed. I shook my head sadly and motion
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  Speaker 1: to the starting lever. Parry pulled it toward him, and
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: once again we were plunging downward toward eternity at a
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  Speaker 1: rate of seven miles an hour. I sat with my
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: mercury was rising very slowly now, though even at one
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: hundred forty five degrees it was almost unbearable within the
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: narrow confines of our metal prison. About noon, or twelve
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: hours after our start upon this unfortunate journey, we had
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: bored to a depth of eighty four miles, at which
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  Speaker 1: point the mercury registered one hundred fifty three degrees fahrenheit.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Parry was becoming more hopeful, although upon what meager food
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: he sustained his optimism. I could not conjecture from cursing,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: he had turned to singing. I felt that the strain
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: had at last affected his mind. For several hours we
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: had not spoken except as he asked me for the
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: readings of the instruments from time to time, and I
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: announced them. My thoughts were filled with vain regrets. I
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: recalled numerous acts of my past life which I should
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  Speaker 1: have been glad to have had a few more years
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: to live. Down There was the affair in the Latin
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: Commons at Andover when Calhoun and I had put gunpowder
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: in the stove and nearly killed one of the masters.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: And then, but what was the use? I was about
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  Speaker 1: to die and atone for all these things, and several more.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Already the heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: of the hereafter a few more degrees, and I felt
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: that I should lose consciousness. What are the readings now?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: David Perry's voice broke in upon my somber reflections. Ninety
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  Speaker 1: miles and one five three, I replied, Gad, but we've
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: knocked that thirty mile crust theory into a cocked hat.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: He cried, gleefully. Precious a lot of good it'll do us,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I growled back. But my boy, he continued, doesn't that
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: temperature reading mean anything to you? Why it hasn't gone
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: up in six miles?
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Think of it?
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  Speaker 1: Son, yes, I'm thinking of it, I answered, But what
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: difference will it make when our air supply is exhausted
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  Speaker 1: whether the temperature is one hundred fifty three degrees or
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty three thousand will be just as dead,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and no one will know the difference anyhow. But I
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: must admit that, for some unaccountable reason, the stationary temperature
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: did renew my waning hope. What I hoped for I
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: could not have explained, nor did I try. The very
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: fact as Perry took pains to explain of blasting, several
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: very exact and learned scientific hypotheses made it apparent that
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: we could not know what lay before us within the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: bowels of the earth, and so we might continue to
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: hope for the best, at least until we were dead,
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: when ho would no longer be essential to our happiness.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: It was very good and logical reasoning, and so I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: embraced it. At one hundred miles, the temperature had dropped
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: to one hundred fifty two and a half degrees. When
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: I announced it, Perry reached over and hugged me. From
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: then on until noon of the second day. It continued
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: to drop until it became as uncomfortably cold, as it
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: had been unbearably hot before. At the depth of two
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: hundred and forty miles, our nostrils were assailed by almost
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperature had dropped to ten
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: below zero. We suffered nearly two hours of this intense
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: and bitter cold, until, at about two hundred and forty
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: five miles from the surface of the earth, we entered
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: to thirty two degrees. During the next three hours, we
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: passed through ten miles of ice, eventually emerging into another
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: series of ammonia and pred strata, where the mercury again
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: fell to ten degrees below zero. Slowly it rose once more,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: until we were convinced that at last we were nearing
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: the molten interior of the earth. At four hundred miles,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: the temperature had reached one hundred fifty three degrees. Feverishly,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: I watched the thermometer. Slowly it rose. Perry had ceased singing,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: and was at last praying. Our hopes had received such
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: a death blow that the gradually increasing heat seemed to
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: our distorted imaginations much greater than it really was for
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: another hour. I saw that pitiless column of mercury rise
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and rise, until at four hundred and ten miles it
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: stood at one hundred fifty three degrees. Now it was
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: that we began to hang upon those readings in almost
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: breathless anxiety. One hundred and fifty three degrees had been
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the maximum temperature above the ice stratum. Would it stop
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: at this point again? Or would it continue its merciless climb.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: We knew there was no hope, and yet, with the
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: persistence of life itself, we continued to hope against practical certainty.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Already the air tanks were at low ebb. There was
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: barely enough of the precious gases to sustain us for
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: another twelve hours. But would we be alive to know
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: or care? It seemed incredible. At four hundred and twenty
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: miles I took another reading. Parry, I shouted, Parry, man,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: she's going down. She's going down. It's one fifty two
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: degrees again. Gad, he cried, What can it mean? Can
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the earth be cold at this center? I do not know, Perry,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I answered, but thank God, if I am to die,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: it shall not be by fire. That is all I
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: have feared I can face the thought of any death.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: But that down, down went the mercury until it stood
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: as low as it had seven miles from the surface
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: of the earth. And then of a sudden realization broke
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: upon us that death was very near. Parry was the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: valves that regulated the air supply, and at the same
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: time I experienced difficulty in breathing. My head felt dizzy,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: my limbs heavy. I saw Perry crumple in his seat.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: He gave himself a shake and sat erect again. Then
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: he turned towards me. Good Bye, David, he said, I
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: guess this is the end, and then he smiled and
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes. Good Bye, Perry, and good luck to you,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: I answered, smiling back at him. But I fought off
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: that awful lethargy. I was very young. I did not
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: want to die. For an hour, I battled against the
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: cruelly enveloping death that surrounded me upon all sides. At
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: first I found that by climbing high into the framework
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: above me, I could find more of the precious life
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: giving elements, and for a while these sustained me. It
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: must have been an hour after Perry had succumbed that
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: I at last came to the realization that I could
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: no longer carry on this unequal struggle against the inevitable.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: With my last flickering ray of consciousness, I turned mechanically
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: towards the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: miles from the Earth's surface. And then of a sudden,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the huge thing that bore us came to a stop.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jackets ceased,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the wild racing of the giant drill betokened that it
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: was running loose in air. And then another truth flashed
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: upon me. The point of the Prospector was above us.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: ice strata, it had been above we had turned on
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: the ice and sped upwards towards the Earth's crust. Thank God,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: we were safe. I put my nose to the intake
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: pipe through which samples were to have been taken during
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the passage of the Prospector through the earth, and my
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: fondest hopes were realized. A flood of fresh air was
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: pouring into the iron cabin. The reaction left me in
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: a state of collapse, and I lost consciousness. End of
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Chapter one, Chapter two, A Strange World. I was unconscious
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: fell with a crash to the floor of the cabin.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: The shock brought me to myself. My first concern was
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: with Perry. I was horrified at the thought that upon
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the very threshold of salvation, he might be dead. Tearing
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: open his shirt, I placed my ear to his breast.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: I could have cried with relief. His heart was beating
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: quite regularly at the water tank. I wetted my handkerchief,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: slapping it smartly across his forehead and face several times
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: in a moment. I was rewarded by the raising of
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: his lids. For a time he lay wide eyed and
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: quite uncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: sat up, sniffing the air, with an expression of wonderment
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: upon his face. Why, David, he cried at last, it's
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: air as sure as I live. Why Why? What does
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: It means that we're back at the surface. All right, Perry,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: I cried, But where I don't know. I haven't opened
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: her up yet, been too busy reviving you, lord man.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: But you had a close squeak. You say, we're back
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: at the surface, David, How can that be? How long
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: have I been unconscious? Not long? We turned in the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden whirling of our
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: seats after that the drill was above you instead of below.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: We didn't notice it at the time, but I recall
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: it now. You mean to say that we turned back
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in the ice stratum, David, That is not possible. The
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: prospector cannot turn unless its nose is deflected from the
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: outside by some external force or resistance. The steering wheel
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: within would have moved in response. The steering wheel has
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: not budged, David since we started. You know that I
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: did know it. But here we were, with our drill
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: racing in pure air and copious volumes of it pouring
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: into the cabin. We couldn't have turned in the eyestrat
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: and Perry, I know as well as you, I replied,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: But the fact remains that we did. For here we
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: are this minute, at the surface of the earth again,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: and I am going out to see just where better
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: wait till morning, David. It must be midnight now. I
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: glanced at the chronometer. Half after twelve. We have been
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: out seventy two hours, so it must be midnight. Nevertheless,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I am going to have a look at the blessed
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: sky that I have given up all hope of ever
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: seeing again. And so saying, I lifted the bars from
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: the inner door and swung it open. There was quite
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I had to remove with a shovel to get at
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: the opposite door in the outer shell. In a short
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: time I had removed enough of the earth and rock
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Parry was directly behind me. As I threw it open,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the upper half was above the surface of the ground.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: With an expression of surprise, I turned and looked at Perry.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: It was broad daylight without Something seems to have gone wrong,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: either with our calculations or the chronometer, I said. Parry
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: shook his head. There was a strange expression in his eyes.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Let's have a look beyond that door, David, he cried.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us, a
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: low and level shore stretched down to a silent sea.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: As far as the eye could reach. The surface of
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the water was dotted with countless tiny aisles, some towering
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: barren granite rock, others resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical vegetation.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Myriad starred with the magnificent splendor of vivid blooms. Behind
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: us rose a dark and foreboding wood of giant, arborescent
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: ferns intermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical forest.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Dense underbush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: coloring of countless blossoms that glorified the islands. But within
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: out of a cloudless sky. Where on Earth can we be?
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: I asked, turning to Perry. For some moments, the old
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: man did not reply. He stood with bowed head buried
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: in deep thought. But at last he spoke. David, He said,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I'm not so sure that we are on earth. What
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: do you mean, I cried, Do you think that we
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: are dead and that this is heaven? He smiled, and turning,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: pointing to the nose of the prospector protruding from the
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: ground at our backs. But for that, David, I might
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: believe that we were indeed come to the country beyond
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the sticks. The prospector renders that theory untenable. It certainly
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: could never have gone to heaven. However, I am willing
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to concede that we actually may be in another world
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: from that which we have always known. If we are
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: not on Earth, there is every reason to believe that
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: we may be in it. We may have quartered through
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the Earth's crust and come out upon some tropical island
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: of the West Indies, I suggested again. Perry shook his head.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Let us wait and see, David, he replied. And in
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the meantime, suppose we do a bit of exploring up
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and down the coast. We may find a native who
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: can enlighten us. As we walked along the beach, Perry
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: gazed long and earnestly across the water. Evidently he was
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: wrestling with a mighty problem. David, he said, abruptly, do
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: you perceive anything unusual about the horizon? As I looked,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: the landscape that had haunted me from the first, with
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: an elusive suggestion of the bizarre and unnatural. There was
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: no horizon. As far as the eye could reach out.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: The sea continued, and upon its bosom floated tiny islands.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Those in the distance reduced to mere specks, But ever
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: beyond them was the sea. Until the impression became quite
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: real that one was looking up at the most distant
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: point that the eyes could fathom. The distance was lost
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: in the distance, that was all. There was no clear
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: the line of vision. A great light is commencing to
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: break on me, continued Perry, taking out his watch. I
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: believe that I have partially solved the riddle. It is
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector, the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: sun was directly above us. Where is it now? I
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: glanced up to find the great orbs still motionless in
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the center of the heaven, and such a sun I
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: had scarcely noticed it before, fully thrice the size of
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the sun I had known throughout my life, and apparently
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: so near that the sight of it carried the conviction
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: that one might almost reach up and touch it. My God, Perry,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: where are we, I exclaimed? This thing is beginning to
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: get on my nerves? I think that I may state
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: quite positively, David. He commenced that we are, But he
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: got no further from behind us. In the vicinity of
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the prospector, there came the most thunderous, awe inspiring roar
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: that had ever fallen upon my ears. With one accord,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: we turned to discover the author of that fearsome noise.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the sight that met my eyes would quite entirely have
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: banished it. Emerging from the forest was a colossal beast
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: which closely reus symboled to bear. It was fully as
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: large as the largest elephant, and with great fore paws,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: armed with huge claws. Its nose or snout depended nearly
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: of a rudimentary trunk. The giant body was covered by
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: a coat of thick, shaggy hair. Roaring horribly, it came
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: towards us at a ponderous shuffling trot. I turned to
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Perry to suggest that it might be wise to sink
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: other surroundings. The idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: for he was already a hundred paces away, and with
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: each second his prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: never guessed what latent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: I saw that he was headed toward a little point
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: of the forest which ran out toward the sea, not
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: far from where we had been standing, And as the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: such remarkable action, was forging steadily towards me, I set
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: It was evident that the massive beast pursuing us was
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: not built for speed, so all that I considered necessary
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: enable me to climb to the safety of some great
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: branch before it came up. Notwithstanding our danger, I could
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: not help but laugh at Perry's frantic capers as he
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches of
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: the trees he had now reached. The stems were bare
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: for a distance of some fifteen feet at least on
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: those trees which Parry attempted to ascend, for the suggestion
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: of safety carried by the larger of the forest giants,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat, only to
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: fall back to the ground once more, And with each
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: failure he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror stricken shrieks that awoke
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: the echoes of the grim forest. At length, he spied
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, and
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: when I reached the trees, he was racing madly up it,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: of the tree from which the creeper depended, when the
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: thing parted beneath his weight, and he fell sprawlingly at
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: my feet. The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: the beast was already too close to us for comfort.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Seizing Perry by the shoulder, I dragged him to his feet, and,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: rushing to a smaller tree, one that he could easily
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: encircle with his arms and legs, I boosted him as
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: far up as I could, and then left him to
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: his fate. For a glance over my shoulder revealed the
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: awful beast almost upon me. It was the great size
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: of the thing alone that saved me. Its enormous bulk
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: the agility of my young muscles, and so I was
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: enabled to dodge out of its way and run completely
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: The few seconds of grace that this gave me found
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: me safely lodged in the branches of a tree a
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: few pains from that in which Perry had at last
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: found a haven. Did I say safely lodged? At the time,
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: I thought we were quite safe, and so did Perry.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: He was praying, raising his voice and thanksgiving at our deliverance,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and had just completed a sort of peean of gratitude
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that the thing couldn't climb a tree, when without warning
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: it reared up beneath him. On its enormous tail and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: hind feet, and reached those fearfully armed paws quite to
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the branch upon which he crouched. The accompanying roar was
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: all but drowned in Perry's screams affright, and he came
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him. So
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: precipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: It was with a deep sigh of relief that I
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: saw him gain a higher branch in safety. And then
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Grasping the trees stem with his powerful paws, he dragged
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: down with all the great weight of his huge bulk
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and all the irresistible force of those mighty muscles. Slowly,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: but surely, the stem began to bend towards him. Inch
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: by inch. He worked his paws upward. As the tree
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: leaned more and more from the perpendicular, Parry clung, chattering
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: in the panic of terror, Higher and higher into the
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: bending and swaying tree he clamored. More and more rapidly
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: was the tree top inclining toward the ground, I saw
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: The use that he was putting them to was precisely
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: that for which nature had intended them. The sloughlike creature
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: was herbivorous, and to feed that mighty carcass, entire trees
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: must be stripped of their foliage. The reason for its
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: attacking us might easily be accounted for on the supposition
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: of an ugly disposition, such as that which the fierce
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: and stupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses, but these were later reflections.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: At the moment, I was too frantic with apprehension on
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Perry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: save him from the death that loomed so close. Realizing
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: I dropped from my leafy sanctuary, intent only on distracting
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: the thing's attention from Perry long enough to enable the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: old man to gain the safety of a larger tree.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: There were many close by which not even the terrific
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: strength of that titanic monster could bend. As I touched
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: the ground, I snatched a broken limb from the tangled
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: mass that matted the jungle like floor of the forest,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: and leaping unnoticed behind the shaggy back, dealt the brute
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: a terrific blow. My plan worked like magic. From the
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: previous slowness of the beast, I had been led to
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Releasing his hold upon the tree, he dropped on all
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: fours and at the same time swung his great, wicked
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: tail with a force that would have broken every bone
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: in my body had it struck me. But fortunately I
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: had turned to flee at the very instant I had
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: felt my blow land upon the towering back as it
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: started in pursuit of me, I made the mistake of
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: running along the edge of the forest rather than making
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: for the open beach. In a moment, I was knee
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind me
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: was gaining rapidly As I floundered and fell in my
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: efforts to extricate myself. A fallen log gave me an
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: instant's advantage for climbing upon it. I leaped another few
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: paces farther on, and in this way was able to
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: keep clear of the mush that had carpeted the surrounding ground.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: But the zigzag course that this necessitated was placing such
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: a heavy handicap upon me that my pursuer was steadily
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: gaining upon me. Suddenly, from behind, I heard a tumult
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: of howls and sharp piercing barks, much the sound that
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: a pack of wolves raises when in full cry. Involuntarily,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I glanced backwards to discover the origin of this new
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: and menacing note, with the result that I missed my
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: footing and went sprawling once more upon my face in
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: the deep muck. My mammoth enemy was so close by
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: this time that I knew i I must feel the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: But to my surprise, the blow did not fall upon me.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: The howling and snapping and barking of the new element
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: which had been infused into the melee now seemed centered
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: my hands and glanced around, I saw what it was
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: that had distracted the derith As afterward I learned the
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: thing as called from my trail. It was surrounded by
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: a pack of some hundred wolf like creatures, wild dogs,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: they seemed, that rushed growling and snapping in upon it
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: from all sides, so that they sank their white fangs
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: into the slow brute and were away again before it
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping tail.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of the trees,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: came a company of manlike creatures, evidently urging on the
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: dog pack. They were, to all appearances, strikingly similar in
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: aspect to the Negro of Africa. Their skins were very black,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: and their features much like those of the more pronounced
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: Negroid type, except that the head receded more rapidly above
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: the eyes, leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: rather long, and their legs shorter in proportion to the
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: torso than in man, and later I noticed that their
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: great toes protruded at right angles from their feet. Because
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: of their arboreal habits, I presume behind them trailed long
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: slender tails, which they had used in climbing quite as
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: much as they did either their hands or feet. I
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: that the wolf dogs were holding thee dearth at bay
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: at sight of me. Several of the savage creatures left off,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: worrying the great brute to come slinking with bared fangs
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: towards me. And as I turned to run towards the
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: trees again to seek safety among the lower branches, I
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: saw a number of man apes leaping and chattering in
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the foliage of the nearest tree. Between them and the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: beasts behind me, there was little choice, but at least
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: parodies on humanity would accord me, while there was none
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: as to the fate which awaited me beneath the grinning
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: fangs of my fierce pursuers. And so I raced on
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: towards the trees, intending to pass beneath that which held
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the man things and take refuge in another farther on.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: But the wolf dogs were very close behind me, so
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: close that I had despaired of escaping them, when one
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: of the creatures in the tree above swung down head foremost,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: his tail looped about a great limb, and grasping me
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: beneath my armpits, swung me in safety up among his fellows.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: and curiosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: my flesh. They turned me about to see if I
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: had a tail, and when they discovered that I was
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: not so equipped, they fell into roars of laughter. Their
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: teeth were very large and white, and even except for
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: the upper canines, which were a trifle longer than the others,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: protruding just a bit when the mouth was closed. When
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: they had examined me for a few moments, one of
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: them discovered that my clothing was not a part of me,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: with the result that garment by garment, they tore it
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter. Ape Like
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but their ingenuity
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: was not sufficient to the task, and so they gave
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: it up. In the meantime, I had been straining my
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: eyes to catch a glimpse of Perry, but nowhere about
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: could I see him, although the clump of the trees
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: in which he had first taken refuge was in full view.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: I was much exercised by fear that something had befallen him,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: and though I called his name aloud several times, there
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: was no response. Tired at last of playing with my clothing,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: the creatures threw it to the ground, and catching me
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: one on either side by an arm, starting off at
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: a most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: I experienced such a journey before or since. Even now,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: I oftentimes awake from a deep sleep, haunted by the
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: horrid remembrance of that awful experience. From tree to tree,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels, while the cold
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depths beneath,
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: into which a single misstep on the part of either
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: of my bearers would hurl me. As they bore me along,
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: my mind was occupied with a thousand bewildering thoughts. What
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: had become of Perry? Would I ever see him again?
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: What were the intentions of these half human things into
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: whose hands I had fallen? Were they inhabitants of the
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: same world into which I had been born? No, it
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: could not be. But yet where else I had not
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: left that earth? Of that I was sure still, Neither
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: could I reconcile the things which I had seen to
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a belief that I was still in the world of
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: my birth. With a sigh, I gave up end of
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: chapter two, Chapter three, A change of masters. We must
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: have traveled several miles through the dark and dismal wood
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: among the branches of the trees. As we approached it,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: my escort broke into wild shouting, which was immediately answered
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: from within, and a moment later a swarm of creatures
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: of the same strange race as those who had captured
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: me poured out to meet us again. I was the
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: center of a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: in that, pinched, pounded, and thumped until I was black
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: and blue. Yet I do not think that their treatment
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: was dictated by either cruelty or malice. I was a curiosity,
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: a freak, a new place, and their childish mines required
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: the added evidence of all their senses to back up
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: the testimony of their eyes. Presently, they dragged me within
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: the village, which consisted of several hundred rude shelters of
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: boughs and leaves supported upon the branches of the trees.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead branches,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: upon one tree to those with adjoining trees, the whole
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: network of huts and pathways forming an almost solid flooring
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: a good fifty feet above the ground. I wondered why
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: these agile creatures required connecting bridges between the trees, But later,
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: when I saw the motley aggregation of half savage beasts
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: which they kept within their village, I realized the necessity
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: for the pathways. There were a number of the same
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: vicious wolf dogs which we had left left worrying the dearth,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: and many goat like animals whose distended utters explained the
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: reasons for their presence. My guard halted before one of
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: the huts into which I was pushed. Then two of
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: the creatures squatted down before the entrance to prevent my escape. Doubtless,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: though where I should have escaped too, I certainly had
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: not the remotest conception. I had no more than entered
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: the dark shadows of the interior than there fell upon
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: my ears the tone of a familiar voice in prayer. Parry,
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: I cried, dear old Perry, thank the Lord you are safe. David.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: Can it be possible that you escaped? And the old
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: man stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: He had seen me fall before the dearth, and then
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: he had been seized by a number of the apelike
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: creatures and borne through the tree tops to their village.
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: His captor had been as inquisitive as to his strange
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: looked at each other, we could not help but laugh
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: with a tail. David remarked, Perry, you would make a
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: very handsome ape. Maybe we can borrow a couple, I rejoined.
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: They seem to be quite the thing this season. I
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can be?
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: You were about to tell me where we are when
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: that great hairy frigate bore down upon us. Have you
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: really any idea at all? Yes, David, he replied, I
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: know precisely where we are. We have made a magnificent discovery,
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: my boy. We have proved that the earth is hollow.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world. Perry,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: you were mad, not at all, David. For two hundred
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and fifty miles are our prospector bore us through the crust?
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Beneath our outer world. At that point it reached the
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: center of gravity of the five hundred mile thick crust.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: Up to that point we had been descending. Direction is
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: of course merely relative. Then, at the moment that our
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: seats revolved, the thing that made you believe we had
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: turned about and were speeding upward, we passed the center
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: of gravity, And though we did not alter the direction
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: toward the surface of the inner world. Does not the
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: that you are not in the world of your birth?
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: And the horizon? Could it present the strange aspects which
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: we both noted, unless we were indeed standing upon the
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: inside of a sphere. But the sun, Perry, I urged,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: How in the world can the sun shine through five
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: hundred miles of solid crust. It is not the sun
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: of the outer world that we have seen here. It
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: is another sun, an entirely different sun, that casts its
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: eternal noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Look at it now, David, if you can see it
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: from the doorway of this hut, and you will see
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: that it is still in the exact center of the heavens.
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: We have been here for many hours, yet it is
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: still noon. And withal it is very simple, David. The
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Earth was once a nebulous mass. It cooled, and as
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: it cooled it shrank at length. A thin crust of
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: solid matter formed upon its outer surface, a sort of shell,
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: As it continued to cool, what happened centrifugal forces hurled
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: the particles of the nebula center toward the crust as
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: the same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Presently there was only a small superheated core of gaseous
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: matter remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: contraction of the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: solid crust from all directions maintained this luminous core in
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: it is the sun you saw today, a relatively tiny
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: thing at the exact center of the Earth. Equally to
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: every part of this inner world. It diffuses its perpetually
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: noonday light and torrid heat. This inner world must have
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: cooled sufficiently to support animal life long ages after life
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: appeared upon the outer Crust. But that the same agencies
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: were at work here is evident from the similar forms
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen.
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: Take the great beast which attacked us, for example, unquestionably
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: a counterpart of the megatherium of the post Pliocene period
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: of the Outer Crust, whose fossilize skeleton has been found
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: in South America. But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: I urged, surely they have no counterpart in the Earth's history.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Who can tell he rejoined? They may constitute the link
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: between ape and man, all traces of which have been
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: swallowed by the countless convulsions which have racked the Outer Crust.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Or they may be merely the result of evolution along
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: slightly different lines. Either is quite possible. Further speculation was
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: interrupted by the appearance of several of our captors before
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: were filled with the black ape men. Their females and
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: their young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: a garment among the lot. Quite low in the scale
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: of creation, commented Perry, quite high enough to play the
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: deuce with us, though I replied, now, what do you
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: suppose they intend on doing with us? We were not
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: long in learning, as on the occasion of our trip
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: to the village, we were seized by a couple of
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: the powerful creatures and whirled away through the tree tops,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: while about us and in our wake, raced a chattering, jabbering,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: grinning horde of sleek, black ape things. Twice my bearers
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as we
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: plunged towards instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. But
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: on both occasions those lithe powerful tales reached out and
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: found sustaining branches. Nor did either of the creatures loosen
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: incidents were of no greater moment to them than would
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: be the stubbing of one's toe at a street crossing
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: in the outer world. They but laughed uproariously and sped
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: on with me for some time time. They continued through
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: the forest. How long I could not guess, for I
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: was learning what was later borne very forcefully to my mind,
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: that time ceases to be a factor the moment. Means
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: for measuring it ceased to exist. Our watches were gone,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and we were living beneath a stationary sun. Already I
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: was puzzled to compute the period of time which had
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: elapsed since we broke through the crust of the inner world.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: It might be hours, or it might be days. Who
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: in the world could tell? Where it was always noon
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: by the sun. No time had elapsed, but my judgment
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: told me that we must have been several hours in
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: this strange world. Presently, the forest terminated, and we came
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: out upon a level plain. A short distance before us
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: rose a few low rocky hills. Toward these, our captors
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: urged us, and after a short time, led us through
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: a narrow pass into a circular valley. Here they got
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: down to work, and we were soon convinced that if
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: we were not to die to make a Roman holiday,
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: we were to die for some other purpose. The attitude
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: of our captors altered immediately as they entered the natural
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased grim ferocity
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: marked their beastial faces, bared fangs menaced us. We were
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: placed in the center of the amphitheater, the thousand creatures
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf dog
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: was brought Hyenodon. Perry called it, and turned loose with
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: us inside the circle. The thing's body was as large
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: as that of a full grown mastiff. Its legs were
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us,
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: it presented a most formidable aspect, with its upcurled lips
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: bearing its mighty fangs. Perry was on his knees praying.
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: I stooped and picked up a small stone. At my movement,
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: the beast veered off a bit and commenced circling us.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: ape things were dancing up and down, urging the brute
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: on with savage cries, until at last, seeing that I
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: did not throw, he charged us at andover, and later
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: at Yale. I had pitched on winning ball teams. My
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: speed and control must both have been above ordinary, for
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: I made such a record during my senior year at
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: college that overtures were made to me in behalf of
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: one of the great Major League teams, but in the
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: tightest pitch that had ever confronted me in the past,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: I had never been in such need for control as now.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: As I wound up for the delivery, I held my
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: nerves and muscles under absolute command, though the grinning jaws
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: were hurtling towards me at terrific speed. And then I
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: let go with every ounce of my weight and muscle
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: and science. In back of that throw, the stone caught
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose and
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: sent him bowling over upon his back. At the same instant,
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: the upsetting of their champion was the cause. But in
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: this I soon saw I was mistaken. As I looked
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: the ape, things broke in all directions towards the surrounding hills,
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: and then I distinguished the real cause of their perturbation.
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: Behind them, streaming through the pass which leads into the valley,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: came a swarm of hairy men guerrilla like creatures, armed
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: with spears and hatchets, and bearing long oval shields like demons,
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: they set upon the ape things, and before them the Hyaenodon,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: which had now regained its senses and its feet, fled
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: howling with fright past us swept the pursuit and the pursuers,
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: nor did the hairy ones accord us more than a
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: seemed to have authority among them, directed that we be
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: brought with them. When we had passed out of the
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: amphitheater on to the great plain, we saw a caravan
• 53:24
  Speaker 1: of men and women, human beings like ourselves, and for
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: the first time, hope and relief filled my heart, until
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: I could have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness.
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: It is true that they were a half naked, wild
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: appearing aggregation, but they at least were fashioned along the
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: same lines as ourselves. There was nothing grotesque or horrible
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: about them, as about the other creatures in the strange,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: weird world. But as we came closer, our hearts sank
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: once more, for we discovered that the poor wretches were
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: chained neck to neck in a long line, and that
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: the guerrilla men were their guards. With little ceremony, PERI
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: and I were chained at the end of the line,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: and without further ado, the interrupted march was resumed. Up
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: to this time, the excitement had kept us both up.
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: But now the tiresome monotony of the long march across
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: the sun baked plain brought on all the agonies consequent
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: to a long denied sleep. On and on we stumbled
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell, we were
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: prodded with a sharp point. Our companions and chains did
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: not stumble. They strode along proudly, erect. Occasionally they would
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. They
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: were a noble appearing race, with well formed heads and
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: perfect physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular,
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: the women smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: The features of both sexes were well proportioned. There was
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: not a face among them that would have been called
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no ornaments,
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: but this I later learned was due to the fact
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: that their captors had stripped them of everything of value
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: as garniture. The women possessed a single robe of some
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: light colored spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to a
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: leopard skin. This they wore, either supported entirely about the
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: below the knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin sandals.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: The men wore loincloth of the hide of some shaggy beast,
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: long ends of which depended before and behind, nearly to
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: the ground. In some instances, these ends were finished with
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: the strong talons of the beast from which the hides
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: had been taken. Our guards, whom I have already described
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: as gorilla like men, were rather lighter in build than
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: a gorilla, but even so they were indeed mighty creatures.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: Their arms and legs were proportioned more in conformity with
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: human standards, but their entire bodies were covered with shaggy
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla, which
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: I had seen in the museums at home. Their only
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: and back of the ears. In this respect, they were
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: not one whit less human than we. They were clothed
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: in a sort of tunic of light cloth which reached
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: to the knees. Beneath this, they wore only a loin
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal,
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: silver predominating, and on their tunics were sown the heads
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: talked among themselves as they marched along on either side
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: of us, but in a language which I perceived differed
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When they addressed
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: the latter, they used what appeared to be a third language,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue, rather
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: analogous to the pigeon English of the Chinese coolie. How
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: far we marched, I have no conception, nor has Perry.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Both of us were asleep much of the time for
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: hours before a halt was called. Then we dropped in
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: our tracks. I say for hours. But how may one
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: measure time where time does not exist? When our march commenced,
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: the sun stood at zenith. When we halted, our shadows
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: still pointed towards Natre. Whether an instant or an eternity
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: of earthly time elapsed. Who may say that march may
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: have occupied nine years and eleven months of that ten
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: years that I spent in the inner world, or it
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: I cannot tell. But this I do know that since
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: you have told me that ten years have elapsed since
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: I departed from this earth, I have lost all respect
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: for time. I am commencing to doubt that such a
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter three, Chapter four Die in the Beautiful.
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: When our guards arose us from sleep, we were much refreshed.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: They gave us food, strips of dried meat. It was,
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: but it put a new life and strength into us,
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: so that now we too marched with high held heads
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: and took noble strides. At least I did, for I
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: was young and proud, but poor Perry hated walking on earth.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: I had often seen him call a cab to travel
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: a square. He was paying for it now, and his
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: old legs wobbled, so that I put my arm about
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: him and half carried him through the balance of those
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: frightful marches. The country began to change at last, and
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: we wound up out of the level plain through mighty
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: mountains of virgin granite. The tropical verdure of the lowlands
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: was replaced by heartier vegetation. But even here the effects
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: of constant heat and light were apparent in the immensity
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: of the trees and the profusion of foliage and blooms.
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: Crystal streams roared through the rocky channels, fed by the
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: perpetual snows, which we could see far above us. Above
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: the snow capped heights hung masses of heavy clouds. It
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: was these, Perry explained, which evidently served the double purpose
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: of replenishing the melting snows and protecting them from the
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: direct rays of the sun. By this time we had
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 1: picked up a smattering of the bastard language in which
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: our guards addressed us, as well as making good headway
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: in the rather charming tongue of our co captives. Directly
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: ahead of me in the chain gang was a young woman.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: Three feet of chain linked us together in a forced companionship,
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: which I at least soon rejoiced in, for I found
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: her a willing teacher, and from her I learned the
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: language of her tribe and much of the life and
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: customs of the inner world, at least that part of
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: it with which she was familiar. She told me that
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: she was called Diane the Beautiful, and that she belonged
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: to the tribe of Amos, which dwells in the cliffs
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: above the darrel As or shallow sea. How came you here,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: I asked her. I was running away from Jewble, the
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: ugly One. She answered, as though that was explt quite sufficient.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: Who is Jubal the ugly one? I asked, and why
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: did you run away from him? She looked at me
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: in surprise. Why does a woman run away from a man?
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: She answered my question with another. They do not where
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: I come from, I replied, sometimes they run after them.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: But she could not understand, nor could I get her
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: to grasp the fact that I was of another world.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: She was quite as positive that creation was originated solely
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: to produce her own kind and the world she lived in,
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: as are many of the outer world. But Jewbil I
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: insisted tell me about him, and why you ran away
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: to be chained by the neck and scourged across the
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: face of a world. Jubal the Ugly One placed his
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: trophy before my father's house. It was the head of
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: a mighty tandor it remained there, and no greater trophy
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: was placed beside it. So I knew that Jubil the
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: Ugly One would come and take me as his mate.
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: None other so powerful wished me, or they would have
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: slain a mightier beast and thus have won me from Jubil.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: My father is not a mighty hunter. Once he was,
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: but a sedak tossed him, and never again had he
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: the full use of his right arm. My brother, Decor,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: the strong One, had gone to the land of Sorry
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: to steal a mate for himself. Thus there was none father,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: brother or lover to save me from Jubal the Ugly One.
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: And I ran away and hid among the hills that
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: skirt the land of Amos. And there these sagoths found
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: me and made me captive. What will they do with you,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: i asked, Where are they taking us again? She looked
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: her incredulity. I can almost believe that you are of
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: another world, she said, for otherwise such ignorance were inexplicable.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: Do you really mean that you do not know that
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: the Sagoths are the creatures of the mayors, the mighty mayors,
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: who think they own Pellucidar and all that walks or
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: grows upon its surface, or creeps or burrows beneath, or
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: swims within its lakes and oceans, or flies through its air.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: Next you will be telling me that you've never before
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: heard of the mayors. I was loath to do it
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: and further incur her scorn, but there was no alternative
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: if I were to absorb knowledge. So I made a
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: clean breast of my pitiful ignorance as to the mighty mayors.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: She was shocked, but she did her very best to
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: enlighten me. Though much that she said was as Greek
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: would have been to her. She described the mayors largely
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: by comparison. In this way, they were like unto thipdars,
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: in that to the hairless liddy. About all I gleaned
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: of them was that they were quite hideous, had wings
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 1: and webbed feet, lived in cities built beneath the ground,
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: could swim under water for great distances, and were very,
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: very wise. The Sagoths were their weapons of offense and defense,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: and the races like herself were their hands and feet.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: They were the slaves and servants who did all the
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 1: manual labor. The mayors were the heads, the brains of
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: the inner world. I longed to see this wondrous race
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: of supermen. Perry learned the language with me when we halted,
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 1: as we occasionally did, though sometimes the halts seemed ages apart.
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: He would join in the conversation, as would Ghak the
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: Hairy One. He who was chained just ahead of Dian
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: the Beautiful. Ahead of Ghak was Hooja, the sly one.
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: He too entered the conversation occasionally. Most of his remarks
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: were directed towards Dian the Beautiful. It didn't take half
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: an eye to see that he had developed a bad case,
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: But the girl appeared totally oblivved to his thinly veiled advances.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: Did I say, thinley Field, there is a race of
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: men in New Zealand or Australia, I have forgotten which,
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: who indicate their preference for the lady of their affections.
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: By banging her over the head with a bludgeon. By
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: comparison with this method, Whojah's love making might be called
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: thinly veild. At first it caused me to blush violently,
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: although I have seen several old years out at Rector's
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: and in other less fashionable places off Broadway, and in
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: Vienna and Hamburg. But that girl, she was magnificent. It
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: was easy to see that she considered herself as entirely
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: above and apart from her present surroundings. In company. She
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: talked with me and with Perry, and with the taciturn Ghak,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: because we were respectful. But she couldn't even see Hooja
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: the sly one, much less hear him, and that made
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: him furious. He tried to get one of the Sagoths
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: to move the girl up ahead of him in the
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: slave gang, but the fellow only poked him with his
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 1: spear and told him that he had selected the girl
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: for his own property, that he would buy her from
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: the mayors as soon as they reached Putra Poutra, it
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: seemed was the city of our destination. After passing over
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: the first chain of the mountains, we skirted a salt
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: sea upon whose bosom swam. Countless horrid things. Seal like
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: creatures there were, with long necks stretching ten or more
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: feet above their enormous bodies, and whose snake heads were
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: split with gaping mouths bristling with countless fangs. There were
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: huge tortoises, too, paddling about among these other reptiles, which
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: Perry said were plesiosaurs of the Lias. I didn't question
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: his veracity. They might have been most anything. Dian told
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: me they were tandoraises or tandors of the sea, and
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: that the other and more fearsome reptiles which occasionally rose
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: from the deep to do battle with them, were as
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: diaryths or sea dearyths. Perry called them ichtheosaurs. They resembled
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: a whale with the head of an alligator. I had
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: forgotten what little geology I had studied at school. About
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: All that remained was an impression of horror that the
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: illustrations of restored prehistoric monsters had made upon me, and
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 1: a well defined belief that any man with a pig's
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: shank and a vivid imagination could restore most any sort
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: of paleolithic monster he saw fit, and take rank as
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: a first class paleontologist. But when I saw these sleek,
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: shiny carcasses shimmering in the sunlight as they emerged from
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: the ocean, shaking their giant heads, When I saw the
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: waters from their sinuous bodies in miniature waterfalls, as they
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: glided hither and thither, now upon the surface, now half submerged.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: As I saw them meet, open mouthed, hissing and snorting
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: in their titanic and interminable warring, I realized how futile
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: is man's poor, weak imagination by comparison with nature's incredible genius.
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 1: And Perry, he was absolutely flabbergasted. He said so himself. David,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: he remarked, after we had marched for a long time
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: beside that awful sea. David, I used to teach geology,
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: and I thought that I believed what I taught. But
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: now I see that I did not believe it. That
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: it is impossible for man to believe such things as
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: these unless he sees them with his own eyes. We
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: take things for granted, perhaps because we are told them
• 1:08:54
  Speaker 1: over and over again and have no way of disproving them,
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 1: like religion, for example, but we don't believe them. We
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: only think we do. If you ever get back to
• 1:09:07
  Speaker 1: the outer world, you will find that the geologists and
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: paleontologists will be the first who set you down a liar,
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: for they know that no such creatures as they restore
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 1: ever existed. It is all right to imagine them as
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 1: existing in an equally imaginary epoch, but now proof. At
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: the next halt Hooja, the sly One managed to find
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: enough slack chain to permit him to worm himself back
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: quite close to Diane. We were all standing, and as
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: he edged near the girl, she turned her back upon
• 1:09:43
  Speaker 1: him in such a truly earthly feminine manner that I
• 1:09:47
  Speaker 1: could scarce repress a smile. But it was a short
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: lived smile, for on the instant the sly One's hand
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: fell upon the girl's bare arm, jerking her roughly towards him.
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: I was not then familiar with the customs or social
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: ethics which prevailed within Pellucidar, But even so I did
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: not need the appealing look to which the girl shot
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: to me from her magnificent eyes to influence my subsequent act.
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: What the sly One's intention was, I paused not to inquire,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: but instead, before he could lay hold of her, with
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: his other hand, I placed a right to the point
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: of his jaw that felled him in his tracks. A
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 1: roar of approval went up from those of the other
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 1: prisoners and the Sagoths who had witnessed the brief drama,
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: not as I later learned, because I had championed the girl,
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: but for the neat and to them astounding method by
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: which I had bested Hoojah and the girl. At first
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: she looked at me with wide, wondering eyes, and then
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: she dropped her head, her face half averted, and a
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: delicate flush suffused her cheeks. For a moment she stood
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: thus in silence, and then her head went high, and
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: she turned her back upon me, as she had upon Hoojah.
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: Some of the prisoners laughed, and I saw the face
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: of Ghak, the hairy one, go very black as he
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: looked at me searchingly, And what I could see of
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: Diane's cheek went suddenly from red to white. Immediately after,
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 1: we resumed the march, And though I realized that in
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 1: some way I had offended Diane the Beautiful, I could
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: not prevail upon her to talk with me that I
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: might learn wherein I had erred. In fact, I might
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: quite as well have been addressing a sphinx for all
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: the attention I got. At last, my own foolish pride
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: stepped in and prevented my making any further attempts, and
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: thus a companionship that, without my realizing it had come
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: to mean a great deal to me, was cut off.
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: Hooja did not renew his advances toward the girl, nor
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: did he again venture near me again. The weary and
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: apparently interminable marching became a perfect nightmare of horrors to me.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: The more firmly fixed became the realization that the girl's
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: friendship had meant so much to me, the more I
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: came to miss it, and the more impregnable the barrier
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: of silly pride. But I was very young and would
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: not ask Ghak for the explanation, which I was sure
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: he could give, and that might have made everything all
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: right again. On the march or during halts, Dian refused
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: consistently to notice me. When her eyes wandered in my direction,
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: she looked either over my head or directly through me.
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: At last, I became desperate and determined to swallow my
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 1: self esteem and again beg her to tell me how
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: I had offended and how I might make reparation. I
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: made up my mind that I should do this At
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: the next halt. We were approaching another range of mountains
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 1: at the time, and when we reached them, instead of
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 1: winding across them through some high flung pass we entered
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: a mighty natural tunnel, a series of labyrinthian grottos, dark
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: as erebus. The guards had no torches or lights of
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: any description. In fact, we had seen no artificial light
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: or sign of fire since we had entered Pellucidar. In
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: a land of perpetual noon, there is no need of
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: light above ground. Yet I marveled that they had no
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: means of lighting their way through these dark, subterranean passages.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: So we crept along at a snail's pace, with much
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 1: stumbling and falling, the guards keeping up a sing song
• 1:13:36
  Speaker 1: chant ahead of us, interspersed with certain high notes which
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: I found always indicated rough places and turns. Halts were
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: now more frequent, but I did not wish to speak
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: to Diana until I could see from the expression of
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: her face how she was receiving my apologies. At last,
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: a faint glow ahead forewarned us of the end of
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: the tunnel, for which I for one, was devoutly thankful.
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: Then at a sudden turn, we emerged into the full
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: light of the noonday sun. But with it came a
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: sudden realization of what meant to me a real catastrophe.
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: Diane was gone, and with her a half dozen other prisoners.
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: The guard saw it too, and the ferocity of their
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 1: rage was terrible to behold. Their awesome, beastial faces were
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 1: contorted in the most diabolical expressions as they accused each
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: other of responsibility for the loss. Finally they fell upon us,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: beating us with their spear shafts and hatchets. They had
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: already killed two near the head of the line, and
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: were like to have finished the balance of us when
• 1:14:42
  Speaker 1: their leader finally put a stop to the brutal slaughter.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: Never in all my life had I witnessed a more
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: horrible exhibition of beastial rage. I thanked God that Diane
• 1:14:54
  Speaker 1: had not been one of those left to endure it.
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: Of the twelve prisoners who had been chained ahead of me,
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: each alternate one had been freed commencing with Diane. Hooja
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: was gone. Ghak remained, What could it mean? How had
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: it been accomplished? The commander of the guards was investigating.
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: Soon he discovered that the rude locks which had held
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: the neck bands in place had been deftly picked. Hooja,
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: the sly one, murmured, Ghak, who is now next to
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: me in line, He has taken the girl that you
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: would not have, he continued, glancing at me, that I
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: would not have, I cried, what do you mean? He
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: looked at me closely for a moment. I have doubted
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: your story. That you are from another world, he said
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 1: at last, But yet upon no other ground could your
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: ignorance of the ways of Pellucidar be explained. Do you
• 1:15:46
  Speaker 1: really mean that you do not know that you have
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: offended the beautiful one? And how I do not know? Ghak?
• 1:15:53
  Speaker 1: I replied, Then I shall tell you. When a man
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: of Pellucidar intervenes between another man and the woman, the
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: other man would have the woman belongs to the victor, Dian,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: the beautiful belongs to you. You should have claimed her
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: or released her. Had you taken her hand, it would
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 1: have indicated your desire to make her your mate. And
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: had you raised her hand above her head and then
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: dropped it, it would have meant that you did not
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: wish her for your mate, and that you released her
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: from all obligations to you. By doing neither, you have
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: put upon her the greatest affront that any man may
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: put upon a woman. Now she is your slave. No
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: man will take her as a mate, or may take
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: her honorably, until he shall have overcome you in combat.
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: And men do not choose slave women as their mates,
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: at least not the men of Pellucidar. I did not know, ghak,
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: I cried. I did not know. Not for all Pellucidar,
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: would I have harmed Dian the Beautiful by word or
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: look or act of mine. I do not want her
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: as my slave. I do not want her as my
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: But here, here I stopped. The vision of that sweet,
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 1: innocent face floated before me amidst the soft mists of imagination,
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: and where I had, on the second believed that I
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: clung only to the memory of a gentle friendship I
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: had lost. Yet now it seemed that it would have
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: been disloyalty to her to have said that I did
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: not want Diane the Beautiful as my mate. I have
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: not thought of her except as a welcome friend in
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: a strange, cruel world. Even now I did not think
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: that I loved her. I believe Ghak must have read
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: the truth more in my expression than in my words,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: For presently he laid his hand upon my shoulder. Men
• 1:17:40
  Speaker 1: of another world, he said, I believe you lips may lie,
• 1:17:44
  Speaker 1: but when the heart speaks through the eyes, it tells
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: only the truth. Your heart has spoken to me. I
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: know now that you meant no affront to Diane the Beautiful.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 1: She is not of my tribe, but her mother is
• 1:17:57
  Speaker 1: my sister. She does not know it. Her mother was
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: stolen by Dian's father, who came with others from the
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: tribe of Amos to battle with us for our women,
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: the most beautiful women of Pellucidar. Then was her father
• 1:18:12
  Speaker 1: the king of Amos, and her mother was daughter of
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: the king of Sari, to whose power I his son,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: have succeeded. Diane is the daughter of kings, though her
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: father is no longer king, since this Sadok tossed him
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 1: and Juwbile the Ugly One wrested his kingship from him
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: because of her lineage. The wrong you did her was
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: greatly magnified in the eyes of all who saw it.
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: She will never forgive you, I asked Ghak, if there
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: was not some way in which I could release the
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: girl from the bondage and ignominy I had unwittingly placed
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: upon her. If ever you find her, yes, he answered,
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: merely to raise her hand above her head and drop
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: it in the presence of others is sufficient to release her.
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: But how may you ever find her? You, you, who
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: are doomed to a life of slavery, yourself in the
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 1: buried city of Putra. Is there no escape? I asked
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: Hooja the Siwan escaped and took the others with him,
• 1:19:11
  Speaker 1: replied Ghek. But there are no more dark places on
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: the way to Putra, and once there it is not
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 1: so easy. The mayors are very wise. Even if one
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: escaped from Putra, there are the thipdars. They would find you.
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: And then the hairy one shuddered, No, you will never
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: escape the mayors. It was a cheerful prospect. I asked
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 1: Perry what he thought about it, but he only shrugged
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: his shoulders and continued a long winded prayer. He had
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: been at for some time. He was wont to say
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: that the only redeeming feature of our captivity was the
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: ample time it gave him for the improvisation of prayers.
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: It was becoming an obsession with him. The Sagoths had
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: begun to take notice of his habit of declaiming throughout
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: entire marches. One of them asked him what he was
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: saying to whom he was talking. The question gave me
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: an idea, so I answered quickly before Perry could say anything,
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: do not interrupt him, I said, he is a very
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: holy man in the world from which we come. He
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 1: is speaking to spirits which you cannot see. Do not
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: interrupt him, or they will spring out of the air
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: upon you and rind you limb from limb. Like that,
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: and I jumped towards the great brute with a loud
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: boo that sent him stumbling backward. I took a long chance,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: I realized, But if we could make any capital out
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: of Perry's harmless mania, I wanted to make it while
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: the making was prime. It worked splendidly. The Sagoths treated
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: us both with marked respect during the balance of our journey,
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 1: and then passed the word along to their masters, the mayors.
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: Two marches after this episode, we came to the city
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: of Putra. The entrance to it was marked by two
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: lofty towers of granite which guarded a flight of steps
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: leading to the buried city. Sagoths were on guard here,
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: as well as at one hundred or more other towers
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: scattered about over a large plain. End of Chapter four,
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: Chapter five Slaves. As we descended the broad staircase which
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: led to the main avenue of Phutra, I caught my
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: first sight of the dominant race of the inner world. Involuntarily,
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: I shrank back as one of the creatures approached.
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 3: To inspect us. A more hideous thing. It would be
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 3: impossible to imagine the all powerful Mahars of Pellucidar, great
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 3: reptiles some six or eight feet in length, with long,
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 3: narrow heads and great round eyes. Their beak like mouths
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 3: are lined with sharp white fangs, and the backs of
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 3: their huge lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 3: their necks to the end of their long tails. Their
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 3: feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 3: four feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 3: just in front of the hind legs, protruded at an
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 3: angle of forty five degrees towards the rear, ending in
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 3: sharp points several feet above their bodies. I glanced at
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 3: Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him. The
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 3: old man was gazing at the hard creatures with wide,
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 3: astonished eyes. When it passed on, he turned to me,
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 3: a ramphnkus of the middle Olitic David, he said, but gad,
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 3: how enormous. The largest remains we've ever discovered have never
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 3: indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary crow.
• 1:22:36
  Speaker 3: As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra,
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 3: we saw many thousand of the creatures coming and going
• 1:22:41
  Speaker 3: upon their daily duties. They paid but little attention to us.
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 3: Phutra is laid out underground with a regularity that indicates
• 1:22:49
  Speaker 3: remarkable engineering skill. It is hewn from solid limestone strata.
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 3: The streets are broad and of a uniform height of
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 3: twenty feet. At intervals, tubes pierced the roof of this
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 3: underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors, transmit
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 3: the sunlight softened and diffused to dispel what would otherwise
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 3: be Simerian darkness. In like manner, air is introduced. Perry
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 3: and I were taken with Ghak to a large public
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 3: building where one of the Sagoths who had formed our
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 3: guard explained to Maharan official the circumstances surrounding our capture.
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 3: The method of communication between these two was remarkable in
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 3: that no spoken words were exchanged. They employed a species
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 3: of sign language. As I was to learn later, the
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 3: Mahars have no ears, not any spoken language among themselves.
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 3: They communicate by means of what Perry says must be
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 3: a sixth sense, which is cognizant of a fourth dimension.
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 3: I never did quite grasp him, though he endeavored to
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 3: explain it to me upon numerous occasions. I suggested telepathy,
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 3: but he said no, that it was not telepathy, since
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 3: they could only communicate when in each other's presence, Nor
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 3: could they talk with the Sagoths or the the other
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 3: inhabitants of Pellucidar by the same method they used to
• 1:24:03
  Speaker 3: converse with one another. What they do, said Perry, is
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 3: to project their thoughts into the fourth dimension when they
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 3: become appreciable to the sixth sense of their listener. Do
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 3: I make myself quite clear, you do not, Perry, I replied.
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 3: He shook his head in despair and returned to his work.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 3: They had set us to carrying a great accumulation of
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 3: Maharan literature from one apartment to another, and there arranging
• 1:24:27
  Speaker 3: it upon shelves. I suggested to Perry that we were
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 3: in the public library of Phutra, but later, as he
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 3: commenced to discover the key to their written language, he
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 3: assured me that we were handling the ancient archives of
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 3: the race. During this period, my thoughts were continually upon
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 3: Dian the Beautiful. I was, of course glad that she
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 3: had escaped the Mahars, and the fate had been suggested
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 3: by the Sagoth, who had threatened to purchase her. Upon
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 3: our arrival at Phutra. I often wondered if the little
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 3: party of fugitives had been overtaken by the guards who
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 3: had returned to search for them. Sometimes I was not
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 3: so sure, But I should have been more contented to
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 3: know that Dian was here in Phutra than to think
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 3: of her at the mercy of Hooja. The sly one Ghak,
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 3: Perry and I often talked together of possible escape, But
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 3: the Sarian was so steeped in his life long belief
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 3: that no one could escape from the Mahars except by
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 3: a miracle, that he was not much aid to us.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 3: His attitude was of one who waits for the miracle
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 3: to come to him. At my suggestion, Perry and I
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 3: fashioned some swords of scraps of iron, which we discovered
• 1:25:35
  Speaker 3: among some rubbish in the cells where we slept, For
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 3: we were permitted almost unrestrained freedom of action within the
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 3: limits of the building to which we had been assigned.
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 3: So great were the number of slaves who waited upon
• 1:25:47
  Speaker 3: the inhabitants of Phutra, that none of us was apt
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 3: to be overburdened with work, nor were our masters unkind
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 3: to us. We hid our new weapons beneath the skins
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 3: which formed our beds, and then Perry conceived the idea
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 3: of me making bows and arrows, weapons apparently unknown within Pellucidar.
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 3: Next came shields, but these I found it easier to
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 3: steal from the walls of the outer guard room of
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 3: the building. We had completed these arrangements for our protection
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 3: after leaving Phutra. When the Sagoths who had been sent
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 3: to recapture the escaped prisoners, returned with four of them,
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 3: of whom Hooja was one Diane and two others had
• 1:26:23
  Speaker 3: eluded them. It so happened that Hooja was confined in
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 3: the same building with us. He told Ghak that he
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 3: had not seen Diane or the others after releasing them
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 3: within the dark grotto. What had become of them. He
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 3: had not the faintest conception they might be wandering yet
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 3: lost within the labyrinthine tunnel, if not dead from starvation.
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 3: I was now still further apprehensive as to the fate
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 3: of Diane, and at this time, I imagine, came the
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 3: first realization that my affection for the girl might be
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 3: prompted by more than friendship. During my waking hours, she
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 3: was constantly the subject of my thoughts, and when I slept,
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 3: her dear face haunted my dreams more than ever. I
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 3: was determined to escape the Mahars Perry, I confided to
• 1:27:06
  Speaker 3: the old man, if I have to search every inch
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 3: of this diminutive world, I'm going to find Dian, the
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 3: beautiful and right the wrong that I unintentionally did her.
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 3: That was the excuse I made for Perry's benefit. Diminutive world.
• 1:27:19
  Speaker 3: He scoffed, you don't know what you're talking about, my boy,
• 1:27:22
  Speaker 3: and then he showed me a map of Pellucidar, which
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 3: he had recently discovered among the manuscript he was arranging. Look,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 3: he cried, pointing to it. This is evidently water in
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 3: all this land. Do you notice the general configuration of
• 1:27:35
  Speaker 3: the two areas where the oceans are upon the outer
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 3: crust is land. Here these relatively small areas of ocean
• 1:27:41
  Speaker 3: follow the general lines of the continents of the outer world.
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 3: We know that the crust of the globe is five
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 3: hundred miles in thickness, then the inside diameter of Pellucidar
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 3: must be seven thousand miles, and the superficial area one
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 3: hundred and sixty five million, four hundred and eighty thousand
• 1:27:55
  Speaker 3: square miles three fourths of this is land. Think of
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 3: it a land area of one hundred and twenty four million,
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 3: one hundred and ten thousand square miles. Our own world
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 3: contains but fifty three million square miles of land, the
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 3: balance of its surface being covered by water. Just as
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 3: we often compare nations by their relative land areas, so
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 3: if we compare these two worlds in the same way,
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 3: we have the strange anomaly of a larger world within
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 3: a smaller one. Where within vest Pellucidar, would you search
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 3: for your Diane without stars or moon or changing sun,
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 3: how could you find her even though you knew where
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 3: she might be? Found the proposition was a corker. It
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 3: quite took my breath away, but I found that it
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 3: left me all the more determined to attempt it. If
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 3: Ghak will accompany us, we may be able to do it,
• 1:28:39
  Speaker 3: I suggested Perry, and I sought him out and put
• 1:28:42
  Speaker 3: the question straight to him. Ghak, I said, we are
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 3: determined to escape from this bondage. Will you accompany us?
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 3: They will set the thipdars upon us, he said, and
• 1:28:51
  Speaker 3: then we shall be killed. But he hesitated. I would
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 3: take the chance if I thought that I might possibly
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 3: escape and return to my own people. Could you find
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 3: your way back to your own land, asked Perry, and
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 3: could you aid David in his search for Diane? Yes?
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 3: But how persisted Perry. Could you travel to strange country
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 3: without heavenly bodies or a compass to guide you. Ghak
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 3: didn't know what Perry meant by heavenly bodies or a compass,
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 3: but he assured us that you might blindfold any man
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 3: of Pellucidar and carry him to the farthest corner of
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 3: the world. Yet he would be able to come directly
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 3: to his own home again by the shortest route. He
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 3: seemed a surprised to think that we found anything wonderful
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 3: in it. Perry said, it must be some sort of
• 1:29:32
  Speaker 3: homing instinct, such as is possessed by certain breeds of
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 3: earthly pigeons. I didn't know, of course, but it gave
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 3: me an idea. Then Diane could have found her way
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 3: directly to her own people, I asked, surely, replied Ghak,
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 3: unless some mighty beast of prey killed her. I was
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 3: for making the attempted escape at once, but both Perry
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 3: and Ghak counseled waiting for some propitious accident which would
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 3: insure us some small degree of success. I didn't see
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 3: what accident could befall a whole community in a land
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 3: of perpetual daylight, where the inhabitants had no fixed habits
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 3: of sleep. Why, I am sure that some of the
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 3: Mahars never sleep, while others may, at long intervals crawl
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 3: into the dark recesses beneath their dwellings and curl up
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 3: in protracted slumber. Perry says that if a Mahar stays
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 3: awake for three years, he will make up all his
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 3: lost sleep in a long year's snooze. That may all
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 3: be true, but I never saw but three of them asleep.
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 3: It was the sight of these three that gave me
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 3: a suggestion for our means of escape. I had been
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 3: searching out far below the levels that we slaves were
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 3: supposed to frequent, possibly fifty feet beneath the main floor
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 3: of the building, among a network of corridors and apartments,
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 3: when I came suddenly upon three mahars curled up upon
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 3: a bed of skins. At first I thought they were dead,
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 3: but later their regular breathing convinced me of my error.
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 3: Like a flash, the thought came to me of the
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 3: marvelous opportunity these sleeping reptiles offered as a means of
• 1:30:58
  Speaker 3: eluding the watchfulness of our captors and the Sagoth guards.
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 3: Hastening back to Perry, where he poured over a musty
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 3: pile of to me meaningless hieroglyphics, I explained my plan
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 3: to him. To my surprise, he was horrified. It would
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 3: be murder, David, he cried, murder to kill a reptilian monster,
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 3: I asked, in astonishment. Here they are not monsters, David,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 3: he replied, Here they are the dominant race. We are
• 1:31:24
  Speaker 3: the monsters. The lower orders in Pellucidar evolution has progressed
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 3: along different lines than upon the outer earth. These terrible
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 3: convulsions of nature time and time again wiped out the
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 3: existing species. But for this fact, some monster of the
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 3: Saurozoic epoch might rule to day upon our own world.
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 3: We see here what might well have occurred in our
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 3: own history, had conditions been what they have been. Here.
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 3: Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust.
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 3: Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 3: stone age of our own world's history. But for countless
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 3: millions of years these reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 3: is the sixth sense, which I am sure they possess,
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 3: that has given an advantage over the other and more
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 3: frightfully armed of their fellows. But this we may never know.
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 3: They look upon us as we look upon the beasts
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 3: of our fields, and I learn from their written records
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 3: that other races of Mahars feed upon men. They keep
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 3: them in great droves, as we keep cattle. They breed
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 3: them most carefully, and when they are quite fat, they
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 3: kill and eat them. I shuddered, What is there horrible
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 3: about it? David the old man asked, they understand us
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 3: no better than we understand the lower animals of our
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 3: own world. Why I have come across here varied learned
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 3: discussions of the questions as to whether gilaks, that is,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 3: men have any means of communication. One writer claims that
• 1:32:45
  Speaker 3: we do not even reason, that our every act is
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 3: mechanical or instinctive. The dominant race of Pellucidar David have
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 3: not yet learned that men converse among themselves or reason.
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 3: Because we do not converse as they do, is beyond
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 3: them to matter that we converse at all. It is
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 3: thus that we reason in relation to the brutes of
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 3: our own world. They know that the Sagoths have a
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 3: spoken language, but they cannot comprehend it or how it
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 3: manifests itself, since they have no auditory apparatus. They believe
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 3: that the motions of the lips alone convey the meaning
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 3: that the Sagoths can communicate with us is incomprehensible to them. Yes, David,
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 3: he concluded, it would entail murder to carry out your
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 3: plan very well, then, Perry, I replied, I shall become
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 3: a murderer. He got me to go over the plan
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 3: again most carefully, and for some reason which was not
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 3: the time clear to me, insisted upon a very careful
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 3: description of the apartments and quarters I just explored. I wonder, David,
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 3: he said at length, as you are determined to carry
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 3: out your wild scheme, if we could not accomplish something
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 3: of very real and lasting benefit for the human race
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 3: of Pellucidar. At the same time, listen, I have learned
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 3: much of a most surprising nature from these archives of
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 3: the Mahars that you may not I appreciate my plan.
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 3: I shall briefly outline the history of the race. Once
• 1:34:04
  Speaker 3: the males were all powerful, but ages ago, the females,
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 3: little by little assumed the mastery. For other ages, no
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 3: noticeable change took place in the race of Mahars. It
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 3: continued to progress under the intelligent and beneficent rule of
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 3: the ladies. Science took vast strides. This was especially true
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 3: of the sciences which we know as biology and eugenics. Finally,
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 3: a certain female scientist announced the fact that she had
• 1:34:29
  Speaker 3: discovered a method whereby eggs might be fertilized by chemical
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 3: means after they were laid. All true reptiles, you know,
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 3: are hatched from eggs. What happened immediately the necessity for
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 3: males ceased to exist, the race was no longer dependent
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 3: upon them. More ages elapsed, until at the present time
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 3: we find a race consisting exclusively of females. But here
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 3: is the point. The secret of this chemical formula is
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 3: kept by a single race of Mahars. It is in
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 3: the city of Phutra, And unless I am greatly in error,
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 3: I judge from your description of the vaults through which
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 3: she passed to day that it lies hidden in the
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 3: cellar of this building. For two reasons, they hide it
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 3: away and guard it jealously. First because upon it depends
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 3: the very life of the race of the Mahars. And second,
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 3: owing to the fact that when it was public property,
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 3: as at first, so many were experimenting with it that
• 1:35:22
  Speaker 3: the danger of your population became very grave. David, if
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 3: we can escape and at the same time take with
• 1:35:29
  Speaker 3: us this great secret, what will we not have accomplished
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 3: for the human race within Pellucidar. The very thought of
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 3: it fairly overpowered me. Why we two would be the
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 3: means of placing the men of the inner world in
• 1:35:41
  Speaker 3: their rightful place among created things. Only the Sagoths would
• 1:35:46
  Speaker 3: then stand between them and absolute supremacy. And I was
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 3: not quite sure, but that the Sagoths owed all their
• 1:35:52
  Speaker 3: power to the greater intelligence of the Mahars. I could
• 1:35:55
  Speaker 3: not believe that these gorilla like beasts were the mental
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 3: superiors of the human race of plas Dar. Why, Perry,
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 3: I exclaimed, You and I may reclaim a whole world. Together.
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 3: We can lead the races of men out of the
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 3: darkness of ignorance into the light of advancement and civilization.
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 3: At one step, we may carry them from the age
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 3: of Stone to the twentieth century. It's marvelous, absolutely marvelous,
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 3: just to think about it, David, said the old man.
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 3: I believe that God sent us here for just that purpose.
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 3: It shall be my life work to teach them his word,
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 3: to lead them into the light of His mercy. While
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 3: we are training their hearts and hands in the ways
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 3: of culture and civilization. You are right, Perry, I said,
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 3: And while you are teaching them to pray, I'll be
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 3: teaching them to fight. And between us we'll make a
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 3: race of men that will be an honor to us both.
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 3: Ghak had entered the apartment some time before we concluded
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 3: our conversation, and now he wanted to know what we
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 3: were so excited about Parry thought we had best not
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 3: tell him too much, and so I only explained that
• 1:36:58
  Speaker 3: I had a plan for escape. When I had outlined
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 3: it to him. He seemed about as horror struck as
• 1:37:03
  Speaker 3: Perry had been, but for a different reason. The hairy
• 1:37:06
  Speaker 3: one only considered the horrible fate that would be ours
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 3: were we discovered. But at last I prevailed upon him
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 3: to accept my plan as the only feasible one. And
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 3: when I had assured him that I would take all
• 1:37:17
  Speaker 3: the responsibility for it were we captured, he accorded a
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 3: reluctant assent. End of Chapter five, Chapter six, the beginning
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 3: of horror within Pellucidar. One time is as good as another.
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 3: There were no nights to mask our attempt to escape.
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 3: All must be done in broad daylight, all but the
• 1:37:39
  Speaker 3: work I had to do in the apartment beneath the building.
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 3: So we determined to put our plan to an immediate test,
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 3: lest the Mahars who made it possible should awake before
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 3: I reached them. But we were doomed to disappointment, for
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 3: no sooner had we reached the main floor of the
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 3: building on our way to the pits beneath, than we
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 3: encountered hurrying bands of slaves being hasted and under strong
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 3: Sagoth guard out of the edifice to the avenue beyond.
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 3: Other Sagoths were darting hither and thither in search of
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 3: other slaves, and the moment that we appeared, we were
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 3: pounced upon, unhustled into the line of marching humans. What
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 3: the purpose or nature of the general exodus we did
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 3: not know, But presently through the line of captives ran
• 1:38:20
  Speaker 3: the rumor that two escaped slaves had been recaptured, a
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 3: man and a woman, and that we were marching to
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 3: witness their punishment, for the man had killed a Sagoth
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 3: of the detachment that had pursued and overtaken them. At
• 1:38:32
  Speaker 3: the intelligence, my heart sprang to my throat, for I
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 3: was sure that the two were of those who escaped
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 3: in the dark grotto with Hooja, the sly one, and
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 3: that Dian must be the woman. Ghak thought so too,
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 3: as did Perry. Is there not that we may do
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 3: to save her? I asked Ghak, not, he replied. Along
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 3: the crowded avenue we marched, the guards showing unusual cruelty
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 3: towards us, as though we too had been implicated in
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 3: the murder of their fellow. The occasion was to serve
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 3: as an object lesson to all other slaves of the
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 3: danger and futility of attempted escape and the fatal consequences
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 3: of taking the life of a superior being. And so
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 3: I imagined that Sagoths felt amply justified in making the
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 3: entire proceeding as uncomfortable and painful to us as possible.
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 3: They jabbed us with their spears and struck at us
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 3: with the hatchets at the least provocation, and at no
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 3: provocation at all. It was a most uncomfortable half hour
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 3: that we spent before we were finally herded through a
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 3: low entrance into a huge building, the center of which
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 3: was given up to a good sized arena. Benches surrounded
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 3: this open space upon three sides, and along the fourth
• 1:39:39
  Speaker 3: were heaped huge boulders, which rose in receding tiers toward
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 3: the roof. At first I couldn't make out the purpose
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 3: of this mighty pile of rock unless it were intended
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 3: as a rough and picturesque background for the scenes which
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 3: were enacted in the arena before it, but presently after
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 3: the wooden benches had been pretty well filled by slaves,
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 3: and Sagoths. I discovered the purpose of the bowlders. For
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 3: then the Mahars began to file into the enclosure. They
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 3: marched directly across the arena toward the rocks upon the
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 3: opposite side, where, spreading their bat like wings, they rose
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 3: above the high wall of the pit, settling down upon
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 3: the boulders.
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 2: Above.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 3: These were the reserved seats, the boxes of the elect reptiles.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 3: That they are, the rough surface of a great stone
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 3: is to them as plush as upholstery to us. Here
• 1:40:26
  Speaker 3: they lolled, blinking their hideous eyes, and doubtless conversing with
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 3: one another in their sixth sense fourth dimension language. For
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 3: the first time I beheld their queen. She differed from
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 3: the others in no feature that was appreciable to my
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 3: earthly eyes. In fact, all Mahars look alike to me.
• 1:40:45
  Speaker 3: But when she crossed the arena, after the balance of
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 3: her female subjects had found their boulders, she was preceded
• 1:40:51
  Speaker 3: by a score of huge Sagoths, the largest I had
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 3: ever seen, And on either side of her waddled a
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 3: huge thipdar, while behind came another score of Sagoth guardsmen.
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 3: At the barrier. The sagoths clambered up the steep side
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 3: with truly apelike agility, while behind them, the haughty Queen
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 3: rose upon her wings, with her two frightful dragons close
• 1:41:12
  Speaker 3: behind her. At the barrier, the sagoths climbered up the
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 3: steep side with truly apelike agility, while behind them, the
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 3: haughty queen rose upon her wings, with her two frightful
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 3: dragons close beside her, and settled down upon the largest
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 3: boulder of them all, in the exact center of that
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 3: side of the amphitheater, which is reserved for the dominant race.
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 3: Here she squatted, a most repulsive and uninteresting queen, though
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 3: doubtless quite as well, assured of her beauty and divine
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 3: right to rule as the proudest monarch of the outer world.
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 3: And then the music started. Music without sound. The mahars
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 3: cannot hear, so the drums and fifes and horns of
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 3: earthly bands are unknown among them. The band consists of
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 3: a score or more mahars. It filed out in the
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 3: center of the arena, where the creatures upon the rocks
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 3: might see it, and there it performed for fifteen or
• 1:42:01
  Speaker 3: twenty minutes. Their technique consisted in waving their tails and
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 3: moving their heads in a regular succession of measured movements,
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 3: resulting in a cadence which evidently pleased the eye of
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 3: the Mahar, as the cadence of our own instrumental music
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 3: pleases our ears. Sometimes the band took measured steps in
• 1:42:19
  Speaker 3: unison to one side or the other, or backward and
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 3: again forward. It all seemed very silly and meaningless to me.
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 3: But at the end of the first piece, the Mahars
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 3: upon the rocks showed the first indications of enthusiasm that
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 3: I had seen displayed by the dominant race of Pellucidar.
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 3: They beat their great wings up and down, and smote
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 3: their rocky perches with their mighty tails until the ground shook.
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 3: Then the band started another piece, and all was again
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 3: as silent as the grave. There was one great beauty
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 3: about Mahar music. If you didn't happen to like a
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 3: piece that was being played, all you had to do
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 3: was shut your eyes. When the band had exhausted its repertory,
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 3: it took wing, settled upon the rocks above and behind
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 3: the queen. Then the business of the day was on.
• 1:43:05
  Speaker 3: A man and a woman were pushed into the arena
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 3: by a couple of Sagoth guardsmen. I leaned forward in
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 3: my seat to scrutinize the female, hoping against hope that
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 3: she might prove to be another than Dian the beautiful.
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 3: Her back was toward me for a while, and the
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 3: sight of the great mass of raven hair piled high
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 3: upon her head filled me with alarm. Presently, a door
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 3: in one side of the arena wall was opened to
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 3: admit a huge, shaggy bull like creature, A boss, whispered
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 3: Perry excitedly. His kind roamed the outer crust with the
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 3: cave bear and the mammoth ages and ages ago. We
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 3: have been carried back a million years, David, to the
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 3: childhood of a planet. Is it not wondrous? But I
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 3: saw only the raven hair of a half naked girl,
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 3: and my heart stood still in dumb misery at the
• 1:43:55
  Speaker 3: sight of her. Nor had I any eyes for the
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 3: wonders of natural history. But for Perry and Ghak, I
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 3: should have leaped to the floor of the arena and
• 1:44:03
  Speaker 3: shared whatever fate lay in store for this priceless treasure
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 3: of the Stone Age. With the advent of the Boss,
• 1:44:10
  Speaker 3: they called the thing a thag within pellucidar. Two spears
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 3: were tossed into the arena at the feet of the prisoners.
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 3: It seemed to me that a beam shooter would have
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 3: been as effective against the mighty monster as these pitiful weapons.
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 3: As the animal approached the two, bellowing and pawing the
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 3: ground with the strength of many earthly bulls, another door
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 3: directly beneath us was opened, and from it issued the
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 3: most terrific roar that had ever fallen upon my outraged ears.
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 3: I could not at first see the beast from which
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 3: emanated this fearsome challenge, but the sound had the effect
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 3: of bringing the two victims around with a sudden start.
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 3: And then I saw the girl's face. She was not Diane.
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 3: I could have wept for relief. And now, as the
• 1:44:50
  Speaker 3: two stood frozen in terror, I saw the author of
• 1:44:53
  Speaker 3: that fearsome sound creeping stealthily into view. It was a
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 3: huge tiger, such as hunted the Great Boss through the
• 1:44:59
  Speaker 3: jungle primeval when the world was young. In contour and markings.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 3: It was not unlike the noblest of the Bengals of
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 3: our own world. But as its dimensions were exaggerated to
• 1:45:10
  Speaker 3: colossal proportions, so too were its colorings exaggerated. Its vivid
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 3: yellows fairly screamed aloud. Its whites were as eider down,
• 1:45:19
  Speaker 3: its blacks glossy as the finest anthracite coal, and its
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 3: coat long and shaggy as a mountain goat. That it
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 3: is a beautiful animal, there is no gainsaying. But if
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 3: its size and colors are magnified here within Pellucidar, so
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 3: is the ferocity of its disposition. It is not the
• 1:45:37
  Speaker 3: occasional member of our species that is a man hunter.
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 3: All are man hunters, but they do confide their forging
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 3: to man alone. For there is no flesh or fish
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 3: within Pellucidar that they will not eat with relish in
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 3: the constant efforts which they make to furnish their huge
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 3: carcasses with sufficient sustenance to maintain their mighty thews. Upon
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 3: one side of the doomed pair, the thag bellowed and advanced,
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 3: and upon the other tarag the frightful crept toward them
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 3: with gaping mouth and dripping fags. The man seized the spear,
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 3: handing one of them to the woman. At the sound
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 3: of the roaring of the tiger, the bull's bellowing became
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 3: a veritable frenzy of rageful noise. Never in my life
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 3: had I heard such an infernal din as the two
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 3: brutes made, And to think it was all lost upon
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 3: the hideous reptiles for whom the show was staged. The
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 3: thag was charging now from one side, and the tarag
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 3: from the other. The two puny things standing between them
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 3: seemed already lost, But at the very moment that the
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 3: beasts were upon them, the man grasped his companion by
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 3: the arm, and together they leaped to one side, while
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 3: the frenzied creatures came together like locomotives in collision. There
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 3: ensued a battle royal, which, for sustained and frightful ferocity
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 3: transcends the power of imagination or description. Time and again,
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 3: the colossal bull tossed to the enormous tiger into the air,
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 3: but each time that the huge cat touched the ground,
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 3: he returned to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength and
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 3: seemingly increased ire. For a while, the man and woman
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 3: busied themselves only with keeping out of the way of
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 3: the two creatures. But finally I saw them separate, and
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 3: each creep stealthily toward one of the combatants. The tiger
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 3: was now upon the bull's broad back, clinging to the
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 3: huge neck with powerful fangs, while its long, strong talons
• 1:47:28
  Speaker 3: ripped the heavy hide into shreds and ribbons. For a moment,
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 3: the bull stood, bellowing and quivering with pain and rage,
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 3: its cloven hoofs wide spread, its tail lashing viciously from
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 3: side to side, and then, in a mad orgy of bucking,
• 1:47:43
  Speaker 3: it went careening about the arena in frenzied attempt to
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 3: unseat its rending rider. It was with difficulty that the
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 3: girl avoided the first mad rush of the wounded animal.
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 3: All its efforts to rid itself of the tiger seemed futile,
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 3: until desperation, it threw itself upon the ground, rolling over
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 3: an other over. A little of this so disconcerted the tiger,
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 3: knocking its breath from it, I imagine that it lost
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 3: its hold. And then, quick as a cat, the great
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 3: thag was up again and had buried those mighty horns
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 3: deep in the tarag's abdomen, pinning him to the floor
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 3: of the arena. The great cat clawed at the shaggy
• 1:48:17
  Speaker 3: head until eyes and ears were gone, and naught but
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 3: a few strips of ragged, bloody flesh remained upon the skull.
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 3: Yet through all the agony of that fearful punishment, the
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 3: thag still stood motionless, pinning down his adversary. And then
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 3: the man leaped in, seeing that the blind bull would
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 3: be the least formidable enemy, and ran his spear through
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 3: the tarag's heart. As the animal's fierce clawing ceased, the
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 3: bull raised his gory, sightless head and with a horrid roar,
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 3: ran headlong across the arena with great leaps and bounds.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 3: He came straight toward the arena wall, directly beneath where
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 3: we sat, and then the accident carried him in one
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 3: of his mighty springs, completely over the barrier into the
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 3: midst of the slaves and sagoths just in front of us.
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 3: Swinging his bloody horns from side to side, the beast
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 3: cut a wide swath before him, straight upward toward our seats.
• 1:49:06
  Speaker 3: Before him, slaves and guerrilla men fought in mad stampede
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 3: to escape the menace of the creature's death agonies. For
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 3: such only could that frightful charge have been forgetful of us.
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 3: Our guards joined in the general crush for the exits.
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 3: Many of which pierced the wall of the amphitheaters behind us.
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 3: Perry Ghak and I became separated in the chaos which
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 3: reigned for a few moments after the beast cleared the
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 3: wall of the arena, each intent upon saving his own hide,
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 3: I ran to the right, passing several exits, choked with
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 3: a fear mad mob that were battling to escape. One
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 3: would have thought that an entire herd of thags was
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 3: loose behind them, rather than a single, blinded, dying beast.
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 3: But such as the effect of panic upon a crowd
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 3: end of Chapter.
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 2: Six, Chapter seven.
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: Freedom.
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 2: Once out of the direct path of the animal, fear
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 2: of it left me, but another emotion as quickly gripped me,
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 2: hope of escape that the demoralized condition of the guards
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 2: made possible. For the instant I thought of Perry, but
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 2: for the hope that I might better encompass his release
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 2: if myself free, I should have put the thought of
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 2: freedom from me at once. As it was, I hastened
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 2: on toward the right, searching for an exit toward which
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 2: no Sagoths were fleeing, And at last I found it,
• 1:50:24
  Speaker 2: a low, narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor. Without
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 2: thought of the possible consequence, I darted into the shadows
• 1:50:31
  Speaker 2: of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom.
• 1:50:34
  Speaker 2: For some distance, the noises of the amphitheater had grown
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 2: fainter and fainter, until now all was as silent as
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 2: the tomb about me. Faint light filtered from above through
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 2: occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it was scarce sufficient
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 2: to enable my human eyes to cope with the darkness,
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 2: and so I was forced to move with extreme care,
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 2: feeling my way along step by step with a hand
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 2: upon the wall beside me. Presently the light increased, and
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 2: a moment later, to my delight, I came upon a
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 2: flight of steps leading upward, at the top of which
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 2: the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 2: opening in the ground. Cautiously, I crept up the stairway
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 2: to the tunnel's end, and peering out, saw the broad
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 2: plain of Phutra before me. The numerous lofty granite towers
• 1:51:23
  Speaker 2: which mark the several entrances to the subterranean city, were
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 2: all in front of me. Behind the plain, stretched level
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 2: and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 2: the surface then beyond the city, and my chances for
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 2: escape seemed much enhanced. My first impulse was to await
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 2: darkness before attempting to cross the plain, so deeply implanted
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 2: are habits of thought. But of a sudden I recollected
• 1:51:50
  Speaker 2: the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelops Pellucidar, and with a smile,
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 2: I stepped forth into the daylight. Rank grass waist high
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 2: grows upon the plain of Phutra, the gorgeous flowering grass
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 2: of the inner world, each particular blade of which is
• 1:52:06
  Speaker 2: tipped with a tiny five pointed blossom, Brilliant little stars
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 2: of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage, to
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 2: add still another charm to the weird yet lovely landscape.
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 2: But then the only aspect which attracted me was the
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 2: distant hills in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 2: so I hastened on trampling the myriad beauties beneath my
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 2: hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of gravity is
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 2: less upon the surface of the inner world than upon
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 2: that of the outer. He explained it all to me once,
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 2: But I was never particularly brilliant in such matters, and
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 2: so most of it has escaped me. As I recall it.
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 2: The difference is due in some part to the counter
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 2: attraction of that portion of the Earth's crust directly opposite
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 2: the spot upon the face of Pellucidar at which one's
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 2: calculations are being made.
• 1:52:57
  Speaker 1: Be that as it may, it.
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 2: Always seemed to me that I moved with greater speed
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 2: and agility within Pellucidar than upon the outer surface. There
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 2: was a certain airy lightness of step that was most pleasing,
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 2: and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 2: compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams. And as I
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 2: crossed Phutra's flower bespangled plain that time I seemed almost
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 2: to fly. Though how much of the sensation was due
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 2: to Perry's suggestion and how much to actuality, I am
• 1:53:27
  Speaker 2: sure I do not know. The more I thought of Perry,
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 2: the less pleasure I took in my new found freedom.
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 2: There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unless
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 2: the old man shared it with me, and only the
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 2: hope that I might find some way to encompass his
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 2: release kept me from turning back to Phutra. Just how
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 2: I was to help Perry, I could scarce, imagine, but
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 2: I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 2: for me. It was quite evident, however, that little less
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 2: than a miracle could aid me. For what could I
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 2: accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed? It was
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 2: even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Phutra
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 2: should I once pass beyond view of the plain. And
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 2: even were that possible, what aid could I bring to Perry?
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 2: No matter how far I wandered, The case looked more
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 2: and more hopeless the longer I viewed it. Yet with
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 2: a stubborn persistency, I forged ahead toward the foothills behind me.
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 2: No sign of pursuit developed before me. I saw no
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 2: living thing. It was as though I moved through a
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 2: dead and forgotten world. I have no idea, of course,
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 2: how long it took me to reach the limit of
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 2: the plain. But at last I entered the foothills, Following
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 2: a pretty little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 2: froliced a laughing brooklet, hurrying upon its noisy way down
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 2: to the silent sea. In its quieter pools, I discovered
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 2: many small fish of four or five pound weight, I
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 2: should imagine in appearance, except as to size and color,
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 2: they were not unlike the whale of our own seas.
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 2: As I watched them playing about, I discovered not only
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 2: that they suckled their young, but that at intervals they
• 1:55:08
  Speaker 2: rose to the surface to breathe, as well as to
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 2: feed upon certain grasses and a strange scarlet lichen which
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 2: grew upon the rocks just above the water line. It
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 2: was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I
• 1:55:20
  Speaker 2: craved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans, that is
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 2: what Perry calls them, and make as good a meal
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 2: as one can on raw, warm blooded fish. But I
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 2: had become rather used by this time to the eating
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 2: of food in its natural state, though I still balked
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 2: on the eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak,
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 2: to whom I always passed these delicacies. Crouching beside the brook,
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 2: I waited until one of the diminutive purple whales rose
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 2: to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water.
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 2: And then, like the beast of prey that man really is,
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 2: I sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger while he
• 1:55:59
  Speaker 2: yet reged to escape. Then I drank from the clear pool,
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 2: and after washing my hands and face, continued my flight.
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 2: Above the source of the brook, I encountered a rugged
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 2: climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was
• 1:56:13
  Speaker 2: a steep declivity to the shore of a placid inland sea,
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 2: upon the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands.
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 2: The view was charming in the extreme, and as no
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 2: man or beast was to be seen that might threaten
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 2: my new found liberty, I slid over the edge of
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 2: the bluff, and, half sliding, half falling, dropped into the
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 2: delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 2: a haven of peace and security. The gently sloping beach
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 2: along which I walked was thickly strewn with strangely shaped
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 2: colored shells, some empty, others still housing as varied a
• 1:56:52
  Speaker 2: multitude of mollusks, as ever might have drawn out their
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 2: sluggish lives upon the silent shores of the antidiluvian seas
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 2: the outer crust. As I walked, I could not but
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 2: compare myself with the first man of that other world,
• 1:57:07
  Speaker 2: so complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and untouched,
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 2: the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt
• 1:57:17
  Speaker 2: myself a second atom, wending my lonely way through the
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 2: childhood of a world, searching for my eve. And at
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 2: the thought, there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 2: outlines of a perfect face, surmounted by a loose pile
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 2: of wondrous raven hair. As I walked, my eyes were
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 2: bent upon the beach, so that it was not until
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 2: I had come quite upon it that I discovered that
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 2: which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety
• 1:57:45
  Speaker 2: and peace and primal overlordship. The thing was a hollowed
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 2: log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom of
• 1:57:53
  Speaker 2: it lay a crude paddle. The rude shock of awakening
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 2: to what doubtless might prove some new form of danger
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 2: was still upon me when I heard a rattling of
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 2: b loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and
• 1:58:04
  Speaker 2: turning my eyes in that direction, I beheld the author
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 2: of the disturbance, a great copper colored man, running rapidly
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 2: toward me. There was that in the haste with which
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 2: he came, which seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 2: did not need the added evidence of brandishing spear and
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 2: scowling face to warn me that I was in no
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 2: safe position. But whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 2: The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 2: of escaping him. Upon the open beach, there was but
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 2: a single alternative, the rude skiff, and with a celerity
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 2: which equalled his, I pushed the thing into the sea,
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 2: and as it floated, gave a final shove and clambered
• 1:58:44
  Speaker 2: in Over the end. A cry of rage rose from
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 2: the owner of the primitive craft, and an instant later
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 2: his heavy stone tipped spear grazed my shoulder and buried
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 2: itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 2: grasped the paddle, and with feverish haste, urged the awkward,
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 2: wobbly thing out upon the surface of the sea. A
• 1:59:04
  Speaker 2: glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper colored
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 2: one had plunged in after me, and was swimming rapidly
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 2: in pursuit. His mighty strokes bade fair to close up
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 2: the distance between us in short order, for at best
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 2: I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft,
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 2: which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which I
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 2: desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was expended,
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 2: and turning its blunt prow back into the course, I
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 2: had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 2: evident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 2: skiff within the next half dozen strokes. In a frenzy
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 2: of despair, I bent to the grandfather of all paddles
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 2: in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 2: giant behind me gained and gained. His hand was reaching
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 2: upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 2: body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too,
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 2: and the look of terror that overspread his face assured
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 2: me that I need have no further concern as to him,
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 2: for the fear of certain death was in his look.
• 2:00:08
  Speaker 2: And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 2: a hideous monster of that prehistoric deep, a mighty serpent
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 2: of the sea, with fanged jaws and darting forked tongue,
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 2: with bulging eyes and bony protuberances upon head and snout
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 2: that formed short stout horns. As I looked at that
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 2: hopeless struggle. My eyes met those of the doomed man,
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 2: and I could have sworn that in his I saw
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 2: an expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not,
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 2: there swept through me a sudden compassion for the fellow.
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 2: He was indeed a brother man, and that he might
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 2: have killed me with pleasure had he caught me, was
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 2: forgotten in the extremity of his danger. Unconsciously, I had
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 2: ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my pursuer.
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 2: So now the skiff still drifted close beside the two.
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 2: The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim,
• 2:01:00
  Speaker 2: before he closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 2: him down to his dark den beneath the surface to
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 2: devour him. The huge snakelike body coiled and uncoiled about
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 2: its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face,
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 2: the forked tongue, lightning like, ran in and out upon
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 2: the copper's skin. Nobly, the giant battled for his life,
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 2: beating with his stone hatchet against the bony armor that
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 2: covered the frightful carcass. But for all the damage he inflicted,
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 2: he might as well have struck with his open palm.
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 2: At last, I could endure no longer to sit supinely
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 2: by while a fellow man was dragged down to a
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 2: horrible death by that repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 2: of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 2: after me by him, whom I suddenly desired to save.
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 2: With a wrench, I tore it loose, and, standing upright
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 2: in the wobbly log, drove it with all the strength
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 2: of my two arms, straight into the gaping jaws of
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 2: the hydrophidian. With a loud hiss. The creature abandoned its
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 2: prey to turn upon me, but the spear embedded in
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 2: its throat prevented it from seizing me, though it came
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 2: near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 2: reach me. End of Chapter seven, Chapter eight, the Mahar Temple.
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 2: The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, and
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 2: seizing the spear with me, helped to hold off the
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 2: infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 2: the waters about us, and soon from the weakening struggles,
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 2: it became evident that I had inflicted a death wound
• 2:02:36
  Speaker 2: upon it. Presently, its efforts to reach us ceased entirely,
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 2: and with a few convulsive movements, it turned upon its back,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 2: quite dead. And then there came to me a sudden
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 2: realization of the predicament in which I had placed myself.
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 2: I was entirely within the power of the savage man
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 2: whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear,
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 2: I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently.
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 2: And there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 2: tenaciously to the weapon, while we gazed in stupid wonderment
• 2:03:08
  Speaker 2: at each other. What was in his mind I do
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 2: not know, but in my own was merely the question
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 2: as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. Presently
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 2: he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 2: was unable to translate. I shook my head in an
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 2: effort to indicate my ignorance of his language, at the
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 2: same time addressing him in the bastard tongue that the
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 2: Sagoths used to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars.
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 2: To my delight, he understood and answered me in the
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 2: same jargon. What do you want of my spear, he asked,
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 2: only to keep you from running it through me. I replied,
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 2: I would not do that, he said, for you have
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 2: just saved my life. And with that he released his
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 2: hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom of
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 2: the skiff. Who are you, he continued, and from what
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 2: country do you come? I too, sat laying the spear
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 2: between us, and tried to explain how I came to
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar and wherefrom. But it was as impossible for him
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 2: to grasp or believe the strange tale, I told him,
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 2: as I fear it is for you upon the outer
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 2: crust to believe in the existence of the inner world.
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 2: To him, it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 2: was another world far beneath his feet, peopled by being
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 2: similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 2: thought upon it. But it was ever, thus, that which
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 2: has never come within the scope of our really pitifully
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 2: meager world experience cannot be Our finite minds cannot grasp
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 2: that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 2: which obtain about us upon the outside of the insignificant
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 2: grain of dust which lends its tiny way among the
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 2: boulders of the universe, the speck of moist dirt we
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 2: so proudly call the world. So I gave it up
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 2: and asked him about himself. He said he was a
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 2: mease Up, and that his name was Jaw. Who are
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 2: the me I asked? Where do they live? He looked
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 2: at me in surprise. I might indeed believe that you
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 2: were from another world, he said, for who of Pellucidar
• 2:05:10
  Speaker 2: could be so ignorant? The Mezops live upon the islands
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 2: of the seas. In so far as I have ever heard,
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 2: no Mezop lives elsewhere, and no others than Mezops dwell
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 2: upon the islands. But of course it may be different
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 2: in other far distant lands. I do not know at
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 2: any rate. In this sea and those near by, it
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 2: is true that only people of my race inhabit the islands.
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 2: We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well,
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 2: often going to the mainland in search of the game
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 2: that is scarce upon all but the larger islands. And
• 2:05:47
  Speaker 2: we are warriors also, he added proudly. Even the Sagoths
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 2: of the Mahars fear us. Once when Pellucidar was young,
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 2: the Sagoths were wont to capture us for slaves, as
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 2: they do the other men of Pellucidar. It is handed
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 2: down from father to son among us that this is so.
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 2: But we fought so desperately and slew so many Sagoths,
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 2: and those of us that were captured killed so many
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 2: Mahars in their own cities, that at last they learned
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 2: that were better to leave us alone. And later came
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 2: the time that the Mahars became too indolent even to
• 2:06:21
  Speaker 2: catch their own fish, except for amusement. And then they
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 2: needed us to supply their wants, and so a truce
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 2: was made between the races. Now they give us certain
• 2:06:31
  Speaker 2: things which we are unable to produce, in return for
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 2: the fish that we catch, and the Mezops and the
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 2: Mahars live in peace. The great ones even come to
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 2: our islands. It is there, far from the prying eyes
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 2: of their own Sagoths, that they practice their religious rites
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 2: in the temples they have builded there with our assistants.
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 2: If you live among us, you will doubtless see the
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 2: manner of their worship, which is strange, indeed, and most
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 2: unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to take part
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 2: in it. As Ja talked, I had an excellent opportunity
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 2: to inspect him more closely. He was a huge fellow,
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 2: standing I should say six feet six or seven inches,
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 2: well developed, and of a coppery red, not unlike that
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 2: of our own North American Indian. Nor were his features
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 2: dissimilar to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 2: many of the higher tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 2: black hair and eyes, but his mouth and lips were
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 2: better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive and
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 2: handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the
• 2:07:35
  Speaker 2: miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use. During our conversation,
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 2: Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the skiff
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 2: with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 2: half mile from the mainland. The skill with which he
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 2: handled his screwde and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration,
• 2:07:54
  Speaker 2: since it had been so short a time before that
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 2: I had made such pitiful work of it. As we
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 2: touched the pretty level beach, Ja leaped out and I
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 2: followed him. Together, we dragged the skiff far up into
• 2:08:07
  Speaker 2: the bushes that grew beyond the sand. We must hide
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 2: our canoes, explained Ja, for the mezops of Luana are
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 2: always at war with us, and would steal them if
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 2: they found them. He nodded toward an island farther out
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 2: at sea, and at so great a distance that it
• 2:08:23
  Speaker 2: seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 2: upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 2: the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer earthly
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 2: to see land and water curving upward in the distance,
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 2: until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 2: into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 2: mountains hung suspended directly above one's head, required such a
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 2: complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 2: to stupefy one. No sooner had we hidden the canoe
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 2: than Ja plunged into the jungle, presently emerging into a
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 2: narrow but well defined trail which wound hither and thither,
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 2: much after the manner of the highways of all primitive folk.
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 2: But there was one peculiarity about this mees up trail,
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 2: which I was later to find distinguish them from all
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 2: other trails that I have ever seen within or without
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 2: the earth. It would run on, plain and clear and
• 2:09:17
  Speaker 2: well defined, to end suddenly in the midst of a
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 2: tangle of matted jungle. Then Jaw would turn directly back
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 2: in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree,
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 2: climb through it to the other side, drop onto a
• 2:09:29
  Speaker 2: fallen log, leap over a low bush, and alight once
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 2: more upon a distinct trail, which he would follow back
• 2:09:37
  Speaker 2: for a short distance, only to turn directly about and
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 2: retrace his steps until after a mile or less this
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 2: new pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section.
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 2: Then he would pass again across some media, which would
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 2: reveal no spoor to take up the broken thread of
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 2: the trail beyond. As the purpose of this remarkable avenue
• 2:09:57
  Speaker 2: dawned upon me, I could not but admire the native
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 2: shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the Mezops, who hit
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 2: upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 2: track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 2: follow him to his deep buried cities. To you of
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 2: the outer Earth, it might seem a slow and tortuous
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 2: method of traveling through the jungle. But were you of Pellucidar,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 2: you would realize that time is no factor where time
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 2: does not exist. So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails,
• 2:10:25
  Speaker 2: so varied, the connecting links, and the distances which one
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 2: must retrace one's steps from the paths ends to find them,
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 2: that a mezop often reaches man's estate before he is familiar,
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 2: even with those which lead from his own city to
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 2: the sea. In fact, three fourths of the education of
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 2: the young male mezop consists in familiarizing himself with these
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 2: jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 2: determined by the number of trails which he can follow
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 2: upon his own island. The females never learn them, since
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 2: from birth to death they never leave the clearing in
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 2: which the village of their nativity is situated, except that
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 2: they be taken to mate by a mail from another village,
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 2: or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe.
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 2: After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 2: upward of five miles, we emerged suddenly into a large clearing,
• 2:11:14
  Speaker 2: in the exact center of which stood as strange and
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 2: appearing village, as one might well imagine, large trees had
• 2:11:21
  Speaker 2: been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the ground,
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 2: and upon the tops of them, spherical habitations of woven
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 2: twigs mud covered had been built. Each ball like house
• 2:11:31
  Speaker 2: was surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Jow
• 2:11:35
  Speaker 2: told me indicated the identity of the owner. Horizontal slits
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 2: six inches high and two or three feet wide served
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 2: to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 2: were through small apertures in the bases of the trees,
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 2: and thence upward by rude ladders through the hollow trunks
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 2: to the rooms above. The houses varied in size from
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 2: two to several rooms. The largest that I entered was
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 2: divided into two floors and eight apartments. All about the village,
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 2: between it and the jungle lay beautifully cultivated fields in
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 2: which the mezops raised such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 2: they required. Women and children were working in these gardens.
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 2: As we crossed toward the village at sight of jaw,
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 2: they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the
• 2:12:21
  Speaker 2: slightest attention. Among them, and about the outer verge of
• 2:12:24
  Speaker 2: the cultivated area were many warriors. These two saluted Ja
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 2: by touching the points of their spears to the ground
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 2: directly before them. Ja conducted me to a large house
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 2: in the center of the village, the house with eight rooms,
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 2: and taking me up into it, gave me food and drink.
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 2: There I met his mate, a comely girl with a
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 2: nursing baby in her arms. Jaw told her of how
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 2: I had saved his life, and she was thereafter most
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 2: kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 2: and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity, whom Jaw told
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 2: me would one day rule the tribe. For Jaw, it seemed,
• 2:12:59
  Speaker 2: was the chief of the community. We had eaten and rested,
• 2:13:03
  Speaker 2: and I had slept, much to Jaw's amusement, for it
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 2: seemed that he seldom, if ever, did so. And then
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 2: the red man proposed that I accompany him to the
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 2: temple of the Mahars, which lay not far from his village.
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 2: We are not supposed to visit it, he said, but
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 2: the great ones cannot hear, and if we keep well
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 2: out of sight, they need never know that we have
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 2: been there. For my part, I hate them and always have.
• 2:13:26
  Speaker 2: But the other chieftains of the island think it best
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 2: that we continue to maintain the amicable relations which exist
• 2:13:32
  Speaker 2: between the two races. Otherwise I should like nothing better
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 2: than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and
• 2:13:39
  Speaker 2: exterminate them. Pellucidar would be a better place to live
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 2: were there none of them. I wholly concurred in Jaw's belief,
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 2: But it seemed that it might be a difficult matter
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 2: to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus, conversing, we
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 2: followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we came
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 2: upon in a small clearing, surrounded by enormous trees, similar
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 2: to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 2: during the Carboniferous age. Here was a mighty temple of
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 2: hewn rock, built in the shape of a rough oval
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 2: with rounded roof, in which were several large openings. No
• 2:14:14
  Speaker 2: doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure,
• 2:14:17
  Speaker 2: nor was there need of any except one entrance for
• 2:14:20
  Speaker 2: the slaves, since, as Jaw explained, the Mahars flew to
• 2:14:24
  Speaker 2: and from their place of ceremonial entering and leaving the
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 2: buildings by means of the apertures in the roof, But
• 2:14:31
  Speaker 2: added Jaw, there is an entrance near the base of
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 2: which even the mahars know nothing. Come, and he led
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 2: me across the clearing and about the end to a
• 2:14:40
  Speaker 2: pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of
• 2:14:43
  Speaker 2: the wall. Here he removed a couple of large boulders,
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 2: revealing a small opening which led straight within the building.
• 2:14:49
  Speaker 2: Or so it seemed, though as I entered after Ja,
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 2: I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme darkness.
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 2: We are within the outer wall, said ja. It is hollow.
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 2: Follow me closely. The red man groped ahead a few paces,
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 2: and then began to ascend a primitive ladder, similar to
• 2:15:08
  Speaker 2: that which leads from the ground to the upper stories
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 2: of his house. We ascended for some forty feet, when
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 2: the interior of the space between the walls commenced to
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 2: grow lighter, and presently we came opposite an opening in
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 2: the inner wall, which gave us an unobstructed view of
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 2: the entire interior of the temple. The lower floor was
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 2: an enormous tank of clear water, in which numerous hideous
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 2: mahars swam lazily up and down artificial islands of granite
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 2: rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them,
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 2: I saw men and women like myself. What are the
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 2: human beings doing here? I asked, Wait and you shall see,
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 2: replied Jah. They are to take part in the ceremonies
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 2: which will follow the advent of the Queen. You may
• 2:15:51
  Speaker 2: be thankful that you are not upon the same side
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 2: of the wall as they. Scarcely had he spoken, than
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 2: we heard a great fluttering of wings above, and a
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 2: moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central opening
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 2: in the roof, and circled in stately manner about the temple.
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 2: There were several mahars, first, and then at least twenty
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 2: awe inspiring pterodactyls thipdars there called within Pellucidar. Behind these
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 2: came the Queen, flanked by other thipdars, as she had
• 2:16:23
  Speaker 2: been when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra. Three times
• 2:16:27
  Speaker 2: they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber to
• 2:16:30
  Speaker 2: settle finally upon the damp, cold boulders that fringed the
• 2:16:34
  Speaker 2: outer edge of the pool. In the center of one side,
• 2:16:37
  Speaker 2: the largest rock was reserved for the queen, and here
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 2: she took her place, surrounded by her terrible guard. All
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 2: lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places.
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 2: One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor
• 2:16:52
  Speaker 2: slaves upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 2: wide eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect
• 2:16:58
  Speaker 2: and stately, with folded arms, awaiting their doom, but the
• 2:17:02
  Speaker 2: women and children clung to one another, hiding behind the mails.
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 2: They are a noble looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar,
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 2: and if our progenditors were as they, the human race
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 2: of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 2: the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity.
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 2: We have opportunity and little else. Now the queen moved.
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 2: She raised her ugly head, looking about, Then very slowly
• 2:17:29
  Speaker 2: she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid
• 2:17:31
  Speaker 2: noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 2: she swam, turning at the ends, as you have seen
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 2: captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning upon their backs,
• 2:17:42
  Speaker 2: and diving below the surface, Nearer and nearer to the
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 2: island she came, until at last she remained at rest
• 2:17:49
  Speaker 2: before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. Raising
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 2: her hideous head from the water, she fixed her great
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 2: round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek,
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 2: for they had been brought from a distant mahar city,
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 2: where human beings are kept in droves and bread, and
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 2: fattened as we breed in fattened beef cattle. The queen
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 2: fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim
• 2:18:12
  Speaker 2: tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 2: and kneeling behind a woman, but the reptile, with unblinking eyes,
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 2: stared on with such fixity that I could have sworn
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 2: her vision penetrated the woman and the girl's arms to
• 2:18:24
  Speaker 2: reach at last the very center of her brain. Slowly,
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 2: the reptiles had commenced to move to and fro, but
• 2:18:31
  Speaker 2: the eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl.
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 2: And then the victim responded. She turned wide, fear haunted
• 2:18:38
  Speaker 2: eyes toward the Mahar queen. Slowly she rose to her feet,
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 2: and then, as though dragged by some unseen power. She
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 2: moved as one in a trance, straight toward the reptile,
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 2: her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To
• 2:18:51
  Speaker 2: the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause,
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 2: but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. On
• 2:18:59
  Speaker 2: she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated, as
• 2:19:02
  Speaker 2: though leading her victim. On. The water rose to the
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 2: girl's knees, and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye.
• 2:19:10
  Speaker 2: Now the water was at her waist, now her armpits.
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 2: Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, helpless
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 2: to avert her doom, in which they saw a forecast
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 2: of their own. The Mahar sank now till only the
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 2: long upper bill and eyes were exposed above the surface
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 2: of the water, and the girl had advanced until the
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 2: end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 2: two from her face, her horror filled eyes riveted upon
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 2: those of the reptile. Now the water passed above the
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 2: girl's mouth and nose, her eyes and forehead all that showed.
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 2: Yet she still walked on. After the retreating Mahar, the
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 2: queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface, and after it
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 2: went the eyes of her victim only a slow ripple
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 2: widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished.
• 2:19:55
  Speaker 2: For a time, all was silence within the temple. The
• 2:19:58
  Speaker 2: slaves were motionless into error. The Mahars watched the surface
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 2: of the water for the reappearance of their queen, and presently,
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 2: at one end of the tank, her head rose slowly
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 2: into view. She was backing toward the surface, her eyes
• 2:20:12
  Speaker 2: fixed before her, as they had been when she dragged
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 2: the helpless girl to her doom. And then, to my
• 2:20:18
  Speaker 2: utter amazement, I saw the forehead and eyes of the
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 2: maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 2: of the reptile, just as when she had disappeared beneath
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 2: the surface. On and on came the girl until she
• 2:20:29
  Speaker 2: stood in water that reached barely to her knees. And
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 2: though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to
• 2:20:34
  Speaker 2: have drowned her thrice over, there was no indication other
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 2: than her dripping hair and glistening body that she had
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 2: been submerged at all. Again and again, the queen led
• 2:20:43
  Speaker 2: the girl into the depths and out again, until the
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 2: uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves, so
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 2: that I could have leaped into the tank to the
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 2: child's rescue, had I not taken a firm hold of myself.
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 2: Once they were below the surface much longer than usual,
• 2:20:58
  Speaker 2: and when they came to the surface, I was horrified
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 2: to see that one of the girl's arms was gone,
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 2: gnawed completely off at the shoulder. But the poor thing
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 2: gave no indication of realizing pain. Only the horror in
• 2:21:10
  Speaker 2: her set eyes seemed intensified. The next time they appeared,
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 2: the other arm was gone, and then the breasts, and
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 2: then a part of the face. It was awful. The
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 2: poor creatures on the islands, awaiting their fate, tried to
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 2: cover their eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight.
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 2: But now I saw that they too were under the
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 2: hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 2: crouch in terror, with their eyes fixed upon the terrible
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 2: thing that was transpiring before them. Finally, the queen was
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 2: under much longer than ever before, and when she arose,
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 2: she came alone and swam sleepily toward her boulder. The
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 2: moment she mounted it seemed to be a signal for
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 2: the other mahars to enter the tank, and then commenced
• 2:21:51
  Speaker 2: upon a larger scale, a repetition of the uncanny performance
• 2:21:55
  Speaker 2: through which the queen had led her victim. Only the
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 2: women and children fell prey to the Mahars, they being
• 2:22:01
  Speaker 2: the weakest and most tender, and when they had satisfied
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 2: their appetite for human flesh, some of them devouring two
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 2: or three of the slaves. There were only a score
• 2:22:11
  Speaker 2: of full grown men left, and I thought that for
• 2:22:13
  Speaker 2: some reason these were to be spared. But such was
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 2: far from the case, for as the last Mahar crawled
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 2: to her rock, the Queen's Thipdars darted into the air,
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 2: circled the temple once, and then, hissing like steam engines,
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 2: swooped down upon the remaining slaves. There was no hypnotism here,
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 2: just the plain brutal ferocity of the beast of prey, tearing, rending,
• 2:22:35
  Speaker 2: and gulping its meat. But at that it was less
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 2: horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 2: time the Thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves,
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 2: the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 2: moment later the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 2: beside the queen, and themselves dropped into slumber. I thought
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 2: the Mahars seldom, if ever slept, I said to Jah,
• 2:23:00
  Speaker 2: they do many things in this temple which they do
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 2: not do elsewhere. He replied, the Mahars of Phutra are
• 2:23:05
  Speaker 2: not supposed to eat human flesh. Yet slaves are brought
• 2:23:09
  Speaker 2: here by the thousands, and almost always you will find
• 2:23:11
  Speaker 2: Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 2: do not bring their sagoths here because they are ashamed
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 2: of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among
• 2:23:21
  Speaker 2: the least advanced of their race. But I would wager
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 2: my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 2: mahar but eats human flesh whenever she can get it.
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 2: Why should they object to eating human flesh, I asked,
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 2: If it is true that they look upon us as
• 2:23:35
  Speaker 2: lower animals, it is not because they consider us their
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 2: equals that they are supposed to look with abhorrence upon
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 2: those who eat our flesh. Replied Ja, it is merely
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 2: that we are warm blooded animals. They would not think
• 2:23:48
  Speaker 2: of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 2: such a delicacy, any more than I would think of
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 2: eating a snake. As a matter of fact, it is
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 2: difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them,
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 2: under if they left a single victim, I remarked, leaning
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 2: far out of the opening in the rocky wall to
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 2: inspect the temple better. Directly below me, the water lapped
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 2: the very side of the wall, there being a break
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 2: in the boulders at this point, as there was at
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 2: several other places about the side of the temple. My
• 2:24:17
  Speaker 2: hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which
• 2:24:19
  Speaker 2: formed part of the wall, and all my weight upon
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 2: it proved too much for it. It slipped and I
• 2:24:25
  Speaker 2: plunged forward. There was nothing to save myself, and I
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 2: plunged head foremost into the water below. Fortunately the tank
• 2:24:33
  Speaker 2: was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 2: from the fall. But as I was rising to the surface,
• 2:24:38
  Speaker 2: my mind filled with the horrors of my position, as
• 2:24:41
  Speaker 2: I thought of the terrible doom which awaited me the
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 2: moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature
• 2:24:46
  Speaker 2: that had disturbed their slumber. As long as I could,
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 2: I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in the direction
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 2: of the islands that I might prolong my life to
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 2: the utmost. At last, I was forced to rise for air,
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 2: and as I cast a terror, i'd glance in the
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 2: direction of the Mahars and the Thipdars. I was almost
• 2:25:04
  Speaker 2: stunned to see that not a single one remained upon
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 2: the rocks where I had last seen them, Nor as
• 2:25:08
  Speaker 2: I searched the temple with my eyes, could I discern
• 2:25:11
  Speaker 2: any within it. For a moment, I was puzzled to
• 2:25:14
  Speaker 2: account for the thing, until I realized that the reptiles,
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 2: being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the noise
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 2: my body made when it hit the water, and that
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 2: as there is no such thing as time within Pellucidar,
• 2:25:25
  Speaker 2: there was no telling how long I had been beneath
• 2:25:27
  Speaker 2: the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 2: figure out by earthly standards, this matter of elapsed time.
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 2: But when I set myself to it, I began to
• 2:25:36
  Speaker 2: realize that I might have been submerged a second, or
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 2: a month, or not at all. You have no conception
• 2:25:42
  Speaker 2: of the strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 2: methods of measuring time as we know them upon the
• 2:25:48
  Speaker 2: Earth are non existent. I was about to congratulate myself
• 2:25:52
  Speaker 2: upon the miracle which had saved me for the moment
• 2:25:55
  Speaker 2: when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Mahars
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 2: filled me with apprehension, they be practicing their uncanny art
• 2:26:02
  Speaker 2: upon me, to the end that I merely imagined that
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 2: I was alone in the temple. At the thought, cold
• 2:26:07
  Speaker 2: sweat broke out upon me from every pore, and as
• 2:26:10
  Speaker 2: I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands,
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 2: I was trembling like a leaf. You cannot imagine the
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 2: awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive
• 2:26:19
  Speaker 2: Mahars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind. And to
• 2:26:23
  Speaker 2: feel that you are in their power, that they are crawling, slimy, abhorrent,
• 2:26:27
  Speaker 2: to drag you down beneath the waters and devour you,
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 2: it is frightful. But they did not come, and at
• 2:26:35
  Speaker 2: last I came to the conclusion that I was indeed
• 2:26:37
  Speaker 2: alone within the temple. How long I should be alone?
• 2:26:40
  Speaker 2: Was the next question to assail me, as I swam
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 2: frantically about once more in search of a means to escape.
• 2:26:46
  Speaker 2: Several times I called to Jaw, but he must have
• 2:26:49
  Speaker 2: left after I tumbled into the tank for I received
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 2: no response to my cries. Doubtless he had felt as
• 2:26:54
  Speaker 2: certain of my doom when he saw me topple from
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 2: our hiding place as I had, and lest he too
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 2: should be discovered, had hastened from the temple and back
• 2:27:02
  Speaker 2: to his village. I knew that there must be some
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 2: entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof,
• 2:27:09
  Speaker 2: for it did not seem reasonable to believe that the
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 2: thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the
• 2:27:14
  Speaker 2: Mahars the human flesh they craved, would all be carried
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 2: through the air. And so I continued my search until
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 2: at last it was rewarded by the discovery of several
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 2: loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of
• 2:27:28
  Speaker 2: the temple. A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough
• 2:27:31
  Speaker 2: of these stones to permit me to crawl through into
• 2:27:34
  Speaker 2: the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 2: the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. Here I sank,
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 2: panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the giant trees,
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 2: for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning
• 2:27:47
  Speaker 2: fangs of death, out of the depths of my own grave.
• 2:27:51
  Speaker 2: Whatever dangers lay in this island jungle, there could be
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 2: none so fearsome as those which I had just escaped.
• 2:27:57
  Speaker 2: I knew that I could meet death bravely enough, if
• 2:27:59
  Speaker 2: it it came in the form of some familiar beast
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 2: or man, anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.
• 2:28:08
  Speaker 2: End of Chapter eight, Chapter nine, The Face of Death.
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 2: I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke,
• 2:28:20
  Speaker 2: I was very hungry, and after busying myself searching for
• 2:28:23
  Speaker 2: fruit for a while, I set off through the jungle
• 2:28:25
  Speaker 2: to find the beach. I knew that the island was
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 2: not so large, but that I could easily find the
• 2:28:31
  Speaker 2: sea if I did but move in a straight line.
• 2:28:33
  Speaker 2: But there came the difficulty, as there was no way
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 2: in which I could direct my course and hold it.
• 2:28:39
  Speaker 2: The sun, of course, being always directly above my head,
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 2: and the trees so thickly set that I could see
• 2:28:45
  Speaker 2: no distant object which might serve to guide me in
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 2: a straight line. As it was, I must have walked
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 2: for a great distance, since I ate four times and
• 2:28:53
  Speaker 2: slept twice before I reached the sea. But at last
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 2: I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of
• 2:28:59
  Speaker 2: it was greatly enhanced by the chance discovery of a
• 2:29:02
  Speaker 2: hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had stumbled
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 2: just prior to coming upon the beach. I can tell
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 2: you that it did not take me long to pull
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 2: that awkward craft down to the water and shove it
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 2: far out from shore. My experience with Jaw had taught
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 2: me that if I were to steal another canoe, I
• 2:29:19
  Speaker 2: must be quick about it and get far beyond the
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 2: owner's reach as soon as possible. I must have come
• 2:29:25
  Speaker 2: out upon the opposite side of the island from that
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 2: at which Jah and I had entered it, for the
• 2:29:30
  Speaker 2: mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time, I
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 2: paddled round the shore, though well out before I saw
• 2:29:37
  Speaker 2: the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it,
• 2:29:40
  Speaker 2: I lost no time in directing my course toward it,
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 2: for I had long since made up my mind to
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 2: return to Phutra and give myself up, that I might
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 2: be once more with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One.
• 2:29:53
  Speaker 2: I felt that I was a fool ever to have
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 2: attempted to escape alone, especially in view of the fact
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 2: that I our plans were already well formulated to make
• 2:30:02
  Speaker 2: a break for freedom together. Of course, I realized that
• 2:30:06
  Speaker 2: the chances of the success of our proposed venture were
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 2: slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 2: freedom without Parry so long as the old man lived,
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 2: and I had learned that the probability that I might
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 2: find him was less than slight. Had Perry been dead,
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 2: I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against
• 2:30:24
  Speaker 2: the savage and primordial world in which I found myself.
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 2: I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 2: until I had found the means to outfit myself with
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 2: the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and then set
• 2:30:37
  Speaker 2: out in search of her, whose image had now become
• 2:30:40
  Speaker 2: the constant companion of my waking hours and the central
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 2: and beloved figure of my dreams. But to the best
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 2: of my knowledge, Perry still lived, and it was my
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 2: duty and wish to be again with him, that we
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 2: might share the dangers and vicissitudes of this strange world
• 2:30:57
  Speaker 2: we had discovered. And Ghak, too, the great shaggy Man,
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 2: had found a place in the hearts of us, both,
• 2:31:04
  Speaker 2: for he was indeed every inch a man and king,
• 2:31:07
  Speaker 2: uncouth perhaps and brutal too. If judged too harshly by
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 2: the standards of a feat twentieth century civilization. But withal noble, dignified,
• 2:31:16
  Speaker 2: chivalrous and lovable chance carried me to the very beach
• 2:31:21
  Speaker 2: upon which I had discovered Ja's canoe, And a short
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 2: time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 2: retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my
• 2:31:30
  Speaker 2: troubles came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit,
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 2: For here I found that several of them centered at
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 2: the point where I crossed the divide, and which one
• 2:31:39
  Speaker 2: I had traversed to reach the pass. I could not,
• 2:31:42
  Speaker 2: for the life of me remember it was all matter
• 2:31:45
  Speaker 2: of chance, and so I set off down that which
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 2: seemed the easiest going. And in this I made the
• 2:31:50
  Speaker 2: same mistake that many of us two in selecting the
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 2: path along which we shall follow out the course of
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 2: our lives, and again learned that it is not always
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 2: best to fill the line of least resistance. By the
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 2: time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice, I
• 2:32:07
  Speaker 2: was convinced that I was upon the wrong trail, For
• 2:32:10
  Speaker 2: between Phutra and the inland sea, I had not slept
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 2: at all, and had eaten, but once to retrace my
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 2: steps to the summit of the divide and explore another
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 2: canyon seemed the only solution of my problem. But a
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 2: sudden widening and levelness of the canyon just before me
• 2:32:26
  Speaker 2: seemed to suggest that it was about to open into
• 2:32:29
  Speaker 2: a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 2: upon me, I decided to proceed. But a short distance
• 2:32:36
  Speaker 2: farther before I turned back, the next turn of the
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 2: canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 2: saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 2: my right. The side of the canyon continued to the
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 2: water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 2: foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 2: formed a broad level beach. Clumps of strange trees dotted
• 2:32:58
  Speaker 2: the landscape here and there almost to the water, and
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 2: rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 2: the vegetation, I was convinced that the land between the
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 2: ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 2: it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip,
• 2:33:15
  Speaker 2: along which the restless waters advanced and retreated. Curiosity prompted
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 2: me to walk down to the beach, for the scene
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 2: was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep
• 2:33:27
  Speaker 2: and tangled vegetation of the swamp, I thought that I
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 2: saw a movement of the ferns at my left, But
• 2:33:33
  Speaker 2: though I stopped a moment to look, it was not repeated,
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 2: and if anything lay hid there, my eyes could not
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 2: penetrate the dense foliage to discern it. Presently I stood
• 2:33:43
  Speaker 2: upon the beach, looking out over that wide and lonely sea,
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 2: across whose forbidding bosom, no human being had yet ventured
• 2:33:50
  Speaker 2: to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 2: what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders or adventure
• 2:34:00
  Speaker 2: with savage faces, What fierce and formidable beasts were this
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 2: very instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 2: farther shore. How far did it extend? Parry had told
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 2: me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison
• 2:34:14
  Speaker 2: with those of the outer Crust. But even so this
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 2: great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles,
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 2: for countless ages it had rolled up and down its
• 2:34:24
  Speaker 2: countless miles of shore. And yet today it remained all
• 2:34:27
  Speaker 2: unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches.
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 2: The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 2: as though I had been carried back to the birth
• 2:34:37
  Speaker 2: time of our own outer world to look upon its
• 2:34:40
  Speaker 2: lands and seas ages before man had traversed either. Here
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 2: was a new world, all untouched. It called to me
• 2:34:49
  Speaker 2: to explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 2: adventure which lay before us. Could Parry and I but
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 2: escape the Mahars when something, a slight noise, I imagine, drew
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 2: my attention behind me. As I turned romance, adventure, and
• 2:35:06
  Speaker 2: discovery in the abstract, took wing before the terrible embodiment
• 2:35:11
  Speaker 2: of all three in concrete form that I beheld advancing
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 2: upon me. A huge, slimy amphibian. It was, with a
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 2: toadlike body and the mighty jaws of an alligator. Its
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 2: immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet it moved
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 2: swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the
• 2:35:30
  Speaker 2: bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea. On
• 2:35:33
  Speaker 2: the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature had
• 2:35:36
  Speaker 2: sneaked upon me. Behind lay the mighty untracked sea, and
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 2: before me, in the center of the narrow way that
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 2: led to safety, stood this huge mountain of terrible and
• 2:35:47
  Speaker 2: menacing flesh. A single glance at the thing was sufficient
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 2: to assure me that I was facing one of those
• 2:35:53
  Speaker 2: long extinct prehistoric creatures whose fossilized remains are found within
• 2:35:58
  Speaker 2: the outer crust as far back as the Triassic Formation,
• 2:36:03
  Speaker 2: a gigantic labyrinthodon. And there I was, unarmed, and with
• 2:36:07
  Speaker 2: the exception of a loincloth, as naked as I had
• 2:36:10
  Speaker 2: come into the world. I could imagine how my first
• 2:36:13
  Speaker 2: ancestor felt that distant prehistoric morn that he encountered for
• 2:36:17
  Speaker 2: the first time, the terrifying progenitor of the thing that
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 2: had me cornered now beside the restless, mysterious sea. Unquestionably,
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 2: he had survived, or I should not have been within
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar or elsewhere. And I wished at that moment that
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 2: he had handed down to me with the various attributes
• 2:36:35
  Speaker 2: that I presumed I have inherited from him, the specific
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 2: application of the instinct of self preservation which saved him
• 2:36:43
  Speaker 2: from the fate which loomed so close before me today.
• 2:36:47
  Speaker 2: To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 2: would have been similar to jumping into a den of
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 2: lions who escaped one upon the outside. The sea and
• 2:36:55
  Speaker 2: swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty, carnivorous amphibians,
• 2:37:00
  Speaker 2: and if not, the individual that menaced me would pursue
• 2:37:03
  Speaker 2: me into either the sea or swamp with equal facility.
• 2:37:08
  Speaker 2: There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await
• 2:37:11
  Speaker 2: my end. I thought of Perry, how he would wonder
• 2:37:15
  Speaker 2: what had become of me. I thought of my friends
• 2:37:18
  Speaker 2: of the outer world, and of how they all would
• 2:37:21
  Speaker 2: go on living their lives in total ignorance of the
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 2: strange and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing
• 2:37:27
  Speaker 2: the weird surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 2: of my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 2: of how unimportant to the life and happiness of the
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 2: world is the existence of any one of us. We
• 2:37:42
  Speaker 2: may be snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 2: a brief day, our friends speak of us with subdued voices.
• 2:37:50
  Speaker 2: The following morning, while the first worm is busily engaged
• 2:37:53
  Speaker 2: in testing the construction of our coffin. They are teeing
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 2: up for the first whole to suffer more acute sorrow
• 2:38:00
  Speaker 2: over a sliced ball than they did over r to
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 2: us untimely demise. The Labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now.
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 2: He seemed to realize that escape for me was impossible,
• 2:38:12
  Speaker 2: and I could have sworn that his huge fanged jaws
• 2:38:15
  Speaker 2: grinned and pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was it
• 2:38:19
  Speaker 2: in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon
• 2:38:23
  Speaker 2: be pulp between those formidable teeth. He was about fifty
• 2:38:27
  Speaker 2: feet from me when I heard a voice calling to
• 2:38:29
  Speaker 2: me from the direction of the bluff at my left.
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 2: I looked and could have shouted in delight at the
• 2:38:33
  Speaker 2: sight that met my eyes, for there stood jaw, waving
• 2:38:37
  Speaker 2: frantically to me and urging me to run for it
• 2:38:39
  Speaker 2: to the cliff's base. I had no idea that I
• 2:38:42
  Speaker 2: should escape the monster that had marked me for his breakfast,
• 2:38:46
  Speaker 2: but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes
• 2:38:49
  Speaker 2: would watch me, and it was cold comfort, I presume,
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 2: But yet I derived some slight peace of mind from
• 2:38:57
  Speaker 2: the contemplation of it. To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 2: that steep and unscalable cliff, And yet I did so,
• 2:39:06
  Speaker 2: And as I ran, I saw Jaw agile as a monkey,
• 2:39:09
  Speaker 2: crawled down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to
• 2:39:12
  Speaker 2: small projections, and the tough creepers that had found roothold
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 2: here and there. The labyrinthodon evidently thought the Jaw was
• 2:39:19
  Speaker 2: coming to double his portion of human flesh, so he
• 2:39:22
  Speaker 2: was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff
• 2:39:24
  Speaker 2: and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead, he merely trotted
• 2:39:28
  Speaker 2: along behind me. As I approached the foot of the cliff,
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 2: I saw what Jaw intended doing, but I doubted if
• 2:39:35
  Speaker 2: the thing would prove successful. He had come down to
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 2: within twenty feet of the bottom, and there, clinging with
• 2:39:41
  Speaker 2: one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet
• 2:39:43
  Speaker 2: resting precariously upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid
• 2:39:47
  Speaker 2: face of the rock, he lowered the point of his
• 2:39:49
  Speaker 2: long spear until it hung some six feet above the
• 2:39:53
  Speaker 2: ground to clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Jaw down,
• 2:39:57
  Speaker 2: and precipitating both to the same doom from one which
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 2: the copper colored one was attempting to save me. Seemed
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 2: utterly impossible, and as I came near the spear, I
• 2:40:06
  Speaker 2: told Ja so, and that I could not risk him
• 2:40:09
  Speaker 2: to try to save myself. But he insisted that he
• 2:40:12
  Speaker 2: knew what he was doing and was in no danger himself.
• 2:40:15
  Speaker 2: The danger is still yours, he called for. Unless you
• 2:40:19
  Speaker 2: move much more rapidly than you are now, the civic
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 2: will be upon you and drag you back. Before ever
• 2:40:24
  Speaker 2: you are half way up the spear. He can rear
• 2:40:27
  Speaker 2: up and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand. Well,
• 2:40:32
  Speaker 2: Josh should know his own business, I thought, and so
• 2:40:34
  Speaker 2: I grasped the spear and clambered up toward the red
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 2: Man as rapidly as I could, being so far removed
• 2:40:40
  Speaker 2: from my Simian ancestors as I am, I imagine, the
• 2:40:43
  Speaker 2: slow witted scythic, as Jo called him, suddenly realized our
• 2:40:47
  Speaker 2: intentions and that he was quite likely to lose all
• 2:40:50
  Speaker 2: his meal instead of having it doubled as he had hoped.
• 2:40:53
  Speaker 2: When he saw me clambering up that spear, he led
• 2:40:55
  Speaker 2: out a hiss that fairly shook the ground, and came
• 2:40:59
  Speaker 2: charging after me at a terrific rate. I had reached
• 2:41:02
  Speaker 2: the top of the spear by this time, or almost
• 2:41:04
  Speaker 2: another six inches would give me a hold on Jaw's hand.
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 2: When I felt a sudden wrench from below, and glancing
• 2:41:10
  Speaker 2: fearfully down, saw the mighty jaws of the monster close
• 2:41:13
  Speaker 2: on the sharp point of the weapon. I made a
• 2:41:16
  Speaker 2: frantic effort to reach Jaw's hand. The scythec gave a
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 2: tremendous tug that came near to jerking Jaw from his
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 2: frail hold on the surface of the rock. The spear
• 2:41:25
  Speaker 2: slipped from his fingers, and still clinging to it, I
• 2:41:27
  Speaker 2: plunged feet foremost towards my executioner. At the instant that
• 2:41:32
  Speaker 2: he felt the spear come away from Jaw's hand, the
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 2: creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me,
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 2: for when I came down, still clinging to the butt
• 2:41:41
  Speaker 2: end of the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth,
• 2:41:44
  Speaker 2: and the result was that the sharpened end transfixed his
• 2:41:47
  Speaker 2: lower jaw. With the pain, he snapped his mouth closed.
• 2:41:51
  Speaker 2: I fell upon his snout, lost my hold upon the spear,
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 2: rolled the length of his face and head, across his
• 2:41:57
  Speaker 2: short neck, onto his broad back, and from there to
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 2: the ground. Scarce had I touched the earth than I
• 2:42:03
  Speaker 2: was upon my feet, dashing madly for the path by
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 2: which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance over
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 2: my shoulder showed me the Scythic, engaged and pawing at
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 2: the spear stuck through his lower jaw. And so busily
• 2:42:16
  Speaker 2: engaged did he remain in this occupation that I had
• 2:42:19
  Speaker 2: gained the safety of the cliff top before he was
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 2: ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not
• 2:42:24
  Speaker 2: discover me in sight within the valley, he dashed, hissing,
• 2:42:27
  Speaker 2: into the rank vegetation of the swamp, and that was
• 2:42:30
  Speaker 2: the last I saw of him. End of Chapter nine,
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 2: Chapter ten Phutra. Again, I hastened to the cliff edge
• 2:42:41
  Speaker 2: above jaw and helped him to a secure footing. He
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 2: would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to
• 2:42:46
  Speaker 2: save me, which had come so near miscarrying. I had
• 2:42:49
  Speaker 2: given you up for lust when you tumbled into the
• 2:42:52
  Speaker 2: Mahor temple, he said, for not even I could save
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 2: you from their clutches. And you may imagine my surprise when,
• 2:42:58
  Speaker 2: on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the beere each
• 2:43:00
  Speaker 2: of the mainland, I discovered your own footprints in the
• 2:43:03
  Speaker 2: sand beside it. I immediately set out in search of you,
• 2:43:06
  Speaker 2: knowing as I did, that you must be entirely unarmed
• 2:43:09
  Speaker 2: and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk upon the mainland,
• 2:43:12
  Speaker 2: both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles and
• 2:43:15
  Speaker 2: men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you
• 2:43:18
  Speaker 2: to this point. It is well that I arrived when
• 2:43:21
  Speaker 2: I did. But why did you do it? I asked,
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 2: puzzled at this show of friendship on the part of
• 2:43:26
  Speaker 2: a man of another world and a different race and color.
• 2:43:30
  Speaker 2: You saved my life, he replied. From that moment it
• 2:43:34
  Speaker 2: became my duty to protect and befriend you. I would
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 2: have been no true mesa had I evaded my plain duty.
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 2: But it was a pleasure in this instance, for I
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 2: like you. I wish that you would come and live
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 2: with me. You shall become a member of my tribe.
• 2:43:47
  Speaker 2: Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing,
• 2:43:50
  Speaker 2: and you shall have to choose a mate from the
• 2:43:52
  Speaker 2: most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come? I told
• 2:43:56
  Speaker 2: him about Perry then and Diane the beautiful, and how
• 2:43:59
  Speaker 2: my duty was to them first. Afterward I should return
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 2: and visit him if I could ever find his island Oh,
• 2:44:05
  Speaker 2: that is easy, my friend, he said, You need merely
• 2:44:08
  Speaker 2: to come to the foot of the highest peak of
• 2:44:09
  Speaker 2: the mountains of the Clouds. There you will find a
• 2:44:12
  Speaker 2: river which flows into the laure al As. Directly opposite
• 2:44:15
  Speaker 2: the mouth of the river, you will see three large
• 2:44:17
  Speaker 2: islands far out, so far that they are barely discernible.
• 2:44:21
  Speaker 2: The one to the extreme left as you face them
• 2:44:23
  Speaker 2: from the mouth of the river is Anorok, where I
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 2: rule the tribe of Anorok. But how am I to
• 2:44:29
  Speaker 2: find the mountains of the Clouds, I asked. Men say
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 2: that they are visible from half Pellucidar, He replied, How
• 2:44:36
  Speaker 2: large is Pellucidar, I asked, wondering what sort of theory
• 2:44:39
  Speaker 2: these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of
• 2:44:42
  Speaker 2: their world. The Mahars say it is round, like the
• 2:44:46
  Speaker 2: inside of a toola shell. He answered, But that is ridiculous,
• 2:44:49
  Speaker 2: since were it true, we should fall back, were we
• 2:44:51
  Speaker 2: to travel far in any direction, and all the waters
• 2:44:54
  Speaker 2: of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No,
• 2:44:57
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar is quite flat and extends no man knows how
• 2:45:00
  Speaker 2: far in all directions at the edges. So my ancestors
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 2: have reported and handed down to me is a great
• 2:45:06
  Speaker 2: wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over
• 2:45:09
  Speaker 2: into the burning sea where are pellucid our floats. But
• 2:45:12
  Speaker 2: I never have been so far from narok As to
• 2:45:14
  Speaker 2: have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it
• 2:45:17
  Speaker 2: is quite reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas
• 2:45:20
  Speaker 2: there is no reason at all in the foolish belief
• 2:45:22
  Speaker 2: of the Mahars. According to them, pellucid Artians, who live
• 2:45:25
  Speaker 2: upon the opposite side, walk always with their heads pointed downward.
• 2:45:29
  Speaker 2: And Jar laughed uproariously at the very thought. It was
• 2:45:33
  Speaker 2: plain to see that the human folk of this inner
• 2:45:35
  Speaker 2: world had not advanced far in learning, and the thought
• 2:45:38
  Speaker 2: that the ugly Mahars had so outstripped them was a
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 2: very pathetic one. Indeed, I wondered how many ages it
• 2:45:44
  Speaker 2: would take to lift these people out of their ignorance,
• 2:45:47
  Speaker 2: even were it given to Perry and Me to attempt it.
• 2:45:50
  Speaker 2: Possibly we would be killed for our pains, as were
• 2:45:52
  Speaker 2: those men of the outer world who dared challenge the
• 2:45:55
  Speaker 2: dense ignorance and superstitions of the Earth's younger days. But
• 2:45:59
  Speaker 2: it was worth the effort. The opportunity ever presented itself.
• 2:46:02
  Speaker 2: And then it occurred to me that here was an
• 2:46:04
  Speaker 2: opportunity that I might make a small beginning upon Jaw
• 2:46:07
  Speaker 2: who was my friend, and thus note the effect of
• 2:46:09
  Speaker 2: my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. Jaw I said, what would
• 2:46:13
  Speaker 2: you say, were I to tell you that, in so
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 2: far as the Mahar's theory of the shape of Pellucidar
• 2:46:17
  Speaker 2: is concerned, it is correct, I would say. He replied
• 2:46:21
  Speaker 2: that either you are a fool or you took me
• 2:46:23
  Speaker 2: for one. But ja I insisted, if their theory is incorrect,
• 2:46:27
  Speaker 2: how do you account for the fact that I was
• 2:46:29
  Speaker 2: able to pass through the earth from the outer crust
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 2: to Pellucidar. If your theory is correct, all is a
• 2:46:35
  Speaker 2: sea of flame beneath us, wherein no peoples could exist.
• 2:46:38
  Speaker 2: And yet I come from a great world that is
• 2:46:41
  Speaker 2: covered with human beings and beasts, and birds and fishes
• 2:46:44
  Speaker 2: and mighty oceans. You live upon the under side of
• 2:46:48
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar and walk always with your head pointed downward. He scoffed,
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 2: And were I to believe that my friend I should
• 2:46:55
  Speaker 2: indeed be mad. I attempted to explain the force of
• 2:46:59
  Speaker 2: gravity to him, and by the means of the dropped
• 2:47:01
  Speaker 2: fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a
• 2:47:04
  Speaker 2: body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He
• 2:47:08
  Speaker 2: listened so intently that I thought I had made an
• 2:47:10
  Speaker 2: impression and started the train of thought that would lead
• 2:47:13
  Speaker 2: him to a partial understanding of the truth. But I
• 2:47:16
  Speaker 2: was mistaken. Your own illustration, he said, finally proves the
• 2:47:20
  Speaker 2: falsity of your theory. He dropped a fruit from his
• 2:47:23
  Speaker 2: hand to the ground. See, he said, without support, even
• 2:47:27
  Speaker 2: this tiny fruit falls until it strikes something that stops it.
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 2: If Pellucidar were not supported upon the flaming sea, it
• 2:47:33
  Speaker 2: too would fall as the fruit. False. You have proven
• 2:47:37
  Speaker 2: it yourself, he had me that time. You could see
• 2:47:40
  Speaker 2: it in his eye. It seemed a hopeless job, and
• 2:47:42
  Speaker 2: I gave it up temporarily, at least, for when I
• 2:47:45
  Speaker 2: contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and the universe,
• 2:47:49
  Speaker 2: I realized how futile it would be to attempt to
• 2:47:52
  Speaker 2: picture to Jaw or any other Pellucidarian the Sun, the moon,
• 2:47:55
  Speaker 2: the planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the
• 2:47:59
  Speaker 2: inner world could no more conceive of such things than
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 2: can we of the outer crust. Reduce to factors appreciable
• 2:48:05
  Speaker 2: to our finite minds, such terms as space and eternity. Well, Ja,
• 2:48:10
  Speaker 2: I laughed, whether we be walking with our feet up
• 2:48:13
  Speaker 2: or down? Here we are, and the question of greatest
• 2:48:16
  Speaker 2: importance is not so much where we came from as
• 2:48:18
  Speaker 2: where we are going. Now, for my part, I wish
• 2:48:21
  Speaker 2: that you could guide me to Phutra, where I may
• 2:48:23
  Speaker 2: give myself up to the Mahars once more, that my
• 2:48:26
  Speaker 2: friends and I may work out the plan of escape
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 2: which the Sagoths interrupted when they gathered us together and
• 2:48:32
  Speaker 2: drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of
• 2:48:34
  Speaker 2: the slaves who killed the guardsmen. I wish now that
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 2: I had not left the arena, for by this time
• 2:48:39
  Speaker 2: my friends and I might have made good our escape,
• 2:48:42
  Speaker 2: Whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans,
• 2:48:45
  Speaker 2: which depended for their consummation upon the continued sleep of
• 2:48:49
  Speaker 2: the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the
• 2:48:51
  Speaker 2: building in which we were confined. You would return to captivity,
• 2:48:55
  Speaker 2: cried Jaw. My friends are there, I replied, the only
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 2: friends I have in Pellucidari, except yourself. What else may
• 2:49:02
  Speaker 2: I do under the circumstances, he thought, for a moment
• 2:49:05
  Speaker 2: in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully. It is
• 2:49:09
  Speaker 2: what a brave man and a good friend should do,
• 2:49:11
  Speaker 2: he said. Yet it seems most foolish, for the Mahars
• 2:49:14
  Speaker 2: will certainly condemn you to death for running away, and
• 2:49:16
  Speaker 2: so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends by returning.
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 2: Never in all my life have I heard of a
• 2:49:22
  Speaker 2: prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will.
• 2:49:24
  Speaker 2: There are but few who escaped them, though some do,
• 2:49:27
  Speaker 2: and these would rather die than be recaptured. I see
• 2:49:30
  Speaker 2: no other way, Ja, I said, though I can assure
• 2:49:33
  Speaker 2: you that I would rather go to Schiol after Perry
• 2:49:35
  Speaker 2: than to go to Phutra. However, Perry is much too
• 2:49:38
  Speaker 2: pious to make the probability at all great that I
• 2:49:40
  Speaker 2: should ever be called upon to rescue him from the
• 2:49:43
  Speaker 2: former locality. JA asked me what Sheol was, and when
• 2:49:46
  Speaker 2: I explained as best I could, he said, you are
• 2:49:49
  Speaker 2: speaking of molop As, the flaming sea upon which pellucid
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 2: Our floats. All the dead who are buried in the
• 2:49:56
  Speaker 2: ground to go there. Piece by piece. They are carried
• 2:49:58
  Speaker 2: down to molop As by the little demons who dwell there.
• 2:50:02
  Speaker 2: We know this because when graves are opened, we find
• 2:50:05
  Speaker 2: that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off.
• 2:50:09
  Speaker 2: That is why we of Anorok place our dead and
• 2:50:11
  Speaker 2: high trees, where the birds may find them and bear
• 2:50:14
  Speaker 2: them bit by bit to the dead world above the
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 2: land of awful shadow. If we kill an enemy, we
• 2:50:19
  Speaker 2: place his body in the ground that it may go
• 2:50:22
  Speaker 2: to Molopas. As we talked, we had been locking up
• 2:50:25
  Speaker 2: the canyon down which I had come to the great Ocean,
• 2:50:27
  Speaker 2: and the scythic Ja did his best to dissuade me
• 2:50:31
  Speaker 2: from returning to Futra, But when he saw that I
• 2:50:33
  Speaker 2: was determined to do so, he consented to guide me
• 2:50:36
  Speaker 2: to a point from which I could see the plain
• 2:50:38
  Speaker 2: where lay the city. To my surprise, the distance was
• 2:50:42
  Speaker 2: but short from the beach where I had again met Jaw.
• 2:50:45
  Speaker 2: It was evident that I had spent much time following
• 2:50:47
  Speaker 2: the windings of a tortuous canyon, while just beyond the
• 2:50:51
  Speaker 2: ridge lay the city of Phutra, near to which I
• 2:50:53
  Speaker 2: must have come several times. As we topped the ridge
• 2:50:56
  Speaker 2: and saw the granite gate towers dotting the flowered plain
• 2:51:00
  Speaker 2: at our feet, Jah made a final effort to persuade
• 2:51:03
  Speaker 2: me to abandon my mad purpose and return with him
• 2:51:05
  Speaker 2: to Anorok. But I was firm in my resolve, and
• 2:51:07
  Speaker 2: at last he bid me good bye, assured in his
• 2:51:10
  Speaker 2: own mind that he was looking upon me for the
• 2:51:12
  Speaker 2: last time. I was sorry to part with Ja, for
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 2: I had come to like him very much. Indeed, with
• 2:51:18
  Speaker 2: his hidden city upon the island of Anorok as a
• 2:51:21
  Speaker 2: base and his savage warriors as escort, Perry and I
• 2:51:24
  Speaker 2: could have accomplished much in the line of exploration, and
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 2: I hoped that were we successful in our effort to escape,
• 2:51:30
  Speaker 2: we might return to Anarok later. There was, however, one
• 2:51:34
  Speaker 2: great thing to be accomplished first, at least it was
• 2:51:37
  Speaker 2: the great thing to me, the finding of Dian the Beautiful.
• 2:51:41
  Speaker 2: I wanted to make amends for the affront I had
• 2:51:43
  Speaker 2: put upon her in my ignorance, and I wanted to well.
• 2:51:46
  Speaker 2: I wanted to see her again and to be with her.
• 2:51:50
  Speaker 2: Down the hillside, I made my way into the gorgeous
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 2: field of flowers, and then across the rolling land toward
• 2:51:55
  Speaker 2: the shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra.
• 2:51:59
  Speaker 2: At a quarter mile from the nearest entrance, I was
• 2:52:01
  Speaker 2: discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four
• 2:52:05
  Speaker 2: of the guerrilla men were dashing toward me. Though they
• 2:52:08
  Speaker 2: brandished their long spears and yelled like wild comanches, I
• 2:52:11
  Speaker 2: paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them,
• 2:52:15
  Speaker 2: as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the
• 2:52:18
  Speaker 2: effect upon them that I had hoped, And as we
• 2:52:20
  Speaker 2: came quite near together, they ceased their savage shouting. It
• 2:52:24
  Speaker 2: was evident that they had expected me to turn and
• 2:52:26
  Speaker 2: flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they
• 2:52:29
  Speaker 2: most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast
• 2:52:32
  Speaker 2: their spears. What do you do here? Shouted one, and
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 2: then as he recognized me, Oh, it is the slave
• 2:52:38
  Speaker 2: who claims to be from another world, he who escaped
• 2:52:41
  Speaker 2: when the Thag ran amok within the amphitheater. But why
• 2:52:44
  Speaker 2: do you return, having once made good your escape. I
• 2:52:47
  Speaker 2: did not escape, I replied, but I ran away to
• 2:52:49
  Speaker 2: avoid the Thag, as did others, and coming into a
• 2:52:52
  Speaker 2: long passage, I became confused and lost my way in
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 2: the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my
• 2:52:58
  Speaker 2: way back, and you come of your free will back
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 2: to Phutra, exclaimed one of the guardsmen. Where else might
• 2:53:05
  Speaker 2: I go? I asked, I am a stranger within Pellucidar
• 2:53:08
  Speaker 2: and know no other where than Phutra. Why should I
• 2:53:10
  Speaker 2: not desire to be in Phutra? Am I not well
• 2:53:13
  Speaker 2: fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What better
• 2:53:16
  Speaker 2: lot could man desire? The Sagoths scratched their heads. This
• 2:53:20
  Speaker 2: was a new one on them, and so, being stupid brutes,
• 2:53:22
  Speaker 2: they took me to their masters, whom they felt would
• 2:53:25
  Speaker 2: be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return.
• 2:53:27
  Speaker 2: For riddle they still considered it I had spoken to
• 2:53:31
  Speaker 2: the Sagoths as I had, for the purpose of throwing
• 2:53:33
  Speaker 2: them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape.
• 2:53:36
  Speaker 2: If they thought that I was so satisfied with my
• 2:53:38
  Speaker 2: lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily return when I
• 2:53:42
  Speaker 2: had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they
• 2:53:45
  Speaker 2: would never for an instant imagine that I could be
• 2:53:47
  Speaker 2: occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon my return to
• 2:53:51
  Speaker 2: the city. So they led me before a slimy mahar
• 2:53:54
  Speaker 2: who clung to a slimy rock within a large room
• 2:53:57
  Speaker 2: that was the thing's office. With old reptilian eyes, the
• 2:54:01
  Speaker 2: creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my
• 2:54:03
  Speaker 2: deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story
• 2:54:07
  Speaker 2: which the Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching
• 2:54:11
  Speaker 2: the guerrilla men's lips and fingers during the recital. Then
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 2: it questioned me, through one of the sagoths, you say
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 2: that you return to Futra of your own free will
• 2:54:21
  Speaker 2: because you think yourself better off here than elsewhere. Do
• 2:54:24
  Speaker 2: you not know that you may be the next chosen
• 2:54:27
  Speaker 2: to give up your life in the interests of the
• 2:54:29
  Speaker 2: wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are continually occupied with.
• 2:54:34
  Speaker 2: I hadn't heard anything of that nature, but I thought
• 2:54:36
  Speaker 2: best not to admit it. I could be in no
• 2:54:39
  Speaker 2: more danger here, I said, than naked and unarmed in
• 2:54:42
  Speaker 2: the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar.
• 2:54:46
  Speaker 2: I was fortunate, I think, to return to Futra at all,
• 2:54:50
  Speaker 2: As it was, I barely escaped death within the jaws
• 2:54:52
  Speaker 2: of a huge scythic. No, I am sure that I
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 2: am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as
• 2:54:57
  Speaker 2: Rue Futra. At least such would be the case in
• 2:55:00
  Speaker 2: my own world, where human beings like myself rule supreme. There,
• 2:55:04
  Speaker 2: the higher races of man extend protection and hospitality to
• 2:55:08
  Speaker 2: the stranger within their gates, and being a stranger here,
• 2:55:11
  Speaker 2: I naturally assumed that a like courtesy would be accorded me.
• 2:55:15
  Speaker 2: The Mahar looked at me in silence for some time.
• 2:55:17
  Speaker 2: After I ceased speaking, and the Sagoth had translated my
• 2:55:20
  Speaker 2: words to his master. The creature seemed deep in thought.
• 2:55:25
  Speaker 2: Presently he communicated some message to the Sagoth. The latter turned, and,
• 2:55:29
  Speaker 2: motioning me to follow him, left the presence of the
• 2:55:32
  Speaker 2: reptile behind, and on either side of me marched the
• 2:55:35
  Speaker 2: balance of the guard. What are they going to do
• 2:55:37
  Speaker 2: with me? I asked the fellow at my right. You
• 2:55:40
  Speaker 2: are to appear before the learned ones, who will question
• 2:55:43
  Speaker 2: you regarding this strange world from which you say you come.
• 2:55:46
  Speaker 2: After a moment's silence, he turned to me again. Do
• 2:55:49
  Speaker 2: you happen to know? He asked, what the Mahars do
• 2:55:52
  Speaker 2: to slaves who lie to them? No, I replied, nor
• 2:55:55
  Speaker 2: does it interest me, as I have no intention of
• 2:55:57
  Speaker 2: lying to the Mahars. Then be careful you don't repeat
• 2:56:00
  Speaker 2: the impossible tale you told solto to Just now, another world, indeed,
• 2:56:05
  Speaker 2: where human beings rule, he concluded in fine scorn. But
• 2:56:08
  Speaker 2: it is the truth, I insisted. From where else then
• 2:56:11
  Speaker 2: did I come. I am not of Pellucidar. Any one
• 2:56:13
  Speaker 2: with half an eye could see that it is your misfortune.
• 2:56:16
  Speaker 2: Then he remarked dryly, that you may not be judged
• 2:56:19
  Speaker 2: by one with but half an eye. What will they
• 2:56:22
  Speaker 2: do to me, I asked, If they do not have
• 2:56:24
  Speaker 2: a mind to believe me, you may be sentenced to
• 2:56:26
  Speaker 2: the arena, or go to the pits, to be used
• 2:56:29
  Speaker 2: in research work by the learned ones, He replied, And
• 2:56:32
  Speaker 2: what will they do to me there, I persisted. No
• 2:56:35
  Speaker 2: one knows except the Mahars and those who go to
• 2:56:37
  Speaker 2: the pits with them. But as the latter never return,
• 2:56:40
  Speaker 2: their knowledge does them but little good. It is said
• 2:56:43
  Speaker 2: that the learned ones cut up their subjects while they
• 2:56:45
  Speaker 2: are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However, I
• 2:56:48
  Speaker 2: should not imagine that it would prove very useful to
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 2: him who was being cut up. But of course this
• 2:56:53
  Speaker 2: is all but conjecture. The chances are that ere long
• 2:56:56
  Speaker 2: you will know much more about it than I. And
• 2:56:59
  Speaker 2: he grinned as he spoke. The Sagoths have a well
• 2:57:02
  Speaker 2: developed sense of humor, and suppose it is the arena,
• 2:57:05
  Speaker 2: I continued, What then, you saw the two who met
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 2: the Tarag and the Thag the time that you escaped.
• 2:57:12
  Speaker 2: He said, Yes, your end in the arena would be
• 2:57:15
  Speaker 2: similar to what was intended for them. He explained, though
• 2:57:19
  Speaker 2: of course the same kinds of animals might not be employed.
• 2:57:22
  Speaker 2: It is sure death in either event. I asked, what
• 2:57:25
  Speaker 2: becomes of those who go below with the learned ones?
• 2:57:27
  Speaker 2: I do not know, nor does any other, he replied.
• 2:57:31
  Speaker 2: But those who go to the arena may come out
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 2: alive and thus regain their liberty, As did the two
• 2:57:37
  Speaker 2: whom you saw. They gained their liberty. And how it
• 2:57:40
  Speaker 2: is the custom of the Mahars to liberate those who
• 2:57:42
  Speaker 2: remain alive within the arena after the beasts depart or
• 2:57:45
  Speaker 2: are killed. Thus it has happened that several mighty warriors
• 2:57:48
  Speaker 2: from far distant lands, whom we have captured on our
• 2:57:51
  Speaker 2: slave raids, have battled the brutes, turned in upon them,
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 2: and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the instance
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 2: which you witnessed, the beets killed each other, but the
• 2:58:01
  Speaker 2: result was the same. The man and woman were liberated,
• 2:58:05
  Speaker 2: furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. Upon
• 2:58:09
  Speaker 2: the left shoulder of each a mark was burned, the
• 2:58:11
  Speaker 2: mark of the Mahars, which will forever protect these two
• 2:58:14
  Speaker 2: from slaving parties. There is a slender chance for me, then,
• 2:58:17
  Speaker 2: if I be sent to the arena, and none at all,
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 2: if the learned ones dragged me to the pits. You
• 2:58:22
  Speaker 2: are quite right, he replied, But do not felicitate yourself
• 2:58:26
  Speaker 2: too quickly should he be sent to the arena, for
• 2:58:29
  Speaker 2: there is scarce one in a thousand who comes out alive.
• 2:58:32
  Speaker 2: To my surprise, they returned me to the same building
• 2:58:35
  Speaker 2: in which I had been confined with Perry and Ghak
• 2:58:37
  Speaker 2: before my escape. At the doorway, I was turned over
• 2:58:41
  Speaker 2: to the guards. There he will doubtless be called before
• 2:58:45
  Speaker 2: the investigator, shortly said he who had brought me back,
• 2:58:48
  Speaker 2: So have him in readiness. The guards in whose hands
• 2:58:51
  Speaker 2: I now found myself, upon hearing that I had returned
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 2: of my own volition to Phutra, evidently felt that it
• 2:58:56
  Speaker 2: would be safe to give me liberty within the building,
• 2:58:59
  Speaker 2: as had been the custom before I had escaped, And
• 2:59:02
  Speaker 2: so I was told to return to whatever duty had
• 2:59:04
  Speaker 2: been mine formerly. My first act was to hunt up Perry,
• 2:59:08
  Speaker 2: whom I found pouring as usual over the great tomes
• 2:59:10
  Speaker 2: that he was supposed to be merely dusting and rearranging
• 2:59:13
  Speaker 2: upon new shelves. As I entered the room, he glanced
• 2:59:15
  Speaker 2: up and nodded pleasantly to me, only to resume his
• 2:59:18
  Speaker 2: work as though I had never been away at all.
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 2: I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference, and
• 2:59:24
  Speaker 2: to think that I was risking death to return to
• 2:59:26
  Speaker 2: him purely from a sense of duty and affection. Why, Perry,
• 2:59:29
  Speaker 2: I exclaimed, haven't you a word for me after my
• 2:59:31
  Speaker 2: long absence? Long absence, he repeated, in evident astonishment. What
• 2:59:36
  Speaker 2: do you mean? Are you crazy? Perry? Do you mean
• 2:59:38
  Speaker 2: to say that you have not missed me since that
• 2:59:40
  Speaker 2: time we were separated by the charging thag within the
• 2:59:43
  Speaker 2: arena that time? He repeated? Why, Man, I have just
• 2:59:47
  Speaker 2: but returned from the arena. You reached here almost as
• 2:59:49
  Speaker 2: soon as I had you been much later. I should
• 2:59:52
  Speaker 2: indeed have been worried, And as it is, I had
• 2:59:54
  Speaker 2: intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as
• 2:59:56
  Speaker 2: soon as I had completed the translation of this most
• 2:59:59
  Speaker 2: interesting pasth Perry, you are mad, I exclaimed, Why the
• 3:00:03
  Speaker 2: Lord only knows how long I have been away. I've
• 3:00:05
  Speaker 2: been to other lands, discovered a new race of humans
• 3:00:07
  Speaker 2: within Pellucidar, seen the Mahars at their worship in their
• 3:00:10
  Speaker 2: hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life from them
• 3:00:14
  Speaker 2: and from great Labrinthodon that I met afterward, following my
• 3:00:17
  Speaker 2: long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. I must
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 2: have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely
• 3:00:23
  Speaker 2: look up from your work when I return and insist
• 3:00:25
  Speaker 2: that we have been separated. But a moment is that
• 3:00:27
  Speaker 2: any way to treat a friend. I'm surprised at you, Perry.
• 3:00:31
  Speaker 2: And if I had thought for a moment that you
• 3:00:32
  Speaker 2: cared no more for me than this, I should not
• 3:00:34
  Speaker 2: have returned to chance death at the hands of the
• 3:00:37
  Speaker 2: Mahars for your sake. The old man looked at me
• 3:00:40
  Speaker 2: for a long time before he spoke. There was a
• 3:00:42
  Speaker 2: puzzled expression upon his wrinkled face and a look of
• 3:00:45
  Speaker 2: hurt sorrow in his eyes. David, my boy, he said,
• 3:00:48
  Speaker 2: how could you for a moment doubt my love for you?
• 3:00:51
  Speaker 2: There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I
• 3:00:54
  Speaker 2: know that I am not mad, and I am equally
• 3:00:56
  Speaker 2: sure that you are not. But how in the world
• 3:00:58
  Speaker 2: are we to account for the strain hallucinations that each
• 3:01:01
  Speaker 2: of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of
• 3:01:03
  Speaker 2: time since we last saw each other. You were positive
• 3:01:06
  Speaker 2: that months have gone by, while to me it seems
• 3:01:09
  Speaker 2: equally certain that not more than an hour ago I
• 3:01:11
  Speaker 2: sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that
• 3:01:14
  Speaker 2: both of us are right and at the same time
• 3:01:16
  Speaker 2: both are wrong? First, tell me what time it is,
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 2: and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do you
• 3:01:21
  Speaker 2: catch my meaning? I didn't and said so, Yes, continued
• 3:01:26
  Speaker 2: the old man, we are both right. To me, bent
• 3:01:28
  Speaker 2: over my book here, there has been no lapse of time.
• 3:01:31
  Speaker 2: I have done little or nothing to waste my energies,
• 3:01:33
  Speaker 2: and so have required neither food nor sleep. But you,
• 3:01:37
  Speaker 2: on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted strength
• 3:01:40
  Speaker 2: and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food,
• 3:01:44
  Speaker 2: And so, having eaten and slept many times since last
• 3:01:47
  Speaker 2: you saw me, you naturally measure the lapse of time
• 3:01:49
  Speaker 2: largely by these acts. As a matter of fact, David,
• 3:01:52
  Speaker 2: I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is
• 3:01:54
  Speaker 2: no such thing as time. Surely there can be no
• 3:01:57
  Speaker 2: time here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for
• 3:02:00
  Speaker 2: measuring a recording time. Why the Mahars themselves take no
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 2: account of such a thing as time. I find here
• 3:02:05
  Speaker 2: in all their literary works but a single tense, the present.
• 3:02:09
  Speaker 2: There seems to be neither past nor future with them.
• 3:02:12
  Speaker 2: Of course, it is impossible for our outer earthly minds
• 3:02:15
  Speaker 2: to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seemed
• 3:02:18
  Speaker 2: to demonstrate its existence. It was too big a subject
• 3:02:22
  Speaker 2: for me, and I said so, but Perry seemed to
• 3:02:24
  Speaker 2: enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, And after listening
• 3:02:28
  Speaker 2: with interest to my account of the adventures through which
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 2: I had passed, he returned once more to the subject,
• 3:02:34
  Speaker 2: which he was enlarging upon with considerable fluency. When he
• 3:02:37
  Speaker 2: was interrupted by the entrance of a sagoth, come commanded
• 3:02:41
  Speaker 2: the intruder, beckoning to me, the investigators would speak with you. Goodbye, Perry,
• 3:02:46
  Speaker 2: I said, clasping the old man's hand. There may be
• 3:02:49
  Speaker 2: nothing but the present, and no such thing as time.
• 3:02:51
  Speaker 2: But I feel that I am about to take a
• 3:02:53
  Speaker 2: trip into the hereafter, from which I shall never return.
• 3:02:57
  Speaker 2: If you and Ghak should manage to escape. I want
• 3:03:00
  Speaker 2: you to promise me that you will find Diane the
• 3:03:02
  Speaker 2: Beautiful and tell her that with my last words, I
• 3:03:05
  Speaker 2: asked her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon her,
• 3:03:08
  Speaker 2: and that my one wish was to be spared long
• 3:03:11
  Speaker 2: enough to right the wrong that I had done. Her
• 3:03:13
  Speaker 2: tears came to Perry's eyes. I cannot believe but that
• 3:03:16
  Speaker 2: you will return, David, he said. It would be awful
• 3:03:19
  Speaker 2: to think of living out the balance of my life
• 3:03:21
  Speaker 2: without you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you
• 3:03:25
  Speaker 2: are taken away, I shall never escape, for I feel
• 3:03:27
  Speaker 2: that I am as well off here as I should
• 3:03:29
  Speaker 2: be anywhere within this buried world. Goodbye, my boy, goodbye.
• 3:03:33
  Speaker 2: And then his old voice faltered and broke, and as
• 3:03:35
  Speaker 2: he hid his face in his hands, the Sagoth guardsman
• 3:03:38
  Speaker 2: grasped me roughly by the shoulder and hustled me from
• 3:03:41
  Speaker 2: the chamber. End of Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, four dead Mahars.
• 3:03:50
  Speaker 2: A moment later, I was standing before a dozen Mahars,
• 3:03:53
  Speaker 2: the social investigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions
• 3:03:57
  Speaker 2: through a Sagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They
• 3:04:01
  Speaker 2: seemed particularly interested in my account of the outer Earth
• 3:04:05
  Speaker 2: and the strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me
• 3:04:07
  Speaker 2: to Pellucidar. I thought that I had convinced them, and
• 3:04:11
  Speaker 2: after they had sat in silence for a long time
• 3:04:13
  Speaker 2: following my examination, I expected to be ordered returned to
• 3:04:17
  Speaker 2: my quarters. During this apparent silence, they were debating, through
• 3:04:20
  Speaker 2: the medium of strange unspoken language, the merits of my tale.
• 3:04:25
  Speaker 2: At last, the head of the tribunal communicated the result
• 3:04:27
  Speaker 2: of their conference to the officer in charge of the
• 3:04:30
  Speaker 2: Sagoth Guard. Come. He said to me, you are sentenced
• 3:04:33
  Speaker 2: to the experimental pits for having dared to insult the
• 3:04:36
  Speaker 2: intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous tale you
• 3:04:39
  Speaker 2: have had the temerity to unfold to them. Do you
• 3:04:42
  Speaker 2: mean that they do not believe me? I asked, totally astonished,
• 3:04:46
  Speaker 2: believe you? He laughed. Do you mean to say that
• 3:04:48
  Speaker 2: you expected any one to believe so impossible a lie?
• 3:04:52
  Speaker 2: It was hopeless, And so I walked in silence beside
• 3:04:54
  Speaker 2: my guard down through the dark corridors and runways toward
• 3:04:58
  Speaker 2: my awful doom. At a low leve, we came upon
• 3:05:00
  Speaker 2: a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many
• 3:05:03
  Speaker 2: Mahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers,
• 3:05:08
  Speaker 2: my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me
• 3:05:10
  Speaker 2: to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained.
• 3:05:14
  Speaker 2: Upon a long table lay a victim. Even as I
• 3:05:17
  Speaker 2: was ushered into the room, several mahars stood about the
• 3:05:20
  Speaker 2: poor creature, holding him down so that he could not move. Another,
• 3:05:24
  Speaker 2: grasping a sharp knife with her three toed fore foot,
• 3:05:27
  Speaker 2: was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic
• 3:05:31
  Speaker 2: had been administered, and the shrieks and groans of the
• 3:05:33
  Speaker 2: tortured man were terrible to hear. This, indeed, was vivisection
• 3:05:37
  Speaker 2: with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as
• 3:05:41
  Speaker 2: I realized that soon my turn would come, and to
• 3:05:43
  Speaker 2: think that, where there was no such thing as time,
• 3:05:45
  Speaker 2: I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring for
• 3:05:48
  Speaker 2: months Before my death finally released me. The Mahars had
• 3:05:51
  Speaker 2: paid not the slightest attention to me as I had
• 3:05:53
  Speaker 2: been brought into the room. So deeply immersed were they
• 3:05:56
  Speaker 2: in their work that I am sure they did not
• 3:05:58
  Speaker 2: even know that the Sagoths that entered with me the
• 3:06:01
  Speaker 2: door was close by, would that I could reach it,
• 3:06:03
  Speaker 2: but those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked
• 3:06:07
  Speaker 2: about for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon
• 3:06:10
  Speaker 2: the floor between me and the mahars lay a tiny
• 3:06:12
  Speaker 2: surgical instrument, which one of them must have dropped. It
• 3:06:15
  Speaker 2: looked not unlike a button hook, but was much smaller,
• 3:06:17
  Speaker 2: and its point was sharpened A hundred times. In my
• 3:06:20
  Speaker 2: boyhood days I had picked locks with a button hook.
• 3:06:23
  Speaker 2: Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel,
• 3:06:25
  Speaker 2: I might yet effect at least a temporary escape. Crawling
• 3:06:28
  Speaker 2: to the limit of my chain, I found that by
• 3:06:30
  Speaker 2: reaching one hand as far out as I could, my
• 3:06:32
  Speaker 2: fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument.
• 3:06:36
  Speaker 2: It was tantalizing. Stretch every fiber of my being as
• 3:06:39
  Speaker 2: I would, I could not quite make it. At last,
• 3:06:42
  Speaker 2: I turned about and extended one foot toward the object.
• 3:06:45
  Speaker 2: My heart came to my throat. I could just touch
• 3:06:47
  Speaker 2: the thing. But suppose that in my effort to drag
• 3:06:50
  Speaker 2: it toward me, I should accidentally shove it still farther away,
• 3:06:52
  Speaker 2: and thus entirely out of reach. Cold sweat broke out
• 3:06:55
  Speaker 2: upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made
• 3:06:58
  Speaker 2: the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually
• 3:07:02
  Speaker 2: I worked it toward me until I felt that it
• 3:07:04
  Speaker 2: was within reach of my hand, and a moment later
• 3:07:06
  Speaker 2: I had turned about and the precious thing was within
• 3:07:09
  Speaker 2: my grasp. Assiduously I felt to work upon the mahar
• 3:07:12
  Speaker 2: lock that held my chain. It was pitifully simple. A
• 3:07:15
  Speaker 2: child might depict it, and a moment later I was free.
• 3:07:18
  Speaker 2: The mahars were now evidently completing their work at the table.
• 3:07:21
  Speaker 2: One already turned away and was examining other victims, evidently
• 3:07:25
  Speaker 2: with the intention of selecting the next subject. Those at
• 3:07:28
  Speaker 2: the table had their backs toward me. But for the
• 3:07:30
  Speaker 2: creature walking toward us, I might have escaped that moment. Slowly,
• 3:07:34
  Speaker 2: the thing approached me when its attention was attracted by
• 3:07:37
  Speaker 2: a huge slave chained a few yards to my right.
• 3:07:40
  Speaker 2: Here the reptile stopped and commenced to go over the
• 3:07:42
  Speaker 2: poor devil carefully, and as it did so, its back
• 3:07:45
  Speaker 2: turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant
• 3:07:48
  Speaker 2: I gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of
• 3:07:50
  Speaker 2: the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I raced
• 3:07:52
  Speaker 2: with all the speed I could command where I was
• 3:07:55
  Speaker 2: or whither I was going, I knew not. My only
• 3:07:58
  Speaker 2: thought was to place as much distance possible between me
• 3:08:01
  Speaker 2: and that frightful chamber of torture. Presently I reduced my
• 3:08:05
  Speaker 2: speed to a brisk walk, and, later, realizing the danger
• 3:08:07
  Speaker 2: of running into some new predictment were I not careful,
• 3:08:10
  Speaker 2: I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time
• 3:08:14
  Speaker 2: I came to a passage that seemed, in some mysterious
• 3:08:17
  Speaker 2: way familiar to me, And presently, chancing to glance within
• 3:08:20
  Speaker 2: a chamber which led from the corridor, I saw three
• 3:08:23
  Speaker 2: mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins.
• 3:08:26
  Speaker 2: I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It
• 3:08:28
  Speaker 2: was the same corridor, and the same mahars that I
• 3:08:31
  Speaker 2: had intended to have lead so important a role in
• 3:08:33
  Speaker 2: our escape from Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me,
• 3:08:37
  Speaker 2: for the reptile still slept. My one great danger now
• 3:08:40
  Speaker 2: lay in returning to the upper levels in search of
• 3:08:43
  Speaker 2: Perry and Ghak. But there was nothing else to be done,
• 3:08:46
  Speaker 2: and so I hastened upward. When I came to the
• 3:08:49
  Speaker 2: frequented portions of the building, I found a large burden
• 3:08:52
  Speaker 2: of skins in a corner, and these I lifted to
• 3:08:54
  Speaker 2: my head, carrying them in such a way that ends
• 3:08:57
  Speaker 2: and corners fell down about my shoulders, completely high. My
• 3:09:00
  Speaker 2: face thus disguised. I found Perry and Ghak together in
• 3:09:04
  Speaker 2: the chamber where we had been wont to eat and sleep.
• 3:09:07
  Speaker 2: Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say,
• 3:09:09
  Speaker 2: though of course they had known nothing of the fate
• 3:09:11
  Speaker 2: that had been meted out to me by my judges.
• 3:09:14
  Speaker 2: It was decided that no time should now be lost
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 2: before attempting to put our plan of escape to the test,
• 3:09:19
  Speaker 2: as I could not hope to remain hidden from the
• 3:09:21
  Speaker 2: Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry that bale of
• 3:09:24
  Speaker 2: skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However, it
• 3:09:28
  Speaker 2: seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely
• 3:09:30
  Speaker 2: through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels,
• 3:09:33
  Speaker 2: and so I set out with Perry and Ghak. The
• 3:09:35
  Speaker 2: stench of the illy cured pelts, fairly choking me together.
• 3:09:39
  Speaker 2: We were paired to the first tier of corridors beneath
• 3:09:41
  Speaker 2: the main floor of the buildings, and here Perry and
• 3:09:44
  Speaker 2: Ghak halted to await me. The buildings are cut out
• 3:09:47
  Speaker 2: of the solid limestone formation. There is nothing at all
• 3:09:50
  Speaker 2: remarkable about their architecture. The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular,
• 3:09:56
  Speaker 2: and again oval in shape. The corridors which connect them
• 3:09:59
  Speaker 2: were no arrow and not always straight. The chambers are
• 3:10:02
  Speaker 2: lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to those
• 3:10:06
  Speaker 2: by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers
• 3:10:08
  Speaker 2: of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted.
• 3:10:13
  Speaker 2: The Mahars can see quite well in semi darkness down
• 3:10:17
  Speaker 2: to the main floor. We encountered many Mahars, Sagoths and slaves,
• 3:10:21
  Speaker 2: but no attention was paid to us, as we had
• 3:10:23
  Speaker 2: become a part of the domestic life of the building.
• 3:10:25
  Speaker 2: There was but a single entrance leading from the place
• 3:10:27
  Speaker 2: into the avenue, and this was well guarded by Sagoths.
• 3:10:31
  Speaker 2: This doorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is
• 3:10:35
  Speaker 2: true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper
• 3:10:37
  Speaker 2: corridors and apartments, except on special occasions when we were
• 3:10:40
  Speaker 2: instructed to do so. But as we were considered a
• 3:10:43
  Speaker 2: lower order without intelligence, there was little reason to fear
• 3:10:46
  Speaker 2: that we could accomplish any harm by so doing, and
• 3:10:48
  Speaker 2: so we were not hindered. As we entered the corridor
• 3:10:51
  Speaker 2: which led below. Wrapped in a skin, I carried three swords,
• 3:10:54
  Speaker 2: and the two bows and the arrows which Perry and
• 3:10:57
  Speaker 2: I had fashioned. As many slaves bore suks, skin wrapped
• 3:11:00
  Speaker 2: burdens to and fro. My load attracted no comment. Where
• 3:11:04
  Speaker 2: I left Ghak and Perry, there were no other creatures
• 3:11:06
  Speaker 2: in sight, and so I withdrew one sword from the package, and,
• 3:11:10
  Speaker 2: leaving the balance of the weapons with Perry, started on
• 3:11:12
  Speaker 2: alone towards the lower levels. Having come to the apartment
• 3:11:15
  Speaker 2: in which the three Mahars slept, I entered silently on tiptoe,
• 3:11:19
  Speaker 2: forgetting that the creatures were without the sense of hearing.
• 3:11:22
  Speaker 2: With a quick thrust through the heart, I disposed of
• 3:11:24
  Speaker 2: the first. But my second thrust was not so fortunate,
• 3:11:28
  Speaker 2: so that before I could kill the next of my victims,
• 3:11:30
  Speaker 2: it had hurled itself against the third, who sprang quickly up,
• 3:11:33
  Speaker 2: facing me with wide distended jaws. But fighting is not
• 3:11:36
  Speaker 2: the occupation which the race of Mahar's loves. And when
• 3:11:39
  Speaker 2: the things saw that I had already despatched two of
• 3:11:41
  Speaker 2: its companions, and that my sword was red with their blood.
• 3:11:44
  Speaker 2: It made a dash to escape me, but I was
• 3:11:46
  Speaker 2: too quick for it, and so half hopping, half flying,
• 3:11:49
  Speaker 2: it scurried down another corridor, with me close upon its heels.
• 3:11:53
  Speaker 2: Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and
• 3:11:55
  Speaker 2: in all probability, my instant death. This thought lent wings
• 3:11:58
  Speaker 2: to my feet, but even at my best I could
• 3:12:00
  Speaker 2: do no more than hold my own with the leaping
• 3:12:02
  Speaker 2: thing before me. Of a sudden it turned into an
• 3:12:04
  Speaker 2: apartment on the right of the corridor, and an instant later,
• 3:12:07
  Speaker 2: as I rushed in, I found myself facing two of
• 3:12:09
  Speaker 2: the Mahars. The one who had been there when we
• 3:12:12
  Speaker 2: entered had been occupied with a number of metal vessels
• 3:12:14
  Speaker 2: into which had been put powders and liquids, as I
• 3:12:17
  Speaker 2: judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the
• 3:12:20
  Speaker 2: bench where it had been working. In an instant I
• 3:12:22
  Speaker 2: realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very
• 3:12:25
  Speaker 2: room for the finding of which Perry had given me
• 3:12:27
  Speaker 2: minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was
• 3:12:31
  Speaker 2: hidden the great secret of the race of Mahars. And
• 3:12:33
  Speaker 2: on the bench beside the flasks lay the skin bound
• 3:12:36
  Speaker 2: book which held the only copy of the thing I
• 3:12:38
  Speaker 2: was to have sought. After dispatching the three Mahars in
• 3:12:41
  Speaker 2: their sleep, there was no exit from the room other
• 3:12:44
  Speaker 2: than the doorway in which I now stood facing the
• 3:12:46
  Speaker 2: two frightful reptiles cornered. I knew that they would fight
• 3:12:49
  Speaker 2: like demons, and that they were well equipped to fight
• 3:12:52
  Speaker 2: if they must. Together, they launched themselves upon me, and
• 3:12:55
  Speaker 2: though I ran one of them through the heart on
• 3:12:57
  Speaker 2: the instant, the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my
• 3:12:59
  Speaker 2: sword arm above the elbow, and then, with her sharp talons,
• 3:13:02
  Speaker 2: commenced to rake me about the body, evidently intent upon
• 3:13:05
  Speaker 2: disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope
• 3:13:08
  Speaker 2: that I might release my arm from that powerful vicelike
• 3:13:11
  Speaker 2: grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body.
• 3:13:13
  Speaker 2: The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served
• 3:13:16
  Speaker 2: to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist.
• 3:13:19
  Speaker 2: Back and forth across the floor we struggled, the Mahar
• 3:13:21
  Speaker 2: dealing me terrific cutting blows with her fore feet, while
• 3:13:24
  Speaker 2: I attempted to protect my body with my left hand,
• 3:13:26
  Speaker 2: at the same time watching for an opportunity to transfer
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 2: my blade from my now useless sword hand to its
• 3:13:32
  Speaker 2: rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with
• 3:13:36
  Speaker 2: what seemed to be my last ounce of strength, that
• 3:13:38
  Speaker 2: ran the blade through the ugly body of my foe,
• 3:13:41
  Speaker 2: soundless as it had thought, it died, And though weak
• 3:13:44
  Speaker 2: from pain and loss of blood, it was with an
• 3:13:46
  Speaker 2: emotion of triumphant pride that I stepped across its convulsively
• 3:13:49
  Speaker 2: stiffening corpse to snatch up the most potent secret of
• 3:13:53
  Speaker 2: a world. A single glance assured me that it was
• 3:13:55
  Speaker 2: the very thing that Perry had described to me. And
• 3:13:58
  Speaker 2: as I grasped it, did I think of what it
• 3:13:59
  Speaker 2: meant to the human race of Pellucidar. Did there flash
• 3:14:03
  Speaker 2: through my mind the thought that countless generations of my
• 3:14:05
  Speaker 2: own kind, yet unborn, would have reason to worship me
• 3:14:08
  Speaker 2: for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I
• 3:14:11
  Speaker 2: did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face gazing
• 3:14:14
  Speaker 2: out of limpid eyes through a waving mass of jet
• 3:14:16
  Speaker 2: black hair. I thought of red, red lips God made
• 3:14:19
  Speaker 2: for kissing, and of a sudden apropos of nothing. Standing
• 3:14:22
  Speaker 2: there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of Lucidar.
• 3:14:25
  Speaker 2: I realized that I loved Diane the beautiful end of
• 3:14:30
  Speaker 2: chapter eleven Chapter twelve pursuit. For an instant I stood there,
• 3:14:36
  Speaker 2: thinking of her, and then with a sigh, I tucked
• 3:14:39
  Speaker 2: the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth
• 3:14:42
  Speaker 2: and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of
• 3:14:45
  Speaker 2: the corridor which leads aloft from the lower chambers, I
• 3:14:48
  Speaker 2: whistled in accordance with the prearranged signal, which was to
• 3:14:51
  Speaker 2: announce to Perry and Ghak that I had been successful.
• 3:14:54
  Speaker 2: A moment later they stood beside me, and to my
• 3:14:57
  Speaker 2: surprise I saw that Hooja, the sly one, accompanied them.
• 3:15:00
  Speaker 2: He joined us, explained Perry, and would not be denied.
• 3:15:03
  Speaker 2: The fellow is a fox he sens escape, and rather
• 3:15:05
  Speaker 2: than be thwarted of our chance now, I told him
• 3:15:08
  Speaker 2: that I would bring him to you and let you
• 3:15:10
  Speaker 2: decide whether he might accompany us. I had no love
• 3:15:13
  Speaker 2: for Hooja and no confidence in him. I was sure
• 3:15:16
  Speaker 2: that if he thought it would profit him, he would
• 3:15:18
  Speaker 2: betray us. But I saw no way out of it now,
• 3:15:20
  Speaker 2: and the fact that I had killed four mahars instead
• 3:15:23
  Speaker 2: of only the three I had expected to made it
• 3:15:25
  Speaker 2: possible to include the fellow in our scheme of escape
• 3:15:28
  Speaker 2: very well, I said, you may come with us, Hooja,
• 3:15:31
  Speaker 2: but at the first intimation of treachery, I shall run
• 3:15:33
  Speaker 2: my sword through you. Do you understand, He said that
• 3:15:36
  Speaker 2: he did. Some time later, we had removed the skins
• 3:15:39
  Speaker 2: from the four mahars, and so succeeded in crawling in
• 3:15:41
  Speaker 2: sight of them ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance
• 3:15:44
  Speaker 2: for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not
• 3:15:47
  Speaker 2: an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we
• 3:15:49
  Speaker 2: had split them along the belly, to remove them from
• 3:15:52
  Speaker 2: their carcasses. But by remaining out until the others had
• 3:15:55
  Speaker 2: all been sewed in with my help, and then leaving
• 3:15:57
  Speaker 2: an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which
• 3:15:59
  Speaker 2: he could pass his hands to sew me up, we
• 3:16:02
  Speaker 2: were enabled to accomplish our design to really much better
• 3:16:05
  Speaker 2: purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the
• 3:16:07
  Speaker 2: heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks,
• 3:16:10
  Speaker 2: and by the same means were enabled to move them
• 3:16:12
  Speaker 2: about in a lifelike manner. We had our greatest difficulty
• 3:16:15
  Speaker 2: with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved,
• 3:16:19
  Speaker 2: so that when we moved about, we did so quite naturally,
• 3:16:21
  Speaker 2: tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our
• 3:16:24
  Speaker 2: heads were thrust permitted us to see well enough to
• 3:16:27
  Speaker 2: guide our progress. Thus we started up toward the main
• 3:16:30
  Speaker 2: floor of the building. Ghak headed the strange procession. Then
• 3:16:33
  Speaker 2: came Perry, followed by Hooja, while I brought up the rear,
• 3:16:37
  Speaker 2: after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged my sword
• 3:16:39
  Speaker 2: that I could thrust it through the head of my
• 3:16:41
  Speaker 2: disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication
• 3:16:44
  Speaker 2: of faltering. As the noise of hurrying feet warned me
• 3:16:47
  Speaker 2: that we were entering the busy corridors of the main level,
• 3:16:50
  Speaker 2: my heart came up into my mouth. It is with
• 3:16:53
  Speaker 2: no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened.
• 3:16:55
  Speaker 2: Never before in my life nor sense, did I experience
• 3:16:58
  Speaker 2: any such agony of soul, serreace, fear, and suspense as
• 3:17:01
  Speaker 2: enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood, I
• 3:17:04
  Speaker 2: sweat it. Then slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual
• 3:17:08
  Speaker 2: to the Mahars when they are not using their wings,
• 3:17:10
  Speaker 2: we crept through the throngs of busy slaves, sagoths and Mahars.
• 3:17:14
  Speaker 2: After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the outer door,
• 3:17:17
  Speaker 2: which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths
• 3:17:21
  Speaker 2: loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he
• 3:17:23
  Speaker 2: padded between them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now
• 3:17:27
  Speaker 2: it was my turn. And then, in a sudden fit
• 3:17:29
  Speaker 2: of freezing terror, I realized that the warm blood from
• 3:17:32
  Speaker 2: my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot
• 3:17:35
  Speaker 2: of the mahar's skin I wore, and leaving its tell
• 3:17:37
  Speaker 2: tale mark upon the pavement. For I saw Sagoth call
• 3:17:40
  Speaker 2: a companion's attention to it. The guards stepped before me, and,
• 3:17:43
  Speaker 2: pointing to my bleeding foot, spoke to me in the
• 3:17:46
  Speaker 2: sign language which these two races employ as a means
• 3:17:48
  Speaker 2: of communication. Even had I known what he was saying,
• 3:17:51
  Speaker 2: I could not have replied with the dead thing that
• 3:17:53
  Speaker 2: covered me. I once had seen a great Mahar freeze
• 3:17:56
  Speaker 2: a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my only hope,
• 3:17:59
  Speaker 2: and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks, I
• 3:18:02
  Speaker 2: moved my sword so that it made the dead head
• 3:18:04
  Speaker 2: appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the gorilla man. For
• 3:18:07
  Speaker 2: a long moment, I stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow
• 3:18:10
  Speaker 2: with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and
• 3:18:13
  Speaker 2: started slowly on. For a moment, all hung in the balance,
• 3:18:17
  Speaker 2: But before I touched him, the guard stepped to one side,
• 3:18:20
  Speaker 2: and I passed on out into the avenue. On we
• 3:18:22
  Speaker 2: went up the broad street. But now we were safe
• 3:18:25
  Speaker 2: for the very numbers of our enemies that surrounded us
• 3:18:27
  Speaker 2: on all sides. Fortunately, there was a great concourse of
• 3:18:30
  Speaker 2: mahars repairing to the shallow lake which lies a mile
• 3:18:33
  Speaker 2: or more from the city. They go there to indulge
• 3:18:36
  Speaker 2: their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish and enjoying
• 3:18:39
  Speaker 2: the cool depths of the water. It is a freshwater lake,
• 3:18:42
  Speaker 2: shallow and free from the larger reptiles which make the
• 3:18:45
  Speaker 2: use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any
• 3:18:48
  Speaker 2: but their own kind. In the thick of the crowd,
• 3:18:51
  Speaker 2: we passed up the steps and out onto the plain.
• 3:18:54
  Speaker 2: For some distance, Ghak remained with a stream that was
• 3:18:57
  Speaker 2: traveling toward the lake. But finally, at the bottom of
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 2: a little gully he halted, and there we remained until
• 3:19:02
  Speaker 2: all had passed and we were alone. Then still in
• 3:19:05
  Speaker 2: our disguises, we set off directly away from Phutra. The
• 3:19:08
  Speaker 2: heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast
• 3:19:10
  Speaker 2: making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a
• 3:19:14
  Speaker 2: low divide and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded
• 3:19:18
  Speaker 2: the Mahar skins that had brought us thus far in safety.
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 2: I shall not weary you with the details of that
• 3:19:23
  Speaker 2: bitter and galling flight. How we traveled at a dog
• 3:19:26
  Speaker 2: had run until we dropped in our tracks. How we
• 3:19:29
  Speaker 2: were beset by strange and terrible beasts, How we barely
• 3:19:32
  Speaker 2: escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers, the size
• 3:19:35
  Speaker 2: of which would dwarf into pitifully insignificance the greatest felines
• 3:19:39
  Speaker 2: of the outer world. On and on we raced, are
• 3:19:42
  Speaker 2: one thought to put as much distance between ourselves and
• 3:19:44
  Speaker 2: Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own land,
• 3:19:48
  Speaker 2: the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed,
• 3:19:51
  Speaker 2: and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us, relentless
• 3:19:53
  Speaker 2: Sagoths were dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed
• 3:19:57
  Speaker 2: to hunt down their quarry until they had captured it
• 3:19:59
  Speaker 2: or themselves been turned back by a superior force. Our
• 3:20:02
  Speaker 2: only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe, which
• 3:20:05
  Speaker 2: was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat
• 3:20:07
  Speaker 2: off any number of Sagoths. At last, after what seemed months,
• 3:20:11
  Speaker 2: and may I now realize have been years, we came
• 3:20:14
  Speaker 2: in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the foothills
• 3:20:17
  Speaker 2: of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked
• 3:20:20
  Speaker 2: ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he
• 3:20:23
  Speaker 2: could see a body of men far behind us, topping
• 3:20:25
  Speaker 2: a low ridge in our wake. It was the long
• 3:20:27
  Speaker 2: expected pursuit. I asked Ghak if we could make Sari
• 3:20:31
  Speaker 2: in time to escape them, We may, he replied, but
• 3:20:34
  Speaker 2: you will find that the Sagoths can move with incredible swiftness,
• 3:20:37
  Speaker 2: and as they are almost tireless, they are doubtless much
• 3:20:40
  Speaker 2: fresher than we. Then he paused, glancing at Perry. I
• 3:20:43
  Speaker 2: knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted for
• 3:20:46
  Speaker 2: much of the period of our flight. Either Ghak or
• 3:20:49
  Speaker 2: I had half supported him on the march. With such
• 3:20:51
  Speaker 2: a handicap, less fleet pursuers than Sagoths might easily overtake
• 3:20:55
  Speaker 2: us before we could scale the rugged heights which confronted us.
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 2: You and Hoja, go on ahead, I said, Perry and
• 3:21:02
  Speaker 2: I will make it if we are able. We cannot
• 3:21:04
  Speaker 2: travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no
• 3:21:06
  Speaker 2: reason why all should be lost. Because of that, it
• 3:21:09
  Speaker 2: can't be helped. We have simply to face it. I
• 3:21:12
  Speaker 2: will not desert a companion, was Ghak's simple reply. I
• 3:21:15
  Speaker 2: hadn't known that this great, hairy primeval man had any
• 3:21:18
  Speaker 2: such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had
• 3:21:21
  Speaker 2: always liked him, but now to my liking was added
• 3:21:23
  Speaker 2: honor and respect, Yes, and love. But I still urged
• 3:21:26
  Speaker 2: him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could
• 3:21:29
  Speaker 2: reach his people, he might be able to bring out
• 3:21:31
  Speaker 2: a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue
• 3:21:34
  Speaker 2: Perry and myself. No, he wouldn't leave us, and that
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 2: was all there was to it. But he suggested that
• 3:21:40
  Speaker 2: Hooja might hurry on warn the Sarians of the king's danger.
• 3:21:43
  Speaker 2: It didn't require much urging to start Hooja. The naked
• 3:21:46
  Speaker 2: idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of
• 3:21:49
  Speaker 2: us into the foothills which we now had reached. Perry
• 3:21:52
  Speaker 2: realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine, and
• 3:21:56
  Speaker 2: the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him,
• 3:21:59
  Speaker 2: although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish
• 3:22:01
  Speaker 2: of terror at the thought of falling into the hands
• 3:22:03
  Speaker 2: of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem in part
• 3:22:07
  Speaker 2: by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him.
• 3:22:10
  Speaker 2: While the act cut down Ghak's speed, he still could
• 3:22:13
  Speaker 2: travel faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.
• 3:22:18
  Speaker 2: End of Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, the sly One. The
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 2: Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had
• 3:22:27
  Speaker 2: sighted us, they had greatly increased their speed. On and
• 3:22:30
  Speaker 2: on we stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghak had
• 3:22:33
  Speaker 2: chosen to approach the heights of Sarre. On either side
• 3:22:37
  Speaker 2: rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous Parti colored rock, while beneath
• 3:22:42
  Speaker 2: our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 2: noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon, we had
• 3:22:49
  Speaker 2: had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing
• 3:22:52
  Speaker 2: to hope that they had lost our trail and that
• 3:22:54
  Speaker 2: we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time
• 3:22:57
  Speaker 2: to scale them before we should be overtaken ahead, we
• 3:23:01
  Speaker 2: neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the
• 3:23:03
  Speaker 2: success of Huja's mission. By now, he should have reached
• 3:23:07
  Speaker 2: the outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least
• 3:23:10
  Speaker 2: hear the savage cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed
• 3:23:13
  Speaker 2: to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor.
• 3:23:17
  Speaker 2: In another moment, the frowning cliffs ahead should be black
• 3:23:20
  Speaker 2: with primeval warriors, but nothing of the kind happened. As
• 3:23:24
  Speaker 2: a matter of fact, the sly one had betrayed us.
• 3:23:27
  Speaker 2: At the moment that we expected to see Sarian spearmen
• 3:23:31
  Speaker 2: charging to our relief at Hooja's back. The craven trader
• 3:23:34
  Speaker 2: was sneaking round the outskirts of the nearest Sarian village
• 3:23:37
  Speaker 2: that he might come up from the other side when
• 3:23:39
  Speaker 2: it was too late to save us, claiming that he
• 3:23:42
  Speaker 2: had become lost among the mountains. Hooja still harbored ill
• 3:23:46
  Speaker 2: will against me because of the blow I had struck
• 3:23:48
  Speaker 2: in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to
• 3:23:52
  Speaker 2: sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me.
• 3:23:55
  Speaker 2: As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs, and no sign
• 3:23:58
  Speaker 2: of rescuing Sarais appeared. Ghak became both angry and alarmed. Presently,
• 3:24:03
  Speaker 2: as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears,
• 3:24:07
  Speaker 2: he called to me over his shoulder that we were lost.
• 3:24:10
  Speaker 2: A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first
• 3:24:12
  Speaker 2: of the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable
• 3:24:15
  Speaker 2: stretch of canyon through which we had just passed, and
• 3:24:18
  Speaker 2: then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view.
• 3:24:21
  Speaker 2: But the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind
• 3:24:24
  Speaker 2: us was evidence that the gorilla man had sighted us again.
• 3:24:28
  Speaker 2: The canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right,
• 3:24:31
  Speaker 2: and other branch ran on at a lesser deviation from
• 3:24:34
  Speaker 2: the general direction, so that appeared more like the main
• 3:24:36
  Speaker 2: canyon than the left hand branch. The Sagoths were now
• 3:24:40
  Speaker 2: not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and
• 3:24:43
  Speaker 2: I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect
• 3:24:46
  Speaker 2: to escape other than by a ruse. There was a
• 3:24:49
  Speaker 2: bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I
• 3:24:52
  Speaker 2: reached the branching of the canyon, I took the chance.
• 3:24:55
  Speaker 2: Pausing there, I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight.
• 3:24:59
  Speaker 2: Gha and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the
• 3:25:02
  Speaker 2: left hand canyon, and as the sagoth's savage yell announced
• 3:25:06
  Speaker 2: that he had seen me, I turned and fled up
• 3:25:09
  Speaker 2: the right hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the
• 3:25:12
  Speaker 2: entire party of man hunters raced headlong after me up
• 3:25:15
  Speaker 2: one canyon, while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other.
• 3:25:19
  Speaker 2: Running has never been my particular athletic forte, And now,
• 3:25:22
  Speaker 2: when my very life depended on fleetness of foot, I
• 3:25:25
  Speaker 2: cannot say that I ran any better than on the
• 3:25:28
  Speaker 2: occasions when my pitiful base running had called down upon
• 3:25:31
  Speaker 2: my head the router's raucous and reproachful cries of ice
• 3:25:35
  Speaker 2: wagon and call a cab. The Sagoths were gaining on
• 3:25:38
  Speaker 2: me rapidly. There was one in particular fleeterer than his fellows,
• 3:25:42
  Speaker 2: who was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit,
• 3:25:46
  Speaker 2: rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed to
• 3:25:49
  Speaker 2: pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could
• 3:25:52
  Speaker 2: not even guess, possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of
• 3:25:55
  Speaker 2: feet into the corresponding valley, upon the other side. Could
• 3:25:59
  Speaker 2: it be that I had plunged into a cul de sac.
• 3:26:02
  Speaker 2: Realizing that now I could not hope to outdistance the
• 3:26:05
  Speaker 2: Sagoths to the top of the canyon, I had determined
• 3:26:07
  Speaker 2: to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily,
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 2: and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow
• 3:26:14
  Speaker 2: and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver which hung
• 3:26:16
  Speaker 2: behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my
• 3:26:19
  Speaker 2: right hand, I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla man.
• 3:26:22
  Speaker 2: In the world of my birth, I had never drawn
• 3:26:24
  Speaker 2: a shaft, But since our escape from Phutra, I had
• 3:26:27
  Speaker 2: kept the party supplied with small game by means of
• 3:26:30
  Speaker 2: my arrows, and so through necessity had developed a fair
• 3:26:33
  Speaker 2: degree of accuracy. During our flight from Futra, I had
• 3:26:37
  Speaker 2: restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken
• 3:26:40
  Speaker 2: from a huge tiger which Ghak and I had worried
• 3:26:42
  Speaker 2: and finally dispatched with arrows, spear and sword. The hard
• 3:26:46
  Speaker 2: wood of the bow was extremely tough, and this, with
• 3:26:49
  Speaker 2: the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me
• 3:26:52
  Speaker 2: unwonted confidence in my new weapon. Never had I greater
• 3:26:55
  Speaker 2: need of steady nerves than then. Never were my nerves
• 3:26:58
  Speaker 2: and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and
• 3:27:02
  Speaker 2: deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had
• 3:27:06
  Speaker 2: never before seen a bow an arrow, but of a
• 3:27:08
  Speaker 2: sudden it must have swept over his dull intellect that
• 3:27:11
  Speaker 2: the thing I held toward him was some sort of
• 3:27:13
  Speaker 2: engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt,
• 3:27:16
  Speaker 2: simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one
• 3:27:19
  Speaker 2: of the many methods in which they employ this weapon,
• 3:27:22
  Speaker 2: and the accuracy of aim which they achieve even under
• 3:27:24
  Speaker 2: the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous. My
• 3:27:29
  Speaker 2: shaft was drawn back its full length, my eye had
• 3:27:32
  Speaker 2: centered its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary.
• 3:27:35
  Speaker 2: And then he launched his hatchet, and I released my arrow.
• 3:27:38
  Speaker 2: At the instant that our missiles flew, I leaped to
• 3:27:40
  Speaker 2: one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up
• 3:27:43
  Speaker 2: his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish
• 3:27:46
  Speaker 2: of the hatchet as it grazed my head, and at
• 3:27:48
  Speaker 2: the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart,
• 3:27:51
  Speaker 2: and with a single groan, he lunged almost at my
• 3:27:54
  Speaker 2: feet stone dead. Close behind him were two more fifty
• 3:27:58
  Speaker 2: yards perhaps, but the distance gave me time to snatch
• 3:28:01
  Speaker 2: up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his
• 3:28:04
  Speaker 2: hatchet had just given me had borne in upon me
• 3:28:06
  Speaker 2: the urgent need I had for one those which I
• 3:28:09
  Speaker 2: had purloined at Phutra, we had not been able to
• 3:28:12
  Speaker 2: bring along because their size precluded our concealing them within
• 3:28:15
  Speaker 2: the skins of the Mahars which had brought us safely
• 3:28:18
  Speaker 2: from the city. With the shield slipped well up on
• 3:28:21
  Speaker 2: my left arm, I let f lie with another arrow,
• 3:28:23
  Speaker 2: which brought down a second Sagoth, And then as his
• 3:28:26
  Speaker 2: fellow's hatchet sped toward me, I caught it upon the
• 3:28:29
  Speaker 2: shield and fitted another shaft for him. But he did
• 3:28:32
  Speaker 2: not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned and retreated
• 3:28:36
  Speaker 2: toward the main body of guerrilla men. Evidently he had
• 3:28:39
  Speaker 2: seen enough of me for the moment. Once more, I
• 3:28:43
  Speaker 2: took up my flight. Nor were the Sagoths apparently over
• 3:28:46
  Speaker 2: anxious to press their pursuit so closely as before, unmolested,
• 3:28:50
  Speaker 2: I reached the top of the canyon, where I found
• 3:28:52
  Speaker 2: a sheer drop of two or three hundred feet to
• 3:28:54
  Speaker 2: the bottom of a rocky chasm, but on the left
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 2: a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff.
• 3:29:01
  Speaker 2: Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning a
• 3:29:05
  Speaker 2: few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened, and
• 3:29:08
  Speaker 2: at my left I saw the opening to a large cave,
• 3:29:12
  Speaker 2: before the ledge continued until it passed from sight about
• 3:29:16
  Speaker 2: another projecting buttress of the mountain. Here I felt I
• 3:29:19
  Speaker 2: could defy an army, for but a single foeman could
• 3:29:22
  Speaker 2: advance upon me at a time, nor could he know
• 3:29:24
  Speaker 2: that I was awaiting him, until he came full upon
• 3:29:27
  Speaker 2: me around the corner of the turn. About me lay
• 3:29:30
  Speaker 2: scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of
• 3:29:33
  Speaker 2: various sizes and shapes, but enoughware of handy dimensions for
• 3:29:37
  Speaker 2: use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering
• 3:29:40
  Speaker 2: a number of stones into a little pile beside the
• 3:29:43
  Speaker 2: mouth of the cave, I waited the advance of the Sagoths.
• 3:29:47
  Speaker 2: As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the
• 3:29:51
  Speaker 2: first faint sound that should announce the approach of my enemies.
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 2: A slight noise from within the cave's black depths attracted
• 3:29:57
  Speaker 2: my attention. It might have been produced by the moving
• 3:30:01
  Speaker 2: of the great body of some huge beast rising from
• 3:30:04
  Speaker 2: the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant,
• 3:30:08
  Speaker 2: I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals
• 3:30:11
  Speaker 2: upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few
• 3:30:14
  Speaker 2: seconds my attention was considerably divided, And then from the
• 3:30:18
  Speaker 2: inky blackness at my right, I saw two flaming eyes
• 3:30:21
  Speaker 2: glaring into mine. They were on a level that was
• 3:30:25
  Speaker 2: over two feet above my head. It is true that
• 3:30:27
  Speaker 2: the beast who owned them might be standing upon a
• 3:30:30
  Speaker 2: ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing
• 3:30:33
  Speaker 2: up upon its hind legs. But I had seen enough
• 3:30:35
  Speaker 2: of the monsters of Pellucidar to know that I might
• 3:30:37
  Speaker 2: be facing some new and frightful titan whose dimensions and
• 3:30:41
  Speaker 2: ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before. Whatever
• 3:30:44
  Speaker 2: it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of
• 3:30:47
  Speaker 2: the cave, and now deep and forbidding. It uttered a
• 3:30:51
  Speaker 2: low and ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute
• 3:30:55
  Speaker 2: possession of the ledge with the thing which owned that voice.
• 3:30:59
  Speaker 2: The noise had not, and aloud I doubt if the
• 3:31:01
  Speaker 2: Sagoths heard it at all, but the suggestion of latent
• 3:31:04
  Speaker 2: possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would
• 3:31:07
  Speaker 2: only emanate from a gigantic and ferocious beast. As I
• 3:31:12
  Speaker 2: backed along the ledge, I soon was past the mouth
• 3:31:15
  Speaker 2: of the cave, where I no longer could see those fearful,
• 3:31:17
  Speaker 2: flaming eyes. But an instant later I caught sight of
• 3:31:21
  Speaker 2: the fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily advanced
• 3:31:24
  Speaker 2: beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 2: cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me, he leaped along
• 3:31:30
  Speaker 2: the ledge in pursuit, and after him came as many
• 3:31:33
  Speaker 2: of his companions as could crowd upon each other's heels.
• 3:31:36
  Speaker 2: At the same time, the beast emerged from the cave,
• 3:31:38
  Speaker 2: so that he and the Sagoths came face to face
• 3:31:41
  Speaker 2: upon that narrow ledge. The thing was an enormous cave bear,
• 3:31:45
  Speaker 2: rearing its colossal bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder,
• 3:31:48
  Speaker 2: while from the tip of its nose to the end
• 3:31:51
  Speaker 2: of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length.
• 3:31:54
  Speaker 2: As it sighted the Sagoths, it emitted a most frightful roar,
• 3:31:59
  Speaker 2: and with open mouth, charged full upon them. With a
• 3:32:02
  Speaker 2: cry of terror. The foremost guerrilla man turned to escape,
• 3:32:05
  Speaker 2: but behind him he ran full upon his on rushing companions.
• 3:32:09
  Speaker 2: The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The sagoth
• 3:32:14
  Speaker 2: nearest the cave bear, finding his escape, blocked, turned and
• 3:32:17
  Speaker 2: leaped deliberately into an awful death upon the jagged rocks
• 3:32:20
  Speaker 2: three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out
• 3:32:23
  Speaker 2: and gathered in the next there was a sickening sound
• 3:32:27
  Speaker 2: of crushing bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over
• 3:32:30
  Speaker 2: the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause
• 3:32:34
  Speaker 2: in his steady advance along the ledge. Shrieking Sagoths were
• 3:32:37
  Speaker 2: now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and
• 3:32:40
  Speaker 2: the last I saw he rounded the turn, still pursuing
• 3:32:42
  Speaker 2: the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long
• 3:32:46
  Speaker 2: time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute,
• 3:32:48
  Speaker 2: intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims, until
• 3:32:51
  Speaker 2: finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance.
• 3:32:55
  Speaker 2: Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to
• 3:32:57
  Speaker 2: his tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me.
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 2: That the riff, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths
• 3:33:03
  Speaker 2: until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was of
• 3:33:07
  Speaker 2: course positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible
• 3:33:10
  Speaker 2: creature which within Pellucidar as truly the king of beasts.
• 3:33:14
  Speaker 2: Not caring to venture back into the canyon where I
• 3:33:17
  Speaker 2: might fall prey either to the cave bear or the Sagoths,
• 3:33:20
  Speaker 2: I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following
• 3:33:23
  Speaker 2: around the mountain I could reach the land of Cere
• 3:33:26
  Speaker 2: from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the
• 3:33:29
  Speaker 2: twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I
• 3:33:32
  Speaker 2: did not come to the land of Cerre then, nor
• 3:33:35
  Speaker 2: for a long time thereafter end of chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen,
• 3:33:42
  Speaker 2: The Garden of Eden, with no heavenly guide. It is
• 3:33:47
  Speaker 2: little wonder that I became confused and lost in the
• 3:33:49
  Speaker 2: labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What in reality I
• 3:33:53
  Speaker 2: did was to pass entirely through them and come out
• 3:33:56
  Speaker 2: above the valley upon the farther side. I know that
• 3:33:59
  Speaker 2: I want for a long time, until tired and hungry,
• 3:34:02
  Speaker 2: I came upon a small cave in the face of
• 3:34:04
  Speaker 2: the limestone formation which had taken the place of the granite.
• 3:34:08
  Speaker 2: Farther back. The cave which took my fancy lay half
• 3:34:11
  Speaker 2: way up the precipitous side of a lofty cliff. The
• 3:34:15
  Speaker 2: way to it was such that I knew no extremely
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 2: formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough
• 3:34:21
  Speaker 2: to make a comfortable habitat for any but the smaller
• 3:34:23
  Speaker 2: mammals or reptiles. Yet it was with the utmost caution
• 3:34:27
  Speaker 2: that I crawled within its dark interior. Here I found
• 3:34:30
  Speaker 2: a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in
• 3:34:33
  Speaker 2: the rock above, which let the sunlight filter in in
• 3:34:36
  Speaker 2: sufficient quantities, partially to dispel the utter darkness which I
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 2: had expected. The cave was entirely empty, nor were there
• 3:34:42
  Speaker 2: any signs of its having been recently occupied. The opening
• 3:34:47
  Speaker 2: was comparatively small, so that after considerable effort, I was
• 3:34:50
  Speaker 2: able to lug up a boulder from the valley below,
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 2: which entirely blocked it. Then I returned again to the
• 3:34:56
  Speaker 2: valley for an armful of grasses, and on this trip
• 3:34:58
  Speaker 2: was fortunate enough to knock over an Orthepi, the diminutive
• 3:35:02
  Speaker 2: horse of pellucidar, a little animal about the size of
• 3:35:04
  Speaker 2: a fox terrier, which abounds in all parts of the
• 3:35:07
  Speaker 2: inner world. Thus, with food and bedding, I returned to
• 3:35:10
  Speaker 2: my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to
• 3:35:13
  Speaker 2: which I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged the
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 2: boulder before the entrance, and curled myself up upon a
• 3:35:18
  Speaker 2: bed of grasses. A naked primeval cave man, as savagely
• 3:35:22
  Speaker 2: primitive as my prehistoric progenitors, I awoke, rested but hungry, and,
• 3:35:27
  Speaker 2: pushing the boulder aside, crawled out upon the little rocky
• 3:35:30
  Speaker 2: shelf which was my front porch. Before me spread a
• 3:35:32
  Speaker 2: small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a
• 3:35:35
  Speaker 2: clear and sparkling river wound its way down to an
• 3:35:37
  Speaker 2: inland sea, the blue waters of which were just visible.
• 3:35:40
  Speaker 2: Between the two mountain ranges which embraced this little paradise.
• 3:35:44
  Speaker 2: The sides of the opposite hills were green with verdure,
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 2: for a great forest clothed them, to the foot of
• 3:35:49
  Speaker 2: the red and yellow and copper green of the towering
• 3:35:52
  Speaker 2: crags which formed their summit. The valley itself was carpeted
• 3:35:56
  Speaker 2: with a luxuriant grass, where here and there patches of
• 3:35:59
  Speaker 2: wild flowers made great splashes of vivid color against the
• 3:36:02
  Speaker 2: prevailing green. Dotted over the face of this valley were
• 3:36:05
  Speaker 2: little clusters of palm like trees, three or four together
• 3:36:09
  Speaker 2: as a rule. Beneath these stood antelope, while others grazed
• 3:36:12
  Speaker 2: in the open or wandered gracefully to a nearby ford
• 3:36:15
  Speaker 2: to drink. There were several species of this beautiful animal,
• 3:36:18
  Speaker 2: the most magnificent, somewhat resembling the giant eland of Africa,
• 3:36:22
  Speaker 2: except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward
• 3:36:25
  Speaker 2: over their ears, and then forward again beneath them, ending
• 3:36:28
  Speaker 2: in sharp and formidable points, some two feet before the
• 3:36:31
  Speaker 2: face and above the eyes. In size, they were remind
• 3:36:35
  Speaker 2: one of a pure bred herefored bull. Yet they are
• 3:36:37
  Speaker 2: very agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that striped
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 2: the dark rone of their coats made me take them
• 3:36:43
  Speaker 2: for zebra when I first saw them. All in all,
• 3:36:46
  Speaker 2: there are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch to
• 3:36:48
  Speaker 2: the strange and lovely landscape that spread before my new home.
• 3:36:52
  Speaker 2: I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and
• 3:36:55
  Speaker 2: with it as a base, make systematic exploration of the
• 3:36:58
  Speaker 2: surrounding country in search of the land of sat First,
• 3:37:01
  Speaker 2: I devoured the remainder of the carcass of the ORTHOPI
• 3:37:04
  Speaker 2: I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid
• 3:37:07
  Speaker 2: the great secret and a deep niche at the back
• 3:37:09
  Speaker 2: of my cave, rolled the boulder before my front door,
• 3:37:12
  Speaker 2: and with bow, arrows, sword and shield, scrambled down into
• 3:37:15
  Speaker 2: the peaceful valley. The grazing herds moved to one side
• 3:37:19
  Speaker 2: as I passed through them, the little Orthopi evincing the
• 3:37:22
  Speaker 2: greatest wariness and galloping to safest distances. All of the
• 3:37:25
  Speaker 2: animals stopped feeding as I approached, and after moving to
• 3:37:28
  Speaker 2: what they considered a safe distance, stood contemplating me with
• 3:37:31
  Speaker 2: serious eyes and upcocked ears. Once one of the old
• 3:37:35
  Speaker 2: bull antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and
• 3:37:38
  Speaker 2: bellowed angrily, even taking a few steps in my direction,
• 3:37:41
  Speaker 2: so that I thought he meant to charge, But after
• 3:37:43
  Speaker 2: I had passed, he resumed feeding as though nothing had
• 3:37:46
  Speaker 2: disturbed him. Near the lower end of the valley, I
• 3:37:48
  Speaker 2: passed a number of tapers, and across the river I
• 3:37:51
  Speaker 2: saw a great sadok, the enormous double horned progenitor of
• 3:37:54
  Speaker 2: the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end. The cliffs upon
• 3:37:58
  Speaker 2: the left ran out into the sea, so that to
• 3:38:01
  Speaker 2: pass around them, as I desired to do, it was
• 3:38:03
  Speaker 2: necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along
• 3:38:06
  Speaker 2: which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet from
• 3:38:09
  Speaker 2: the base, I came upon a projection which formed a
• 3:38:12
  Speaker 2: natural path along the face of the cliff, and this
• 3:38:15
  Speaker 2: I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end.
• 3:38:17
  Speaker 2: Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of
• 3:38:20
  Speaker 2: the cliffs, the stratum which formed it, evidently having been
• 3:38:24
  Speaker 2: forced up at this steep angle when the mountains behind
• 3:38:26
  Speaker 2: it were borne. As I climbed carefully up the ascent,
• 3:38:30
  Speaker 2: my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by the sound of
• 3:38:33
  Speaker 2: strange hissing and what resembled the flapping of wings. And
• 3:38:36
  Speaker 2: at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision
• 3:38:39
  Speaker 2: the most frightful thing I had seen, even within Pellucidar.
• 3:38:44
  Speaker 2: It was a giant dragon, such as is pictured in
• 3:38:46
  Speaker 2: the legends and fairy tales of earth folk. Its huge
• 3:38:50
  Speaker 2: body must have measured forty feet in length, while the
• 3:38:53
  Speaker 2: bat like wings that supported it in mid air had
• 3:38:55
  Speaker 2: a spread of fully thirty Its gaping jaws were armed
• 3:38:59
  Speaker 2: with long, sharp teeth, and its claw equipped with horrible talons.
• 3:39:03
  Speaker 2: The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was
• 3:39:07
  Speaker 2: issuing from its throat, and seemed to be directed at
• 3:39:10
  Speaker 2: something beyond and below me, which I could not see.
• 3:39:12
  Speaker 2: The ledge upon which I stood terminated abruptly a few
• 3:39:15
  Speaker 2: paces farther on, and as I reached the end, I
• 3:39:19
  Speaker 2: saw the cause of the reptile's agitation. Some time in
• 3:39:22
  Speaker 2: past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this point,
• 3:39:25
  Speaker 2: so that beyond the spot where I stood, the strata
• 3:39:28
  Speaker 2: had slipped down a matter of twenty feet. The result
• 3:39:30
  Speaker 2: was that the continuation of my ledge lay twenty feet
• 3:39:33
  Speaker 2: below me, where it ended as abruptly as it did
• 3:39:35
  Speaker 2: the end upon which I stood, And here evidently halted
• 3:39:38
  Speaker 2: in flight by this insurmountable break in the ledge, stood
• 3:39:42
  Speaker 2: the object of the creature's attack, a girl cowering upon
• 3:39:45
  Speaker 2: the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as
• 3:39:48
  Speaker 2: though to shut out the sight of the frightful death
• 3:39:50
  Speaker 2: which hovered just above her. The dragon was circling lower
• 3:39:53
  Speaker 2: and seemed about to dart in upon its prey. There
• 3:39:56
  Speaker 2: was no time to be lost scarce an instant in
• 3:39:58
  Speaker 2: which to weigh the pusple chances that I had against
• 3:40:01
  Speaker 2: the awfully armed creature. But the sight of that frightened
• 3:40:04
  Speaker 2: girl below me called out to all that was best
• 3:40:06
  Speaker 2: in me, and the instinct for protection of the other sex,
• 3:40:09
  Speaker 2: which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self preservation
• 3:40:12
  Speaker 2: in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like
• 3:40:14
  Speaker 2: an irresistible magnet. Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped
• 3:40:18
  Speaker 2: from the end of the ledge upon which I stood
• 3:40:21
  Speaker 2: for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the same instant,
• 3:40:24
  Speaker 2: the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden
• 3:40:27
  Speaker 2: advent upon the scene must have startled him, for he
• 3:40:29
  Speaker 2: veered to one side and then rose above us once more.
• 3:40:32
  Speaker 2: The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced
• 3:40:35
  Speaker 2: the girl that the end had come, for she thought
• 3:40:37
  Speaker 2: I was the dragon. But finally, when no cruel fangs
• 3:40:40
  Speaker 2: closed upon her, she raised her eyes in astonishment as
• 3:40:43
  Speaker 2: they fell upon me. The expression that came into them
• 3:40:45
  Speaker 2: would be difficult to describe, but her feelings could scarcely
• 3:40:49
  Speaker 2: have been one whit more complicated than my own. Where
• 3:40:51
  Speaker 2: the wide eyes that looked into mine were those of Diane,
• 3:40:54
  Speaker 2: the beautiful Diane, I cried, Diane, thank God that I
• 3:40:58
  Speaker 2: came in time, she whispered, and then she hid her
• 3:41:02
  Speaker 2: face again. Nor could I tell whether she were glad
• 3:41:04
  Speaker 2: or angry that I had come. Once more, the dragon
• 3:41:07
  Speaker 2: was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had
• 3:41:10
  Speaker 2: no time to unsling my bow. All that I could
• 3:41:12
  Speaker 2: do was to snatch up a rock and hurl it
• 3:41:14
  Speaker 2: at the thing's hideous face. Again, my aim was true,
• 3:41:17
  Speaker 2: and with a hiss of pain and rage, the reptile
• 3:41:19
  Speaker 2: wheeled once more and soared away. Quickly I fitted an arrow,
• 3:41:23
  Speaker 2: now that I might be ready at the next attack,
• 3:41:25
  Speaker 2: And as I did so, I looked down at the girl,
• 3:41:28
  Speaker 2: so that I surprised her in a surreptitious glance which
• 3:41:31
  Speaker 2: she was stealing at me. But immediately she again covered
• 3:41:34
  Speaker 2: her face with her hands. Look at me, Diane, I pleaded,
• 3:41:37
  Speaker 2: Are you not glad to see me? She looked straight
• 3:41:39
  Speaker 2: into my eyes. I hate you, she said, And then
• 3:41:42
  Speaker 2: as I was about to beg for a fair hearing,
• 3:41:45
  Speaker 2: she pointed over my shoulder. The thipdar comes, she said,
• 3:41:48
  Speaker 2: And I turned again to meet the reptile. So this
• 3:41:51
  Speaker 2: was a Thipdar. I might have known it the cruel
• 3:41:54
  Speaker 2: bloodhound of the Mahars, the long extinct pterodactyl of the
• 3:41:57
  Speaker 2: outer world. But this time I met it with a
• 3:42:00
  Speaker 2: weapon it had never faced before. I had selected my
• 3:42:03
  Speaker 2: longest arrow, and with all my strength, I had bent
• 3:42:06
  Speaker 2: the bow until the very tip of the shaft rested
• 3:42:08
  Speaker 2: upon the thumb of my left hand. And then, as
• 3:42:10
  Speaker 2: the great creature darted toward us, I let drive straight
• 3:42:13
  Speaker 2: for that tough breast, hissing like the escape valve of
• 3:42:16
  Speaker 2: a steam engine. The mighty creature fell, turning and twisting
• 3:42:19
  Speaker 2: into the sea below. My arrow buried completely in its carcasse.
• 3:42:23
  Speaker 2: I turned toward the girl. She was looking past me.
• 3:42:26
  Speaker 2: It was evident that she had seen the Thipdar. Die Diane,
• 3:42:29
  Speaker 2: I said, won't you tell me that you are not
• 3:42:32
  Speaker 2: sorry that I have found you. I hate you, was
• 3:42:34
  Speaker 2: her only reply. But I imagined that there was less
• 3:42:37
  Speaker 2: vehemence in it than before. Yet it might have been
• 3:42:39
  Speaker 2: but my imagination. Why do you hate me, Diane, I asked,
• 3:42:43
  Speaker 2: but she did not answer me. What are you doing here,
• 3:42:46
  Speaker 2: I asked, And what has happened to you since Hooja
• 3:42:49
  Speaker 2: freed you from the Sagoths. At first I thought that
• 3:42:51
  Speaker 2: she was going to ignore me entirely, but finally she
• 3:42:54
  Speaker 2: thought better of it. I was again running away from Jewble,
• 3:42:57
  Speaker 2: the ugly one, she said. After I escaped aped from
• 3:43:00
  Speaker 2: the Sagoths, I made my way a lone back to
• 3:43:02
  Speaker 2: my own land, But on account of Jubal, I did
• 3:43:04
  Speaker 2: not dare enter the villages or let any of my
• 3:43:07
  Speaker 2: friends know that I had returned, for fear that Jubal
• 3:43:09
  Speaker 2: might find out. By watching for a long time, I
• 3:43:12
  Speaker 2: found that my brother had not yet returned, and so
• 3:43:15
  Speaker 2: I continued to live in a cave beside a valley
• 3:43:18
  Speaker 2: which my race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he
• 3:43:21
  Speaker 2: should come back and free me from Juwbal. But at
• 3:43:24
  Speaker 2: last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was
• 3:43:26
  Speaker 2: creeping toward my father's cave to see if my brother
• 3:43:29
  Speaker 2: had yet returned, and he gave the alarm, and Juwbal
• 3:43:32
  Speaker 2: set out after me. He has been pursuing me across
• 3:43:34
  Speaker 2: many lands. He cannot be far behind me. Now. When
• 3:43:38
  Speaker 2: he comes, he will kill you and carry me back
• 3:43:40
  Speaker 2: to his cave. He is a terrible man. I have
• 3:43:42
  Speaker 2: gone as far as I can go, and there is
• 3:43:44
  Speaker 2: no escape. And she looked hopelessly up at the continuation
• 3:43:47
  Speaker 2: of the ledge twenty feet above us. But he shall
• 3:43:50
  Speaker 2: not have me, she suddenly cried, with great vehemence. The
• 3:43:53
  Speaker 2: sea is there, she pointed, over the edge of the cliff,
• 3:43:55
  Speaker 2: and the sea shall have me rather than Jewbal. But
• 3:43:58
  Speaker 2: I have you now, Diane, I cried, Nor shall Jubal
• 3:44:01
  Speaker 2: nor any other have you, for you are mine. And
• 3:44:03
  Speaker 2: I seized her hand. Nor did I lift it above
• 3:44:05
  Speaker 2: her head and let it fall in token of release.
• 3:44:08
  Speaker 2: She had risen to her feet and was looking straight
• 3:44:10
  Speaker 2: into my eyes with level gaze. I do not believe you,
• 3:44:13
  Speaker 2: she said, for if you meant it, you would have
• 3:44:16
  Speaker 2: done this when the others were present to witness it.
• 3:44:18
  Speaker 2: Then I should truly have been your mate. Now there
• 3:44:21
  Speaker 2: is no one to see you do it, for you
• 3:44:22
  Speaker 2: know that without witnesses, your act does not bind you
• 3:44:25
  Speaker 2: to me. And she withdrew her hand from mine and
• 3:44:28
  Speaker 2: turned away. I tried to convince her that I was sincere,
• 3:44:30
  Speaker 2: but she simply couldn't forget the humiliation that I had
• 3:44:33
  Speaker 2: put upon her on that other occasion. If you mean
• 3:44:36
  Speaker 2: all that you say, you will have ample chance to
• 3:44:38
  Speaker 2: prove it, she said. If Jewbal does not catch and
• 3:44:41
  Speaker 2: kill you, I am in your power, and the treatment
• 3:44:43
  Speaker 2: you accord me will be the best proof of your
• 3:44:45
  Speaker 2: intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again
• 3:44:47
  Speaker 2: I tell you that I hate you, and that I
• 3:44:49
  Speaker 2: should be glad if I never saw you again. Diane
• 3:44:52
  Speaker 2: certainly was cand there was no gain, saying that, in fact,
• 3:44:56
  Speaker 2: I found candor and directness to be quite a marked
• 3:44:59
  Speaker 2: characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar. Finally, I suggested
• 3:45:03
  Speaker 2: that we make some attempt to gain my cave, where
• 3:45:05
  Speaker 2: we might escape the searching Juwbal, For I am free
• 3:45:08
  Speaker 2: to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet
• 3:45:10
  Speaker 2: the formidable and ferocious creature of whose mighty prowess Diane
• 3:45:14
  Speaker 2: had told me when I first met her. He it
• 3:45:16
  Speaker 2: was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and
• 3:45:18
  Speaker 2: killed a cave bear in a hand to hand struggle.
• 3:45:21
  Speaker 2: It was Jubal who could cast his spear entirely through
• 3:45:24
  Speaker 2: the armored carcass of the sadok at fifty paces. It
• 3:45:27
  Speaker 2: was he who had crushed the skull of a charging
• 3:45:29
  Speaker 2: direth with a single blow of his war club. No,
• 3:45:33
  Speaker 2: I was not pining to meet the Ugly One, and
• 3:45:35
  Speaker 2: it was quite certain that I should not go out
• 3:45:38
  Speaker 2: and hunt for him. But the matter was taken out
• 3:45:40
  Speaker 2: of my hands very quickly, as is often the way,
• 3:45:42
  Speaker 2: and I did meet Juwbal the Ugly One face to face.
• 3:45:45
  Speaker 2: This is how it happened. I had led Dian back
• 3:45:49
  Speaker 2: along the ledge the way she had come, searching for
• 3:45:52
  Speaker 2: a path that would lead us to the top of
• 3:45:53
  Speaker 2: the cliff, for I knew that we could then cross
• 3:45:56
  Speaker 2: over to the edge of my own little valley, where
• 3:45:58
  Speaker 2: I felt certain that we should find means of ingress
• 3:46:01
  Speaker 2: from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the ledge,
• 3:46:04
  Speaker 2: I gave Diane minute directions for finding my cave against
• 3:46:07
  Speaker 2: the chance of something happening to me. I knew that
• 3:46:10
  Speaker 2: she would be quite safely hidden away from pursuit once
• 3:46:13
  Speaker 2: she gained the shelter of my lair, and that the
• 3:46:15
  Speaker 2: valley would afford her ample means of sustenance. Also, I
• 3:46:18
  Speaker 2: was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My
• 3:46:21
  Speaker 2: heart was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make
• 3:46:23
  Speaker 2: her feel badly by suggesting that something terrible might happen
• 3:46:26
  Speaker 2: to me. That I might in fact be killed. But
• 3:46:28
  Speaker 2: it didn't work worth a scent, at least as far
• 3:46:31
  Speaker 2: as I could perceive. Diane simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders
• 3:46:35
  Speaker 2: of hers and murmured something to the effect that one
• 3:46:38
  Speaker 2: was not rid of trouble so easily as that for
• 3:46:40
  Speaker 2: a while I kept still, I was utterly squelched. And
• 3:46:43
  Speaker 2: to think that I had twice protected her from attack,
• 3:46:46
  Speaker 2: the last time risking my life to save hers. It
• 3:46:49
  Speaker 2: was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age
• 3:46:51
  Speaker 2: could be so ungrateful, so heartless. But maybe her heart
• 3:46:55
  Speaker 2: partook of the qualities of her epoch. Presently we found
• 3:46:58
  Speaker 2: a rift in the cliff which had been more widened
• 3:47:00
  Speaker 2: and extended by the action of the water draining through
• 3:47:03
  Speaker 2: it from the plateau above. It gave us a rather
• 3:47:05
  Speaker 2: rough climb to the summit, but finally we stood upon
• 3:47:08
  Speaker 2: the level Mesa, which stretched back for several miles to
• 3:47:12
  Speaker 2: the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad Inland Sea,
• 3:47:15
  Speaker 2: curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the
• 3:47:18
  Speaker 2: blue of the sky, so that for all the world
• 3:47:20
  Speaker 2: it looked as though the sea lapped back to arch
• 3:47:23
  Speaker 2: completely over us and disappear beyond the distant mountains at
• 3:47:26
  Speaker 2: our backs the weird and uncanny aspect of the sea
• 3:47:29
  Speaker 2: scapes of Pellucidar bulk description. At our right lay a
• 3:47:33
  Speaker 2: dense forest, but to the left the country was open
• 3:47:36
  Speaker 2: and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in
• 3:47:39
  Speaker 2: this direction that our way led, and we had turned
• 3:47:42
  Speaker 2: to resume our journey when Dian touched my arm. I
• 3:47:46
  Speaker 2: turned to her, thinking that she was about to make
• 3:47:48
  Speaker 2: peace overtures. But I was mistaken. Jewble, she said, and
• 3:47:52
  Speaker 2: nodded toward the forest. I looked, and there, emerging from
• 3:47:56
  Speaker 2: the dense wood, came a perfect wail of a man.
• 3:47:59
  Speaker 2: He must have been seven feet tall and proportioned accordingly,
• 3:48:02
  Speaker 2: he still was too far off to distinguish his features.
• 3:48:06
  Speaker 2: Run I said to Diane, I can engage him until
• 3:48:09
  Speaker 2: you get a good start. Maybe we can hold him
• 3:48:11
  Speaker 2: until you have gotten entirely away. And then, without a
• 3:48:14
  Speaker 2: backward glance, I advanced to meet the ugly one. I
• 3:48:17
  Speaker 2: had hoped that Diane would have a kind word to
• 3:48:20
  Speaker 2: say to me before she went, for she must have
• 3:48:22
  Speaker 2: known that I was going to my death for her sake.
• 3:48:26
  Speaker 2: But she never even so much as bid me good bye,
• 3:48:28
  Speaker 2: And it was with a heavy heart that I strode
• 3:48:30
  Speaker 2: through the flower bespangled grass to my doom. When I
• 3:48:34
  Speaker 2: had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features,
• 3:48:37
  Speaker 2: I understood how it was that he had earned the
• 3:48:39
  Speaker 2: sobriquet of ugly one. Apparently, some fearful beast had ripped
• 3:48:43
  Speaker 2: away one entire side of his face. The eye was gone,
• 3:48:47
  Speaker 2: the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws
• 3:48:50
  Speaker 2: and all his teeth were exposed, and grinning through the
• 3:48:52
  Speaker 2: horrible scar. Formerly, he may have been as good to
• 3:48:56
  Speaker 2: look upon as the others of his handsome race, and
• 3:48:58
  Speaker 2: it may be that the terrible result of this encounter
• 3:49:01
  Speaker 2: had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character.
• 3:49:04
  Speaker 2: However this may be, it is quite certain that he
• 3:49:07
  Speaker 2: was not a pretty sight, and now that his features,
• 3:49:09
  Speaker 2: or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at
• 3:49:12
  Speaker 2: the sight of Dian with another male, he was indeed
• 3:49:15
  Speaker 2: most terrible to see, and much more terrible to meet.
• 3:49:19
  Speaker 2: He had broken into a run now, and as he
• 3:49:21
  Speaker 2: advanced he raised his mighty spear, while I halted, and,
• 3:49:24
  Speaker 2: fitting an arrow to my bow, took as steady aim
• 3:49:26
  Speaker 2: as I could I was somewhat longer than usual, for
• 3:49:29
  Speaker 2: I must confess that the sight of this awful man
• 3:49:31
  Speaker 2: had wrought upon my nerves to such an extent that
• 3:49:34
  Speaker 2: my knees were anything but steady. What chance had I
• 3:49:37
  Speaker 2: against this mighty warrior, for whom even the fiercest cave
• 3:49:40
  Speaker 2: bear it had no terrors? Could I hope to best
• 3:49:43
  Speaker 2: one who slaughtered the sadoc and direth single handed? I shuddered,
• 3:49:47
  Speaker 2: but in fairness to myself, my fear was more for
• 3:49:49
  Speaker 2: Diane than for my own fate. And then the great
• 3:49:52
  Speaker 2: brute launched his massive, stone tipped spear, and I raised
• 3:49:55
  Speaker 2: my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity.
• 3:49:58
  Speaker 2: The impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield
• 3:50:00
  Speaker 2: had deflected the missile, and I was unscathed. Jewbal was
• 3:50:04
  Speaker 2: rushing upon me now with the only remaining weapon that
• 3:50:06
  Speaker 2: he carried, a murderous looking knife. He was too close
• 3:50:09
  Speaker 2: for a careful bow shot, but I let drive at
• 3:50:11
  Speaker 2: him as he came without taking aim. My arrow pierced
• 3:50:14
  Speaker 2: the fleshy part of his thigh, inflicting a painful but
• 3:50:17
  Speaker 2: not disabling wound, and then he was upon me. My
• 3:50:19
  Speaker 2: agility saved me for the instant. I ducked behind his
• 3:50:22
  Speaker 2: raised arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again,
• 3:50:25
  Speaker 2: he found a sword's point in his face, and a
• 3:50:27
  Speaker 2: moment later he felt an inch or two of it
• 3:50:29
  Speaker 2: in the muscles of his knife arm, so that thereafter
• 3:50:31
  Speaker 2: he went more warily. It was a duel of strategy, now,
• 3:50:34
  Speaker 2: the great hairy man maneuvering to get inside my guard,
• 3:50:37
  Speaker 2: where he could bring those giant thews to play, while
• 3:50:39
  Speaker 2: my wits were directed to the task of keeping him
• 3:50:42
  Speaker 2: at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I
• 3:50:45
  Speaker 2: caught his knife blow upon my shield. Each time my
• 3:50:48
  Speaker 2: sword found his body, once penetrating to his lung. He
• 3:50:51
  Speaker 2: was covered with blood by this time, and the internal
• 3:50:54
  Speaker 2: hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing that brought the red stream
• 3:50:58
  Speaker 2: to the hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and
• 3:51:00
  Speaker 2: breast with bloody froth. He was a most unlovely spectacle,
• 3:51:05
  Speaker 2: but he was far from dead. As the duel continued,
• 3:51:07
  Speaker 2: I began to gain confidence, For, to be perfectly candid,
• 3:51:10
  Speaker 2: I had not expected to survive the first rush of
• 3:51:12
  Speaker 2: that monstrous engine of ungoverned rage, and hatred, and I
• 3:51:16
  Speaker 2: think that Jewbal, from utter contempt of me, began to
• 3:51:19
  Speaker 2: change to a feeling of respect, And then in his
• 3:51:22
  Speaker 2: primitive mind there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps at
• 3:51:25
  Speaker 2: last he had met his master and was facing his end.
• 3:51:28
  Speaker 2: At any rate. It is only upon this hypothesis that
• 3:51:30
  Speaker 2: I can account for his next act, which was in
• 3:51:33
  Speaker 2: the nature of a last resort, a sort of forlorn hope,
• 3:51:36
  Speaker 2: which could only have been born of the belief that
• 3:51:38
  Speaker 2: if he did not kill me quickly, I should kill him.
• 3:51:41
  Speaker 2: It happened on the occasion of his fourth charge, when
• 3:51:43
  Speaker 2: instead of striking at me with his knife, he dropped
• 3:51:46
  Speaker 2: that weapon, and, seizing my sword blade in both his hands,
• 3:51:49
  Speaker 2: wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as from
• 3:51:52
  Speaker 2: a babe, flinging it far to one side. He stood
• 3:51:54
  Speaker 2: motionless for just an instant, glaring into my face with
• 3:51:57
  Speaker 2: such a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to almost
• 3:52:00
  Speaker 2: unnerved me. Then he sprang for me with his bare hands.
• 3:52:03
  Speaker 2: But it was Jewbal's day to learn new methods of warfare.
• 3:52:07
  Speaker 2: For the first time he had seen a bow and arrows.
• 3:52:09
  Speaker 2: Never before that duel had he beheld a sword, and
• 3:52:13
  Speaker 2: now he learned what a man who knows may do
• 3:52:15
  Speaker 2: with his bare fists. As he came for me like
• 3:52:17
  Speaker 2: a great bear, I ducked again beneath his outstretched arm,
• 3:52:20
  Speaker 2: and as I came up, planted as clean a blow
• 3:52:22
  Speaker 2: upon his jaw as ever you have seen. Down went
• 3:52:25
  Speaker 2: that great mountain of flesh, sprawling upon the ground. He
• 3:52:28
  Speaker 2: was so surprised and dazed that he lay there for
• 3:52:30
  Speaker 2: several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, and
• 3:52:33
  Speaker 2: I stood over him with another dose ready when he
• 3:52:35
  Speaker 2: should gain his knees up. He came at last, almost
• 3:52:38
  Speaker 2: roaring in his rage and mortification, but he didn't stay up.
• 3:52:42
  Speaker 2: I let him have a left fare on the point
• 3:52:44
  Speaker 2: of the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back.
• 3:52:47
  Speaker 2: By this time I think Jewbal had gone mad with hate,
• 3:52:49
  Speaker 2: for no sane man would have come back for more
• 3:52:51
  Speaker 2: as many times as he did. Time after time, I
• 3:52:54
  Speaker 2: bowled him over as fast as he could stagger up,
• 3:52:57
  Speaker 2: until toward the last he lay longer on the between blows,
• 3:53:01
  Speaker 2: and each time came up weaker than before. He was
• 3:53:04
  Speaker 2: bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs,
• 3:53:07
  Speaker 2: and presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him
• 3:53:10
  Speaker 2: reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still.
• 3:53:13
  Speaker 2: And somehow I knew at once that Jewbile, the ugly one,
• 3:53:16
  Speaker 2: would never get up again. But even as I looked
• 3:53:20
  Speaker 2: upon that massive body lying there, so grim and terrible
• 3:53:22
  Speaker 2: in death, I could not believe that I single handed
• 3:53:26
  Speaker 2: had bested this slayer of fearful beasts, this gigantic ogre
• 3:53:30
  Speaker 2: of the stone Age. Picking up my sword, I leaned
• 3:53:33
  Speaker 2: upon it, looking down on the dead body of my foemen.
• 3:53:36
  Speaker 2: And as I thought of the battle I had just
• 3:53:38
  Speaker 2: fought and won, a great idea was born in my brain,
• 3:53:41
  Speaker 2: the outcome of this and the suggestion that Perry had
• 3:53:44
  Speaker 2: made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science
• 3:53:47
  Speaker 2: could render a comparative Pigmy, the master of this mighty brute,
• 3:53:51
  Speaker 2: what could not the brute's fellows accomplish with the same
• 3:53:54
  Speaker 2: skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their feet,
• 3:53:57
  Speaker 2: and I would be their king, and Dian their queen. Diane,
• 3:54:00
  Speaker 2: A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was
• 3:54:03
  Speaker 2: quite within the possibilities of Diane to look down upon me,
• 3:54:07
  Speaker 2: even were I king. She was quite the most superior
• 3:54:10
  Speaker 2: person I had ever met with the most convincing way
• 3:54:12
  Speaker 2: of letting you know that she was superior. While I
• 3:54:15
  Speaker 2: could go up to the cave and tell her that
• 3:54:17
  Speaker 2: I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel more
• 3:54:20
  Speaker 2: kindly toward me since I had freed her of her tormentor.
• 3:54:24
  Speaker 2: I hoped that she had found the cave easily. It
• 3:54:26
  Speaker 2: would be terrible had I lost her again, and I
• 3:54:29
  Speaker 2: turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry
• 3:54:31
  Speaker 2: after her, when, to my astonishment, I found her standing
• 3:54:34
  Speaker 2: not ten paces behind me. Girl, I cried, what are
• 3:54:38
  Speaker 2: you doing here? I thought that you had gone to
• 3:54:40
  Speaker 2: the cave as I told you to do. Up went
• 3:54:43
  Speaker 2: her head, and the look that she gave me took
• 3:54:45
  Speaker 2: all the majesty out of me and left me feeling
• 3:54:47
  Speaker 2: more like the palace janitor, if palaces have janitors. As
• 3:54:52
  Speaker 2: you told me to do, she cried, stamping her little foot.
• 3:54:56
  Speaker 2: I do as I please. I am the daughter of
• 3:54:57
  Speaker 2: a king, and furthermore, I hate you. I was dumbfounded.
• 3:55:01
  Speaker 2: This was my thanks for saving her from Jewball. I
• 3:55:04
  Speaker 2: turned and looked at the corpse. Maybe that I saved
• 3:55:07
  Speaker 2: you from a worse fate, old man, I said, but
• 3:55:09
  Speaker 2: I guess it was lost on Diane, for she never
• 3:55:11
  Speaker 2: seemed to notice it at all. Let us go to
• 3:55:13
  Speaker 2: my cave, I said, I am tired and hungry. She
• 3:55:17
  Speaker 2: followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking.
• 3:55:21
  Speaker 2: I was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to
• 3:55:23
  Speaker 2: converse with the lower orders. I was mad all the
• 3:55:26
  Speaker 2: way through, as I had certainly felt that at least
• 3:55:29
  Speaker 2: a word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I
• 3:55:32
  Speaker 2: knew that, even by her own standards, I must have
• 3:55:35
  Speaker 2: done a very wonderful thing to have killed the redoubtable
• 3:55:37
  Speaker 2: Jewbal in a hand to hand encounter. We had no
• 3:55:40
  Speaker 2: difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down
• 3:55:43
  Speaker 2: into the valley and bowled over a small antelope, which
• 3:55:46
  Speaker 2: I dragged up the steep ascent to the ledge before
• 3:55:48
  Speaker 2: the door. Here we ate in silence. Occasionally I glanced
• 3:55:53
  Speaker 2: at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing at
• 3:55:55
  Speaker 2: raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild
• 3:55:58
  Speaker 2: animal would cause a revulsion of myself sentiments toward her.
• 3:56:01
  Speaker 2: But to my surprise, I found that she ate quite
• 3:56:03
  Speaker 2: as daintily as the most civilized woman of my acquaintance.
• 3:56:06
  Speaker 2: And I finally found myself gazing in foolish rapture at
• 3:56:09
  Speaker 2: the beauties of her strong white teeth. Such is love.
• 3:56:13
  Speaker 2: After our repast, we went down to the river together
• 3:56:15
  Speaker 2: and bathed our hands and faces, and then, after drinking
• 3:56:18
  Speaker 2: our fill, went back to the cave. Without a word.
• 3:56:21
  Speaker 2: I crawled into the farthest corner and curling up, was
• 3:56:24
  Speaker 2: soon asleep. When I awoke, I found Diane sitting in
• 3:56:28
  Speaker 2: the doorway looking out across the valley. As I came out,
• 3:56:32
  Speaker 2: she moved to one side to let me pass, but
• 3:56:34
  Speaker 2: she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her,
• 3:56:37
  Speaker 2: but I couldn't. Every time I looked at her if
• 3:56:39
  Speaker 2: something came up in my throat, so that I nearly choked.
• 3:56:43
  Speaker 2: I had never been in love before, but I did
• 3:56:45
  Speaker 2: not need any aid in diagnosing my case. I certainly
• 3:56:48
  Speaker 2: had it, and had it bad. God, how I loved
• 3:56:51
  Speaker 2: that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing prehistoric girl. After we had eaten again,
• 3:56:57
  Speaker 2: I asked Diane if she intended returning to her tribe
• 3:57:00
  Speaker 2: now that Juwbal was dead. But she shook her head
• 3:57:03
  Speaker 2: sadly and said that she did not dare, for there
• 3:57:05
  Speaker 2: was still Jubal's brother to be considered his oldest brother.
• 3:57:09
  Speaker 2: What has he to do with it, I asked, Does
• 3:57:11
  Speaker 2: he too want you, or has the option on you
• 3:57:13
  Speaker 2: become a family heirloom to be passed down from generation
• 3:57:16
  Speaker 2: to generation. She was not quite sure as to what
• 3:57:19
  Speaker 2: I meant. It is probable, she said, that they all
• 3:57:22
  Speaker 2: will want revenge for the death of Juwbal. There are
• 3:57:24
  Speaker 2: seven of them, seven terrible men. Some one may have
• 3:57:27
  Speaker 2: to kill them all if I am to return to
• 3:57:28
  Speaker 2: my people. It began to look as though I had
• 3:57:31
  Speaker 2: assumed a contract much too large for me, about seven sizes.
• 3:57:34
  Speaker 2: In fact, had Jewal any cousins? I asked, It was
• 3:57:37
  Speaker 2: just as well to know the worst at once. Yes,
• 3:57:40
  Speaker 2: replied Dian. But they don't count. They all have mates.
• 3:57:44
  Speaker 2: Jubal's brothers have no mates, because Jewbl could get none
• 3:57:47
  Speaker 2: for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away
• 3:57:50
  Speaker 2: from him. Some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs
• 3:57:53
  Speaker 2: of Amos into the daryl As rather than mate with
• 3:57:56
  Speaker 2: the ugly one. But what had that to do with
• 3:57:58
  Speaker 2: his brothers, I asked, I've heard forget that you are
• 3:58:00
  Speaker 2: not of Pellucidar, said Diane with a look of pity
• 3:58:03
  Speaker 2: mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid
• 3:58:06
  Speaker 2: on a little thicker than the circumstance warrant, as though
• 3:58:09
  Speaker 2: to make quite certain that I shouldn't overlook it. You see,
• 3:58:13
  Speaker 2: she continued, a younger brother may not take a mate
• 3:58:16
  Speaker 2: until all his older brothers have done so, unless the
• 3:58:18
  Speaker 2: older brother waives his prerogative, which Jubal would not do,
• 3:58:22
  Speaker 2: knowing that as long as he kept them single, they
• 3:58:24
  Speaker 2: would be all the keener in aiding him to secure
• 3:58:27
  Speaker 2: a mate. Noticing that Diane was becoming more communicative, I
• 3:58:32
  Speaker 2: began to entertain hopes that she might be warming up
• 3:58:35
  Speaker 2: toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread I
• 3:58:37
  Speaker 2: hung my hopes I soon discovered, as you dare not
• 3:58:40
  Speaker 2: return to Amos, I ventured, what is to become of you?
• 3:58:44
  Speaker 2: Since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me
• 3:58:46
  Speaker 2: as you do, I shall have to put up with you,
• 3:58:49
  Speaker 2: she replied coldly, until you see fit to go elsewhere
• 3:58:51
  Speaker 2: and leave me in peace. Then I shall get along
• 3:58:54
  Speaker 2: very well alone. I looked at her in utter amazement.
• 3:58:57
  Speaker 2: It seemed incredible that even a prehistoric woman could be
• 3:59:00
  Speaker 2: so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then I arose I
• 3:59:04
  Speaker 2: shall leave you now, I said, haughtily. I have had
• 3:59:07
  Speaker 2: quite enough of your ingratitude and your insults. And then
• 3:59:10
  Speaker 2: I turned and strode majestically down toward the valley. I
• 3:59:13
  Speaker 2: had taken a hundred steps in absolute silence, and then
• 3:59:16
  Speaker 2: Diane spoke, I hate you, she shouted, and her voice
• 3:59:20
  Speaker 2: broke in rage. I thought, I was absolutely miserable, but
• 3:59:24
  Speaker 2: I hadn't gone too far when I began to realize
• 3:59:26
  Speaker 2: that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection to
• 3:59:29
  Speaker 2: hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world.
• 3:59:32
  Speaker 2: She might hate me and revile me, and heap in
• 3:59:35
  Speaker 2: dignity after indignity upon me, as she already had until
• 3:59:38
  Speaker 2: I should have hated her. But the pitiful fact remained
• 3:59:41
  Speaker 2: that I loved her, and I couldn't leave her there alone.
• 3:59:44
  Speaker 2: The more I thought about it, the matter I got,
• 3:59:47
  Speaker 2: so that by the time I reached the valley, I
• 3:59:49
  Speaker 2: was furious. And the result of it was that I
• 3:59:52
  Speaker 2: turned right around and went up that cliff again. As
• 3:59:54
  Speaker 2: fast as I had come down, I saw that Diane
• 3:59:57
  Speaker 2: had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but
• 4:00:00
  Speaker 2: I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon
• 4:00:03
  Speaker 2: her face on the pile of grasses I had gathered
• 4:00:05
  Speaker 2: for her bed. When she heard me enter, she sprang
• 4:00:08
  Speaker 2: to her feet like a tigress. I hate you, she cried,
• 4:00:11
  Speaker 2: coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into
• 4:00:14
  Speaker 2: the semi darkness of the cave. I could not see
• 4:00:16
  Speaker 2: her features, and I was rather glad, for I disliked
• 4:00:19
  Speaker 2: to think of the hate that I should have read there.
• 4:00:22
  Speaker 2: I never said a word to her at first. I
• 4:00:25
  Speaker 2: just strode across the cave and grasped her by the wrists,
• 4:00:28
  Speaker 2: And when she struggled, I put my armor aunt her
• 4:00:30
  Speaker 2: so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She
• 4:00:32
  Speaker 2: fought like a tigress, but I took my free hand
• 4:00:35
  Speaker 2: and pushed her head back. I imagined that I had
• 4:00:37
  Speaker 2: suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand
• 4:00:40
  Speaker 2: million years and was again a veritable cave man, taking
• 4:00:43
  Speaker 2: my mate by force. And then I kissed that beautiful
• 4:00:45
  Speaker 2: mouth again and again, Diana, I cried, shaking her roughly.
• 4:00:49
  Speaker 2: I love you. Can't you understand that I love you,
• 4:00:52
  Speaker 2: That I love you better than all else in this
• 4:00:55
  Speaker 2: world or my own, That I am going to have you,
• 4:00:57
  Speaker 2: That love like mine cannot be denied. I noticed that
• 4:01:01
  Speaker 2: she lay very still in my arms now, and as
• 4:01:03
  Speaker 2: my eyes became accustomed to the light, I saw that
• 4:01:05
  Speaker 2: she was smiling, a very contented, happy smile. I was thunderstruck.
• 4:01:11
  Speaker 2: Then I realized that very gently she was trying to
• 4:01:14
  Speaker 2: disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them
• 4:01:17
  Speaker 2: so that she could do so. Slowly, they came up
• 4:01:20
  Speaker 2: and stole about my neck, and then she drew my
• 4:01:22
  Speaker 2: lips down to hers once more, and held them there
• 4:01:24
  Speaker 2: for a long time. At last, she spoke, why didn't
• 4:01:29
  Speaker 2: you do this at first? David? I have been waiting
• 4:01:32
  Speaker 2: for so long? What I cried? You said that you
• 4:01:35
  Speaker 2: hated me. Did you expect me to run into your
• 4:01:38
  Speaker 2: arms and say that I loved you before I knew
• 4:01:40
  Speaker 2: that you loved me, she asked. But I have told
• 4:01:44
  Speaker 2: you right along that I love you, I said. Love
• 4:01:46
  Speaker 2: speaks in acts, she replied. You could have made your
• 4:01:49
  Speaker 2: mouth say what you wished it to say. But just now,
• 4:01:51
  Speaker 2: when you came and took me in your arms, your
• 4:01:53
  Speaker 2: heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's
• 4:01:55
  Speaker 2: heart understands. What a silly man you are, David, then
• 4:02:00
  Speaker 2: you haven't hated me at all, Diane, I asked. I
• 4:02:05
  Speaker 2: have loved you always, she whispered, from the moment that
• 4:02:09
  Speaker 2: I saw you, although I did not know it until
• 4:02:11
  Speaker 2: that time. You struck down Huja the sly one, and
• 4:02:15
  Speaker 2: then spurned me. But I didn't spurn you, dear, I cried,
• 4:02:18
  Speaker 2: I didn't know your ways. I doubt if I do now.
• 4:02:21
  Speaker 2: It seems incredible that you could have reviled me so
• 4:02:24
  Speaker 2: and yet have cared for me all the time. You
• 4:02:26
  Speaker 2: might have known, she said, when I did not run
• 4:02:28
  Speaker 2: away from you, that it was not hate which chained
• 4:02:31
  Speaker 2: me to you. While you were battling with Jewball, I
• 4:02:33
  Speaker 2: could have run to the edge of the forest, and
• 4:02:35
  Speaker 2: when I learned the outcome of the combat, it would
• 4:02:37
  Speaker 2: have been a simple thing to have eluded you and
• 4:02:39
  Speaker 2: returned to my own people. But Juwbal's brothers and cousins,
• 4:02:43
  Speaker 2: I reminded her, how about them? She smiled and hid
• 4:02:47
  Speaker 2: her face on my shoulder. I had to tell you something, David,
• 4:02:50
  Speaker 2: she whispered. I must needs have some excuse for remaining
• 4:02:54
  Speaker 2: near you, you little sinner, I exclaimed, And you have
• 4:02:58
  Speaker 2: caused me all this anguish for nothing. I have suffered
• 4:03:01
  Speaker 2: even more, she answered, simply for I thought that you
• 4:03:04
  Speaker 2: did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't
• 4:03:07
  Speaker 2: come to you and demand that my love be returned
• 4:03:10
  Speaker 2: as you have just come to me just now. When
• 4:03:12
  Speaker 2: you went away, hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, miserable,
• 4:03:17
  Speaker 2: and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have
• 4:03:20
  Speaker 2: not done that before since my mother died. And now
• 4:03:23
  Speaker 2: I saw that there was the moisture of tears about
• 4:03:25
  Speaker 2: her eyes. It was near to making me cry myself
• 4:03:29
  Speaker 2: when I thought of all that poor child had been through,
• 4:03:32
  Speaker 2: motherless and unprotected, hunted across a savage, primeval world by
• 4:03:36
  Speaker 2: that hideous brute of a man, exposed to the attacks
• 4:03:39
  Speaker 2: of the countless, fearsome denizens of its mountains, its plains,
• 4:03:43
  Speaker 2: and its jungles. It was a miracle that she had
• 4:03:46
  Speaker 2: survived at all. To me, it was a revelation of
• 4:03:49
  Speaker 2: the things my early forebears must have endured, that the
• 4:03:51
  Speaker 2: human race of the outer crust must survive. It made
• 4:03:55
  Speaker 2: me very proud to think that I had won the
• 4:03:57
  Speaker 2: love of such a woman. Of course, she couldn't read
• 4:03:59
  Speaker 2: or right. There was nothing culture or refined about her,
• 4:04:02
  Speaker 2: as you judge culture and refinement, But She was the
• 4:04:05
  Speaker 2: essence of all that is best in woman, for she
• 4:04:07
  Speaker 2: was good and brave, and noble and virtuous. And she
• 4:04:10
  Speaker 2: was all these things in spite of the fact that
• 4:04:12
  Speaker 2: their observance entailed suffering and danger and possible death. How
• 4:04:17
  Speaker 2: much easier it would have been to have gone to
• 4:04:19
  Speaker 2: Jewel in the first place. She would have been his
• 4:04:21
  Speaker 2: lawful mate. She would have been queen in her own land.
• 4:04:24
  Speaker 2: And it meant just as much to the cave woman
• 4:04:26
  Speaker 2: to be a queen in the Stone Age as it
• 4:04:28
  Speaker 2: does to the woman of to day to be a queen. Now.
• 4:04:31
  Speaker 2: It's all comparative glory any way you look at it.
• 4:04:33
  Speaker 2: And if there were only half naked savages on the
• 4:04:35
  Speaker 2: outer crust to day, you'd find that it would be
• 4:04:37
  Speaker 2: considerable glory to be the wife of a dahomy chief.
• 4:04:41
  Speaker 2: I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of
• 4:04:44
  Speaker 2: a splendid young woman I had known in New York.
• 4:04:46
  Speaker 2: I mean splendid to look at and talk to. She
• 4:04:49
  Speaker 2: had been head over heels in love with a chum
• 4:04:51
  Speaker 2: of mine, a clean, manly chap, but she had married
• 4:04:53
  Speaker 2: a broken down, disreputable old debauch because he was a
• 4:04:57
  Speaker 2: count in some dinky little European principality that was not
• 4:05:00
  Speaker 2: even accorded a distinctive color by Rand mc nally. Yes,
• 4:05:04
  Speaker 2: I was mighty proud of Diane. After a time, we
• 4:05:06
  Speaker 2: decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious
• 4:05:09
  Speaker 2: to see Perry and to know that all was right
• 4:05:11
  Speaker 2: with him. I had told Dian about our plan of
• 4:05:14
  Speaker 2: emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was fairly
• 4:05:17
  Speaker 2: wild over it. She said that if Dak or her brother,
• 4:05:20
  Speaker 2: would only return, he could easily be king of Amos,
• 4:05:23
  Speaker 2: and that then he and Ghak could form an alliance
• 4:05:26
  Speaker 2: that would give us a flying start. For the Sarians
• 4:05:28
  Speaker 2: and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. Once they
• 4:05:32
  Speaker 2: had been armed with swords and bows and arrows and
• 4:05:35
  Speaker 2: trained in their use, we were confident that they could
• 4:05:37
  Speaker 2: overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join the great
• 4:05:40
  Speaker 2: army of Federated States with which we were planning to
• 4:05:43
  Speaker 2: march upon the Mahars. I explained the various destructive engines
• 4:05:48
  Speaker 2: of war which Perry and I could construct after a
• 4:05:50
  Speaker 2: little experimentation, gunpowder, rifles, cannon and the like, and Diane
• 4:05:55
  Speaker 2: would clap her hands and throw her arms about my neck,
• 4:05:58
  Speaker 2: and tell me what a wonderful thing I want. She
• 4:06:01
  Speaker 2: was beginning to think that I was omnipotent, although I
• 4:06:04
  Speaker 2: really hadn't done anything but talk. But that is the
• 4:06:07
  Speaker 2: way with women when they love. Perry used to say
• 4:06:10
  Speaker 2: that if a fellow was one tenth as remarkable as
• 4:06:12
  Speaker 2: his wife or mother thought him, he would have the
• 4:06:14
  Speaker 2: world by the tail with the downhill drag. The first
• 4:06:17
  Speaker 2: time we started for Sari, I stepped into a nest
• 4:06:19
  Speaker 2: of poisonous vipers. Before we reached the valley, A little
• 4:06:22
  Speaker 2: fellow stung me on the ankle, and Dian made me
• 4:06:25
  Speaker 2: come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't exercise,
• 4:06:29
  Speaker 2: or it might prove fatal. If it had been a
• 4:06:31
  Speaker 2: full grown snake that struck me, she said, I wouldn't
• 4:06:34
  Speaker 2: have moved a single pace from the nest. I'd have
• 4:06:36
  Speaker 2: died in my tracks. So virulent as the poison as
• 4:06:39
  Speaker 2: it was, I must have been laid up for quite
• 4:06:41
  Speaker 2: a while, though Diane's pultices of herbs and leaves finally
• 4:06:45
  Speaker 2: reduced the swelling and drew out the poison. The episode
• 4:06:48
  Speaker 2: proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea
• 4:06:52
  Speaker 2: which added a thousandfold to the value of my arrows
• 4:06:55
  Speaker 2: as missiles of offense and defense. As soon as I
• 4:06:57
  Speaker 2: was able to be about again, I sought out some
• 4:07:00
  Speaker 2: adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and
• 4:07:03
  Speaker 2: having killed them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon
• 4:07:06
  Speaker 2: the tips of several arrows. Later, I shot a hyenodon
• 4:07:09
  Speaker 2: with one of these, and though my arrow inflicted but
• 4:07:12
  Speaker 2: a superficial flesh wound, the beast crumpled in death almost
• 4:07:15
  Speaker 2: immediately after he was hit. We now set out once
• 4:07:18
  Speaker 2: more for the land of the Sarians, and it was
• 4:07:21
  Speaker 2: with feelings of sincere regret that we bade goodbye to
• 4:07:24
  Speaker 2: our beautiful garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and
• 4:07:27
  Speaker 2: harmony of which we had lived the happiest moments of
• 4:07:30
  Speaker 2: our lives. How long we had been there, I did
• 4:07:33
  Speaker 2: not know, for, as I have told you, time had
• 4:07:35
  Speaker 2: ceased to exist for me beneath that eternal noonday sun.
• 4:07:39
  Speaker 2: It may have been an hour or a month of
• 4:07:40
  Speaker 2: earthly time. I do not know. End of Chapter fourteen,
• 4:07:45
  Speaker 2: Chapter fifteen. Back to Earth, we crossed the river and
• 4:07:50
  Speaker 2: passed through the mountains beyond, and Finally we came out
• 4:07:53
  Speaker 2: upon a great level plain which stretched away as far
• 4:07:55
  Speaker 2: as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in
• 4:07:58
  Speaker 2: what direction it stretched, even if you would care to know.
• 4:08:01
  Speaker 2: For all the while that I was within Pellucidar, I
• 4:08:04
  Speaker 2: never discovered any but local methods of indicating direction. There
• 4:08:08
  Speaker 2: is no north, no south, no east, no west. Up
• 4:08:12
  Speaker 2: is about the only direction which is well defined, and that,
• 4:08:15
  Speaker 2: of course is down to you of the outer crust.
• 4:08:17
  Speaker 2: Since the sun neither rises nor sets, there is no
• 4:08:20
  Speaker 2: method of indicating direction beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes,
• 4:08:25
  Speaker 2: and seas. The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs
• 4:08:28
  Speaker 2: which flanked the darrel As upon the shore nearest the
• 4:08:31
  Speaker 2: mountains of the Clouds is about as near to any
• 4:08:34
  Speaker 2: direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not
• 4:08:38
  Speaker 2: to have heard of the darrel As, or the White
• 4:08:40
  Speaker 2: Cliffs or the mountains of the Clouds, you feel that
• 4:08:43
  Speaker 2: there is something lacking, and long for the good old,
• 4:08:45
  Speaker 2: understandable northeast and southwest of the outer world. We had
• 4:08:50
  Speaker 2: barely entered the great Plain when we discovered two enormous
• 4:08:53
  Speaker 2: animals approaching us from a great distance. So far were
• 4:08:56
  Speaker 2: they that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts
• 4:08:59
  Speaker 2: they might be. But as they came closer, I saw
• 4:09:02
  Speaker 2: that they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long,
• 4:09:06
  Speaker 2: with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks.
• 4:09:10
  Speaker 2: Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground.
• 4:09:13
  Speaker 2: The beasts moved very slowly, that is, their action was slow,
• 4:09:16
  Speaker 2: but their strides covered such a great distance that in
• 4:09:19
  Speaker 2: reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks. As
• 4:09:23
  Speaker 2: they drew still nearer, we discovered that upon the back
• 4:09:25
  Speaker 2: of each sat a human being. Then Diane knew what
• 4:09:29
  Speaker 2: they were, though she had never before seen one. They
• 4:09:31
  Speaker 2: are ladies from the land of the Thorians, she cried.
• 4:09:34
  Speaker 2: Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of
• 4:09:36
  Speaker 2: Awful Shadow. The Thorians alone, of all the races of
• 4:09:40
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar ride the leady. For nowhere else than beside the
• 4:09:43
  Speaker 2: dark country are they found. What is the land of
• 4:09:46
  Speaker 2: Awful Shadow? I asked, It is the land which lies
• 4:09:50
  Speaker 2: beneath the dead world, replied Dian, the dead world, which
• 4:09:54
  Speaker 2: hangs forever between the Sun and Pellucidar, above the Land
• 4:09:57
  Speaker 2: of Awful Shadow. It is the dead world, which makes
• 4:09:59
  Speaker 2: the grit shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar. I do
• 4:10:03
  Speaker 2: not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure
• 4:10:06
  Speaker 2: that I do yet, for I have never been to
• 4:10:08
  Speaker 2: that part of Pellucidar, from which the dead world is visible.
• 4:10:12
  Speaker 2: But Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar,
• 4:10:15
  Speaker 2: a tiny planet within a planet, and that it revolves
• 4:10:18
  Speaker 2: around the Earth's axis coincidentally with the Earth, and thus
• 4:10:21
  Speaker 2: is always above the same spot within Pellucidar. I remember
• 4:10:24
  Speaker 2: that Perry was very much excited when I told him
• 4:10:27
  Speaker 2: about this dead world, for he seemed to think that
• 4:10:29
  Speaker 2: it explained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the
• 4:10:33
  Speaker 2: procession of the equinoxes. When the two upon the ladies
• 4:10:36
  Speaker 2: had come quite close to us, we saw that one
• 4:10:38
  Speaker 2: was a man and the other a woman. The former
• 4:10:40
  Speaker 2: had held up his two hands palms toward us in
• 4:10:43
  Speaker 2: a sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind,
• 4:10:46
  Speaker 2: when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and,
• 4:10:49
  Speaker 2: slipping from his enormous mount, ran forward toward Dian, throwing
• 4:10:52
  Speaker 2: his arms about her. In an instant I was white
• 4:10:54
  Speaker 2: with jealousy, but only for an instant, since Diane quickly
• 4:10:57
  Speaker 2: drew the man toward me, telling him that I was
• 4:10:59
  Speaker 2: day David, her mate, and this is my brother Dakhor,
• 4:11:02
  Speaker 2: the strong one. David, she said to me, it appeared
• 4:11:06
  Speaker 2: that the woman was Dakor's mate. He had found none
• 4:11:09
  Speaker 2: to his liking among the Sari nor farther on until
• 4:11:12
  Speaker 2: he had come to the land of the Thoria, and
• 4:11:14
  Speaker 2: there he had found and fought for this very lovely
• 4:11:16
  Speaker 2: Thorian maiden, whom he was bringing back to his own people.
• 4:11:20
  Speaker 2: When they had heard our story in our plans, they
• 4:11:22
  Speaker 2: decided to accompany us to Sari that Dakor and Ghak
• 4:11:26
  Speaker 2: might come to an agreement relative to an alliance, as
• 4:11:29
  Speaker 2: Dakor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation of
• 4:11:32
  Speaker 2: the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I. After
• 4:11:37
  Speaker 2: a journey which was for Pellucidar quite uneventful, we came
• 4:11:41
  Speaker 2: to the first of the Sarian villages, which consists of
• 4:11:44
  Speaker 2: between one and two hundred artificial caves cut into the
• 4:11:48
  Speaker 2: face of a great cliff. Here, to our immense delight,
• 4:11:51
  Speaker 2: we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was
• 4:11:53
  Speaker 2: quite overcome at sight of me, for he had long
• 4:11:56
  Speaker 2: since given me up as dead. When I introduced Diana's
• 4:12:00
  Speaker 2: my wife, he didn't quite know what to say, but
• 4:12:02
  Speaker 2: he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds,
• 4:12:05
  Speaker 2: I could not have done better. Ghak and Dacor reached
• 4:12:08
  Speaker 2: a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a council
• 4:12:12
  Speaker 2: of the headmen of the various tribes of the Seri
• 4:12:14
  Speaker 2: that the eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly,
• 4:12:19
  Speaker 2: the various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there
• 4:12:23
  Speaker 2: was to be one great overlord or emperor. It was
• 4:12:26
  Speaker 2: decided that I should be the first of the dynasty
• 4:12:29
  Speaker 2: of the emperors of Pellucidar. We set about teaching the
• 4:12:34
  Speaker 2: women how to make bows and arrows and poison pouches.
• 4:12:38
  Speaker 2: The young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus,
• 4:12:41
  Speaker 2: and it was they who mined the iron ore and
• 4:12:43
  Speaker 2: fashioned the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread
• 4:12:47
  Speaker 2: from one tribe to another, until representatives from nations so
• 4:12:50
  Speaker 2: far distant that the Sarians had never even heard of
• 4:12:53
  Speaker 2: them came in to take the oath of allegiance which
• 4:12:55
  Speaker 2: we required, and to learn the art of making the
• 4:12:58
  Speaker 2: new weapons and using them. We sent our young men
• 4:13:01
  Speaker 2: out as instructors to every nation of the Federation, and
• 4:13:03
  Speaker 2: the movement had reached colossal proportions even before the Mahars
• 4:13:07
  Speaker 2: discovered it. The first intimation they had was when three
• 4:13:11
  Speaker 2: of their great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession.
• 4:13:15
  Speaker 2: They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly
• 4:13:18
  Speaker 2: developed a power which rendered them really formidable. In one
• 4:13:22
  Speaker 2: of the skirmishes with slave caravans, some of our Sarians
• 4:13:25
  Speaker 2: took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were
• 4:13:28
  Speaker 2: two who had been members of the guards within the
• 4:13:30
  Speaker 2: building where we had been confined at Phutra. They told
• 4:13:35
  Speaker 2: us that the Mahars were frantic with rage when they
• 4:13:37
  Speaker 2: discovered what had taken place in the cellars of the buildings.
• 4:13:41
  Speaker 2: The Sagoths knew that something very terrible had befallen their masters,
• 4:13:45
  Speaker 2: But the Mahars had been most careful to see that
• 4:13:48
  Speaker 2: no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction
• 4:13:50
  Speaker 2: reached beyond their own race. How long it would take
• 4:13:54
  Speaker 2: for the race to become extinct, it was impossible even
• 4:13:57
  Speaker 2: to guess, but that this must eventually have and seemed inevitable.
• 4:14:01
  Speaker 2: The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of
• 4:14:04
  Speaker 2: any one of us alive, and at the same time
• 4:14:07
  Speaker 2: had threatened to inflict the direst punishment upon whom ever
• 4:14:11
  Speaker 2: should harm us. The Sagoths could not understand these seemingly
• 4:14:15
  Speaker 2: paradoxical instructions, though their purpose was quite evident to me.
• 4:14:20
  Speaker 2: The Mahars wanted the great secret, and they knew that
• 4:14:23
  Speaker 2: we alone could deliver it to them. Perry's experiments in
• 4:14:27
  Speaker 2: the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning of rifles had
• 4:14:31
  Speaker 2: not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped. There was
• 4:14:34
  Speaker 2: a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know.
• 4:14:37
  Speaker 2: We were both assured that the solution of these problems
• 4:14:39
  Speaker 2: would advance the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of
• 4:14:43
  Speaker 2: years at a single stroke. Then there were various other
• 4:14:46
  Speaker 2: arts and sciences which we wished to introduce, but our
• 4:14:49
  Speaker 2: combined knowledge of them did not embrace the mechanical details
• 4:14:52
  Speaker 2: which alone could render them of commercial or practical value.
• 4:14:56
  Speaker 2: David said Perry immediately after his latest failure to be
• 4:15:00
  Speaker 2: produce gunpowder that would even burn one of us must
• 4:15:03
  Speaker 2: return to the outer world and bring back the information
• 4:15:06
  Speaker 2: we lack. Here we have all the labor and materials
• 4:15:09
  Speaker 2: for reproducing anything that has ever been produced. Above what
• 4:15:12
  Speaker 2: we lack is knowledge. Let us go back and get
• 4:15:15
  Speaker 2: that knowledge in the shape of books. Then this world
• 4:15:18
  Speaker 2: will indeed be at our feet. And so it was
• 4:15:20
  Speaker 2: decided that I should return in the Prospector, which still
• 4:15:24
  Speaker 2: lay upon the edge of the forest at the point
• 4:15:26
  Speaker 2: where we had first penetrated to the surface of the
• 4:15:28
  Speaker 2: inner world. Diane would not listen to any arrangement for
• 4:15:32
  Speaker 2: my going which did not include her, and I was
• 4:15:35
  Speaker 2: not sorry that she wished to accompany me, for I
• 4:15:38
  Speaker 2: wanted her to see my world, and I wanted my
• 4:15:40
  Speaker 2: world to see her. With a large force of men,
• 4:15:44
  Speaker 2: we marched to the great iron mole, which Perry soon
• 4:15:46
  Speaker 2: had hoisted into position, with its nose pointed back toward
• 4:15:50
  Speaker 2: the outer crust. He went over all the machinery carefully.
• 4:15:53
  Speaker 2: He replenished the air tanks, and manufactured oil for the engine.
• 4:15:58
  Speaker 2: At last everything was ready, and we were about to
• 4:16:01
  Speaker 2: set out when our pickets, a long, thin line of
• 4:16:03
  Speaker 2: which had surrounded our camp at all times, reported that
• 4:16:07
  Speaker 2: a great body of what appeared to be Sagoths and
• 4:16:09
  Speaker 2: Mahars were approaching from the direction of Phutra. Dian and
• 4:16:14
  Speaker 2: I were ready to embark, but I was anxious to
• 4:16:16
  Speaker 2: witness the first clash between two fair sized armies of
• 4:16:19
  Speaker 2: the opposing races of Pellucidar. I realized that this was
• 4:16:22
  Speaker 2: to mark the historic beginning of a mighty struggle for
• 4:16:25
  Speaker 2: possession of a world, and as the first emperor of Pellucidar,
• 4:16:28
  Speaker 2: I felt that it was not alone my duty, but
• 4:16:31
  Speaker 2: my right to be in the thick of that momentous struggle.
• 4:16:35
  Speaker 2: As the opposing army approached, we saw that there were
• 4:16:37
  Speaker 2: many Mahars with the Sagoth troops, an indication of the
• 4:16:41
  Speaker 2: vast importance which the dominant race placed upon the outcome
• 4:16:44
  Speaker 2: of this campaign, for it was not customary with them
• 4:16:47
  Speaker 2: to take active part in the sorties which their creatures
• 4:16:49
  Speaker 2: made for slaves, the only form of warfare which they
• 4:16:52
  Speaker 2: waged upon the lower orders. Ghak and Dakor were both
• 4:16:56
  Speaker 2: with us, having come primarily to view the prospector. I
• 4:17:00
  Speaker 2: placed Ghak with some of his Sarians on the right
• 4:17:02
  Speaker 2: of our battle line. Dhakor took the left, while I
• 4:17:05
  Speaker 2: commanded the center behind us, I stationed a sufficient reserve
• 4:17:08
  Speaker 2: under one of Ghak's head men. The Sagoths advanced steadily
• 4:17:12
  Speaker 2: with menacing spears, and I let them come until they
• 4:17:14
  Speaker 2: were within easy bow shot before I gave the word
• 4:17:17
  Speaker 2: to fire. At the first volley of poison tipped arrows,
• 4:17:20
  Speaker 2: the front ranks of the guerrilla men crumpled to the ground,
• 4:17:23
  Speaker 2: but those behind charged over the prostrate forms of their
• 4:17:26
  Speaker 2: comrades in a wild, mad rush to be upon us
• 4:17:29
  Speaker 2: with their spears. A second volley stopped them for an instant,
• 4:17:33
  Speaker 2: and then my reserve sprang through the openings in the
• 4:17:35
  Speaker 2: firing line to engage them with sword and shield. The
• 4:17:39
  Speaker 2: clumsy spears of the Sagoths were no match for the
• 4:17:41
  Speaker 2: swords of the Sarian and Amozite, who turned the spear
• 4:17:44
  Speaker 2: through us aside with their shields and leaped to close
• 4:17:46
  Speaker 2: quarters with their lighter, handier weapons. Ghak took his archers
• 4:17:50
  Speaker 2: along the enemy's flank, and while the swordsmen engaged them
• 4:17:53
  Speaker 2: in front, he poured volley after volley into their unprotected left.
• 4:17:57
  Speaker 2: The Mahars did little real fighting and were more in
• 4:17:59
  Speaker 2: the way than otherwise, though occasionally one of them would
• 4:18:02
  Speaker 2: fasten its powerful jaw upon the arm or leg of
• 4:18:05
  Speaker 2: a Sarian. The battle did not last a great while,
• 4:18:08
  Speaker 2: for when Dakor and I let our men in upon
• 4:18:10
  Speaker 2: the Sagoth's right with naked swords, they were already so
• 4:18:13
  Speaker 2: demoralized that they turned and fled before us. We pursued
• 4:18:17
  Speaker 2: them for some time, taking many prisoners and recovering nearly
• 4:18:20
  Speaker 2: a hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja, the sly One.
• 4:18:24
  Speaker 2: He told me that he had been captured while on
• 4:18:26
  Speaker 2: his way to his own land, but that his life
• 4:18:28
  Speaker 2: had been spared, and hoped that through him the Mahars
• 4:18:31
  Speaker 2: would learn the whereabouts of their great secret. Ghak and
• 4:18:35
  Speaker 2: I were inclined to think that the sly One had
• 4:18:37
  Speaker 2: been guiding this expedition to the land of Sari, where
• 4:18:40
  Speaker 2: he thought that the book might be found in Perry's possession.
• 4:18:43
  Speaker 2: But we had no proof of this, and so we
• 4:18:45
  Speaker 2: took him in and treated him as one of us,
• 4:18:48
  Speaker 2: although none liked him. And how he rewarded my generosity
• 4:18:52
  Speaker 2: you will presently learn. There were a number of Mahars
• 4:18:55
  Speaker 2: among our prisoners, and so fearful were our own people
• 4:18:58
  Speaker 2: of them that they would not approach them. Thus completely
• 4:19:00
  Speaker 2: covered from the sight of the reptiles by a piece
• 4:19:03
  Speaker 2: of skin. Even Diane shared the popular superstition regarding the
• 4:19:07
  Speaker 2: evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry mahars.
• 4:19:10
  Speaker 2: And though I laughed at her fears, I was willing
• 4:19:12
  Speaker 2: enough to humor them if it would relieve her apprehension
• 4:19:15
  Speaker 2: in any degree. And so she sat apart from the prospector,
• 4:19:19
  Speaker 2: nearing which the mahars had been chained, while Perry and
• 4:19:22
  Speaker 2: I again inspected every portion of the mechanism. At last,
• 4:19:26
  Speaker 2: I took my place in the driving seat and called
• 4:19:29
  Speaker 2: to one of the men without to fetch Diane. It
• 4:19:32
  Speaker 2: happened that Hooja stood quite close to the doorway of
• 4:19:35
  Speaker 2: the Prospector, so that it was he who, without my knowledge,
• 4:19:38
  Speaker 2: went to bring her. But how he succeeded in accomplishing
• 4:19:41
  Speaker 2: the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there
• 4:19:44
  Speaker 2: were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can
• 4:19:47
  Speaker 2: I believe that, since all my people were loyal to me,
• 4:19:50
  Speaker 2: and would have made short work of Hooja had he
• 4:19:53
  Speaker 2: suggested the heartless scheme, even had he had time to
• 4:19:56
  Speaker 2: acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly
• 4:19:58
  Speaker 2: that I may only believe that it was the result
• 4:20:00
  Speaker 2: of a sudden impulse, aided by a number of to
• 4:20:03
  Speaker 2: Hooja fortuitous circumstances occurring at precisely the right moment. All
• 4:20:09
  Speaker 2: I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian
• 4:20:12
  Speaker 2: to the prospector, still wrapped from head to toe in
• 4:20:14
  Speaker 2: the skin of an enormous cave lion which covered her
• 4:20:17
  Speaker 2: since the Mayhart prisoners had been brought to the camp.
• 4:20:20
  Speaker 2: He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I
• 4:20:23
  Speaker 2: was all ready to get under way. The good byes
• 4:20:25
  Speaker 2: had been said, Perry had grasped my hand in the
• 4:20:28
  Speaker 2: last long farewell. I closed and barred the outer and
• 4:20:31
  Speaker 2: inner doors, and took my seat again at the driving mechanism,
• 4:20:35
  Speaker 2: and pulled the starting lever. As before, on that far
• 4:20:39
  Speaker 2: gone night that had witnessed our first trial of the
• 4:20:41
  Speaker 2: Iron Monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us. The
• 4:20:45
  Speaker 2: giant frame trembled and vibrated. There was a rush of
• 4:20:48
  Speaker 2: sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow
• 4:20:51
  Speaker 2: space between the inner and outer jackets to be deposited
• 4:20:54
  Speaker 2: in our wake. Once more, the thing was off, but
• 4:20:57
  Speaker 2: on the instant of departure I was nearly thrown from
• 4:21:00
  Speaker 2: my seat by the sudden lurching of the prospector. At
• 4:21:03
  Speaker 2: first I did not realize what had happened, but presently
• 4:21:06
  Speaker 2: it dawned upon me that just before entering the crust,
• 4:21:09
  Speaker 2: the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding, and
• 4:21:12
  Speaker 2: that instead of entering the ground vertically, we were plunging
• 4:21:15
  Speaker 2: into it at a different angle, where it would bring
• 4:21:18
  Speaker 2: us out upon the upper crust. I could not even conjecture,
• 4:21:21
  Speaker 2: and then I turned to note the effect of this
• 4:21:23
  Speaker 2: strange experience upon Diane. She still sat shrouded in the
• 4:21:27
  Speaker 2: great skin. Come come, I cried, laughing, Come out of
• 4:21:31
  Speaker 2: your shell. No mahar eyes can reach you here. And
• 4:21:34
  Speaker 2: I leaned over and snatched the lion skin from her.
• 4:21:37
  Speaker 2: And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror.
• 4:21:42
  Speaker 2: The thing beneath the skin was not Diane. It was
• 4:21:46
  Speaker 2: a hideous mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja
• 4:21:50
  Speaker 2: had played upon me, and the purpose of it rid
• 4:21:54
  Speaker 2: of me forever, as he doubtless thought Diane would be
• 4:21:56
  Speaker 2: at his mercy. Frantically, I tore the steering wheel in
• 4:22:00
  Speaker 2: an effort to turn the Prospector back toward Pellucidar. But
• 4:22:03
  Speaker 2: as on that other occasion, I could not budge the
• 4:22:05
  Speaker 2: thing a hair. It is needless to recount the horrors
• 4:22:08
  Speaker 2: or the monotony of that journey. It varied but little
• 4:22:12
  Speaker 2: from the former one, which had brought us from the
• 4:22:14
  Speaker 2: outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at
• 4:22:16
  Speaker 2: which we had entered the ground, the trip required nearly
• 4:22:19
  Speaker 2: a day longer, and had brought me out here upon
• 4:22:21
  Speaker 2: the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States,
• 4:22:24
  Speaker 2: as I had hoped. For months, I have been waiting
• 4:22:27
  Speaker 2: here for a white man to come. I dared not
• 4:22:30
  Speaker 2: leave the prospect Or, for fear I should never be
• 4:22:33
  Speaker 2: able to find it again. The shifting sands of the
• 4:22:35
  Speaker 2: desert would soon cover it, and then my only hope
• 4:22:38
  Speaker 2: of returning to my dian her Hallucidar, would be gone forever.
• 4:22:43
  Speaker 2: That I shall ever see her again seems but remotely possible.
• 4:22:47
  Speaker 2: For how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar
• 4:22:49
  Speaker 2: my return journey may terminate? And how without a north
• 4:22:53
  Speaker 2: or south, or an east or west, may I hope
• 4:22:56
  Speaker 2: ever to find my way across that vast world to
• 4:22:59
  Speaker 2: the tiny spot where my lost love lies. Grieving for me.
• 4:23:06
  Speaker 2: That is the story as David Innes told it to
• 4:23:08
  Speaker 2: me in the goat skin tent upon the rim of
• 4:23:11
  Speaker 2: the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me
• 4:23:14
  Speaker 2: out to see the prospector. It was precisely as he
• 4:23:18
  Speaker 2: had described it. So huge was it that it could
• 4:23:22
  Speaker 2: have been brought to this inaccessible part of the world
• 4:23:24
  Speaker 2: by no means of transportation that existed there. It could
• 4:23:27
  Speaker 2: only have come in the way that David Innes said.
• 4:23:30
  Speaker 2: It came up through the crust of the earth from
• 4:23:33
  Speaker 2: the inner world of Pellucidar. I spent a week with him,
• 4:23:36
  Speaker 2: and then abandoned my lion hunt, returned directly to the
• 4:23:39
  Speaker 2: coast and hurried to London, where I purchased a great
• 4:23:42
  Speaker 2: quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to
• 4:23:44
  Speaker 2: Pellucidar with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, chemicals, telephones,
• 4:23:53
  Speaker 2: telegraph instruments, wire tools, and more books, books upon every
• 4:23:59
  Speaker 2: subject under the sun. He said he wanted a library
• 4:24:02
  Speaker 2: with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth
• 4:24:04
  Speaker 2: century in the Stone Age, And if quantity counts for anything,
• 4:24:08
  Speaker 2: I got it for him. I took the things back
• 4:24:11
  Speaker 2: to Algeria myself and accompanied them to the end of
• 4:24:14
  Speaker 2: the railroad. But from here I was recalled to America
• 4:24:18
  Speaker 2: upon important business. However, I was able to employ a
• 4:24:22
  Speaker 2: very trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan, the
• 4:24:26
  Speaker 2: same guide, in fact, who had accompanied me on the
• 4:24:28
  Speaker 2: previous trip into the Sahara. And after writing a long
• 4:24:32
  Speaker 2: letter to Innis, and which I gave him my American address,
• 4:24:36
  Speaker 2: I saw the expedition head south. Among the other things
• 4:24:40
  Speaker 2: which I sent to Innis was over five hundred miles
• 4:24:43
  Speaker 2: of double insulated wire of a very fine gauge. I
• 4:24:47
  Speaker 2: had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion,
• 4:24:50
  Speaker 2: as it was his idea that he could fasten one
• 4:24:52
  Speaker 2: end here before he left, and by paying it out
• 4:24:55
  Speaker 2: through the end of the prospector, lay a telegraph line
• 4:24:57
  Speaker 2: between the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I
• 4:25:01
  Speaker 2: told him to be sure to mark the terminus of
• 4:25:03
  Speaker 2: the line very plainly with high cairn, in case I
• 4:25:07
  Speaker 2: was not able to reach him before he set out,
• 4:25:09
  Speaker 2: so that I might easily find and communicate with him
• 4:25:11
  Speaker 2: should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. I
• 4:25:15
  Speaker 2: received several letters from him after I returned to America.
• 4:25:19
  Speaker 2: In fact, he took advantage of every northward passing caravan
• 4:25:22
  Speaker 2: to drop me word of some sort. His last letter
• 4:25:25
  Speaker 2: was written the day before he intended to depart. Here
• 4:25:29
  Speaker 2: it is, my dear friend. Tomorrow I shall set out
• 4:25:34
  Speaker 2: in quest of Pellucidar and Diane. That is, if the
• 4:25:37
  Speaker 2: Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late.
• 4:25:41
  Speaker 2: I don't know the cause, but on two occasions they
• 4:25:44
  Speaker 2: have threatened my life. One more friendly than the rest
• 4:25:48
  Speaker 2: told me to day that they intended attacking me to night.
• 4:25:51
  Speaker 2: It would be unfortunate should anything of that sort happen
• 4:25:54
  Speaker 2: now that I am so nearly ready to depart. However,
• 4:25:57
  Speaker 2: maybe I will be as well off. For the nearer
• 4:26:00
  Speaker 2: the hour approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear.
• 4:26:04
  Speaker 2: Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this
• 4:26:06
  Speaker 2: letter north for me. So good bye, and God bless
• 4:26:09
  Speaker 2: you for your kindness to me. The Arab tells me
• 4:26:12
  Speaker 2: to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to
• 4:26:14
  Speaker 2: the south. He thinks it is the party coming to
• 4:26:16
  Speaker 2: murder me, and he doesn't want to be found with me.
• 4:26:19
  Speaker 2: So good bye again, Yours David Innes A year later
• 4:26:24
  Speaker 2: found me at the end of the railroad, once more
• 4:26:27
  Speaker 2: headed for the spot where I had left Innis. My
• 4:26:30
  Speaker 2: first disappointment was when I discovered that my old guide
• 4:26:33
  Speaker 2: had died within a few weeks of my return. Nor
• 4:26:36
  Speaker 2: could I find any member of my former party who
• 4:26:38
  Speaker 2: could lead me to the same spot. For months, I
• 4:26:41
  Speaker 2: searched that scorching land, interviewing countless desert sheeks, in the
• 4:26:45
  Speaker 2: hope that at last I might find one who had
• 4:26:48
  Speaker 2: heard of Innis and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my
• 4:26:52
  Speaker 2: eyes scanned the blinding waste of sand for the rocky
• 4:26:56
  Speaker 2: cairn beneath which I was to find the wires leading
• 4:26:59
  Speaker 2: to Pellucida. But always was I unsuccessful? And always do
• 4:27:04
  Speaker 2: these awful questions harass me when I think of David
• 4:27:07
  Speaker 2: in Us and his strange adventures. Did the Arabs murder
• 4:27:10
  Speaker 2: him after all, just on the eve of his departure?
• 4:27:13
  Speaker 2: Or did he again turn the nose of his iron
• 4:27:15
  Speaker 2: monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it? Or
• 4:27:18
  Speaker 2: lies he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust?
• 4:27:22
  Speaker 2: And if he did come again to pellucidar was it
• 4:27:24
  Speaker 2: to break through into the bottom of one of her
• 4:27:26
  Speaker 2: great island seas or among some savage race, far far
• 4:27:30
  Speaker 2: from the land of his heart's desire. Does the answer
• 4:27:34
  Speaker 2: lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at
• 4:27:36
  Speaker 2: the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn,
• 4:27:41
  Speaker 2: I wonder end of Chapter fifteen. End of At the
• 4:27:50
  Speaker 2: Earth's Core by edgar Iy Spurrows