Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 15- At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen. Back to Earth. We crossed the river and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: passed through the mountains beyond, and finally we came out
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: upon a great level plain which stretched away as far
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: as the eye could reach. I cannot tell you in
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: what direction it stretched, even if you would care to know.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: For all the while that I was within Pellucidar, I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: never discovered any but local methods of indicating direction. There
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: is no north, no south, no east, no west. Up
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: is about the only direction which is well defined, and that,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: of course is down to you of the outer crust.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Since the sun neither rises nor sets, there is no
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: method of indicating direction beyond visible objects such as high mountains, forests, lakes,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: and seas. The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: which flanked the darrel As upon the shore nearest the
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: mountains of the Clouds is about as near to any
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: direction as any Pellucidarian can come. If you happen not
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: to have heard of the darrel As, or the White Cliffs,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: or the mountains of the Clouds, you feel that there
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: is something lacking, and long for the good old, understandable
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: northeast and southwest of the outer world. We had barely
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: entered the great plain, when we discovered two enormous animals
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: approaching us from a great distance. So far were they
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: that we could not distinguish what manner of beasts they
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: might be. But as they came closer, I saw that
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: they were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: The beasts moved very slowly, that as their action was slow,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: but their strides covered such a great distance that in
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: reality they traveled considerably faster than a man walks. As
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: they drew still nearer, we discovered that upon the back
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: they were, though she had never before seen one. They
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: are ladies from the land of the Thorians, she cried.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Awful Shadow. The Thorians alone, of all the races of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Pellucidar ride the leady. For nowhere else than beside the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: dark country are they found. What is the land of
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Awful Shadow, I asked, It is the land which lies
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: beneath the dead world, replied Dian, The dead world which
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: hangs forever between the Sun and Pellucidar, above the land
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: of awful Shadow. It is the Dead World which makes
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the great shadow upon this portion of Pellucidar. I do
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: not fully understand what she meant, nor am I sure
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: that I do yet, for I have never been to
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: that part of Pellucidar from which the Dead World is visible.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: But Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a tiny planet within a planet, and that it revolves
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: around the Earth's axis coincidentally with the Earth, and thus
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: is always above the same spot within Pellucidar. I remember
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: that Perry was very much excited when I told him
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: about this dead world, for he seemed to think that
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: it explained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: procession of the equinoxes. When the two upon the ladies
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: had come quite close to us, we saw that one
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: was a man and the other a woman. The former
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: had held up his two hands palms toward us in
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: a sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: slipping from his enormous mount, ran forward toward Dian, throwing
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: his arms about her. In an instant, I was white
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: with jealousy, but only for an instant, since Diane quickly
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: drew the man toward me, telling him that I was David,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: her mate, and this is my brother Dakhor, the strong one. David,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: she said to me, it appeared that the woman was
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Dakor's mate. He had found none to his liking among
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the Sari nor farther on until he had come to
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the land of the Thoria, and there he had found
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and fought for this very lovely Thorian maiden, whom he
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was bringing back to his own people. When they had
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: heard our story in our plans, they decided to accompany
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: us to Sari that Dakor and Ghak might come to
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: an agreement relative to an alliance, as Dakor was quite
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: as enthusiastic about the proposed annihilation of the Mahars and
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Sagoths as either Dian or I. After a journey which
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: was for Pellucidar quite uneventful, we came to the first
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: of the Sarian villages, which consists of between one and
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: two two hundred artificial caves cut into the face of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: a great cliff. Here to our immense delight we found
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: both Perry and Ghak. The old man was quite overcome
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: at sight of me, for he had long since given
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: me up as dead. When I introduced Dian as my wife,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: he didn't quite know what to say, but he afterward
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: remarked that with the pick of two worlds, I could
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: not have done better. Ghak and Dacor reached a very
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: amicable arrangement, and it was at a council of the
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: headmen of the various tribes of the Seri that the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: to be one great overlord or emperor. It was decided
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: that I should be the first of the dynasty of
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: the emperors of Pellucidar. We set about teaching the women
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: how to make bows and arrows and poison pouches. The
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus, and
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: it was they who mined the iron ore and fashioned
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the swords under Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: one tribe to another, until representatives from nations so far
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: distant that the Sarians had never even heard of them,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: came in to take the oath of allegiance, which we required,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: and to learn the art of making the new weapons
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: and using them. We sent our young men out as
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: instructors to every nation of the Federation, and the movement
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: had reached colossal proportions even before the Mahars discovered it.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: The first intimation they had was when three of their
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: great slave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession. They could
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenly developed a
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: power which rendered them really formidable. In one of the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: skirmishes with slave caravans, some of our Sarians took a
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: number of Sagoth prisoners, and among them were two who
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: had been members of the guards within the building where
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: we had been confined at Phutra. They told us that
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the Mahars were frantic with rage when they discovered what
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: had taken place in the cellars of the buildings. The
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Sagoths knew that something very terrible had befallen their masters,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: but the Mahars had been most careful to see that
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: no inkling of the true nature of their vital affliction
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: reached beyond their own race. How long it would take
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: for the race to become extinct. It was impossible even
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: to guess, but that this must eventually happen seemed inevitable.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the capture of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: any one of us alive, and at the same time
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: had threatened to inflict the direst punishment upon whom ever
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: should harm us. The Sagoths could not understand these seemingly
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: paradoxical instructions, though their purpose was quite evident to me.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: The Mahars wanted the great secret, and they knew that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: we alone could deliver it to them. Perry's experiments in
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the manufacture of gunpowder and the fashioning of rifles had
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: not progressed as rapidly as we had hoped. There was
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: a whole lot about these two arts which Perry didn't know.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: We were both assured that the solution of these problems
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: would advance the cause of civilization within Pellucidar thousands of
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: years at a single stroke. And there were various other
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: arts and sciences which we wished to introduce, but our
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: combined knowledge of them did not embrace the mechanical details
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: which alone could render them of commercial or practical value.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: David said Perry, immediately after his latest failure to produce
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: gunpowder that would even burn. One of us must return
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: to the outer world and bring back the information we lack. Here,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: we have all the labor and materials for reproducing anything
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: that has ever been produced. Above what we lack is knowledge.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Let us go back and get that knowledge in the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: shape of books. Then this world will indeed be at
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: our feet. And so it was decided that I should
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: return in the Prospector, which still lay upon the edge
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of the forest, at the point where we had first
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: penetrated to the surface of the inner world. Diane would
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: not listen to any arrangement for my going which did
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: not include her, and I was not sorry that she
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: wished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: my world, and I wanted my world to see her.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: With a large force of men, we marched to the
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: great iron mole, which Perry soon had hoisted into position
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: with its nose pointed back toward the outer crust. He
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: went over all the machinery carefully. He replenished the air
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: tanks and manufactured oil for the engine. At last, everything
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was ready, and we were about to set out when
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: our pickets a long, thin line of which had surrounded
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: our camp at all times, reported that a great body
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: of what appeared to be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: from the direction of Phutra. Dian and I were ready
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to embark, but I was anxious to witness the first
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: clash between two fair sized armies of the opposing races
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of Pellucidar. I realized that this was to mark the
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: historic beginning of a mighty struggle for possession of a world,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and as the first emperor of Pellucidar, I felt that
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: it was not alone my duty, but my right to
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: be in the thick of that momentous struggle. As the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: opposing army approached, we saw that there were many Mahars
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: with the Sagoth troops, an indication of the vast importance
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: which the dominant race placed upon the outcome of this campaign,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: for it was not customary with them to take active
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: part in the sordies which their creatures made for slaves,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the only form of warfare which they waged upon the
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: lower orders. Ghak and Dhakor were both with us, having
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: come primarily to view the prospector. I placed Ghak with
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: some of his Sarians on the right of our battle line.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Dhakor took the left, while I commanded the center. Behind us,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I stationed a sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head men.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears, and I let
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: them come until they were within easy bowshot before I
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: gave the word to fire. At the first volley of
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: poison tipped arrows, the front ranks of the guerrilla men
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: crumpled to the ground, but those behind charged over the
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: prostrate forms of their comrades in a wild, mad rush
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: to be upon us with their spears. A second volley
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: stopped them for an instant, and then my reserve sprang
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: through the openings in the firing line to engage them
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: with sword and shield. The clumsy spears of the Sagoths
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: were no match for the swords of the Sarian and Amozite,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: who turned the spear through us aside with their sh
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: shields and leaped to close quarters with their lighter, handier weapons.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and while
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: the swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley after
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: volley into their unprotected left. The Mahars did little real fighting,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and were more in the way than otherwise, though occasionally
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: one of them would fasten its powerful jaw upon the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: arm or leg of a Sarian. The battle did not
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: last a great while, for when Dakor and I led
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: our men in upon the Sagoth's right with naked swords,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: they were already so demoralized that they turned and fled
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: before us. We pursued them for some time, taking many
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred slaves, among whom was Hooja,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the sly One. He told me that he had been
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: captured while on his way to his own land, but
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that his life had been spared, and hoped that through
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: him the Mahars would learn the whereabouts of their great secret.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Ghak and I were inclined to think that the sly
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: One had been guiding this expedition to the land of Sari,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: where he thought that the book might be found in
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Perry's possession. But we had no proof of this, and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: so we took him in and treated him as one
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: of us, although none liked him. And how he rewarded
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: my generosity you will presently learn. There were a number
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: of Mahars among our prisoners. And so fearful were our
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: own people of them, that they would not approach them
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: unless completely covered from the sight of the reptiles by
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: a piece of skin. Even Diane shared the popular superstition
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: regarding the evil effects of exposure to the eyes of
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: angry Mahars. And though I laughed at her fears, I
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: was willing enough to humor them if it would relieve
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: her apprehension in any degree. And so she sat apart
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: from the prospector, nearing which the Mahars had been chained,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: while Perry and I again inspected every portion of the mechanism.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: At last, I took my place in the driving seat
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and called to one of the men without to fetch Diane.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: It happened that Huja stood quite close to the doorway
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: of the prospector, so that it was he who, without
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: my knowledge, went to bring her. But how he succeeded
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: in accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: unless there were others in the plot to aid him,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Nor can I believe that, since all my people were
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: loyal to me and would have made short work of
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: had time to acquaint another with it. It was all
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: done so quickly that I may only believe that it
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: was the result of a sudden impulse, aided by a
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: number of to Hooja fortuitous circumstances occurring at precisely the
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: right moment. All I know is that it was Hooja
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: who brought Dian to the prospector, still wrapped from head
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: which covered her since the Mayhart prisoners had been brought
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: to the camp. He deposited his burden in the seat
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: beside me. I was all ready to get under way.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: The good byes had been said. Perry had grasped my
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: hand in the last long farewell. I closed and barred
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the outer and inner doors, and took my seat again
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: at the driving mechanism, and pulled the starting lever. As before,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: on that far gone night that had witnessed our first
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: trial of the Iron Monster, there was a frightful roaring
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: beneath us. I and frame trembled and vibrated. There was
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: through the hollow space between the inner and outer jackets
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: to be deposited in our wake. Once more, the thing
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: was off, but on the instant of departure, I was
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: nearly thrown from my seat by the sudden lurching of
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the prospector. At first I did not realize what had happened,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: but presently it dawned upon me that just before entering
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the crust, the towering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: and that instead of entering the ground vertically, we were
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: plunging into it at a different angle, where it would
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: bring us out upon the upper crust. I could not
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: even conjecture, and then I turned to note the effect
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: of this strange experience upon Diane. She still sat shrouded
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: in the great skin. Come come, I cried, laughing, Come
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: out of your shell. No mahar eyes can reach you here.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: And I leaned over and snatched the lion skin from her.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: And then I shrank back upon my seat in utter horror.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: The thing beneath the skin was not Dian. It was
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: a hideous mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hooja
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: had played upon me, and the purpose of it rid
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: of me forever, as he doubtless thought Dian would be
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: at his mercy. Frantically I tore the steering wheel in
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: an effort to turn the Prospector back toward Pellucidar, But
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: as on that other occasion, I could not budge the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: thing a hair. It is needless to recount the horrors
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: or the monotony of that journey. It varied but little
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: from the former one, which had brought us from the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: outer to the inner world. Because of the angle at
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: which we had entered the ground, the trip required nearly
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: a day longer, and had brought me out here upon
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the sand of the Sahara instead of in the United States,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: as I had hoped. For months, I have been waiting
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: here for a white man to come. I dared not
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: leave the Prospector, for fear I should never be able
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: to find it again. The shifting sands of the desert
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: would soon cover it, and then my only hope of
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: returning to my Dian and her Hallucidar would be gone forever.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: That I shall ever see her again seems but remot possible.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: For how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: my return journey may terminate? And how without a north
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: or south, or an east or west, may I hope
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: ever to find my way across that vast world to
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the tiny spot where my lost love lies grieving for me.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: That is the story as David Innes told it to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: me in the goat skin tent upon the rim of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the great Sahara Desert. The next day he took me
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: out to see the prospector. It was precisely as he
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: had described it. So huge was it that it could
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: have been brought to this inaccessible part of the world
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: by no means of transportation that existed there. It could
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: only have come in the way that David Innes said.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: It came up through the crust of the earth from
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the inner world of Pellucidar. I spent a week with him,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and then abandoned my lion hunt, returned directly to the
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: coast and hurried to London, where I purchased a great
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: quantity of stuff which he wished to take back to
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: Pellucidar with him. There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras, chemicals, telephones,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: telegraph instruments, wire tools, and more books, books upon every
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: subject under the sun. He said he wanted a library
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: with which they could reproduce the wonders of the twentieth
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: century in the Stone Age, and if quantity counts for anything,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: I got it for him. I took the things back
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: to Algeria myself and accompanied them to the end of
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the railroad. But from here I was recalled to America
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: upon important business. However, I was able to employ a
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: very trustworthy man to take charge of the caravan, the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: same guide, in fact, who had accompanied me on the
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: previous trip into the Sahara. And after writing a long
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: letter to Innis, and which I gave him my American address,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I saw the expedition head south. Among the other things
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: which I sent to Innis was over five hundred miles
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: of double insulated waters of a very fine gauge. I
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: as it was his idea that he could fasten one
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: end here before he left, and by paying it out
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: through the end of the prospector, lay a telegraph line
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: between the outer and inner worlds. In my letter I
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: told him to be sure to mark the terminus of
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the line very plainly with high cairn, in case I
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: was not able to reach him before he set out,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: so that I might easily find and communicate with him.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Should he be so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar. I
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: received several letters from him after I returned to America.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: In fact, he took advantage of every northward passing caravan
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: to drop me word of some sort. His last letter
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was written the day before he intended to depart. Here
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: it is, my dear friend, Tomorrow I shall set out
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in quest of Pellucidar and Diane. That is, if the
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Arabs don't get me. They have been very nasty of late.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I don't know the cause, but on two occasions they
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: have threatened my life. One more friendly than the rest
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: told me to day that they intended attacking me tonight.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: It would be unfortunate should anything of that sort happen
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: now that I am so nearly ready to depart. However,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: maybe I will be as well off. For the nearer
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the hour approaches the slenderer my chances for success appear.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: letter north for me. So good bye, and God bless
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: you for your kindness to me. The Arab tells me
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sand to
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: the south. He thinks it is the party coming to
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: murder me. And he doesn't want to be found with me,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: So good bye again, Yours David Innes. A year later
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: found me at the end of the railroad, once more
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: headed for the spot where I had left Innis. My
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: first disappointment was when I discovered that my old guide
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: had died within a few weeks of my return. Nor
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: could I find any member of my former party who
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: could lead me to the same spot. For months, I
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: searched that scorching land, interviewing countless desert cheeks, in the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: hope that at last I might find one who had
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: heard of Innis and his wonderful iron mole. Constantly my
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: eyes scanned the blinding waste of sand for the rocky
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: cairn beneath which I was to find the wires leading
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: to Pellucidar. But always was I unsuccessful. And always do
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: these awful questions harass me when I think of David
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Innis and his strange adventures. Did the Arabs murder him
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: after all, just on the eve of his departure, Or
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: did he again turn the nose of his iron monster
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: toward the inner world? Did he reach it? Or lies
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and if he did come again to Pellucidar, was it
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: to break through into the bottom of one of her
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: great island seas or among some savage race far far
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: from the land of his heart's desire? Does the answer
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: lie somewhere upon the bosom of the broad Sahara, at
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneath a lost cairn,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I wonder, end of Chapter fifteen. End of At the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Earth's Core by Edgar I. Spurrows