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

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