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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three, A Change of Masters. We must have traveled
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  Speaker 1: several miles through the dark and dismal wood when we
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  Speaker 1: came suddenly upon a dense village built high among the
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  Speaker 1: branches of the trees. As we approached it, my escort
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  Speaker 1: broke into wild shouting, which was immediately answered from within,
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  Speaker 1: and a moment later a swarm of creatures of the
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  Speaker 1: same strange race as those who had captured me poured
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  Speaker 1: out to meet us again. I was the center of
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  Speaker 1: a wildly chattering horde. I was pulled this way and that, pinched, pounded,
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  Speaker 1: and thumped until I was black and blue. Yet I
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  Speaker 1: do not think that their treatment was dictated by either
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  Speaker 1: cruelty or malice. I was a curiosity, a freak, a
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  Speaker 1: new plaything, and their childish minds required the added evidence
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  Speaker 1: of all their senses to back up the testimony of
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  Speaker 1: their eyes. They dragged me within the village, which consisted
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  Speaker 1: of several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported
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  Speaker 1: upon the branches of the trees. Between the huts, which
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  Speaker 1: sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead branches, and the trunks
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  Speaker 1: of small trees which connected the huts upon one tree
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  Speaker 1: to those with adjoining trees, the whole network of huts
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  Speaker 1: and pathways forming an almost solid flooring and good fifty
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  Speaker 1: feet above the ground. I wondered why these agile creatures
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  Speaker 1: required connecting bridges between the trees, But later, when I
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  Speaker 1: saw the motley aggregation of half savage beasts which they
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  Speaker 1: kept within their village, I realized the necessity for the pathways.
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  Speaker 1: There were a number of the same vicious wolf dogs
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  Speaker 1: which we had left, worrying the dearth, and many goat
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  Speaker 1: like animals, whose distended utters explained the reasons for their presence.
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  Speaker 1: My guard halted before one of the huts into which
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  Speaker 1: I was pushed. Then two of the creatures squatted down
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  Speaker 1: before the entrance to prevent my escape. Doubtless, though where
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  Speaker 1: I should have escaped two, I certainly had not the
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  Speaker 1: remotest conception. I had no more than entered the dark
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  Speaker 1: shadows of the interior than there fell upon my ears
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  Speaker 1: the tone of a familiar voice in prayer. Parry, I cried,
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  Speaker 1: dear old Perry, thank the Lord, you are safe. David,
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  Speaker 1: can it be possible that you escaped? And the old
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  Speaker 1: man stumbled toward me and threw his arms about me.
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  Speaker 1: He had seen me fall before the dearth, and then
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  Speaker 1: he had been seized by a number of the apelike
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  Speaker 1: creatures and borne through the tree tops to their village.
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  Speaker 1: His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange
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  Speaker 1: clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we
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  Speaker 1: looked at each other, we could not help but laugh
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  Speaker 1: with a tail. David remarked, Perry, you would make a
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  Speaker 1: very handsome ape. Maybe we can borrow a couple, I rejoined.
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  Speaker 1: They seem to be quite the thing this season. I
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  Speaker 1: wonder what the creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They
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  Speaker 1: don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can be?
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  Speaker 1: You were about to tell me where we are when
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  Speaker 1: that great hairy frigate bore down upon us. Have you
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  Speaker 1: really any idea at all? Yes, David, he replied, I
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  Speaker 1: know precisely where we are. We have made a magnificent discovery,
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  Speaker 1: my boy. We have proved that the earth is hollow.
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  Speaker 1: We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world. Perry,
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  Speaker 1: you were mad, not at all, David. For two hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty miles, our prospector bore us through the crust,
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  Speaker 1: beneath our outer world. At that point it reached the
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  Speaker 1: center of gravity of the five hundred mile thi crust.
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  Speaker 1: Up to that point we had been descending. Direction is
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  Speaker 1: of course merely relative. Then, at the moment that our
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  Speaker 1: seats revolved, the thing that made you believe we had
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  Speaker 1: turned about and were speeding upward, we passed the center
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  Speaker 1: of gravity, And though we did not alter the direction
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  Speaker 1: of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward
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  Speaker 1: toward the surface of the inner world. Does not the
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  Speaker 1: strange fauna and flora which we have seen convince you
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  Speaker 1: that you are not in the world of your birth?
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  Speaker 1: And the horizon? Could it present the strange aspects which
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  Speaker 1: we both noted, unless we were indeed standing upon the
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  Speaker 1: inside of a sphere. But the sun, Perry, I urged,
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  Speaker 1: How in the world can the sun shine through five
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  Speaker 1: hundred miles of solid crust. It is not the sun
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  Speaker 1: of the outer world that we have seen here. It
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  Speaker 1: is another son, an entirely different sun, that casts turn
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  Speaker 1: nal noonday effulgence upon the face of the inner world.
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  Speaker 1: Look at it now, David, if you can see it
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  Speaker 1: from the doorway of this hut, and you will see
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  Speaker 1: that it is still in the exact center of the heavens.
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  Speaker 1: We have been here for many hours, yet it is
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  Speaker 1: still noon. And withal it is very simple, David. The
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  Speaker 1: Earth was once a nebulous mass. It cooled, and as
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  Speaker 1: it cooled it shrank at length. A thin crust of
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  Speaker 1: solid matter formed upon its outer surface, a sort of shell,
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  Speaker 1: but within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases.
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  Speaker 1: As it continued to cool, what happened centrifugal forces hurled
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  Speaker 1: the particles of the nebula center toward the crust as
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  Speaker 1: rapidly as they approached a solid state. You have seen
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  Speaker 1: the same principle practically applied in the modern cream separator.
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  Speaker 1: Presently there was only a small superheated core of gaseous
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  Speaker 1: matter remaining within a huge vacant interior left by the
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  Speaker 1: contraction of the cooling gases. The equal attraction of the
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  Speaker 1: solid crust from all directions maintained this luminous core in
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  Speaker 1: the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of
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  Speaker 1: it is the sun you saw today, a relatively tiny
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  Speaker 1: thing at the exact center of the Earth equally to
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  Speaker 1: every part of this inner world. It diffuses its perpetually
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  Speaker 1: noonday light and torrid heat. This inner world must have
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  Speaker 1: cooled sufficiently to support animal life long ages after life
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  Speaker 1: appeared upon the outer crust. But that the same agencies
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  Speaker 1: were at work here is evident from the similar forms
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  Speaker 1: of both animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen.
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  Speaker 1: Take the great beast which attacked us, for example, unquestionably
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  Speaker 1: a counterpart of the megatherium of the post Pliocene period
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  Speaker 1: of the Outer Crust, whose fossilize skeleton has been found
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  Speaker 1: in South America. But the grotesque inhabitants of the forest,
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  Speaker 1: I urged, surely they have no counterpart in the Earth's history.
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  Speaker 1: Who can tell he rejoined. They may constitute the link
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  Speaker 1: between ape and man, all traces of which have been
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  Speaker 1: swallowed by the countless convulsions which have racked the outer Crust.
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  Speaker 1: Or they may be merely the result of evolution along
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  Speaker 1: slightly different lines. Either is quite possible. Further speculation was
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  Speaker 1: interrupted by the appearance of several of our captors before
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  Speaker 1: the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and
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  Speaker 1: dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees
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  Speaker 1: were filled with the black ape men, their females, and
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  Speaker 1: their young. There was not an ornament, a weapon, or
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  Speaker 1: a garment among the lot. Quite low in the scale
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  Speaker 1: of creation, commented Perry, quite high enough to play the
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  Speaker 1: deuce with us, though I replied, now, what do you
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  Speaker 1: suppose they intend on doing with us? We were not
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  Speaker 1: long in learning, as on the occasion of our trip
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  Speaker 1: to the village, we were seized by a couple of
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  Speaker 1: the powerful creatures and whirled away through the tree tops,
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  Speaker 1: while about us and in our wake, raced a chattering, jabbering,
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  Speaker 1: grinning horde of sleek, black ape things. Twice my bearers
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  Speaker 1: missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as we
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  Speaker 1: plunged towards instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath. But
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  Speaker 1: on both occasions those lithe powerful tales reached out and
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  Speaker 1: found sustaining branches. Nor did either of the creatures loosen
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  Speaker 1: their grasp upon me. In fact, it seemed that the
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  Speaker 1: incidents were of no greater moment to them than would
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  Speaker 1: be the stubbing of one's toe at a street crossing
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  Speaker 1: in the outer world. They but laughed uproariously and sped
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  Speaker 1: on with me for some time. They continued through the forest.
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  Speaker 1: How long I could not guess, for I was learning
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  Speaker 1: what was later borne very forcefully to my mind, that
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  Speaker 1: time ceases to be a factor the moment means for
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  Speaker 1: measuring it ceased to exist. Our watches were gone, and
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  Speaker 1: we were living beneath a stationary sun. Already I was
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  Speaker 1: puzzled to compute the period of time which had elapsed
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  Speaker 1: since we broke through the crust of the inner world.
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  Speaker 1: It might be ours, or it might be days. Who
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  Speaker 1: in the world could tell? Where It was always noon
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  Speaker 1: by the sun. No time had elapsed, but my judgment
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  Speaker 1: told me that we must have been several hours in
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  Speaker 1: this strange world. Presently, the forest terminated, and we came
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  Speaker 1: out upon a level plain. A short distance before us
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  Speaker 1: rose a few low rocky hills. Toward these, our captors
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  Speaker 1: urged us, and after a short time, led us through
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  Speaker 1: a narrow pass into a tiny circular valley. Here they
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  Speaker 1: got down to work, and we were soon convinced that
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  Speaker 1: if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday,
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  Speaker 1: we were to die for some other purpose. The attitude
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  Speaker 1: of our captors altered immediately as they entered the natural
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  Speaker 1: arena within the rocky hills. Their laughter ceased, grim ferocity
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  Speaker 1: marked their beastial faces, bared fangs menaced us. We were
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  Speaker 1: placed in the center of the amphitheater, the thousand creatures
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  Speaker 1: forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf dog
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  Speaker 1: was brought Hyenodon. Perry called it, and turned loose with
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  Speaker 1: us inside the circle. The thing's body was as large
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  Speaker 1: as that of a full grown mastiff. Its legs were
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  Speaker 1: short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark
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  Speaker 1: shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast
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  Speaker 1: and belly were quite white. As it slunk toward us,
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  Speaker 1: it presented a most formidable aspect with its upcurled lips
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  Speaker 1: bearing its mighty fangs. Perry was on his knees praying.
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  Speaker 1: I stooped and picked up a small stone. At my movement,
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  Speaker 1: the beast veered off a bit and commenced circling us.
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  Speaker 1: Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The
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  Speaker 1: ape things were dancing up and down, urging the brute
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  Speaker 1: on with savage cries, until at last, seeing that I
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  Speaker 1: did not throw, he charged us at andover and later
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  Speaker 1: at Yale. I had pitched on winning ball teams. My
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  Speaker 1: speed and control must both have been above ordinary, for
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  Speaker 1: I made such a record during my senior year at
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  Speaker 1: college that overtures were made to me in behalf of
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  Speaker 1: one of the great Major League teams, but in the
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  Speaker 1: tightest pitch that had ever confronted me in the past,
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  Speaker 1: I had never been in such need for control as now.
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  Speaker 1: As I wound up for the delivery, I held my
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  Speaker 1: nerves and muscles under absolute command, though the grinning jaws
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  Speaker 1: were hurtling towards me at terrific speed. And then I
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  Speaker 1: let go with every ounce of my weight and muscle
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  Speaker 1: and science. In back of that throw, the stone caught
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  Speaker 1: the hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose and
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  Speaker 1: sent him bowling over upon his back. At the same instant,
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  Speaker 1: a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle
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  Speaker 1: of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that
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  Speaker 1: the upsetting of their champion was the cause. But in
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  Speaker 1: this I soon saw I was mistaken. As I looked
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  Speaker 1: the ape, things broke in all directions towards the surrounding hills,
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  Speaker 1: and then I distinguished the real cause of their perturbation.
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  Speaker 1: Behind them, Streaming through the pass which leads into the valley,
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  Speaker 1: came a swarm of hairy men, guerrilla like creatures armed
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  Speaker 1: with spears and hatchets, and bearing long oval shields like demons,
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  Speaker 1: they set upon the ape things, and before them the hyaenodon,
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  Speaker 1: which had now regained its senses and its feet, fled
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  Speaker 1: howling with fright past us swept the pursuit and the pursuers,
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  Speaker 1: Nor did the hairy ones accord us more than a
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  Speaker 1: passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its
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  Speaker 1: former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who
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  Speaker 1: seemed to have authority among them, directed that we be
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  Speaker 1: brought with them. When we had passed out of the
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  Speaker 1: amphitheater on to the great plain, we saw a caravan
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  Speaker 1: of men and women, human beings like ourselves, and for
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  Speaker 1: the first time, hope and relief filled my heart, until
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  Speaker 1: I could have cried out in the exuberance of my happiness.
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  Speaker 1: It is true that they were a half naked, wild
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  Speaker 1: appearing aggregation, but they at least were fashioned along the
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  Speaker 1: same lines as ourselves. There was nothing grotesque or horrible
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  Speaker 1: about them, as about the other creatures in the strange,
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  Speaker 1: weird world. But as we came closer, our hearts sank
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  Speaker 1: once more, for we discovered that the poor wretches were
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  Speaker 1: chained neck to neck in a long line, and that
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  Speaker 1: the guerrilla men were their guards. With little ceremony, PERI
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  Speaker 1: and I were chained at the end of the line,
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  Speaker 1: and without further ado, the interrupted march was resumed. Up
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  Speaker 1: to this time, the excitement had kept us both up.
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  Speaker 1: But now the tiresome monotony of the long march across
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  Speaker 1: the sun baked plain brought on all the agonies consequent
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  Speaker 1: to a long denied sleep. On and on we stumbled
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  Speaker 1: beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell, we were
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  Speaker 1: prodded with a sharp point. Our companions and chains did
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  Speaker 1: not stumble. They strode along proudly, erect. Occasionally they would
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  Speaker 1: exchange words with one another in a monosyllabic language. They
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  Speaker 1: were a noble appearing race, with well formed heads and
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  Speaker 1: perfect physiques. The men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular,
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  Speaker 1: the women smaller and more gracefully molded, with great masses
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  Speaker 1: of raven hair caught into loose knots upon their heads.
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  Speaker 1: The features of both sexes were well proportioned. There was
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  Speaker 1: not a face among them that would have been called
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  Speaker 1: even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no ornaments,
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  Speaker 1: but this I later learned was due to the fact
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  Speaker 1: that their captors had stripped them of everything of value
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  Speaker 1: as garniture. The women possessed a single robe of some
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  Speaker 1: light colored spotted hide, rather similar in appearance to a
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  Speaker 1: leopard skin. This they wore, either supported entirely about the
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  Speaker 1: waist by a leathern thong, so that it hung partially
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  Speaker 1: below the knee on one side, or possibly looped gracefully
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  Speaker 1: across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin sandals.
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  Speaker 1: The men wore loincloth of the hide of some shaggy beast,
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  Speaker 1: long ends of which depended before and behind, nearly to
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  Speaker 1: the ground. In some instances, these ends were finished with
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  Speaker 1: the strong talons of the beast from which the hides
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  Speaker 1: had been taken. Our guards, whom I have already described
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  Speaker 1: as gorilla like men, were rather lighter in build than
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  Speaker 1: a gorilla, but even so they were indeed mighty creatures.
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  Speaker 1: Their arms and legs were proportioned more in conformity with
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  Speaker 1: human standards, but their entire bodies were covered with shaggy
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  Speaker 1: brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as
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  Speaker 1: those of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which
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  Speaker 1: I had seen in the museums at home. Their only
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  Speaker 1: redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above
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  Speaker 1: and back of the ears. In this respect, they were
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  Speaker 1: not one whit less human than we. They were clothed
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  Speaker 1: in a sort of tunic of light cloth which reached
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  Speaker 1: to the knees. Beneath this, they wore only a loin
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  Speaker 1: cloth of the same material, while their feet were shod
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  Speaker 1: with thick hide of some mammoth creature of this inner world.
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  Speaker 1: Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal,
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  Speaker 1: silver predominating, and on their tunics were sown the heads
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  Speaker 1: of tiny reptiles in odd and rather artistic designs. They
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  Speaker 1: talked among themselves as they marched along on either side
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  Speaker 1: of us, but in a language which I perceived differed
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  Speaker 1: from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When they addressed
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  Speaker 1: the latter, they used what appeared to be a third language,
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  Speaker 1: and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue, rather
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: analogous to the pigeon English of the Chinese coolie. How
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  Speaker 1: far we marched, I have no conception, nor has Perry.
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  Speaker 1: Both of us were asleep much of the time, for
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  Speaker 1: hours before a halt was called. Then we dropped in
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  Speaker 1: our tracks. I say for hours. But how may one
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  Speaker 1: measure time? Or time does not exist? When our march commenced,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the sun stood at zenith. When we halted, our shadows
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  Speaker 1: still pointed towards nadir. Whether an instant or an eternity
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  Speaker 1: of earthly time elapsed, Who may say that mark may
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  Speaker 1: have occupied nine years and eleven months of that ten
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  Speaker 1: years that I spent in the inner world, or it
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  Speaker 1: may have been accomplished in the fraction of a second.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot tell. But this I do know that since
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  Speaker 1: you have told me that ten years have elapsed since
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  Speaker 1: I departed from this earth, I have lost all respect
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  Speaker 1: for time. I am commencing to doubt that such a
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  Speaker 1: thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of man.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter three.