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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twelve pursuit. For an instant I stood there thinking
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  Speaker 1: of her, and then with a sigh, I tucked the
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  Speaker 1: book in the thong that supported my loincloth and turned
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  Speaker 1: to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor
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  Speaker 1: which leads aloft from the lower chambers, I whistled in
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  Speaker 1: accordance with the pre arranged signal, which was to announce
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  Speaker 1: to Perry and Ghak that I had been successful. A
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  Speaker 1: moment later they stood beside me, and to my surprise
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  Speaker 1: I saw that Hooja, the sly one, accompanied them. He
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  Speaker 1: joined us, explained Perry, and would not be denied. The
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  Speaker 1: Fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than
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  Speaker 1: be thwarted of our chance now, I told him that
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  Speaker 1: I would bring him to you and let you decide
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  Speaker 1: whether he might accompany us. I had no love for
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  Speaker 1: Hooja and no confidence in him. I was sure that
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  Speaker 1: if he thought it would profit him, he would betray us.
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  Speaker 1: But I saw no way out of it now, and
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  Speaker 1: the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of
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  Speaker 1: only the three I had expected to made it possible
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  Speaker 1: to include the Fellow in our scheme of escape. Very well,
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  Speaker 1: I said, you may come with us Hooja, But at
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  Speaker 1: the first intimation of treachery, I shall run my sword
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  Speaker 1: through you. Do you understand, he said that he did.
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  Speaker 1: Some time later, we had removed the skins from the
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  Speaker 1: four mahars, and so succeeded in crawling inside of them
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  Speaker 1: ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance for us to
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  Speaker 1: pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an easy thing
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  Speaker 1: to fasten the hides together where we had split them
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  Speaker 1: along the belly to remove them from their carcasses. But
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  Speaker 1: by remaining out until the others had all been sewed
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  Speaker 1: in with my help, and then leaving an aperture in
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  Speaker 1: the breast of Perry's skin through which he could pass
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  Speaker 1: his hands to sew me up, we were enabled to
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  Speaker 1: accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I
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  Speaker 1: had hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by
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  Speaker 1: passing our swords up through the necks, and by the
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  Speaker 1: same means were enabled to move them about in a
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  Speaker 1: lifelike manner. We had our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet,
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  Speaker 1: but even that problem was finally solved, so that when
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  Speaker 1: we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes
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  Speaker 1: punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were
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  Speaker 1: thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.
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  Speaker 1: Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building.
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  Speaker 1: Ghak headed the strange procession. Then came Perry, followed by Hooja,
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  Speaker 1: while I brought up the rear. After admonishing Hooja that
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  Speaker 1: I had so arranged my sword that I could thrust
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  Speaker 1: it through the head of my disguise into his vitals
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  Speaker 1: were he to show any indication of faltering. As the
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  Speaker 1: noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering
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  Speaker 1: the busy corridors of the main level, my heart came
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  Speaker 1: up into my mouth. It is with no sense of
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  Speaker 1: shame that I admit that I was frightened. Never before
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  Speaker 1: in my life nor sense, did I experience any such
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  Speaker 1: agony of soulsering, fear and suspense as enveloped me. If
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  Speaker 1: it be possible to sweat blood, I sweat it. Then slowly,
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  Speaker 1: after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars when
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  Speaker 1: they are not using their wings, we crept through the
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  Speaker 1: throngs of busy slaves, Sagoths and Mahars. After what seemed
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  Speaker 1: like an eternity, we reached the outer door, which leads
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  Speaker 1: into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths loitered near
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  Speaker 1: the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he padded between them.
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  Speaker 1: Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it was my turn.
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  Speaker 1: And then, in a sudden fit of freezing terror, I
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  Speaker 1: realized that the warm blood from my wounded arm was
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  Speaker 1: trickling down through the dead foot of the mahar's skin
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  Speaker 1: I wore, and leaving its tell tale mark upon the pavement.
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  Speaker 1: For I saw Segoth call a companion's attention to it.
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  Speaker 1: The guard stepped before me, and, pointing to my bleeding foot,
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  Speaker 1: spoke to me in the sign language which these two
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  Speaker 1: races employ as a means of communication. Even had I
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  Speaker 1: known what he was saying, I could not have replied
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  Speaker 1: with the dead thing that covered me. I once had
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  Speaker 1: seen a great Mahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look.
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  Speaker 1: It seemed my only hope, and so I tried it.
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  Speaker 1: Stopping in my tracks, I moved my sword so that
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  Speaker 1: it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes
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  Speaker 1: upon the gorilla man. For a long moment, I stood
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  Speaker 1: perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then
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  Speaker 1: I lowered the head and started slowly on. For a
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  Speaker 1: moment all hung in the balance, But before I touched him,
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  Speaker 1: the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on
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  Speaker 1: out into the avenue. On we went up the broad street.
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  Speaker 1: But now we were safe for the very numbers of
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  Speaker 1: our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately, there
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  Speaker 1: was a great concourse of Mahar's copairing to the shallow
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  Speaker 1: lake which lies a mile or more from the city.
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  Speaker 1: They go there to indulge their amphibian proclivities in diving
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  Speaker 1: for small fish and enjoying the cool depths of the water.
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  Speaker 1: It is a freshwater lake, shallow and free from the
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  Speaker 1: larger reptiles which make the use of the great seas
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  Speaker 1: of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind. In
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  Speaker 1: the thick of the crowd, we passed up the steps
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  Speaker 1: and out onto the plain. For some distance, Ghak remained
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  Speaker 1: with the stream that was traveling toward the lake. But finally,
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  Speaker 1: at the bottom of a little gully he halted, and
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  Speaker 1: there we remained until all had passed and we were alone. Then,
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  Speaker 1: still in our disguises, we set off directly away from Phutra.
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  Speaker 1: The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was
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  Speaker 1: fast making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that, after passing
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  Speaker 1: a low divide and entering a sheltering forest, we finally
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  Speaker 1: discarded the Mahar skins that had brought us thus far
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  Speaker 1: in safety. I shall not weary you with the details
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  Speaker 1: of that bitter and galling flight. How we traveled at
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  Speaker 1: a dogged run until we dropped in our tracks. How
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  Speaker 1: we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How we
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  Speaker 1: barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers, the
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  Speaker 1: size of which would dwarf into pitifully insignificance the greatest
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  Speaker 1: felines of the outer world. On and on we raced,
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  Speaker 1: are one thought to put as much distance between ourselves
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  Speaker 1: and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his
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  Speaker 1: own land, the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit
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  Speaker 1: had developed, and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us,
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  Speaker 1: relentless Sagoths were dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never
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  Speaker 1: failed to hunt down their quarry until they had captured
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  Speaker 1: it or themselves been turned back by a superior force.
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  Speaker 1: Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe,
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  Speaker 1: which was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to
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  Speaker 1: beat off any number of Sagoths. At last, after what
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  Speaker 1: seemed months, and may I now realize have been years,
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  Speaker 1: we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed
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  Speaker 1: the foothills of Serre. At almost the same instant, Hooja,
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  Speaker 1: who looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced
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  Speaker 1: that he could see a body of men far behind us,
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  Speaker 1: topping a low ridge in our wake. It was the
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  Speaker 1: long expected pursuit. I asked Ghak if we could make
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  Speaker 1: Sarah in time to escape them, we may, he replied,
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  Speaker 1: but you will find that the Sagoths can move with
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  Speaker 1: incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless, they are
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  Speaker 1: doubtless much fresher than we. Then he paused, glancing at Perry.
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  Speaker 1: I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted
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  Speaker 1: for much of the period of our flight. Either Ghak
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  Speaker 1: or I had half supported him on the march. With
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  Speaker 1: such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than Sagoths might easily
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  Speaker 1: overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which
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  Speaker 1: confronted us. You and Hooja go on ahead, I said, Perry,
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  Speaker 1: and I will make it if we are able, we
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  Speaker 1: cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is
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  Speaker 1: no reason why all should be lost. Because of that,
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  Speaker 1: it can't be helped. We have simply to face it.
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  Speaker 1: I will not desert a companion, was Ghek's simple reply.
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  Speaker 1: I hadn't known that this great, hairy primeval man had
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  Speaker 1: any such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I
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  Speaker 1: had always liked him, but now to my liking was
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  Speaker 1: added honor and respect, Yes, and love. But I still
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  Speaker 1: urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he
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  Speaker 1: could reach his people, he might be able to bring
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  Speaker 1: out a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and
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  Speaker 1: rescue Perry and myself. No, he wouldn't leave us, and
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  Speaker 1: that was all there was to it. But he suggested
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  Speaker 1: that Hooja might hurry on warn the Sarians of the
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  Speaker 1: king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja.
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  Speaker 1: The naked idea was enough to send him leaping on
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  Speaker 1: ahead of us into the foothills which we now had reached.
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  Speaker 1: Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine,
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  Speaker 1: and the old fellow fairly begged us to go on
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  Speaker 1: without him, Although I knew that he was suffering a
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  Speaker 1: perfect anguish of terror at the thought of falling into
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  Speaker 1: the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem
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  Speaker 1: in part by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and
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  Speaker 1: carrying him. While the act cut down Ghak's speed, he
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  Speaker 1: still could travel faster thus than when half supporting the
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  Speaker 1: stumbling old man. End of Chapter twelve.